Nokia Lumia 620 to be available in India over the weekend

The cheapest Windows 8 phone, the Nokia Lumia 620, has hit the stores in Thailand for 8,250 baht, which is approximately Rs 15,000. Primarily aimed at the emerging markets of Asia, this phone is slated to be launched officially in India only in the 2nd week of February. However, the phone, which is widely regarded as Nokia's saviour, will be here sooner than planned thanks to the thriving and ever reliable grey market. Our source has confirmed that Nokia Lumia 620 will be available in India over the weekend for those ready to scour the seedy underbelly of the Indian gadget bazaar.

Lately, we had seen Nokia's premium phones, the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, enter the Indian market for Rs. 38,199 and Rs. 27,559 respectively. Among these high-end phones, the Nokia 920 is competing with the high-end likes of Samsung and Apple. The competition is quite stiff in the high-end phone market with iOS and Android who have put leagues between themselves and any other viable third place contender. While the Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 might have garnered a lot of press before and after their India launch, the general gadget buyer don't seem to be too enthusiastic about picking up a Rs 38,000 or Rs 28,000 Nokia Windows 8 handset. Call it a perception problem or a legacy issue, but Nokia has been clearly slotted, in the minds of the consumer, as the best brand to buy in the sub-20,000 category, provided they have an offering that is compelling enough. And this is exactly where the Nokia Lumia 620 slots itself. An exceptional value-for-money buy in the sub-20,000 range.

Budget Windows Phone 8 device

As we had reported earlier, the Lumia 620 will be the silver bullet for much of the Finnish handset manufacturer's woes in India, if it is priced competitively. If the Thai prices are anything to go by, then the Nokia Lumia 620 should be available for between Rs 17,000 to 19,000 in the grey market (our source refused to divulge pricing details).

Though a budget-phone, the Lumia 620 is powered by a dual-core 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, Adreno 305 GPU and 512MB of RAM. It features a 3.8-inch ClearBlack display with 480 x 800 pixel resolution at 246ppi, 5MP camera, NFC, 8GB of internal memory with 7GB of free cloud storage via SkyDrive and microSD card slot supporting up to 64GB. Specs wise, it is almost similar to the HTC Windows Phone 8S, which is priced around Rs. 20,000. In our 'grudge match' comparison, the Nokia Lumia 620 was clearly better than its Taiwanese competitor. This combination of low price and competent specs is exactly what will work in favour of the Lumia 620 in a price sensitive market like India. So, are you planning to head to your nearest grey market vendor over the weekend to pick up this phone?