Nokia Launches Lumia 610, 808 PureView, Expands Asha Series 40 Lineup: MWC

BARCELONA--  Nokia ushered in a new era in high-end smartphone imaging with the 808 PureView, a smartphone featuring the companys PureView imaging technologies, which brings together high resolution sensors, Carl Zeiss optics and Nokia developed algorithms. The technology will support new high-end imaging experiences for future Nokia products.  The phone also features enhanced low-light performance and the ability to save in compact file sizes for sharing in email, MMS, and on social networks.

The 808 PureView features a large, high-resolution 41 megapixel sensor with Carl Zeiss optics and new pixel oversampling technology. At standard resolutions (2/3, 5 and 8 megapixels) this means the ability to zoom without loss of clarity and capture seven pixels of information, condensing into one pixel for the sharpest images possible. At high-resolution (38 megapixel maximum) it means the ability to capture an image, then zoom, reframe, crop and resize afterwards to expose previously unseen levels of details.

In addition to still imaging technology, the 808 PureView also includes full HD 1080p video recording and playback with 4X lossless zoom and the use of Nokia Rich Recording.  Rich Recording enables audio recording at CD-like levels of quality, which the company said was previously only possible with external microphones. The 808 PureView also features Dolby Headphone technology, offering a surround sound experience over any headphones and Dolby Digital Plus for 5.1 channel surround sound playback.

Nokia also extended the range of products with Windows Phone by introducing the Lumia 610, as well as targeting availability of the widely acclaimed Lumia 900 to additional markets beyond the U.S. The Lumia 610 provides access to social networks, Web browsing, music, games, navigation and apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace. It comes in four colors and is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2012. The Nokia Lumia 900, which launched in January as Nokia's first LTE-enabled smartphone, will now be available in Dual Carrier HSPA for up 42.2 Mbps, offering a 4.3 inch ClearBlack AMOLED display and large capacity battery.

In addition, the company unveiled new services and three more Asha feature phone models, the Asha 202, Asha 203 and Asha 302. The handsets target three dimensions: Work, with Mail for Exchange support for the Nokia Asha 302, Learn, bringing new information services for young, urban consumers, and a cloud-based browser that reduces internet access costs; and Play, with free EA games available on the Asha 202 and Asha 203.

The Asha 202 and 203 phones have a combination of a traditional keypad with a 2.4- inch touch screen, designed for browsing, scrolling and opening applications. The Asha 202 features Dual SIM Easy Swap technology with dedicated SIM manager to personalize the phone and save up to five SIM cards with unique information. Both devices come with a 2-megapixel camera, music player, FM radio, Nokia Browser, and Bluetooth connectivity, and can handle memory cards up to 32GB. The estimated retail price for each is about $80, and both are expected to start shipping in the second quarter of 2012.

The Asha 302 is Nokia's first Series 40 phone to support Mail for Exchange, giving users access to their emails, contacts and calendar on an exchange server. Additionally, the Asha connects to social networks and enables chatting through Whatsapp and other IM services. The Asha 302 is powered by a 1-GHz processor and supports 3.5G data speeds. All three devices provide an Internet experience via Nokia's cloud-accelerated Nokia Browser, which offers localized and personalized home page design and portal to thousands of web apps. In addition to its speed, the browser compresses data traffic up to 90 percent and is available in more than 200 markets.