India not featured in first rollout of the Lumia 610.

At the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona in February this year, Nokia officially raised the curtains on the Lumia 610, the fourth handset from their Lumia series. The specifications of this handset was released just before the official announcement and at the time it was believed that this budget level Windows Phone would come to India upon launch. However, as per an announcement by Nokia, the handset will make its way to a number of countries in Asia with India not being amongst the lucky few to receive this smartphone.

As per the announcement, Nokia states, “Nokia announced today that the Nokia Lumia 610, its most affordable Lumia smartphone, has begun rolling out in Asia. It will go on sale first in the Philippines in the final week of April, and in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam in the following weeks. The Nokia Lumia 610 will also begin selling in other regions this quarter.” Judging by the information released by Nokia, we can expect the handset to reach our shores before the end of June.

For those who do not know what this handset is about, here is a quick look at its specifications:

Display: 3.7-inch, LCD display, capacitive touch screen with pinch zoom
Camera: 5 MP camera
Video resolution: 1280 x 720 pixels, 30 fps
Internal memory: 8 GB
RAM: 256 MB
USB 2.0 high-speed through micro USB connector
Bluetooth wireless technology 2.1 + EDR
Battery: 1300 mAh Li-ion/Li-polymer
Weight (with battery): 131.5 g

Back in February, before the smartphone was announced, India was expected to get this smartphone at a retail price of 11,000 making it one of the cheapest Windows Phones available; if not the cheapest. Speaking at the announcement, Jo Harlow, Head of Smart Devices at Nokia, said, “The Nokia Lumia 610 will introduce Windows Phone to a new generation of smartphone users, offering something very different to the monochromatic smartphones filling shelves today. PeopleHub, Nokia services and quality apps - coupled with a fast and friendly interface - will make for a great smartphone experience at a great price.” Nokia is pricing the handset at EUR189 which roughly translates to 13,044, putting it at 2,000 more than what it was expected to launch at.

Let us know your thoughts on India not being amongst the countries to get their hands first on the Lumia 610 in the comments below