Hands-on: Nokia Lumia 610

New Delhi: We first heard about Lumia 610 in February. It is a phone that Nokia has specifically designed for price-sensitive markets like India and China. On Friday, the device was launched in India.

Nokia Lumia 610 is the cheapest of the Lumia phones, all of which are powered by Windows Phone 7.5 aka Mango. Its primary aim is to compete with the bevy of budget Android phones that have managed to get attention of customers who don't want to spend more than Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000 on their smartphone. To make sure that Lumia 610 has a relatively low price, Nokia has made several 'compromises' in the hardware. But at the same time, the company says the device offers the full Windows Phone experience.

We spent some time with Lumia 610 at its launch event. While you will have to wait a bit for the full review, for now we can share our first impression of the device.

For its price — Rs 12,999 is the official tag but market price can be lower — Lumia 610 feels well built. It has a glossy plastic cover with a large screen of 3.7 inch. Also, there is faux chrome frame around the screen, which makes the device look better than what its price indicates. Another surprise, as far as the build quality is concerned, is the presence of touch-sensitive buttons. On Lumia 710, Nokia had used physical buttons, which looked out of place. On Lumia 610, Nokia doesn't make the mistake.

The phone is powered by an 800Mhz processor and has 256MB RAM. It has only one camera that can shoot 5 megapixel images. Internal storage is 8GB and there is no option to add a micro SD card. The screen that has a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels — very good for its price — is not as bright as we would have liked it to be, but it's not bad either.

The relatively modest hardware means Windows Phone 7.5 user interface is not as fluid as it is on Lumia 800 or Lumia 710. However, the OS hides lags well. This means users may have to wait a while — 1 or 2 seconds — before apps launch but unlike many budget Android it doesn't manifest on the screen in the form of very low frame rates. We opened several websites on Lumia 610 and the browsing experience was good. Pinch to zoom worked well, though opening too many apps in the background or too many tabs in the browser did slow down the phone.

For now, we can say Lumia 610 looks to be a pretty decent device compared to other smartphones with similar price tag. But there are still many unknowns like battery life, camera performance, compatibility with apps and how the phone's hardware holds up when used for longer durations. We will advice you to wait for our full review before taking out your wallet and pulling the trigger.