Nokia debuts feature-rich, lower priced Lumia 520 and 720 Windows Phones

BARCELONA, Spain--Nokia (NYSE:NOK) unveiled two new mid-range Lumia smartphones, the Lumia 720 and 520, which run Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows Phone software. The two devices offer the operating platform's higher-end smartphone features but at a lower price.

Nokia Lumia 720

Click here for details on Nokia's new Lumia 720

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said at a press conference here at the Mobile World Congress trade show that the company is "bringing elements of high-end Lumia flagship devices to more price points, and therefore to more people." He said the 720 and 520 are "affordable devices that are also themselves aspirational."

Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia's executive vice president of design, said the Lumia 520 will be Nokia's most affordable Windows Phone 8 smartphone to date. T-Mobile USA said it will launch a version of the device, the Lumia 521, but the operator has not revealed when the phone will launch or its price point.

The Lumia  520 has a 4-inch display, 1 GHz dual-core processor, 8 GB of internal memory that can be expanded via microSD to include 64 GB more. The 520 also has a 5-megapixel camera autofocus camera with the same digital camera lenses as the high-end Lumia 920. In addition, it offers Photobeamer, which lets users wirelessly transfer photos between phones without actually transferring the photo files from one phone to another. The 520 also comes with Nokia's free Nokia Music service and Here location-based services like Nokia Here Transit for metro transit navigation.

Nokia said the 520 will be available for around $184 before taxes and subsidies and the device will be available in  Hong Kong and Vietnam in the first quarter. It will offer the device in second quarter to markets in Europe, Asia--including China and India--Latin America and Africa.

The 720 has a 4.3-inch ClearBlack display and is aimed at non-LTE markets, meaning it likely will not come to the U.S. market. The 720 uses an augmented reality feature through Nokia's Here maps called LiveSight, formerly known as City Lens. The devices also allows for wireless charging via a snap-on cover. The 720 comes with Nokia Music+, which Nokia recently launched in the U.S.  The 720 also features a camera with f/1.9 aperture and exclusive Carl Zeiss optics.

Nokia said the Lumia 720 will sell for around $330 before taxes and subsidies. The phone will be available in Hong Kong, Vietnam and Singapore in the first quarter and more markets in the second quarter, including China as well as key markets in Europe, Asia, Africa and India.

Nokia also introduced two new feature phones aimed at emerging markets. The 301 will be available $86 starting in the second quarter and is expected to be sold in more than 120 countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, India, Middle East and Latin America.

The 105 is the successor to the popular Nokia 1280. The phone will be primarily aimed at people  buying their first mobile phone and will be sold for around $20. The 105  is will be available in China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, Vietnam and other markets in Africa, Middle East, Asia-Pacific and Europe.

For more:
- see this release
- see this The Verge live blog

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