Nokia may unveil Windows RT tablet during MWC 2013

Nokia is one of the biggest partners that Microsoft has for its young mobile operating system Windows Phone 8. According to Digitimes, Nokia is planning on further entrenching itself into Microsoft’s Windows 8 ecosystem. The Finnish company seems set to announce a new device at the upcoming Mobile World Congress.

The new device from Nokia is rumoured to be a 10-inch tablet that will run Windows RT. Nokia had apparently planned to develop the tablet with a Qualcomm S4 processor under the hood earlier this year, but had pushed the plan back after Microsoft’s announcement of the Surface tablet. Nokia intentionally focused on smartphones and delayed development of the 10-inch tablet, according to the report. The company is apparently still evaluating the current tablet market due to the below-expectations performance of the Microsoft Surface RT.

May unveil a Windows RT based tablet

The tablet will undoubtely be branded under the Lumia series and could follow a similar design to the current Lumia phones.

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Earlier this month, Nokia had announced the budget-friendly Lumia 620 running on Windows Phone 8. Nokia claims that Lumia 620’s body uses a new dual-shot colour technique to deliver a variety of colour and texture effects. Dual-shot adds a second layer of coloured, transparent or translucent polycarbonate on top of a base layer to produce secondary colour blends and depth effects.

“We continue to execute on our strategy to reach new audiences and new markets,” said Jo Harlow, Executive Vice President, Nokia Smart Devices. “With its innovative design, the latest Windows Phone 8 software and signature experiences from Nokia, like Nokia lenses, Nokia Maps and Nokia Music, the Nokia Lumia 620 is a highly competitive smartphone at this price point.”

The features shared with the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 are the camera lenses. The Cinemagraph lens adds simple animations to still photographs while Smart Shoot creates a single shot from multiple images and removes unwanted objects from the picture.

Bundled apps include Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive, Nokia Transport and the exclusive Nokia City Lens. Nokia City Lens displays information about local surroundings overlaid onto buildings as seen through the camera viewfinder. Nokia Music, which provides free streaming of ad-free tracks without registration or subscription and the ability to download playlists for listening offline, is also bundled.

Here is a quick look at some of the highlighted features of the Lumia 620:

• 3.8-inch TFT ClearBlack display with a resolution 800 x 480
• 3G, EDGE, Wi-Fi, NFC
• Bluetooth 3.0
• GPS with A-GPS and Nokia Maps Suite
• 5MP camera with f/2.4 aperture and 720p video recording, front-facing camera with 480p recording
• 8GB mass memory with Micro SD support up to 64GB

The Nokia Lumia 620 will be available in a range of colours including, lime green, orange, magenta, yellow, cyan, white and black. Priced at $249, which roughly translates to approximately Rs 13,600, excluding taxes and subsidies, the Nokia Lumia 620 will begin selling in January 2013 in Asia, followed closely by Europe and the Middle East before expanding further.