Nokia seems to be trying a new strategy in its bid to once again become a dominant player in the mobile world. The company seems to have a focus on separating itself from rivals by offering its flagship smartphones for relatively low prices, like the soon-to-be announced Verizon Nokia Lumia 928 and the first ever prepaid Windows 8 Phone that is currently seeing sellouts across the country, the T-Mobile prepaid Nokia Lumia 521 Windows Phone. I only have experience using the Lumia 521 but can tell you based on using it what you can expect from Nokia Lumia 928, besides a gorgeous smartphone.
The Nokia Lumia 521 offers high-end smartphone features inside a prepaid smartphone. The Lumia 521 offer some features like a 5-inch display, the latest version of Windows Phone 8, and is available for the low price of $129. It's a great smartphone. A nice featured Nokia app the Lumia 521 encourages you to download is a great discover app that takes you to Nokia exclusive apps, the high-end camera and navigation the company is famous for. It's a nice touch coming from a rival smartphone when trying to discover the best apps on the new platform. Nokia seems to be serious about two killer features lately, price and services.
Nokia just debuted its new flagship Nokia Lumia 928 for Verizon Wireless for $99 when signing a new two-year contract. It's a very impressive, high-end Windows Phone 8 at the sweet $99 price-point most smartphone manufacturers view as low-end. The smartphone will be available on May 16 for $99. Nokia seems to be using the low-end perception to its benefit lately. The just launched T-Mobile Nokia Lumia 521 is a hit for the company, currently sold out everywhere. I was lucky enough to get my hands on one and in using it, it seems clear that Nokia has a strong focus on providing Windows Phone users an experience like no other. I have used rival Windows Phone smartphones before, and what Nokia offers in the $129 prepaid smartphone is impressive. The low price of the new flagship Nokia Lumia 928 is equally impressive, as viewed by most tech sites when it was announced this morning.
Nokia might be onto something here with its focus on Windows Phone. The cheap Lumia 521 smartphone can run all of the high-end Nokia specific smartphone apps on T-Mobile's 4G HSPA+ network. It seems like the ideal beginners' smartphone with no contract, while keeping the option open of upgrading to a more high-end, feature rich Nokia Lumia 928 for less than you paid for the Lumia 521, at least that's my thinking, and many online forums are reporting the $99 decision as a reason to upgrade to the Nokia Lumia 928.
Both smartphones come with the same services and are available at different low price points based on features. There were a few very impressive features of having a Nokia Lumia Windows Phone .
1. I loved all of the Nokia exclusive apps I can add to the smartphone. Most are free, a few cost a few bucks and are well worth the price. Again, you don't feel limited by the apps based on the Lumia model you have.
2. Bluetooth sharing is a feature every smartphone or dumbphone should come with. Nokia has you turn Bluetooth on your current smartphone, and then on the Lumia, it then transfers contacts and more to your smartphone, seamlessly. Again on the highest-end Lumia and the low-end Lumia.
3. Nokia Smart Setup is genius, again, it's a Nokia provided service that allows you to call and speak to a live "Nokia expert" on how to do anything you are wondering how to do on a smartphone. I tried it out to see what the experience was like and I spoke to a live, enthusiastic "Nokia Expert" about a question I had about syncing the Lumia 521 and iTunes. The expert sent me the link to a program that does just that and I was syncing in no time. Before he got off the phone with me he thanked me and reminded me to call back at any time. All from a prepaid smartphone?
It really goes to show you that Nokia is committed to Windows Phone 8 for a reason. It has heavily invested in adopting the operating system, but also given special license by Microsoft to be able to create Nokia specific apps for its smartphones. Nokia Lumia's are what Windows Phones should be, from high-end to low.
Nokia isn't stopping there, it's getting back to focusing on its cash cow, feature phones. The company still sells many of what many consider the "dumb-phone." The company has launched the new Asha line of feature phones that bring, the style, design, touchscreen, and the 'all-important apps' to inexpensive feature phones.
It seems, as Nokia's new plan is to focus on the low-end, provide an excellent experience no matter the Nokia phone you choose, priced low to hopefully gain market share. if this works out Nokia may be on to something, consumers are likely to stick with a smartphone operating system when upgrading just like they are more likely to choose a company that provides excellent software, and more importantly, service to its smartphone users. It's something other smartphone manufactures might want to consider.
