Hasta La Gadget!

The Nokia Lumia 620 is not a flagship smartphone — for high-end Windows Phone hardware, look to the Lumia 920 (or Samsung Ativ S). But what makes the 620 interesting is its (low) price: this is an entry-level handset that puts a polished mobile computing experience in your pocket without breaking the bank or compromising usability with dire, underpowered hardware.

When Nokia unveiled the 620 back in December it talked about wanting to add something more compact to its lineup. And the phone is certainly pocket-friendly. But the size of the 620′s price-tag is the real focus here: the Lumia 620 is Nokia’s cheapest Windows Phone 8 device by far (the Lumia 510 is cheaper still but that handset runs WP7.5/7.8, not WP8). Nokia’s target markets for the 620 are currently Asia-Pac, the Middle East and Africa, Europe and Canada. The company won’t comment on whether it will be bringing the handset to the U.S. in the future.

Driving down the cost of Windows Phone hardware so it can better compete with Android’s reach is a key plank of Nokia’s strategy. “We are clearly innovating with Microsoft around Windows Phone, and are focused on taking that to lower and lower price points,” said CEO Stephen Elop, on a Q4 investor conference call last month, adding: “You will see that over time compete with Android.”

The 620 is a crucial step along that road. In the U.K. it’s on offer SIM-free from £150 (approximately $235) — which means it’s lining up against a swathe of mid-range to budget Androids, while avoiding scraping along the very bottom of the budget barrel. At sub-£100, most phones are dismal performers — with sluggish processors, cramped low res screens and plasticy build quality — but even around the £150 mark there are plenty of duds. The Lumia 620 stands out from the underpowered crowd by showing that an entry level smartphone can get the performance basics right.

• 3.8 inch, 800 x 480 display with 246ppi
• Dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon S4, with 512MB of RAM
• 8GB of internal storage, expandable via MicroSD card up to 64GB, plus 7GB in Microsoft SkyDrive cloud storage
• User-replaceable 1300 mAh battery
• 5MP rear camera, front-facing lens for video calls
• Runs Windows Phone 8

Nokia said “compact” and the Lumia 620 is certainly that. It will slip into pockets and fit in the daintiest of hands. While its screen size is a smidgen bigger than the iPhone 4/4S — at 3.8 inches on the diagonal — its overall footprint is almost identical, albeit a little thicker in the waist (at 11mm). The screen itself is clear and bright without being especially crisp, thanks to its midding resolution.

On the design side, the phone has a rounded look and feel. And while there’s no getting away from how much plastic is involved in its construction it feels sturdy rather than flimsy. All its curves, coupled with the glossy shell, can make it a bit of a slippery character — it managed to fly from my fingers and crash-land on the floor during testing (but seemed no worse for wear after its tumble). The gently rounded back also means it won’t lie flush with a flat surface, such as a table, so if you try to use the touchscreen without otherwise anchoring it the handset will move/spin with your fingers.

Nokia has decided to go all out for bright and bold with the overall look of the phone by offering a range of vividly coloured shells, including a glossy two-tone acid green/yellow one (pictured in close up above, and below top right) and bright pink, blue, yellow and white in a matte finish (pictured below). Shells are swapped out by pressing on the camera lens while pulling back on the top edge.

As easy as it is to swap the shells it does feel a little gimmicky but if you’re the sort of person who likes to colour-match all your accessories then it might excite you. More exciting is that Nokia has released 3D print files for the case shell of another Lumia handset — the 820 — so it’s possible the company might also decide to release a 3DK for the 620 in the future (although the 620′s shell incorporates the headphone jack unit so it seems unlikely).

Being plasticy, the 620 is relatively lightweight (127g). It has three physical keys on its right-hand edge: a power/wake-up button in the middle, a volume rocker at the top and a dedicated camera button — which is a great addition — towards the bottom. On the front, you get the familiar trio of Windows Phone navigation keys: back; the Windows home key; and (Bing) search. These aren’t physical keys but the symbols have been printed atop the touchscreen so they’re visible at all times.

There’s a five megapixel camera on the rear of the phone, with a single LED flash. Photo resolution is 2,592 x 1,936 pixels and picture quality is average to poor — with subjects often acquiring a fuzzy halo and lacking crisp definition. It’s fine for quick snaps for uploading to Facebook etc. but is not an area where the 620 wins any plaudits. The front-facing lens produces extremely low-quality shots so is really only suitable for low-resolution video chatting.

Elsewhere, there’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top edge; a Micro-USB port for charging/transferring files on the bottom edge; and a small rear speaker on the back, towards the bottom corner. The Micro SD card slot can be got at by removing the shell (but without having to take out the battery). The Micro SIM tray is tucked away under the battery. Talking of which, the phone has reasonable stamina for its class. Nokia reckons you’ll get up to 9.9 hours of 3G talk time, or 61 hours of music playback on a single charge. I found it easily lasted a day’s average use.

Call quality is reasonable although not stand out — sounding a little muffled, rather than super crisp. The rear speaker wasn’t bad either, for such a budget device, with no evidence of distortion at the top of the range and the ability to pump the noise up relatively loud.

The Lumia 620 runs Windows Phone 8, which sets it apart from other low-cost Windows Phone handsets as these tend to run the previous incarnation of Microsoft’s mobile platform, Windows Phone 7 (either 7.5 — or the last update, 7.8, which includes the new, more flexible homescreen found on WP8). If you don’t have a huge budget and simply must have Windows Phone 8 the Lumia 620 is pretty much your only hope right now. At least until Huawei’s “entry-level” Ascend W1 arrives to rain on its parade.

Microsoft’s OS has positioned itself as a ‘third way’ to the smartphone ‘duopoly’ of Android and iOS, claiming WP is less controlling than Apple’s iOS, but more controlled than Android’s free for all. In truth, Windows Phone can feel very micro-managed since Microsoft doesn’t allow its OEMs to skin the OS with their own UI, meaning every Windows Phone looks and feels exactly the same.

If you like the Windows Phone look — big, bright tiles coupled with lashings of typography, rather than icons/graphics — then that’s not necessarily a problem. But it can feel like a bit of an acquired taste and/or rather clinical. Microsoft also, inevitably, lards the OS with made-in-Redmond services — which brings advantages, such as 7GB of free SkyDrive cloud storage (in the 620′s case), but can also feel a bit limiting. Want to make the search key default to Google rather than Bing? Forget it.

Still, there’s no denying Windows Phone offers something different to the competition, with social networking data (from Facebook, Twitter et al) working like the blood in its veins, continually pumping personalised updates onto your homescreen, and trickling down through native apps such as the calendar. All told, it’s the lazy person’s way to stay in the loop. Add to that, there’s no shortage of messaging options — with the built-in social networking extending your communications options so you don’t have to dive off into dedicated apps as you swipe around the UI. Web browsing also feels fast and responsive.

At the Lumia 620′s price point, the main OS alternative is of course Android — but at this price Nokia’s handset is effectively competing on performance grounds, rather than UI/OS philosophy. Far too many cheap Androids can feel sluggish and underwhelming, if not downright frustrating thanks to poor hardware. That’s not universally true of course — there are exceptions — but budget Android buyers need to do their research to avoid owning a lemon.

What the Lumia 620 shows is that Windows Phone can be an attractive low-price alternative — offering slick entry-level performance, with a solid browser, messaging, maps and of course integrated social networking, plus, in the 620′s case, value-add extras such as free cloud storage and Nokia’s free streaming music service.

As an OS, Windows Phone still has work to do — it’s solid but not glitch free — nor is it lightning fast on the 620, with the loading animation a constant companion, though never for too long. But, on the plus side, it’s really easy to use and, most importantly, packs in a lot of functionality for your cash. But — but! — you do need to make your peace with its relative lack of apps.

That cool new app your friend told you about? It won’t be on Windows Phone. Not now, and maybe not ever.

Windows Phone had some 150,000+ apps at the last count (vs more than 700,000 Google Play apps as of October last year) so, just looking at the numbers (ignoring the whole ‘app quality’ issue), it is very far behind the Android experience. Relative lack of apps remains a very big caveat about Windows Phone. That said, not all Android apps can run (or run well) on every budget handset so again, on performance grounds, the 620 can still make a compelling case for budget buyers.

There are still some seriously big holes in the Windows Phone app catalogue, such as Instagram and Dropbox, along with plenty of disruptive startup apps you’re inevitably missing out on such as Snapchat and Vine — but at this budget price it does feels a bit indulgent to gripe.

Nokia has also stepped into the app breach to bolster the platform with offerings such as its (free) Mix Radio music streaming service, which includes an offline listening feature and does not require any kind of registration to get the tunes up and running, along with Nokia Maps and turn-by-turn sat-nav app Nokia Drive (with free downloadable world maps), plus the likes of City Lens: an augmented reality app that helps you hunt for stuff in your local area.

Gaming seems to be a particularly weak area for Windows Phone apps (despite its Xbox-branded games hub) so the Lumia 620 is not such a great choice for pocket gamers. But — elsewhere — Microsoft has managed to get some big name apps on the platform, including Skype, Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Evernote and Angry Birds. The latter does not appear to be offered as a free ad-supported download on Windows Phone, as it is on Android and iOS — presumably because of Windows Phone’s limited marketshare — so you’ll need to be prepared to spend around £0.79 ($1.24) to download each Rovio title.

One more thing: generally speaking, apps do tend to be more expensive on Windows Phone which is something else budget buyers need to factor in to their evaluation of the 620. There’s no doubt apps are Windows Phone’s weakest link.

The Lumia 620 is an impressive smartphone for the price. Its dual-core chip delivers decent all-round performance with responsive web browsing, maps and apps, and a UI that’s a pleasure rather than a sluggish chore to swipe around. Budget buyers are all too often fobbed off with underpowered, undesirable hardware that makes for uninspiring, frustrating software. This entry-level phone says there is another way to put the mobile web and smart messaging in your pocket.

But the trade-off is an ecosystem that feels a little more sterile than Android, both in terms of how much it lets you customise the experience to your tastes and the extent to which you can extend and augment it with third-party apps. There’s no denying Microsoft’s platform falls short on apps. But, at this entry-level price at least, the Lumia 620 makes up for that with solid performance and simplicity. Decent performance may partly be down to Windows Phone lacking the processor-draining apps to really push it. But even if that’s the case the result is a budget phone that, unlike some entry-level fodder, does the basics well — and that’s a great start.

Microsoft’s $999 128GB Surface Pro has sold out in the online Microsoft Store in the U.S. (via WinBeta), just a few hours after going on sale today, February 9. The 64GB version is still available as of this writing, and the Surface Pro is still likely in stock at physical retail locations like Best Buy, where it also went on sale today, although checking the stock levels via their online tool reports the Surface Pro as “Unavailable” across the board.

The Surface Pro is Microsoft’s more powerful, Intel-powered Windows 8 tablet, which runs the full version of Windows 8 unlike the Surface RT and can handle full-fledged Windows desktop applications. In the TC review, John Biggs said that the Pro was a much more compelling device than the RT, in part because of its ability to run software that enterprise IT departments depend upon from legacy windows installations.

The Surface RT sold out of the $500 32GB model within one day, but the Pro’s more expensive model has sold out even faster. That could indicate that users are placing a higher value on storage with the Pro, which is marketed as a device much more suited to getting serious work done than the Surface RT. The 64GB model remains in stock for now, and given that there’s only $100 price difference to trade up to double the storage capacity with the 128GB version, that’s not surprising.

Storage was recently the subject of a number of back-and-forth reports regarding the Surface, with some claiming Microsoft left little room on-device for personal files once you accounted for the Windows 8 OS install. Ed Bott reported earlier todays on the actual storage numbers, which beat the original estimates by a fair amount, but the free space on the 64GB version still represents a 200 percent increase from the actual usable space on the base Surface Pro model.

The 128GB Surface Pro is still available to order from the Microsoft Store online in Canada as of this publication date, and you may still be able to grab one by visiting a physical retail location.

Logitech had a definite winner on its hands with the Ultrathin Keyboard Case for iPad, a Bluetooth keyboard that attaches via magnets built into the iPad, protecting the screen and adding only minimal thickness. Now, there’s a successor designed for the iPad mini that comes in an appropriately shrunken down package. Of course, making a keyboard smaller doesn’t always produce the best results, but in this case, Logitech strikes a good balance.

• MSRP: $79
• Three months of battery life (based on two hours daily usage)
• Availability: Preorder now, with availability sometime later this month
• 7.33mm thin, weighs 220 grams
• Available in black and white (and red in select markets)

The Logitech Ultrathin is a good-looking device that matches up really well with the iPad mini’s design. My review unit is black, and the case’s matte finish pretty much perfectly mirrors that of the iPad’s rear case. Side-by-side and face down, the symmetry is such that you could easily pick up one thinking it was the other if you aren’t paying close enough attention. The two surfaces also feel the same, which speaks volumes about Logitech’s attention to quality with the Ultrathin’s construction.

The magnet spine that attaches to the iPad itself snaps into place with a satisfying click, and lines up well when closed. The face of the keyboard features a shiny black plastic, which, while not as classy as the iPad’s glass surface, does a good job of mimicking its black bezel visually, to keep the whole design symmetry experience consistent.

The Ultrathin’s keyboard is the part upon which everything hinges, and Logitech has pulled out all the stops to try to provide a typing experience that doesn’t feel compromised, despite the extremely limited real estate available given the iPad mini’s small footprint. To make it work, Logitech has combined a number of function buttons, reduced key size and cut down on the space between them.

The keys themselves feel great, and offer a nice response when typing despite how thin the cover is. But the experience isn’t without compromises. Typing on the keyboard will prove a frustrating experience at first for anyone used to using a full-sized keyboard. But the good news is that the number of errors you make starts to taper off pretty quickly, and in very little time, you can even feel mostly at home on the Ultrathin keyboard, though placement of some elements like the Shift keys never quite feels perfectly natural.

While the typing experience isn’t perfect on the Logitech Ultrathin Keyboard, it’s about as close as you can get without adding a lot more bulk to a Bluetooth keyboard for the iPad mini. It still dramatically increases your ability to enter text, and beats using the software keyboard by a very wide margin. If you’re looking for an iPad mini keyboard that maintains the smaller tablet’s considerable size advantage over its big brother and still greatly improves the experience of typing anything longer than a tweet.

More hardware startups are looking at everyday tools that have been relatively unchanged for a long time, like the HAPIFork we saw at CES this year. Today, a new startup called Wayki is adding its innovative toothbrush design to the list of gadgets hoping to improve the lifestyle of users by adding a modern tech spin to an age-old tool.

The Wayki is a toothbrush that doubles as an alarm clock, but rather than just being a roughshod combination of the two, it uses the alarm function to reinforce toothbrushing action and hopefully ingrain some good health habits for users. The alarm can’t be snoozed, and it can only be deactivated by inserting the Wayki brush head into the base, which in turn triggers the two-minute brush timer (I always thought you were supposed to go for five minutes per session, but that might be overkill, according to Wayki).

Wayki advertises its lack of a snooze function as a feature, designed to address studies that show delaying that morning start can lead to bad sleep cycles and lower productivity throughout the day. Dave Hawkins, Wayki’s lead designer, says that his own personal experience with putting off his morning start is what prompted the inclusion of that particular feature.

“I’ll often find myself tapping the snooze button, regret it later, and in a sudden hurry forget to clean my teeth before staring at my screen for the rest of the day,” he explained in an email interview. “Even when I remember, I’ll be too impatient to wait for the full 2 minutes.”

Hawkins thinks that technology can best help individuals with improving wellness and health by taking away any remaining friction in the process, essentially making things automatic for users, and the Wayki is designed around that principle.

“I think the best products do the thinking for you, and with brushing being a chore I realised that the most efficient approach was going to be removing the decision-making process from the equation. “Mental weight is a bigger challenge than physical weight. It’s far less apparent that the weight is even there.”

They Wayki is seeking £50,000 (around $80,000 US) in funding, using Selfstarter, the open source crowdfunding platform developed by Lockitron to help get its own project off the ground. Pre-orders go for £49 ($77 US), or 50 percent off of the anticipated retail price, and the first devices are expected to ship in the next three to five months. While Wayki is initially only available for shoppers in the U.K., Hawkins says that it should be available worldwide in time for its official launch.

Apple’s next big growth market could be India – a country where it has failed to find significant purchase with consumers up until this point. The Economic Times (via @ScepticGeek) is reporting that sales of Apple devices, with iPhones leading the way, rose by between 300 and 400 percent in the past quarter. That growth, identified by research firm IDC, is likely being propelled by Apple’s distribution partnerships with Redington and Ingram Micro.

According to Convergence Catalyst founder Jayanth Kolla in conversation with the Economic Times, Apple’s strategy in India mirrors the route it took to success in China; the company spent time studying the market, learned what it needed to do to sell handsets in India and then got aggressive about executing its sales strategy. Apple’s India team grew by 500 percent in six months to help make that happen, going from 30 to 150 people, Kolla says.

Apple’s strategy in India hasn’t involved fielding a lower cost device, but it has included making its iPhone more attainable for cost-conscious buyers. That’s being done through installment-based payment schemes operated through its resale partners, including one with TheMobileStore, a national Indian retail chain, which that company’s CEO says has helped increase sales of Apple gadgets three-fold in the past year.

Three- or four-fold growth in a single quarter is definitely impressive, but Apple has to make up a considerable gulf in India. According to recent figures from IDC, Samsung had a 46 percent market share in India between July and September 2012, and Apple didn’t even show up in the top five, with HTC rounding out that crowd with a relatively small 6.6 percent. Browsing stats show that Apple has only a tiny percentage of current mobile web traffic in the country, and the most recent IDC numbers for mobile operating systems show a meager 1.4 percent share of sales in the July through September 2012 quarter.

Last year, during an Apple quarterly conference call, CEO Tim Cook said that while he “love[s]” India, he said they didn’t see much opportunity there in the short-term and would be focusing on other market where there was more growth potential for the time being. Part of the reason for his hesitation was the distribution system in that country, he said at the time. But a fresh injection of local Apple staff, and a distribution model that is beginning to find its legs could signal that Cook and Apple are finally willing to put in the time and effort to grow their presence in India, where there is reportedly currently less than 10 percent smartphone penetration.