Nokia sees growth in sales of Lumia smartphones in India

Finnish handset maker Nokia, which has been losing market share to Apple and Samsung, is seeing growth in sales of its Windows platform based Lumiasmartphones in India and has attributed the pick-up in volumes to rising wealth in the country.

"In terms of what is happening in Lumia for us in India, the volumes are picking up quite nicely. We got a broader portfolio in the Indian market from (Lumia) 920 to 620 and 520 and so forth. We are very pleased with the pick up we are seeing with those products in India," Nokia Chief Executive Officer Stephen Elop said here.

BlackBerry Q5: The Budget BB

BlackBerry Q5 sports the latest BB10 software and shares some features with its elder brother, the Q10. BlackBerry Q5 resembles the BlackBerry Q10 in terms of the shape, form and weight. However, the keyboards are drastically different. While the BlackBerry Q10 came with a completely new, revamped keyboard, the Q5 keypad design is similar to BlackBerry Curve series.

BlackBerry Q5 comes with a 3.1-inch LCD capacitive screen. The screen resolution is 720x720 pixels. While the screen has been downgraded, under the hood runs the same dual-core processor as that of the Q10. But the processor in BlackBerry Q5 is clocked at 1.2Ghz. The phone comes with 8 GB internal storage and expandable memory slot. There’s no word on the expansion limit. The BlackBerry Q5 comes with a 2 GB RAM. Generous and impressive considering it’s a mid-range device.
The phone comes with a 5 MP rear end camera and a 2 MP front-end cam for video-calling. The phone gets the best of BB10 OS with Time Shift and Story maker both being a part of the Q5. BlackBerry Q5 comes with a generous 2100 mAh non-removable battery.

The phone is a mid-range device targeted at youth and BlackBerry is offering the phone in Black, Red, White and even a Pink shade to grab the attention of young buyers. There’s still no word on the availability and the date when the phone will go on sale. The Press Release does state July but there’s no word on the official date. BlackBerry Q5 is definitely a summer launch and hopefully, the phone won’t see the delays and glitches the BlackBerry Q10 witnessed.

BlackBerry Q5 is not a global device and is targeted at developing markets. The smartphone will be available in selected markets in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia (including the Asia Pacific region), and Latin America. The pricing is yet to be revealed by BlackBerry and considering the phone is targeted at the youth and for developing markets, BlackBerry ought to price it accordingly. BlackBerry can’t afford the BlackBerry Z10 price goof-up once again, can they?