Nokia Lumia 620 Makes Colorful Debut at LeWeb

Hoping to appeal to younger audiences and new markets, Nokia unveiled the colorful and affordable Lumia 620 at the LeWeb tech conference in Paris today.

The entry-level Windows Phone 8 handset offers a 3.8-inch, 800 by 480 touchscreen, a five-megapixel camera on back and a front-facing VGA camera. It has eight gigabytes of internal memory, along with a microSD expansion slot.

But the feature that Nokia is really touting is the colorful design. The Lumia 620 comes in various base colors that can be snazzed up with seven different exchangeable shells. The covers are translucent, so when attached they create a dual-color effect with the phone’s base hue. Colors include lime green, orange, magenta, yellow, cyan, white and black.

Priced at around $249 (before carrier discounts), the Lumia 620 is the most affordable Windows Phone 8 device yet, according to Nokia. It will be available in January, starting in Asia, then Europe and the Middle East, before heading to other regions. No word yet on whether it will arrive in the U.S.

In addition to the Lumia 620, Nokia, as expected, announced the Lumia 920T for China. It is the first Windows Phone device compatible with the country’s TD-SCDMA network, and will be available through China Mobile by the end of the year.

Like the Lumia 920, it has a 4.5-inch HD display, an 8.7-megapixel camera and NFC support. It can also be charged wirelessly, and Nokia and Air China have partnered up to offer wireless chargers at Beijing Airport’s VIP lounges.

The partnership with China Mobile will be an important one for Nokia. Though early reports showed that the Lumia 920 was selling well both in the U.S. and Europe, Nokia’s sales continue to slip.

China Mobile is the largest service provider in the country, with more than 700 million subscribers, but it remains to be seen whether it will take to the device and Windows Phone.