Nokia expands its Asha range with smarter feature phones that improve ways to work, learn and play

- Work - first Series 40 Asha phone to support Mail for Exchange
- Learn - new Nokia Life services provide key information to young, urban consumers, coupled with Nokia’s cloud-based browser for faster discovery of the online world while paying less
- Play - 40 free games available from EA worth EUR 75; plus preloaded Nokia Social application that  enables a single sign-in to multiple communities

Barcelona, Spain - Accelerating its capability to connect the next billion people to the internet, Nokia today unveiled additional services and three more Asha feature phone models -- the Nokia Asha 202, Asha 203 and Asha 302 -- at Mobile World Congress.

Designed to deliver a variety of affordable mobile experiences, the new offerings target three dimensions: Work, with Mail for Exchange support for the Nokia Asha 302; Learn, bringing new information services for young, urban consumers, and a fast, cloud-based browser that reduces internet access costs; and Play, with free EA games available on the Nokia Asha 202 and Asha 203.

“Since outlining a new strategy a year ago, we’ve taken significant actions to deliver against it,” said Mary T. McDowell, Nokia’s executive vice president for Mobile Phones.  “We’ve been connecting the next billion people to the mobile world and its benefits through contemporary feature phones and internet services. Today, we are taking another step in that direction, with a compelling combination of smarter mobile devices packed with innovative services.”

Nokia Life benefits 50 million users
Nokia also announced an evolution of Nokia Life Tools, Nokia Life, which provides life-enhancing information across the range of Nokia Series 30 and Series 40 products. Now with additional relevant services, social elements and fresher look, it’s available first on the Nokia Asha 202 and 203 phones. Since its 2009 launch in India, the SMS-based service has expanded to China, Indonesia and Nigeria. To date, more than 50 million people have experienced its benefits.

Nokia Life delivers content in the areas of parenting, life skills, education, health, entertainment and agriculture. For example, Nokia Life can help parents focus on children’s physical, emotional and social growth needs, from birth to adolescence. People can also learn English using basic SMS communications, and enjoy ringtones, sport news and trivia.

“Nokia Life services provide an entry to the world of digital content and an internet-like experience for many people who don’t yet have access to data plans” said Dieter May, Nokia’s senior vice president of Mobile Phone Services. “With today’s news, we’re enhancing our services to bring consumers an even more enjoyable experience on the new Asha phones, with content that matters to them in their daily lives, is fun and helps them progress.”

Nokia Asha family expands
The Nokia Asha family has expanded rapidly since its debut, just four months ago, with four devices presented at Nokia World 2011. It’s now available in more than 100 markets globally and will be complemented by three devices announced today.

Nokia’s Asha 202 and 203 phones stand out with the combination of a traditional keypad with a 2.4- inch touch screen, ideal for browsing, scrolling and opening applications. The Asha 202 features Dual SIM Easy Swap technology with dedicated SIM manager to personalize the phone and save up to five SIM cards with unique information. Both devices come with a 2-megapixel camera, music player, FM radio, Nokia Browser, and Bluetooth connectivity, and can handle memory cards up to 32GB. Estimated retail price for each is about EUR 60, excluding taxes and subsidies, and both are expected to start shipping in the second quarter of 2012. Nokia and EA have teamed on innovative ways to bring games to the next billion. The Nokia Asha 202 and 203 will be the first Series 40 devices to offer EA games. As a 60-day promotion at Nokia Store, the EUR 75 separate cost of an EA 40-game pack - including popular titles such as Tetris, Need for Speed, The Run and Bejeweled – will be automatically waived for buyers of either new model.

Image: Nokia Asha 202

Image: Nokia Asha 302

The Nokia Asha 302 is Nokia’s first Series 40 phone to support Mail for Exchange, giving people access to their emails, contacts and calendar on an exchange server. That and a stylish QWERTY keyboard make it ideal for young entrepreneurs and professionals seeking a beautifully designed phone. Additionally, the Nokia Asha connects to popular social networks and enables chatting through Whatsapp and other IM services. The Nokia Asha 302 is powered by a 1-GHz processor and supports 3.5G data speeds. It is available now for about EUR 95. "With today's announcement, Nokia has accelerated the truly global opportunity for enterprise mobility," according to Nicholas McQuire, research director enterprise mobility strategies EMEA for IDC.

"By making Mail For Exchange available for the sub 100 euros mobile device market, Nokia has taken a significant step in helping businesses across the globe, including those from high growth economies, achieve the productivity and employee satisfaction benefits that greater mobility affords them."

Nokia Browser helps consumers and operators to significantly cut costs
All three new devices provide a fast and affordable internet experience via Nokia’s cloud-accelerated Nokia Browser, which makes internet content easy to discover with its localized and personalized home page design and portal to thousands of web apps.  In addition to its speed, the browser compresses data traffic up to 90 percent, meaning cost reductions for consumers and operators, who can have better network utilization. Nokia Browser has been rapidly adopted, with almost four new users around the world activating it every second. It is available today in more than 200 markets.

Nokia expands Lumia experience to new price points and geographies

- New Nokia Lumia 610 provides a younger audience with the perfect introduction to the rich social, Web and entertainment experience of Windows Phone.
- The Nokia Lumia 900 brings high speed connectivity and a superior content experience to more countries around the world

Barcelona, Spain and Espoo, Finland - Nokia today announced the next stage in its plans to introduce unique Lumia experiences to more people around the world.

The new Nokia Lumia 610 is Nokia’s fourth and most affordable Lumia smartphone, designed as the perfect introduction to Windows Phone for a younger audience.  The Nokia Lumia 610 makes it easy to keep in touch with friends, providing instant access to social networks and bringing all mobile, email, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn contacts into one place.  It also makes it easier to browse the Web with Internet Explorer and to access games through Xbox Live. Available with Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive, Nokia Transport and Nokia Music, people can also choose from thousands of apps in the Windows Phone Marketplace to further personalize the experience.

Image: Nokia Lumia 610

With a distinctive profile and finely beveled metallic edges, the Nokia Lumia 610 is built to convey both quality and aspiration.  It comes in white, cyan, magenta and black, is priced at EUR189* and is expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2012.

The Nokia Lumia 610 was made possible thanks to a new software release from Microsoft delivering enhanced capabilities to the Windows Phone 7.5 platform.  The software release, available from April optimizes Windows Phone to support lower memory and processor requirements, while still delivering the same great experience for more affordable products.  In addition, Windows Phone will now include the network and language requirements for China. As a result, Nokia announced plans to make a range of Lumia smartphones available in China, covering both CDMA and WCDMA technologies, in the coming months.

Image: Nokia Lumia 900

After launching the Nokia Lumia 900 as its first LTE smartphone, Nokia is also making the phone available around the world in a DC-HSPA variant, for high speed data connection (42Mbits download) in countries where LTE is not available.  The Nokia Lumia 900 features a 4.3 inch ClearBlack AMOLED display for a superior touch and viewing experience.  It also features Nokia’s highest capacity battery making it the perfect Lumia phone for enjoying media and entertainment on the move.  The primary camera on the Nokia Lumia 900 has exclusive Carl Zeiss optics, a large aperture for improved performance in low light conditions and wide angle focal length for capturing full 16:9 images.  It is also the first Lumia phone to feature a front-facing camera, with large aperture and wide-angle lens for sharp, bright images and video calling out of the box.

The Nokia Lumia 900 will be available in white, cyan and black, is priced at EUR 480* and also expected to begin shipping in the second quarter of 2012.

The Lumia range will also benefit from the launch of new signature Nokia experiences on the Windows Phone platform:
- Nokia Reading is the next milestone in Nokia’s strategy to offer a comprehensive entertainment experience on Lumia. Nokia Reading provides a single, integrated hub experience, leveraging a panorama design to make it easier and faster to enjoy news, ebooks and audio books, including the ability to access content offline and pin dynamic content to the start screen as a Live Tile.  With an emphasis on local language materials wherever it becomes available, Nokia Reading delivers a highly personalized and locally relevant service. Future updates will include the ability to build dynamic magazines from feeds for a single integrated view of favourite online content. With no sign-in or subscriptions, Nokia Reading will be available from April.

- Nokia Transport, coming to Lumia for the first time, provides convenient door-to-door, underground, tram, suburban train, and bus directions for over 500 cities across 46 countries.  With step-by-step directions to the nearest station as well as timetable information on when the next bus or train is arriving for more than 80 cities, Nokia Transport will be available to download from the Windows Phone Marketplace in March.
- A new update to Nokia Drive, the free voice-guided, turn by turn navigation app that turns any Lumia smartphone into a personal navigation device will provide full offline use and features speed limit alerts. The update will also be available to download from the Windows Phone Marketplace in March.

Nokia 808 PureView ushers in a revolution in smartphone imaging

Nokia sets a new industry standard with the first in a range of high end experiences based on exclusive Nokia PureView imaging technologies.

Barcelona, Spain - Nokia today ushered in a new era in high-end smartphone imaging with the Nokia 808 PureView.  This is the first smartphone to feature Nokia PureView imaging technologies, bringing together high resolution sensors, exclusive Carl Zeiss optics and Nokia developed algorithms, which will support new high-end imaging experiences for future Nokia products. 

The Nokia 808 PureView features a large, high-resolution 41 megapixel sensor with high-performance Carl Zeiss optics and new pixel oversampling technology.  At standard resolutions (2/3, 5 and 8 megapixels) this means the ability to zoom without loss of clarity and capture seven pixels of information, condensing into one pixel for the sharpest images imaginable.  At high-resolution (38 megapixel maximum) it means the ability to capture an image, then zoom, reframe, crop and resize afterwards to expose previously unseen levels of details. With superior low-light performance and the ability to save in compact file sizes for sharing in email, MMS, and on social networks, the Nokia 808 PureView makes it possible for anyone to capture professional looking images in any conditions.

Image: Nokia 808 PureView

In addition to superior still imaging technology, the Nokia 808 PureView, also includes full HD 1080p video recording and playback with 4X lossless zoom and the world’s first use of Nokia Rich Recording.  Rich Recording enables audio recording at CD-like levels of quality, previously only possible with external microphones.  The Nokia 808 PureView also features exclusive Dolby Headphone technology, transforming stereo content into a personal surround sound experience over any headphones and Dolby Digital Plus for 5.1 channel surround sound playback.

“Nokia PureView imaging technology sets a new industry standard by whatever measure you use,” said Jo Harlow, executive vice president of Nokia Smart Devices.  “People will inevitably focus on the 41 megapixel sensor, but the real quantum leap is how the pixels are used to deliver breath-taking image quality at any resolution and the freedom it provides to choose the story you want to tell.”

Best African Blog at The World Media Awards

I am  happy to announce that this blog has just been voted as the "Best African Blog" in the World Media Awards website on Saturday 25 February 2012.This especially so due to the post on Nairobi Nights featuring a Kenyan Prostitute that was recently featured on Al Jazeera and other international media outlets.

Among other blog that's won awards at the World Media Awards include:

• Live Tricks- Best Blog Design
• Jason Keaths "Social Fresh" -Best Social Media Blog
• Marie Forleo-BestVideo Blogger
• Allyssa Milano-Best Celebrity Blogger
• Ken Davenport 'The Producers Perspective'-Best Entertainment Blog
• Brian Solis-Best Guest Blogger
• Wonkette-Best Political Blog
• Shangaiist- Best Asian Blog

 It is quite an honor to be reckoned among the Worlds Greatest bloggers by a panel of Jurists from different Countries and this just goes to indicate that the African blogosphere has matured and is a source of credible, informative ,inspiring ,captivating, resourceful ,entertaining ,and newsworthy content! I count the recognition not only as a win and an honour to this blog but to all the creative African bloggers out there and their readership.Continue informing,engaging and influencing your online readership.Thank you all for keeping it locked on this blog!

Travel Wild Medical Tours Partners with Benzy Healthcare for Medical Tourism

I have just received this press release but before i post it,my mind juggled on the idea: "Medical Tourism" by definition the word tourism conjures up the idea commercialization,leisure and relaxation .So can there be anything as medical tourism???The press release however highlights some truth about the high costs of medical treatment in Kenya as compared to India and other Countries and so the article may prove useful...but i find the idea of medical tourism disturbing, just my two cents....

Travel Wild Medical Tours Partners with Benzy Healthcare for Medical Tourism

Providing an end-to-end solution for medical patients going to India for treatment, with reduced costs and peace of mind for patients.

Travel Wild Medical Tours and Benzy Healthcare have teamed up to provide ultimate solution for patients looking to travel to India for medical treatment.  Travel Wild Medical Tours has begun working with doctors in Nairobi, allowing their patients to choose from a number of treatment options in India.  With a network of over 200 hospitals and more than 10,000 doctors in India, Kenyan patients can select a treatment plan within their budget.  Treatments are available for heart diseases, respiratory ailments, bone treatment, cosmetic surgery, dental treatment, general health check-ups and more.

With Travel Wild Medical Tours, every patient is taken care of from the time they leave their home until the time they return.  Patients are picked up from their homes and transported to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.  Upon arrival in India they are met by a Benzy Healthcare representative and transported either directly to their pre-selected hospital or to their pre-arranged accommodation in India.  Return flight, visa acquisition, medical treatment, accommodation in India, and all transfers are covered so that every patient has peace of mind when travelling abroad for their medical treatment.

Travel Wild Medical Tours has also worked in cooperation with Kenya Airways to develop a new ‘Medical Package’ that will greatly reduce the cost of flights for patients.

“We are filling a desperate need for patients in Kenya.  I have heard countless stories of patients travelling to India without knowing which hospital to go to, which doctors to see, or even where to get a hotel room,” stated Adam Rector, Marketing Manager for Travel Wild Medical Tours.  “Now patients have the full support of staff in Kenya and India to help them throughout the treatment process and patients will know all of the costs involved before they leave Kenya.”

“The number of patients coming into India increases each year because of our excellent facilities and doctors.  The cost savings compared to the USA, the UK, and South Africa are tremendous.  We wanted to create a hassle-free way for Kenyans to travel to India for medical treatment and we have achieved that goal with this partnership,” stated Vasco Noronha, Head of Inbound Operations for Benzy Healthcare.

Medical tourism into India has become increasingly popular in the last decade.  Worldwide, the medical tourism industry has grown from $40 billion in 2004 to over $100 billion today.  It is estimated that the medical tourism industry in India alone will account for $2.2 billion in 2012. According to a recent study, treatment costs in India were on average 80% less than costs in the United States, 74% less than costs in the UK, and 20% less than costs in Singapore.