Nokia’s recently announced entry-level Lumia 610 is expected to launch in the UK for around £160, but as WPCentral reports, its bigger brother, the Lumia 710, has just received a price-drop from one operator that sees it priced even lower.
While its rivals at O2 and Three are selling the Lumia 710 on pay-as-you-go tariffs for £189.99 and £199.99 respectively, Vodafone has launched a one-month promotion on the handset (ending 31 March), which not only sees its price reduced by 25% to £150, but also includes a free six-month Zune Music Pass, worth almost £54.
The price makes the Lumia 710 a very attractive proposition against devices at a similar price point from Vodafone. The Samsung Galaxy Ace, HTC Wildfire S and BlackBerry Curve 9300 are all available for around the same price, but feature much slower processors (600-800MHz) than the 710’s 1.4GHz Snapdragon, as well as smaller, lower-resolution displays than the Lumia"s 3.7" WVGA (480x800px) ClearBlack LCD.
Nokia has been aggressively promoting its Lumia range in the UK in recent months, but this may be the latest indication that additional methods and incentives are needed to get its Windows Phones into the hands of paying customers. In the US, Nokia has resorted to giving away free Xpress-On covers to buyers of its Lumia 710, while it"s believed that its new flagship Lumia 900 will significantly undercut its rivals when it goes on sale later this month on AT&T for as little as $99.99 on a two-year contract.