This week, Nokia announced the Lumia 620, the third in its Windows Phone 8 smartphone range, and the most affordable yet, with an estimated MSRP of $249 USD (excluding taxes and subsidies).

The Lumia 620 is more playfully styled than its counterparts, the Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Lumia 820.  It uses a “dual-shot colour technique” to deliver a variety of colour and texture effects.

By adding a second layer of either coloured, transparent, or translucent polycarbonate over a base layer, the result is new secondary colours and depth effects.  The Nokia Lumia 620 has a total of seven different exchangeable shells that allow users to customize their phone to suit their personal style and preference.

Powered by Windows Phone 8, the Lumia 620 aims to deliver a more personal smartphone experience – from adjustable Live Tiles that update directly to the Start Screen to the Me Tile, which allows users to check in to their location, post updates, and monitor Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.  Windows Phone 8 also includes Xbox Live, Microsoft Office, and Internet Explorer 10.

“We continue to execute on our strategy to reach new audiences and new markets,” said Jo Harlow, executive vice president, Nokia Smart Devices, in a prepared statement. “With its innovative design, the latest Windows Phone 8 software and signature experiences from Nokia, like Nokia lenses, Nokia Maps and Nokia Music, the Nokia Lumia 620 is a highly competitive smartphone at this price point.”

One of the features shared with its sister phones is the Nokia Lumia 620′s 5MP main camera and front facing VGA camera.  It features a Cinemagraph lens to add fun, simple animations to still photos, and Smart Shoot, which can take a string of multiple images, remove unwanted obstructions from the pictures, and create a single perfect shot.

Naturally, Nokia’s new smartphone grants access to Nokia’s native apps, including Nokia Maps, Nokia Drive, Nokia Transport, and the exclusive Nokia City Lens, which can display information about local surroundings by overlaying it onto buildings as seen through the camera viewfinder. With Nokia Music, users have access to free streaming of ad-free tracks, and can even download playlists to listen while offline, all without needing any registration or subscription.

The Lumia 620 also has near-field communication (NFC) support.  It can pair easily with accessories specially designed to connect with NFC, and makes sharing content with other compatible devices as simple as tapping the devices together.  THe NFC feature can also be used to make quick, secure payments using the Windows Phone 8′s Wallet application.

As far as tech specifications go, the phone sports a 3.8 inch TFT WVGA 800×480 ClearBlack display, a 1300mAh Battery, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 processor with 1 Ghz dual-core CPUs, 512MB RAM, and 8GB mass memory, with MicroSD memory expansion support up to 64GB, plus 7GB of free Microsoft SkyDrive storage.  The phone will be available in lime green, orange, magenta, yellow, cyan, white, and black.

“People can do more of the things they love when they choose a mobile device that has a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor,” said Enrico Salvatori, senior vice president and president of Qualcomm Europe. “The Snapdragon S4 Plus processor is the heart of the Nokia Lumia 620, making it possible to multi-task, stream in HD and share content at super-fast speeds.”

The Nokia Lumia 620 will be available in Asia starting in January 2013, and will be closely followed by release in Europe and the Middle East before expanding further.

Full press release can be read here.