Nokia, which has traditionally done well in the low-price segment of the mobile phone market, will be facing the true test of its future relevance come May 5, when its budget Windows Phone – the Lumia 610 - hits shelves in Singapore.

Retailing for a very attractive S$379, the phone could well be offered by telcos on contract as a zero-dollar phone. This is a significant difference from the Lumia 800, its current highest-end Windows Phone available here, which is retailing for S$775. …

The new Nokia Lumia 900 is reportedly selling very well in the US, and currently sits comfortably in the No. 1 spot on Amazon’s “Cell Phones With Service Plans” category.

But Windows Phone 7.5 isn’t getting all the fun, as Nokia has revealed that native Microsoft Office Mobile apps are now available for its Symbian Belle devices.

Wait, Symbian?

Yes, the “burning platform” – as Nokia CEO Stephen Elop so eloquently described – is indeed getting a mobile productivity boost, and the Nokia 603, 700, 701, C6-01, C7, E7, X7, and Oro will all be getting Microsoft Office Mobile suite through an upcoming software update. …

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Have the past 12 months just zoomed by?

Unfortunately, they have passed before we had a chance to look back in wonder. If there’s something last minute that you haven’t done in 2010, there are less than 24 hours left today to get it done.

One thing that Techgoondu will be doing is to move to a new server host, which will offer faster access to readers who come to this site for news, commentary and insights into the latest tech happenings. …

I’ll be honest, when I first compared LG’s Optimus 7 with the other Windows Phone 7 (WP7) devices from HTC and Samsung, I was least impressed by this rather regular-looking number. …

When some Microsoft folks recently asked me how users and techies felt about its upcoming Windows Phone 7 OS, I told them “you’re lucky to still be in the news”.

Until the past few weeks, when favourable first-looks of Microsoft’s totally rebuilt smartphone OS came online, the only OSes that anyone was talking about were Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

For an example of how fast a dominant OS can fall in interest level, look at Nokia’s Symbian OS that now powers most of its phones, as it transitions to the more advanced MeeGo. Who thinks anything great of Symbian now?

And compared to Nokia, Microsoft was worse off a few months ago – it only showed glimpses of what Windows Phone 7 was about at February’s Mobile World Congress and nothing more.

So, it was with a bit of surprise when I saw how well Windows Phone 7 was built, during a hands-on preview at the Microsoft offices here in Singapore last week.

Having lost crucial market share to Android and iOS, Microsoft has clearly done the right thing by building its new OS from ground up. Gone are the clunky “halfway house” touch offerings on Windows Mobile 6.5. Absent too is any lag that you get while moving around menus. In fact, pretty animations accompany most actions – without slowing things down. …

A quick walk through the yearly Mobile World Congress – the biggest mobile phone show around – and you’ll realise you are actually gazing at a crystal ball that shows what people will tote in their hands in the coming months.

Here in Barcelona, as this year’s phone extravaganza kicks off today, the power is clearly with Google’s Android. With Sony Ericsson, Motorola and China’s Huawei showing off world-beating Android phones this week, it’s easy to think 2010 will be the year of the Google phone OS. (HTC has also launched two hot numbers in the Legend and Nexus One-lookalike Desire).

But very clearly, rivals are not going away quietly. Microsoft, Samsung and Nokia all have their sights aimed at the emerging powerhouse OS. …