The three phones are available without contract starting at ¥1,999 ($318) for the Lumia 620, while the Lumia 920 will cost ¥4,599 ($736) and the Lumia 820 priced at ¥3,499 ($560). There’s no release date set for the three handsets, but since they’re now up for pre-order it should only be a matter of time before they’re unleashed.

However, we do know that the devices will be available on China Unicom and will support HSPA+ 3G. They’ll be available for purchase at several major retailers in China, although there’s no word what stores will carry them or how abundant supply will be. Nokia’s second-biggest market is China, so we may see these new handsets fly off the shelves.

Nokia’s latest Lumia device is the budget-minded 620, which features a 3.8-inch ClearBlack WVGA display and a 5MP camera. On the inside, there’s a 1GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor with 512MB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage with room for a microSD card for expandable storage. The Lumia 620 sells for $249 without a contract in the US. Take a look at our hands-on for more info.

[via WMPoweruser]

Even if a large portion of those people who signed up never actually turn up to pay for the smartphone, 100,000 reservations in a day is an impressive number. With a couple more days of the iPhone 5 reservation availability, China Unicom has continued to receive an impressive number of pre-orders. China Unicom has now racked up 200,000 reservations for the new smartphone in three days.

The number indicates that while the pace of reservations has definitely slowed after the initial onslaught, there still a very impressive amount of Chinese smartphone users interested in the iPhone 5. China Unicom is also announced that it will be offering a subsidy for the iPhone 5 with a minimum deposit of $947 for the 16 GB version.

The Chinese carrier requires a deposit that’s more than the cost of the phone and then refund credits monthly depending on length of the contract spanning from one to three years. The deposit required for the 32 GB iPhone 5 works out to $1107 and the deposit for the 64 GB smart phone works out to $1268. The contract on the 16 GB iPhone over 2 years would cost Chinese users $62 per month.

[via TheNextWeb]

The carrier begin taking reservations for the iPhone 5 Monday. Despite the high cost of the device in China, the company racked up 100,000 online pre-orders for the device on the first day it was offered. However, 100,000 reservations for the device doesn’t mean that many people actually turn up on December 14 to pay.

No money was required to pre-order the device online with only an ID card and other personal information required to reserve the device. The iPhone is also being pre-ordered by another Chinese carrier called China Telecom. That carrier reportedly received 5000 pre-orders for the iPhone 5 on Sunday before the official release date on the network have been announced.

Apple is also rolling the iPhone 5 out to 50 additional countries this month other than China. Previous iPhone launches in China have had issues attributed to an elaborate network of scalpers and resellers. The reserve system implemented by carriers aims to alleviate some of these problems.

[via The Next Web]