Hi Mansel – you’re taking a Lumia 820 and JBL Play Up speakers on an adventure! Can you tell us a little about what you’ll be using them for on your Snow Leopard travels?

The Snow Leopard Award is summiting  five 7000m peaks in the former Soviet Union  in 2014, and our preparation for it will involve a lot of travel in the UK and abroad. Having the Lumia 820 and JBL Play Up speakers will keep us connected with the world. The handset will be our main communications hub so it’s a vital piece of kit to us, and the Nokia Lumia 820 fulfils the requirements exceptionally well – having a little extra volume will help the expedition rock.

(For progress on the preparation and attempt, you can visit www.onfireadventure.com)

Have you taken any photos yet? What do you think of the camera?

The camera is a very capable piece of kit sporting a Carl Zeiss with some pretty neat technology.  Some of the great features are the Lenses (Smart Shoot is a favourite), its ability to produce good quality shots in low light/shade, a physical shutter button – which makes a great change from jabbing at the screen. Shooting video is capable of producing quality sound and vision. Plus you have the option of backing up to your Skydrive automatically or to your SD card.

You’re used to using an iPhone – have you noticed any significant differences coming to the Lumia 820?

The design makes it stand out, the SD storage is so useful, its awesome screen, and great camera. Plus the battery life is pretty good, as with all smart phones you have to do a little tweaking, but I have been pleasantly surprised so far !

What are you loving so far? 

I love the Live Tiles, I can see what I need at a glance, and the speed of connection with wireless network is impressive, the quality of the apps available make my mobile life a lot easier. I have to confess I don’t even think about my previous phone.

What’s the most memorable moment from your adventures so far? What are you hoping to accomplish?

The most memorable moments so far have been working with our chosen charity and getting support from many places that will make this expedition possible. There are going to be lots of moments we will share with everyone and should everything go to plan and we complete the five summits it will be a first for a UK-based team and Nokia will be there to record that moment.

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We’re proud to be a part of this adventure! Be sure to stay tuned for updates on Mansel’s progress here, follow him on Twitter and check out the Snow Leopard site. If you have any good luck messages, we can also pass them on for you – just leave us a comment.

Before we get to the winners, those that deserved an ‘honorable mention’.

There were those who got clever with words and letters like Simon who I mentioned in my update last week, and Bountyquest who suggested (No) Doubt > (Kia) Calloway > (L)a(u)ren (M)ol(i)n(a). There was some more clever wordplay from psychomania666 who suggested Reel Big Fish > Hot Chip > Black Eyed Peas. A terribly English mix!

There was the Swedish themed mix from David Breyer – Hammerfall > Melissa Horn > Swedish House - now that would make all sorts of noise!

The sheer clash of sounds conjured up by Mozart > NSync > Blink 182 gets eeBeeebee a mention. As does the Rammstein > Aqua > Johnny Cash mix from Cristian. Weord sounds.

Pearl Jam > Flock of Seagulls > Dolly Parton – that suggestion from Ms_Scatty just made us sit up and take notice!

Runner up

You’d have to be a music addict like Olivier to come up with Deadmau5 > Sepultura > SClub7 – the very thought of that mix makes our ears shudder.

Winner 

SD Mabyeni – wins a Nokia Lumia 920 and Nokia Wireless Charging Plate – who grabbed our attention with this

‘New Radicals + New Order + New Found Glory is what I’ll be playing with my new #Lumia920′

Not only would the mix jar a little, it was crazy enough to qualify for the win. Congratulations winners, look out for a message from us.

Don’t worry – the #NokiaLumiaChallenge series isn’t at an end. Keep your eyes open for our next announcement, coming soon right here.

While I try and listen to all the entries, here’s a few that have caught my…ears so far:

Ayush came up with the Crazy P’s Pixie Lott>Pitbull>PSY

(he also invented a ‘rainbow mix’ to celebrate the colours of Nokia Yellowcard>Aqua>P!nk)

Justo, like so many of you, took 3 vastly contrasting genres and came up with Pavarotti>Kanye>Deadmau5

There was some clever work by Simon who suggested a few mixes – the first letters of the artists spelled….well, I’ll let you work it out for yourselves:

N*Sync>Oasis>KISS Incubus>A-Ha>Latryx UB40>Madonna>Iron Maiden Apocalyptica>911>2Pac ZZ Top>Empire Records>Outkast (to spell ZERO) – now that’s a playlist that is likely to blow your mind!

Keep the coming – you have until midnight GMT on Tuesday 26th March, so get browsing Nokia Music and see if you can come up with *crazier* mixes than those I just listed. Then pop them on Twitter using #NokiaLumiaChallenge.

I decided to split them into categories based on rough groupings. Starting with…

The Sky

It’s always there, but can look so very, very different, as these three photos prove. From Olivier, a slightly off-kilter look at the clouds:

Christophe captured a contrasting sunset and shadow pic in France:

and finally a pic of the watery sun over Canada, from Dean:

Barcelona

You may have noticed a few tweets last week from Barcelona, where there was a small, intimate massive get together of all people and things mobile, under the banner Mobile World Congress. And from there, a few pics. The first of which – from Igor – could easily have come under the previous category. Look. At. The. Moon.

On a walkabout between Nokia launches (the Lumia 520 and Lumia 720, and the Nokia 301 and Nokia 105 all debuted last week) Stephen grabbed a shot in the local market:

After dark, when the booths were closed and the feet were resting, Bharad was testing the low light capabilities of the Lumia 920, snapping this impressively detailed shot of the Port Building:

Abstract

There is no other word for the pics that come into this category. The first is a very clever take on the modern world from weirdize (note the background):

As part of a comparison set on Flickr that pitches the Lumia 920 against the 808 PureView, Olivier brings us this chilly snap:

Finally in this category, this snap from Ali of nature reclaiming the junk:

Cat

Just because they win the internet…

From Michael, a photo of a cat:

So there we have it, an amazing gallery of your Lumia 920 snaps. Apologies if your photo didn’t make it, there were many, *many* quality images to choose from. Do you have anything taken on your Lumia 920 that could rival these? Or any other Lumia-snapped photos? Let us know by leaving a comment with a link, or drop us the details on Twitter – who knows, we could be featuring your work in a future post.

The launches took all the attention, so let’s kick off with some reflections on the Nokia 105. Sam Reynolds at Geek.com reckons that the phone will be ‘hugely popular’ – mostly in the emerging markets due to the price point. When he discusses the hardware, Sam can’t help but highlight its

‘rugged and sturdy’ nature

Jon Mundy over at Trusted Reviews has heaped praise on the Nokia 301 – not only for the resemblance to its higher-end Lumia cousins, but for the attention to detail where the imaging capabilities are concerned. Sequential shots, panoramic photos, the self-timer and voice guidance for self-shots are all mentioned as being a nod to smartphones, and Jon reckons this will stand the Nokia 301 in good stead when it comes to the decisions of those who don’t want a smartphone, but do want to take and share great photos.

Also, we launched the Nokia Lumia 520 and Lumia 720 – and with almost a week to reflect, there has been lots of time to post those hands on videos. We’ve tirelessly trawled* the swathe of 2 minute specials out there to bring you the best, so sit back and enjoy this hands on with the Lumia 720 from Daniel Rubino of Windows Phone Central:

And this, a slightly longer Lumia 520 demo from Antti, brought to you by Edgar from WinSourceVideo:

And of course there was more dedicated sifting* to find these lovely Lumia 720 videos. First up, Michael from PocketNow (with Tony behind the camera):

…and what round up would be complete without a demo from one of our lovely colleagues, brought to us by Charbax – including how the Lumia 720 differs from the 920:

If you’re unsure of the differences between any of the Lumia range, Matthew Miller has produced this handy post-MWC guide – outlining the key features of each. Nice work, Matthew! For those of us who prefer to see the difference, Mark Guim has a couple of galleries on The Nokia Blog Showing the Nokia Lumia 520 compared to the Lumia 620, and the Lumia 720 up against the Lumia 920.

Another story from MWC13, and one that features the Nokia booth, no less, is the Nokia Lumia 920 camera test from carman58 and a buddy – pitching a competitor against the mighty Lumia 920. The results? Well as he says himself – you decide (hint – it’s a pretty straightforward choice once you see the pics).

Of course, one of the coolest things in Barcelona last week (if you discount Mr. Messi’s fleet-footed magic), was the partnership between us and Makerbot, resulting in some amazing customised Lumia 820 cases – you may remember we talked about it before #MWC13. Michael Hell got his hands on one – and dubbed it the ‘coolest thing I’ve seen at MWC’. 

Nirave also got one made for him, and he was super happy. He even called us ‘awesome’. Thanks Nirave!

And Dave Peck (lead social media manager at Paypal) even caught the Makerbot printer in action as it made him his very own case:

So how was your #MWC13? What do you think of the launches? And those Lumia 820 custom 3D-printed cases….they’re pretty cool aren’t they? Let us know what you think by leaving us a comment. Or send us a tweet.

*We didn’t really have to look very far – there are two excellent posts on My Nokia Blog bringing you ALL the hands on videos of the Nokia Lumia 520 and Lumia 720.

Nokia 105

Once again, Ali of My Nokia Blog brings us his words of wisdom direct from the show floor with his take on the ‘super affordable’ new Nokia 105:

Some of his key take outs:

‘very cool’

‘super light’

‘awesome [phone]‘

For an official hands-on, Mark Guim posted the video he took of a demo at the Nokia booth on The Nokia Blog:

What do you guys think? Is it a good deal for 15 euros?

Nokia 301

Next up, the Nokia 301 and Sam got to spend some time with the phone at the Nokia booth and shared his video of the official demo including a nice example of the voice guided self-portrait function in the camera settings at 1’25 (looking for a bonus video showing just this feature? No problem, Sam’s got you covered):

And just in case that’s not enough for you, at a different side of the Nokia booth, Clinton Jeff gets a one on one demo of the Nokia 301:

There we have it – two awesome new phones for you to get your teeth into. As ever, let us know what you think by leaving your comments below or chat to one of us on Twitter.

Nokia Lumia 520

Let’s start with the Nokia Lumia 520, Nokia’s ‘most affordable Windows Phone’ according to Mark Guim over at The Nokia Blog. He posted this hands on demo from Nokia Design giving the official tour of the phone and highlighting all the…highlights:

A little later on Sam got to sit down with the phone, and he put together his own version of the ‘quick hands on and first impressions’ video:

His initial takeaways from having a closer look at the phone:

‘Impressed as regards the build quality’

‘Nice, fluid device’

‘Looks nice, no?’

Nokia Lumia 720

Moving on to the Nokia Lumia 720, the more mid-range of the two phones we’re looking at today. As you might expect from Clinton Jeff, he has a post that has both quality images (see above) and a great little hands on with the phone where he runs through the key features:

Running a ‘real world’ experiment, Ali from My Nokia Blog took the Nokia Lumia 720 into a dark booth with a member of the competition, and sampled some images with the cameras. Guess which phone won…

As hemedans puts it in the comments on the post ‘[the] 720 is amazing, these budget phones always surprise me’, and andrew_b adds that the

’720 is looking increasingly like the pick of the bunch for price/performance in the current…Lumia lineup’

So what do you guys think? Impressed by the new phones? Have questions or comments for the guys who brought you their impressions? Let us know in a comment below, or as ever you can condense your thoughts into 140 characters and hit us up on Twitter.

The files are there for you to create your own case and customise it as much as you want – use our files as a basis, then let your imagination run wild. A great source of inspiration is the MakerBot Thingiverse, where tons of designs have already been submitted. Your design can be simple or an intricate pattern, or you could use unicorns and rainbows – it’s entirely up to you!

Through our partnership with MakerBot we’ve decided to go one step further, by bringing 3D printing to life at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona. So, there will be two MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D printers on the Nokia stand during the show, and they will be used to create the world’s first live social 3D printing experience. For a chance to win your very own personalised 3D printed case, all you have to do is tweet @Nokia_Connects using the hashtag #Lumia820 – something fun, entertaining, witty.

Every day we will pick a few tweets that have used the hashtag and print a personalised Lumia 820 case for them. Runners-up attending MWC will win a custom patterned case by MakerBot.

Oh, and every personalised case we choose and print will come wrapped round its very own Nokia Lumia 820!! There will be a number of winners every day, so keep trying!

This is open to everyone, attending MWC or not: So what are you waiting for? Get tweeting!

For full terms and conditions, check our rules page.

An unboxing

The best place to start, always. We chose Daniel Rubino from WMExperts (other unboxings are available) – and this ‘true unboxing’.

Highlights include:

‘I really like the size…a great feeling in the hand’

‘front-facing camera – not bad for [this level of] phone’

‘absolutely adorable’

Start here if you want to know the basics.

A review

An armchair review (quite literally) from Dialaphone’s Chris Helsby gives a great idea of what the phone will offer – for example, Nokia ‘hasn’t skimped’ on the quality, feeling much more ‘sturdy’ than higher end smartphones.

It’s worth checking out the full written review of the Nokia Lumia 620 to see how it is ‘lighting the way’ for lower cost phones.

A sample of what it can do

But how does the 620 perform day to day? What can it do? Well, Jay has found an example of the phone’s rich recording capacity. Drums, no less.

I’m not much into drum solos, but this shows just how the Nokia Lumia 620 can record a full range of sound on the HAAC microphones. Great find, Jay!

A bit of fun

‘What would the Nokia Lumia 620 look like if it was rendered in Minecraft world?’ – a question we get asked ALL the time (seriouly, you wouldn’t believe it). Thankfully, Gokuroyu has delivered….in style.

Simply. Mind-bogglingly. Awesome.

Got anything you’d like to add about the Nokia Lumia 620? Let us know by leaving a comment, or hitting us up on Twitter.

Next up, a look at Nokia Music from Sam or as he puts it; ‘a rundown of everything you can do within Nokia Music’. And he’s right, it is! From playlists – the fact that these are already loaded is ‘cool’ – to making music available offline when travelling for ‘zero cost’. Sam gives a great, detailed look at everything that is available, including making your own playlist – in his own words it’s a ‘great way to discover new music’. Is it any good? The ‘honest answer is yes’.

An excellent guide, I’m sure you’ll agree.

We haven’t featured one for a while on this page, so I thought it was about time we had an unboxing video. Nirave’s look at the Lumia 820 is short, sweet and to the point:

For fans of the next stage on from the unboxing, Nirave has obliged with his first impressions of the phone.

Have you seen anything that you think the rest of the Nokia Connects community should be interested in? Feel free to let us know by leaving a comment or dropping us a link on Twitter, and we’ll be sure to include it in the next round up.