Nokia Chat for Windows Phone available in Beta Labs

Today, through its Beta Labs blog, Finnish maker Nokia announces a new experimental app for the Lumia Windows Phone lineup. Available only in a select number of markets, Nokia Chat for Windows Phone is designed to connect Lumia users with "friends who use Lumia, Asha, S40, and Symbian devices, and those using Yahoo! Messenger on other mobile devices and platforms".

Nokia Chat for Windows Phone is available to Lumia users in Australia, Canada, India, Nigeria, South Africa, New Zealand, United Kingdom and United States. The Finnish manufacturer promises to expand availability "to more countries in the near future". So what does Nokia Chat for Windows Phone bring to the table for us Lumia users?

With no official Yahoo! Messenger app available on Windows Phone so far, Nokia Chat for Windows Phone allows users of the still popular instant messaging service to connect by using a Nokia account. The app scans your contact list for Yahoo! Messenger handles and you can also manually add them.

Nokia Chat for Windows Phone supports push notifications, which inform you of incoming messages, live tiles, the ability to share a certain place, such as restaurants or shops, and can also share your location.

For Windows Phone 8 users, the app can also take advantage of voice dictation, voice commands -- example "Chat with Michael Jordan" -- as well as lockscreen notifications. The last feature displays a counter informing you of the number of unread messages.

Nokia Chat for Windows Phone joins other experimental apps designed for Microsoft's smartphone operating system, such as Lumia Storage Check, Nokia Conference, Place Tag and Play To for WP8. I've detailed the four in a previous article dubbed "Empower your Lumia Windows Phone with experimental apps from Nokia Beta Labs".

Nokia Chat for Windows Phone is available to download through Nokia Beta Labs.