At 9 a.m. U.K. time this morning, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop kicked off Nokia World 2011 by unveiling six new phones including its first two Windows Phone 7.5 handsets: the Lumia 800 and the cheaper Lumia 710. Unfortunately for those of us in the States, they won’t be coming to the U.S. until sometime in 2012.
Below is a breakdown of each device and some of Nokia’s additions to the Windows Phone platform. These devices are already shipping to France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and the U.K. for a November launch. Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan will get them before the end of the year. Those of us in the U.S., well, we may get it next year.
Nokia Lumia 800
The Finnish phonemaker’s flagship Windows Phone is an evolution of the N9 design, which Elop explained has been one of Nokia’s most successful launches in some parts of the world (Russia) despite its MeeGo operating system. The Lumia 800 is the “first real Windows Phone,” claims Elop, who said it embodies the intent and aspirations of Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform like no other.
Specs:
- Screen: 3.7-inch AMOLED ClearBlack curved display
- Thickness: 12.1mm
- Processor: 1.4GHz processor
- Storage: 16GB internal storage, 25GB of free SkyDrive storage
- RAM: 512MB
- Camera: 8MP, Carl Zeiss lens
- Battery life: 8.5 hour talk time, 7 hour video playback time
- Charging: Micro USB
- Colors: Cyan, black, magenta
- Price: 420 euros
Nokia Lumia 710
The Lumia 710 will be sold as a cheaper alternative to the Lumia 800. It’s main feature is its swappable back covers and differing color selection from the 800. Its battery life, camera, and screen are somewhat weaker, though internally it seems to run the same processor, and comes with a microSD card slot, unlike the 800.
Specs:
- Screen: 3.7-inch
- Thickness: 12.5mm
- Processor: 1.4GHz processor
- Storage: 8GB internal storage, 25GB of free SkyDrive storage, microSD
- RAM: 512MB
- Camera: 5MP, Carl Zeiss lens
- Battery life: 7.6 hour talk time, 6 hour video playback time
- Charging: Micro USB
- Colors: Black, white (with WP7 tile-colored swappable backplates)
- Price: 270 euros
New Symbian devices
During the keynote, Nokia also announced the Nokia Asha 200, 201, 300, and 303. These devices are intended for developing markets, and run on Nokia Series 40, which now has Angry Birds. All of them have QWERTY and Web browsers that compress webpages up to 90 percent to save bandwidth. The higher end Asha 300 comes with dual-SIM capability, capacitive touch, 3G, and a 1GHz processor.
Nokia’s exclusive Windows Phone apps
All of these apps are free and are exclusive to Nokia’s Windows Phone devices.
Nokia Drive: Nokia is bringing turn-by-turn driving directions to Windows Phone. It should work mostly like Google’s Android offering, but will use Nokia’s Navteq maps engine.
Nokia Public Transport: This app was not shown but was announced. It will support 430 cities worldwide and will have public transit info available. In 45 cities, up-to-the-minute bus and subway routes will be available.
ESPN Hub: Get scores, updates, and watch clips of your favorite sports teams. The ESPN app will let you pin your favorite sport or team right to the home page to get updates on its progress at all times.
Nokia Music: This wasn’t fully explained, but Nokia showed off Mix Radio, a new feature that is an “effortless, easy-to-use way to discover, acquire, and experience new music.” Basically, you can choose between prepackaged mixes made by Nokia and instantly start listening without having to sign up or do anything, much like a radio. Better, you can download mixes for offline listening. With the ability to create your own mixes by typing in an artist name, the service is beginning to sound a lot like Pandora. There will be no charge and no signup page. It will supposedly just work, for free.
Nokia Live View: This will be an augmented reality app for Nokia phones, but no details were released.
