It seems that the good people over at T-Mobile have begun to have a better idea when it comes to keeping up with the times, by being ready to bring about LTE connectivity to devices connected on their network. So far, there has been limited testing being conducted on several devices which are available on T-Mobile, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 that comes with LTE hardware underneath the hood, right out of the box. All it needs is a software update, and you’re good to go. Well, it seems that another device has been added to the list, that would be the Nokia Lumia 810 with its very own LTE-enabling update.
Engadget claims that a T-Mobile representative has confirmed that the Nokia Lumia 810 will be on the receiving end of an update which will bring LTE connectivity to the smartphone, although the fated date as to when that might happen has yet to be confirmed at time of publishing. T-Mobile’s LTE network has barely outgrown its diapers so far, so do remain patient and bide your time.
Get your Windows Phone 8 rally caps on for a trip to T-Mobile today as both the HTC Windows Phone 8X and the Nokia Lumia 810 have been made available to the public just this morning. We’ve had a full review of the Lumia 810 earlier this week and have had our hands on the Windows Phone 8X in a full review before it made its way to T-Mobile as well. Now it’s time to check out how the two compare to one another – especially since we’ve just gotten the T-Mobile Windows Phone 8X in the mail!
The Nokia Lumia 810 is a device that’s exclusive to T-Mobile, this being mostly because there are devices so very extremely similar to it on each of the carrier’s competing networks. You’ve got a device that’s made to take on the middle of the market with a slightly toned-down presentation compared to its bigger cousins the Lumia 820 and Lumia 920, but when you’ve got the device in your hand, you’ll feel as though you’ve still got a top-tier machine. Our full review (the first link in this paragraph) to see our full look.
The HTC Windows Phone 8X is a device we’ve, again, also already had a full review of back when it was released internationally and on AT&T. This device has been said to be the biggest competitor for the Nokia Lumia 920, when in fact we’re finding that it’s essentially in a different category altogether because of the Nokia-only apps that appear on the one, but not the other. HTC on the other hand has an HTC app that gives you weather information, but it’s nothing new – they had this same app onboard their older Windows Phone devices before the switch to Windows Phone 8, and it’s certainly not changed significantly since then.
These device are up for sale at T-Mobile right this minute and will be at most T-Mobile stores you’re able to walk to in your area. Have a peek at them in-person! You’ll be able to get the Nokia Lumia 810 for $149 with a 2-year contract after $50 mail-in rebate. The HTC Windows Phone 8X will cost you $199 with a two-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate as well – bring your pocketbooks!
With the Nokia Lumia 810 comes T-Mobile’s chance to jump aboard the Windows Phone 8 / Nokia train to victory with a slightly powered-down version of the hero Lumia line introduced earlier this year. We’ve got our review of the Nokia Lumia 920, a beast of a machine with its own set of top-tier features, now we see the lower end of the spectrum with the 810 and its slightly less daring smartphone body. As it turns out, much of the experience here is the same, with not a whole lot of apparent difference to be seen between this and any other high-powered Windows Phone 8 smartphone on the market thus far.
Hardware
Just as the Lumia 920 and 820 come loaded with the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor at 1.5GHz with Adreno 225 graphics, so too does the 810. It’s certainly not in the processing department that you’ll see any less a device here than in the higher-up members of the Lumia family. Likewise you’ll be getting a great display at 4.3-inches of OLED screen with 480 x 800 pixel resolution.
This device also comes with Nokia’s own “Clear Black” technology for the deepest of blacks, so they say, and a “super sensitive touch” as well. Though the blacks don’t seem particularly blacker than any black we’ve experience before (aka none more black), the touchscreen is indeed more than responsive enough for anyone’s tastes. You will not have to double-tap here, that’s for certain.
This device has a lovely soft plastic back that comes off essentially all in one piece and contains a removable 1800mAh battery for all-day action (more on that in the Battery section below). The device measures in at 5.03 x 2.69 x 0.43 inches (127.8 x 68.4 x 10.9 mm) and weighs in at just 5.11 oz (145g). This machine has a front-facing camera for web chat at 1.2 megapixels and works with a perfectly excellent 8 megapixel camera on the back with 1080p 30fps video capabilities as well.
Gone is the Pure View technology included on the Lumia 920, but the Carl Zeiss F2.2 aperture remains, complete with dual-LED flash action. You’ve got all the same abilities that the Lumia 920 comes able to work with – everything except the ability to take great photos in the dark.
This machine doesn’t have nearly as daring a physical shape and feel as the Nokia Lumia 920 or 820, but it’s certainly great to work with. It feels comfortable to hold and certainly wont be blasting out any eyeballs with its standard black casing, that’s for certain.
Software
Inside you’ve got Windows Phone 8 with a set of applications that remains the same as the Nokia Lumia 920 internationally – but here with T-Mobile additions. You have T-Mobile exclusive apps here the same as you have AT&T exclusive apps in the AT&T Lumia 920. Also the same is your ability to toss these apps if you do not need them – the same goes for the Nokia apps, but in that case, you’ll want to take another look.
Here the Nokia Lumia 810 shines with a set of Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 hero apps, each of them designed to bring you an awesome mapping or music experience that you’ll not be able to get on any other hardware. Nokia provides an ever-so-slightly unique experience in the software department designed to set them apart as a Windows Phone 8 competitor to be reckoned with. As it stands, they’re doing a pretty darn good job as far as we’re concerned. T-Mobile is doing a pretty OK job as well here, making it easy to grab the apps they suggest for your ideal Windows Phone 8 experience.
Be sure to take a peek at Nokia Music as well as each of Nokia’s mapping apps, each of them designed to help you find out more about the environment you’re living in and to help you navigate your way through it. That’s turn-by-turn navigation tied with augmented reality showings of businesses and landmarks near you along with public transport planning as well. Nokia Music, on the other hand, is quite simply a totally awesome free streaming music service – that also leads you in to Nokia’s own music store, as well.
With Nokia Music you’ve got the ability to tap three of your favorite artists and put them in a playlist, Nokia creating for you a high-powered mix made with algorithms of greatness, shooting out mixes you’ll love by all manner of artists related to your favorites. There will certainly be smartphone users out there who purchase a Lumia device simply because Nokia Music is aboard – it’s just that slick.
Battery Life / Camera
The battery on this device is up on the high end with 1800mAh capacity – that’s going to last you at least one day’s worth of average usage as well as camera work. If you’re a heavy user, you may have to charge before 10 hours are done, but if you’re only going to use the device for web browsing, texting, and taking photos, you’ll have more than a day’s usage out of the Lumia 810. This is due in part to the software not needing too much from the battery to keep up and running, but mostly because Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor is great at battery conservation.
The camera is 8 megapixels strong on the back with 1080p video recording ready for action – and it’s pretty nice. Again you’ve got partially the Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor to blame for the nice images at the end due to its dedicated image processing architecture, but Nokia has really stepped up their efforts in the hardware department as well with a fabulous lens. The Nokia Lumia 810 works with a camera that’s easily one of the top in its class – both in your ability to quickly and easily shoot photos and video and in the end result photos.
Again you should note that this device does not have the same PureView technology that the Nokia Lumia 920 does, so when you take a photo in the dark, you’re going to want to put the flash on. Otherwise you’re getting great photos in essentially any environment, and being able to access your camera with the physical camera button right through the lockscreen is a definite plus.
Above: Dark – it doesn’t work on the 810, but it definitely does on the 920.Below: In the light, the 810 can take perfectly wonderful photos galore.
Wrap-up
In the end, Nokia has created another real winner for the Windows Phone 8 universe as a whole. The Nokia Lumia 920 may be just that little bit better with a slightly larger display and loud body, but the 810 takes care of the user who doesn’t want to take a monster out of their pocket every time they need to make a call. This is the business person’s Windows Phone 8 smartphone.
You’ll want to consider this device if you’re definitely working with T-Mobile in the near future and will be living in the Windows Phone 8 universe. It’s not going to be winning any popularity contests against the Samsung Galaxy S III or an unlocked T-Mobile-wielding iPhone 5 any time soon, but that’s not what it’s made for. Instead its your first great choice for Microsoft’s next generation in mobile OS action. The Nokia Lumia 810 is a truly solid Windows Phone 8 experience, top to bottom.
Today T-Mobile announced their holiday lineup of new devices, and it includes a plethora of different phones from different manufacturers. T-Mobile named off devices such as the Nokia Lumia 810, the HTC Windows Phone 8X, the Google Nexus 4 from LG, and the Samsung Galaxy Note II. These devices and more will be available from T-Mobile during the holiday season.
On top of this, the carrier will also be bringing the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, LG Optimus L9, and Google’s Nexus 7. The Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, Lumia 810, Windows Phone 8X, and the Nexus 4 will be available at T-Mobile starting November 14. The Nexus 7 will be coming November 5, and the Optimus L9 will available on October 31.
The Galaxy Note II has been available on T-Mobile for a few days now, but the carrier is putting it in with their holiday lineup, and the same thing goes for Samsung’s flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S III. Both of these devices will be at the forefront of T-Mobile’s offerings along with the aforementioned devices.
Prices for devices start as low as $79.99 for the Optimus L9, and go as high as $369.99 for the Galaxy Note II. T-Mobile is actually selling the Note II $70 higher than other carriers, who are charging only $299 for the 5.5-inch phablet-style smartphone. If you’re in the market for a new device this holiday season, you may want to look into treating yourself with a brand new smartphone.
Shopping for a smartphone can be an exciting and arduous experience. Along with the promise of something new and fantastic, it brings the fear of commitment, and even worse, the prospect of saddling yourself to a lousy device for two years. Fortunately for you, Engadget spends tons of time playing with the latest gear and we’re constantly on the lookout for what’s coming next. If you’re wanting to take the pain out of shopping for a smartphone, you’ve come to the right place. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Engadget’s smartphone buyer’s guide: your one-stop resource to finding the best and most exciting handsets on the market today.
Before you dive in, however, we’ve introduced a few changes to the buyer’s guide, so take a minute to prepare yourself for what’s in store. First and foremost, you’ll now find alternate selections to supplement our top picks. This should already be familiar to many of you, which is the same format we use for our seasonal gift guides. The next one is a biggie: we’ve dropped the QWERTY selection. By and large, manufacturers and carriers alike have shifted their focus away from keyboard-equipped smartphones, and you’ll rarely find more than one option on any given carrier. That said, if you still insist on the tactile experience, you’ll always find everything you need to know in our reviews. Finally, whenever possible, you’ll now find prices from Amazon Wireless, which allows us to provide you with more compelling budget selections and highlight the substantial savings that you can score by circumventing the carriers. It’s not like they need your charity, anyway.
If you’re curious to see how it all unfolded — and we know you are — join us after the break, where we round up the very best smartphones of the season.
If you were pretty impressed by what Nokia managed to do with Windows Phone 8 with the recent release of their Lumia smartphones, then you might want to cozy up to T-Mobile, as the mobile carrier in the US has just announced that they will be making available a variant of the Lumia 820 – calling it the Nokia Lumia 810 instead, sporting T-Mobile livery, no less. It does beg the question, how come there does not seem to be any variants of the higher end Nokia Lumia 920 instead? Having said that, let us take a closer look at what the Nokia Lumia 810 brings to the table.
The Nokia Lumia 810 is definitely a thing of beauty, there are no two ways about it for sure. It sports a minimalistic design and industry-leading navigation services, and will come packed with a sharp and gorgeous 4.3-inch OLED screen which boasts of a ClearBlack display. What is ClearBlack all about? Translated to English, it means that your colors will come in an eye-popping array, while blacks remain just as that – deep and dark. It also makes perfect sense if you are a fashionista and want to get the most out of the Lumia 810, as it comes with interchangeable charging shells which will arrive in black and, allowing you to juice up your device without having to mess around with the tangled web of modern day man known as wires.
Not only that, the Lumia 810 comes with an 8-megapixel camera that is accompanied by a Carl Zeiss lens. Should you want to perform video calls, fret not, as the Nokia Lumia 810 alone comes with a front-facing camera which enables you to hold video chats in crystal clear HD resolution. Of course, the smoothness of the video call depends on your network, so don’t blame the Lumia 810 for choppy video!
Preloaded software include Nokia Music, where you are able to enjoy free music that is streamed from a collection of more than 17 million tracks, meaning even the most picky person will still be able to find something that he or she likes. There is no word on pricing as at press time, but we will just wait for the end of the month, hoping that T-Mobile would have more concrete information by then.
T-Mobile’s not being shy in its selection of Windows Phone 8 offerings, so far announcing plans to release the HTC Windows Phone 8X, 8S and Nokia Lumia 810, but unfortunately it does have to be shy in actually showing them off. The carrier’s booth at tonight’s MobileCon 2012-related event had the latter device, but wasn’t able to turn it on for us (a situation that we’ve sadly come to expect with virtually every public appearance by a WP8 device). Technically, the 810 is being dubbed a T-Mobile “exclusive” in the US, but that takes on very little meaning when given its use of a AWS-friendly HSPA+ 42Mbps radio. It bears some family resemblance in specs and looks to its cousin, the Lumia 820, but it still keeps to a distinct design; the 8MP rear camera panel is laid out vertically (see also: Lumia 800) rather than horizontally, the LED flash is off to its side, and the 1.2MP front-facing camera is on the opposite side of the earpiece. It’s still a little thicker and heavier than we’d like to see on a midrange device, which is mainly a result of the 810’s exchangeable wireless charging shells (it’s available in cyan and black). The Lumia 810 also features a 4.3-inch OLED WVGA (800 x 480) ClearBlack display offering a pixel density of 217ppi. Naturally we’ll need to put this to the test once we’re allowed to turn it on, but we expect this to be roughly the same quality as the Lumia 900. We’ll let you know when more specs come our way, but in the meantime take a look at our hands-on images below.
With the exclusivity of the Nokia Lumia 920 on AT&T announced at the start of this Windows Phone 8 generation of phones, the future seemed to dim a little for the company’s chances at taking on the rest of the market in the USA. When the Nokia Lumia 810 was announced this week for T-Mobile, it instantly became apparent that Nokia wasn’t limiting its wares to one carrier – not at all. With rumors abound that Verizon will be in the mix soon as well, we’ve got a real collection of Nokia device out to take on the USA – will it be enough to keep users interested in the Windows Phone 8 universe?
It’s absolutely vital that Nokia push their graphic design prowess on this launch – they’ve got no lack of knowhow in this arena, and compared to even Apple, they’ve got top-class sharpness in the flat advertisement arena. But without a single message, Nokia will once again fail to capture the full attention of the public. Nokia has an opportunity to center themselves on one spot and let the Lumias sell like mad – “Nokia Lumia: Colorful, Powerful, Smart.”
With advertisements on every corner, repeat messages on major web hubs, television, and even in print publications, Nokia would be able to sustain the environment necessary to create faith in the consumer. Then Microsoft comes in. If Microsoft would provide coverage throughout its own advertisement spread, the Lumia universe could grow.
Each time you see a Windows 8 computer, you should see a Windows Phone 8 device – and not just any Windows Phone 8 device, a Nokia Lumia. Although to be fair, it will be difficult for many consumers to tell whether they’re seeing a Lumia or a Windows Phone 8X – we’ll see how that pans out over the next few months.
T-Mobile announced on Monday that it will exclusively offer the Nokia Lumia 810 in the United States. Set to be available “in the coming weeks,” the 810 features a 4.3-inch OLED WVGA Clear Black display, an 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss optics rear-facing camera, a 1.2-megapixel Skype HD-certified front-facing shooter, Windows Phone 8 and support for T-Mobile’s HSPA+ faux 4G network. If those specs sound a little familiar, they should — the 810 seems quite a bit similar to the already announced 820. There are some details absent from this release, however, including CPU, storage, RAM and pricing, but we expect this to be remedied in the coming days. Now that T-Mobile and Ma Bell have called dibs on some of Nokia’s first wave of Windows Phone 8 devices, we’re left to wonder if America’s other two major wireless carriers will soon get with the program.
The T-Mobile Nokia Lumia 810 has been introduced as an exclusive release on the carrier here in the USA with Windows Phone 8 at its side. This device will be working with a lovely 4.3-inch OLED WVGA Clear Black display as well as interchangeable shells on its back in both cyan and black – rather similar to the Nokia Lumia 820 with changeable shell for wireless charging as well. The difference between that device and this one appears to be slight – mostly a name-change, as it were.
Users will be able to work with the Lumia 810′s high-powered 8-megapixel camera on the back of this device with Carl Zeiss optics and HD video as well. This device also has a 1.2-megapixel camera up front that Microsoft notes is Skype HD certified. The Lumia 810 brings with it a collection of photo-friendly features such as Cinemagraph which will let you make animated GIFs – strange stuff! Another back-shooter-ready feature on this device is Group Shoot, allowing you to pick the best faces and smiles from a set of quickly shot photos of a group of people (or just one person, if you prefer.)
Of course you’ll also have Nokia Music with a lovely collection of advertisement-free, registration and subscription-free music tracks. You’ve got offline play and playlist availability as well – also free – and the ability to access playlists created by “an expert team of global and regional musicologists.” Sounds pretty nice right out of the box!
This device also works with Nokia City Lens, a GPS and camera-utilizing service which has you actually looking at the world around you with tags on businesses that you can access with a tap. This feature has been in the works along with Nokia Drive (for voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation) and Nokia Transit (for all the guides you could possibly need) for a very long time now – it’s time for action! The Nokia Lumia 810 is set to release “in the coming weeks” from T-Mobile with a pricing structure attached – it’ll also be working with T-Mobile’s Unlimited plans – 4G to get pumped up!
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It seems that the good people over at T-Mobile have begun to have a better idea when it comes to keeping up with the times, by being ready to bring about LTE connectivity to devices connected on their network. So far, there has been limited testing being conducted on several devices which are available on T-Mobile, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 that comes with LTE hardware underneath the hood, right out of the box. All it needs is a software update, and you’re good to go. Well, it seems that another device has been added to the list, that would be the Nokia Lumia 810 with its very own LTE-enabling update.
