Hasta La Gadget!

Nokia has confirmed availability for the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, the company’s new Windows Phone 8 handsets, which will hit markets across the world later in 2012. The two devices will be offered in both pentaband HSPA+ and LTE variants, Nokia has said, though not specified any individual carriers it will be working with.

There’ll also be multiple color options. The Lumia 920 will be offered in yellow, red, grey, white, and black, while the Nokia Lumia 820 will come in red, yellow, grey, cyan, purple, white, and black. The latter will also be offered with various shells, some of which will work with the wireless charging system.

The absence of a specific launch date, or indeed pricing, will leave consumers and the market unimpressed. Nokia needed to come out strong with both devices, and while the hardware of the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 are capable enough – particularly the special PureView technology on the Lumia 920 – it’s difficult to muster too much excitement when you don’t know how much it is.

Nokia: Lumia 920 and 820 coming with LTE and HSPA+ “later in year” is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Nokia’s Lumia 820 is here, after countless leaks, and the budget-friendly handset is exactly what we expected. We’ll admit we’re sad to see the rather singular design of its spiritual forebear, the Lumia 800, fall by the wayside, but we can’t complain about the build quality here. The usual attention to detail and materials we’ve come to appreciate from the Finnish phone maker is on full display. The flat glass panel on the front may lack the mystique of the curved display on the 920 and 800, but it’s hardly something that should factor into your decision to buy this handset or another. The ceramic volume rocker and lock button on the right side have a pleasant and satisfying click, though we’re sad to report that the camera button still leaves us wanting. Sure, any dedicated camera key is better than none, but its squishy response to our press was hardly encouraging. At least Nokia had the good grace to upgrade to a dual-stage solution. We were also a bit put off by the shine of the body. The Lumia series stole our hearts with its matte finish when it first debuted; now the glossy exterior is more likely to throw some glare and attract fingerprints. The new plastic also feels quite a bit lighter in the hand, which makes the 820 feel more like the midrange device it is and less like the premium handset it’s succeeding.

What’s under the hood certainly makes up for some of those shortcomings. The 1.5 GHz dual-core processor with 1GB RAM simply chewed through the lightweight Windows Phone 8, leaving us to wonder if Apple and Google can truly keep up. All of the UI animations were smooth and fluid, and apps launched with nary a hiccup. And, can we just say that Windows Phone 8 is an absolute pleasure to use. At the risk of angering quite a few people — there’s simply no mid-range Android phone or iOS device that’s as quick and satisfying to use as the Lumia 820, and much of that is thanks to the highly optimized Microsoft OS. It’s a pleasure to see that new features like the customizable home screen and background multitasking haven’t weighed down Redmond’s phone platform. And things will likely only get better as the final wrinkles are ironed out and bugs are squashed. But, as we all know, speed and smooth animations alone don’t make a device — Microsoft will have to convince developers to support its still fledgling platform.

Continue reading Nokia Lumia 820 hands-on (update: now with video)

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Nokia Lumia 820 hands-on (update: now with video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Sep 2012 11:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ahead of Nokia’s Windows Phone event, there’s been plenty of discussion about the Lumia 920’s PureView classification, and though the camera’s pixel count remains TBA, we’re still getting a few sneak peeks at the upcoming hardware. Yesterday, leaked press photos of a Lumia wireless charging pad suggested that the new phone will be available in yellow and red. Based on a tweet from EVLeaks today, it looks like the Lumia 920 will be available in a few additional shades: white, grey and black. EVLeaks previously tweeted pics of the Lumia 820 in seven different hues, so it looks like we’re in for a (ahem) colorful event tomorrow.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Leaked photo shows Nokia Lumia 920 with five color options originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 11:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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