Hasta La Gadget!

Windows Phone 8 is hitting Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile this year. But Sprint customers will have to wait until 2013. For unknown reasons, the carrier is not getting any versions of the Nokia or HTC WinPhone 8 handsets at launch.

Perhaps Sprint’s hesitance has something to do with the lackluster performance of Windows Phone 7. This is a wise move.

Wireless carriers often dump large sums of money to carry phones at launch. They want to have the hot new devices as soon as they’re available. Sometimes the stacks of cash are tall enough to net exclusives like AT&T’s Nokia 920 deal. Then, most often, the carriers launch flashy advertising campaigns to draw in the crowds. These are expensive, too. All this is done to hype a phone that might sell in high numbers.

Last March AT&T sold the Nokia Lumia 900 exclusively. The carrier said it was its biggest launch ever. The phone wasn’t technically a flop as it met some estimates, but it wasn’t a hit either. Have you seen one in the wild? I haven’t.

Sprint didn’t hasn’t had good luck with Windows Phone. It wasn’t impressed with Microsoft’s mobile platform earlier this year. It only sold one WinPhone device: The ho-hum HTC Arive. Apparently Sprint is taking a cautious approach to Windows Phone.

Windows Phone 8 could flop. It’s not going to slow down Android’s explosive, global takeover. iOS will continue to dominate the US market while commanding a good chunk overseas. And lastly, RIM, yes RIM, is set to launch BlackBerry 10 in early 2013. I agree that Windows Phone 8 is intuitive, novel and pretty damn neat, but it doesn’t have the loyal fanbase or corporate draw of BlackBerry. Windows Phone and BlackBerry will spend 2013 fighting for third place and my money is on RIM.

If you’ve been dying to jump on the Windows Phone bandwagon, you’re going to have plenty of options – but Sprint is not one of them. Stuck in the middle of a corporate buyout and running low on cash, Sprint isn’t going to risk anything on an unproven platform. That’s smart.

[pic Tebow sitting on the sideslines via Newsday]

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.

Nokia Lumia 810 Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A few days ago we reviewed the global version of Nokia’s Lumia 920 flagship running Windows Phone 8. The handset’s been available for purchase on AT&T since last Friday with a few carrier-specific tweaks, such as compatible LTE bands. It’s aggressively priced at $100 with a two-year agreement — this includes 32GB of built-in storage, a free Nokia wireless charging plate (while supplies last) and the same camera magic as its global sibling. It’s a phone that would otherwise cost about £445 ($710) unsubsidized and unlocked. Nokia’s Lumia 920 for AT&T comes in a choice of high-gloss (red, yellow or white) and matte (cyan or black) finishes. Despite the global and AT&T models being virtually identical, there are minor differences worth noting. Join us after the break for the details.

Continue reading Nokia Lumia 920 for AT&T: what’s different?

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia, AT&T

Nokia Lumia 920 for AT&T: what’s different? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Nov 2012 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While we don’t own a Windows Phone 8 device ourselves (yet), it seems that there have been some complaints from Windows Phone 8 owners over a particular WiFi bug. This bug it seems will disable WiFi whenever the phone gets locked. Some presume it’s a way to help conserve the battery of the phone, but we can only imagine how annoying this might be while downloading or while waiting for videos to load. In any case Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore recently took to Twitter and announced that an update will be arriving soon that will fix that issue. Exactly when this update will be released remains to be seen, but for the sake of current Windows Phone 8 owners experiencing this issue, we hope it will be soon! Any WP8 owners out there experiencing this bug but managed to find a workaround? Let us know in the comments below!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Skype Preview for Windows Phone 8 now available, Verizon will be taking pre-orders for Windows Phone 8 devices today,

Good news Windows Phone owners, it looks like Skype for Windows Phone 8 is finally available! We guess this was only a matter of time ever since Microsoft acquired Skype, and while there was Skype for Windows Phone 7.x, we guess this is full version of the app as Microsoft had intended. In this version of Skype, and also thanks to Windows Phone 8 devices featuring the much awaited dual-core processors, full video chat will be supported, with calls from Skype coming in to your phone like a regular call. The app is also expected to run in the background and if you were worried about battery life, it seems that your online presence is being hosted in the cloud on Microsoft’s servers so you don’t have to worry about the app draining too much battery. We haven’t tested this power-saving feature out ourselves so we guess you will have to be the judge of it. However there are some minor bugs that have been reported, such as Facebook chat not being available or contacts that appear offline, but like the app description says, this is only the Preview version so there might be a couple of snags here and there. If you’d like to give it a go anyway, head on over to the Windows Phone Store for the download.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Angry Birds Space now available for Windows Phone 8, Skype for Windows Phone 8 preview,