Three times a year, Ewan Spence heads out for a major tech event. And we do like to kit him out with something fairly cutting edge, to put the smartphone through its paces in a way that might not be possible staying at home. All tinged with Ewan's own unique take on life and expectations. In this, part 1 of a short video diary from BlogWorld Expo in Los Angeles, he reports on day one with the Nokia Lumia 800, running Windows Phone Mango.
Figures are now in from IDC for the world phone market in Quarter 3, 2011, showing the market flattening in the USA and Western Europe as saturation sets in. However, the proportion of smartphones in the overall mix continues to rise. Nokia is still king in terms of sheer numbers, selling over a hundred million phones in the quarter, although Samsung is catching up relatively quickly. IDC's stats table is quoted below, though we don't yet have a breakdown of smartphone-only sales.
Tucked away in the online manual for the Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone (now available online) are details of the Contacts Transfer application we spotted last week at Nokia World. This allows you to pair your existing phone over Bluetooth and transfer your contacts from the older phone.
One of Nokia's crown jewels in their software suite is Maps. Many have wondered where Nokia Maps will fit into the Lumia devices, as it will be one of the unique selling points of a Nokia Windows Phone. While Nokia Drive has been announced as available here at Nokia World with a focus on navigation and turn by turn directions. Nokia Maps will take a more social feel, highlighting personal favourites, points of interest and social interaction. And we've had an exclusive look at the latest beta.
Nokia announced a new hardware partnership with Monster on the stage of Nokia World today. Known for high-performance audio (in the same way that Carl Zeiss are known for high performance lenses), the relationship promises to be both long-term and exclusive with Nokia. The first collaborative product is the Purity range of HD stereo headsets.
How can you do music properly on a mobile device? Nokia are hoping that Nokia Music on the Lumia range of Windows Phone is the answer. The inclusion of MixRadio, (requiring no sign-up or registration, and available to all users) provides a music streaming channel, while the long-standing Gigfinder service also makes the jump to Windows Phone. It will also be the home of the Nokia Music Store, still one of the world's largest mobile music stories.
The Nokia 710 is the second Windows Phone smartphone announced at Nokia World. It offers an alternative entry point into the Nokia Windows Phone experience. The lower cost of the Nokia 710 gives Nokia a bigger addressable market for its initial Windows Phone push; it can be considered an upper mid-tier device.
Today, at Nokia World in London, Nokia announced the Nokia Lumia 800, the company's first Windows Phone device and new flagship. It has an eye catching design with a 3.7" inch AMOLED ClearBlack touchscreen, protected by curved-at the-edges Gorilla Glass, which fits seamlessly into a body made from a single piece of machine-milled polycarbonate. The Nokia Lumia 800 will retail for €420 before taxes and subsidies.
Nokia World 2011 starts today and the team is on the ground to bring you live coverage from Nokia's premier event. Over the next two days we'll be bringing you the key news, views and information. This news story contains our live coverage, where you can see the latest images and text updates; you can also interact with the team, asking questions and adding your own thoughts. Alternatively you can keep up to date by following our @aas or @aa_wp accounts on Twitter, where we will be posting text updates and images.