At its New York press event, Nokia announced the forthcoming Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 and also a range of new accessories. This range utilises support for Qi wireless charging and NFC 'tap to pair' Bluetooth audio. There was no word on pricing, but Nokia stated all would be released with the Lumia 920. Here's our guide to what's on offer and what you need to know (apart from prices!).
Alongside the Lumia 920 announcement in New York, at a joint event with Microsoft, Nokia announced the Nokia Lumia 820, a follow on to the Nokia Lumia 800. Key features include a 4.3 inch WVGA ClearBlack Display OLED screen, a swappable polycarbonate body, and an eight megapixel camera with Carl-Zeiss optics.
Nokia has launched its Windows Phone 8 devices today in New York, including the flagship Nokia Lumia 920. With echoes of the Lumia 900, the 920 packs a Qualcomm S4 Snapdragon processor, with 32GB and a 4.5 inch screen featuring Nokia's PureMotion HD+ technology. It's also equipped with Nokia's PureView branding, with optical image stabilisation enhancing the output of the on-board camera.
Today at IFA in Berlin, Samsung announced its first Windows Phone 8 device, the ATIV S, with 8.7mm brushed aluminum chassis and a huge 4.8” HD Super AMOLED display. Under the hood is a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor, 1GB of onboard RAM, and an 8MP autofocus rear camera, plus 16GB or 32GB mass memory and MicroSD expansion. Particularly impressive is the inclusion of a big 2300mAh battery. Some more details and photos below.
Big software house Digia has announced that it has 'signed an agreement to acquire Qt software technologies and Qt business from Nokia'. Once the acquisition is completed, Digia will become responsible for all the Qt activities formerly carried out by Nokia, including product development, licensing and service. Digia 'plans to quickly enable Qt on the Android, iOS and Windows 8 platforms'. As part of the transaction, a maximum of 125 people from Nokia will transfer to Digia, mostly based in Oslo, Norway and Berlin, Germany.
An update to Nokia Maps, version 2.5, is now available from the Nokia collection in Windows Phone Marketplace. The new version improves the ability to plan and edit routes, adds support for Groupon offers integration (currently US only), and, in select areas, will show live traffic data on the map.
The Windows Phone 7.5 Refresh update is now widely available for the Nokia Lumia 800 and Lumia 710. The software update includes both the generic "Tango" platform updates (MMS updates, SIM contacts) and a number of Nokia specific updates (Internet tethering, flip to silent). In most cases a three stage update process will be required, which takes around an hour to complete.
Nokia has published the third major release of its car satellite navigation app, Nokia Drive, to the Windows Phone Marketplace. The headline update is the new "My Commute" feature, which learns about your driving preferences and helps you make decisions about which routes to take. Other updates include automatic day/night mode, support for favourite places, and the ability to pin destinations to the Start Screen.
Nokia has released its Q2 2012 results, reporting an operating loss of €826 million, with net sales of €9.275 billion (down 19% YoY). Nokia's Devices and Services division's losses were €471 million. Margins in devices and services were -11.8% (down from -4% in Q2 2011 and down from -5.2% in Q1 2012). Total smartphone device sales were 10.2 million (4 million Lumia), compared with 16.7 million units in Q2 2011 (down 39% YoY) and 11.9 million units in Q1 2011 (down 14%, QoQ).
At today's Windows Phone Summit, Microsoft announced a new software update that will be available for existing Windows Phone handsets. Labelled Windows Phone 7.8, the update will feature some of the core elements of Windows Phone 8 that can be supported on the older hardware, including the new Start screen.
