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Nokia Launches Lumia 920 running Windows Phone 8
Since its flagship Lumia 900 was released, people have been wondering what Nokia would do for an encore. It was a given that new devices would be running Windows Phone 8, but the rest of the mix? Who knew.
All was revealed this week at an event in New York City. By Lynn Greiner
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Introducting the Lumia 920
Nokia’s EVP, Jo Harlow, shows off the company’s new flagship phone, the Lumia 920. Running Windows Phone 8, it has a 4.5 inch Gorilla Glass display with a resolution of 768 x 1280, 32 GB of storage and weighs 185g. The phone will be available in Q4 of this year. Pricing and carriers have not been announced.
The hottest feature: Nokia’s PureView camera technology that provides image stabilization and spectacular performance in low light thanks to its f2.0 Carl Zeiss optics. Nokia says it captures 5 – 10 times more light than other phone cameras.
Microsoft corporate VP Joe Belfiore demonstrated the Windows Phone 8 operating system on the Lumia 920, and announced several previously undisclosed features of the new OS. WP8 can grab screenshots on the phone, and can share them in multiple ways, including through Tap and Send, thanks to the newly-added Near Field Communications (NFC) technology.
Apps called “lenses” allow users to apply effects to photos. Microsoft’s Blink app grabs multiple images and uses its facial recognition to pick the best shot. Photosynth lets you create a 360 degree view of a scene, and pan and zoom around it. Some lenses will come with the phone, and others will be available in the Windows Phone store.
City Lens software is an augmented reality app that overlays information about landmarks onto a photo.
Surprise speaker Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Nokia CEO Stephen Elop tuck away identical bright yellow Lumia 920s.
The Lumia 920, up close and personal. It also comes in red, white, grey, or black.
Nokia also announced the Lumia 820 (left), a slightly smaller, less expensive phone that has a 4.3 inch screen. Various coloured shells (white, black, red, yellow, grey, blue and violet) are available to change the phone’s look, and to add the wireless charging capabilities, using the Qi standard, that are built in to the 920. The 920 is sitting on a fatboy wireless charging pillow.
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NFC and Bluetooth combine to allow the phones to communicate wirelessly with accessories such as this speaker. Touch the phone to the speaker to activate it, touch again to revert to the phone’s output.
This JBL speaker incorporates a wireless charging pad on top so users can enjoy tunes and juice up at the same time. Nokia announced that its free Nokia Music service is now available in the U.S.; timing for Canadian availability is unknown.
Nokia staffers chat with CEO Stephen Elop at their demo station, which features multicoloured wireless charging plates and replacement shells for the Lumia 820. The headphones they’re wearing are cordless, and use the same technology as the cordless speakers to communicate with the phone.
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