14 DAY TRIAL // The following information should be taken lightly as it comes from one of Nokia's most ardent critics, Eldar Murtazin.
Still, even though his actions mostly recommend him as one of the fiercest Nokia enemies, Murtazin remains one of the few people with actual access to inside information.
According to him, Nokia has already come up with two Windows Phone 7 devices that are about to be launched next year: W7 and W8.
Even though Nokia plans to release a large number of WP7 smartphones in 2012, it seems that the W7 and W8 will be the first to make it on store shelves.
This wouldn't be so important if we weren't talking about Nokia and Windows Phone 7. Given the fact that the handset manufacturer hasn't released any WP7 phone yet, it is important that the first devices to have a positive impact on the market.
That will make things much easier for the Finnish giant, who hasn't experienced too many good things in the last 1 or 2 years.
What we know about these new prototype units is that the W7 model seems to have been built around the recently announced X7 device hardware. As Murtazin suggests, the W8 handset is a WP7 version of the Nokia N8.
However, as Microsoft's requirements for Windows Phone 7 are much higher than Nokia's for the Symbian OS, W7 and W8 will feature Qualcomm chipsets inside.
Murtazin also said that the W7 model is currently being used for development purposes and will probably be the first to come out.
The phone is supposed to carry an 8 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash and it resembles HTC's Mozart smartphone, but with no additional customizations to the mobile platform.
In this regard, Nokia is the only handset manufacturer that has been permitted to mingle with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform, so we should expect some changes right from the first models that are expected to be available on the market in Q1 2012.
