14 DAY TRIAL // September 5 represented a big day for Microsoft and for its hardware partner Nokia, as new handsets powered by the upcoming Windows Phone 8 platform were unveiled.
The Finnish handset vendor announced two smartphones set to land on shelves with the upcoming OS loaded on them, namely the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, both packing the latest technology advancements inside.
Featuring a 4.5” PureMotion HD+ display, the Nokia Lumia 920 is said to be the most innovative smartphone in the world, capable of impressing both through looks and capabilities. You can have a look at it in the video embedded below.
With a 4.3” OLED Wide Video Graphics Array (WVGA) display and a 1.5 GHz Dual-Core Snapdragon processor, the Lumia 820 is not too far behind either, though its features list has been shortened a bit when compared to that of Nokia’s upcoming flagship handset.
Unfortunately, Nokia’s investors remain rather unimpressed with the vendor’s efforts in the smartphone area. The company’s shares went down around 15 percent yesterday following the unveiling of these new Lumias.
Windows Phone 8 has been long said to be Nokia’s last chance to return to an ascending curve, while the new Lumia devices were expected to throw the company back in the battle for smartphone supremacy.
While the general public appears to have been pleasantly impressed with the new handsets, it still remains to be seen how fast Nokia will be able to deliver them to shelves, and how well they will perform once in users’ hands.
New Windows Phone 8 features were showcased at the aforementioned event as well, such as the platform’s ability to take screenshots, or a new set of camera APIs that Microsoft calls Lenses.
Joe Belfiore, head of Windows Phone program management, was present at the event to remind us of some of the enhancements that Microsoft will deliver to users in Windows Phone 8, including the aforementioned camera improvements or the new WP8 homescreen. Other features will be anounced later this year.
What was not unveiled, however, was a specific date for the new platform and for the devices it has been loaded on to be commercially launched.
Rumor has it that October 29 might be the big day, yet an official confirmation is still pending. However, with the Windows Phone 8 SDK set to hit a Preview status next week, the platform could indeed arrive at the end of the next month.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer took to the stage at the event as well, so as to remind us that 2012 is the year of Windows: Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, Windows tablets, Windows PCs, and the like.
Microsoft has been hard at work with unifying the user experience across devices, and the upcoming platform releases are the next big step it takes down this road.
“Whether you’re looking at Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8, you’ll experience our unique look and feel with Live Tiles and will have the same built-in access to Microsoft cloud services like SkyDrive and Xbox Music,” Microsoft’s Terry Myerson notes in a blog post.
