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As we prepare ourselves for the inevitable crush of news (and rumors) leading up to the Galaxy S III launch event, a new story claims the GSIII will be the official phone of the London 2012 Summer Olympics. BGR reports that an inside source has advised them to expect a “huge” international roll-out for the GSIII as the device debuts as the official… Read more
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When Spotify finally launched in the US last year, one of the biggest questions along with why it took so long, was “where the frig is the iPad app?” The iPhone’s native application made it simple to find songs, create playlists and download for offline listening, but there was a huge gap on the 9.7″ tablet’s display. It baffled me, since there weren’t…
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Nokia’s first Windows Phone landed here in the States late last year, but part of me was hoping for something a bit… flashier than the Lumia 710. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop fulfilled that desire when he showed off the LTE-friendly Lumia 900 at this year’s CES, and now we have an officially release date to go with it.
AT&T has confirmed to CNET that their new flagship Windows Phone, the Lumia 900, will officially hit the company’s sales channels on April 8.
At $99 with a two-year contract, the Lumia 900 is a hell of a deal — it features a 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display, a 1.4GHz single core processor, 512MB of RAM, and an impressive 8-megapixel rear camera with Carl Zeiss optics. Oh, and expect it to come in black and blue at launch (no word on that striking magenta, unfortunately).
OK, so the spec sheet may look a little underwhelming compared to the sort of hardware you see paired with Android. That’s not really the point though — the thing about Windows Phone is that it really doesn’t require the latest and greatest hardware in order to give users a buttery-smooth use experience. Even on relatively low-powered devices like Nokia’s budget-conscious Lumia 610, Windows Phone doesn’t feel dramatically less responsive than it does on more robust hardware (though there are a few limitations in place).
Though we haven’t had too much hands-on time with the thing, Nokia and AT&T seem to have have struck quite a balance between performance and price. I expect you’ll hear quite a bit about it too, especially if you’re an AT&T customer. Given the device’s reported status as a “Hero” device, you’ll also have to deal with the fruits of a very pricy advertising and promotions campaign. Nokia has reportedly shelled out $25 million to get their new flagship in the hands of AT&T’s front line forces, so prepare to get an earful from your salesperson if you’re planning to pick out a new smartphone some time soon.
Nokia’s clearly attempting to tackle their long-standing visibility problems — they’ve been puttering away in the U.S. market for quite a while now, with none of their devices ever reaching critical mass. Sure, part of that is due to some questionable choices when it came to device releases, but by then they were already flying under just about everyone’s radar anyway.
Of course, this isn’t the only big launch that Nokia has to deal with — the Finnish phone giant is preparing to debut a trio of Windows Phones in China in just a few days. Only time will tell whether or not this aggressive push will play out the way they hope, but a combination of solid hardware and low prices are bound to get more than a few people tempted to take the plunge.
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恭喜！Microsoft has officially launched Windows Phone in China today and while they deserve a pat on the back for making it happen, they’ve got a great wall to overcome if Windows Phone is going to be a real contender in the Chinese smartphone market.
As mentioned before, the first new Windows Phone to hit China is the HTC Eternity (or Triumph, or Titan, as it was previously known). According to Microsoft’s Windows Phone blog, the Eternity is being sold as an unlocked device complete with a “slew of popular Chinese apps” as well as a new simplified Chinese interface.
There’s plenty more hardware to come though, with Nokia on deck to launch a trio of Windows phones on the mainland next week. Though specifics are still sparse at this point, the Nokia Lumia 719 is expected to be among them. The device was first spotted in the Bluetooth SIG’s almost a month ago, and a recently leaked image reveals a device that (to no one’s surprise) looks an awful lot like a 710 with a redesigned button layout. Local manufacturer ZTE will also be throwing the hat into the ring with devices like the budget-conscious Tango, which is expected to launch later this year.
While Microsoft and their hardware partners working to make sure the launch is a success, it’s the long game Microsoft really has to worry about. According to PC World, Microsoft Greater China CEO Simon Leung confirmed to reporters that the company aims to take Google’s place atop the Chinese smartphone heap despite only accounting for only 2.8% of the market right now. To put that in perspective, Android was said to make up over 50% of the smartphone market in China last November, so Microsoft clearly has their work cut out for them.
Low-cost hardware is going to be a key driver for Windows Phone’s growth, and it seems like Leung is set on fighting Google on that front too. While flashier devices like the Eternity sport price tags in excess of ¥4,000 ($632), he says he hopes to bring prices for unlocked Windows Phone devices as low as ¥1,000 yuan ($158).
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