Nokia Lumia 920

Just yesterday on the podcast we were asked about a timetable for the new Nokia firmware for their Lumia line. As we detailed earlier, the 1308 firmware brings a host of new features and fixes for users—much like a good tidying up. Some of those changes include camera improvements, Storage fix option and the ability to change the color intensity of the display.

Now, that 1308 firmware has been spotted by us on the Navifirm system for the AT&T Lumia 920, meaning the release should be within a few weeks, at most, pending a nod from the carrier. Peeking on Nokia’s servers, we can see firmware for “RM-820 NDT America ATT” with the five color options available (white, black, red, cyan, and yellow). The firmware is marked as 1232.5957.1308.1.

About 2000 people attended the //BUILD/ developer conference this past fall in Redmond, Washington. Microsoft attracted attendees from all over the globe in an event that sold out in less than an hour when tickets went on sale in August. You were given a Surface RT, Lumia 920, and 100GB of SkyDrive as part of your $1600+ registration fee. Unfortunately for folks with those Lumia 920’s, you haven’t had early or timely access for the Portico update. At least until today.

It looks like AT&T’s death grip on all the cyan dye in the world is finally drying up as Telstra is now offering its customers the blue variant of the popular Nokia Lumia 920. The catch is it’s not in stores, so online purchases only. But that’s still better than nothing, right?

Any fans of DC Comic superhero Green Arrow watching the TV series Arrow? It started up last October on the CW here in the United States and later went to international broadcasting in late 2012. It’s getting favorable reviews with critics and fans alike. Either way, they’ve recently had some in-show advertisement from Microsoft, highlight a few products from the Redmond company.

Nokia has managed to bag the ‘Innovative Handset’ award at the 2013 Mobile News Awards in London yesterday, for its Lumia 920 Windows Phone. The ceremony was hosted by Irish comedian Dara O'Briain (or "oh-bree-un" to those who are familiar with Mock the Week) and awards were handed out focusing on the industry and telecom operators, with a few categories for products too.

Microsoft's not the only company pushing out updates for Windows Phones, Nokia will also be introducing new software for the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820. The new version (reported as 1232.5957.1308.00xx) includes further performance and stability improvements for supported hardware, as well as enhancements to the display during a call and with automatic brightness adjustment. The Lumia 620 is also receiving some love too.

It's already known that both Nokia and Microsoft need to get the word out about Windows Phone. Not only to adults and the teens, but also attracting an even younger audience. We've already seen the power of Kid's Corner in Windows Phone 8 and how it offers useful functionality for parents to create a sandbox for kids to enjoy the smartphone experience safely, but what about those who own their own mobile phone?

Today here in New York, Samsung finally pulled the sheet off of the Galaxy S4, their next big flagship Android phone for 2013. Due at the end of April, the phone looks almost exactly like the S3 save a few minor differences, but it’s the guts and software that make this a killer device. It will launch on a massive 327 operators in 155 countries for complete global reach.

We’ll spare you all the details of the S4, though it does feature 2GB of RAM, an eight-core Samsung Exynos 5410 running at 1.8GHz, a triple-core PowerVR SGX 544 graphics chip with a massive 2600mAh battery. Oh yeah, it also has a swanky 5” 1080P Super AMOLED display at 440 PPI and various sensors, including Infrared gesture, temperature and humidity sensors, which while gimmicky is still really neat. Finally, it sports a 13MP rear and 2MP front camera, with some new "innovations" like two-way shot.

We briefly put it up against our Nokia Lumia 920 in a video and while this is far from a controlled “versus” battle, you can at least get an idea of how Samsung’s beast looks against Nokia’s.