hardware

Nokia have firmly established themselves as a major player in the Windows Phone market. Their devices have been consistently regarded well and their marketing efforts have seen them establish ‘Lumia’ as a powerful and recognisable brand in its own right.

With the advent of Windows Phone 8 we saw Nokia strive to produce the definitive ‘hero’ device of this generation. The Lumia 920 packs some serious specs and for some it’s seen to be the best device of this current crop of phones. It isn’t all about the speeds and feeds, it’s about a cohesive package consisting of exclusive apps, hardware and of course Windows Phone 8.

We've previously reviewed the Lumia 920, which is well worth checking out for the in-depth analysis, but it is from this perspective I’m going to look at how successful it really is.

With launch day and general availability of Surface devices set to begin in a few short days the reviews have started to appear. After months of speculation and mountains of questions about price and specs, we’re finally at the end of this saga. Microsoft have dished out Surface devices to the great and the good for some pre-release exclusives.

Surface represents a few key things for Microsoft, firstly it will be the public face of Windows 8, and secondly it is designed to showcase ARM devices and the new WinRT touch interface. From the moment it was announced this was going to be such a critical element for the entire launch of Windows 8. How well it’s received depends on not only the hardware but also the software. Check out our roundup after the break..

Remember the alledged ZTE Windows Phone 8 hardware we took a look at last month? In that article we also looked at some colourful devices that sported a centralised USB port, which is the norm with latest Windows Phone hardware. Could they have been the real deal? We're still not entirely sure which way to lean, but what we do now know is ZTE has confirmed at a conference that they'll be supporting Windows Phone 8.

Microsoft has unleashed its Windows 8 hardware on Twitter by opening up the @Surface account. Surface Windows 8 tablets from the software giant will be its first major leap into hardware for its Windows operating system, excluding mice, keyboards and other peripherals, of course.

So far the account has published two tweets, one linking followers to a playlist of Surface videos, which contains only one thus far - it's the original video we all witnessed earlier in the year showing off what appeared to be a unique Windows 8 tablet of some sort - while the other promotes the music used in the Surface video. 

Today marks the start of the 2012 China International Exhibition, and ZTE has arrived guns blazing with the company's mobile phone market strategy director Dennis Lui sharing a very interesting photo with the world. Analysing the capture above, we can see what appears to be one or two ZTE Windows Phone 8 handsets. The device on the right looks almost identical to the ZTE Tania, which runs Windows Phone 7.5.

Unfortunately due to the blur effect added into the mix, it's near impossible to tell what's what within. As well as the similarities to a legacy handset, we can only spot a USB port in the centre on the device in the middle, which appears to be the standard for Windows Phone 8 hardware. If that wasn't enough, we could well be looking at Windows Phone 7.8 here on the Tania. As for the two devices to the left, we're not entirely sure but they almost look HTC - though we could be (and probably are) mistaken.

Santa's here - free gifts for everyone

Microsoft has announced at an internal event held in Seattle that employees at the company will be receiving a hardware package which includes a PC refresh, Surface tablet and Windows Phone. GeekWire reports the company is looking to accelerate the refresh cycle for Employee workstations to take full advantage of Windows 8. 

The Lumia 610 low-end Nokia Windows Phone

As we closely approach Nokia's rave party, which is to be held this coming Wednesday in New York, reports of potential Nokia Windows Phones are surely to be coming in hot for the next few days. The Verge has learned from a source familiar with Nokia's Windows Phone plans that the manufacturer plans to release a Lumia 610 successor, powered by Windows Phone 7.8, codenamed "Glory".

Nokia has humorously welcomed Samsung back to Windows Phone, thanks to a photo published to Twitter by Doug Dawson, Media Relations Head for Nokia. In the image, one can see a banner being held that reads "Samsung: Nokia welcomes you back to Windows Phone...". Samsung announced its ATIV S smartphone running Windows Phone 8 yesterday at IFA 2012, in Berlin.

Samsung are set to unveil dual-core hardware when Windows Phone 8 launches, according to documentation acquired by The Verge. The two listed Windows Phones are included in court documents submitted as part of the trial Samsung has against Apple. Both devices are stated to be packing the Qualcomm MSM8960 chipset, which is a dual-core 1.5Ghz CPU that Microsoft has been using for Apollo test devices.

According to the documentation (see above snapshot), the Samsung Odyssey will sport a 4.65" S-AMOLED display (with HD resolution) and an 8MP main rear-shooter. It is also marked as supporting NFC, a feature which is currently being marketed on the Nokia Lumia 610. It would seem that OEMs will attempt to include such functionality to further expand on the possibilities of NFC on the Windows Phone platform.