lumia

In the second part of Coronation Street (a popular British TV soap) that aired this evening (8:30pm), we can clearly see a Nokia Lumia 800 being held by the actor with a beautiful camera shot to show off calendar functionality. At about 21:20 in, we see the product placement. You can check out the episode on ITV Player (link below), but be aware that ITV loves advertisements.

Source: ITV Player

Good news for our Irish brothers, Vodafone IE is looking to bring the Lumia 800 to Ireland. Nokia's flagship Windows Phone has received positive attention from both the bloggersphere and owners across Europe, which will make the handset a welcomed addition to the Irish arsenal. No word yet on pricing or availability, but we would hazard a guess that it'll be competitive and be in line with what we've seen in the UK.

Source: Vodafone, thanks Liam for the tip!

CES 2012 has been pretty huge for Nokia, and Windows Phone as a whole. The event saw the announcement of the Lumia 900, which will be the flagship of the U.S. push against competitor platforms. Reviews and feedback from press and attendees has been generally positive as a whole.

Not only that, but to really show off how good the device is Nokia has earned awards from multiple sources for being the best product at the event. So what has the Windows Phone won? 

• CNet's "Best of CES" smartphone.
• Popular Mechanics editor's choice award for CES.
• Popular Science "Product of the Future".
• LAPTOP magazine's "Best of CES" finalists.

Not bad, eh? The reception has built up on top of the 800, which also wasn't shy of a positive review.

Source: Nokia Conversations

Many people are of the opinion that Nokia is Microsoft's trump card. The game changer. And it really is looking more and more likely that Nokia is going to give Windows Phone 7 the momentum it needs to get further than the hands of tech bloggers and developers.

We recently covered Nokias plans to take over the world, and now we have report of the Lumia 800 and 710 both launching in South Africa in Q1 2012 and just after that respectively. Yep, you heard that right. The same country that can't manage to tell the different between Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7 (Vodacom's terrible advertising campaign for the Omnia 7 - not the one below). So why is this a big deal? Well, because up until now South Africa has only had three devices; the Samsung Omnia 7, the HTC Trophy and the HTC Mozart.

As a resident of South Africa I had actually almost given up hope for WP7 here when just recently one of the service providers sold the last of their Omnia 7 stock:

For reference R1699 is about $208.

Now I would take this with a slight pinch of salt as the actual source is not mentioned and upon reaching out to a local Microsoft Developer Evangelist I received the usual "we cannot confirm or deny this". If it is legit then presumably the fine details are still being ironed out, and hopefully South Africa will appear on Nokias domination map soon.

EDIT: We have received word that this came straight from Nokia, so you may remove said salt where necessary.

Source: MyBroadband

With day one of CES 2012 packing the Windows Phone punch that we were all hoping for, with the Lumia 900 being announced, AT&T backing the platform, the HTC Titan II surprising technology minds, as well as Steve Ballmer skating around the convention to get to multiple sessions. It was an eventful day to say the least. Day two, on the other hand, was relatively laid back with WPCentral setting up some insightful interviews with the big names behind Nokia and Microsoft. We also took a look at some new Mango handsets that weren't seeing much spotlight coverage.

Interview with Belfiore and Shields: We took Microsoft's Joe Belfiore and Nokia's Kevin Shields hostage for half an hour while we interrogated them about the platform and what plans the two companies have for 2012. Check out the interview for some insightful and enlightening responses. 

Lumia 710 & 800 heading to Canada: Stephen Elop announced in an interview with Nokia Conversations that the 710 and 800 will be coming to his homeland, Canada. We've received numerous complaints from Canadians who feel left out when it comes to Windows Phones, so this is great news for those who wish to get their hands on the latest family from Nokia.

Windows Phone smoking the competition: Microsoft's Ben Rudolph (Ben the PC Guy) has been hoarding himself around CES looking for prey to humiliate. Should you have an iPhone, Android handset, or other competitor handset, you could be in with the chance of pocketing $100 by attempting to best Windows Phone in a challenge. With results so far, Windows Phone is holding its head high.

Acer Allegro: We take a look at the Acer Allegro (finally). The low-spec'd handset is destined for new smartphone owners and the developing markets, but don't let that fool you. Acer's Windows Phone is actually not a bad device overall, and it's good to have the choice available.

ZTE Tania: If you thought 8GB and 16GB wasn't enough for your music collection and apps, try 4GB for size. The Tania from ZTE is a low budget handset and the specs reflect this, but the Tania really took us by surprise by how good the handset looks/feels. If only ZTE would up the specifications on another model and ship to Europe and the U.S.... we can only dream.

Be sure to check out our first day recap, should you have been asleep throughout the day and missed the big announcements.

Dear fellow Canadians, here's some exciting news for those of you who feel left out of the Windows Phone party. Nokia is bringing the Lumia 710 and 800 to Canada (as Nokia CEO Stephen Elop explains in the CES interview), which are to be exclusively available on Rogers and Telus respectively. The 710 is set to be on Rogers in February, but no word on availability of the 800 with Telus as of yet. 

The only thing left for us to read through is an official press release. Good times ahead anyway. Be sure to check out the Nokia Momentum Map for more details on expansion plans.

Source: MobileSyrup, thanks Spencer for the tip!

It's official. Well, more official than it was prior to the presentation from Nokia. The Lumia 900 LTE is here, and it's everything we all expected. Packing a 1.4Ghz chip, 1830mAh battery, sporting a 4.3" AMOLED ClearBlack display, Carl Zeiss optics on the rear camera, it's basically an enlarged version of the 800. The added bonus (for many) is the included front-facing camera (which can be seen in the photo below, and has f2.4 aperture), and overall us Europeans are stood feeling helplessly jealous with our Titan MK I friends (thanks to the beefy HTC Titan II).

The handset will be available in black and cyan varieties initially (more colours could be added in the future), and will be available exclusively to AT&T. Apologies to those who are on other networks. Although, on a positive note, this is a sign of the carrier actually getting behind the platform and with Nokia advertising like no one's business, we should see some positive results in terms of sales. Here's hoping anyway. Oh, and some apps will be bundled, including the likes of CNN, and AT&T with a U-verse Mobile application.

Be sure to keep up-to-date with our live blog, which is currently still running full steam ahead. More photos after the break (including Ralph de la Vega from AT&T).

Microsoft is offering the first 500 AppHub developers to publish a Windows Phone app to the Marketplace a free Nokia Lumia 800 handset, to really set the ball rolling for 2012. Keeping the Lumia family fire at a heated blaze, the Windows Phone team will be handing out the 800s to developers who submit a completely new app that fits in with the following requirements:

• Target Windows Phone 7.5;
• Work as described;
• Include Fast App Switching; and
• Conform to Metro guidelines.
• You must be a U.S. registered member of App Hub.

The app must have a release date that is, or between, January 1, 2012 and by February 10, 2012 (by 11:59 PM PST). Once the app has been submitted, developers can then send the following form in an email to WPNewYear@microsoft.com:

Name (matches App Hub account):
Mailing Address (where device will be shipped-not used by Microsoft for any other purpose):
App Hub Publisher/ISV ID #:
Application ID:
Marketplace deep link:
Application publication date:
Uses Fast app switching (yes or no):
Conforms to Metro guidelines (yes or no):

Sounds good, right? Unfortunately, this offer is only on the table for U.S. residents and only one entry per AppHub ID is allowed. Developers, get creative, and best of luck to be one of the lucky 500.

If you needed any more convincing that Microsoft is serious about pushing development on their mobile platform, then here's the next episode in our series on Microsoft-giving-stuff-to-devs-for-work-they-would-have-done-anyway. And before you ask, yeah, that title is a work in progress.

Previously we saw promotions for UK developers to get free gadgets, and giveaways for Canadian developers, now all you Australian dev's can get in on the action.
The requirements are pretty much in-line with the other promo's where all you need to do is publish a certain number of apps to the Windows Phone Marketplace by a certain date, and then receive either a Lumia 710, or a Lumia 800 depending on how many you can get out by then.
 

1. Qualifying apps must be published between Jan 1^st 2012 and 12 midnight EST Mar 30^th, 2012.
2. Publish 3 new apps for a Nokia Lumia 710 or 4 new apps for a Nokia Lumia 800
3. The sooner you publish your new apps the sooner you’ll receive your Nokia Phone (subject to availability).
4. Apps must be new and published to the public marketplace and excludes updates to existing apps.
5. This offer is only open to Australian based developers who submit apps to an Australian registered Windows Phone Marketplace account.
6. For budgeting purposes, this offer is limited to the first 50 developers who publish 3 or more apps and is limited to 1 phone per developer.
7. There are a number of promotions in progress with Nokia in Australia; the apps submitted for this challenge must differ from those submitted elsewhere. ie no double counting.

If you are an Android or iPhone (or any other platform for that matter) developer, I'm guessing promotions like this may help tip your decision in our favor. If not, maybe Indie success will.

Either way, the time is now!

Source: WPDownUnder