Windows Phone 8

HTC have finally put their cards on the table and released details of the HTC 8X, their new flagship Windows Phone 8 device. Gone are the HTC ultra-utilitarian design aesthetics and in its place we see a smooth curvy body design that comes in some cheeky colours.

HTC have been with Windows Phone from the beginning and many have eagerly awaited the pronouncement of their new devices. With a strong design heritage and deep understanding of the platform, HTC have produced some of the finest devices. The 8X is their flagship phone, but how does it compare to the Lumia 920, the hero device from Nokia?

New information has come forth confirming October 21^st for the Lumia 920 launch

The technology site BGR recently cited Sunday, October 21^st as the launch date for the Nokia Lumia 920. At the time, we gave a low rating to the rumor due to two reasons: BGR’s rumor track record (52% on Tracour) and the fact that the date conflicts with other word-of-mouth bits of information.

However, Windows Phone Central has now come across new documentation circulating within AT&T that does indeed confirm the date of October 21^st as an important day for the upcoming Nokia flagship phone. This is not the same info that presumably BGR saw (or was told) due to its recency. 

The basic version. Paper dummy, Lumia 920 in yellow.

The Lumia 920 is everyone's favorite. The latest Nokia flagship has gathered considerable heat in China (like everywhere else?) already, before it's estimated late December availability. To kill the boredom in the waiting period, some have decided to build some Lumia 920 dummies.

Yes, we said build.

Therefore we have these...

The Seattle Times interviewed CEO Steve Ballmer recently and the man behind Microsoft is sounding quite confident about this year’s upcoming launches.

During the interview, Ballmer gave his impression of how momentous this year’s launch line-up will be for Microsoft and he even pulled out two Lumia 920 phones from his pockets. Many have speculated wildly on this interview in relation to Surface pricing, so we thought it was time we looked at what exactly was said…

The Chinese smartphone market has been growing at a shocking speed, overtaking almost every other country so far. However, the country has traditionally been very low in the gadget launching echelon.

Even Apple, who is making a very large share of its profit from China these days, has been putting the country in the 2nd or 3rd batch. Microsoft and its Windows Phone OEMs have been doing worse. Windows Phone 7 first launced in Europe back in October 2010, in the US in November 2012, and in China... March 2012.

This is about to change, says Chinese tech site WPDang. Windows Phone 8 is said to be launched in China as soon as the 3rd week of December, this year. Only one month after the US. A thousand times better than last time.

Recently-hired Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer, has kicked off a new endeavor at Yahoo in which all employees will receive their choice of a free smartphone, including the Nokia Lumia 920. The program called "Yahoo! Smart Phones, Smart Fun!" is intended to get workers using the same technologies as their customers and was announced to Yahoo employees across 22 countries in a memo, part of which said:

"We'd like our employees to have devices similar to our users, so we can think and work as the majority of our users do."

Yahoo workers will get to choose from the Nokia Lumia 920, iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC One X, and HTC EVO 4G LTE and will cover the corresponding monthly voice and data plans as well. In a blow to RIM, Yahoo has made it part of their IT policy to no longer support Blackberries.

My Next Windows Phone is.....

The Lumia 920 should be the phone of the year. Nokia has pushed innovation with their hardware design and their customer care. Nokia did not make any specific announcements about what carrier’s will get which phones. Which brings me to my problem. I do not want to switch to ATT because I can’t afford it. I am pretty positive that the Lumia 920 might be an ATT exclusive, no official announcements have been made.  

The Lumia 820, which is a great phone but doesn’t have the new Pure View camera. I like the 820 because I feel that a 4.3” screen is a perfect size for me personally, and the removable back covers are a nice touch.  I was hoping for a larger battery, but 1650mAH is pretty good and the screen isn’t as good as the 920 but still pretty classy.

Behind those smiles is concern

This was another important week for the mobile giant from Cupertino.  Apple continued to improve upon its iPhone product line by launching the iPhone 5. While I believe Apple delivered exactly what investors need, none of this really changes the story for the two major comeback players - Nokia and RIM.

So let’s focus on Nokia here.  We already know they did a poor job of unveiling the Lumia 920 but I didn’t think the stock market reaction made sense.  Sure, Nokia left a lot of information off the table but they still showed off a very nice phone running Windows Phone 8, proving their lineup is becoming interesting again.  And as much as I love Apple products (I really do), I recognize that people don’t just want to buy iClones.  Apple is an amazing company with amazing products.  But they aren’t for everybody.

Coming to the US on October 21st? Not likely.

File this under wishful thinking and maybe true but BGR’s Geller personally posted that they’ve confirmed through sources the AT&T launch date for the Nokia Lumia 920. On Tracour, BGR.com only has a 52% average rating on rumor accuracy, so take this rumor with some skepticism. 

The flagship Windows Phone from Nokia is reportedly going to launch on October 21^st—a traditional Sunday launch for the company. In addition, the Samsung Galaxy Note II will launch the same day. That contradicts earlier rumors from the Verge and TechRadar who suggested November 2nd--the last day of Microsoft's Build '12.

China Mobile, the country's largest carrier, is looking to stock and offer the Lumia 920, according to Huang Guoqiang, director of sales at Nokia China. The manufacturer (and Windows Phone as a whole) has punched through a hole in the wall in China with marketshare surpassing the iPhone just after the Lumia 710 and 800 both launched earlier this year.

The Nokia Windows Phone sports the Qualcomm MSM8690/8260A chipset that reportedly supports China Mobile's TD-SCDMA (GSM) standard, and will bring PureMotion HD+, PureView and other features to the Chinese market. China Telecom on the other hand will take up other OEM partners, including HTC and Samsung for its Windows Phone 8 lineup.

Availability dates, as well as details surrounding what hardware is going where, have not been released yet so we look forward to see how Nokia and other Windows Phone partners plan to rollout new hardware worldwide in supported markets.

via: winp.cn; thanks, hengxiang32401, for the tip!