Nokia Lumia 800 & 710, Windows Phones Announced

Just seven months after announcing its intention to move to Windows Phone, Nokia unveiled its first WP based devices: the Lumia 800 and 710.

Both feature the same Qualcomm applications processor: a single-core Snapdragon S2 MSM8255 running at 1.4GHz with 512MB of memory on-package. The 800 has a more expensive chassis and Carl Zeiss optics, while the 710 is cost reduced in those aspects. 

The 800 features a 3.7-inch AMOLED (RGBG PenTile) display, 16GB of integrated NAND (no microSD slot) and a 5.365Wh battery. The 800's camera has an 8MP sensor with a Carl Zeiss f/2.2 lens. The camera sensor and lens stack are borrowed from the N9, one of the ways Nokia was able to bring the 800 to market in such a short time after the Microsoft announcement.

I played with the 800 a bit at Nokia World and the feel is easily leaps and bounds beyond any WP devices available today. The 800 will be available in three colors (black, magenta and cyan) while the 710 comes in black and white. 

The 710 keeps the screen size the same (3.7-inches) but moves to a standard TFT-LCD. The 710 has the same amount of DRAM as the 800 but it cuts NAND in half to 8GB. Unlike the 800 however the 710 features a microSD card slot that can accommodate up to a 16GB card (24GB total). Battery capacity drops to 4.81Wh. Both models use micro-SIMs.

Nokia Lumia Windows Phone Lineup
	Lumia 800	Lumia 710
SoC	Qualcomm S2 MSM8255 1.4GHz	Qualcomm S2 MSM8255 1.4GHz
Display	3.7-inch AMOLED PenTile RGBG	3.7-inch TFT-LCD
Camera	8MP LED flash rear facing camera Carl Zeiss lens	5MP LED flash rear facing camera
Memory	512MB, 16GB NAND	512MB, 8GB NAND
Dimensions	116.5 x 61.2 x 12.11 mm, 142g	119.0 x 62.4 x 12.5 mm, 126g
Battery	5.365Wh	4.81Wh
Network Support	WCDMA, EDGE Class B, GPRS Class B HSUPA 5.76Mbps HSDPA 14.4Mbps WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100 GSM 850/900/1800/1900	WCDMA, EDGE Class B, GPRS Class B HSUPA 5.76Mbps HSDPA 14.4Mbps WCDMA 900/1900/2100 GSM 850/900/1800/1900
Connectivity	802.11n b/g/n (2.4 GHz), BT 2.1+EDR, USB 2.0	802.11n b/g/n (2.4 GHz), BT 2.1+EDR, USB 2.0

Nokia announced its unique software bundle available on all Lumia Windows Phones including Nokia Maps and Nokia Music. The former is Nokia's own voice guided, turn by turn navigation app. Nokia Maps allows you to download and preinstall maps ahead of time to avoid streaming map data if you're roaming in another country. Map data can be downloaded on the fly however if necessary.

Nokia Music is a streaming music service that doesn't require a subscription or even so much as a login. You'll be able to stream live mixes as well as save them for offline listening, although Nokia didn't share much about what specific labels/artists would be available via the service. The service will be available in 38 countries - plans for North America will have to wait until NA phones are announced.

Both Nokia apps will come preloaded on all Nokia Windows Phone devices. 

The Lumia 800 will be available in six countries in November (UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands). Before the end of the year Nokia will add Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan to the list. The Lumia 800 will be available for around 420 Euros.

The 710, priced at 270 Euros, will be available in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan by the end of the year. 

Nokia will bring a US-specific lineup to market in early 2012 on multiple carriers. The Lumia family will hit mainland China in the first half of 2012. Nokia also mentioned it has plans to release LTE/CDMA Lumia products but it didn't commit to any timeframe. Based on Qualcomm's roadmaps I'd expect to see LTE devices toward the middle/second half of next year.

Samsung Focus S & Flash: Official Images, 1.4GHz Mango Devices Shipping This Fall

The one area Microsoft hasn't touched while upgrading Windows Phone has been the SoC requirements. The platform launched with 65nm Qualcomm Snapdragon SoCs featuring the quite-slow Adreno 200 GPU.  Despite the age of the hardware, Microsoft has done wonders to make Windows Phone feel very responsive but as Qualcomm gets ready for the ramp to 28nm it's going to be increasingly difficult to ship 65nm hardware on a high-end device. The next wave of Windows Phones (while we wait for the presumablyKrait based major upgrade in 2012) makes the jump to 45nm with Qualcomm's Snapdragon S2. You get better power consumption characteristics, higher clocks and a much faster (nearly 2x) Adreno 205 GPU. 

Samsung will be among the first to ship this second wave of Windows Phone devices (running WP7.5, codename Mango) with its Focus S and Focus Flash. Both feature a 1.4GHz Snapdragon S2 SoC. The Focus S has a 4.3" Super AMOLED Plus display, while the Flash uses a 3.7" Super AMOLED (non-Plus) screen. The devices have 8MP and 5MP rear facing cameras, respectively. The Focus S is 8.55mm at its thinnest point, but no word on the rest of the dimensions.

We can expect to see both devices this fall, although I'm guessing it'll be worth waiting for Krait versions in about a year.

Nokia Will Unveil Windows 7 Phones Next Week

Nokia will be revealing its first Windows 7 phones next week at its Nokia World 2011 event, Microsoft's Andy Lees revealed in an interview at AllThingsD's AsiaD conference. These phones will be the first products to come from the Microsoft-Nokia partnership that was announced earlier this year.

According to the report, Nokia will show off several new phones, all running the new "Mango" version of Windows Phone 7. The Nokia 800, pictured above, is expected to be one of them - several leaks have already given the tech press a pretty good look at this phone, which sports a slim design and multiple colors.

Microsoft is betting that these new phones will help it compete better againt iOS and Android handsets, while Nokia is hoping that they'll help reverse declining in sales: the company is so optimistic that it announced it would no longer be selling Symbian or feature phones in the United States by the time its Windows phones came to market.