Hands-on review: MobileCon 2012: Nokia Lumia 810

Quality camerasXbox Live tie-insSupports many music formats

Here at MobileCon 2012, we got to put our hands on T-Mobile's exclusive Windows phone, the upcoming Nokia Lumia 810. Unfortunately, holding this handsome new handset was about all we were allowed to do as the demo units we saw wouldn't even turn on.

Still, there was a lot to be gleaned from playing with the device, and we know it will launch ready for T-Mobile's HSPA+ 42 network. While T-Mobile wouldn't talk price or release date, we'd be surprised if didn't show up in time for the holiday rush.

While we couldn't mess with the OS, we did learn the specs. Internally, the Lumia 810 packs a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor and 1GB of RAM. There's 8GB of onboard storage, with room for an additional 32GB via MicroSD. The antenna is a quad-band 3G UMTS/HSPA, and the battery is an 1800 mAh Lithium ion.

Holding the Lumia 810, its 5 ounce (145 gram) weight was pleasing in the hand. The phone's design felt a little boxy, at least compared with the sleeker Lumia 920.

Lets talk dimensions, the Lumia 810 measures 17.8 x 68.4 x 11.2 mm, with an OLED screen providing 4.3 inches of visual real estate, and a resolution of 800x480. When Windows Phone 8 is actually loaded on the device, it will features the customizable Live Tiles that have come to represent Microsoft's new mobile OS.

The most distinct aspect of the Lumia 810 is that colorful plastic backing, which can be removed and swapped out. There were two colors on display at MobileCon 2012, a bright cyan blue and a plain black. Removing the back casing was a little tough, not as easy as pulling a rubber casing off an iPhone 5.

We were left wondering if there would be more colors eventually available, perhaps by third-parties. We've really enjoyed the colorfulness of devices like the Windows Phone 8X and Windows Phone 8S. We'd like to see more than just two colors.

The Lumia 810 is very photography-friendly. Like all Windows phones, it has a dedicated hardware camera button which brings you right into picture taking mode. That camera takes 8-megapixel snaps, and can also shoot 1080p video. In the front there's a 1.2-megapixel chat cam. Nokia is calling it Skype-certified. We're not sure what that means, but 1.2-Mp should make for good quality video calling.

Finally, as both a Windows and Nokia device, the Lumia 810 will come packed with apps from both companies. From Microsoft there will be tie-ins with Xbox Live, and Nokia will provide its two navigation services, the turn-by-turn Nokia Drive and the augmented reality app Nokia City Lens. Media suites will include an ESPN app and music streamer Slacker Radio. T-Mobile is getting in on it too, offering T-Mobile TV, its app for streaming all kinds of TV to your phone. Music fans will be happy to know the phones supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, MPEG4 and WAV.

Even more so than usual with a hands-on assessment, it's way too early to call it with the Nokia Lumia 810. We didn't get to play with the OS, and that's half the battle with a Windows Phone 8 device.

After seeing the bright and attractive Windows Phone 8X and 8S lineup, as well as the Lumia 920, we were disappointed to see only two color options for the Lumia 810. However, this could change before the phone's release, either by Nokia itself or from third-party accessory intervention.

We also weren't in love with the phone's boxy design, but it was pleasant to hold, and with its reasonable size, we think it will be easy to operate one-handed, something we're losing as smartphones grow larger.

Ultimately, we have greater anticipation for the Windows Phone 8 OS than we do for any single Windows phone. Still, we think T-Mobile customers and Microsoft fans could have a lot to look forward to with the Nokia Lumia 810.

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'Hands on reviews' are a journalist's first impressions of a piece of kit based on spending some time with it. It may be just a few moments, or a few hours. The important thing is we have been able to play with it ourselves and can give you some sense of what it's like to use, even if it's only an embryonic view. For more information, see TechRadar's Reviews Guarantee.

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Nokia Lumia 920 announced, but when will it ship?

Although Nokia announced its next flagship phone, the Lumia 920, this week, the actual release date may still be two months away.

Nokia is aiming to release the Lumia 920 on November 2 with AT&T and is working with the carrier and Microsoft on a number of tests, unnamed sources tell The Verge. But even that date isn't solid, and could slip if any testing issues arise.

Reuters also reports that Nokia will start selling the Lumia 920 in November, citing sources at European telecoms operators.

Officially, Nokia hasn't announced pricing, a release date, or wireless carrier support for its latest Windows Phone. Support from AT&T seems like a given, considering that the carrier already sells Nokia's Lumia 900, and the Lumia 920 is essentially a sequel, with a larger and crisper display, a faster processor, and a much-improved camera, plus the latest version of the Windows Phone software.

But other wireless carriers are staying tight-lipped on whether they'll sell any Nokia phones this holiday season. Verizon tells CNet that it will sell “multiple Windows Phones” in the fourth quarter, but says only that it's having “healthy conversations” with Nokia. A report from Engadget claims Verizon may sell a “Lumia 822,” which could be a tweaked version of Nokia's upcoming mid-range handset, but no word on the flagship.

T-Mobile, which sells Nokia's low-end Lumia 710 hasn't announced any plans. Sprint says it wants to be involved with Windows Phone 8 but may not be part of the first wave.

All of this could spell trouble for Nokia, which needs broad carrier support if it wants back into the U.S. market. Last quarter, Nokia shipped 4 million Lumia smartphones worldwide, but only 600,000 of those sales came from the United States and Canada. AT&T alone won't be able to turn Nokia around in the United States, especially if the Lumia 920 isn't around to compete with Apple's iPhone and other high-end handsets in October.

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Nokia Lumia 920 claims to be "Flagship" Windows Phone 8 device

Nokia today announced its new flagship Windows Phone 8, the Lumia 920, with a powerful PureView camera as the centerpiece.

The Nokia Lumia 920 has a 4.5-inch curved glass display with a resolution of 1280 x 768, a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage. Nokia also announced a mid-range Lumia 820 model that has a 4.3-inch display and supports exchangeable shell designs with shorter battery life and 8 GB storage.

Lumia 920 & 820 compared: Source Nokia

Specs are only part of the story for Nokia's new flagship. At a press conference in New York, Nokia focused on features, design, and technology that goes beyond raw performance.

Foremost is that PureView camera which, despite the name, doesn't have the same whopping 41-megapixel sensor found on Nokia's 808 PureView Symbian phone. The sensor in the Lumia 920 is a more typical 8.7 megapixels, but Nokia claims that the 920's camera captures five-to-ten times more light than other phone cameras, which makes it better at shooting photos indoors or in low lighting. (This was a major issue with Nokia's Lumia 800 and 900 phones, which struggled in those situations.) A 1.2-megapixel HD camera is up front.

The Lumia 920's camera also has so-called “floating-lens” technology for image stabilization. The floating lens is particularly beneficial for video, Nokia said, because it minimizes the erratic shaking found in some other smartphone cameras.

To take advantage of new screen-resolution possibilities in Windows Phone 8, the Lumia 920 has a “Pure Motion HD+” display. Nokia says the screen offers blur-free scrolling and enhancements to sunlight readability, so the phone can react to minimize sunlight glare. The screen also works through gloved fingers, so there's no need to buy special smartphone gloves.

Additionally, the Lumia 920 supports built-in wireless charging and near-field communications. Nokia will offer its own charging plate, but design company Fatboy will sell a wireless charging pillow as well. Virgin Atlantic plans to install wireless charging pads in its Heathrow Airport lounge, and Coffee Bean will install wireless charging pads in its shops. JBL will sell a speaker dock called PowerUp, which charges the phone wirelessly and pairs through NFC.

The design of the Lumia 920 is similar to that of Nokia's previous high-end Windows Phones, with a scratch-resistant polycarbonate shell around the curved display. Nokia is expanding the available color schemes on the casing to include yellow, red, and gray, in addition to the existing cyan, white, black. and pink found in Nokia's Lumia 900 line.

Of course, Nokia's Lumia 920 will run Windows Phone 8, but Nokia will add some of its own software features to stand out from competitors Samsung, HTC. and Huawei.

Nokia Maps will be integratedon this phone, as it will be on all Windows Phone 8 devices, but the Lumia 920's Maps app will also included an augmented reality feature called City Lens. Similar to Yelp's AR mode, CityLens lets users hold up the phone's camera to their surroundings and see information on nearby businesses. And on the Lumia 920, Nokia's Drive app will provide turn-by-turn directions with fully-offline maps.

Smart Shoot Before and After

The camera also has some software features to improve photos. Smart Shoot scans for unwanted people passing through photos, and can remove them from the image. Cinemagraph can add a touch of motion to parts of an image, such as a flag waving in the background.

In addition to the Lumia 920, Nokia also announced the Lumia 820, which seemed like a bit of an afterthought at the company's press conference. The Lumia 820 has a 4.3-inch, 800-pixel-by-480-pixel resolution display (without curved glass), a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics (not PureView), a VGA front-facing camera, 8GB of storage. and a microSD card slot.

Nokia hasn't announced pricing or availability for its new Lumia phones, but says both will be available in pentaband LTE and HSPA+ variants in select markets later this year.

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Nokia's Lumia 920 is the camera-in-a-phone to beat

Nokia SVP of Product Management Kevin Shields demonstrates the Lumia 920's photography features at Wednesday's event.

In addition to offering a sharp 4.5-inch display, a dual-core processor, and built-in wireless-charging capabilities, the new Nokia Lumia 920 apparently wants to be your everyday camera. Announced today at an event in New York City, Nokia's flagship Windows Phone 8 handset offers a few camera specs we haven't seen before in a smartphone.

Two of those distinguishing factors have to do with the Lumia 920's lens: It offers a maximum aperture of F2.0, which means that the camera should capture better-than-most images in low light, and it's also the first smartphone I've seen to bolster its optics with a mechanical lens-shift stabilization system.

The maximum aperture of F2.0 is something you normally see in premium point-and-shoot cameras (read: cameras that cost upwards of $400). Bear in mind that your average standalone camera offers a bigger sensor and a girthier lens, so you probably won't see the shallow depth-of-field effects you'll get with a premium compact. That said, it's still a very nice feature to have in a smartphone camera, and if the sample shots shown at the event were to be believed, that wider-than-most aperture does run laps around most mobile-phone cameras in dark lighting.

Nokia shows lens technology

According to Nokia, the camera's "floating lens" stabilization system helps with low-light photos and capturing video while walking, as well. Rather than having individual elements in the lens move to compensate for camera shake, the entire housing for the Lumia 920's lens is steadied by a spring-buffered system, helping the camera use slower shutter speeds in dark environments with less visible blur. It won't correct the blur you see when capturing a subject in motion, however; the system is built to compensate only for shaky hands, not fast-moving subjects.

The Lumia 920's in-camera shooting modes are designed to help with that task, judging from two of the phone's features demoed at the event. A high-speed burst mode (dubbed Blink Lens mode) captures several still images in a second, while a "Smart Shoot" mode creates a composite image out of successive shots, allowing you to remove moving objects in a scene.

Smart Shoot Before and After

It looks like Nokia and Microsoft are addressing the relative scarcity of Windows Phone apps (compared to Android and iOS, at least) by offering some camera-specific "Lens" apps. Among them are a Windows 8 Phone version of the Photosynth panorama-stitching app, as well as a still/video hybrid app called Cinemagraph that looks mighty similar to the Cinemagram app I wrote about here. And, of course, you'll get a range of Instagram-like filters built into the camera.

For now, it looks like the Lumia 920 is the camera-in-a-phone to beat, but Apple's iPhone 5 is looming next week. Apple's latest smartphone is bound to feature improved camera specs, and we'll see if it can match or raise the bar set by Nokia's new Windows 8 Phone.

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Hands on with the Nokia Lumia 920

Nokia followed up the unveiling of its new Windows 8 phones on Wednesday with a demo session providing some hands-on time with the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820. Getting up close and personal with these phones gave me the chance to see some of the advances Nokia touted during Wednesday’s press event.

The 920 itself is is slick, glossy, and eye catching in its new yellow, red, and grey colors. The body felt firm and solid in my hand, while the 920’s display looked sharp, bright, and colorful. The 4.5-inch curved display pops, thanks in large part to the 1280x768 pixel resolution and Nokia’s ClearBlack technology. (That’s the Nokia technology aimed at making screens more visible when you’re outdoors.)

Turning to the phone’s Windows 8 interface, I found the live tiles easy to move (as they were in Windows Phone 7) and easy to resize from small, medium, and large. Large-sized tiles display the most information about the app in question; for example, when I resized the email app to the large tile size, it showed the last email read.

The 920 reacts instantly to commands, operating smoothly and without any lag, thanks to its Snapdragon 4 processor. I can’t stress enough how amazing photos look on the 920’s display.

The demo area also gave Nokia the chance to show off some of the 920’s camera features, specifically its “floating-lens” technology for image stabilization. Side-by-side screens displayed video captured both with and without the image stabilization. The difference was remarkable: video captured using Nokia’s image stabilization technology was noticeably less jittery and shaky than the video taken without, giving the 920 an edge over rival smartphones on the camera front.

Accessories took a prominent role in the demo area, with most stations showing off a number of wireless charging options, including a colored oval flat plate, astanding ‘nightstand’ dock, and the Fatboy pillow. All of these charging options worked as soon as the handset was set down upon them, although finding the exact right spot occasionally took me a try or two. The highlight of the wireless charging demos was the JBL Power Up speaker system; it not only charges the handsets but also broadcasts music from the phone, and has a remarkable range. One Nokia rep told me she was able to place calls in her bathroom while the speaker system in her bedroom continued to stream music from her phone.

All the Nokia reps in the demo area were also wearing Nokia Purity Pro Stereo Headphones made by Monster. These headphones feature near-field communication (NFC) capabilities so that they can be paired to the new Lumia handsets.

All in all, the Lumia 920 looks lovely, performs smoothly, and has a deluge of features—especially if your smartphone doubles as a camera. While many of the physical aspects of the new phone were similar to the older Lumia models—save for that exceptional camera—it’s the software that really stands out. Camera features like the ability to add motion or delete people who’ve wandered into the shot along with the phone’s augmented reality-flavored City Lens option will likely set the Lumia apart from other Windows Phone handsets.

The predominant question about the Lumia 920 among people in the demo room seemed to be when they could get one. They’ll have to wait: Nokia hasn’t announced availability for pricing for the new models, though both the 920 and 820 will arrive in select markets later this year.

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Review: Updated: Nokia Lumia 610

Updated: We've taken another look at the Lumia 610, with a new price drop making it much cheaper - but does it make it better than the still-cheaper Nokia Lumia 710?

The Nokia Lumia 610 has placed itself squarely at the low end of the smartphone market, with just 256MB of RAM and a single-core 800MHz processor.

Alongside the new stripped down Windows Phone Tango operating system and a new, more wallet-friendly UK price tag of only around £125 on Pay as you go, or free on contracts starting from just £13 per month.

This oddly puts it at a higher price than the better-specified Nokia Lumia 710 - we're not sure what's going on here, especially in the UK market.

Although the Nokia Lumia 610 is broadly competing with every other low spec and low price handset, its real competition will come from other Windows Phone Tango handsets, such as the ZTE Tania. It remains to be seen how they'll fare, since the Nokia Lumia 610 has beaten them to market, so as a pioneer of the new budget-conscious operating system, how does the Nokia Lumia 610 stack up?

Based on physical impressions, it isn't likely to stand out in a crowd, with a plastic body and a dinky 3.7-inch 800 x 480 TFT screen. The sides have a metallic gleam to them but it's never likely to be mistaken for real metal, and the illusion is lost altogether once you actually hold the phone, which feels plastic through and through.

It's not flimsy, though, with a reassuringly sturdy back cover and a generally solid feel. At 131.5g, it weighs about what you'd expect for a phone of its size, which is to say that it's light, but given its relatively small dimensions of 119 x 62 x 12mm, the weight feels about right.

This all serves to give the Nokia Lumia 610 a feeling of surprisingly high quality for such a cheap phone. Especially when compared, for example, to the substantially more expensive Samsung Galaxy S2, which has none of the density or solidity to it that the Nokia Lumia 610 has.

Sticking to the trademark bright and bold colours of the Lumia range, the Nokia Lumia 610 comes in magenta or cyan, or if you're feeling more conventional, black or white.

The phone features several hardware buttons, all of which are positioned on the right-hand side. There's a volume rocker near the top, the power button in the middle and a dedicated camera button at the bottom.

The layout isn't totally ideal, since - depending on how you're holding the phone - the camera button can be awkward to reach without using two hands. And having the power button so close to the volume rocker means it's easy to press the wrong button.

We can't help but feel that having the power button opposite the volume rocker and moving the camera button slightly further up the body of the phone would have worked better, as it requires some thumb movement to turn the phone on when held naturally in the hand.

In addition, the Nokia Lumia 610 has soft key buttons just below the screen for home, back and search. These are intuitive and feature pictures of each function, making their use obvious even to someone who's never used the phone before.

The ports, meanwhile, all sit along the top of the phone, with a 3.5mm headphone socket in the centre, and a micro USB connector on the right. There's also a wrist strap hole on the top-left, while the microphone sits alone at the bottom of the phone.

There's no microSD card slot, which is especially disappointing given the paltry 8GB of internal storage. The battery cover requires a slide down from the main chassis to remove - something that can be hard for those used to popping a backplate off.

Thankfully, for most users it's a problem they'll only have to face once, since as soon as the SIM card is in there's little reason to remove the cover again. Although it's good to know that if you ever want to replace the battery, the option is there, even if it is a little fiddly to get at.

The Nokia Lumia 610 sports a respectable 5MP camera, the lens of which lies flush with the back cover of the phone. This is always cause for concern, because scratches and smudges can play havoc with photos, although in our time with the phone, while it's certainly seen its share of smudges, the lens has thankfully remained scratch-free.

Ultimately, while it's not going to win any design awards, the Nokia Lumia 610 is a reasonably attractive and well built handset.

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