Nokia Announces Its First Windows 8 Phones: the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820

Today Nokia unveiled two upcoming smartphones, showing off the Nokia Lumia 920 and the Lumia 820. The two handsets will be the first devices in Nokia's Windows Phone 8 range. 

The next version of Windows Phone will offer users a more customizable experience than the current one, thanks to the modifiable start screen and new live titles that will provide customers with real-time updates.

Windows 8 will also allow users to stay connected, making it easy to sync and share music and media files between a Windows phone, a Windows PC, and Xbox 360.

Nokia Lumia 920

The Lumia 920 is going to be this company's flagship Windows 8 phone. The device will offer a 4.5-inch Nokia PureMotion HD+WXGA IPS LCD display. The handset will also house a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, with 1 GB RAM, and 32GB of internal memory with 7GB of free SkyDrive (cloud) storage. The device will be powered by a 2000 mAh battery integrated with Qi wireless charging.

However, what really sets the Lumia 920 apart is going to be its camera. The handset will come with an 8.7MP rear-facing camera that will come with Nokia PureView and Carl zeiss optics. The camera will be able to take in five times more light than competing smartphones without the use of a flash, meaning high quality images regardless of the time of day or lighting. The camera will also be capable of shooting full 1080p video at 30 fps. Finally the Lumia 920 is going to offer a 1.2MP front facing camera that is capable of shooting 720p HD video.

"We view imaging as a core area for differentiation in the smartphone space," said Crawford Del Prete, Executive VP WW Products and Chief Research Officer, IDC. "Low light photography has been a weak point for smartphones. Nokia has addressed this with PureView to create real customer value. By applying its rich expertise in imaging Nokia has created a best of breed experience for everyday use."

Nokia Lumia 820

The Nokia Lumia 820 will be Nokia's mid-range Windows 8 option, that will look to offer high performance at an affordable price. The handset will offer a 4.3-inch ClearBlack OLED WVGA 800x480 display and 1650 mAh battery integrated with Qi Wireless Charging. The device will run on a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, with 1 GB RAM, 8GB of mass memory with micro SD support and 7GB of free SkyDrive (cloud) storage.

Availability

The Nokia Lumia 920 will come in yellow, red, grey, white and black. The Nokia Lumia 820, on the other hand, will come in yellow, gray, cyan, purple, white and black. Both phones will offer pentaband 4G LTE and 4G HSPA+ variants, and are expected to start shipping in select markets later this year, most likely suspected to reach markets sometime this November.

Unfortunately Nokia has yet to reveal pricing for either product, though it has said it will announce pricing and more specific roll-out dates country by country when sales are due to begin.