Nokia Lumia 1020 leaked press image reveals a trio of colors

A few days after we saw it wearing AT&T livery, the Nokia Lumia 1020 appeared in yet another press image. This time around, the Windows Phone 8 imaging powerhouse appeared free of carrier branding, and showcasing three colors - white, black, and yellow.



Alongside the leaked press image, some fresh details about the handset's specs emerged, including its much talked about camera unit. The latter promises to be a smartphone photographer's dream when the handset goes official.

Reportedly, the 41MP camera unit of the Nokia Lumia 1020 will be capable of simultaneously capturing 32MP and 5MP images with 16:9 ratio, as well as a 38MP ones with 4:3 aspect. The 5MP image will be oversampled by combining seven pixels into one "super pixel." The camera will unsurprisingly feature optical image stabilization (OIS) and F2.2 aperture.

The Pro Camera app which left us wondering last time will bring proper enthusiast settings to the user. They include the option to manually tweak ISO, white balance, focus, shutter speed, and the flash settings.

Further leaked specs for the Nokia Lumia 1020 included never before seen on WP handset 2GB of RAM, 32GB of non-expandable storage, NFC, FM radio, flip to silence gesture, and optional wireless charging.

Nokia Lumia 1020 is allegedly expected to hit AT&T's shelves by the end of this month. No details have been spilled on international availability.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 will break cover this coming Thursday in New York City. We will be covering the event live from the spot, so be sure to tune in for the full scoop on the smartphone.

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Nokia officially announces the 207, 208 and 208 dual SIM

Nokia hast just officially took the wraps off three new affordable handsets - the Nokia 207, Nokia 208 and 208 dual-SIM.



The trio of candybars is done in Nokia's bold colors that we're used to seeing and are almost identical to one another. Built around a 2.4" QVGA display and phone keypad, the only difference between the 207 and 208 is the 1.3MP camera at the back.

The 207 and 208 measure 114.2 x 50.9 x 12.8mm and weigh 89.6 grams and 90.5 grams, respectively (the extra gram is due to the camera). They all share a 1020mAh battery which doesn't sound much, but Nokia boasts the phones can go more than a month on stand-by without needing a recharge, while the talk time is estimated to be up to 12 hours on 2G.

Quad-band 2G and tri-band 3G mean that the 207 and 208 will work on most places. Connectivity is covered with Bluetooth 3.0, which supports Slam sharing, 3.5mm AV port and microUSB port for PC sync and charging. The both models support Nokia's data-compressing Xpress Browser, YouTube video streaming as well as popular social networks and services like Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp (will be available for the 208 initially). Mail for Exchange is supported for calendar and contacts sync, while the lack of a camera on 207 means that it can be used in workplaces which forbid cameras on sight, according to Nokia. There's a microSD card slot too, for storage up to 32GB.





Nokia says the phones are splash proof thanks to the lack of gaps between the keys. They're tough as well, due to the 'cup'-style design, reminiscent to Asha 501 and Lumia 620. This also means you can change the back shell with another and completely change the look of the phone.

Expect to phones to start shipping some time in Q3 this year with all three phones available in red, cyan, white and black. The Nokia 207, 208 and 208 dual SIM will cost around $68 / €52 each before local taxes and operator subsidies.

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Camera samples for 41MP Nokia Lumia 1020 (EOS) surface

Joe Belfiore, manager at Microsoft's Windows Phone division, has posted several samples which contain EXIF data identifying the device used as the Nokia Lumia 1020.


Lumia 1020 camera samples

The Lumia 1020, which leaked numerous times by its codename Nokia EOS, has since been identified by numerous sources as the Lumia 1020, a sequel to Nokia's current Windows Phone flagship, the Lumia 920. It may or may not have the PureView suffix attached to it, to liken it to the first Nokia model sporting PureView, the Nokia 808 PureView.

The first sample has a resolution of 2947 x 1658 pixels (~5MP), while the other is 2352 x 1568 pixels (3.7MP), but as we know the first PureView camera produced samples of similar resolution in its native supersampling mode.

The Lumia 1020 is expected to be announced by Nokia on July 11 at the #ZoomParty event in New York. Be sure to check back with us then for all the juicy details.

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Nokia should look to Android to stay afloat, analyst says

Many attribute Nokia's decline in recent years to its exclusive reliance on Microsoft's Windows Phone platform as its only outlet into the world of smartphones. Now one analyst argues that if Nokia has any hope of righting the ship, it must begin manufacturing Android smartphones.




Pierre Ferragu of Bernstein Research urges that Nokia must "take the pill before one cannot afford to do so anymore… its exposure to the disappearing feature phone market and the lack of traction of Windows phones could cost Nokia a lot of cash in the near term, in restructuring, marketing/distribution support, and operational losses, which means it could be too late to address the problem in a couple of years."

Nokia's partnership with Microsoft has been anything but what either company was hoping for, even ifrecent signs are encouraging. The Finnish phone maker and the Windows Phone operating system found on many of its devices are struggling to make the smartphone the three-horse race Elop was talking about when unveiling the new strategy.

Nokia continues to rely heavily on its feature phone sales to keep finances in check, as evidenced by its most recent ad campaign for the S40-powered Nokia Asha 501. But the featurephone market, once a pillar of Nokia's dominance, is also starting to crumble. Even in the conservative Western European smartphone market, where Nokia's total shipments have dropped by 30% year-over-year.

It's unclear what would it cost for Nokia to dip its toe into the Android pool, though. On one hand Microsoft has given licenses to Samsung, HTC and Huawei to make WP-powered devices of their own despite all of those also having Android smartphones. On the other ever since day one and Microsoft Nokia made it clear that their partnership is different to that between Microsoft and the other WP OEMs.

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Nokia Asha 501 goes on sale in select Asian countries

Nokia has announced that the Asha 501 is now shipping in select Asian markets. The phone is now on sale in Thailand and Pakistan and will be releasing in India shortly. The phone will eventually go on sale in other parts of the world, including Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America.



The Asha 501 is based on Nokia's new Nokia Asha software platform that brings some smartphone functionalities to a traditional feature phone. It has a 3.0-inch, QVGA touchscreen, 3.2 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, expandable memory, FM radio and dual-SIM support. The phone also comes with removable colors with multiple color choices.

You can check out our hands-on with the Nokia Asha 501 here.

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evleaks: Nokia EOS to be officially named Lumia 1020

The Nokia EOS, the company's upcoming Windows Phone-running cameraphone flagship is going to be called the Lumia 1020, according to evleaks. More often than not, the famous Twitter user is right in its predictions, so there's good reason we trust the latest Tweet, stating just "EOS = Nokia Lumia 1020".



While it was believed for a while that Nokia may come up with a brand new name for its camera-centric Windows Phone 8 smartphone, something in the lines of "EOS", it seems the Finns have decided to stick to their familiar naming scheme. Considering the series of leaks we've had of the smartphone and its resemblance to the Lumia 920, it's logical for the company to go a step further and give the EOS an official name - the Lumia 1020.

Nokia has confirmed in its latest teaser image that the Nokia EOS Lumia 1020 is going to pack a 41MP camera. The rest of the details will be unveiled on July 11, when Nokia is holding its special event for the device. We'll naturally be covering the event live for you, so make sure you stick around when the time comes.

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Nokia plans a limited Superman-branded Lumia 925

Following the footsteps of last year's Batman themed Nokia Lumia 900, the Finnish company is about to release another superhero themed Windows Phone flagship. The freshly announced Nokia Lumia 925Superman Limited Edition will land on the Chinese market a day after the Man of Steel movie's official June 14 launch.



The Nokia Lumia 925 Superman Limited Edition will be available in an initial run of 925 devices. The Nokia flagship will feature a Superman livery on its back. A wireless charging cover, gone through the same visual treatment will also be available for purchase as a separate accessory when the smartphone becomes available.



As far as specs go, the limited edition Nokia Lumia 925 will be no different than its plain vanilla sibling which we extensively previewed.

Software-wise, the smartphone will most probably come with the just released Man of Steel Windows Phone 8 app, which has been developed exclusively for Nokia Lumia devices. It features different challenges, whose completion will unlock exclusive multimedia content such as wallpapers, ringtones, and DC Comics digital comic books.



The Nokia Lumia 926 Superman Limited Edition will be priced at CNY 3,999 ($652; €505) when released in China. There's no info on other markets, though it will be surprising if the tricked out Lumia 925 doesn't make it beyond China.

Source 1 (in Chinese) | Source 2 | Via

Nokia releases waterproof protective shell for the Lumia 620

A new heavy duty case for the Nokia Lumia 620 has been released, which replaces the current back panel and adds IP54 certification against dust and water.



The case is an official Nokia accessory and is designed to fit the 620 perfectly and reduce the gaps between the camera window and shell as well as the display and shell for a better seal. The mesh that covers the loudspeaker is also denser, to make the phone more resistant to dust and water.

The shell is cast using a dual-shot process, which uses rigid polycarbonate for the interior, and a flexible, rubber-like exterior made of TPSiV.

Lumia Product Manager Harri Vuolle explains that the cover is not meant to make your Lumia 620 indestructible or 100% waterproof, but rather is more suitable for day-to-day mishaps. The cover is available with grey exterior and yellow interior, as pictured, and retails for around €25.

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Report of Nokia EOS encounter describes Lumia 920 / 808 hybrid

Nokia announced three new phones just a few days ago, but unfortunately none of them were the fabledNokia EOS. WMPowerUser received a tip from someone claiming to have seen the device in person (but didn’t provide any photo evidence).

The EOS phone is reportedly about the same size as the Lumia 920 but "much lighter". It is made of polycarbonate and while it's thick in the middle (as thick as the 920) it tapers off at the edges.
An early Nokia EOS mockup that doesn't look much like the device being described



There's an automatic lens cover that opens to reveal a round lens housing that protrudes slightly and is smaller than that of the Nokia 808 PureView (this sounds like the back of the Lumia 925). The resolution is unknown since the label read "XX megapixels" (Nokia does this with its prototypes).

Next to the camera was a xenon flash (smaller than the one the 808 has) and two LEDs – one white for video light and one red for AF assist (the 808 has the exact same arrangement).

A special app – Nokia Pro Camera – was on the device and provided goodies like manual focus. The regular app is still on board, so Pro Camera is probably a Lens just like the Smart Camera on the Lumia 925.

The display is reportedly the same as the Lumia 925 / 928 have – a 4.5" AMOLED of WXGA resolution.

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Nokia Lumia 928 available for pre-order, ships by May 20

Verizon's WP8 flagship, the Nokia Lumia 928, is available for pre-order right now. It's priced $99 with a new 2-year contract or $499 with month to month service. The black one will ship by May 20, but when you select the white model, the "Will ship by..." label disappears.



Note that the $99 price is after a $50 online discount. For a limited time you'll also get $25 credit for the Windows Phone Store.

Both Black and White versions of the Lumia 928 are also available on Amazon, but there's no shipping date and they cost more - $199 with contract and $549 without. Still, if you're not in a hurry, Amazon usually offers better deals than the carriers some time after a phone's launch.

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Nokia Lumia 925 announced with aluminum frame, OIS camera

Nokia just announced its third phone in five days, its new WP8 flagship called Nokia Lumia 925.

It's similar to the Lumia 920 and Verizon's Lumia 928 in that it packs an 8.7MP sensor with Optical Image Stabilization and f/2.0 aperture. The flash is a regular LED flash, no xenon here.

The phone packs two IHF microphones that record distortion-free sound for the 1080p videos even in loud environments.



Nokia preloaded the Lumia 925 with the Smart Camera app - it features several modes including burst mode (10 shots at 5MP), Best Shot (picks the best of the burst), Action Shot (Sequence shot on the HTC One, Drama shot on the Galaxy S4) and Motion focus (adds motion blur to static objects, as if you're tracking the moving object with the camera). You can also remove moving objects and pick the best face for each person.

The screen is 4.5" in diagonal and has WXGA resolution – that's 768 x 1280. More importantly it's an AMOLED with ClearBlack and Gorilla Glass 2, instead of an LCD. Unsurprisingly, the Qualcomm chipset of the Lumia 925 packs a dual-core Krait processor at 1.5GHz with 1GB of RAM, which is the best that WP8 currently supports.

The phone has an aluminum frame around the side, while the back is polycarbonate. The body is just 8.8mm thick and weighs 139g - much more acceptable than the Lumia 920. Inside it is a 2,000mAh battery, same as the Lumia 920 and Lumia 928. The battery is non-removable and there's no wireless charging out of the box - you can enable that with a thin charging cover.

The built-in storage is 16GB (a downgrade from the 920 and 928) and there's no microSD card slot to expand it. Actually, the Vodafone version of the phone will pack 32GB of storage, which is better.

The Nokia Lumia 925 will be available in Europe (Vodafone Germany, Italy, Spain and UK, where it will also be carried by O2) and China (China Mobile and China Unicom) this June for €470 ($610) and will come to the US later on T-Mobile.

WP8 Amber update to bring Smart Camera, FM radio to old Lumias

Nokia just announced the Lumia 925, which packs the Smart Camera app – the culmination of the company's acquisition of Scalado. The app will be released to current WP8 Lumias later on with a firmware update Nokia calls the Lumia Amber update.


The app snaps a burst of 5MP photos (the camera uses an 8.7MP sensor) and does cool tricks with it. One is Action shot, which is similar to the Sequence shot in the HTC One and Drama shot in the Galaxy S4. Here's how it works on video:



You can also remove moving objects, which got its own video demo. The Smart Camera app can also pick the best expression for every shot.


Another cool trick is Motion focus, which makes it look like you're tracking a fast moving object. There's no video for that one, but here's a photo taken with that mode:




Motion focus sample taken with the Nokia Lumia 925 (click for full size)


The Amber update packs a surprise too – it enables the FM radio that's hidden inside every Lumia phone to date, except for the Lumia 620.


There might be other features (including new Smart Camera modes and operator specific features), but Nokia is yet to announce the complete changelog. The update should be out some time in the summer.


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Official Nokia Lumia 925 photo emerges ahead of announcement

The first official photo of the upcoming Nokia Lumia 925 has been posted on the now famous evleakstwitter account. Previously dubbed Catwalk, this is the first all-metal handset to come out of Nokia in a while. While nothing has been officially confirmed, the material of choice for the Lumia 925 is believed to be aluminum.



The device is said to feature a Snapdragon S4 chipset with 1.5 GHz dual-core Krait processor, 1 GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. Nokia is believed to give the Lumia 925 the same 8.7 megapixel camera with f/2.0 aperture as the one in the Lumia 928. The battery capacity is said to be 2000mAh.

The Lumia 925 is very likely to see its official debut at Nokia's London event tomorrow, May 14.

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Nokia CEO talks hero device, phablet, carrier exclusivity

Nokia CEO, Stephen Elop, and CFO, Timo Ihamuotila, talked to UK’s Mobile Magazine about an upcoming ‘hero’ device (presumably the Lumia 928), a phablet and Nokia’s entire range of devices.

The hero device should launch by the end of June and Nokia is looking for an exclusive partnership with a US carrier to launch it (the talk around town is that there will be an exclusive deal in the UK as well).



While Ihamuotila didn’t detail the imaging capabilities of the hero device, he did say that Nokia wants to differentiate its phones by their cameras, ranging from the high end to the low end. On the high-end he says that Nokia will focus on “hero experiences,” the state of the art in imaging on their phones.

As for the tablet, the two Nokia execs were coy, but it should be a Windows Phone 8 device with a 6” screen and it’s targeting Q4 with a £400-500 price point ($620-780).

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Nokia Lumia 928 seen on rogue billboard, xenon flash confirmed

Well this is embarrassing. Or is it intentional? Or is it a hoax. A billboard (supposedly located in the US) advertising the yet unannounced Nokia Lumia 928 has popped up. The image looks pretty close to the images we've seen and reveals the Xenon flash. It even goes as far as saying the Lumia 928 has the best low-light smartphone camera.


Click for larger image

To add fuel to the fire there's a Verizon logo too making the billboard seem a bit more legit.

We have our guesses that the Lumia 928 could appear on the scene at Nokia's May 14 event. We even saw something like the Lumia 928 shooting videos at a private concert. As it usually happens the leaks start to intensify right before a product hits the market.

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Nokia will make a major announcement in Delhi on May 9

Nokia will hold a major announcement in New Delhi on May 9. The Finnish manufacturer sent out invitations calling for a "time to shift gears".

Curiously, Nokia's Indian announcement precedes the company’s scheduled Lumia event in London by five days. The latter will likely be the place where the company's next Windows Phone flagship will break cover.

There's no word on the subject of Nokia's New Delhi announcement. Our guess is that it might be one or more new members of the Asha family, as it is quite popular in India.

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Software updates for Lumia 920, 820, and 620 on the way

Three of the fairly recent Nokia devices running Windows Phone, which include the flagship Lumia 920, as well as the Lumia 820 and Lumia 620, are set to receive software updates within the coming weeks.



The Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 firmware will be updated to version 1232.5957.1308.00xx, which will have the usual stability and performance fixes, as well as improved automatic brightness adjustment, and a fix for the occasional screen blanking during a call which some users were experiencing.

The Nokia Lumia 620 will be getting a bit more with its 1030.6407.1308.00xx update, including improved touchscreen functions, better voice quality over Bluetooth headsets, and enhanced camera performance when flash is used.

The update should roll out in phases within the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for notifications on your device.

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Camera samples from WP8- powered Nokia Lumia 520 surface

Camera samples of the upcoming Nokia Lumia 520 have leaked on Flickr. By the time it hits the market, the Nokia Lumia 520 will be the most affordable Windows Phone 8 handset from the Finnish company (it’s expected in April). It will be cheaper than the already quite affordable Lumia 620 and, from the looks of it, will offer just about the same camera.

Thanks to Flickr user thai_qv, we have our first look at the image quality. Here are a few camera samples (note they appear full res but may have been downscaled by Flickr or before uploading):



Nokia Lumia 520 camera samples

For more, you can hit up the Flickr account with the rest of them.

Also, you can check out our thoughts on the Lumia 520 for more info on the new baby brother of the WP8 Lumia family.

The photos look very good for the 520 camera with F/2.4 aperture and 1/4” sensor, but then again the Lumia 620 had a pretty good camera too. Keep in mind these shots are coming from an unofficial source and may not have been taken with final hardware.Source | Via

Alleged photo of a Nokia Lumia 950 prototype pops up

An alleged photo of Nokia Lumia 950 prototype has emerged, thus pointing at what could be the Finnish company's upcoming flagship. Accompanying the photo were some rumored details on the upcoming device, whose name subtly harks back at the good old days of Nokia N95.



The Nokia Lumia 950 is reportedly going to feature an AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280x768 pixels. The display is reportedly sporting similar PureMotion HD tech as the one found in the Nokia Lumia 920.

The Nokia Lumia 950's camera is tipped to pack a larger sensor than its competitors'. Xenon flash, lossless zoom, oversampling, video stabilization, and superb low-light performance are among the camera's rumored features.

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Windows Phone 7.8 update is now back seeding

Owners of older Windows Phones will be happy to know that Microsoft is finally seeding the latest Windows phone 7.8 update for their devices.

The Windows Phone 7.8 update was previously halted due to bugs with the newly introduced Live Tiles on the homescreen. Users were reporting poor battery life due to a constantly active internet connection by the active tiles on the homescreen.



It seems that now these issues have been patched up. If you have previously updated your phone to WP 7.8, then consider this a bug-fixing release for your phone.

The current Windows Phone 7.5 users however will finally be able to enjoy some new visual features, carried over from Windows Phone 8. The official WP 7.8 release log mentions the Live Titles, some new UI colors, and an updated lockscreen.

Source | Via