Nokia Launches Two Windows Phones in Android Race (NewsFactor)

Nokia World is well under way in Europe, and the handset maker is rolling out a diverse lineup of new phones, including the Nokia Lumia 800 and 710. The Lumia devices are the first in Nokia's portfolio to use the Windows Phone 7 operating system.

The Lumia 800 aims to bring content to life with its design, imaging capabilities and new experiences while the Lumia 710 is a more-affordable option that competes with mid-tier Android devices.

"Since Nokia's major strategic shift only eight months ago, the company has found a new energy," said Pete Cunningham, principal analyst at Canalys. "It has provided substantial improvements to Symbian, managed to differentiate on Windows Phone and it continues to build on its strong portfolio in mobile phones. Nokia is delivering on its pledges, and is clearly demonstrating its path to future success."

Illuminating Windows Phone

With the Nokia phones, Microsoft has plenty at stake. The Lumia 800 is billed as a social phone with strong Internet performance. The phone offers one-touch social-network access, contact grouping, integrated communication threads and Internet Explorer 9.

The Lumia 800 has a 3.7-inch AMOLED ClearBlack curved display blending into the reduced body design, and a 1.4 GHz processor. The hardware includes an instant-share camera based on leading Carl Zeiss optics, HD video playback, 16GB of internal user memory and 25GB of free SkyDrive storage for storing images and music. The Nokia Lumia 800 will sell for about 420 euros.

"A lot of attention is going to be given to the high-end phone, the Lumia 800, which offers a spectacular design but otherwise provides basically a stock Windows Phone experience," said Avi Greengart, an analyst at Current Analysis, from Nokia World.

"The challenge is going to be to get people to consider a Windows Phone over Android and iPhone. But in Europe, Nokia's brand is still strong and the design of the phone is strong. I would expect they will have some success with it."

The Lumia 710 can be personalized with exchangeable back covers and thousands of apps. Nokia designed the Lumia 710 for instant social and image sharing. The Lumia 710 offers the same 1.4 GHz processor, hardware acceleration and graphics processor as the 800, but sells for only 270 euros.

"The 710 doesn't look nearly as nice as the 800 but offers a better user experience for the price," Greengart said. "At 270 euros, Nokia is competing with a lot of mid-tier Android phones, some of which are rather poor. The 710's price point and the performance beat some of the low-end Android phones that it's going to sit next to."

Nokia Gets Musical

Both Lumia smartphones include signature Nokia experiences optimized for Windows Phone, including Nokia Drive, which delivers a full-fledged personal navigation device with free, turn-by-turn navigation and dedicated in-car user interface. The phones also sport Nokia Music with MixRadio, a free, global music-streaming application with hundreds of channels.

In an update delivered later this year, Nokia Lumia users also will be able to create personalized channels from a global catalog of millions of tracks. Also integrated in Nokia Music is Gigfinder, which offers the ability to search for live local music for a complete end-to-end music experience, as well as the ability to share discoveries on social networks and buy concert tickets also coming in the Nokia Music software update delivered later this year.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/software/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111026/tc_nf/80759

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