To open Nokia World 2013 in Abu Dhabi, former CEO Stephen Elop unveiled Nokia’s first tablet alongside several new handsets. Rumors had been building that some bigger Lumias were coming, with Windows Phone Update 3 including support for 1080p phones, and fuzzy pictures of increasingly larger handsets being leaked. Looking over the lineup and specifications, there’s a lot to like in the new Lumias.
I like the new Asha phones the most. The Lumias are just more of the same, and still limited not by hardware, but by software.
I like the new Asha phones the most.
I used the S40 platform for a long time, and it seems that this is where the development at Nokia is/was really happening. Asha continues the gesture-based UI that was begun with Meego, and for a time used a similar icon set, although I believe this has been updated to a flat Windows-style icon set since May. Asha 503 seems like a respectable upgrade for last year’s Asha 311 (which I owned for a while) in that it continues the Gorilla Glass display but increases the camera quality to 5 megapixels.
The only other phone that catches my attention is the Nokia 515, which was announced a few months ago, because it is a sleek, modern looking candybar phone with a quality build and camera. I am looking seriously at replacing my Galaxy Nexus with this phone.
The Ars article implies that Microsoft will use the Asha line to gradually move people to the Windows Phone brand. I think this would be a sad end for a long legacy of feature phones. Microsoft should milk the Nokia name for all it is worth, like Lenovo did with the Thinkpad brand.
AT&T already got an exclusive on the Lumia 1020, why the hell would Nokia make the 1520 an exclusive also? I wanted to trade my 925 in for a 1520 on t-mobile, but obviously that’s not going to happen. And I will move back to AT&T when hell freezes over. The other thing that sucks about the current Lumias is that you need to add a separate back on the phones for wireless charging. This back really prevents you from putting a proper case on the phone. The 925 is pretty thin and difficult to hold when using the camera button because the sides are rounded, so my 925 has already been dropped onto hard surfaces three times since I have owned it, by myself and my wife. I think Nokia actually does it that way to make you have to buy yet another upgrade piece and to encourage you to buy a new phone in a year because it’s so scratched up from accidents. If there was another decent manufacturer of Windows phones that had the same or better specs I would consider switching brands, especially to have a decent case WITH wireless charging on board. Windows Phone is not limited by software in any way…it’s the built in contact handling and better email apps that smoke other phone OSs. That along with better battery and data consumption management.
Edited 2013-10-23 00:39 UTC
Because WP sells bad in US and Carriers know its not demanded by customers. Exclusive deals are probably the only way to have deals at all and some kind of promotion to not end in a dark corner from start.
No, its limited by the quality of the Windows Phone OS.
Edited 2013-10-23 19:37 UTC
The 1520 is coming to Verizon, its been leaked reportedly as the Lumia 909.
FYI the 920 was an ATT exclusive, 928 a VZW exclusive and 925 until now was a TMo exclusive. Its carrier differentiation.
So basically, ignore cdude because he’s wrong pretty much all the time on everything.
Any idea if Surface Phone is a reality?
It might’ve existed as a skunkworks project to hedge against Nokia not wanting to renew their WP agreement.
It will probably not see the light of day now, though perhaps some interesting ideas will be folded into Lumias moving forward.
But hey, according to cdude Microsoft does not want Lumia. Right before they spent 7 billion dollars on D&S.
I’m actually hearing the opposite…that Surface Phone might be a reality in 2014. Would be easier to offer with Nokia’s distribution. Might be a better choice for me personally just because of the geometry of the phone and the fact that I don’t want to leave Windows Phone 8, it rocks for my needs.
I really don’t think it’ll happen and I haven’t heard anything in that direction. We’ll see though.
Smooth bug free operation is there man. Unlike my old S3.
Does it run Android?
Does it run SailfishOS?
Does it run iOS?
Does it run WebOS?
Does it run Ubuntu touch?
Can it run Crysis?
Will it be featured in the next Scream movie ?
Kochise
Top 10 Uses For Phablets
—————————————–
01. Table tennis, anyone?
02. Why yes, I AM happy to see you.
03. Save time and money on radiation treatments.
04. No one sees your acne problem.
05. Video chats with the nation of Luxembourg.
06. Display life-sized photos of Craig Ferguson’s head.
07. Confuse patrons at the airport – display your own departure schedules.
08. Exert gravitational pull on iPhones.
09. Save on home energy bills with flashlight app.
10. Make phone calls. Really!
Aye, I recently bought Lumia 920 and it’s a bit too big. Well, I know I would never buy a bigger phone.
And I don’t get thse big phones – too big as a phone, too small as a tablet.
The younger women at work seem to like them.
Same over here. I suppose it’s more practical in some sense, since most chicks tend to carry handbags. Phablets could also double as decent sized mirrors, making em useful for make-up and whatnot.
For me it doesn’t make any sense, but they love it.
May be bigger screens demand less interaction and less accuracy. Most women I spoke to on the phone/tablet issues mention these.