Unboxing & Hands on with the Nokia Lumia 620

Unboxing + Hands on with the Nokia Lumia 620 (We're smitten)

We’ve had lots of talk of the entry level Nokia Lumia 620 as of late and ours (from eBay) just happened to show up today. Unlocked and ready to rock we do a quick unboxing and give your first impressions—so make sure you watch the video below.

In short, we’re kind of in love with the 620. It looks awesome. It feels awesome. And it runs Windows Phone 8 (build 10211 aka 'Portico'). Sporting a nice and contrasty 5MP rear shooter, front-facing camera and expandable storage, the 3.8” 800x480 (ClearBlack) device may seem like a light weight compared to the 920 but thanks to the OS, you’d hardly know it.

Indeed we haven’t noticed much of any lag with the OS for regular functions, even though it “only” has a dual-core 1GHz Snapdragon CPU and 512MB of RAM. That’s good news and it feels way nicer than it’s predecessor, the Lumia 610. While we liked the 610, we think the consumer is getting much more bang for their buck with the 620 both in terms of quality and performance.

Speaking of price, the 620 goes for around $300 unlocked and sometimes lower. You can pick it up on Expansys or through various regional carriers and we recommend you do so. Sadly, no US carrier is on board, which is shame. If AT&T were to offer this for $0 on contract with LTE, it’d be quite huge.

We’ll have more on the 620 in the coming days. Stay tuned as we’re excited about this one.

Read full here... http://www.wpcentral.com/unboxing-hands-nokia-lumia-620

Windows Phone 7.8

January 31st aiming to be official start of Windows Phone 7.8 update program by Microsoft

Although Microsoft itself has been officially mum on when the Windows Phone 7.8 update will go out to the masses, the end of January is coming into focus as the target date.

On the face of it, Windows Phone 7.8 is a minor update bringing only the ability to use three different size tiles on the Start screen, reflecting the Windows Phone 8 paradigm in addition to some smaller, device specific enhancements. But based user experience, 7.8 really does make a difference in perception, making older devices feel more modern.

Confirmations

Evidence for an end-of-January global rollout derives from a few carriers who have proclaimed the date through their official PR channels like Twitter or even their website. A new piece of evidence though coming from Microsoft has been revealed today, reinforcing the launch time-frame.

First up is O2 who mentioned the 7.8 update recently in a fairly specific tweet. When asked by a customer when the update would be available, the popular UK carrier responded with “by the end of January”.

Yesterday, we reported on Australia’s Telstra expecting the much-anticipated OS update for the Lumia 800 also by January 31st (although other Windows Phone devices are still in testing, with a rollout anticipated in February or early March). WPArea.de also recently reported that O2 Germany tweeted the same timeframe regarding the Lumia 710, citing January for that push.

Now, Windows Phone Colombia via their Facebook page has landed on this date of January 31st as being key for the 7.8 update. In an announcement post on their page, the Latin American branch of Windows Phone proclaimed:

“As of January 31 and during the first quarter of 2013 some phones with Windows Phone 7.5 will be receiving 7.8 update... Happy weekend.” (Translated by Bing)

Once again, the information is specific and thru official channels.

When will Microsoft make it formal?

We don’t want to make guaranteed predictions here folks, but that’s four official sources all arriving on the same date for a Windows Phone 7.8. Even more interesting is the fact of how spread out they are: Colombia, Australia, Germany, the UK and we bet there are more.

We should temper excitement though as Telstra demonstrated that the majority of their devices won’t have 7.8 on January 31st and we have a feeling that will be the case for a lot of carriers. In other words, some high-profile (and previously bestselling devices) will get first priority for this update with others falling in line thereafter.

Read full here... http://www.wpcentral.com/january-31-start-windows-phone-78-update-microsoft

Nokia Q4

Nokia's Q4 performance exceeds expectations

Preliminary estimates by Nokia indicate that the Finnish phone giant's Q4 2012 financial performance has exceeded expectations in their Devices & Services division, thanks in large part to the success of their Lumia line of Windows Phone devices. Their estimates suggest that Nokia achieved what it calls "underlying profitability" in Q4. In a press release, CEO Steven Elop shared his thoughts on the news:

"We are pleased that Q4 2012 was a solid quarter where we exceeded expectations and delivered underlying profitability in Devices & Services and record underlying profitability in Nokia Siemens Networks. We focused on our priorities and as a result we sold a total of 14 million Asha smartphones and Lumia smartphones while managing our costs efficiently, and Nokia Siemens Networks delivered yet another very good quarter."

According to the report, three primary factors contributed Nokia's successful fourth quarter:

• Mobile Phones business unit and Lumia portfolio delivered better than expected results; and
• Operating expenses were lower than expected.
• Devices & Services non-IFRS operating margin for the fourth quarter 2012 now expected to be between break even and positive 2 percent.

It is estimated that Nokia totaled EUR 3.9 billion in the last three months of 2012 from sales of 86.3 million units. Of the 6.6 million smart devices sold, 4.4 million of those were Nokia Lumia devices powered by Windows Phone. This news jump started Nokia's stock, which shot up about 17% at the time of this story.

Nokia's Q4 estimates are a much needed boon to the company, who experienced mass layoffs and saw its stock plummet and credit rating downgraded since moving to the Windows Phone platform. However, they have been sure to temper expectations for the first quarter of 2013. They project that "seasonality and competitive environment" will lead to a dropoff from the end of 2012 to the start of 2013.

We shall see what the new year has in store for Nokia.

Source: Nokia

link: http://www.wpcentral.com/nokias-q4-performance-exceeds-expectations