A newspaper article has stated that Nokia Australia could be releasing the Lumia 800 – the first (and currently, flagship) Windows Phone 7 phone by the company – in March this year. Also coming in March is the Lumia 710, a lower-end version of the phone.
Nokia Australia’s Chris Carr confirmed to the Australian Financial Review that the Lumia 800 has distribution arrangements with all three major carriers, while the Lumia 710 currently has none finalised. Nokia previously did state that the phone would be reaching in Australia sometime this year, but an actual date has not been confirmed.
The Lumia 800 features a 3.7-inch AMOLED display, a 1.4GHz single-core processor, 16GB of internal storage and an 8-megapixel camera. It also shares the same body as the Nokia N9 – and Nokia has been touting the phone as the “first REAL Windows Phone”.
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The Lumia 710, on the other hand, features most of the same features – except it has a 5-megapixel camera, 8GB of storage, and a cheaper body.
The Lumia line and its Windows Phone 7 deal has propelled Nokia back into the spotlight, and more attention has been given to the Nokia-WP7 tie up as it means that: 1) Nokia managed to ditch the long-struggling Symbian OS as its flagship platform; and 2) Microsoft is now getting serious with its mobile strategy with a big manufacturer.
But should Nokia Australia be wary of a March launch? Mobile World Congress is in the last week of February, and Nokia is expected to make some more announcements about Windows Phone 7 – alongside every other Android and Windows Phone 7 manufacturer. But, those phones usually come out in June (or even later for Australia).
We’ll keep our eyes on this product.