Nokia Unveils Lumia 920, 820 Windows Phone 8 Smartphones

By PCMag Staff

September 5, 2012

Nokia today unveiled its next generation Lumia smartphones, including the flagship Nokia Lumia 920 and the Lumia 820, both of which will run Windows Phone 8.

The company, however, did not reveal pricing or release dates for the new devices.

At an event in New York City, Nokia chief Stephen Elop said the devices create "the most personal smartphone experience."

The Lumia 920 (left) features a 4.5-inch curved glass WXGA IPS LCD display that boasts what Nokia called PureMotion HD+, which the company said is "better than HD resolution." That includes blur-free scrolling; "scroll through an email or webpage [and] the text stays crystal sharp," said Jo Harlow, head of Nokia's mobile phones business.

According to Kevin Shields, a senior vice president at Nokia, the Lumia 920 includes the fastest LCD display ever shipped on a smartphone. One of the device's features include the ability to navigate the touch screen while wearing gloves; "it detects bare skin and gloves," he said, for a phone "that fits more naturally into your life."

Harlow claimed that the Lumia 920 is "the most innovative smartphone in the world." She talked up Lumia 920's camera, mapping technologies, and extra features like wireless charging. The device also support near-field communication (NFC). "This is Lumia, and it's time to switch," she said.

Nokia PureView
The Nokia 920 features PureView technology, which Harlow said will capture 5-10 times the amount of light of any competitors' smartphone cameras via a "floating lens technology that surpasses the optical image stabilization system of most digital SLRs."

The Lumia 920 includes an 8.7-megapixel rear-facing camera and full 1080p HD video capture at 30 fps. There is a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera with 720p HD video capture.

"The technology reacts to the minute movements in your hand to balance the lens, so the shutter can stay open longer, and more light means brighter, clearer images without flash, even indoors and at night," Harlow said. "The Nokia Lumia 920 also replaces your HD camcorder because another benefit of this floating lens technology is that the lens is stabilized for taking smooth and professional-looking video."

PureView technology made its debut at Mobile World Congress earlier this year with the Nokia PureView 808 smartphone, which features a 41-megapixel camera. For more, see .

Nokia Maps
Harlow also focused on the mapping features on the Lumia 920. The smartphone will include Nokia's augmented reality "City Lens" app, which Nokia . The app lets you scan the horizon with your phone's camera and see what's available. It will display reviews and star ratings for that location for a quick rundown of the neighborhood. If you find something interesting, tap to call for more info or share your destination with friends via social networks, SMS, or email.

The Lumia 920 will also provide access to offline maps and a daily commute feature that can calculate the time it will take you to reach a destination based on traffic. Nokia Drive will provide free, voice-guided, turn-by-turn navigation, Harlow said.

Wireless Charging
If your smartphone runs out of juice, the Lumia 920 supports wireless charging. Harlow pointed to a recharging pillow from Fatboy, while Shields featured a line of speakers from JBL. Using NFC, Lumia 920 users can tap their smartphone on the JBL speaker and music playing on the smartphone will start playing on the speaker. Once music is transferred, place the Lumia 920 atop the JBL speaker and the phone will charge.

In addition, Nokia Lumia 920 recharging plates will be installed in the Virgin Atlantic clubhouse at London Heathrow Airport, as well as various Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf stores around the country.

In terms of design, Nokia's Shields talked up how "different" the Lumia 920 is from other devices on the market. "Wrapped around the display is a stunning shell formed from the same great polycarbonate material that we have spent years perfecting," he said. That includes "colors that won't scratch off," as well as antennas not compromised by "needless" elements, a dig at .

The Lumia 920 will run a 1.5-GHz, dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor and features a 2000 mAh battery, which Harlow said is the largest battery Nokia has ever installed in a smartphone. There's 1GB of RAM, and 32GB of memory with 7GB of free SkyDrive storage.

Combined with Windows Phone 8, she said, the Lumia 920 will provide "the fastest and most responsive smartphone user experience there is while being up to 30 percent more battery efficient than quad-core alternatives."

As for Windows Phone 8, Microsoft's Joe Belfiore was on stage today to demo the new mobile OS. One of the new features, he said, will be the ability for users to take screen shots.

Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer also made an appearance and said Windows Phone 8 "keeps you closest to the people and things that matter most."

"In a very powerful way, our partnership with Nokia brings that proposition to life and you can really see it in the Lumia 820 and 920," Ballmer said.

Microsoft back in June. The new Windows Phone 8 will look and act a lot like Windows Phone 7.5 with live tiles and the same 100,000 apps. But the home screen will be enhanced: you'll now be able to fill the screen with tiles if you like. The two existing tile sizes will be joined by a third, smaller tile. Tiles will be resizable, and the OS will be available with a wider variety of colors and themes. For more, see the slideshow below.

Nokia Lumia 820
The Lumia 820 (above) features a 4.3-inch, 800-by-400 display, built-in NFC, a 1650 mAh battery, Nokia location services like City Lens, and Nokia Music. Unlike the 920, however, the Lumia 820 will include removable shells, which will allow you to switch out the color of the phone's back panel - red, yellow, gray, white, black, cyan, or purple. Some of those covers will support wireless charging, Shields said.

The Lumia 820 includes an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with Carl Zeiss optics, dual LED flash, and full HD 1080p video capture at 30 fps. There is also a front-facing VGA camera.

There's 1GB of RAM, 8GB of memory, and 7GB of free SkyDrive storage.

For more, see and the slideshow above. Also check out PCMag's reviews of the and .