Nokia is prepping the Lumia 710 and 800, two new devices running Windows Phone, for their big debut, according to a new report.
Nokia's
first two Windows Phones are called the Lumia 710 and Lumia 800, according to
leaked materials posted on the blog Winrumors.
Nokia
will supposedly unveil the phones during its Nokia World conference, which
starts Oct. 26. Based on Winrumors' photos, the Lumia 700 bears a
more-than-casual resemblance to leaked
photos of a Nokia prototype code-named "Sabre," while the Lumia 800 looks
like the one previously known as "Sea Ray." Indeed, multiple publications
(including Winrumors and CNET
UK) have already made that connection.
It's
no secret that Nokia plans on showing off Windows Phones at the event. During
the Asia D conference Oct. 19, Windows Phone division President Andy Lees told
an audience that "next week it's going to be Nokia World, where they're
going to announce their phones and how they're going to make the most out of
the Windows Phone opportunity."
As
to the exact nature of what Nokia would reveal, that remained more ambiguous.
Over the summer, CEO Stephen Elop (a former Microsoft executive) flashed a
prototype smartphone running Windows Phone during a press conference. A number
of people in the audience snapped spy photos and video of the device, which
looked like a Nokia N9 smartphone modified for Microsoft's smartphone platform.
In subsequent months, news and images leaked of similar devices, including the
two code-named "Sea Ray" and "Sabre."
Those
Windows Phone prototypes resembled Nokia's N9, a MeeGo-loaded smartphone with a
3.9-inch AMOLED screen and body engineered from a single piece of
polycarbonate.
Having
chucked its homegrown operating systems (including Symbian and MeeGo) in favor
of Windows Phone, Nokia needs the upcoming devices to succeed in order to have
a decent chance at a turnaround. Nokia reported another dip in revenue and
profit for the third quarter of 2011, with net sales totaling $12.3 billion, a
year-over-year decline of 13 percent, and operating losses of $98.4 million.
Nokia
also has a New York City event scheduled for Oct. 26, where its new smartphones
could make an appearance. Microsoft has begun updating its Windows Phone
platform with hundreds of new tweaks and features, as part of its wide-ranging
"Mango" update. In addition to Nokia, manufacturers such as Samsung are also
apparently onboard to produce a new generation of Windows Phone devices.
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Nicholas Kolakowski on Twitter
Nicholas Kolakowski is a staff editor at eWEEK, covering Microsoft and other companies in the enterprise space, as well as evolving technology such as tablet PCs. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Playboy, WebMD, AARP the Magazine, AutoWeek, Washington City Paper, Trader Monthly, and Private Air. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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