Nokia announces Lumia 920 & 820 with Windows Phone 8

Nokia has finally announced its new line up of Lumia devices with the new Lumia 920 and 820 that runs on the latest Windows Phone 8 OS. Apart from the OS, the latest Lumias have more grunt than before. In the previous line up such as the Lumia 800 and Lumia 900, the single core processor and 512MB of RAM specifications was an Achilles’ heel when it comes to paper comparison. Not any more, as the latest line up now runs on 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processors and 1GB of RAM which puts it on par with today’s smart phone.

Head after the break for a closer look at both models.

Nokia Lumia 920

The Lumia 920 which is seen as the Lumia 900 replacement has gone super sized with a 4.5″ PureMotion HD+ display that does 1280×768 display. On board, it has a 32GB of storage without any expandable storage option. In terms of design, it still maintains the same unibody polycarbonate body which is rather solid from our experience with its previous models.

Just as rumoured before, the PureView technology finally makes its way on the Lumia 920 with Nokia’s PureView technology. However don’t get excited as the Lumia 920 comes with a smaller 8.7MP sensor instead of the 808 Pureview‘s mammoth 41MP sensor. What’s new is an improved image stabilising technology called floating lens which Nokia claims to be better than standard image stabilising functions on other devices. Over at the front, there’s a front facing HD camera.

When compared to the Nokia Lumia 900, the Lumia 920 is larger in terms of height and width but it is thinner at 10.7mm (Lumia 900: 11.5mm). With a larger 2,000mAh battery, the Lumia 920 is heavier at 185g, 25g more than the Lumia 900. In terms of connectivity, the Lumia 920 supports LTE and HSPA+. It also has NFC and what’s worth pointing out is the support for wireless charging. The Lumia 920 comes in 5 colours – Yellow, White, Black, Grey and Red.

For more information, head over to the Lumia 920 product page.

Nokia Lumia 820

The next device is the Lumia 820 which comes with a smaller 4.3″ which does 800×480 resolution. Just like the Lumia 920, it is also powered with a dual-core 1.5GHz S4 processor with 1GB of RAM and comes with 8GB of storage on board. In terms of dimensions, the width is similar as the Lumia 900 at 68.5mm but it is thinner at 9.9mm and shorter at 123.8mm.

Over at the back, you get a standard 8MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics and dual LED flash. What’s unique on the Lumia 820 is its interchangeable wireless charging back covers and it also comes with expandable storage via microSD. In terms of connectivity, it also comes with LTE and HSPA+ support and it also comes with NFC.

Full product details over at Nokia Lumia 820 page.

New Accessories
Nokia has also introduced a couple of new accessories to make full use of its NFC and wireless charging capabilities. For wireless charging, there’s the Nokia Wireless Pillow, Nokia Charging Plate & Nokia Charging Stand. If you’re looking for an audio dock that charges, there’s the JBL PowerUp and PlayUp which pairs via NFC. The JBL PowerUp comes with a wireless charging point at the top.

Overall Nokia has step up their game with more compelling hardware and they are going full swing with NFC and wireless charging capabilities. Whether they will gain more ground is unknown at this point as they are facing more serious competition in the Windows Phone 8 segment this time around. To date, we have seen the Samsung ATIV S and word has it that HTC too will be releasing a high end Windows Phone device as well.