So, the hype is over and the revelation of the new Nokia Lumia handsets has happened. The Lumia 920 and 820 have been officially unveiled and are all shiny and new. Are they enough to save Nokia?
Running with a dual core processor with a 4.3 or 4.5 inch screen, and with a maximum of 32gb onboard storage the two handsets hardly set the world alight. The standout feature is of course the camera with its floating lens but is Nokia really staking its entire future on a super duper camera?
Let’s not forget that this is a company whose share price is valued as junk, whose market share is sliding faster than a Las Vegas pole dancer.
Yes the handsets come loaded with Windows Phone 8 but let’s face it, the competition here is Android (the biggest mobile OS) and Apple (the slickest marketing machine and most dedicated fanbase). Without something spectacular you don’t stand a chance.
Unfortunately spectacular is not a word I would use for the latest Nokia offerings, in fact I have seen various descriptions ranging from “distinctly average” to “last years hardware.” The plain fact is that there is nothing that makes them stand out from the crowd.
With no word on pricing or availability what is going to make anyone wait for a Lumia 920?
Certainly not apps. One of the biggest complaints around Windows Phone has been the lack of apps. Nokia had a chance to get people drooling and waiting with baited breath for their new handsets to be released. They could have announced that developer x was on board and developer y was actively publishing apps galore, instead we had nothing. Not a dicky bird.
As Leigh commented yesterday, the market reflected this announcement with a big thumbs down and at time of writing the share price is down another 3.5% .
Nokia, it certainly feels like you have had your chance to sit at the top table, its time to step aside and let Blackberry have their turn!
So, what should they do then? The camera is clearly a standout feature, but apparently not “spectacular”, so what do you consider spectacular and what would beat Apple/Android? Lets have the missing side to this article.
i’m all ears for the ‘spectacular’ feature(s) the author is expecting…
I agree. Always the same thing when people say their dissappointed by a new launch and they its boring but they never say what they want to see or what they should have done differently.
Let Blackberry have a go? It will take something even more special from BB10 to turn around their fortunes.
The camera is nice but the camera on most phones is now a secondary feature, behind apps and OS. Windows is a nice simple OS but nothing about it screams “buy me” like Android customisation or Apple’s marketing machine.
Seriously guys – you should just rename this site to coolandroidphone.com and get it over with. The Lumia lineup announced matched the Droid RAZR for specs easily and the added touches Nokia add on (wireless charging as standard, PureView Camera etc) all make this product standout from the pack. Let Blackberry have a go? What have they done lately exactly?
Slightly annoying that they are written off so quickly when they are clearly trying to innovate and not churn out a generic device much like a lot of the Android options. I have a Galaxy S3 and while functionality wise it out performs WP7.5 in some areas in my opinion it is a fairly poor user experience.
Its refreshing to see what they are doing in the mobile space yet despite this you think they should step aside and let Blackberry have a go?! Brilliant!
Good shout guys…
The funniest thing about this article is the info about the author….”and a bit of an Android lover”
So what exactly didn’t Nokia release? I love these posts where people say things like it’s too late and do go into details. The specs are looking pretty good for all the hardware that’s crammed into the device. What do you want a 6 core battery drainer so you can charge the phone ever two hours?
Yes the worse thing to every happen to the stock market (Day Time Traders) don’t think it’s a good device because it doesn’t have enough gimmicks but I expect more from a new site. Or maybe I shouldn’t since an article like this just makes it a blogger’s site.
I didn’t notice the “android lover” part, good spot. Ive just been back and read some of the authors other opinion articles and hes been on a rant about every major launch this year. seems theres no pleasing him.
I do not wish to see Nokia fail. They are a great company who unfortunately lost their way.
On their own the Lumia’s are great handsets but the whole point is that because they have lost their way Nokia need to be so much better than the competition and the 920 and 820 aren’t. The launch was beset with technical issues when it needed to be slick, punchy (see apples launches) and hiccup free.
The question to ask is what is there in the new Lumia’s that is going to make existing Android or iOS users switch or to make the sales people in the shops try to sell the Nokia’s like crazy….the answer is a camera which kind of sums up the fact that Nokia have not done enough.
Well, I think one of Nokia’s biggest mistakes was to partner with the
dreaded Microsoft so completely. Microsoft are too big, too old-fashioned and have become too disliked by the truly tech-savvy. They are a marketing machine who’s seen their day. Well, at least, that’s how I see it. I mean, they haven’t done much for the PC and server market in the last 10 years except complicate and restrict it.
Whilst I must admit that Windows Phone 7 was a huge improvement on Windows Phone 6.5, again Microsoft were far too restrictive with their spec to allow the hardware companies to show any flair. They were too ‘hands-off’ with them. They weren’t particularly co-operative (or, so I am told) with some of the smaller companies, and their license fees add too much of a premium to handset cost.
It just didn’t allow anyone to be competitive with the Android folks, or even the iPhone at the premium level. What possible incentive does anyone have to purchase a Windows based phone these days? What does it do that other phones don’t? Well, hardly anything, just give you restrictions.
So this very poor decision by Nokia put the nails in their coffin as far as I’m concerned. If they had stuck with their own operating systems, I’m sure they would have fared better. What would be wrong with a Nokia Android phone, except with a Nokia UI? I really just don’t get it.
Yeah, I’m getting sick of coming to this site. I have an Android and a WP and I just feel bored whenever I look at the Android. To see so much bias on one apparently “neutral” news site really rubs me up the wrong way.
..and with this article I leave coolsmartphone. I have been a fan of Leigh’s for more years than I can remember from the days of my first Orange SPV. Recently I have read articles that really were not articles at all just space fillers. Then I read an article about some game which the author hated and then still said IF it worked it would be great (and then some ad for the games maker directly underneath!) I am so nto fussed anymore about this site that I can’t even be bothered to look up the article.
What was it Simon wanted? I have an Iphone a macbook air and an Ipad – I hate the fact that plugging in a charger (to the ipone) is such a mission and I hear that noise when the connection catches and then the same noise immediately afterwards when the cable connection is lost – give me a wireless cushion to lay by my bed side to charge my phone anyday. The camera is shite (on my iphone)– at the Olympics recently I couldn’t even see the image I was taking a picture of let alone see my kids in the viewer. Apps – there are so many rubbish apps that are cluttering the app store that it drives me mad ( and there are useless apps that I keep downloading – just). I WANT nokia maps I want all the great apps that Nokia are coming out with for the Lumia. My phone is not just a games console. I don’t want to be sold SIRI when it really is only good for the US – still! I want to stand out from the crowd and try something new – but if I listened to the rubbish this guy has to say I would buy a Samsung Galaxy SIII like the other 20million people on the planet.
In all these years I have always had coolsmartphone as a favourite/bookmark and recently hung on in there just in case it got better – but clearly driven by revenue earnings (which is fair enough) and very very little passion about the phone market in general (except ofcourse what Andriod are doing) I bid the site farewell – there really are much better sites out there, more impartial and just more informative and contributors who damn well have something definitive to say.
By the way – I am getting the Lumia 920 as soon as it lands on these shores – you know what they say, a change is as good as a rest.
Leigh, mate, you asked recently “ Talk to us, give us your thoughts” these are mine and hope your site
goes from strength to strength, its just not for me anymore. Good luck mate.
Ciao!
(ohh – by the way. I’m also not coming back to read any comments – call me a troll!)
For what it’s worth I think this will be a big success. Being from the generation that rode the 3310 wave into mobile phone ownership I don’t think I know a single person that doesn’t know the name ‘Nokia’. Once again they have created a device that looks gorgeous and will work, brilliantly. That’s all the majority of the market will worry about which means these will sell massively. Nokia keep making devices that look great and work without a hitch, that is all they need. Apple came to market all those years ago with a device that was way behind Windows Mobile in terms of functionality, they just focused on it being sexy to look at and perform the tasks it was designed for very easily. Boom, instant favourite. I’m not saying that is the secret formula for a successful device but it’s enough to get sales, not everyone is tech nerd.