Nokia reveals slim new Lumia handset with aluminum build
Nokia on Tuesday revealed the next chapter in its comeback effort, showing off the Lumia 925: a Windows Phone that marks a shift by the company toward a new design aesthetic with lightweight components.
At a press event in London, Nokia showed off the next-gen Lumia handset the Finnish phone maker had been teasing since last month. The new Lumia sports a slimmer chassis bounded by an aluminum frame, a departure from the polycarbonate construction that marked previous Lumia devices. The 925 still features the high-grade plastic that made up the body of previous models, but it is limited to the rear cover.
The switch to aluminum allowed Nokia to shave roughly a quarter of the weight of the Lumia 920 off the new model. While reviews for the Lumia 920 praised the overall design aesthetic, many outlets complained about its nearly half-pound weight. At 139g, the 925 is considerably lighter, though it's still about 1.24 times the weight of Apple's iPhone.
Aside from the design changes, the Lumia 925 appears to be largely the same device as its 920 predecessor and other variants. Internally, it packs the same PureView optical system, though Nokia has apparently made some changes to image processing algorithms in the system. It also packs the same dual-core 1.5GHz processor and 1GB of RAM.
The 925 will debut in the European and Chinese markets in June on Vodaphone, China Mobile, and China Unicom. It will launch in the United States at a later date as a T-Mobile exclusive.
The 925 is the second high-end Lumia announced in the past four days. Last week saw the introduction of the Lumia 928, a Verizon-exclusive variant that also sports a slimmer build, but without the aluminum casing elements.
The company may not be done introducing new Lumia models either. Jo Harlow, Nokia's head of smart devices, told The Wall Street Journal that an expansion of the Lumia line is in the offing.
"Later this summer," Harlow said, "we will continue to bring innovation and new experience to our Lumia portfolio."
What exactly that means is uncertain, but rumors abound that the company is preparing to roll out a super-cameraphone, a Windows Phone 8-based successor to last year's PureView 808, which featured a 41MP camera allowing for remarkable image quality. Nokia is also said to be working on a Windows 8-based tablet, and supposed designs for such have repeatedly leaked to the Internet.
For Nokia, the new handsets represent a next step in the former mobile phone market leader's slow march back toward relevance. Supplanted by comparative newcomers such as Samsung and Apple, Nokia subsequently hitched its fortunes to Microsoft's Windows 8 platform in a "bet the company" strategy.
The results have been middling, as Microsoft's phone OS has struggled to gain traction in a market dominated by iOS and Android.
Nokia has seen a few encouraging signs of late, though, as Lumia sales have continued to edge upward. Last quarter, the company moved 5.6 million units, up from 4.4 million units for the previous quarter. The Lumia line is, to date, the most successful among any handsets running Windows Phone.
At a press event in London, Nokia showed off the next-gen Lumia handset the Finnish phone maker had been teasing since last month. The new Lumia sports a slimmer chassis bounded by an aluminum frame, a departure from the polycarbonate construction that marked previous Lumia devices. The 925 still features the high-grade plastic that made up the body of previous models, but it is limited to the rear cover.
The switch to aluminum allowed Nokia to shave roughly a quarter of the weight of the Lumia 920 off the new model. While reviews for the Lumia 920 praised the overall design aesthetic, many outlets complained about its nearly half-pound weight. At 139g, the 925 is considerably lighter, though it's still about 1.24 times the weight of Apple's iPhone.
Aside from the design changes, the Lumia 925 appears to be largely the same device as its 920 predecessor and other variants. Internally, it packs the same PureView optical system, though Nokia has apparently made some changes to image processing algorithms in the system. It also packs the same dual-core 1.5GHz processor and 1GB of RAM.
The 925 will debut in the European and Chinese markets in June on Vodaphone, China Mobile, and China Unicom. It will launch in the United States at a later date as a T-Mobile exclusive.
The 925 is the second high-end Lumia announced in the past four days. Last week saw the introduction of the Lumia 928, a Verizon-exclusive variant that also sports a slimmer build, but without the aluminum casing elements.
The company may not be done introducing new Lumia models either. Jo Harlow, Nokia's head of smart devices, told The Wall Street Journal that an expansion of the Lumia line is in the offing.
"Later this summer," Harlow said, "we will continue to bring innovation and new experience to our Lumia portfolio."
What exactly that means is uncertain, but rumors abound that the company is preparing to roll out a super-cameraphone, a Windows Phone 8-based successor to last year's PureView 808, which featured a 41MP camera allowing for remarkable image quality. Nokia is also said to be working on a Windows 8-based tablet, and supposed designs for such have repeatedly leaked to the Internet.
For Nokia, the new handsets represent a next step in the former mobile phone market leader's slow march back toward relevance. Supplanted by comparative newcomers such as Samsung and Apple, Nokia subsequently hitched its fortunes to Microsoft's Windows 8 platform in a "bet the company" strategy.
The results have been middling, as Microsoft's phone OS has struggled to gain traction in a market dominated by iOS and Android.
Nokia has seen a few encouraging signs of late, though, as Lumia sales have continued to edge upward. Last quarter, the company moved 5.6 million units, up from 4.4 million units for the previous quarter. The Lumia line is, to date, the most successful among any handsets running Windows Phone.
Comments
Somebody is definitely going to be doing everything they can to steal Apple's WWDC thunder.
Quote:
Originally Posted by isaidso
So, as the battle rages on; my next question is what, or who, will drop the "big one" on, or around June 10th ?
Somebody is definitely going to be doing everything they can to steal Apple's WWDC thunder.
Uh, history has shown it's pretty fruitless to try to "steal Apple's thunder" during an Apple event. You're pretty much shooting yourself in the face.
Am I the only one who finds this phone seriously ugly?
So, Nokia finally uses an antenna-frame design that they once mocked (during "Antennagate") and that looks quite similar to the one Apple patented (http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/09/18/apple_granted_patent_for_iphone_4_antennagate_antenna_design), but they still keep a plastic back? Is this a design or an identity crisis?
Quote:
Originally Posted by dreyfus2
So, Nokia finally uses an antenna-frame design ...
Where does it say that the aluminum frame is the antenna?
"Fruitless" - pun intended?
(I agree anyway)
Quote:
Originally Posted by KDarling
Where does it say that the aluminum frame is the antenna?
E.g. here: http://www.techhive.com/article/2038700/nokias-lumia-925-will-use-aluminium-frame-as-antenna-go-on-sale-in-june.html#lsrc.twt_jsnell
P.S. It does not say that it is a segmented antenna though. (Could be that the frame is only one antenna and other antennas are hiding behind the plastic back, but that is unlikely, as Nokia offers an optional back for wireless charging.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Slurpy
Quote:
Originally Posted by isaidso
So, as the battle rages on; my next question is what, or who, will drop the "big one" on, or around June 10th ?
Somebody is definitely going to be doing everything they can to steal Apple's WWDC thunder.
Uh, history has shown it's pretty fruitless to try to "steal Apple's thunder" during an Apple event. You're pretty much shooting yourself in the face.
I don't really look to history, in these types of matters.
Apple was once a failing company (in it's history), and look how that turned out.
Google Glass is something that I could not have less of an interest in. Yet, if it were to be released to the public (an all new special reworked Google Glass, no less) in a huge event scheduled on June 10th, it would be quite a media toss. (completely hypothetical example)
Nothing can change history. It's history. But June 10 2013 is not history. You can say: "Well, it's never worked in the past..." I just don't know if that's enough.
In any case, I will be surprised if, out of all the Apple wannabes out there, that somebody doesn't make a big move around that date.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazoobee
A bad copy of the iPhone is all I can see.
Am I the only one who finds this phone seriously ugly?
No.
Nokia killing itself and doing the same mistakes over and over.
So, witch one is better, 920 925 or 928? will we have 820 825 828? etc etc. The lumia name means nothing already.
Same thing with sony and and the xperia Z and now the xperia ZR.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dreyfus2
E.g. here: http://www.techhive.com/article/2038700/nokias-lumia-925-will-use-aluminium-frame-as-antenna-go-on-sale-in-june.html#lsrc.twt_jsnell
P.S. It does not say that it is a segmented antenna though. (Could be that the frame is only one antenna and other antennas are hiding behind the plastic back, but that is unlikely, as Nokia offers an optional back for wireless charging.)
Thank you very much. It'll be interesting to see the FCC SAR report on this.
Using phone bezels and trim for antennas is actually an old technique, predating the iPhone 4.
The difference is, the iPhone 4 seemed to use the bezel as just one section of an overall slot antenna system, with more pieces inside the phone itself. The segmentation was both a clever improvement and its Achille's heel at the same time.
What we really want to know is how does it handle being snatched out of someones hands and thrown across the floor?
/
/
Quote:
Originally Posted by isaidso
I don't really look to history, in these types of matters.
Apple was once a failing company (in it's history), and look how that turned out.
Google Glass is something that I could not have less of an interest in. Yet, if it were to be released to the public (an all new special reworked Google Glass, no less) in a huge event scheduled on June 10th, it would be quite a media toss. (completely hypothetical example)
Nothing can change history. It's history. But June 10 2013 is not history. You can say: "Well, it's never worked in the past..." I just don't know if that's enough.
In any case, I will be surprised if, out of all the Apple wannabes out there, that somebody doesn't make a big move around that date.
Huh. I didn't even know there was a google conference at Moscone Center tomorrow. Sheesh...
Well, maybe that explains AAPL stock action today?
Poor Nokia....Did they really have to partner with MS? Ugh!
I've always been impressed with Scandinavian design, (well most of it).
I recently went to a car show and every model including Mercedes, BMW and Porsche had an insane amount of buttons and switches on the dash...not Volvo.
Clean, elegant and simple.
Too bad they get sh*t for gas mileage.
thats a nice looking phone
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazoobee
A bad copy of the iPhone is all I can see.
Am I the only one who finds this phone seriously ugly?
Which iPhone? Nothing like an iPhone 4 or 5. Don't think it looks that much like the old design either.
I think you really need to see phones to tell if there good or not. So much is in the minute details like the curve of a screen and what it feels like in your hands, pictures make it almost impossible to tell if a phone looks good or not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pedromartins
Nokia killing itself and doing the same mistakes over and over.
So, witch one is better, 920 925 or 928? will we have 820 825 828? etc etc. The lumia name means nothing already.
Same thing with sony and and the xperia Z and now the xperia ZR.
I'd say there all the same. It's more a choice of what design you prefer. This is lighter than the 925, but then the use of plastic doesn't sound great.
Personally I prefer the 820. I've got both but found the 920 a little to big. Taking price into account though I'd say the 620 is the best value for money. There's only a few apps that don't run on it and apart from that it's a £125 phone that does everything a £400 phone does (minus wireless charging)