Did you buy Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone?
I just have to ask, because your first impressions will matter to other possible buyers. Colleague Tim Conneally reviewed Lumia 900, but good as that is we need more. I want your review, too. AT&T started selling the 4G LTE Windows Phone on April 8 -- Easter Sunday -- when the major malls here in San Diego were closed. Heck, even my local Target shuttered for the holiday. It's Tuesday, and that's time enough for your first impressions.
I got to thinking more about Lumia 900 last night when something quite unexpected happened. My wife asked: "That new phone is only $99?" Which one? "The Nokia". She had seen a TV commercial for the handset. My wife has never asked me about an advertised phone before. Never. Never. Never. If Mrs. Non-Geek Artist is intrigued, what about enthusiasts rushing out to buy Lumia 900? Is it a bruiser or a loser?
Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nokia Lumia 900 is a fair comparison
Discussion Counterpoint. Colleague Tim Conneally and I got into a heated debate about smartphone comparisons this morning. He has the Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone for review (and I -- whaaaaa -- don't). I suggested Tim do a comparison with Google-branded Galaxy Nexus, which we both have. He refused. Tim was quite adamant about it, too. His out-and-out refusal clearly taps into strong feelings about how products are compared.
We bantered back and forth over group chat, with neither of our positions changing. "Buyers make these product comparisons all the time", I expressed late in our debate. "I can see we won't agree. If I had the Lumia 900, I would compare them". But I don't, and Tim won't. So I suggested: "Let's ask the readers...something like: 'Would you like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nokia Lumia 900 compared?'"
Stop comparing unlike objects. RIGHT. NOW.
Discussion Point. Joe Wilcox asked me to write an article comparing the Nokia Lumia 900 to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. I refused. Here is why. Read Joe's response.
Anyone who knows about marketing should readily understand market segmentation: it is a way of isolating customers/users/consumers by type. It could be geographically, it could be demographically, it could be psychographically, or it could be through some other defining characteristic.
Uh-oh, iPhone fanboys
iPhone Idolators, please meet the Android Army. Now retreat! Android's share of the US smartphone market topped 50 percent in February, according to comScore. iOS gained share but trails considerably -- by like 20 points. You can have your iPhone, but many more Americans take Android. I'm waiting. What's your smarty-pants response to that, Apple apologists?
The findings butt against those from Nielsen -- a life raft of apology for those insisting iPhone will rule the world. Last week, Nielsen reported a huge surge in the number of new purchasers choosing iPhones compared to Android. For the three months ending in February, 48 percent of Americans who recently bought a smartphone, chose Android -- 43 percent iPhone, according to Nielsen. A year earlier, 27 percent of new acquirers chose Android versus 10 percent for iPhone.
Some proof as to why I think the Nokia Lumia 900 camera is 'special' [slideshow]
[portfolio_slideshow id=67058]
One of the qualities of the Nokia Lumia 900 that I singled out in my favorable review of the device was its camera, which I described as "special." In the slideshow above, I've included the photos I snapped that helped me arrive at that conclusion.
Review: Nokia Lumia 900 unquestionably raises Windows Phone to a higher level
This could be the easiest review I've ever written: The Nokia Lumia 900 is absolutely top-notch hardware at an affordable price, and it has everything it takes to be a giant success.
Last week, we established that 60% of BetaNews readers want this phone, and you know what? After one week with this device, I can conclusively say that our readers' desire to own the Lumia 900 is completely warranted.
Will you buy Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone for $99? [poll]
If you feel like I've asked this question before, absolutely. Just without the price. Now that AT&T has announced availability -- and more importantly, pricing -- I ask again. Will you buy the Lumia 900?
AT&T starts taking pre-orders on March 30, with the phone available in stores on April 8. Available colors are cyan, magenta and black, or you can wait until April 22 for white. Oh my. Decisions, decisions. Lumia 900 is one hotly anticipated Windows Phone and marks Nokia's biggest push into the US market in years. There's LTE, too, something your haughty, obnoxious iPhone friends don't have. So will you buy? Please answer in comments (with color choice, please) and take our poll.
Nokia and Microsoft save face by investing 18 million Euros in Finnish apps dev project
Nokia has shown a score of developers the door since announcing its Windows Phone distribution deal in February 2011. Surely you remember the 2,300 Symbian developers off-loaded to Accenture? Is it cheaper to invest in new ones than keep the old? I ask because of today's Microsoft-Nokia announcement: Each will invest up to 9 million to fund AppCampus at Aalto University, in Finland.
The program is designed to help generate applications for Windows Phone and, get this, Symbian! Someone slap me aside the head and explain why Nokia doesn't just capitalize on the experience of existing Symbian developers. Easy answer: Both platforms need more third-party apps, and Nokia CEO Stephen Elop must make a desperate show of face, given his brutal axing of employees and ripping the Finnish heart out of Nokia's management culture.
Nokia Lumia 900 launches at $99 on AT&T
Monday, U.S. wireless carrier AT&T announced the Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone will be available on April 8 for $99.99 with a two-year contract, and in addition to the cyan, magenta and black versions we have already seen, there will also be a gloss white version available on April 22.
AT&T on Monday announced its round of pre-orders will begin on the afternoon of March 30 on the AT&T website.
Windows Phone launches in world's biggest mobile market, China
Microsoft and Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC announced on Wednesday that the first Windows Phones have finally begun selling in China. The first device for sale in the country is the 4.7" HTC Eternity, which will be available to the Chinese market unlocked.
Microsoft was expected to launch Windows Phone in China some time in the first half of the year, and this is the first major platform announcement the company has made for the market.
Microsoft snags longtime Verizon Wireless marketing guru for Windows Phone
Some new executive talent has been added to Microsoft in its big marketing push behind Windows Phone, former McCann Erickson New York president Thom Gruhler.
For eight years, Gruhler led the Verizon Wireless account for McCann, which at $1.9 billion was the agency's biggest U.S. account. Because of his role in that account, Gruhler was named president of the flagship New York office in 2009.
Thanks to Windows Live, Ovi Share is dead
Microsoft's silent Nokia takeover, which started with last year's Windows Phone agreement, is starting to pick up momentum. This afternoon Nokia emailed that Ovi Share will close up, effective the last day of May; I signed up for the service three years ago (gasp, or was it longer).
It's just one of the many Ovi services headed for that great graveyard in the cloud, as Windows Live replaces each and every one. Well, that is until Microsoft officially rebrands Live services some time before Windows 8 launches.
Windows Phone isn't good enough for 41MP Nokia 808 PureView
Wow, Windows Phone is so bleeding-edge that Nokia's hot new 41-megapixel camera phone runs Symbian. You know, that "burning platform" CEO Stephen Elop dumped for Microsoft's mobile OS. Perhaps that burning should have had different context, as hot for high-brow hardware. Because a 41MP camera always with you is smokin'. I'm on fire. Aren't you?
The Finnish-phone maker announced the Nokia 808 PureView during Mobile World Congress today in Barcelona, Spain. The 41-megapixel camera phone might just be the showstopper -- that despite Microsoft's Wednesday event launching Windows 8 Consumer Preview. There's some real software and hardware innovation here that shows Nokia isn't dead yet and shouldn't have turned over so much research and development to Microsoft. The lost R&D is Elop's doing, and again supports my contention he's killing Nokia.
New Windows Phones from ZTE, Nokia strive for low cost, high value
ZTE, the world's number four smartphone maker, announced another new mid-range Windows Phone at Mobile World Congress on Monday called the ZTE Orbit.
Looking almost exactly like the ZTE Tania which was launched in select global markets in January, the ZTE Orbit has a 4-inch (800 x 480) screen, a single-core 1GHz Qualcomm processor, 512 MB of RAM and 4GB of onboard storage, and a 5 megapixel camera. The ZTE Orbit will be available in the second quarter of this year, and will likely carry the mass market price that ZTE devices have grown to be associated with.
You will get 'Smoked by Windows Phone'
If not for the flu, I would have caught this yesterday: Microsoft has launched a digital-only video ad campaign based on its "Smoked by Windows Phone" contest at this year's Consumer Electronics Show. It's another marketing win for Microsoft, and this has become habit -- and strangely so for a company that just a few years ago showed about as much advertising finesse as a dog scratching fleas.
The video here is a long version. The actual Windows Phone clips appearing on popular tech sites are 15 or 30 seconds. I count four of these and another two-minuter. Microsoft reshot the contests at one of its retail shops, rather than use video from CES.
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