Nokia Lumia 710 Pricing Confirmed on Rogers?

From the good folks at MobileSyrup, they have uncovered what could the most awesome pricing for the Nokia Lumia 710 that is about to be released in February on Rogers.

Outright price is $254.99.  Your read it, I read it, it's just a crazy price for a gen 2 WP7 device that's packed with Nokia Drive as well as other Nokia exclusive software that's coming down the pipeline.

$49.99 for on a 3 year plan but I can imagine that will get quickly dropped to $0 for a 3 year plan.

Looks like either Nokia and/or Microsoft are heavily subsidizing the Lumia devices (at least the 710 at this point if this memo is true - so far, MobileSyrup's track record as far as since I have followed them are pretty damn accurate).  That would put some interesting price pressure on Telus who have not release pricing information on the Lumia 800.

On a side note, AT&T will be releasing the Lumia 900 with a 2 year contract price for, get this $99 around mid March.  That's also a crazy pricing for the awesome Lumia 900 that on one in Canada has picked up (my bet is on Bell - my dream is for WIND as it looks to be a Pentaband phone).

Looks like the official Nokia/WP7 assault is on.

Source: MobileSyrup, BGR

Bell to release WP7 update 8107 starting tomorrow

According to a internal memo at Bell (brought to you by MobileSyrup), Bell is setup to unleash the 8107 build of Mango to the HTC HD7 and the LG Optimus Quantum.

First wave is January 18 follow by the second wave on January 25.

Hopefully, it could mean that Bell is still on the WP7 bandwagon and brings us some Lumia 900 or HTC Titan awesomeness.  Hope this also means that updates are rolling out on the other carriers as well soon.

This 8107 version fixes the following:


On-screen keyboard. Fixes an issue to prevent the keyboard from disappearing during typing.

Email. Fixes a Google mail syncing issue.

Location. Fixes a location access issue. With this fix, the Me feature in the People Hub sends anonymous information about nearby Wi-Fi access points and cell towers to Microsoft only if you agree to allow the Check In function to access and use location information.

Security. Revokes digital certificates from DigiCert Sdn Bhd to address an encryption issue.

Email threads. Fixes an email issue related to Microsoft Exchange Server 2003. With this fix, when you reply to or forward a message, the original message is now included in your response.

Voicemail. Fixes a voicemail notification display issue that occurs on some European and Asian networks under certain conditions.

*UPDATE* - Jan 19, 2012 - Received word that Rogers is rolling out the update to the Samsung Focus.  Nothing on Telus/Sasktel yet.

*Update* - Jan 25, 2012 - Looks like Telus is rolling out the 8107 update to the HTC Surround and the LG Optimus 7

Source: MobileSyrup, Microsoft

Nokia Lumia 800 Gaining Momentum?

Since Microsoft is probably too embarrass to release the numbers on how many WP7 devices their OEMs have sold in comparison to the monster numbers of iPhones and Androids that are sold, no one really have a actual idea of how many they actually shipped/sold.

There's where one of the better apps imawp7! app comes in. It contains some information about devices of users who have downloaded that app and register themselves.  While this is of course not the number of devices (or even close) that are out there, it does provide some interesting take on the WP7 handsets out there around the world.

One of the more interesting stat this morning is that the Nokia Lumia 800 has sold in less than 3 months of world wide release (somewhat world wide to be precise), it appears to have sold more than the HTC Trophy and the HTC Surround (T8788) have in a little over a year.

While the HTC Trophy and HTC Surround are only sold in North American markets, it does give us some indication that Nokia Lumia is gaining momentum.  In comparison, the devices that were available in the US from the beginning of November are no where to be found (HTC Titan, Samsung Focus S, Focus Flash)

It will be interesting to see where the Lumia 710 and 800 market share would when they become available in more and more countries around the world.

Note that this is only a sample size as not all WP7 users uses this app, but this "stat" is interesting none-the-less.

Nokia Lumia Momentum Map

Want to know where or when your country is getting Lumia devices?  Nokia has release a pretty neat website (flash only) containing some information on the Lumia handsets.

Check out the Nokia website here

Looks like the Lumia 710 will be making its debut in Feburary.

Hate Telus?  Still want a Lumia 800?  If you live close to the border and there's a Microsoft Store around (i.e. Bellevue Square for the Vancourites), Microsoft has announced that the Nokia Lumia 800 (unlocked) will be available in the Microsoft Store sometime in February.  AT&T bands only for now so that means that it will work on Telus/Bell/Rogers/Fido 3G networks.  All 3 colours will be available.

Nokia Lumia 710 and 800 confirmed for Canada

Looks like at CES 2012, it is confirmed that both the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 will be making its way here.

At the CES 2012 Microsoft keynote log from engadget, if you search for 9:53, you will see the little line mentioning both the 800 and 710 will be coming to Rogers and Telus.

That's the good news, now prepare for some bad news.  Looks like Robbers will be getting the Lumia 710 exclusively (likely the Fido brand will see it), and the Lumia 800 will be exclusive to Smelus (from engadget)

Yes, our dreams of WIND or Mobiliticity getting some sweet WP7 love is once again crushed.

On the other hand, no word whether or not the Lumia 900 (with dual camera lenses!!!) will be making its way up North.

There's always the unlocked route I guess.

More on the new WP7 handsets later on from CES.

*UPDATE* - There's a price going around for the Lumia 710.  $49.99 on a 2 year term, no off contract pricing yet.  The 2 year term likely means that Fido will be getting it.

Nokia Lumia 710 coming soon to Canada

Looks like the long wait for the first Nokia WP7 phone will soon be over.  According to an article over at MobileSyrup, the first Nokia phone that will be making their mark on Canadians will be the mid-ranged Nokia 710 (yay!.. with a bit a sarcasm of course).  From the articles I have read over time at MobileSyrup, they are actually very accurate with a lot of their posts (unlike BGR and Gizmodo who like to pull a lot of BS out of their collective asses).

Their article goes on and read that the Nokia Ace (or the Lumia 900) will follow soon after the Nokia Lumia 710's debut with no mentioning of the Lumia 800 (which is a little bit disappointing)

The Lumia 710 have the following hardware spec (no pricing information yet)

Processor: 1.4 Ghz Single Core CPU

Screen Size: 3.7, LCD

Camera: 5MP

Front Camera: No

Weight: 126g

Battery - 1300 mAh

User memory - 8GB

The Lumia 900 (or Ace) have the following hardware rumoured spec (we will likely have more information on this next week at CES)

Processor: 1.4 Ghz Single Core CPU

Screen Size: 4.3, AMOLED

Camera: 8MP

Front Camera: Yes

Weight: 160g

Battery - uncertain but it's likely going bigger than the one found in the Lumia 800 (> 1450 mAh)

User memory - 16GB

Most interesting thing here: 3G Pentaband which means 850/900/1700/1900/2100 

 
 As some of you WP7 knuckle heads already know, T-Mobile is launching the Lumia 710 in the next couple of weeks in the US.  Being on the TMobile USA network means that there is a big potential that we may finally see some WP7 love on the smaller national networks such as WIND and Mobilicity.

The news of the Lumia 900 having Pentabands also means that there could be a slim chance that the smaller national carriers may be able to use it as one of the flagship phones besides the Galaxy Nexus.

Source: fine work from the people at MobileSyrup

Happy 2012! Did you get a Windows Phone for Christmas?

Happy 2012 everyone!  Did you get the WP7 devices you always wanted?  If you are in Canada. of course not! But in case you are one for getting unlocked devices off eBay or Craigslist or something like that, make sure you visit my "How-To" page for help with your new WP7.

What isn't included in the how-to page is make sure your new WP7 device is up to date.

Go to Settings->About and find that all important firmware version number.  It should be 7720 or 7740.  If it doesn't, make sure you install Zune Desktop (www.zune.net) on your PC or download the free Windows Phone Connector off the Mac App store to get your phone updated to the latest and greatest firmware available for your phone.

If you are sick and tired of waiting for new devices to show up, Telus and Microsoft have teamed up for a special holiday offer on the LG Optimus 7

Want unlimited music for a low low fee of $9.99/month, subscribe to the excellent zune music pass and you'd be downloading/streaming music in no time (there's also a 14 trial).

Happy WP7ing and look forward to (hopefully) more WP7 devices coming to the Great White North!