Nokia Canada Website has WP7 Front and Centre! + Lumia 800 Updates

Not sure if some of you have been over at the Nokia Canada website recently but WP7 is front and centre with pretty much all the Lumia devices Nokia is offering (or about to offer in Canada).  It's good to see them finally ridding themselves of Symbian (at least in the welcome pages).

If you have a Lumia 800, Nokia is releasing a firmware update around the world that should the battery problem when idling (other sites have reported significant increase in battery life - mostly because the firmware has reduced the amount of current drawn while the phone is idle).

If you are a previous WP7 owner, you might remember the Microsoft website where they posts where abouts the firmware update is in terms of each country and each carrier.  What you also probably remember is that Microsoft also took this update site now recently (for the 7740 and 8107 updates) because the carriers are probably complaining that MS is making them look bad for still not releasing the firmware updates (see AT&T)

So what does Nokia do?  They created their own "where's my update" page.  It's in the Nokia Europe website (source: pocketnow.com) which is kinda of weird.  What's even weirder is that it does contain update information for the 800 for Canada (and the good ol' US of A).  So head on over if you want to check whether or not your Lumia 800 is receiving the updates soon.  

As March 31, there's no update for Canadians yet.

However, if you are lucky enough to have an unbranded Lumia 800, you should already be receiving this  new Nokia firmware.

Nokia Lumia 800 now available at Telus

The Nokia Lumia 800 is now available over at Telus.

From the telus specs, looks like this will not work on WIND/Mobilicity.

Pricing:

$529.99 - no term
$479.99 - 1 year
$429.99 - 2 years
$49.99 - 3 years (so called promotional pricing as you will need a min $50 monthly plan)

Black, Cyan, and Magenta are the available colours over at TELUS.  I would imagine that sometime in the future, the glossy white one could become available.

Enjoy!

Link

Going ons at the MWC 2012 @ Barcelona

As some of you might know, MWC happens every year around this time where pretty much all the big mobile phones vendors (except Apple) gets together in Barcelona and have a great nerd off.

This year, I was looking forward to it as I personally am looking to replace my HTC Surround (still like it a lot) with likely a Nokia Lumia 800 or 900.


Nokia
We already know when the 800 is launching in Canada.  We found out that Rogers is going to release the 900 sometime *soon* in CES 2012 in January but there was no date, nothing.

Well, looks like we can now narrow it down the a month.  April is the month and over at the Rogers website you can also sign up for launch information.

The promotional blurp also states "When you pre-order a Lumia 900, Nokia and Rogers have a surprise for you. Hint: there's a hero rising out of the darkness" Likely this thing (the video is a Video of the Lumia 800 but you get the idea).

It's either this or Christian Bale deliveries your phone to you personally and then follow by punching you in the face. (The second option does sound interesting for some reason)

So head on over to Rogers to sign up for launch information

Lumia 610
Also new and it is unlikely to see here in Canada is the Lumia 610

This is significant as this is the first "Tango" phone which runs on lower spec hardware which means that it is going to be unleash in emerging markets

The Tango spec supports 800Mhz CPU + 256MB RAM in case you are interested

Given the low low price of the 710 right now, I don't think we'll be seeing this phone in Canada anytime soon



HTC
- HTC has announced that the HTC Titan II will be expanding to markets outside the United States.  This LTE device will likely finally see the light in Canada sometime.  No timeframe is given
- HTC has also announced that they will make a bigger splash in the WP handset when Windows Phone "Apollo" is released (Windows Phone 8.0)

Samsung
- I personally think Samsung is gone off the bonkers lately with the releases of the Samsung Note (Android in case you are wondering) - 5.3 inches!!!!
- no news on Samsung WP75 coming to Canada.

Nokia Lumia 800 Launching on March 2nd - On Telus

Well, looks like we finally have a date for the Telus launch of the Nokia Lumia 800.

On the Telus website, it reads "Coming March 2nd".  Available colours are Cyan, Black and Magenta (PINK!)

The 800 not your cup of tea?  The Lumia 900 is set to be released on Rogers (no date yet)

No pricing just yet.

Source: Telus

*Update* - From MobileSyrup brings us the rumoured price for the Nokia Lumia 800

No Contract: $529.99
1 year: $479.99
2 year: $429.99
3 year: $249.99

Promotional (minimium $50/month on plan): $49.99

$49.99 with data plan looks to be a pretty great price considering the 3 year price for the original launch prices HTC Surround + LG Optimus 7 was $99.99 and $149.99

Rest of the prices are complete BS.

Probably will have official numbers from Telus this coming Friday.

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

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.

Win a Nokia Lumia 800

You now have a chance to win a Nokia Lumia 800.  Not sure when the draw date is going to be but if you head over to the Nokia Facebook page, you can enter for a chance to win one.

I have scanned through the very tiny fine prints and it did not seem to contain any information as to which country is eligible (and which ones are not eligible).  So  head on over to the Nokia Facebook page and click "Like" and enter for a change to win!

Source: WPCentral

Update - the official Nokia contest over at their facebook page is over folks! Good luck to those who entered.