Nokia adds value, patents to Microsoft lineup
Microsoft is undergoing massive change. The software giant announced last year that it is a “devices and services company,” it purchased Nokia’s cellular business, and is currently seeking a new CEO to replace Steve Ballmer.
For its part, Nokia has dutifully shed its Symbian roots to become the eminent Windows Phone maker, but its new products reveal a lot more.
Nokia brings its world-class smartphone design and engineering to Microsoft, not to mention a boatload of mobile patents.
Shortly after it was announced that Microsoft was buying Nokia, there was a flurry of notable product announcements including the flag- ship Lumia 1020 smartphone, the Lumia 1520 Phablet and the Lumia 2520 Windows RT tablet.
The Lumia 1020 is the flagship smartphone that Windows Phone needed since its inception a few years ago. It also features an unparalleled 41-megapixel camera which is the toast of photographers and consumers alike.
Thanks to Nokia, Microsoft users now have a bona fide Phablet as well as a pretty decent portable tablet to consider.
Lumia 1520 Phablet
There’s no denying the popularity of the supersized-smartphone segment that Samsung spearheaded with its Galaxy Note line a few years ago. We’ve seen various new entrants in the Android space but until now, nobody has stepped up to provide a larger Windows Phone experience.
The Lumia 1520 looks like a supersized Lumia 1020 featuring a super-sensitive 6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) screen and a powerful 2.2 GHz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. While it doesn’t have the Lumia 1020’s famed 41 megapixel; camera, it has a comparable 20-megapixel PureView camera as well as impressive Carl Zeiss optics.
The Lumia 1520 seems to be skewed toward businesses and corporate users. Nokia is highlighting the built-in Microsoft Office applications like Microsoft Exchange, Office 365 and Lync as well as the enterprise level security.
Lumia 2520 Windows RT tablet
While the Lumia 2520 looks like an impressive consumer tablet, there are aspects of this product that are puzzling. It is no secret Microsoft struggled to sell its first generation Surface RT tablet and took a $900 million loss from poor sales of that device.
For 2013, Microsoft is persisting with a new version of the Surface. Here’s the thing, Nokia’s Lumia 2520 is very much a direct competitor Microsoft’s own Surface 2. Both these tablets run the unpopular RT version of Windows which cannot run traditional Windows applications.
They have similar specs such as 10.1 to 10.6-inch displays and removable keyboard accessories. The Surface 2 is clearly slanted toward business and productivity users and the Lumia 2520 is geared toward general consumers, but it does feature 4G-LTE data, which one would think is a more business oriented feature.
The new Nokia devices have not yet been announced for Canada, but if they do come to market, they will likely entice new users to look at what devices and services Microsoft has to offer.