More Lumia smartphones from Microsoft

Microsoft earlier announced that they will introduce new Lumia smartphones at IFA Berlin on September 4. So September 4 is here, Microsoft went on stage and what did we get. Three new smartphones that's what, each with different special features.

First the Lumia 735. With the front facing camera of full HD 5-megapixel wide-angle, so you can guess this is the selfie phone that was rumored for a while now. The other features are 4.7-inch 1280 x 720-pixel display with "curved glass", 8GB of storage, 15GB of free OneDrive cloud storage, micro SD on which you can add 128 GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and a back camera of 6.7-megapixel. Expected a better back camera for a Lumia device, but this is a selfie smartphone so will see how this new trend picks up. The cost will be somewhere around €219.

Another smartphone is Lumia 730. It is very similar to the 735 model but it doesn't have 4G LTE connectivity. What it does have is a 2 SIM slots. So you can have two SIM cards at the same time. This is a feature that is lacking on almost all of the smartphones. Why? It's a pretty neat feature, lot's of people have to carry two smartphones, this kind of devices could prevent that. The price will be somewhere around €199.

And the main smartphone we been expecting and been hearing the most rumors is the Lumia 830. It is packing 5-inch 1280 x 720-pixel display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, 1GB of RAM, 15GB of free OneDrive storage, up to 128 GB of expendable storage, 3 high-performance microphones, Qi wireless charging and a back camera of 10 MP. Really disappointed in the back camera, by the leaked photos we were expecting at least 20 MP. However wireless charging is a nice feature, nice to see that in the mid range smartphones. Price for this smartphone will be €330.

Of course all three Lumia phones are running Windows Phone with the latest 8.1 version. Microsoft didn't talk that much about their operating system, this event was mostly about introducing new smartphones and some new camera features.

Source technobuffalo.

Mobile operating systems World wide

Smartphones are everywhere, probably everyone has one. There are a lot of different manufacturers, whole bunch of different hardware specifications. But only three operating systems that really matter. So how do they stand on the global market.

First one is Android, the absolute king. Leader in all the countries the research was done in and not only that, there market share is increasing. This operating system is getting a lot of criticism lately but according to the statistics it's on almost every phone.

Second on the list is iOS from Apple. There market share is on the opposite trajectory then Android from Google. Platform is loosing ground almost in every country. Some say this is expected, they only have one smartphone per year, they can't hold that much of the market with only that.

And of course third on the list is Windows Phone from Microsoft. This has been a hit and miss quarter for them. In some countries they are improving in some they are falling, globally there just about the same as they where.

Three IT giants battling over the smartphone market, probably the most importante one there is at the moment. Lot of innovations and new devices are coming for all platforms, so it's needless to say that things will remain very interesting in the years to come.

Source kantarworldpanel.

More about Lumia 830

Nokia, the part of Nokia that was bought by Microsoft, the part that is developing smartphones. They are getting ready to release a new device, Lumia 830, and more leaks are on tech websites every day.

Lumia 830 will be the mid-range Windows Phone device, so far low-end and mid-range devices are top sellers from Nokia, high-end devices like Lumia Icon, or 930 for other markets don't get great sale results, no matter that the reviews and the hardware is great.

Whats the most important aspect of almost all Lumia devices, well the camera of course. Lumia 830 is no different, Nokia is often bragging about their camera quality, and honestly they have every right to be proud of them, right now there are at least one step in front of the competition. Camera looks similar to the one on the Lumia 1020, but it's not likely to be 41MP, according to rumors it might be something like 20MP. Still great for a mid-range phone.

Other specifications are not known, display will probably be 4.5 or 4.7 inches in size, with the resolution of 720p or maybe even 1080p. Of course you can expect Windows Phone 8.1 version on this smartphone and running all that will be Snapdragon 800 or 801.

Now that all of these things are put into one device and if Microsoft can make the price be affordable, people could get exited about Lumia 830. Still no official news about when this smartphone will be announced, probably at IFA but will just wait and see about that.

Source wpcentral.

Another smartphone chart

People at statista made a new smartphone chart that contains three IT giants, Apple, Microsoft and Google. This is a chart about smartphones and their prices across different platforms. According to this chart Apple and Google are happy with their results, while Microsoft has something to look forward to in the future.

This chart represents second quarter of 2014, where Android manufacturers have shipped 249.6 million smartphones, majority of those phones are still low-end 58.66%. Apple and their iOS platform have a reason to be happy, considering they don't make low-end iOS devices and have only made one mid-range device so far. Their market share is 84.6% of high-end smartphones, keep in mind that these type of devices bring in the biggest profit.

Microsoft is still struggling, but they could have a bright future for their Windows Phone platform. So far most of their smartphones are low-end devices, Android wasn't any different when it got started. Also Windows Phone is faster and better at using limited hardware then Android is, it still doesn't have as many apps but that could change very soon. Also there are many new manufacturers that are planing or already developing smartphones with this operating system, so thing could get interesting really soon.

Of course these chart looks simple, but it isn't, it only tries to simplify things. Smartphone market is huge, spread all across the globe and has to much variables that it could fit in to one small chart. Almost everyone that takes a look will interpret this data differently and that's OK, because there really isn't any clear winner here. As far as the consumers are concern the more competition the better the products, the more innovation there will be and that is all that matters.

Source statista.

HTC One with Windows Phone

Lately there have been many rumors that HTC will bring us a smartphone that's running Windows Phone operating system. Looks like HTC One(M8) will be that smartphone. What better way is there then to use your flagship smartphone for this opportunity.

Leaked image from PCMag supports this rumor to be true. According to them this phone will be only available on Verizon. Only one photo was leaked s  we can't see the back of the phone but it's probably an Ultrapixel camera that HTC loves to promote.

On this photo you can also se a TV title that is not on any other Windows Phone device, so this smartphone will probably have an IR blaster. Front facing camera is of a wide-angle, which is understandable, because selfies are becoming more popular with each passing day. BoomSound speakers are also visible on the front of the device.

HTC is holding their event on Aug. 19 in New York City where is expected that this smartphone will be officially announced.

Source PCMag.

Windows Phone from Lenovo

Long has been rumored that Lenovo is making a smartphone based on Windows Phone operating system, and now this spring, possibly April those rumors will come true.

Microsoft has recently released a list of partners regarding their Winwows Phone smartphones, this is an area in which they plan to make an impact in this year and years to come. So far the IT giant from Redmond didn't have much success, as WP is only 4% of the smartphone market world wide.

Lenovo is also trying to make an impact in smartphone sales, with very little success so far. The company has recently bought Motorola Mobility from Google for $2.91 billion, which will definitely get them name recognition, but they didn't announce any new smartphones just yet. Considering how Android market is crowded and dominated by Samsung, Lenovo's move to make a smartphone with Windows Phone shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

New Windows Smartphone from Lenovo will be running the new Windows 8.1 OS, 4.5 or 5 inch screen and Snapdragon 400 or 600, with the price tag somewhere around $400. According to the rumors it will be announced in April.

Acer has also been rumored to make a smartphone with Windows Phone, but  they have delayed these plans until Microsoft operating system increases their market share. Who knows Acer, maybe until then it will be too late.

Source technobuffalo.