A wish list for Nokia's next flagship Windows Phone

[Yaman Maarrawi]

Two months left for Nokia World in September. I think everyone is excited for it. Nokia will introduce its newest flagship Windows Phone 8 "Lumia". If Nokia wanted to succeed, here's a list of "to-dos" Nokia engineers should care about.





- A thin, solid design: I don't really care about how thin the phone is... But there are many people that were disappointed with how thick and heavy the Nokia Lumia 920 was.





- A "Real" PureView camera with xenon flash: The Lumia 920's camera is already perfect, but is it actually PureView...? you can't compare it to the 1020 or the 808... Can you?





- Snapdragon 600 processor: Windows Phone 8 doesn't really require latest - high end - processors... It just runs smoothly on every single Lumia, no matter how much it is or how low end its specs are. But the Lumia 1020 really disappointed me. There are many 3D games coming to the store eventually.





- SD Card slot: Yes. Yes. Yes. Please.





- NO MORE CARRIER EXCLUSIVITY: Seriously Nokia? No body wants to wait for the Lumia 1028 to get it on Verizon Wireless... or the 1025 to get it on T-Mobile. And NOBODY is going to switch to At&t. Nobody. Let's have a look at the Samsung Galaxy S4. It launched on FIVE carriers. The result? More sales. Simply more sales.





- A killer battery: It's Nokia! It's well known for its amazing battery life (in the past)... Only Motorola delivers a great battery life these days. I want Nokia to get back to its roots and start as the indestructible with the endless battery life again.

 

[stmav]

Have to disagree on one point with you. I got tired of waiting for Sprint to get WP8 so I switched to AT&T. There were others as well. Now yes, they need to be released on all carriers, but there are people who switch.

 

[Yaman Maarrawi]

I live in the UAE... The Nokia Lumia 920 is exclusive to "Du".
There are two carriers here in Dubai. Etisalat and Du. And I'm not really switching to Du because their service is simply terrible.

 

[LMZR]

On top of what many people will want (Better processor, better screen, larger size?) I'd prefer the polycarbonate design to stay.

I want them to show off a compelling reason to buy it, people who are going from feature phone to smartphone will most likely go to iOS and Android. And i think Nokia needs to show off a great and compelling reason to get one.

 

[boxa72]

I want Nokia to snap outta there trance n start innovating in more areas than just pixels. How can Samsung have a thinner phone n yet still get humongous internal memory AND SD??? 16GB doesn't cut it for an alleged "flagship" device

 

[mrmdj31675]

Have to disagree on one point with you. I got tired of waiting for Sprint to get WP8 so I switched to AT&T. There were others as well. Now yes, they need to be released on all carriers, but there are people who switch.

And there are companies who needed to get their act together like Microsoft who made Windows Phone almost GSM exclusive, but then people blame only Sprint for the hiatus of CDMA based devices without looking at the greater picture it was a total lack of interest of a Microsoft of using Qualcomm CDMA code (not China Mobile as the first three WP8 devices on Verizon) until a Sprint, and the rest of the CDMA community made it clear they will only touch WP8 devices when the platform becomes Qualcomm CDMA compliant.

And yes, those threee devices on Verizon (prior to the Lumia 928) will get the Qualcomm CDMA code through GDR2 (which will also bring improvements for the GSM side in terms of cell network encryption as required by the FCC).

 

[stmav]

I hope Sprint compensates you well for repeating the same thing over and over. Try to contribute something new occasionally. You've been a one trick pony for too long. And your Sprint bias is as bad as the bias you claim people have against Sprint.

 

[Duvi]

I hope Sprint compensates you well for repeating the same thing over and over. Try to contribute something new occasionally. You've been a one trick pony for too long. And your Sprint bias is as bad as the bias you claim people have against Sprint.

Was thinking the same. I work for the company (Sprint) and its Sprint who said it was going to wait. They didn't trust WP.

Not sure how he/she turned it around and made it Microsoft.

 

[Duvi]

And Nokia next flagship does need to be thinner. Maybe release two flagship devices.

One a lot thinner and then another with all the goodies like MP and bigger battery.

This is why I love my Z10 and iPhone 5 so much... It's easier to carry at times.

I do enjoy my 920 and usually pouch it up for work, but when it's time to go play bball... or chill where I won't be able to take pics, I do tend to leave the WP at home.

 

[Kebero]

I never thought I'd say this, but I'd love a Nokia phablet with high end specs. Right now, I have a Windows 8 laptop, Surface RT and Lumia 920 - as much as I love the Surface, I have started to find myself reaching for the 920 more and more when both are around, even for email and basic Office tasks. At this rate, I'd rather a phablet to compliment the laptop, than have the three devices (okay, I also want to replace my 14" laptop with something a bit smaller as well).

 

[4hab]

Nokia needs to deliver carrier-exclusive devices. Since carriers have a very high influence in the US, Nokia needs the carriers there to gain marketing support. It sucks of course, I really liked the T-Mobile Lumia 810 but have to deal with the fact, that I will not get access to that device in Germany.

This wont change in the near time, as long as Nokia doesnt grow stronger. And even if the Lumias had the same reputation like the iPhone or the Galaxy devision, carrier-exclusive devices offer the opportunity of a way higher marketing and promotion moment by third parties at quite low effort - since Nokia only needs to slightly change the design of the phones without touching the base (SoC and OS).

 

[ejb222]

I just got my L920 this weekend. My Pops was nice enough to hand it down since he moved on to a HTC One. I actually prefer the "heft" of the L920. I went to the ATT store to check out the 1020. They so could have put that camera in a 920. the 1020 is thinner and the camera sticks out about the thickness of the 920. The 920 feels solid to me. those thin plastic phones feel like I could snap them in my palm. The iPhone feels jagged because it is thin. You really notice the squareness in your hand. The shape of the 920 and even the 8x etc really take nicely to your hand.
That being said. I could live with a thinner 920 IF it was the same shape...the 1020 is the shape of a 900 not the 920.

Now as far as expectations for the next Flagship Nokia. I suppose they will have 2 or 3 phones to show off. I mean you have the 1020...they wont create a reiteration of that until 2014 maybe IMO. So I think you will see a 930 and a 830. And a phablet(as this is really a niche device)

So 930 would be 4.5" 1080p quad core 2GB ram...better camera...probably a small improvement upon the 925cam...or maybe something like 13 or 21mp cam.
The 830 will be dual core, 768p, 1GB.
I would love SD in both. Qi in both. But there has to be some sort of differentiator for these phones. I can't figure it out. I hope it's not software based. Nokia has their HERE apps and Camera apps...Photobeamer is so freaking cool. So apart from really polishing these featuers...we need hardware differentiation. Why would someone buy a 930 over a Galaxy SV? If Nokia simply has the same specs as other phones, they are putting themselves in a possition in which they rely on WP OS to differentiate it's phones from the others. If I were an OEM I would not like that position.

 

[Indistinguishable]

Does Nokia World even exist anymore? I can't find anything about Nokia World 2013 online.

 

[tissotti]

Does Nokia World even exist anymore? I can't find anything about Nokia World 2013 online.

Well if 2013 Nokia World was announced by Nokia, we would not be guessing these dates here.

Nokia World is just name for a Nokia event happening somewhere on September or August. The event gets announced when the products Nokia is planning are locked in. That said, last years Nokia World was completely different than previous years as it was closed event, not the massive Nokia fan fest it has been for the past years.

Now as far as expectations for the next Flagship Nokia. I suppose they will have 2 or 3 phones to show off. I mean you have the 1020...they wont create a reiteration of that until 2014 maybe IMO. So I think you will see a 930 and a 830. And a phablet(as this is really a niche device)

That's a first time I hear something that sells 35 million a year to be niche. For 2013 its projected that +45 million phablets will be sold. It is by far the fastest growing smartphone segment and already last year held much of the smartphone sales and growth.
Just a reminder that the world doesn't go around us living in West. China already is world largest smartphone market and should dominate the whole game very soon. Phablets are selling great in EU and US, but the growth is coming from Asia.

I don't expect anything else in the very high end other than phablet and new 8xx series phone this year. I mean the whole GDR3 seems to be just geared towards phablets.

 

[MojoDoj0]

I'm happy with the specs on my Lumia 920. But because I like Nokia very much and hope they sell well. I want them focusing on the best specs possible. There are people out there who dont know what they really need in their phone. They think they need what the advertising tells them to need. They think, quad core, 1080p, thinnest phone is a must to have. If Samsung and HTC can, why cant Nokia?

 

[sph0308]

I would like to see :

6 in Phablet with quadcore, 64 Gb internal storage, 4 Gb RAM, full 1080 p display, Amoled screen, 41 mp pureview camera, stereo recording, thin, pc body, gorilla glass 3, WP8.1 on Verizon !!

 

[sph0308]

Oh and Micro SD slot, wireless charging, and colors

I would like to see :

6 in Phablet with quadcore, 64 Gb internal storage, 4 Gb RAM, full 1080 p display, Amoled screen, 41 mp pureview camera, stereo recording, thin, pc body, gorilla glass 3, WP8.1 on Verizon !!

 

[jlzimmerman]

5" to 6" Full HD Super Amoled, Gorilla Glass 3
Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor @ 1.9 GHz
2500mAh or better battery
2MP or greater front facing camera
41MP Pure View Camera
32 and 64 Gb Internal Storage models
4 Gb of RAM
Wireless Qi charging (standard)
MicroSD slot, up to 64Gb capacity
Stereo Recording
Everything else that comes on current WP that we know and love....

 

[tissotti]

5" to 6" Full HD Super Amoled, Gorilla Glass 3
Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor @ 1.9 GHz
2500mAh or better battery
2MP or greater front facing camera
41MP Pure View Camera
32 and 64 Gb Internal Storage models
4 Gb of RAM
Wireless Qi charging (standard)
MicroSD slot, up to 64Gb capacity
Stereo Recording
Everything else that comes on current WP that we know and love....

Pretty much. Other than don't really care if the RAM is 2-4GB.

Also this being phablet, I don't think there's any aesthetically pleasing way to put that big 41MP sensor inside that huge surface. I would be very pleased with "updated" Lumia 925 sensor or at best lytro style pelican sourced sensor.

 

[MojoDoj0]

I like Nokia very much but I do not understand their strategy. If Samsung, Htc, Apple had Nokia's hardware, such as a 41 megapixel sensor, they'd put it in all their flagships. Galaxy S4 and Note 3 will both have Samsung's best camera. Come on Nokia, give us a Phablet with the Lumia 1020 camera sensor!!