The Nokia Lumia 710 is finally available in the US via T-Mobile. The fact Nokia left the US market a few years ago (because of the conflict with local retailer stores) without a promise of coming back, affected the popularity of its smartphones among US customers. That’s why Nokia has plans to start a new promotion policy for its devices. And now we have the Nokia Lumia 710 ad on the first page of New York Times. This is a very smart step as beyond doubt New York Times is the most read newspaper in the US.

The carrier offers the Black and White options of the Lumia 710. But you can choose another color cover to make your device more colorful. Moreover, T-Mobile also sells accessories for this WP smartphone, including Invisible Shield DRY protective cover and Body Glove Revell Shell.

This handset comes with a rather affordable price. T-Mobile requires $49.99 with a contract. This is an appealing price for first-time smartphone users, as it’s rather cheap. Besides, WP is way cooler in terms of management than the tricky Android handsets.

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The Nokia Lumia 800 is now offered by another carrier. This time it’s the Swedish Telia. The handset is now offered in 3 color options — cyan, magenta and black.

The carrier asks 29.95 Euros for the device in case of a two-year agreement. In addition it gives a chance to get 12 months of free Spotify feature and free mobile traffic data.

Another great news comes from Nokia’s official Facebook page. It announces the device availability in the Netherlands. We were actually expecting the device to reach the Dutch stores later on.  Here the price of the smartphone is expected to be something around 300 Euros. The only difference between the Dutch version of the device and the international model is the lack of various features. Hopefully the handset will get a few other features to replace the missing ones. Still it’s great that at least GPS navigation will be available for the Lumia 800.

Soon the device might turn into the most popular Windows Phone device. Just imagine, it’s now available in Europe, in Asia, in Canada and in the US (though only via online retailers). So the growth of the popularity is almost guaranteed.

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If you think current mobile operating systems are almighty, you are being pretty mistaken. Take for example Android’s Gingerbread version, which can’t run on tablets (i.e. in larger screens) or the Honeycomb version, which can’t work with smartphones. Fortunately, Google has now launched Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which combines these two versions. At this point Microsoft seems to be facing a similar problem in terms of mobile operating system’s opportunities. However, Windows Phone Tango comes to solve all those issues.

Windows Phone 7 is not compatible with larger screens. Mango solved this problem, though geeks claim this version in its turn is incompatible with small screens. But the upcoming Tango version must solve all these problems once and for all. Our assurance is conditioned by a mysterious device, which appeared last week at the T-Mobile-Nokia event for the 710. President of Nokia US Chris Weber was holding it. Yet no one can say what it is. The overall assumptions suggest it should be a fancy LCD business-card, an electronic badge or a type of mini-media player, but what BooredatWork says is just incredible:

“…we got a brief sneak peek at a little 3-inch Nokia Windows phone pocket tablet like device. It got 3-inch display, with no apparent physical button. No idea on specs or what the device truly is as we only saw it briefly, but it is a Windows phone based device.”

We can’t say what made them conclude the device runs Windows Phone, but if it is so, we must applaud Microsoft for creating an operating system capable of working with any-size handset.

O2′s sales of the Nokia Lumia 800 started on December 8. And now that only two weeks have passed the device can no longer be found on the mobile operator’s website. If the analysts claim the operator recalled the units to stop the sales, then the reply from O2 reps is something different.

They state the device is “out of stock.” As to the question why the device is not listed as “out of stock” instead of the “blank page” the response was the following: “We’ll have to talk to our web people about that.”

O2′s launch of the device wasn’t that smooth. At first, the operator refused to launch the device in November, then changed its mind and decided to have an early December launch. The delay of the launch was caused by issues the Windows Phone device faced. The operator made it clear it would not offer the handset unless all the bugs were fixed. Luckily, Nokia was rather quick with its software updates and the release took place.

Anyway, if the device is out of stock, then we should expect more units coming sometime soon. The date the handset will be back to O2 stores is not yet mentioned.

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Nokia World 2011 was very productive for the company as it introduced its first Windows Phone-flavored smartphones, the Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710. The first one is already available in many countries and shows record sales, but the latter has not been launched. The Lumia 710 is expected to be the first Nokia Windows Phone smartphone coming to the US, and these are not just words — T-Mobile and Nokia have a joint event on December 14, where this handset will be introduced to the public. Seems there is no reason to doubt whether this awesome device will be launched in the US or whether the carrier offering it will be T-Mobile or not. At the moment the Nokia Lumia 710 accessories leaked in a documentation T-Mobile gave to sales representatives.

As you can see in the picture above, there are lots of useful accessories coming with the Lumia 710. No doubt the Lumia 710 is armed well, because in some sense it’s a matter of honor. The Lumia 800 has already brought back Nokia’s good reputation and its junior brother has a mission to preserve the achievements.

So there is nothing preventing the Lumia 710 from being launched in the US. But do you think this phone can get out from Lumia 800’s shadow?

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The Nokia Lumia 800 is good not only in terms of design, but also in terms of software. It especially refers to the exclusiveness coming from Microsoft. Of course, I am talking about Office, which remains the best and most popular software pocket for creating documents of different kinds. The Lumia 800 is the latest smartphone giving users such an opportunity via the Microsoft Office Hub. So let’s see what makes it unique.

Before this feature is available for Symbian, Windows Phone will remain the only platform with Microsoft Office Hub. The Lumia 800 is one of the best choices for this deal due to its big screen and handy design.

The features can be launched directly from the app list by tapping the Office icon. Its easy to navigate interface is very comfortable “to reach the destination” you want, that is create, edit and share Word, Excel and PowerPoint files wherever you go. Users can stay productive even being far away from the office and the great range of available templates is very comfortable for it. Once the work is done users can format it however they want — change the font size and color or insert comments. Users can do almost everything they used to do in the desktop version.

Moreover, they needn’t worry about the file sizes as Lumia 800’s 16GB storage, Microsoft Windows Live SkyDrive online storage and SharePoint sites will provide enough space for locating your files.

The Microsoft Office Hub is one of the key features of Windows Phone and the Nokia Lumia 800 has won hearts of many geeks due to this feature too.

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The shift from Symbian and MeeGo devices to Windows Phone handsets was something shocking for Nokia fans. This is especially true about the Finnish customers, as the manufacturer is one of the prides of their nation. And the shift towards the “other nationality” operating system has influenced the perception of the locals.

This is obvious from the manufacturer’s rapid market share loss in its home country. If Nokia’s share of the last year was around 76%, now it has dropped to 31%, which is 45% less. Even with this result the manufacturer is still leading on the market. The second position is occupied by Samsung with its 25%. Apple comes third with its 16%. Interestingly, Samsung’s results have been improved by 22%.

This is not a total failure if we consider the small number of Finland’s population — 5 million. In contrast, this might be a chance for Nokia to get a ticket to the U.S. customers. Here the market is way larger and more important in terms of sales. Still the manufacturer has to adopt a way to keep the sales high in its home country, otherwise it can have an impact on Nokia’s positive image.

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Superheroes always have their anti-heroes, otherwise their existence becomes senseless. Recall any comics and you’ll see there are always super heroes loved by everyone and evil heroes rejected by the public. And when the main hero triumphs over, the story ends, because the hero can’t go on without a competition — that’s the credo of his life. The same thing happened with Finnish mobile manufacturer, Nokia. This company was leading in all phone markets and lost its glory. At the moment it’s difficult to imagine Nokia was once popular in the US, but it was so and US senior citizens will confirm my words. Anyway, it’s never easy to permanently dethrone a king unless you decapitate him, as he can always come back and turn everything over.

As you guessed, Nokia popped off because it was alone in the long run, in other words Nokia began dying as it always happens with superheroes. Years passed and the public came up with new heroes calling them Apple and Android. Many people started to worship them and many people found a new embodiment of God in them (forgetting their former idol, Nokia).

Apple and Android are the right mapping of our times; the Cupertino-based company is controlling everything in its activity, inside the company everything is planned in details and all people obey. In short, Apple is a perfect example of discipline. On the other hand, we are dealing with Google, which is known for its democratic views, and involves people by its openness. In practice, such projects always succeed and Android wasn’t an exception. As a result Google’s mobile operating system dominates the market and has already conquered half of the world.

Small companies try to preserve their existence in this panorama, and manage to stand the competition. But on the whole, big companies take the lion part. The same was with Nokia (though we can’t call it “a small company,” in this case its popularity doesn’t mean anything). And in the last few years the “once most popular mobile brand in the world” was not being able to get back its glory. Want it or not, Nokia’s back, and people have already started consuming Mango instead of Apple and sweetmeats.

Chapter 1: Discovering the tumor

Yes, Nokia spared no effort to find out why US smartphone users dislike this brand. If this “disliking” referred to the US and only the company would probably decide to leave it in peace and focus on other regions. Sadly though, the tumor spread and the countries where Nokia was once a leader began denying Nokia products.

Nokia forgave its competitors for all these losses, but when European mobile operators started preferring Android- and iOS-based smartphones, Nokia decided to act, i.e. take certain steps. By “steps” I mean the decision Nokia had to make concerning the choice of the operating system its handsets should run to win the battle.

This was the question of the day, because Nokia realized its main problems come from Symbian^3, while it was thought to be the key feature of Nokia smartphones. Beyond doubt, it was hard for Nokia to ban its native platform and choose another one. Moreover, it had a limited choice — either Android or Windows Phone. We even didn’t discuss iOS, because Apple will rather dig its own grave than share iOS with anyone. Well, many people thought Nokia tended to merge with Android — this would be the biggest coalition in the mobile history. But Nokia, as always, preferred to attack on different fronts at a time. (Such a strategy always makes a panic among enemies.) It worked. Nokia decided to treat the disease using several methods simultaneously.

Chapter 2: Getting rid of the disease

Before that Nokia had invited Stephen Elop, who was the president of the Microsoft Business Division at that time. This person is known for his “plain mind’ and the ability to make right decisions in difficult situations. Nokia haters called Elop a mole and assumed he agreed to take up that position to sell the Finnish company to Microsoft.

In contrary to this, Elop sold his shares of Microsoft and completely got involved in Nokia’s problem. There was no time and the “doctor” had to start the surgery immediately. He started.

While many fake friends were waiting for Nokia’s death, those who sincerely believed in Nokia knew it’ll come back.

Secondly, Nokia (no, starting here we must say Stephen Elop) analyzed the opportunities of both operating systems and came to a conclusion Android devices act and look the same. So if Nokia had chosen Google, it’d become the next bucket filling water into Google’s mill. Microsoft was in a more beneficial position as there were no many manufacturers cooperating with it and Nokia had all chances to become its main partner. I guess you understand what it means. Finally their negotiations successfully ended and the world saw one of the biggest unions.

This announcement was made back in April and from that time on the entire mobile world (including Nokia fans) didn’t believe the Finnish company could succeed. Sometimes it seems to me I was the only one who believed in Nokia (not being devoted to it at all).

Now you probably think I’ll say Nokia launched the Lumia 800 and the story ends. I must disappoint you, as Nokia was slier — it announced the Nokia N9. A phone with a stunning and buttonless design, but with one “defect.” A defect called MeeGo. Of course, this is a pretty nice platform, but MeeGo didn’t have future and the N9 is the first and the last smartphone with this operating system. Geeks were gradually getting interested in what phone the whole world was talking about, and wondered when it would be launched. Well, Nokia announced the list where its new flagship should appear. There was joy all around, but many people were more happy for another thing — they wanted this phone to “criticize” Nokia’s product once again. But it didn’t happen as Nokia turned out to be smarter and left out a lot of countries from that  list. As a result, the Nokia N9 went only to those countries, where Nokia remained a leader. Almost the whole Europe and the US were looking forward to the day Nokia would launch the phone in their territory, while Nokia was firm in its decision.

When almost all conversations stopped about why Nokia isn’t offering the N9 in their countries, the company announced its first Windows Phone Mango-flavored design, the Nokia Lumia 800, a phone with the same appearance as the N9, but with Mango inside. Yes, Nokia blew all minds up.

The Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710 are smartphones in which nobody can pick holes. They are unique in terms of design and exceed many other smartphones on the market. Plus, WP Mango has come with many improvements and even Android lovers accept the huge job Microsoft developers have done.

Having a perfect product (I mean a high-end smartphone with a perfect OS) both companies started its promotion. I have no wish to introduce sales numbers in the UK or in other countries where this handset is launched, because you know it better than me, but I want to note — Nokia didn’t launch the Lumia 800 in the US. Caprice? Call it however you want, I think this is the most correct strategy — you do not like Nokia, so it’s OK, right?

Chapter 3: New life

Many geeks used to think Nokia has a goal to snatch Android and iOS users, but Stephen Elop is smarter than you think, guys. To clarify the situation, Stephen Elop announced Nokia is aimed at first-time users. Let each platform remain with its users, Nokia will attract those who will hold smartphones in their hands for the first time in their life. Do you know what happened? The second biggest carrier in the US is already in negotiations with Nokia and most likely will offer the Lumia 900 4G next year. Yup, Nokia hit the target!

Plus, Nokia is actively working on Symbian and it will soon launch Belle update. MeeGo is not forgotten as well, and though there are rumors we’ll see other devices running this OS, the N9 remains very popular. Moreover, it has already got PR1.2 update. Not that cool?

Totally, Nokia didn’t make real changes in its devices. I mean if you look at the posts where Nokia’s old and new handsets are compared with the best products on the market, you’ll see their key features are almost the same. They are the following:

• Stunning style
• Beautiful screen
• Great camera
• Integrated social networking
• Bing Music
• Easy browsing
• Microsoft Office
• Free sat-nav
• Powerhouse performance
• ample storage.

So what can US consumers say against the Nokia Lumia 800? I guess you’ll keep silent, folks, because this handset is perfect.

The release of the first Windows Phone Nokia devices caused a lot of interest this fall. While some of the customers were pretty happy with what they get, others seemed to be disappointed with the limited features of the Windows Phone OS. They are among those who are impatiently waiting for the release of a more powerful WP device.

Most likely they will not have to wait too long. The Nokia Taiwan announced about its plans of creating a new hardware in the first half of the upcoming year. This new version of hardware will be designed to solve all kind of issues coming with the current version of the WP devices, including the Nokia Lumia 800 and the Nokia Lumia 710.

The novelty, which is assumed to be the Nokia Lumia 900 (the Nokia Ace), will come with the latest update of the WP OS, Tango. The smartphone will come with a large 4.3 inch ClearBlack AMOLED display (which is something new, as WP used not to support large displays). Other awesome features include the great 8 megapixel camera and the 1.4 GHz processor, which are currently available on the tough Lumia 800.

The Nokia Lumia 900 is rumored to be available sometime in January or February. In all probability it will be released at the CES 2012 event.

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It’d be unreasonable to think Stephen Elop has moved to Nokia with only one goal — to save the company from collapse. Of course, he is a person who never gives up; it’s felt by his actions and decisions. Since he moved to the company many things have changed in it. Though some of those changes were very much undesirable, still Elop’s actions deserve the best assessment. Analysts didn’t neglect these facts, and as a result Stephen Elop received the “Mobile Personality of the Year” award at the Know Your Mobile awards in London.

All in all, Nokia is not devoid of prizes, and as you remember the Nokia N9 recently won three nominations in Swedish Gold Mobile Awards. Now it’s Stephen Elop and Windows Phone’s turn — not only the Nokia CEO won an award but also Windows Phone was named “Operating System of the Year” at the same Know Your Mobile Awards. The prize was in no way received by chance. As stated it “provides users with an easily customizable start screen, which is focused on putting people first” and integrating “the user experience to deliver smarter and easier communications, apps and Internet experiences.”

Beyond doubt these awards are but a result of long and hard work. So we can even now claim Nokia is back. I am inclined to think that people have started to love Nokia, this refers to the countries, where Nokia was denied.

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