Verizon will out a Windows Phone 8 Nokia this year, confirms Bloomberg, we cross fingers for the PureView tech
Bloomberg has confirmed from its sources that Verizon is indeed planning to have a Windows Phone 8 device made by Nokia in its portfolio this year, most likely in time for the holidays. While Verizon isn't going to be a part of the big Microsoft/Nokia event September 5, the source said, the handset will have a separate release later on in Q4. That fits in with what we wrote yesterday that everyone major carrier but probably Sprint, will be getting WP8 handsets
Then in April we had Verizon's CFO Fran Shammo answering investor questions in the quarterly conference call: "we're really looking at the Windows Phone 8.0 platform because that's a differentiator. We're working with Microsoft on it". He added that Verizon, as well as the other carriers are really looking to diversify from the iOS-Android duopoly that has taken over their portfolio and is sucking the lifeblood out with subsidies, so Windows Phone is an excellent way to do that.
To that we have to add a Nokia exec saying as recently as last month that both Verizon Windows Phones and PureView Lumias are coming "very soon", but he also mentioned that Nokia will have something in the spring that will have people "climbing over themselves" to get it, so chances are that might be the actual PureView/WP8 combo, not the first WP8 with Verizon.
Still, we also have the perennial Microsoft leaker MSNerd saying directly that Verizon will have an exclusive Windows Phone in time for the holidays, made by Nokia, which will carry the PureView technology, but with less megapixels than the almighty 808 PureView, possibly using the big 12MP sensor from the Nokia N8 for the pixel oversampling duties.
He also said way back in April that the phone will sport a dual-core Snapdragon S4 with LTE, which Microsoft more or less confirmed when it whipped out a Nokia developer phone with the chipset during the WP8 announcement. MSNerd also chimed in that the handset will carry an HD display with Nokia's ClearBlack tech, which sports a very low reflection ratio, making phone screens with it quite visible in direct sunlight.
Lastly, we have to add the fact that Nokia enigmatically tweeted yesterday to have our "eyes and ears open in the next few weeks" for a PureView Lumia phone announcement, and Microsoft has scheduled a grand WP8 event with Nokia for September 5, so that's when we might hear more about an upcoming Verizon Windows Phone 8, hopefully with the groundbreaking PureView camera technology. Any takers?
source: Bloomberg
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