Fans of Nokia’s Lumia 800 who were waiting for the sequel to touch down in the UK will be pleased to hear that a release date has been finalised by the Finnish firm.
Sadly it is not going to arrive until June, according to fan site, WPCentral, which has quoted their source from inside retailer The Carphone Warehouse.
On the outside, the Lumia 900 is essentially a larger version of the Lumia 800, with the 3.7 screen of its predecessor getting upgraded to a 4.3 inch display, using the same OLED technology to provide enhanced contrast ratios and colour vibrancy.
Other augmentations include a forward facing secondary camera, which will allow the Lumia 900 to make video calls and a better primary snapper on the rear, which Nokia has, apparently, equipped with a wide angle lens to appease photography fans.
In terms of software, the Lumia 900 will use Windows Phone, but it is unclear which iteration of the operating system will actually be available by the time it hits the market.
Windows Phone Mango is the current version that most users will know and love, but by June it is possible that both Tango and Apollo will be launched and ready to enjoy.
Tango is going to be a minor update that essentially preps Microsoft’s platform for budget-oriented handsets with less than 512MB of RAM. However, Apollo is the far more interesting and important of the two, as it will, allegedly, make Windows Phone better able to take advantage of next generation mobile phone hardware.
While the Lumia 900 will still use a single core processor, it should benefit from whatever features Apollo brings to the table. However, it is not yet known whether this will be preinstalled on the handset when it arrives in the UK or whether fans will have to wait for a subsequent update.
The Lumia 900, also known as the Nokia Ace in the US, is going to come packed with an LTE chip allowing it to access 4G networks where they are available. This is still something of a non-starter for UK consumers, since mobile providers have still failed to turn LTE from a dream into a reality, but it is good to know that the handset will be future-proof in this way.
In 4G-related news, Virgin Media has announced its interest in getting involved in the auction which will determine which parts of the 4G spectrum different providers actually control.
O2, Three, Vodafone and Everything Everywhere were already known to be preparing bids for the auction, which will be regulated by Ofcom. However, it now seems that a fifth contender might be in the running, if Virgin Media goes through with its current plans.
Virgin Media has never owned its own mobile network infrastructure in the UK and has instead acted as a virtual mobile network provider, piggybacking on the Everything Everywhere coverage. But if it gets its own slice of the 4G network, then everything could change.
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