AT&T launching Nokia Lumia 920 in exclusive deal, 820 coming too

News
By
published

New Lumias hit in November

Nokia Lumia 920
Nokia's Lumia 920 is coming exclusively to AT&T

AT&T announced Thursday an exclusive deal to bring Nokia's Lumia 920 with LTE to the U.S. this November.

The Lumia 820 will head to AT&T as well, though currently it appears only the 920 will be an AT&T exclusive.

The Windows Phone 8 handsets will prove crucial in both Nokia's battle to stay afloat and Microsoft's war with Google and Apple in the smartphone market.

There are some vague reports floating around as to the 820's carrier destination, but an AT&T spokesperson confirmed to TechRadar via email that the Lumia 920 is indeed an AT&T exclusive, and that the 820 is not.

The question that remains, then, is what other carriers are getting the Lumia 820?

Rumors upon rumors

Thursday's Nokia/AT&T announcement was preceded by rumors in early September, when unnamed sources claimed that both the Lumia 920 and the Lumia 820 would be heading to AT&T.

But those sources failed to predict the Lumia 920's exclusivity to AT&T, as the rumors also claimed that Verizon would be getting a version of the 920 in November as well.

As for the 820, it was rumored that T-Mobile would be picking up the new WP8 handset as well.

At this time it's unclear what carriers besides AT&T will carry the 820, though Verizon and T-Mobile are certainly likely.

TechRadar has reached out to Verizon, T-Mobile and Nokia to find out if anyone can clarify the carrier situation.

Nokia's depending on the new Lumias

The most recent sign of Nokia's troubles came when global bank Credit Suisse downgraded the Finnish phone maker to "underperform" and recommended it be broken up and sold.

News also broke Thursday the company is considering selling off its Espoo headquarters and renting the space to save money.

So naturally, a lot is hinging on the new Windows Phone 8 devices.

The Lumia 920 packs quite a punch, with a 4.5-inch 1280 x 768 PureMotion HD+ display, a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 chip, special "floating lens" tech in its 8-megapixel PureView rear camera, NFC, LTE, wireless charging, and more.

The 820 is slightly less impressive, with a smaller displayer and weaker camera, though it should be priced to match and could help Nokia gain ground at that level.

Watch out for more info soon.

Via AT&T

TOPICS
Michael Rougeau
Michael Rougeau

Michael Rougeau is a former freelance news writer for TechRadar. Studying at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Northeastern University, Michael has bylines at Kotaku, 1UP, G4, Complex Magazine, Digital Trends, GamesRadar, GameSpot, IFC, Animal New York, @Gamer, Inside the Magic, Comic Book Resources, Zap2It, TabTimes, GameZone, Cheat Code Central, Gameshark, Gameranx, The Industry, Debonair Mag, Kombo, and others.

Micheal also spent time as the Games Editor for Playboy.com, and was the managing editor at GameSpot before becoming an Animal Care Manager for Wags and Walks.