Over million Windows phones Nokia Lumia 900 were sold since it’s release already. Nokia Lumia 900 is the first 4G LTE Windows Phone.

Nokia is leading the sales for Windows Phones overall (over half of market share) and despite amazing sales of Samsung phones, Windows Phones are climbing and strengthening their foothold on the smartphone market as expected. Nokia isn’t doing so well however, with $1.2 billion USD loss in last quarter of 2011. Microsoft arrangement certainly helps, with $250 million paid out to Nokia for the OS platform, but the profit margins of Nokia are steadily declining (19.9% from 28.7% year before).

Here is Nokia’s own words:

“Our broad strategic agreement with Microsoft includes platform support payments from Microsoft to us as well as software royalty payments from us to Microsoft. In the fourth quarter 2011, we received the first quarterly platform support payment of USD 250 million (EUR 180 million). We have a competitive software royalty structure, which includes minimum software royalty commitments. Over the life of the agreement, both the platform support payments and the minimum software royalty commitments are expected to measure in the billions of US Dollars.”

Numbers look kind of grim, but indications are that this will be a solid investment for both Nokia and Microsoft. Nokia Lumia 900 are to be offered (rumour) at AT&T for just $99 on a contract. With this price, Lumia 900 has to fly off shelves (literally). I mean 4G LTE smartphones average about $250 on a contract. We’ll see. Revival of Windows Phone is imminent! Launch date of Lumia 900 was shifted to March 18th. Again, we’ll see.

For $25 down, you can preorder Nokia Lumia 900 at the Microsoft store nationwide. Here are all specs of Nokia Lumia 900 in video, or click on the thumb pic on the left.

theverge

Sorry, that’d a bit of a daft title when I look back at it. Of course Windows phones are looking to grab a major share of the action in the smartphone world – just as Apple OS phones (i.e. iPhones) want to grab a big slice of the pie. Because smartphones are where the money is, so the more share they have the greater profits they’ll make.

The smartphone is the new mobile device for the second decade of the 21st century – an all in one communications hub that is as comfortable delivering broadband class connecting speeds as it is getting you in touch with social media sites or making your life easier with an app. More and more phone users are choosing smartphones, as a solution for business and pleasure alike – a handy version of the internet that fits in your pocket and enables all kinds of interactivity including shooting and uploading high quality video and photo files.

The basic split is between Windows OS phones and iPhone OS – with BlackBerry a contender still wobbling after a very dodgy year. So your basic fight is Android vs iPhone.

In other words: the age old fight between the PC user and the Mac user has migrated to the smartphone industry. In the Apple corner, we have devices that are cooler than cucumbers, with impeccable physical design and an apparently ergonomic interface – i.e. one that you learn as you go, with no need for a manual.

In the Windows corner we find phones that tell you how to use them, support apps created by people other than the OS developer, and can be fixed when they break.

Apple has experienced a weird kind of backlash in the last year and a half – ever since it brought out the MacBook Air, which was supposed to be the last word in portable computing but was so thin it couldn’t cool itself properly. Result – a lot of burned knees and a dent in Apple’s previously untarnished reputation, which got worse when new iPhone versions had glitches in them.

Because Apple doesn’t like admitting that anything is wrong with its gadgets. The device is sealed, impenetrable for a reason. So us plebs can’t get inside it and mess it up. That’s all very well when they work – but when the iPhone started going funny (voice recognition apps that didn’t recognise accents, for example) then there was no way to fix things. Unlike a Windows phone, which can be opened up, reprogrammed and generally played around with just like a Windows computer.

Of course letting software in from multiple providers (which is what the Windows OS allows you to do) opens you up to the prospect of hacking, of phishing, and of finding out that unheard of glitches in the programming code are suddenly making your phone do weird things. That’s the bugbear that Windows users have always had to put up with. The more stuff you add to your Windows system, the worse it performs.

But then the average shelf life of any smartphone these days is one year – after that the newest, must have version has come out and whatever you’ve got in your pocket is rendered by default old and embarrassing. So there’s hardly any time for a really comprehensive Windows glitch-fest to make itself known.

In which case maybe we’ll take price as an indicator of whether to buy a Windows phone or a Mac phone. And unsurprisingly, the price you pay for being super trendy, not being able to do anything when your phone goes wrong (except take it back to an Apple store to be tutted at by a supercilious employee) and occasionally having to put up with an app that doesn’t work, is a lot more than the price you pay for a Windows phone.

So if you want something that looks pretty much the same as an iPhone, works very similarly and doesn’t cost upwards of £400 ($633), think twice before you take a bite out of the big Apple. 

About the Author:

The above article is composed and edited by Shannen D. She is associated with many Technologies communities as their freelance writer and adviser. In her free time she writes articles related to  social media, internet dongle related articles etc. 

The new ZTE Tania smartphone is forecast to bring the Windows Phone 7 ecosystem to the masses. ZTE showcased it at the CES 2012 in Las Vegas. Top-end brands are hampered in using the Windows Phone operating system since Microsoft’s tight control of the OS means they can’t distinguish their product from the competition; the user experience looks the same whichever device you use it on. For budget manufacturers this is an advantage, as they can offer the same theme and functionality as anyone carrying the Windows Phone 7 OS.

Thus the ZTE Tania offers a similar user experience to that found on the Nokia Lumia 800 – the same live tiles, but with a larger 4.3-inch display. Admittedly, the ZTE Tania build quality is slightly inferior – its smooth pastic rear panel doesn’t give the same premium ergonomic look and feel as top HTC or Nokia handsets, but of course ZTE won’t be able to invest the same amount in manufacture if they’re to charge so much less than the big boys.

On the rear of the ZTE Tania a 5MP LED-flash camera delivers average shutter speed and mediocre flash length, yet the snaps it takes are not so far from anything found on mid-range smartphones right now. There’s also a dedicated camera key too, which Microsoft has decreed as one of their criteria for carrying WP7.

One or two features mark out the Tania from the rest of the pack. Internet Sharing enables users to take 3G data from a contract and convert it to a WiFi signal, something HTC accomplished with the Titan you also have the option to tether the phone via USB. Tania also features MegaTile, which permits users to extend the live tile interface to show more of the items they want to see on the homescreen. It’s a useful feature for adding the personal touch to your WP7 experience. The unibody chassis of many modern smartphones is sacrificed to give a removable battery, which can help prevent or curing bricking of the device. The ZTE Tania uses a 1400mAh battery to run its 1GHz CPU.

Techradar

We have just recently reviewed New Nokia windows phone Lumia 800. CES in Las Vegas has kicked off and Nokia is present with its new windows phone Lumia 900. How is 900 different from 800?

Nokia Lumia 900 has a larger screen of 4.3-inch in size. Nokia stayed with same ClearBlack OLED technology as in 800. Nokia decided to use Carl Zeiss optics for its new Lumia 900, which makes its cameras much better. With 28mm focal length quality of picture is amazing. Front facing camera has f/2.4 and rear facing camera has f/2.2 aperture. This is a huge step in picture taking capabilities in lower light conditions.

Hardware-wise, Lumia 900 is run by 1.4GHz processor. Nokia Lumia 900 is exclusively made for AT&T in United States. It will be using AT&T LTE network. This is actually unprecedented, since no other smartphone was ever made for just US. Price and release date has not been given.

From Windows Phone MIX we’re wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year.

Paul Merak