Samsung unveiled the first phone running Windows 8 yesterday, and my guess is that there are some pretty ticked off Finns this morning. It’s been widely rumored that Finnish phone maker Nokia would unveil its Windows 8 phone next week. There was probably a big bru-ha-ha planned for the phone too… a ticker tape, maybe a balloon drop, and all the cold, smoked fish you could eat. And now it’s all going to have to be for the second Windows 8 phone. From Reuters:
The brief announcement on Wednesday at a Berlin electronics show comes amid expectations that smartphone makers may turn increasingly to Windows devices after a U.S. jury decided many of Samsung’s Google Android-based phones infringed Apple Inc patents.
“It looks like a good phone, and seems like a pre-emptive announcement ahead of Nokia,” said Sid Parakh, an analyst at investment firm McAdams Wright Ragen, of the Samsung phone.
Samsung’s offering is called the ATIV S. CNET has the specs:
The Ativ S (Ativ is “Vita” spelled backward) features a slim design, a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display, and a 1.5GHz dual-core processor. There’s also compatibility for HSPA+42. In addition, the Ativ S packs in a rear-facing 8-megapixel camera with autofocus and an LED flash, and a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera.
Taking full advantage of new software capabilities announced for Windows Phone 8 in June, there’s a microSD card and support for NFC (think file-sharing and, soon, payment).
If you’re still hungry for more Windows 8 phone, and presumably fish, make your way to New York on September 5th for Nokia’s
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