The Windows Phone 8-powered Lumia 920 is rumored to offer wireless power recharging technology.
Nokia is set to introduce its newest Windows Phone devices tomorrow at an event co-headlined with Microsoft in New York City, and the hottest rumor says that the new Lumias will not require a power cord.
The Lumia 920 will replace the 900 as the flagship product, and specs leaked to The Verge look impressive: 32GB of device storage, 1GB of RAM, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and a 4.5-inch HD display.
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The Lumia 920 will use a wireless charging method called the inductive method, where the case lines up contacts with the charge pad. This has been used in a variety of household appliances: Dell tried it in 2009 with one of its laptops (and hasn’t tried it since), and it was used in the Palm Pre phone.
That’s not much of a track record, is it? While convenient, it’s also not the most efficient means of powering a device, and a lot of juice is lost in the process.
Still, it’s better than the power pad alternative out there now. Duracell makes a charger called the PowerMat, but you need to put your phone in a special case.
On top of the new specs, the Lumia 920 is rumored to sport a PureView camera, the same brand as the 41-megapixel camera it announced earlier this year. However, the camera in the Lumia 920 will only be an 8-megapixel design, although it will feature advancements in image stabilization and camera software. Good thing, because the Lumia 900 couldn’t compare to the iPhone 4S, and that’s saying something when you aren’t even up to par with an iPhone.
Let’s hope some momentum can be found. Research firm Canalys said that Windows Phone sales in Q2 accounted for 3.2 percent of the global market for smartphones, compared to 1.2 percent in the same quarter one year earlier.
While 3.2 percent is pitiful, it’s still a near-tripling of sales, although it should be noted that the figure represents how many devices were shipped to dealers, and not those that were purchased by consumers. There is the unknown of how badly Nokia and Microsoft pooched sales when they announced that Windows Phone 8 would not be backwards compatible with older hardware.
The launch date for Windows Phone 8 devices is rumored to be October 26. We will know more tomorrow.
