Nokia Lumia 800 Battery Update Starts Rolling Out

Last week we heard that Nokia would be rolling out a new firmware update to their Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone smartphone, the update is reported to come with some additional fixes for battery problems as well as some other bug fixes.

It would appear that Nokia has started rolling out the firmware update to certain Lumia 800 handsets, with users in Singapore reporting that the update is now live. According to the guys from WPCentral, the update has given battery life on the device significant improvements, we don’t as yet have any information on when the update will be rolled out to other countries.

If you have received the 12070 firmware update for your Nokia Lumia 800 handset, leave a comment below and let us know, and also let us know which country you are in.

Nokia Clarifies Battery Update On Lumia 800, Promises Audio / Camera Fixes Soon:

Nokia Lumia 800 Now Available In The US

The Nokia Lumia 800, which launched in Europe at the end of last year is now available in the US, although it is only available as a bundle deal and can only per purchased from Microsoft stores in the US. There are only around 16 Microsoft stores in the US, which could mean it would be hard to get your hands on the device, unless you live near one of the stores.

The device is available SIM free, but can only be purchased as part of a package, which will cost you $899, and the package includes a Nokia Play 360 wireless speaker, a Purity HD Stereo headset and an in ear Bluetooth headset. As a reminder the Nokia Lumia 800 comes with a 3.7 inch AMOLED ClearBlack touchscreen display with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, and it comes with Windows 7.5 Mango, processing is provided by a single core 1.4GHz processor.

The Nokia Lumia 800 also features a 8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, a dual led flash and auto-focus, it can record HD video in 720p, there is also 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, HSDPA, HSUPA and it uses the new micro SIM card instead of a standard SIM card. Have a look at our Nokia Lumia 800 review to see what we thought of Nokia’s first Windows Phone device.

Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone:

Nokia's phone business earns it $1.16 billion in 2011, sells "well over" a million Lumia handsets

Nokia just released its financials for the last quarter of 2011 and for the whole year, and it ended up with about $1.4 billion loss.

That was actually not due to its phones business, which made $1.16 billion for the company, but from its Location & Commerce department (think NAVTEQ), and the Nokia Siemens Networks joint venture, which it has been looking to pawn off to the highest bidder in vain.

The company sold over a million Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 handsets, said the CEO Stephen Elop, which is in line with the latest analyst expectations:

In the war of ecosystems, clearly there are some strong contenders already on the field. And with Lumia, we have demonstrated that we belong on the field. Our specific intent has been to establish a beachhead in this war of ecosystems, and country by country that is what we are now accomplishing. To date we have sold well over 1 million Lumia devices. From this beachhead of more than 1 million Lumia devices, you will see us push forward with the sales, marketing and successive product introductions necessary to be successful. We also plan to bring the Lumia series to additional markets including China and Latin America in the first half of 2012.

Sales of Symbian smartphones and entry level handsets, while better in Q4 than in Q3, did not fare well overall, as was largely expected after the U-turn in strategy and the new direction with Windows Phone announced February last year. "In certain markets, there has been an acceleration of the anticipated trend towards lower-priced smartphones with specifications that aredifferent from Symbian’s traditional strengths. As a result of the changing market conditions, combined with our increased focus on Lumia, we now believe that we will sell fewer Symbian devices than we previously anticipated", comments Stephen Elop.

For the first quarter of 2012, Nokia expects to break even, plus/minus 2%, and has big plans for its newly created Location & Commerce division. While still operating at a loss, Nokia thinks it is well-positioned to provide location-based services for a fee to Windows Phones and various other mobile devices, capitalizing on the strength of NAVTEQ's mapping software. As far as Nokia Siemens Networks go, the company refrained from providing guidance, meaning that it will probably be the albatross on profits for a while. The company also didn't provide details about sales of its Nokia N9 MeeGo-based smartphone.

Nokia sold 113.5 million phones in Q4, of which 19.6 million were smartphones. That's 17% more smartphones than in Q3, which Nokia attributes to the broader availability of the Nokia N9, and the newly-released Lumia 800 and 710 handsets, as well as the usual holiday rush. The company ended up the year with about $7.4 billion in cash, which is a nice buffer until the Lumia handsets effect fully kicks in later this year.

Nokia Lumia 900 will hit UK's Carphone Warehouse in June

Nokia Lumia 900 is yet to hit AT&T's shelves (presumably in March), dressed in the mantle of exclusivity. However, in a rather surprising fashion, the UK availability of the Finnish range topper is also all but confirmed, courtesy of the major retailer Carphone Warehouse.

As you can notice in the picture above, the retailer has put up a "coming soon" page for the Nokia flagship, where a June 2012 availability is mentioned. Price is yet to be announced though.

While Nokia executives specifically commented that the device has been developed specifically with the North American market in mind, it would have been a major surprise to see such an appealing piece of hardware get confined to only one continent.

Of course, we can't help but notice the asterisk, which states that the availability is subject to change without notice. In any case, Carphone Warehouse is a big enough retailer, so we can take its claim for availability seriously enough.

Also, there is a handy pre-register form for the overly anxious, allowing you to get an email alert when the device becomes available. In the meantime, you are welcome to check out our first impressions of the Nokia Lumia 900 from CES here.

Update: It would appear that Carphone Warehouse have pulled the Lumia 900's 'coming soon' page, leading us to believe that it either didn't mean to pull the cover off the device's existence in the UK so soon, or we'll get a confirmed release date when the page goes back up. Either way, right now, we're still left guessing.