Okay, they were going somewhere....

Okay, good, Nokia brought out their new Lumia 800. Their new Windows Phone device. And the design is absolutely beautiful. I can't deny that. Stephen Elop is being totally stuck up. He claims that it's "the first real Windows Phone" - I bet Microsoft's other partners aren't too happy hearing that. The person introducing it - Kevin Shields screamed "IT LOOKS AWESOME" - and judging by the video, yes it does. But it's plastic. They call it polycarbonate, and they're pointing out that provides excellent antenna performance. Seriously. A plastic premium smartphone that they're saying uses plastic. "It's a Nokia, it's gonna have a great camera." Yikes.

I will admit it's interesting. It does look good, and it's completely different from anything else on the market. But is that going to be enough? It's hard to tell from a video, without the device in my hand. But going on specs, I'd much rather have an iPhone 4S. Apple's using glass and metal, with a state-of-the-art camera and AI voice assistance. Nokia's providing Windows Phone in a unique (and seemingly really small and well designed) package. Hmm... the guy just referred to "what you don't see is a lame grid of application icons." When your major keynote introduction refers to the competing products as "lame"...

UPDATE - they also introduced a lower-end Lumia 710. And they do have some really cool features. Like free offline navigation. I still don't think it'll be enough to save Nokia, but they are nice products. For anyone who loves to complain about American mobile networks, Vodafone UK failed for Nokia (they were unable to call between phones on stage); and their Wi-Fi network at the announcement also apparently had issues.

UPDATE 2 - Nokia is not bringing these devices to the United States it would appear, instead they have promised a "portfolio" of devices for the US in early 2012. They also hinted that at least one of the carriers would be Verizon by stating that in addition to W-CDMA/HSPA they planned to bring CDMA and LTE devices for "specific local market requirements" - without getting into detail. Obviously, that combination is pretty much unique to Verizon Wireless worldwide. I'd be a little surprised if AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint don't also see some of Nokia's new goodies, but they're definitely strongly hinting that Verizon will see something from them early next year at the least.