Nokia Lumia 920 coming to SA

2012-10-23 13:20

Nokia will launch the Lumia 920 in SA. (AP)

Duncan Alfreds

Cape Town - Nokia announced that its next generation Lumia 920 will be launched in South Africa in early November.

The device runs the Windows Phone 8 platform that has garnered some excitement globally and the smartphone supports faster Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks.

Nokia also announced that it would bring the Lumia 820 to SA before the end of the year.

The company has been on a charge to regain its market share lost to Android powered devices in the smartphone segment and has focused on the ecosystem, as well as new devices.

"We said 'It's no longer a war of devices, it's a war of ecosystems'. Essentially we partnered up with Microsoft and we're going to build this third ecosystem," Patrick Henchie, Nokia head of product for South and East Africa told News24 recently.

One of the selling points of the Lumia 920 is its PureView camera which captures high quality images and wireless charging of the smartphone.

The Lumia is powered by a 1.5GHz dual core processor and the 11.5cm display is protected by Gorilla Glass.

Both MTN and Vodacom have announced higher speed networks that, although not strictly 4G, some have labelled as such, saying that the experience is much better than what South Africans were used to.

"The truth is that what people will experience, is a next generation experience. It's quite absurd to compare the speeds that this LTE network will provide to 3G. To call it 3G is misleading," Wold Wide Worx CEO Arthur Goldstuck told News24.

Local pricing is unclear but the device does fall into a higher end price category even though Nokia has been discounting Lumia devices running Windows 7.5 in overseas markets.


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- News24