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However, users in parts of the world other than the United States will get their hands on the new Nokia Windows Phones first. Nokia will begin shipping the phones to Europe in November and in Asia by the end of the year, but won't launch products in the U.S. until early 2012, Nokia president and CEO Stephen Elop said during his keynote.
Chris Weber, president of Nokia US, added that the company is still working with retailers to incent salespeople to promote and sell the Windows Phones. He added that Nokia would be offering "custom" devices for the U.S. market.
The Lumia 800 had been widely anticipated under its "Sea Ray" code name, while the companion Lumina 710 had been leaked as the "Sabre." There was no official word of a third "Ace" device, rumored to include both a 4.3-inch screen and a slide-out keyboard.
For additional photos and compete spec tables, see our Nokia Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 device profile
"Lumia is the first real Windows Phone," Elop said. With the new Lumia line, "We are signaling our intent right now to be today's leaders in smartphone design and craftsmanship, no question about it," Elop added.
"Eight months ago, we shared our new strategy and today we are demonstrating clear progress of this strategy in action," Elop said. "We're driving innovation throughout our entire portfolio, from new smartphone experiences to ever smarter mobile phones."
Pete Cunningham, an analyst at Canalys, stated, "Since Nokia's major strategic shift only eight months ago, the company has found a new energy. It has provided substantial improvements to Symbian, managed to differentiate on Windows Phone and it continues to build on its strong portfolio in mobile phones."
The Nokia Lumia 800 comes in vivid colors -- cyan, magenta and black -- and features some of the best social and Internet performance, with one-touch social network access, easy grouping of contacts, integrated communication threads and Internet Explorer 9, Nokia said. It features a 3.7 inch AMOLED (active matrix organic LED) curved display blending seamlessly into the reduced body design, and a 1.4 GHz processor with hardware acceleration and a graphics processor.
The Nokia Lumia 800 contains an instant-share camera experience based on leading Carl Zeiss optics, HD video playback, 16GB of internal user memory, and 25GB of free SkyDrive storage for storing images and music.
"You see the Carl Zeiss faceplate; of course you do," said Kevin Shields, senior vice president of program and product management for Nokia's smart devices. "It's a Nokia; it's going to have a great camera."
The estimated retail price for the Nokia Lumia 800 will be approximately 420 euros (about $580), excluding taxes and subsidies.
Meanwhile, the Nokia Lumia 710 can be personalized with exchangeable back covers and thousands of apps to bring the Lumia experience to more people around the world. The Nokia Lumia 710 is designed for instant social and image sharing, and the best browsing experience with IE9, Nokia said. It is available in black and white with black, white, cyan, fuchsia and yellow back covers.
With the same 1.4 GHz processor, hardware acceleration and graphics processor as the Nokia Lumia 800, the Nokia Lumia 710 delivers "high performance at an affordable price." The estimated retail price for the Nokia Lumia 710 will be approximately 270 euros (about $373), excluding taxes and subsidies.
Nokia also has thrown in some free goodies for users in the way of exclusive apps for the new Lumia phones. Both smartphones include signature Nokia experiences optimized for Windows Phone, including Nokia Drive, which delivers a full-fledged personal navigation device (PND) with free, turn-by-turn navigation and dedicated in-car user interface; and Nokia Music introducing MixRadio, a free, global, mobile music-streaming application that delivers hundreds of channels of locally relevant music.
In an update to be delivered later this year, Nokia Lumia users will also gain the ability to create personalized channels from a global catalog of millions of tracks. Also integrated in Nokia Music is Gigfinder, providing the ability to search for live local music for a complete end-to-end music experience, as well as the ability to share discoveries on social networks and buy concert tickets.
Availability
The new Nokia Lumia 800 is now available in select countries for preorder on www.nokia.com and is scheduled to roll-out across France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK in November, with 31 leading operators and retailers providing "unprecedented marketing support" in those first six countries. It is scheduled to be available in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan before the end of the year, and in further markets in early 2012.
The Nokia Lumia 710 is scheduled to be available first in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan toward the end of the year alongside the Nokia Lumia 800, before becoming available in further markets in early 2012.
Nokia also announced its plans to introduce a portfolio of products into the United States in early 2012 and into mainland China in the first half of 2012. In addition to the existing products, which include coverage for WCDMA and HSPA, Nokia also plans LTE and CDMA products to address specific local market requirements.
Further information
Further information and hardware specifications for the new Nokia phones can be found on Nokia U.K.'s Lumia 800 product page and Lumia 710 product page.
Darryl K. Taft is a writer for eWEEK.
