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Nokia today reported its quarterly earnings, with sales of $7.5 billion and a non-IFRS earnings per share of $0.00. That's a mixed result: Analysts were expecting a loss per share of $0.03, on revenues of $8.63 billion ($6.59 billion).

As a point of comparison, the company last quarter reported 5.6 million Lumia devices sold, with sales of $7.6 billion and a non-IFRS loss per share of $0.03 (and a reported EPS of $0.09).

The company continues to pursue a two-pronged model where devices are concerned. On one hand, it is looking to attract smartphone newbies who may have previously been still been using feature phones, or who are less inclined to pay premium prices. For these it is rolling out more lower-end smartphones and high-end feature phones for those spending less money in emerging and developed markets. On the other hand, it's trying to keep its reputation as a leader in the field by pushing boundaries on new features, such as the 41 megapixel camera that it unveiled in the Lumia 1020 last week.

more to come.

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Nokia has released its most recent financial results for Q2 2013.

(Credit: Sarah Tew / CNET)

Nokia sold 7.4 million Lumia phones in the second quarter of 2013. Sales of the Windows Phone devices climbed by a third, although the total number of Nokia phones sold declined.

Here, the part of Nokia working on maps and transport apps, showed a small profit rather than the expected loss.

Nokia posted both a loss and a decline in overall revenue in the first three months of the year. In North America, revenue grew slightly despite the fact Nokia sold less devices than the first quarter of 2012.

This time last year the Finnish company posted a $1.7B billion loss, though Lumia sales jumped.

Last week a smiling Stephen Elop unveiled the Lumia 1020, a 41-megapixel powerhouse of a camera phone that goes on sale on 26 July. Elop no doubt hopes the new phone will help keep him smiling when Nokia's accountants tally up this quarter's results.

Nokia's next financial results are due on 17 October.

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Nokia made an operating loss of €115m (£98.9bn) in the second quarter, with revenues falling 24% to €5.7bn, as it struggled to turn its handset business around.

However, the Finnish mobile company's Lumia smartphones finally outsold rival BlackBerry, a key milestone in its attempt to establish itself as the "third ecosystem" in market dominated by Apple and Google's Android.

Nokia's shares fell by 3% on the Helsinki stock exchange in early trading.

The company also saw an outflow of nearly 10% of its net cash over the quarter to just €4.07bn, which has led some analysts to express concerns about its future viability if the handset business does not improve. The company has made operating losses totalling €4.1bn in the past nine quarters.

Only Nokia Siemens Networks, its joint venture for the mobile infrastructure business, generated an operating profit, of €8m on revenues of €2.78bn. Nokia took full control of the business after the quarter ended, buying the other 50% for €1.7bn.

The handset business lost €33m on revenues of €2.72bn, down 32% from a year ago and down 6% sequentially. A key problem was China, where the volume of sales fell by 48% as buyers there shift to smartphones - often running versions of the Android software - made by indigenous companies. Nokia's handset revenues are now smaller than at any time since 2002.

Chief executive Stephen Elop pointed to non-IFRS figures - which exclude asset depreciation, special items, amortisation and inventory adjustments - suggesting that the group made an underlying operating profit of €303m after excluding writedowns of €97m at its Here maps division and €320m at NSN.

Elop said: "Our mobile phones business unit started to demonstrate signs of recovery in the latter part of the second quarter following a difficult start to the year." But he said it would "take actions to focus its product offering and improve product competitiveness."

Nokia's attempts to break back into the US smartphone market have so far failed. It sold just 0.5m Lumias in North America in the latest quarter than a year ago, when it managed 0.6m. "Zero traction," said Benedict Evans, technology and media analyst at Enders Analysis. But he said that with 7.4m Lumias sold, "Nokia is now selling comparable volumes to the second-tier Android OEMs" - such as Sony, LG and HTC.

"Nokia continues to show no signs of recovery in the US market," observed Francisco Jeronimo, smartphones analyst for the research company IDC. "High investments, high expectations, low results."

For years the largest maker of mobile phones in the world, Nokia has fallen on hard times following the launch of the iPhone and the rise of Android phones, which have eaten away at its base in developing markets such as Africa, India and especially China.

Smartphones made up only 40% of Nokia's phone revenues, compared with far higher proportions at almost every other handset manufacturer. Apple, BlackBerry and HTC only sell smartphones, which can presently command higher prices and margins than "feature phones".

Nokia's high-end feature phone, the Asha, intended to compete with cheap Android phones in China, Asia and Africa, saw falling sales too - down from 5m the previous quarter to 4.3m. The figure was the lowest in the four quarters that the Asha range has been on sale.

Elop decided not to go with Android when he took over in September 2010, worried that it would be dominated by a single manufacturer - as has happened with Samsung.

Instead he opted for Microsoft's new Windows Phone software, which powers the Lumia range. He said in January 2011 that the smartphone business was "not a battle of devices, it's now a war of ecosystems".

However iPhone and Android have since become entrenched, controlling about 90% of handset sales worldwide, with Android dominating in Europe and Asia.

BlackBerry, however, has fallen behind: its 6.8m handset sales in the quarter to the end of May mean that the Lumia range has outsold it for the first time.

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Nokia shares have tumbled 4.6% after the company released weak second quarter sales.

The mobile phone company reported sales of 5.69bn euros ($7.46bn, £4.92bn) for the three months to the end of June, down 24% on the same period last year.

The company sold 53.7m mobile phones during the quarter, down 27% on last year.

Sales of its new Lumia phones, which run a Microsoft operating system, rose to 7.4m in the second quarter.

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The Nokia Asha 501 has made huge waves at the affordable end of the smartphone market, offering a stunning design to go with its impressive feature-set. Following in the footsteps of the Nokia Lumia 820, Lumia 620 and Lumia 520, it's also the first Asha device to provide changeable covers, letting you pick a colour to match your mood. We'd love to know what colour you think the Nokia Asha 501 looks best in though.

The design of the Nokia Asha 501 helps to differentiate it from anything else currently available. It features an industrial design with minimalist styling, and the bright, particularly vivid colours make it an eye-catcher wherever you go.

You won't just be limited to one shade, either, as the Asha 501 comes with a colourful shell that can be easily swapped depending on your mood. And if there's already a shade you like the most in the Nokia Lumia range, you'll be happy to know that most of the colours are also available for the Nokia Asha 501. But which one is your favourite?

Take Our Poll

Let us know what you think in the comments too. Have you got the Nokia Asha 501 on your wish-list, and what colour will you be buying? Will you be going for one of the incredibly bright shells, or something a little more conservative?

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With a price tag of around £140, it's not hard to see why the dual-core Windows Phone 8, Nokia Lumia 520 is so popular. The only real question is whether the phone is actually any good, or is it simply a cheap and ultimately unsatisfying Windows Phone 8 device. Read our Nokia Lumia 520 review to find out more. See also Group test: What's the best smartphone?

Nokia Lumia 520 review

We first saw the Nokia Lumia 520 at February's Barcelona-hosted Mobile World Congress, and were pleasantly surprised by what was on offer at such a low price. This Lumia 520 has all the features most people will need and, although performance isn't the best we've seen, it's certainly adequate. So you don't get 4G LTE support, wireless charging, near-field communication, City Lens augmented reality or the latest Bluetooth connectivity standard (the Lumia 520 ships with Bluetooth 3.0) but, until these technologies really take off, do you care? At £140 SIM-free, we do not. See all smartphone reviews.

Nokia Lumia 520 review: Design & build quality

What's more important, then, is that the Nokia Lumia 520 is a pleasant phone in use. It's a comfortable fit for our hands, just 64x9.9x119.99mm and with a usable, not-too-large 4in screen. Its rounded corners and sides help you to easily operate it in a single hand. The Lumia 520 is no heavyweight, at around 124g, yet it feels solid. Even with a removable rear panel it doesn't creak or flex under pressure, although the build is a touch plasticky and you'll be constantly wiping away greasy fingerprints. Visit: What's the best Nokia smartphone?

In common with its Lumia siblings you can quickly and easily snap off the 520's colourful rear cover and swap in another: yellow, cyan, red, white and black fascias are available. All fit neatly over the handset's various hardware buttons and ports: there's a 3.5mm audio jack on top, a volume rocker, power switch and dedicated camera button on the right side, and a Micro-USB port on the bottom. On the rear is a 5Mp camera and a small slot for the speaker. Our sample came in red, giving it a fresh, playful look that's miles apart from the multiple boring black Androids dominating the market.

Concealed behind this rear panel is a removable 5.3Wh (1,430mAh) battery, which Nokia claims is good for 360 hours standby, 9.6 hours talk time, or 61 hours music playback, plus Micro-SIM and microSDXC slots, the latter allowing you to add up to 64GB to the handset's 8GB internal capacity. You also get 7GB free online storage via SkyDrive, which may come in handy for backups. None of these features is a given with recent smartphones: a massive plus point.

Nokia Lumia 520 review: Screen & graphics

The Lumia 520's display is pretty decent for a cheap smartphone. It has a 4in panel with a 800x480-pixel resolution, which equates to 235ppi. That's not even close to some of the best handset's you can buy, which offer twice the number of pixels per inch, but you can hardly expect a 5in full-HD screen at this price, and the resolution matches that of the Lumia 620, 720 and 820.

The 520's IPS panel has Windows Phone 8 written all over it. To support the operating system's bold tiles and punchy colours, it delivers rich, vibrant images and cleanly defined text.

We installed the Netflix app and found streaming movies over Wi-Fi a genuinely enjoyable experience, with no stutter or lag, suggesting the handset's Adreno 305 graphics are more than up to the job. The Lumia 520's strong viewing angles allow someone to watch over your shoulder, too, although the small display means they probably won't. Note that there's no HDMI port for hooking up the handset to a large-screen TV.

Nokia claims the Lumia 520's touchscreen display is 'super-sensitive', able to respond even when the user is wearing gloves or has long fingernails. It was certainly very quick to respond in our tests, although the processor sometimes struggled to keep up.

Nokia Lumia 520 review: Specs

Nokia has fitted its Lumia 520 with a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. This dual-core chip is paired with 512MB of RAM, which might sound stingy when compared to the competition, but it's all you need for browsing the relatively lightweight Windows Phone 8 OS. Indeed, there's no sign of the Lumia 520's lack of pace when navigating Windows Phone's various menus and built-in features; it's only when you try to launch the camera or a third-party app that you'll endure a few-second wait.

As with browsing the phone itself, surfing the web feels fluid, and the Lumia 520's built-in Internet Explorer browser gave us no headaches in use. We ran the SunSpider Javascript test and recorded an average 1,420ms. It's not up there with the best - the much more expensive iPhone 5, Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 all scored below 1,000ms, but it's remarkable for a budget smartphone. The Lumia 520 beat both Huawei's budget Ascend G330, which managed 2,041ms, and even the super-fast Google Nexus 4, which could muster only 1,906ms. This score also puts it on a par with its bigger brother, the Lumia 620 (1,440ms), and the HTC Windows Phone 8S (1,408ms).

We were unable to run our usual Geekbench and GLBenchmark tests due to a lack of support with Windows Phone 8.

Nokia Lumia 520 review: Camera

Perhaps more shocking than this phone's price is the fact it's a beautiful, sunny day outside. In England. That's a good job, since the Nokia Lumia 520's camera omits a LED flash. What you do get is a 5Mp rear camera with a 4x digital zoom, which can also shoot 720p video footage at 30fps. It lacks the PureView branding and Carl Zeiss lens of some models in the Lumia line-up.

In our tests the Lumia 520 fared reasonably well for a 5Mp cameraphone, with good focus and slightly washed-out but relatively true colours. We shot this photo outside our London office to give you some idea of the quality.

No front-facing camera is supplied for video chat, which is one area in which Nokia has cut costs.

However, you can take advantage of several Nokia-specific camera add-ons, including Smart Shoot (a best-shot selector) and Bing Vision (a QR/barcode scanner). You can also add a selection of so-called 'Digital lenses', including Nokia's own Panorama and Cinemagraph, plus the likes of Camera360, LazyLens, Photosynth, Fhotoroom, Meme Lens, ProShot and more.

Nokia Lumia 520 review: Windows Phone 8

We are big fans of Windows Phone 8. It's a gorgeous operating system that's great to look at and mostly simple to navigate. Big, bright Live tiles on the home screen update with the information that's important to you in real time. Our main concern is with its apps menu, which can become rather long and unwieldy the more utilities you install. Not that you're likely to install that many...

The Windows Store remains in a different league to Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play. Many of the big-name apps are present, including the likes of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Viber, YouTube, Tumblr, TVCatchup, Netflix, eBay, BBC Radio and Wikipedia (even Skype, but you'll miss that front-facing camera), but there's little else of note.

That said, Nokia develops its own apps, and some of them are very decent. For example, Nokia Music and Mix Radio offer free music that you can stream or download to play offline. HERE Maps and Drive offer turn-by-turn driving directions, as well as walking distances and the best routes for public transport, including departure times.

Windows Phone 8 also offers Family Room, within which you can connect with other members of the household and share information such as where you are, photos, and even reminders to, say, pick up some milk on the way home from work. Kid's Corner is another neat utility, allowing you to make available to your children only the features and apps you deem suitable. And then there's the Xbox Live Hub, which lets you connect and play with friends wherever you are.

Being a Windows Phone, Microsoft Office is also built-in. The Nokia Lumia 520 offers access to Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, plus there's that 7GB of SkyDrive storage we mentioned earlier.

Check out our Windows Phone 8 review for full details.

Nokia Lumia 520 vs Nokia Lumia 620

Nokia's naming scheme for its Windows Phones is relatively easy to understand: this budget-friendly 520 sits at the bottom of the range, and the high-end, significantly more expensive Lumia 920 sits at the top; the remaining handsets fall somewhere in between. Yet we're more taken by this 520 than we were the Lumia 620.

SIM-free, the Nokia Lumia 620 is a little more expensive than this Lumia 520, at £189 versus £140. However, you can buy it from £149 on a pay-as-you-go basis, and both handsets are available free on contracts starting at a tiny £11 per month.

Justifying that extra £49 expenditure, the Lumia 620 offers an LED flash, a NFC chip, City Lens augmented reality, and the ability for the phone to wear two colourful cases at once. Since our smartphone is not a Barbie doll, we're more interested in the screen and battery capacity. The Lumia 620 has a smaller 3.8in (146ppi) ClearBlack LCD, whereas the 520 has a 4in 'super-sensitive' IPS touchscreen. It also has a lower-capacity 1,300mAh battery (the Nokia 520, 1,430mAh).

And while the Nokia Lumia 620 is smaller than the 520, at 61.1mm wide and 115.4mm tall, it's also chunkier, at 11mm versus the 520's 9.9mm. When it comes to budget smartphones, thickness can often betray a low price tag.

Nokia Lumia 520: Verdict

If you're looking for a cheap smartphone, you may have just found it. The Nokia Lumia 520 doesn't tick all the boxes on our features wishlist, but it capably handles those that are most important. Windows Phone 8 is a beautiful operating system, but it still lacks apps. If you can get past this and don't mind sacrificing some performance and connectivity, the Lumia 520 is a strong budget buy.

Next page: Our original hands-on review by Chris Martin.

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Nokia is working on a new smartphone that would feature a big 4.7-inch screen, if a Chinese website is to be believed.

The Chinese official certification website, TENAA has revealed and the existence of a new Lumia smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 625. It is being said that it would be the most affordable Lumia phone and would come with the biggest screen ever, for a Nokia phone. The unibody design of the Lumia 625 looks very similar to that of the Lumia 620 and would likely be pegged as its successor for the global market.

The alleged specifications of the next Lumia 625 point to a 4.7-inch display with a resolution of 480x800 pixels. The screen resolution seems to be similar to some of the budget Lumia devices launched by Nokia.

The device is said to be powered by a 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 processor along with 512MB RAM. It's expected to feature a 5.0-megapixel rear camera but it's not known if it will also feature a secondary camera. The listing mentions GPRS, WCDMA, HSPA support and the phone is also likely to includes LTE.

The Nokia Lumia 625 is likely to be launched in China first. At the moment, there is no news about when the Finnish handset maker would launch the handset, globally.

Meanwhile, after creating a lot of buzz, Nokia launched its new Windows Phone 8 device that sports a 41-megapixel, dubbed as the Nokia Lumia 1020, last week.

The device is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor. The highlight of the device ever since it got leaked has been the PureView 41-megapixel sensor which offers Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), backside-illuminated image sensor, 6 lens optics accompanied by a Xenon Flash. Nokia has also added some camera software such as the Nokia Pro Camera and Smart Camera Mode, while there is a 1.2-megapixel front camera. The phone comes with 32GB internal storage and 2GB of RAM.

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Low light highlights

When it comes to low light photography, there's one smartphone that does the job brilliantly, the Nokia Lumia 925. Take it out for a night on the town and you'll soon see what we mean. To celebrate its low light credentials and to showcase the creativity of budding photographers, we've recently teamed up with Dazed and Confused magazine to launch the Nokia Low Light Photography Competition.

To win, you'll need to take the the best possible urban city/street style photographs captured in low light conditions and submit them here by the 24th July. And in case you're in need of inspiration, here's ten awesome photos that have already been entered.

"Detroit Skate Spot" By Amber Marie "Night Rain" By Stone Wang

"Tune" By Liz DeMartino "Firework Sparks" By Perry Crofts "Urban Music" By Jordan Muir "Submission" By Sam LI "Novo mesto at night" By Klara Lunai Magic "Urban Lights" By Marius Vieth

"A foggy morning" By CK NG

"Night streets of Jerusalem" By Rostislav Mashin

Now you've got an idea of what shake our low light boat, why not enter your best shots, too.We've got Nokia Lumia 925s, an all expenses paid trips to New Zealand and fantastic magazine features lined up for the three lucky winners. Up for the challenge? If so, you can enter here.

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Nokia phones

Emma Okonji

Nokia has launched two more devices to its Asha range of smartphones in the Nigerian market. The Nokia Asha 210 and Nokia Asha 501 were launched in Lagos along with the announcement of the second round of the Nokia 'Don't Break Da Beat' rap competition.

The new Nokia Asha 210 is an affordable all-in-one smartphone built to satisfy users' need to be socially connected.

It is a dual SIM smartphone with a 2.4 inch LCD display, fast and responsive QWERTY keypad and Wi-Fi. It also comes with two dedicated buttons on the keyboard for users to access camera and social network sites -WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter or Nokia Xpress browser in a faster way. The device offers a fantastic range of smart features such as voice guidance for taking perfect self-portraits, fast editing of images directly from the camera app and Nokia's innovative Slam feature for transfer of content such as images or videos to another Bluetooth-enabled phone without the need to pair devices.

Managing Director, Nokia West and Central Africa, Mr Nick Imudia, said the new Asha 501 remained the first of its kind in the next generation of Nokia Asha devices, using the new Asha operating system. He stated that the device was perfectly suited to consumers in emerging markets looking to buy their first smartphone. The device features two main screens; 'Home' and 'Fastlane', for launching software and taking action on new notifications.

"Both smartphones come with the Nokia Xpress browser which enables up to 85 per cent data compression making it faster and cheaper for consumers to access the internet, browse, use web apps and update social networks. Currently, in Nigeria, we have over 6 million users of Nokia Xpress browser and this is steadily growing as more people enjoy the benefits of cost effective and fast browsing," he added.

Speaking on the Nokia Don't Break Da Beat rap competition, Marketing Manager, Nokia Nigeria, Kesiena Ogbemi, said: "This year's competition is going to be bigger, better and more exciting. There will be extended online engagement as potential participants will be required to enter via online platforms." He added that Nokia partnered Trace TV, to make this year's competition really hot.

According to Ogbemi, "The participants will be required to follow the Nokia Nigeria Twitter handle and Facebook page. The Judges will send out rap lines on both social network channels and contestants will then reply with their own lines to enter for the competition. The judges will select the top 300 lines from across the country, and the entrants will then move on to the next phase of the competition. The winner of this year's competition will get a whooping sum of $20,000."

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Nokia is preparing to launch a Lumia 625 in the coming weeks with a 4.7-inch display and LTE support. Sources familiar with Nokia's plans have confirmed to The Verge that the handset will debut as one of the cheapest and biggest Lumias yet. Images of the Lumia 625, codenamed Max, have been published on the official Chinese radio communication device regulator website. Having passed certification in that region, it's expected to debut soon priced at just CNY1999 ($325) in a variety of colors.

Although the 625 includes a 4.7-inch display, it will run at 800 x 480 (WVGA) resolution. It's a low-end Lumia, with a dual-core 1.2GHz S4 processor, 512MB of RAM, and a 5-megapixel camera. There's no word on US availability, but one particular variant of the Lumia 625 recently passed through the FCC with support for AT&T's GSM network.

Pushing Windows Phone even lower

Nokia's Lumia 625 is the next part of the company's strategy to push Windows Phone to even lower price points. The Nokia Lumia 520 is the most popular Windows Phone worldwide, according to data from Adduplex, and it has secured 13.3 percent share. Similarly the Lumia 620 has secured 9.6 percent, and the Lumia 710 has 9.6 percent. While Nokia is pushing Microsoft's mobile OS to the low-end, it faces increasing competition from competitors like Samsung, and its own low-end Asha line continues to sell well against Lumia Windows Phones.

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Nokia has been making quite a bit of noise lately about the camera technology in its Lumia smartphones. And you can't blame them: the 41-megapixel sensor in the upcoming Lumia 1020 really does set a new high watermark for scale and sheer raw power.

But don't forget the Lumia 925 either. Not only is it going to get the same Pro Camera app as the 1020, eventually, but its camera is by all accounts pretty special too. At 8.7-megapixels it might sound a step down from other flagship phones, but its Carl Zeiss optics and very impressive low light performance set it apart from the pack.

So does low light performance matter? Apparently, to you, it does. A study by Redshift (for Nokia...) recently showed that 71% of people think low light is the most challenging situation in which to take good photos. And yet 69% used a smartphone as their main camera on a night out.

With this - and the promotion of the Lumia 925 - in mind, Nokia recently decided to do something a whole lot more interesting than just sending out a bunch of stats. Instead they travelled around the UK with photojournalist Nick Ray (and a Lumia 925) to try and capture the "hidden lives" of people at - you guessed it - 9.25 PM.

Above: one of Nick Ray's images, taken in a Leeds kickboxing gym

The idea might sound a bit corny - or potentially in bad taste - but the results are actually pretty illuminating. No pun intended.

From the squalid reality of homelessness in Liverpool to backstage in a West End burlesque club, and the still vibrancy of the UK's largest skate park in Glasgow at night to a young mum (and kickboxer) punching bags in the gym after work, the pictures ring more true than a bunch of test images by your average tech journalist ever will.

So while we haven't had a chance to judge the camera for ourselves, it's at least an indication that with the Lumia 925 Nokia really has delivered a tool for artists, as well as regular users.

Check out the images below.

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Nokia is working on a new Lumia phone, which is expected to launch shortly. Called the Lumia 625, it is said to be the cheapest Lumia phone in Nokia's range.

According to the sources at The Verge, the Lumia 625 will have a 4.7-inch, 800 x 480 resolution display, which is the largest for a Lumia phone so far. Other specs include a dual-core 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, 512MB of RAM and a 5 megapixel camera.

The Lumia 625 will be releasing in China shortly for CNY1999 ($325) in multiple colors. No word yet on international availability.

This is the right step for Nokia as low-end devices is exactly what both Nokia and Windows Phone needs to increase market share. Now it's time for Microsoft to step up its game and introduce new features through regular updates.

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The next Windows Phone handset in Nokia's lineup will adopt the largest display yet seen on a Lumia.

(Credit: Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Nokia's Lumia 625 phone will try to lure potential buyers with a 4.7-inch screen.

Specs released online via various sources point to the supersized screen -- the largest yet for a Lumia -- and a few other features. Despite the larger display, the 625 will be considered a low-end, entry-level Lumia, sources told the Verge, with a resolution of just 800x480 pixels. The goal is to gear up a Lumia with a lower price to attract more customers.

No information on U.S. pricing or availability has been revealed, though one variant of the 625 with support for AT&T's GSM network passed FCC certification last month. The phone is expected to launch in China by the end of a month for 1,999 yuans ($325).

A follow-up to the Lumia 620, the 625 will come with a dual-core 1.2Ghz Snapdragon S4 processor, 512MB of memory, and a 5-megapixel camera. Though GSM support is listed, the phone will be equipped to handle LTE as well. Alleged images of the 625 posted by Chinese Web site Tieba.baidu provide a peek at all sides of the phone.

( Via Engadget and Windows Phone Central)

Read the full CNET Review

The bottom line: Nokia's Lumia 620 smartphone successfully delivers a complete Windows Phone 8 experience for a low price, but buyer beware of some compromises in battery, sound, and design. Read Full Review

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"The back is the new front," Stephen Elop exclaimed while announcing the Lumia 1020 at a launch event in NYC. The statement not only points to the exaggerated camera lens assembly required for the smartphone's massive 41-megapixel sensor but also takes me back, in some ways, to Nokia's shift to Windows Phone away from Symbian. Even after signing Symbian's death penalty, Nokia launched the PureView 808 running on Symbian, acknowledging the fact that Windows Phone wasn't ready for primetime. Two years later, Nokia has finally turned an entire circle. The Lumia 1020 marks the beginning of the end of Nokia's transition period. After almost two years of launching the Lumia range of smartphones, Nokia finally has something that would make buyers notice its product while they are deciding whether they should go for the latest iPhone or Galaxy smartphone. Despite the weakness of Windows Phone as a platform when compared to iOS and Android, over the past two years Nokia has managed to come up with a decent package of hardware, software and services to make up for the missing bits.

If the Lumia 1020′s camera does perform as claimed (it did during my brief experience with the smartphone), it would be a pretty compelling offering. Think about it, the Lumia 1020 would have the best camera performance combined with a music store that offers unlimited tracks to download for free and it also has one of the best offline navigation software on any smartphone. While Nokia's Lumia smartphones were already doing well in the entry and mid-level segments, the Lumia 1020 could be the key to success in the high-end segment, which was missing so far.

Having said that, it is too early to root for Nokia's future success. The company still has a few obstacles to overcome. The first and foremost being its partnership with Microsoft and Windows Phone as a platform. Nokia has consistently got the hardware right but has always been let down by Windows Phone, which lacks apps and is not as polished or evolved as Android and iOS. Major app developers prefer to make apps for Android and iOS, while developing them for Windows Phone seems like an afterthought and often after being paid to developed for the platform. Heavy smartphone users prefer using the other two platforms as Microsoft has failed repeatedly to catch up with them in a quest to be perceived as being different. The lack of a proper centralized notification system, for instance, is hard to explain. Secondly, Nokia is still struggling to roll out its smartphones at a faster pace. With limited marketing budgets and production capacity, it has to stagger its launches that take a couple of quarters to reach major markets while Samsung rolled its Galaxy S4 smartphone in over 110 countries in a fortnight. Even if Nokia has a great product like the Lumia 1020, people would consider to buy it only if it is available in their country. Think about it, the Lumia 925 is not available in most markets yet and Nokia had to announce the Lumia 1020. Even hardcore Nokia fans would now be compelled to not buy the Lumia 925 and instead wait for the Lumia 1020. And who knows, by the time the Lumia 1020 is available across markets, Nokia might have something else to offer.

During my interactions with senior Nokia executives it became clear that they are aware of the situation but it remains a challenge and they are making the best of what they have. Despite these challenges, it is refreshing to see how Nokia continues to innovate with the resources it has and is playing to its strengths. Rather than buying off the shelf image sensors for the 41-megapixel PureView camera, Nokia has designed the entire assembly including the optical image stabilization bit internally, which means its rivals won't be able to easily replicate the main USP of the Lumia 1020. Having its own music store, navigation software and acquiring Scalado, which makes the UI for most smart camera apps that you currently see on rival smartphones, will buy Nokia some time. But what Nokia needs the most at this time is a major hit at the top-end segment and it is hoping the Lumia 1020 will be that smartphone.

Disclosure: Nokia sponsored the author's travel and stay to attend the Lumia 1020 launch.

Also read: Nokia Lumia 1020 announced, packs in a 41-megapixel PureView camera with optical image stabilization, 6-element lens and Nokia Pro camera app.

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Nokia is continuing to push its Windows Phone 8 devices in China after a national regulatory filing revealed that the Lumia 625, a seemingly mid-range smartphone, is on its way to the country as soon as this month.

All smartphones imported to China must be certified to use wireless networks, and the phone has been found on radio communication device regulator TENAA's website - image below - as Liveside notes. A Sina Weibo user claims the phone will launch in China at the end of this month for RMB1,999 ($325) off-contract.

Although there are no confirmed details within the product listing, aside from supported radio networks, the device looks to be a low-end phone to complement Nokia's existing product line in China, which includes the Lumia 920T which launched with China Mobile this year.

There have been plenty of rumors of a Lumia 625. The device is said to sport a 4.7-inch screen with a 1.2 GHz Qualcomm S4 MSM8960 dual-core processor providing the horse power. The phone was initially tipped to enter the US - which it is still do - and to include support for LTE. Given that there are no LTE networks in China yet, the Chinese variant goes as fast as HSDPA/HSUPA, according to the listing.

A more affordable device might help Nokia grow its presence in China, where it has struggled. Though its revenue in Q1 2013 from China increased 20 percent on the previous quarter, thanks to the Lunar New Year season, the total was down 25 percent from that of Q1 2012.

The Finnish firm sold 3.4 million devices in China during Q1 2013, that's lower than the 4.6 million units it shifted in Q4 2012 and the 9.2 million devices sold in Q1 2012. Though Nokia did not break the figures out based on smartphone and feature phones volumes, the stats are not promising.

A more affordable device might help capture the attention of consumers with a budget for mid-range devices where much of the growth is tipped to occur.

China's Xiaomi, which makes devices priced around RMB1,699 ($280), illustrated that potential yesterday when it announced record revenue of $2.15 billion for the first half of 2013. The company predicts it will sell 15 million smartphones this year.

It may yet transpire that the Lumia 625 comes to the US too. Nokia Power User spotted a device that matches up to its reported specs at the FTC in AT&T branding.

We've reached out to Nokia for further details.

Headline image via FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images, image of phone via TENAA

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Nokia is planning to issue a software update to its range of Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices that includes Bluetooth 4.0 support. Sources familiar with Nokia's plans have revealed to The Verge that the Bluetooth update will include Low Energy support for fitness devices like Fitbit, and a range of new accessories that Nokia is planning to release soon. We're told that the majority of Nokia's Lumia Windows Phone 8 range will be updated, including the Lumia 820 and 920.

A recently leaked slide revealed Nokia plans to update its Lumia 520, 620, and 720 devices too. We understand that Nokia's new accessories will focus on combining the Bluetooth Low Energy support with the company's location services like Here Maps and Here Drive. The Bluetooth 4.0 update will be delivered to most devices as part of Nokia's "Amber" update in the coming weeks.

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The excitement hasn't lifted one bit since the Lumia 1020 was launched in New York last week, reinventing zoom as we know it.

As usual Nokia Connects brought a knowledgeable and enthusiastic group of bloggers along to help spread the word about our new smartphone, and here we'll take a look at what they have to say.

If you missed the keynotes catch up with all that was said here. For something a little more in depth about how they were delivered, take a look at what Jay Montano from mynokiablog has to say about the actual unveiling.

"Congratulations Nokia, your Keynote was epic, your product was awesome and your people were fantastic" Jay

After the keynotes everybody was invited to go and play with the Nokia Lumia 1020. Sam J Pullen wasted no time getting involved and here's his hands-on video of the phone and all of its hardware aspects. For the rest of Sam's Nokia and Nokia Lumia 1020 videos head over to his YouTube channel.

Fashion blogger Angela Ricardo took the event by storm as she saw immediately how people in the fashion world could benefit from the Nokia Lumia 1020.

"Fashion and Beauty bloggers alike can innovate mobile blogging and vlogging with #Nokia‪ #‎ZoomReinvented‬ - ‪#‎Lumia1020‬ 41 Megapixel Mobile Camera - seriously the details are superb..." Angela

You can find the full account of the event on her blog where you'll see ample pictures and even some details of her encounter with Chris Weber.

Mark Guim toured the display floor and chatted with all of the lovely Nokia reps demonstrating different elements of the phone and its camera. Take a look at Mark's video below for a quick hands-on, details about the rich sound recording the Nokia Lumia 1020 produces and a great demonstration of Camera Pro. More of Mark's coverage can be found on his site so pay a visit to thenokiablog for that.

"People who aren't interested in phones will be interested in the Lumia 1020. These camera demos are amazing #zoomreinvented" Mark

The Nokia Lumia 1020 and the innovation within the 41 Megapixel camera has captured the imagination of many. Its Xenon flash produces crisp low light images - even when shaken vigorously - and the new Camera Pro software brings tons of control and ease of use to the table.

But what do you think? Unleash your thoughts and have your say in the comments section or reach out to us on Twitter.

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Picking a winner between the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Nokia Lumia 1020 is a very tough thing to do......

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has arguably been king of the smartphones since it launched earlier this year, combining brilliant specs with equally brilliant features for a top flight handset. Now Nokia's back with their best phone yet - the Nokia Lumia 1020, but can it do enough to steal victory from the Galaxy S4? Read on to find out.

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Nokia Lumia 1020 - Build quality and durability

Surprisingly the Nokia Lumia 1020 looks more like the Lumia 920 than the Lumia 925. It ditches the classy metal edges found on the Lumia 925 and instead has a colourful polycarbonate body. It undoubtedly looks less high end than it might as a result, but it still looks rather stylish and distinctively Nokia.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is also mostly plastic - albeit with a metallic rim around the edge. The build quality seems about equal but we'd argue that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is slightly less stylish than the Nokia Lumia 1020.

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Nokia Lumia 1020 - Display

The Nokia Lumia 1020 has a 4.5 inch 768 x 1280 display with a pixel density of 334 pixels per inch. It uses Gorilla Glass 3 to ensure that it's strong and scratch resistant and features PureMotion HD+ technology making it readable in sunlight, removing motion blur and making it possible to operate with fingernails or with gloves on.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 5 inch 1080 x 1920 Super AMOLED display with a pixel density of 441 pixels per inch. It doesn't have all the fancy PureMotion HD+ technology found on the Lumia 1020, but it's got a bigger and higher resolution display and like the Lumia 1020 it uses Gorilla Glass 3. The two displays are both brilliant in their own way but we'd say the display on the Samsung Galaxy S4 is still ever so slightly better.

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Nokia Lumia 1020 - Power

The Nokia Lumia 1020 has a 1.5 Ghz dual-core processor and 2GB of RAM, while the Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 1.9 Ghz quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM. The Lumia 1020 might match the Galaxy S4 for RAM but its processor gets blown away, making it an easy victory for the Samsung Galaxy S4.

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Nokia Lumia 1020 - Camera

The camera is where the Nokia Lumia 1020 really shines, as it has a slightly ridiculous 41 megapixel sensor. It also uses a Carl Zeiss Tessar lens and Xenon flash. Plus it has a bunch of shooting modes and picture editing options, such as Cinemagraph, panorama, Nokia Smart Cam and Creative Studio. It can also shoot 1080p video at 30fps and has a secondary 1.2 megapixel front facing camera. All in all, it's enormously impressive.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 on the other hand has a 13 megapixel main camera and there's no Xenon flash onboard, instead it uses inferior LED flash. It does at least feature a similarly large number of shooting modes, such as HDR, panorama and 'Sound & Shot.'

Like the Nokia Lumia 1020, the Samsung Galaxy S4 can also shoot 1080p video at 30fps and it has a 2 megapixel secondary front facing camera. That secondary camera is arguably better than the one on the Lumia 1020, but the main camera just can't compete. The camera on the Samsung Galaxy S4 is great compared to those on most other smartphones, but the Nokia Lumia 1020 is just in a whole other league.

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Nokia Lumia 1020 - Battery life, memory and connectivity

The Nokia Lumia 1020 has a 2000 mAh battery, which Nokia claims is capable of up to 13.3 hours of talk time over 3G, up to 63 hours of music playback, up to 6.8 hours of video playback and up to 5.5 hours of Wi-Fi browsing time. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a significantly bigger 2600 mAh battery which should be able to manage up to 17 hours of 3G talk time, up to 62 hours of music playback and up to 370 hours of standby time. So the Galaxy S4 is capable of significantly longer talk time than the Lumia 1020 - though the 1020 edges it for music playback. Overall the Galaxy S4 has the bigger battery and looks to have the stronger battery life.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 has 32GB of built in storage but there's no micro SD card slot so that can't be increased. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a choice of 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of built in storage and it then also has a micro SD card slot letting you boost it further. So while neither handset has any shortage of storage the S4 has the most.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 supports Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, Bluetooth 3.0 and NFC. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has all of the same connectivity options, except that it uses Bluetooth 4.0 rather than 3.0 and it also has an infrared port, which allows you for example to control your television with it.

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Nokia Lumia 1020 - Conclusion

Picking a winner between the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Nokia Lumia 1020 is a very tough thing to do. The Lumia 1020 perhaps has an ever so slightly better build, while the Samsung Galaxy S4 has a slightly better screen. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is also better for battery life, connectivity options and memory - but not by much.

The main differences are the power and the camera. The Samsung Galaxy S4 is by far the most powerful of the two but the Nokia Lumia 1020 features a much better camera. So really it depends on whether you'd rather have the extra power or the superior camera - and whether you'd rather use Windows Phone 8 or Android. Both are brilliant all round phones and while the Lumia 1020 has a far better camera, the one on the Galaxy S4 is still pretty good. Likewise the Lumia 1020 is still reasonably powerful despite being dwarfed by the Galaxy S4. If we had to pick, we'd say that the Samsung Galaxy S4 edges the victory as it won more categories overall, but you really can't go wrong with either.

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By Don Reisinger | Posted 2013-07-16 Email Print

After weeks of rumors and speculation, Nokia on July 11 announced the latest installment in its smartphone line, the Lumia 1020. That device, a follow-up to the Lumia 920, runs Windows Phone 8 and has what is effectively the best camera on the market-the company's 41-megapixel PureView lens. With that feature the Lumia 1020 is capable of attracting customers who love to snap high-quality photos with their handsets, and it could very well become a strong contender in the smartphone market. That might sound like a surprising statement to some who have watched Nokia's struggles in recent years. After all, Nokia has watched its smartphone shipments dwindle as Symbian was phased out and Windows Phone failed to attract customers. However, Windows Phone is gaining at least some ground in international markets and Nokia is still a well-respected company in the international mobile market. With Lumia 1020's impressive features it becomes increasingly apparent that the device might just be a market changer. Don't believe it? Think the Lumia 1020 is doomed to failure? Check out this eWEEK slide show before coming to a conclusion.

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A lot of people were asking how the new Nokia Lumia 1020 stacks up against a DSLR. Unfortunately, the software on the 1020 isn't fully complete yet so Nokia doesn't allow samples to be published, so it's early for a proper comparison. But it doesn't hurt to take a peek - a quick comparison of photos on the device itself gives a preliminary answer.

After the unveiling, Nokia had set up a small lab with resolution charts so MyNokiaBlog was able to do the comparison of Lumia 1020 against a Canon 60D.

Two photos were snapped from the same distance - one with the 1020 and one with the 60D. The resolution lines on the Lumia 1020 photo started to converge around the 16 mark, while the lines in 60D photos converge around 12-13.

These marks show the vertical resolution (divided by 100), so around 1,600 lines for the Lumia and 1,300 lines for the Canon. This is meant to measure resolved detail, which is different from the raw pixels due to noise and other considerations.

That shouldn't come as such a surprise - the Nokia Lumia 1020 packs a lot more pixels than the 60D (18MP APS-C sensor) and the black and white lines of the ISO chart are very easy to resolve (compared to a real-life scene).

Note that the Lumia 1020 image above is a screenshot from the video of the phone displaying the image - far from perfect, as you can imagine. Still, it's an interesting first taste, until Nokia finishes up tuning the software.

Here's how the test was done:

And one more test, showing how much of a PowerPoint-looking presentation the Nokia Lumia 1020 can capture from a distance.

You can learn more about the Nokia Lumia 1020 and its camera in our preview.

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