900

As expected, the first smartphone powered by an Intel processor launched this week: the Lava Xolo 900.

Intel and India-based Lava International today announced the general availability of the Xolo X900, built around the Intel Atom Z2460 processor. The phone will be available for purchase in the India market on April 23 at a street price of approximately 22,000 rupees, or about $420.

Lava also announced a partnership with Croma, a national Indian chain of megastores, which will sell the X900.

In addition to the 1.6GHz Atom processor with a 400MHz graphics chip clock, the phone features full … Read more

Nokia, the once-mighty Finnish mobile handset maker, is betting its future on the success of its new Windows Phone smartphones, but sales so far around the world have been mixed.

Nokia has announced four new Lumia smartphones in the market since October. Stephen Elop, Nokia's CEO, noted that the devices, which have been released ahead of schedule, have received high acclaim from reviewers and consumers, but sales have been mixed throughout different regions of the world.

For example, initial U.S. sales of the company's Lumia 710 at T-Mobile and the newly launched Lumia 900 on AT&… Read more

Although it's still too early to tell if the Lumia 900 is both Nokia and Microsoft's saving grace, numerous AT&T stores reported that the demand for the device is surpassing its supply.

According to an informal Gizmodo investigation, 36 stores sold out of the handset within the first few days of its debut, especially in the cyan color:

"Ten stores had run out of cyan entirely but had the black model available in limited quantities," the publication reported.

"Many told us stock would be replenished by the next day, with just two saying … Read more

Most people switching to the Lumia 900 or HTC Titan II Windows Phone handsets are moving from the iPhone and Android, at least according to a poll by WPCentral.

Grabbing responses from more than 3,500 users at this point, WPCentral found almost 30 percent jumping ship from the iPhone and 27 percent from Android.

BlackBerry accounted for 10 percent, Nokia's Symbian almost 12 percent, and HP's WebOS a little more than 6 percent. That left almost 15 percent of Lumia 900 and Titan II adopters upgrading from feature phones.

The results aren't fully comprehensive since WPCentral … Read more

Do you feel you're expressing yourself as an individual because you have the same smartphone as everyone else?

That's the message being promoted in the latest not-so tongue-in-cheek ad created by Nokia and AT&T. Trying to drum up interest in the new Lumia 900 Windows Phone, the two companies are hard at work unleashing a series of ads aimed at deriding the competition.

The latest ad (also seen below) starts off by calling other smartphone users beta testers and proclaiming that all other smartphones look alike. To prove the point, the gentleman portrayed in the ad … Read more

In response to recent data connection problems that Nokia Lumia 900 users reported since the device's launch last week, Nokia has issued a software update sooner than expected.

The software for the AT&T version can be accessed through Zune and Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac. The software was expected to be available on April 16, but instead has come out three days prior.

In addition to the upgrade, consumers can swap a faulty Lumia 900 for a newer one at AT&T stores. The manufacturer will continue to offer $100 in credit (an initiative it … Read more

Links from Wednesday's episode of Loaded:

Nokia is taking extreme measures to rectify a glitch found in some Lumia 900 smartphones, offering new and existing customers a $100 credit for their troubles.

Some early Lumia 900 customers found that their phones failed to get a data connection, an issue Nokia confirmed and said it is fixing. As a peace offering, the company is offering this promotion both to appease existing customers and entice potential new ones, with the $100 fully covering the $99.99 handset.

There's a lot riding on the launch of the Lumia 900, which Nokia is banking on heavily as its comeback … Read more

It's been a while since we've been able to say this, but Nokia is wrapping up a very good week.

On Sunday, the company's flagship Windows Phone 7 device, the Lumia 900, finally arrived in stores. Praise from early critics, including CNET's Jessica Dolcourt, is high. So at this early stage, it appears that AT&T and Nokia managed to deliver on the early hype they generated last January at CES.

Of course, we'll have to wait to see how many handsets the company actually sells. It's entering a crowded and fiercely competitive … Read more