Nokia Lumia 900: AT&T's 'Ace' in the hole?

Nokia is prepping the Lumia 900 Windows Phone for a US launch, according to one new report. AT&T's model will don the name 'Ace.'

The Nokia Lumia 900 could launch in early 2012. Here, a user holds the Nokia Lumia 800.

Reuters

January 3, 2012

Just a few months after the unveiling of the Lumia 800, Nokia is set to take the wraps off another Lumia handset, this one affectionately dubbed "Ace."

So say the folks at tech site Pocketnow.com, who have published what they say is a spec list for the forthcoming Lumia 900. On the list: a 4.3-inch high-resolution display, 512MB of RAM, an 8-megapixel camera, and the Windows Phone Mango operating system

"Although it will almost certainly be sold carrier locked, Ace – like most modern Nokia handsets – will contain the 1700MHz band necessary for T-Mobile 3G, so we imagine that a workaround to unlock that functionality will arrive with the quickness," writes Evan Blass of Pocketnow.com. "At 160 grams [0.3 pounds], Ace weighs 18 more grams than the Lumia 800, likely due to the combination of a bigger screen and LTE radio." (To compare, the iPhone 4S weights 140 grams, still around 0.3 pounds.)

Launched in Europe late in 2011, the Lumia 800 – the first Nokia phone to run the Windows Phone OS – has yet to debut on US shores, although some bloggers have forecasted a January release date. As we noted back in October, the Lumia line is the early offspring of the Nokia and Microsoft partnership, which was penned earlier this year.

Before Nokia and Microsoft joined forced, Nokia ran an OS called Symbian; in the US, at least, Symbian will now be phased out.

So how will the Lumia 900 – essentially a plus-sized version of the Lumia 800 – stack up to competitors such as the iPhone and the Motorola Droid Razr?

Well, over at Gizmodo UK, Sam Gibbs sees good things (mostly). "[W]hile I’m still not blown away by the specs here, I liked the aesthetics of the Lumia 800, so I’m not sad to see Nokia’s sticking with the design theme," he writes. 

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