New Telephone Day: Nokia Edition ⇥ theverge.com

Before Motorola did their thing, Microsoft and Nokia representatives woke up bright and early¹ to launch phones called the 820, and 920 (both “Lumia” devices). Both run Windows Phone 8 and look amazing. Wired has a great profile of Nokia’s head of design, Marko Ahtisaari:

“Our products are human,” he says. “They’re natural. They’re never cold. That’s partly driven by color, but also partly how they feel in the hand. This looks less like a product coming off a production line in a factory—though it does—than a product that might have grown on a tree. The grandest way I could put it, is post-industrial.” […]

The dream, if not the exact language, is very familiar. Nokia is marketing its phone directly into the teeth of Apple’s strength: Design.

While Google’s Android pressures Apple in terms of features, there hasn’t really been a competitor to the iPhone’s incredible industrial design until the Nokia Lumia 900 was launched earlier this year. I’m glad that Apple finally has a competitor as serious about industrial design as they are. They need a Nikon.

The new 820 looks fairly staid, but the 920 looks like an incredible piece of kit. It’s the first device I’d seriously consider changing to from an iPhone. Of course, I’m waiting for reviews of it, but it looks phenomenal.

Joshua Topolsky sat down with Nokia CEO Stephen Elop:

The polished and professional Elop was visibly excited about the newest crop of hardware and software headed out of the Finnish phone-maker’s doors, and he was eager to share that excitement. Most of our conversation stayed on-message with what was discussed at the event today — the Lumia 920 and 820, City Lens, and those colorful docks — but Elop also fielded questions on exactly what Nokia’s PureView camera branding means, as well as just what the company is saying to buyers of the recently-released Lumia 900.

Great interview by Topolsky.

Speaking of The Verge, Chris Ziegler is mourning the lack of a cyan option on the 920. Really.