Nokia's Lumia 800 gets UK release date and pricing
Nokia will release its first Windows Phone, the Lumia 800, halfway through next month.
The Lumia 800 will appear on UK shelves on 16 November, a Nokia spokesperson said on Monday. According to the smartphone's pre-order page, the operator Three will be offering it at a SIM-free price of £399.
The handset, previously codenamed 'Sea Ray', will be the first Nokia device to run Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system, specifically 'Mango' version 7.5 of the OS. Nokia and Microsoft signed a deal earlier this year to see the Finnish handset-maker abandon its Symbian and MeeGo operating systems in favour of Microsoft's.
The Lumia 800 is, at least on the outside, a near-clone of the MeeGo-powered N9. The N9 has not made its way to western European markets, so the Lumia 800 will not have a rival device on shelves that uses the same unibody polycarbonate shell.
When the Lumia 800 was unveiled last week, Nokia chief Stephen Elop said it was "a new dawn for Nokia" and "the first real Windows Phone". Manufacturers that have been making Windows Phones for the last year or so include HTC and Samsung.
The Lumia 800 launch will come one day before Google's new flagship Android smartphone, the Samsung-made Galaxy Nexus, also arrives in-store.