Lumia 820 Q&A- Your Questions Answered

A couple days ago we asked if you had any questions for the Lumia 820 product managers, well here’s the inside scoop regarding everything 820 related:

Q: I’d like to start off with the actual design of the 820, the 800 was the first Lumia device to carry on the N9’s “Fabula” design, as well as the curved glass; yet the 820 has none of those; which are present in the 920, any specific reason for switching up the design language?

A: Fabula is more a mindset than a specific design style. The Lumia 820 incorporates the same elements as the Lumia 800, Lumia 900 and Lumia 920 which are attention to detail, quality material and craftmanship.

Q: Is the camera module of the 820 the same as the 900’s 8MP or is it closer to the 920 minus the OIS?

A: The Capture and Relive experience is made out of 3 different elements: the hardware module, integration between hardware and software and the user interface for the camera. In the Lumia 820 we are completely changing the camera UI and the integration between the HW and SW. while the camera module will be the same, the experience for our consumer will be greatly improved and new.

 Q: I didn’t see the Micro SD slot in 820 . Does 820 supports hot swappable Micro SD cards ? or the slot is located under the battery ?

A: we have MicroSD card support in Lumia 820. the card slot is placed so that you need to remove the battery in order to access it

 Q: Will the Lumia 820 support 64GB SD cards or is there a maximum limit set?

A:  Yes, the Lumia 820 will support 64GB microSD cards.

Q: Since the Lumia 820 uses an Amoled screen will we see a comeback of the standby clock/ sleeping screen present in the N9 and Symbian devices?

A: For the standby clock and sleeping screen, we are definitely looking at the possibilities in that area

Q: The Lumia 820 looks like a redesigned Lumia 900. So is it a successor to the Lumia 900? I mean how are you going to differentiate between the two.

A: Both the Lumia 820 and Lumia 900 use similar design principles, so in that respect there are similarities. However if you compare the Lumia 820 and 900 from a technology perspective, there are bigger differences: the Lumia 820 has global LTE capability, NFC, wireless charging, memory card support and the list goes on.

Q: Any comment on Pricing/availability/carrier support in the USA and other regions?

A: we don’t have anything else we can say on that right now I’m afraid!

Q: We know from sales data in the nordic regions the NL 800 is having good uptake in business. Is the rugged case part of a strategy by Nokia to get into that market?

A: For the rugged case and business: through the versatilty we gain from the interchangeable shells, we are able to address different needs, be those consumer or different channels

Q: Does the Lumia 820 sport Corning Gorilla Glass?

A:  the glass on 820 is scratch-resistant, but it’s not Gorilla Glass.

Q: Does the Lumia 820 comes with free wireless charging shell in retail package?

A: That’s really a decision that will be made at the retail level and we can’t speak for our retailers I am afraid

Q: Will Qi wireless Charging be standard in all future Nokia products from now on? (optionally as a 3rd party accessory at least like the snap-on covers for the 820)?

A: Unfortunately we can’t comment on future devices… Sorry!

-The Qi standard is an open standard for wireless charging, but we can not really comment on possible 3rd party plans in the wireless charging area. But going forward, we hope to leverage on Qi being an open standard

Q: What are the improvements done on the battery life of the Lumia 820 over Lumia 900 as the Lumia 820 comes with a lower capacity 1650mAh battery and still give higher Standby and talk time

A:  Battery life improvements: we are improving in 3 different areas. Firstly, we have the Snapdragon S4 engine with improved power management capabilities. Secondly, we are adding Nokia know-how & expertise on the power management are starting from Lumia 820 & 920 and thirdly with wireless charging people will have a convenient and intuitive way to keep their devices charged

Q: What prompted you to get the snap on covers for the L820.

A:  In Lumia 820 we took the challenge to design a device that looks like a unibody device but would be much more versatile. With the Lumia 820 we are going beyond color and smart functionality with the covers, so you make the device more rugged with the protective shells, a wireless charging device or just a beautiful product with the design shells.

Q: With the release of the Lumia 820 we also saw a new range of accessories; (including the new JBL PowerUp and PlayUp as well as the fatboy pillows)- is this part of Nokias new strategy to involve itself in other “additives” besides phones that enhance the Smartphone experience? Since other Smartphone manufacturers tend to “tie-in” consumers with the additives such as their own marketplace and accessories?

A: @Ali: we are always looking to work with the best partners in areas we have mutual interests. If we talk about JBL and Monster, they are market leaders in their industries and tie is obvious to our Entertainment offering with Nokia Music and Mix Radio being the most obvious ones. With that partnership we can provide experiences to our consumers that are not available anywhere else for example providing a accessories that look and feel like your phone, can be connected easily using NFC and can charge your device wirelessly while playing music

Q: Can we expect the Lumia 820 to launch in the Middle east & Gulf areas alongside the rest of the world or will there be some delay issues (keeping in mind that the original set of Lumias never launched here due to the lack of Arabic support).

A:  we don’t have any specific details on that we can share right now (re; gulf areas)

Q: Not really a 820 specific Q, but: Are there any plans from Nokia/MS to integrate Whatsapp/LINE within the SMS app as right now it is only FB

A: we’re working together with Microsoft to provide the best possible 3rd party integration and experiences into the WP8 platform but we don’t have anything specific to say right now RE: Whatsapp

Q: There is a rumour that the location of the USB charging port has been standardized in Windows Phone 8. Can you confirm this? Related to this, can we expect USB charging cradles as a 1st party accessory?

A:  afraid we can’t comment on rumours like that!

Q: Is there a reason besides keeping the pricing down of using a lower resolution screen on the 820 (480*800)?

A: when we are looking at display resolutions, we need to carefully consider resolution together with the display size. for the size of the display we have for the Lumia 820, we chose the “standard” WP resolution due to the facts that it provides a much better readability for our consumers on the display size and due to the fact that the performance, mainly FPS, is something amazing in the new Lumia 820 OLED display with that specific resolution. The display experience is much more than resolution as we see on the Lumia 820 ClearBlack display and Nokia specific features like Sunlight Readability Enhancement

Q: Will there be an appreciable difference between Windows Phone 8 on 512 RAM such as on the 820 vs 1 GB on the 920?

A:  both Lumia 820 and Lumia 920 have 1Gb RAM because we want to offer the best performance in these specific product categories

Q: Does Lumia 820 supports USB OTG ?

A: it doesn’t have USB on the go specifically, but it does have a great USB experience including browsing files etc.

Q:  about the NFC Wireless charging cradle – will it launch a different app for each different cradle?

A:  with the NFC Wireless charging stand, the consumer can select which app is opened with NFC

Q: Are there any apps/uses being made of NFC besides wallet? We’ve heard of being able to launch a specific app when placing the phone on the dock, can you give us a clearer picture of what we can use the NFC for? (Bluetooth sharing?)

A: The WP8 platform is strong in the NFC area. In addition to Wallet, we have NFC support for several use cases like sharing links, and contacts, in addition to initiating pairing of Bluetooth accessories.

That’s about it; we only had 45 minutes, so we had to make the best of it; hope you guys found it useful.

Tags: featured

Category: Lumia, Nokia, Windows Phone