Skip to main content

First Nokia Windows Phone 7 concept design photos leaked

nokia-windows-phone-7-concept
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The first Nokia Windows Phone 7 concept has arrived. Mere hours after Nokia CEO Stephen Elop and Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer took the stage in London Friday to announce a partnership between the two technology giants, Engadget received leaked photos of the first concept phone design born of the new marriage.

Yes, they’re very pretty. Very pretty. We know. But don’t get your giddy little hopes up too high just yet — these are only “concepts.” Which, of course, means we don’t have a single hardware specification, release date, or any other concrete detail to deliver.

What this does show us, however, is the direction Nokia-Microsoft plan to head — straight down a path filled with slim, sexy and colorful smartphones. At least, that’s presumably what the folks who leaked these images to Engadget want us to think, since chances are good that these pictures didn’t just happen to come out on the same day that the two companies made major partnership announcement, if you catch our drift.

About that partnership: In the face of strengthening competition from devices running Android or Apple’s iOS, Nokia will adopt Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 as its primary operating system. That means Nokia will begin to phase-out phones using its Symbian OS, including low-level phones, eventually. (Read the full details of the plan here.)

Microsoft will continue to offer Windows Phone 7 as a licensed platform, but the two companies plan to work closely together to develop a hearty competitor for the burgeoning market of Android- and iOS-based devices.

So far, it’s difficult to gauge whether or not this relationship will bear money-making fruit. We believe that, by making the Nokia-Microsoft partnership a flexible one, the companies have set themselves up for success as best they can. That’s not to say they can easily compete in the increasingly cut-throat smartphone race. But it does mean they have a fighting chances. Especially if their phones are as pleasant to use as these concepts are to behold.

Editors' Recommendations

Andrew Couts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
The top 7 bestselling phones of 2023 were all … you guessed it
Close-up view of titanium frame on iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Seven of the top 10 bestselling handsets in 2023 were iPhones, according to data from research firm Counterpoint.

This marks the first time in Counterpoint’s tracking of such data that Apple’s handset has dominated the chart to this extent.

Read more
How to turn a Live Photo into a video on your iPhone
A person holding an iPhone while taking a Live Photo.

Apple’s Live Photos feature is a great way to add some extra charm to your normal, everyday iPhone pictures. Enabled by default, Live Photos automatically records and integrates the 1.5-second interval before and after you hit the shutter button on your iOS device. The end result is a lightly animated image, which can easily be shared via iMessage or a Shared Photo Album with any friend of family member with an iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

You’ll also be able to share a static version of any picture captured as a Live Photo. But if you’d like to enchant your Windows and Android device buddies with your moving pics, you’re better off converting that Live Photo into a video or animated GIF. This is also the best way to future-proof your Live Photos against any down-the-line compatibility issues the Live Photo format might face from non-Apple hardware.

Read more
How to find downloaded files on an iPhone or Android phone
Download folder

Believe it or not, finding files you’ve downloaded on your iPhone or Android phone can be tougher than you think. Even the best smartphones can quickly become a handheld electronic briefcase. Along with the apps you need to get you through your day, it’s packed with photos, videos, files, and other media. While it’s all too easy to download a photo or a restaurant menu to your mobile device, when it comes to actually finding where downloads reside on your phone, the opposite is true. It can be difficult to find a particular file amid heaps of other folders.

Read more