First Nokia Windows Phone 7 concept design photos leaked

February 12, 2011 By Andrew Couts

With the Nokia-Microsoft partnership freshly official, the concept design photos have already begun to appear online.

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.

Showing 10 comments

Andre Marshall at 8:15am 13th February 2011 Why bother Microsoft.
selits at 11:08am 12th February 2011 I hope they do well just like I hope Apple does well. I will always buy Android phones but I prefer the competition in anything to do well to make sure my choice of products don't slack.
1. PeepingTom at 10:41am 13th February 2011 I agree that competition is good, but WP7 is not competition for Apple nor Android. There is also the vampiric nature of MS's past alliances to fear. Have you tried WP7? I'm not a fan. Not looking good, Nokia.
Lorne Hammond at 6:51pm 12th February 2011 Oh how the mighty have fallen
Michael Stewart at 6:37pm 12th February 2011 one lousy ANDROID flip and they're relevant again.
Trip Affleck at 6:37pm 12th February 2011 yay! more of the same, and nothing new too! just what i'd expect from Microsoft.
ioman at 10:37am 12th February 2011 They actually look pretty sweet. I love how the back curves too - gives it a slimmer profile. I am still not a huge fan of WP7 though. Also, is that an HDMI out port on the top of it by the headphone jack?
Tommer D at 8:48am 12th February 2011 Open source Nokia supporters unite! It's time for Project Chemo (chemotherapy). I am a proud Nokia N73 owner; PLEASE JOIN ME IN BOYCOTTING NOKIA until 1) Elop leaves Nokia and 2) Nokia drops their Phone 7 strategy. Only an idiot more loyal to Microsoft than Nokia would publically kill Nokia's smartphone brands (Symbian and MeeGo) and pubcially take Nokia out of the game during this critical year by not having the product they've chosen to hype (Phone 7) nearly ready for sale and by pairing with the industry's ugly duckling (Phone 7) that's just a transitional product until Windows 8 arrives. Maybe Nokia has not been that smart (going with Elop is proof), but they have good technology and Elop has already proven himself to be a total sellout idiot to Microsoft. He of all people should know that Phone 7 did a lousy job implementing an office productivity suite. More importantly, Microsoft's long term strategy is apparent--they will put Windows 8 on ARM tablets and for unity sake they will need to consolidate by putting Windows 8 on phones. Where does that leave Nokia? In a temporary marriage with Microsoft so Microsoft can save face until the real bride shows up. The market has already made it's decision about Phone 7. It's a total flop. Per Ars Technica, every other major smartphone platform (Android, Nokia, Apple, RIM, Others) rose at least 30% in market share year over year in 4th Quarter 2010. Microsoft was the sole major loser with it's dumb smartphone debut, and lost 20% in market share year over year. http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2011/01/andro... Why would Nokia go with a smartphone that's years behind in technology and doesn't have it's own ecosystem that Elop desperatly ascribes to? Phone 7 doesn't even multi-task . . . it can take an inordinant amount of time revisit applications becasue it has to restart them everytime you switch back to them. Plus it won't do static IP addresses, it does DHCP only. The list goes on. Since I'm not on Facebook or Twitter, feel free to post this everywhere possible!! Tommer D.
1. thai at 9:14am 12th February 2011 I will deffinitly buy one, as soon as it comes out on sale.
2. bkm at 1:11pm 12th February 2011 Nokias only savior as a phone company is going with Google or MSFT technology in their phones. They are even further behind the smart phone technology by themselves.