HTC Windows Phone 8X, Nokia Lumia 920, 820 Smartphones for AT&T On Sale Now

Nov 09, 2012 01:24 PM EST

Starting today, Nov. 9, you can purchase HTC's new Widows Phone 8X, as well as Nokia's tremendously hyped Lumia 920 and 820 smartphones.

AT&T is selling Nokia's Lumia 920 for $99.99, and the 820 for $49.99, both with a two-year contract. The off-contract price of $449.99 isn't bad, either. The HTC Windows Phone 8X with 16GB of memory costs $199.99. As an added bonus, AT&T will throw in a free wireless charging plate (likely to retail for about $50 itself) with purchase of a Lumia 920.

AT&T is exclusively offering an 8GB version of the HTC phone in California Blue and a shade of yellow called Limelight for $99.99.

Nokia's Lumia 920 comes equipped with a dual-core Snapdragon S4 at 1.5GHz, 1GB of RAM, a 4.5-inch IPS LCD with a 1280x768 resoultion (332 ppi), an 8.7 megapixel camera at the back (1.3 megapixel at the front), NFC and too much more to mention. As its price hints, the Lumia 820 scales things back a bit. Its SoC is identical, but its 4.3-inch screen is AMOLED in lieu of IPS, and offers only a 800x480 resolution (217 ppi). Its cameras are also a little different, offering 8.0 megapixel at the back and 0.3 megapixel at the front.

HTC's Windows Phone 8X features the same SoC as the 820, and with a screen-size of 4.3-inch with a 1280x720 resolution, we have a market-leading ppi of 341 (it could be argued, and rightfully so, that over 300 the differences are difficult to appreciate without the use of a magnifying glass). This phone is also NFC-capable, and offers an 8 megapixel camera at the back and a surprising 2.1 megapixel offering at the front.

Jeff Bradley, AT&T senior vice president of devices and developer services, called AT&T's lineup of Microsoft-running smartphones "the best designs for the fantastic experience of Windows Phone 8."

HTC Windows Phone 8X

The HTC 8X, introduced in New York two weeks after the Lumias, features a 4.3-inch 720p high-definition display, a front-facing 2.1MP camera said to be "more than an afterthought," as most front-facing cameras are, and a rear-facing 8MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture and an ultra-wide lens, capable of capturing the faces of four people at once when held in self-portrait mode.

The 8X will be available with AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

For T-Mobile, the Phone 8X will hit shelves Nov. 14. It will cost $199 after a $50 mail-in-rebate.

Verizon also plans to carry the 8X for $199 on a two-year contract by Thanksgiving. The phone will come in blue, red, and black.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, introducing the 8X alongside HTC CEO Peter Chou, said it was a "magically thin" handset with a "beautiful design at the heart of both the hardware and the software." He added, "This is the first phone to, from the inside out, put people first."

Nokia Lumia 920

The Lumia 920 features a 4.5-inch PureMotion HD+ ClearBlack display with Gorilla Glass and a touch-screen that's so sensitive it can be used while wearing gloves and responds to the touch of fingernails. Its 8.7-megapixel (MP) camera features floating lens technology said to enable great shots even in low light, when the shutter remains open longer, by eliminating the blur from subtle hand movements.

According to Nokia, the camera can take in five times the light of a typical smartphone.

Specs

2G Network: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900

3G Network: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100

4G Network: LTE 800 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600

LTE 700 MHz Class 17 / 1700 / 2100 - Nokia Lumia 920 for AT&T

SIM: Micro-SIM

Body

Dimensions: 130.3 x 70.8 x 10.7 mm, 99 cc (5.13 x 2.79 x 0.42 in)

Weight: 185 g (6.53 oz)

Display

Type: IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors