The Nokia Lumia 930 is a global version of the Icon (hands-on)
The Nokia Lumia Icon is a fantastic Windows Phone that comes with a bunch of top features that most Windows Phone users haven’t been able to enjoy until recently, but it had one critical flaw: it was an exclusive to Verizon, which meant that only a handful of users in the US could buy it. For the rest of the world, the only way to get a top-of-the-line Windows Phone (in nearly every spec, that is) has been to buy the Lumia 1520, but its large 6-inch display — though beautiful at 1080p — simply made it too big for a lot of people. Fortunately, that’s about to end because Nokia announced a global version of the Icon known as the Lumia 930.
Interestingly enough, there’s not much of a difference between the two devices. This actually is a bit surprising, considering Verizon has historically landed design exclusives with Nokia like the Lumia 822 and 928. The resemblance is definitely striking, with the only major hardware changes manifest in the presence of GSM bands instead of CDMA and the additional colors that Nokia will offer.
Unlike the Icon, Stephen Elop mentioned that we likely won’t be seeing the 930 in the US — at least, not on a carrier, and not anytime soon. Still, this will be an ideal Windows Phone for many folks in other corners of the globe; it comes with pentaband LTE (bands 1, 3, 7, 8 and 20), quad-band HSPA+ (up to 42.2Mbps) and quad-band GSM/EDGE, so you should be able to get solid speeds nearly anywhere you go, even if you’re not getting LTE in your neck of the woods.
The 930 will come in four color options: white, black, bright orange and bright green. Just like on the Icon, these colors are mainly reflected as part of the polycarbonate panel on the back, and aren’t swappable like the covers on the 630 and 635, also announced earlier today.
Ultimately, Nokia’s latest high-end device takes the Lumia Icon and resolves a lot of our primary concerns with it: it now has global LTE and HSPA+ for international users around the world, it comes in more colors and isn’t limited to just one specific carrier. And if the 5-inch 1080p display and Snapdragon 800 processor fit the bill, you’ll want to keep your eyes peeled for it starting in June for around $599 (though price may vary on market and operator).
We’ll have a video and a bunch more images ready for you shortly, but here are a few to get you started.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia
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