Verizon Wireless and Nokia officially announced on Monday, Oct. 29, the upcoming availability of the Nokia Lumia 822 Windows Phone 8 smartphone exclusive to the U.S. wireless carrier.
Neither Nokia nor Verizon have released an official photo of the handset to confirm the design. The Nokia Lumia 822 is expected to be simply a carrier-specific variant of the Nokia Lumia 820, the mid-range sibling of the flagship Lumia 920 handset.
"With a unique design, enhanced camera, world class maps with turn-by-turn navigation and free unlimited music streaming, the Nokia Lumia 822 provides Verizon Wireless customers with high-end smartphone features on America's largest 4G LTE network," touts the press release.
"Bringing the Nokia Lumia 822 to Verizon Wireless allows us to expand our award winning Lumia brand to even more customers here in the United States," added Olivier Puech, President of Nokia Americas, according to the same press release. "With the Nokia Lumia 822, first-time smartphone buyers - and those ready to switch - will get high-quality performance on both their device and Verizon Wireless' incredibly fast 4G LTE network."
The Nokia Lumia 822 promises to sport a compact package filled with high-end features, including an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with Carl Zeiss optics and a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls. The handset also has an exchangeable shell design which supports wireless charging. This exchangeable shell design, however, will be sold separately.
According to Nokia, the Lumia 822 also comes with Nokia Drive+, the company's turn-by-turn voice navigation solution offering offline access and pre-loaded U.S. maps. Nokia City Lens is also on board, coming as the latest addition to the Nokia location suite and "the start of a new augmented reality experience that also enhances Nokia Maps."
Meanwhile, a comprehensive suite of features aim to take advantage of the Nokia Lumia 822's camera capabilities. Smart Shoot, for instance, allows users to remove moving objects and choose the best faces for the shot, while Cinemagraph lets users turn photos into animated GIFs. Panorama is designed to make it easier for users to capture an entire scene or landscape. Another feature called Creative Studio allows users to enhance pictures with various effects before sharing them with others.
The Nokia Lumia 822 will also feature Nokia Music, the company's ad-free music streaming application which does not require any registration, log-in, or subscription. Nokia Music allows users to listen to their playlists both online and offline.
The press release, however, makes no mention of the actual release date or the price of the Nokia Lumia 822. Recent rumors have indicated a Nov. 8 launch date and a $99 price tag on contract, but it's not yet official.
