The holidays are coming up and for those who are buying smartphones for their loved ones, Windows Phone 8 is showing promise for Microsoft's new operating system and customers who want to get away from Apple.
Some of the hottest phones in the Windows Phone 8 lineup are the Nokia Lumia 920 and HTC Windows Phone 8X.
Nokia's flagship phone is selling like hot cakes according to reports. CIO-Today.com said that Nokia's Lumia line has sold about 11 million units so far, driven by sales in the U.S. and China.
The Lumia 920 has sold out on Amazon and some versions have wait times on AT&T, according to the report. The black version on AT&T's website said it is sold out and out of stock, while the yellow and cyan models have one to two weeks shipping time. The white and red models are in stock. For Amazon, the black version with 4G is two weeks shipping time.
Retailers in Germany and Australia are saying that are out of stock.
In a HTC Windows Phone 8X review, the new smartphone is among the "top league" smartphones in the market.
"The screen is comparable to the Retina display of the Apple iPhone 5. This review will not fall into the trap of comparing this smartphone with the iPhone 5 or any other top-notch Android-based model, but here we have a winner," a review by TimesofMalta.com said. "The HTC 8x is one of the top smartphones with the new Windows Phone 8 operating system and we are sure that serious users will find it hard to choose between this HTC, the iPhone and the best Android-based models around (some of them also from HTC)."
The review also said the handling is good and the cameras are quite good as well and Beats Audio "does a good job on this HTC" smartphone, which is becoming quite standard on high-end smartphones.
Specs
The Lumia 920 also runs on Microsoft Windows Phone 8. It takes many of the physical design elements from previous generations of Lumia handsets, but improves on internal hardware and display technology. Some of the new tech specs include PureMotion HD+ 4.5 inch display (1280 x 768 resolution), Dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, NFC chip with 332ppi and Corning Gorilla Glass 2, 2,000mAh battery, and Qi wireless charging. It has an 8.7 megapixel PureView camera with Carl Zeiss lens. It has rounded edges and comes in colors black, cyan, red, white, and yellow. The 32GB version sells for $99 with an AT&T two-year contract.
The HTC Phone 8X runs on Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 and features a Qualcomm S4 1.5 Ghz dual-core processor with 16GB storage and 1GB RAM. It has a 4.3-inch super LCD 2 touch screen with 1280 x 720 resolution with HD 720p resolution Gorilla Glass 2. It has an 8-megapixel camera with a dedicated HTC ImageChip and a 1800 mAh battery and 2.1 MP front-facing camera. It also comes with Beats Audio built-in. It comes in various colorful designs. It is priced at $100 for the 8GB model available in blue and yellow with AT&T and the 16GB is $200 only in blue.
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