The Nokia Lumia 800 will sport a 3.7” 480×800 ClearBlack curved glass display, a 1.4GHz processor under the hood, 16GB of internal storage and an 8MP 28mm Carl Zeiss Tessar lens that’s capable of recording 720p HD video. These specs seem to pale in comparison with Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus, but with Nokia having a stronger presence in Europe compared to US, hopefully this will play out in their favor.

It has been previously mentioned that the Nokia Lumia 800 will go for €420, which roughly converts to £359. The UK carrier Three has already priced the Lumia 800 at £399 on a pay-as-you-go basis, but Orange and Vodafone have yet to confirm their prices.

According to @UVStaska’s tweet, Vertu had started to toy with the idea of using Symbian in their handsets, where the E72 inspired model in Vertu styling (the Vertu Constellation Quest) is an example. Now that Nokia has more or less dropped support for the Symbian operating system in their future higher-end models, what do you think the Vertu platform will rely on?

Perhaps Windows Phone might be an alternative, and if this is true, then we would be on the receiving end of a touchscreen-enabled Vertu – which is a first, in many ways. What do you think?

In addition, the firm found that employees argued they are 58% more productive while on long-distance travel trips when they have a tablet in tow. Yankee Group also argues that consumerization is taking over the workplace and that four times more employees are now using tools designed for the consumer market for work purposes — with IT’s approval, of course. The survey involved 5,000 consumers, 2,250 employees and “IT decision makers” in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Read on for the full press release.

Yankee Group Unveils New European Mobile User Study

New survey offering finds 40 percent of smartphone buyers plan to choose an iPhone.

London, U.K. Jun 22, 2011 – Yankee Group today announced the 2011 European Mobile User Study, which is designed to help both European and global firms make better product, pricing and segmentation decisions. The new study polls 5,000 consumers and 2,250 employees and IT decision-makers across five European countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K.

Available in July, this new survey offering provides key insights into European mobile user behavior, attitudes and purchase plans. For example, it finds 40 percent of consumers who intend to buy a smartphone as their next mobile device will choose an iPhone. Android-based devices come in second (19 percent), followed by BlackBerry (17 percent) and Nokia (15 percent).

“These findings highlight the continued strength of Apple in the European smartphone market and, in particular, its phenomenal brand appeal,” said Declan Lonergan, research VP at Yankee Group. “The data also highlights the enormous challenges faced by Nokia and RIM to retain mind share and market share in this increasingly dynamic and competitive marketplace.”

Other study findings include:

Consumerization is taking over the enterprise. Four times more employees use consumer tools for work purposes with IT’s explicit approval.
New devices spur productivity. Employees say they are 58 percent more productive during long-distance travel when they have a tablet.
Mobile users are multi-device-savvy. Most users have more than one device and they access the same services and content via the screen best suited for the time and place.

In addition to the new study, Yankee Group also announced that Simon Rodd is joining the firm as portfolio manager within the company’s European sales team (see accompanying release).

The video features a series of contorted Barbies dolls, prancing about in Lady Gaga-esque undergarments, with accompaniment by British girl group Sugababes. This is one marketing campaign we won’t soon forget. For a glimpse at the disturbingly enthralling cotton-candy romp, check out the video after the break.

The images that Nokia provide of the pink N8 show that it’s running Anna, the marketing name for what’s essentially the UI refresh to Symbian^3 that was first talked about back in November 2010. Let us remind you that we’re currently in May 2011, half a year after Jo Harlow, Executive Vice President of Smart Devices at Nokia, opened her mouth and talked about how the new portrait QWERTY keyboard and web browser in Anna would make Symbian an awesome platform again … so where exactly is it?

Failure to ship software on time aside, we’re actually big fans of the Nokia N8 if you take it for what it is: a camera that can also make calls, send text messages, and connect to the internet, albeit rather awkwardly. We’re not going to lie, it’s a pain in the butt to use Symbian, and the web browser is appallingly bad, which is an absolute shame since Nokia was the first company to shove a full feature browser on a mobile phone, but the 12 megapixel sensor inside the N8 captures stunning photos and even more impressive is the 720p video recording.

Curiously enough, Nokia doesn’t say the pink N8 is for girls, but they do mention that there is an ELLE fashion app on board, along with a “Little Pink Diva” theme. We’ll let you come to your own conclusions.

The E7, which Pocket-lint got hands on with back in September, is a QWERTY side-slider handset running on the Symbian 3 platform, with a 4-inch ClearBlack capacitive touchscreen (640×360 pixel resolution).

It has an 8-megapixel camera and can shoot HD video. It also boasts 16GB of onboard storage and comes with a free GPS Ovi Maps navigation system built in.

And you never know – it could well prove to be Symbian’s last high-profile hurrah.

Sylvia Chind head of handsets at Three said: “We are delighted to be stocking another Nokia flagship handset. This feature-packed smartphone comes equipped with a HDMI cable allowing our customers to watch videos on a big screen in the comfort of their own home.”

It’s available free on £35 and £40 contracts (for £40 you’ll be on the data lovers One Plan), or on PAYG for a penny shy of £450.

Take a look-see at our Nokia E7 review to learn more.

Composed of glass and stainless steel, the E6 builds on the heritage of Nokia’s business smartphones such as the E71 and E72. The E6 measures 115.5mm x 59mm (4.5in x 2.3in) and is a svelte 10.5mm (0.4in) thick. It weighs a solid 133g (4.7oz). The highlight of the show is the full QWERTY keyboard lifted right off the older models and the new 2.46-inch touchscreen display. The screen has a VGA resolution with 640 x 480 pixels, which should provide a very sharp picture at that screen size.

For media capture, the E6 sports an 8 megapixel, autofocus camera with dual-LED flash. It is capable of recording 720p HD video (1280 x 720 pixel) at 25 frames per second. There appears to be a front-facing camera as well. The E6 also has a Wi-Fi radio that supports 802.11b/g/n wireless connections, and the phone supports Bluetooth 3.0 and GPS, too. A 3.5 mm headphone jack supports both audio in and out and video output to a TV. The E6′s 1500mAh battery is expected to offer up to 7.5 hours of talk time on 3G, or 31 days of standby time.

Running the whole show on the E6 is Nokia’s newly announced version of Symbian called Anna. Anna will bring an updated, modernized look to Symbian with new icons, a refreshed user interface, improved web browsing, better text input, and an enhanced Ovi Maps application with better search and public transit routes. Symbian Anna will also add business oriented features such as hardware accelerated data encryption and full meeting request support.

The Nokia E6 supports 3G voice and data on any of 5 different frequency bands, including those used by T-Mobile USA and AT&T. It also supports quad-band GSM/EDGE 2G networks.

The Nokia E6 is expected to hit the market in the second quarter of 2011 at a to-be-announced price. It will be available in black, white, or silver color schemes.

The entertainment focussed Nokia X7 is certainly an interesting device, and if you’re a Nokia fan it’s almost definitely something that you will want to get your hands on. But, if you’re shopping around for a general smartphone then the X7 might not be your first choice.

There are couple of striking things about the design – firstly the unit has an unusual tapering at the top and bottom that perhaps not everyone will like, but it does mean that it isn’t a boring slab design at least. The second is the large 4″ touchscreen display, similar to the one on the Nokia E7. In fact, the X7 can pretty much be regarded as a keyboardless E7 when it comes to overall hardware specifications.

It looks like a high-end device, but compared to the competition it really isn’t. That 4″ AMOLED display looks impressive, but the resolution is only 360 x 640 pixels, well short of the 480 x 800 pixel type panels that similarly sized rivals have. And although we are not 100% certain, we think that this shares the same 680 MHz ARM11 CPU found in the E7.. and despite the highly efficient Symbian OS, this isn’t really a patch on the 1GHz+ (and sometimes dual-core) processors found elsewhere.

It’s a heavy device at 146 grams, but then there is a high quantity of steel in the case design plus a Gorilla Glass window on the screen to protect it from damage. It’s not too big though, measuring 120 x 63 x 12mm and inside is a fair sized 1200 mAh battery quoted as giving 4.5 hours talktime on 3G and 18 days standby.

The X7 is a 3.5G device with download speeds of up to 10.2 Mbps on HSDPA and 2.0 Mbps uploads on HSUPA. It supports all major 3G bands, plus quad-band GSM and 802.11b, g and n WiFi.

On the back is an 8 megapixel camera capable of 720p video capture at 25 fps. There’s an FM radio, GPS plus an updated version of Ovi Maps, a microSD slot (an 8GB card is supplied in the standard sales package) and Bluetooth. There’s a connectivity cable and stereo wired headset in the box too.

The software has been given a significant upgrade, with a new version of Symbian called “Anna” which will also become available on the N8, E7, C7 and C6-01 handsets. This is a more polished OS than before, with more features to support social networking and collaboration tools. The X7 also comes with Asphalt 5 HD and Galaxy on Fire HD pre-installed, plus a load of other applications available from the Ovi store.

Priced at €380 before tax and subsidy, the Nokia X7 comes in at the same price point as the HTC Desire S. The Nokia has a better camera, larger screen and a more interesting case design, but the HTC has a much higher resolution panel, a faster processor and the advantage of the huge number of applications available in the Android Market. We suspect that given a choice between these two phones, most potential customers would choose the HTC.

Nokia say that the X7 should be available during Q2 2011 in dark steel and light steel colour schemes.

Nokia Astound Price

The handset is priced very attractively at $79.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a 2-year contract. It will be available online and at T-Mobile stores. It will also we sold at Costco, RadioShack, Sam’s Club, Target Mobile locations and Walmart,

Can Nokia finally make some progress in the US Market ? The Astound is a great looking handset and would surely sell considering it’s competitive pricing but then T-Mobile USA ‘s future itself is a question mark.

For those of us who didn’t major in Sound Engineering, a phon is a measurement of apparent loudness, and 106 phon is enough to make anyone over 60 plug their ears. To counteract the volume capabilities of the phone, Nokia also adjusted the frequency response so that the audio quality doesn’t decrease at higher volume levels.

Nokia is definitely playing the right cards, as ambient noise levels in different growth markets across the world can be higher, and the need for an all-in-one device is more ubiquitous. The enhanced volume capabilities on this handset gives the user the option to substitute the Nokia X1-00 as a main music player at home, or when out on the town in groups. That explains why the Nokia X1-00 comes equipped with a 3.5mm audio jack for speakers or headphones. More music-focused features include three dedicated player keys and a single-key playlist creator.

The device also carries support for microSD memory cards for music storage of up to 16GB. The folks at Nokia also added an integrated FM radio for news and entertainment on the go.

In another move towards grabbing users in growth markets, Nokia also included a dedicated torch/flashlight on the handset, which may come in handy in areas with unreliable power supplies. Battery life was also beefed up and is expected to last 61 days maximum. Nokia expects that in certain markets, this phone may even be a shared device, among a single family or group of neighbors, and to that affect, added a feature that allows provisioning of up to five phone books.

More basic specs include an amped-up music player application, calendar, clock, calculator, pre-loaded games and measures in at 112.2 x 47.3 x 16mm with a weighs of 91g. The Nokia X1-00 should arrive in selected markets in April and is expected to cost around 34 EUR.