Nokia World 2013 Live Blog: All The Action As It Happened!

Gizmodo Australia is on the ground at Nokia World 2013 in Abu Dhabi, checking out all the new phones and the new Nokia tablet! Get in here and check out the action as it unfolded.

This event plays out chronologically as you scroll. To make browsing easier, we have added sub-headings so you can jump to the news you want. Enjoy!

The Headlines:

Lumia 2520: Nokia Is Making A 10-Inch Tablet Now, Too

Nokia’s Massive New 6-Inch Lumias: My God, It’s Full Of Tiles

And we’re live!

Pre-Game

2:30pm AEDT, 22 October
We’ve already heard a few leaks out of Nokia as to what we’ll see tonight. Perhaps we’ll finally get confirmation about the 6-inch Lumia 1520 — Nokia’s first phablet? Will we even see a full-blown tablet from the Finnish company? Rumours right now point to six new devices set to be announced. We’ll play gadget-bingo and see how many we get right!

2:45
Chris Jager is live on the ground at Nokia World in Abu Dhabi, and Luke Hopewell is sitting at Gizmodo Australia HQ to give you unparalleled coverage as it happens.

We’ll be interjecting with opinion and analysis every now and then, all of which will be marked so you know exactly who’s talking and when. All dates and times are in Australian Eastern Daylight Time.

2:46
We’ll be chasing local availability, as well as quotes and comments from telcos and retailers to let you know when you can get your mits on the new shiny.

2:47
What do you want to see from Nokia World?

5:50pm

Chris: Conference is about to kick off. Currently showing photos (allegedly) shot with a Lumia 1020 on the screen. Here’s one of the crowd that we actually did shoot with a 1020.

5:55pm

Luke: It’s all so blue!

5:57

5-minute warning. It’s happening soon!

5:59

A Google Glass-eye view of what it’s like to be in the audience, courtesy of Myriam Joire.


The guy on the right appears to have superseded Google Glass with a pair of bionic eyes.

6:02

A cute Nokia ringtone sings out across the crowd as we start, and we open up on a cool time lapse video.

6:03

Stephen Elop is up! Building on design, imaging and inspiration, he tells us. Above all, Nokia is about connecting people.

New Asha Phones

6:04

Elop now talking about the introduction of the Nokia Asha 501 and its introduction in India.

There are new Asha phones now! Three of them in fact. New design, new software and they’re made out of crystal?

6:05

There are three new Nokia Ashas. The 500, 502 and 3G-capable 503. The exterior is now sealed beneath an “icy-clear exterior”. It’s like a phone encased in ice!

6:06

Luke: Chris is having a few issues with Wi-Fi in the room right now, but don’t worry, we’re anchoring the live blog back here in Sydney until his return.

6:07

We’re now getting a live-demo of the Asha’s new camera swipe technology.

6:10
Stephen Elop announces that WhatsApp is now going to be working on the Asha range!

Jan Koum, founder and CEO of WhatsApp is now up. WhatsApp for Asha will be out next month, says Jan. He’s seems to be able to speak only five words at a time.

6:13

Luke: Presumably Nokia is starting with the small news and working up to the big stuff!

6:14

These new phones also include a new updated Fastlane experience. That’s a way of getting access to all of your stuff, fast. The new Fastlane app is like a timeline for you and your social life. Current notifications and events are shown chronologically, and swiping up shows you what’s coming in future.

You can now personalise Fastline with a long-press to clear or show the apps and updates you want or don’t want, as well as a fancy new “Clear All” button.

6:18

Here are the prices. Looks like these phones are just for emerging markets.

The Asha 500 with a 2-megapixel camera is coming in at $US69 in Africa, APAC, EU, Latin-American and the Middle-East. The Asha 502 is $US89 and comes with a Dual-SIM model in Africa, APAC, EU, Middle-East. The Asha 503 with 3G connectivity and dual-SIM is also going to be in Africa, APAC, Europe, Latin America and Middle East.

Nokia Lumia 1520 & Lumia 1320

6:19

Now onto the Lumia range.

6:20

The 6-inch Lumia 1520 is real!

6:20

It’s a 1080p screen on that bad-boy. Pretty…

The black model is actually made from recycled polycarbonate so that it’s environmentally sustainable! Hurrah.

There’s also now a new third-column of Live Tiles for the larger screen size.

6:22

20-megapixel PureView camera in the new 1520 with a new updated Nokia Camera app. That app includes all the best features of the Nokia Pro Camera app and more.

6:26

Nokia Storyteller is a new app for Lumia 1520 which adds your personalised photos to your maps for a super-personalised experience. It looks similar to Google Now’s photo recommendations and Samsung’s-own picture story mode.

6:29

Ruh-roh. Stephen Elop nearly got hit by a car while creating a photowalk on the Lumia 1520. Careful, Stephen.

Photos can now be zoomed out to show the location where they were taken via the Nokia Here map application.

6:30

Directional stereo audio capture is now possible on the Lumia 1520 thanks to four (!!!) microphones on the device. Crazy.

6:31

Nokia Storyteller also sticks cool stuff for you to see on bespoke review pages within the app so you can navigate better around a new city.

6:32

Vine is coming to Windows Phone in coming weeks…

AND SO IS INSTAGRAM!

6:33

Luke: F**KING FINALLY.

6:34

We’ve now got Steven Alvarez, a National Geographic photographer, talking us through the camera on the Lumia 1520. He’s been using it around Abu Dhabi.

6:36

Punchline: he likes it.

You can check out his images here. They’re pretty great.

6:37

You get 7GB of SkyDrive storage on the Lumia 1520, and Nokia promises that Office and Xbox Gaming will be better.

Nokia reveals that the Lumia 1502 is packing a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor. That likely means a clock speed of around 2.2GHz.

6:38

There’s also a new feature called Nokia Beamer for screen sharing. Arguably the stupidest name ever, but a good idea for screen sharing across the globe.

6:39

But wait. There’s more. Elop pulls the 6-inch Lumia 1320 out of his pocket!

720p high-definition screen, round and colourful and “playful” design. Comes in bright orange, black, yellow and white. Includes all the same software features, 4G capable and designed for a “younger crowd”, with a dual-core processor built-in.

Think of that one as the Lumia 820 to the 1520’s 920. If that makes any sense.

Nokia is packaging together a Nokia software update and a Windows software update into a new program called “Lumia Black”.

6:43

The Lumia 1320 will cost $US339 and the Lumia 1520 will cost $US749.

From the sounds of things, neither device is coming to Australia any time soon, with the Finnish manufacturer announcing a roadmap for the US, Asia and Europe.

Nokia’s New Tablet: Lumia 2520

6:44

The Lumia 2520 is real, and it’s a Surface competitor!

It’s Nokia’s first tablet.

Nokia has noticed that tablets are used for content consumption. It’s looking to shift that trend, making it as “mobile as you”.

6:45

The Lumia 2520 is packing a 4G antenna with the Qualcomm 8974 chipset.

6:47

The Lumia 2520 packs highest peak brightness and lowest reflectiveness for best in-class readability. Up to 650 nits and under 6 per cent reflection.

6:48

Idiots who take photos with their tablet will be able to use the new Nokia Camera app to tweak their stupid photos.

It’s packing a 6.7-megapixel rear-facing camera with an f/1.8 aperture.

6:49

We’re now talking about that Storyteller stuff again.

6:53

This bears mentioning, considering that Microsoft now owns Nokia…

HMMMMMMM…

6:54

Uh oh. Connectivity issues have reared their ugly heads. Stand-by while we regain connection.

7:01

Luke: The good news is that Chris is back and he’s got more info on the Lumia 2520! Take it away, Chris!

7:02

Chris: Thanks Luke.

There’s a new Power Keyboard for the Lumia 2520 tablet. It wraps aroudn the tablet for protection and gives it more battery life, 2 USB ports and adds 50 per cent more battery charge in 40 minutes.

7:03

The Lumia 2520 will cost $US499, available in black, white, cyan (!!!) and red.

7:03

Luke: Good news to you commenters who wanted the return of cyan!

7:04

That Power Keyboard will be available from $US149 and available in “selected markets” next year.

7:07

And that’s all she wrote, folks! We’ll bring you detailed hands-on of the new phones and tablets soon!

7:08

Thanks for joining us! Did you like the new devices you saw?


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