Oh how we hate Mondays (insert Garfield cartoon here). Looks like we may be spending more time than we want debunking rumors rather than posting confirmed news, but the internet is aflutter these days with numerous new Nokia speculation. Because an inbound 41MP Windows Phone just isn’t enough…
The latest rumor that just won’t go away use one of the most detested words we can think of: phablet. Typing it just makes us recoil for some unknown linguistic reason. Phablets are that new category of device that is combination of ‘phone’ and ‘tablet’, meaning devices with a 5” screen or bigger—give or take. It’s exemplified by popular devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note I and II, which ironically have beaten most analysts expectations by actually resonating very well with the public.
Nokia has been rumored to be working on such a phone for sometime now, even though our source says “nay” on that matter. Of course, we could be wrong or rather, our source could be—after all, it’s not a crazy idea that Nokia may want to jump into that “range” of phones for their Lumia line up, right? Problem is, we're just not hearing (or seeing) anything conclusive to convince us on this matter.
The latest “proof” comes via WP7Forum.ru, one of our favorite Russian Windows Phone sites, during an Nokia presentation for the Lumia 925, which is officially launching there today. In a single image, we see a lineup of Nokia Lumia Windows Phones, including the Lumia 925 which is front and center. The question is, what is the device to its right (our left)?
WP7Forum.ru thinks it’s a leaked first-look at a Nokia “phablet” Lumia. While we can’t readily ID that phone—it could be any Lumia as they often do share a lot of similarities—we’re skeptical that Nokia would slip up and let a new device just slide into their official presentation—sorry folks, but these companies are tad more savvy than that. Especially since if such a phone exists, it’s not expected for a few months, at least (we’re talking Q3, or more likely, Q4).
Even more so, if that was a “phablet” it’s not really that much bigger than the current 925—not enough to be a 5+” device and warrant that title of that category, in our opinion. [Indeed as pointed out in comments, there's a Verizon Tile on that device, suggesting that this is really the Lumia 928 or at the most, a generic "Lumia"].
So for now, we’re not convinced neither of this photo nor of the general rumor of an inbound phablet device from Nokia. We’ll be the first to tell you otherwise if we start hearing actual conclusive info about such a phone or if more proof is revealed, but so far, there’s just not much to hang our hat on except for your typical internet conjecture i.e. unverified sources.
Source: WP7Forum.ru; Thanks, Dmitriy I., for the tip!
