Google and Microsoft unveil Nexus and Windows Phone 8
GOOGLE and Microsoft both unveiled challengers to the iPhone yesterday ahead of the crucial Christmas shopping period.
Although Google’s proposed New York launch event was blown off course by Hurricane Sandy, it still announced a new smartphone and 10-inch tablet to its Nexus range yesterday, adding to the seven-inch device it unveiled earlier in the summer. The Nexus 4 phone, built by Motorola, will run Google’s Android operating software and cost from £239 when it launches on 13 November. The Nexus 10 tablet will start from £319, which is £80 less than the cheapest version of Apple’s flagship iPad.
In a separate event, Microsoft took the wraps off its new mobile software, Windows Phone 8, which will launch on a range of handsets from Nokia, Samsung and HTC in the coming weeks. Windows Phone 8 is vital to the fortunes of Nokia, which last year agreed to only make smartphones running Microsoft’s software, but has not seen the response it had hoped for up until now. Nokia launches its top-of-the-range Lumia 920 device today, exclusively on the 4G EE network which also goes live today.