UK smartphone users will be able to get their hands on Nokia"s first Windows Phone 7-based product, the Lumia 800, less than three weeks from now. Engadget reports that the phone will be released in that part of the world on November 16 for 420 Euros, although there"s no word yet on what the phone will be priced in the UK.
The story points out that the release date is one day before the UK sells the Android 4.0-powered Galaxy Nexus from Samsung. There"s no word yet on the launch date for Nokia"s other Windows Phone product, the Lumia 710.
The phone was first officially announced less than a week ago at Nokia World. The Lumia 800 comes in three colors (black, cyan and magenta), a 3.7-inch display, a 1.4 GHz single-core processor, 512 MB of RAM, a 8 megapixel rear camera and 16 GB of internal storage.
Nokia plans a massive marketing campaign for the Lumia 800 in the UK including some rather odd television commercials and strange marketing stunts that includes putting fake saunas in bus stops. At least one phone carrier in the UK, Orange, plans to give away a free Xbox 360 with the pre-purchase of a Lumia 800.
Obviously Microsoft has a lot riding on the success of the Lumia 800 as it wants to see the Windows Phone 7 operating system gain a bigger piece of the current smartphone pie. Speaking of Microsoft, the official Windows Phone blog has a new post that shows the unboxing of one of the retail Lumia 800 phones that will be in UK stores in less than three weeks.