CES 2012: LTE Nokia Lumia 900 'Ace' lives! 800 news, too...

The Lumia 900 will follow..the Lumia 710, which will run on T-Mobile USA within..days for $49.99 after rebate and a two-year contract.
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Nokia emphasized high-quality front and rear-facing cameras in the Lumia 900..[which] has a 1.4 GHz Snapdragon processor, an 1830 mAh battery and 16GB of internal storage.   

   
Shaun Nichols adds:

[The] 4.3in handset will sport an AMOLED Clearblack display and a Carl Zeiss rear-mounted F2.2 aperture camera.
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Joining [Nokia CEO Stephen] Elop on stage at the press conference was..Steve Ballmer. Both noted that the close partnership..was essential for establishing [Windows Phone] in a smartphone market that [is] dominated by IOS and Android.   

Nokia's Ian Delaney talks speeds (and feeds):

[It] allows data downloads up to 50Mbps on AT&T’s 4G LTE network. What does that mean? .. It means the Web is totally fun to use on your mobile.
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If you don’t have LTE, then the next step down is HSPA for a mere (cough!) 21Mbps download speed. How will you cope?
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We’ve recreated the popular polycarbonate unibody design pioneered by the Nokia N9 and the..800. .. The souped-up 1840mAH battery in the Nokia Lumia 900 will last for about 7hrs talk-time..[or] use it just as an MP3 music player [and] it’ll keep going for more than two-and-a-half days.   

And Microsoft's Michael Stroh has news for our friends in the North:

[T]he Lumia 710 and Lumia 800 [will] also be coming to Rogers and TELUS. .. The Lumia 800, meanwhile, will be sold unlocked..at Microsoft Stores..   

But MG Siegler can't resist his usual anti-Android dig:

[W]hat was shown today immediately makes every Android phone look like ****. Well, the iPhone has done that for years.
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See, it’s not that hard. Make something that looks awesome with a clear attention to detail and people like me will want to try it.
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Coincidentally, it was exactly 5 years ago today when the iPhone was first unveiled on stage..in 2007.   

Meanwhile, nothing has changed your humble blogwatcher's mind:

Microsoft is in talks to buy Nokia, or at least buy its smartphone division. .. What does this mean?
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[Why] would Microsoft, the sine qua non of selling OEM software..be itself wanting to become a hardware maker? .. Apple is of course a highly-integrated business. .. That's not true in the world of Windows (or of Android, for that matter).
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Microsoft's existing [OEMs]..have been..flirting with other OS's. Samsung and Asus with Android, HP with webOS, even Dell has a foot in the Android camp. .. [N]obody important is being monogamous with Microsoft, so why should Microsoft stay out of hardware?   

  
And Finally...
A joke for mathematicians: On the Weyl schism
  
 
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. He's the creator and main author of Computerworld's IT Blogwatch -- for which he has won American Society of Business Publication Editors and Jesse H. Neal awards on behalf of Computerworld. He also writes The Long View for IDG Enterprise. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com. You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.