Nokia Lumia 900 up for Pre-orders: Can it Save Nokia?

The Nokia Lumia 900 is up for pre-orders in the Microsoft Stores and there's a $25 deposit. The smartphone itself will reportedly hit AT&T shelves on March 18. The big question is - can the latest Windows Phone-powered smartphone save Nokia?

Lumia 900 will reportedly sell for $99 with a 2-year AT&T contract, and the attractive price tag is certainly going to see its sales take off, at least during the early stage.

And, why not? For $99, you get a smartphone that runs on 1.4GHz Qualcomm APQ8055 processor, boasts of a 4.3-inch AMOLED display (800x480 pixels resolution); 512MB RAM; 16GB storage: 8-MP rear-facing and 1-MP front-facing camera; 4G LTE; Bluetooth; WiFi; accelerometer; ambient and proximity sensors; gyroscope; and runs on Windows Phone 7.5 Mango.

But is that enough for Lumia 900 to change Nokia's fortunes? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Especially not when the latest smartphones boast of dual-core processor, better screen resolution and more RAM. And, yes, there's no expandable memory. So 16GB is all you get.

And most importantly, Lumia 900 runs on Windows Phone OS and not on Android. The OS currently does not support true multitasking, though Windows Phone 8 is expected to resolve the issue.

Also, in a market dominated by iOS and Android, it's difficult to imagine who would buy a Windows Phone, unless the buyer is a Microsoft/Nokia fan.

However, should Nokia be concerned? We don't think so. At least not as long as the Finnish mobile phone maker keeps getting $1 billion annually from Microsoft for making Windows Phone the primary OS for Nokia smartphones.

Moreover, if Lumia 900 is actually priced at $99 as was reported earlier, it's a steal. After all, it's not often that you come across a $99 smartphone that boasts of a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen, a front-facing camera and sleek design. Granted that iPhone 4 also can be yours for $99 but Lumia 900 has 16GB storage unlike the $99 iPhone 4, which comes with only 8GB storage.

What do you think? Can Lumia 900 save Nokia? Leave your comments below.