Nokia Smartphones Debuting in U.S. in Early 2012

Nokia my be the world's biggest smartphone maker, but in terms of smartphones, they are lagging way behind several other makers, especially in the U.S. Now comes word Nokia will take their new Windows Phone lineup of smartphones to the U.S. in early 2012 and will available on multiple carriers, Nokia's CEO Stephen Elop told Bloomberg.

The Finnish phone maker plans to launch the Lumia 710 instead of the higher end Lumia 800, or perhaps even another entry-level phone the company has yet to unveil. Lumia 710 is of course a Windows Phone based device, but it hasn't been announced yet how much it will cost and which networks it will run on.

Besides running Windows Phone, the 710 packs 3.7-inch display, 5 megapixel camera and eight gigabytes of storage. Because it runs the Windows Phone OS, if features the Live Tiles interface that is one of the functions that separates Windows Phone from iOS and Android. Live Tiles is a group of squares on the home screen that can be customized to show app updates, new emails or texts or Facebook notifications. They're called live because they update in real time, eliminating the need to switch between apps.

Nokia's Lumia 800 on the other hand, has the specs that mark it as more of a competitor to the iPhone, but that device may not be coming to the U.S. as soon as the 710.

Because the Windows Phone OS is a relatively new ecosystem, there aren't nearly as many apps available as there are for Apple and Android devices. Nokia CEO Elop made sure to mention that what mattered was that the apps that were available were quality, the Bloomberg story noted.

Elop declined to give a date for the U.S. launch, but whenever it comes out, Nokia fans can look forward to more because this is Nokia's first foray into the U.S. smartphone market.

Let us know in the comments if you've ever owned a Nokia device and what you thought of it.