Nokia EOS to launch as "first real PureView Windows Phone" later this year: Report

Ever since the launch of the first Nokia PureView device, there have been speculations that Nokia may launch a similar camera smartphone based on the Windows Phone OS. And if reports by The Verge are to be believed then this smartphone could already be in the works.

The tech blog claims that Nokia is currently working on a smartphone that is codenamed "EOS" and it sports a camera sensor, which is similar to the one that is on Nokia's 808 PureView. Furthermore, it claims that unlike the recent devices in the Lumia series, the EOS smartphone might sport an aluminium exterior instead of polycarbonate.

The Verge also states that the EOS is expected to be a new flagship device from the company that will launch later in the year. For now, there are no more details available regarding specifications of the device.

Nokia had first showcased its 808 PureView at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2012. This smartphone garnered a lot of attention, thanks to the massive 41-megapixel camera sensor that it has on-board. Other features of the smartphone include a 4-inch 360x640pixel AMOLED display, 16GB of internal storage, 1.3GHz processor and Nokia Symbian Belle OS.

Nokia 808 PureView debuted in India in June 2012. Its current price is mentioned as Rs. 26,499 but it is currently listed as out of stock on Nokia India official store.

Earlier in the month there were also reports doing the rounds that Nokia is working on a successor to its current flagship smartphone the Lumia 920, which is codenamed "Catwalk". The reports also claimed that this device will come with an aluminium body and will be lighter and thinner than the Lumia 920.

Nokia clears the air on "Symbian is dead" reports

From the time since Nokia has decided to partner with Windows, there have been plenty of news regarding Symbian being on its death bed. A few days ago, Daily Mobile Forum too had indicated that Nokia is bidding adieu to Symbian and will not be adding new features to this operating system.
This information was based on the response to the developer's suggestion for improvements in Symbian. The response went on to read, "Thank you for your improvement ideas, thus Symbian is in maintenance mode and no new features will be implement without extremely good reason (business case). We have written down your ideas for future development if there is a chance that new feature will be released."
However now the company has backtracked from its original statement and cleared the air by stating that the term 'Symbian being in maintenance mode', was used in reference to the earlier versions of this operating system.
Nokia's new reply reads as, "I would like to make a small correction to our previous comments just to avoid potential misunderstandings. When we were talking about maintenance mode we were actually referring to our earlier Symbian release. We do have new feature development for PureView 808 product and we periodically evaluate what updates are needed to attract the end user. Your comments will be re-evaluated in these cross check points."
The new statement from Nokia does offer some relief to the users of Nokia PureView 808 but raises a few questions as well. The Finnish handset maker had rolled out the last 'major' (if you can call it that) update way back in October 2012 in the form of 'Symbian Belle Feature Pack 2'. The smartphones running on this version of the operating system are Nokia 701, Nokia 700, Nokia 602 and Nokia PureView 808. However, the reply to the post refers only to Nokia PureView 808, does that mean that there will be no new features available to the other smartphones running on Symbian Belle Feature Pack 2.
Even in the starting of January, Nokia had rolled out a performance update for just its Nokia PureView 808 smartphone. The software version 113.010.1508 was a heavy 420MB file that brought in performance improvements to this 41-megapixel monster.