When I met with Microsoft last week for a pre-briefing about its IFA 2014 announcements, I was told that the new Lumia handsets were "global" devices and that they would not be made available in the United States. But Nokia's US web site was just updated to indicate that two of those new devices, the Lumia 830 and 735, would indeed be "coming soon" to the US. So, too, will the recently-announced Lumia 530.
This is good news, particularly with the Lumia 830, which just may have the right mix of features to attract a reasonable audience.
To see for yourself, just visit the All Nokia Devices page for the firm's US web site. Here, you can see that the Lumia 830, 735 (LTE) and 530 are all listed as "coming soon."
The next obvious question, of course, is: Which carriers?
There's no word yet, sorry. The best we can do for now is sign up to be notified when any of these phones is made available—there's a link next to each on that page shown above—or wait for the inevitable rumors and leaks.
A bigger question, perhaps, is whether Microsoft plans to deliver another flagship phone in the US this year. Users on AT&T, T-Mobile and especially Sprint are rightfully worried that we're done for the year—Verizon of course got the Icon in the spring and the HTC One M8 just this past month—and that we'll never see viable Lumia 1020 or Lumia 1520 replacements.
The Lumia 830 almost makes the grade, based purely on the specs and my hour or so manhandling one last week (what other blogs call "going hands-on"). But while I like the mainstream appeal of the 830, I do agree that a true Nokia flagship (or two) is needed. Especially if the Lumia 930 is never coming to these shores.
The problem? I've heard nothing about such a device. And generally speaking, any new phones are teased for months in advance.
