MWC 2012: Nokia Symbian Handset Wins Best ‘In Show’ Award

The Nokia 808 PureView, unveiled on the first day of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, has been awarded the title of ‘Best New Mobile Handset, Device or Tablet’.

Featuring a 41 megapixel camera sensor, the phone was determined to be the best ‘in show’ device by a panel of judges which included analysts and journalists from Nomura, Canalys and Mobile Choice Magazine, among others.

A Symbian triumph

“It’s a fantastic award because it signifies that consumer experience counts,” said Jo Harlow, executive vice president of smart devices, speaking on Nokia’s Conversations blog. “It’s about tech, but it’s about how tech is used to make a consumer have a fantastic experience.”

The 808 PureView will be considered a surprise winner given its use of the soon-to-be defunct Symbian OS. In addition, it beat out the much-hyped HTC One X (featuring the Nvidia Tegra 3 ‘four-plus-one’ processor) and Huawei’s own quad-core Ascend D.

Despite more commercially promising options on show, judges decided that the camera technology showcased by Nokia warranted the award. It will certainly be a boost for the Finnish phone-maker, particularly given the growing competition from the likes of HTC, Apple and Samsung in the smartphone market.

“These are the first signals that we are executing against our strategy. That we’re back. That we’re bringing great products to our consumers – and that this is just the beginning,” Harlow said. “We are still a challenger, and we are going to operate as we have done in this last year to deliver these results.”

In addition to the 808 PureView’s in show success, Nokia also triumphed at GSMA’s Global Mobile Awards 2012 where the C3-00 won best feature/entry level phone. The major winner at the awards was Samsung, who picked up the prizes for device manufacturer of the year and best smartphone for the Galaxy S II.

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