Nokia design patent finally reveals mysterious Phi Windows Phone 8 device

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

The Nokia Phi as seen by the USPTO

Adding to the earlier news about the new Nokia phone, codename ‘Phi’ coming to AT&T, the site Liveside have managed to uncover a new patent filing that appears to reveal the new device in submitted drawings.

At first brush, the device looks a lot like the Lumia 800 and 900 but upon closer inspection, it matches nearly to the ‘t’ the previous images of the Phi that were leaked out earlier this month.

One immediate item that we noticed is the screen is not curved. Although the Verge this morning mentioned this as a feature, from the images and bezel leak that we’ve seen, curved glass does not appear to be a feature and these drawings confirm that notion.

The design of the phone does have a curved back though, more so than the Lumia 900, which is quite flat on both sides of the device. This is presumably both a design choice and so it can possibly incorporate a larger battery needed to power the massive 4.7” display.

Nokia Phi versus Lumia 900 and Lumia 800

Dual speakers are on the bottom, a change from the single speaker grill of the Lumia 800 and 900. Of course phones often use ‘faux’ speaker grills for added parity in design so it will be interesting to see if these grills are actually for dual speakers or not. Knowing Nokia, we wouldn’t put it past them to have a fantastic sound system on this flagship phone.

Button layout appears to be the same as the Lumia 900 with all keys on the right hand side, although spacing does look to be greater here with the camera button pushed further down and what appears to be a slightly larger ‘gap’ between the power and volume controls.

Rounding out the design sheet is a micro USB connector on the bottom, right in the middle with a 3.5mm headphone jack its polar opposite on top. In addition what appears to be a dual microSIM/microSD card tray is present on the upper left corner of the device—it would make sense to have this as a single drawer to reduce costs and for design simplicity. 

The Noka Lumia 'Phi' (its marketing name yet to be revealed) is expected to feature the following specifications:

  • 4.65" AMOLED screen + ClearBlack, 1280x720
  • 4G LTE
  • microSD, NFC
  • Qualcomm Dual-core CPU ~1.5GHz
  • polycarbonate, unibody design

What do people think? Sound off in comments.

Source USPTO; via Liveside

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been here covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, Microsoft Surface, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics and ran the projectors at movie theaters, which has done absolutely nothing for his career.

146 Comments
  • Please, no more earphone hole on the top
  • You have to be like one of two people in the world with that request.
  • I am the other one.  So stupid to have it at the top.
  • curious as to why its a bad thing particularly? are there problems with certain handsfree/headset configurations?
  • I am using a Samsung Focus with the earphone hole on top, and I hate it. You have to hold the cable in your palm behind the phone to bring it towards you. If you use a FM transmitter with it in your car, you can't just hang it off the phone, because it pulls on the top of the phone. It just isn't that practical as one in the bottom. It only works if you have the phone in the front pocket and you are wearing headphones for music.
  • That's why the iPhone has the jack on the bottom.
  • see i have my phone in the cup holder in my car where i hook my phone up to a tape adaptor, so i rather like it where it is. i get where you're coming from tho. 
  • I was also curious why. Having the earphone jack on the top makes it easier to handled both phone and earphone e.g when you want to keep the phone in a pocket - a sideways jack will make things awkward and result in tangled wires.
  • Im the third. I love having the port at the bottom of the Zune HD
  • True! Having it on the bottome of the Zune HD allows me to easily change songs when it is strapped to my arm since it's right side up.  For a Phone though.  I never gave it much thought and I'm not sure it matters to me.
  • There must be three. It drives me crazy on the car.
  • I'm the fourth or something then, I guess. I put my phone in my pocket upside down, so that when I reach into my pocket and pull it out, my hand is naturally gripping it the right way up. Having the headphone jack on the top forces me to put my phone in my pocket the right way up, so every time I pull it out of my pocket I have to turn it again so it is the right way up before using it. Obviously a very small thing but it's just convenience. It wouldn't stop me from buying a particular phone, though. Anyone care to explain why you prefer the jack to be on the top of the phone? ;)
  • 100% agree with you
  • +5 but I don't use my phone for music since I use my Zune HD. Is this a phone/tablet? Seriously not many ppl have giant hands & having a huge screen on a pants pocket is just not fun. I guess they want to compete with the Samsung note.
  • I used to think this was a big deal until I bought bluetooth headphones.
    Sony Ericsson MW600 <3
  • I'm curious to know how much more battery-consuming Bluetooth headphones would be. I generally listen to music on my phone about 1.5-2 hours per day, on the journey to and from work. I always had the feeling I'd entirely drain my battery using Bluetooth headphones...
  • I listen to music about 30mins a day and have no problem.
    On longer trips its usually the constant searching for network that is draining my phone so then I put battery saver on and kill data/net, battery lasts a loooong time even with BT.
  • +1 For BT headphones: completely eliminates the issue lol. I use Sennheiser MM100's at least 2hrs a day with my Lumia 900, and I haven't noticed a difference in battery useage from when I used non-BT headphones...
  • I prefer the jack on top because every device I've had has been on top, so it's what I'm used to.
  • #firstworldproblem
  • I never said otherwise. But still, my point stands. If I could choose, I'd have it on the bottom. That is all.
  • +100
  • I'm the opposite to you. I keep my phone in a slip case the right way up. I hate having to put my phone in my pocket upside-down when using headphones as when I slide my phone out of the pouch I have to flip it the right way up again...
  • I agree a 1000% on dat one. It really is annoying having to put it in ur pocket rite side up the turning it around to grip it the rite way. Headphone jack at the bottom just seems rite to me
  • You can answer this yourself by taping the earphone to the side and try putting the phone in your pocket.
  • Way to make him feel stupid, nice and welcoming of you.
  • Having the charge port and headphone jack on opposite sides would make it annoying to both charge and play through the cars aux input while resting it in a cup holder.
  • I agree when I use my lumia in the car im usually listening to music and charging at the same time so it's much easier having both ports at the top
  • Okay yeah.  I think this comment just swayed me.  You are right it is weird have the power plugged into one end and the headphones plugged into the other.
  • How do you get rid of that horrible buzzing whine when it is connected to not power and an aux input? Drives me crazy.
  • Ground loop isolaor - http://www.amazon.com/Kensington-Reducing-SmartPhone-including-iPhone/dp/B0031U1ATQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1345738111&sr=1-3&keywords=ground+loop+isolator
  • Thanks. Worth a shot.
  • I use Bluetooth headphones. So I do not care where the headphone jack is.
  • ^^ o your cool -_-
  • I liked it on the bottom like my Zune hd. What about having two one on top and one on the bottom
  • Please leave the headphone hole on the top!
  • Put the headphone hole in the back center of the phone.
  • I'm glad they moved the microUSB port to the bottom, this means you can buy docks for the phone.
  • +100, including it's the most easy place for a carcradle.
  • Absolutely  with the micro usb on the bottom among other things they can  have a cradle .  I so miss having a charging cradle/stand on the desktop for my smartphone.  And to me it makes more sense to have it on the bottom.
  • That makes me happy
  • Having the headphone jack on the bottom would work great for the cradle too. That way instead of having to plug in an Aux cable every time you get into your car or sit at your desktop all you have to do is drop your phone into the cradle. That is actually one thing I miss about the iPhone.
  • Honestly not that excited about this one.  Too big and thick and I hate curved backs
    I want a thinner Lumia 800-esque phone with a 4" screen.  Can't deal with these huge screens.  Hopefully the "mid-tier" phone they're talking about is close to this.
  • I agree.
  • Amen. Larger than 4" makes it very dificult to fully navigate (read touch all four corners with your thumb while holding without repositioning the phone) with one hand unless you have unusually large hands.
  • To each his/her own  I dont see it being that much larger than the L 900.  It would be nice if its thinner but it will probbaly be about the same thickness as the 900 and thats okay with me.  I have played with the note and thought it would be great with WP8. More screen for me is great  for my aging eyes to see.better.
  • I have small hands and have no problem typing one handed on larger phones. 4.7 is awesome for my small hands!
  • Agreed. I don't really like that all high-end phones seem to move towards huge screens. A 4" Lumia 800 with high-end specs (dual/quad-core, 1+gb ram, NFC, FFC and all that stuff) would be the perfect phone for me.
  • Fat phones need love too
  • Lol!
  • OMFG A GLASS PHONE?!!! 
  • Where's the pure view 'hump'? :)
  • Its there! :)
    the days are becoming slower as we get closer to Sept. 5 -_-
  • May that's why there is the curved back? A smaller hump spread through the phone?
    It looks to me in the side view that the glass IS beveled at the top the bottom of the phone.
  • I was thinking the same thing on both counts.
    Its possible the curved back is there to incorporate a PV camera plus I reckon it'll fit snugly in the hand as a result. There was speculation in the comments of a seperate blog post that Nokia's first WP8 offerings may have a lower powered PureView camera (this is was from the commenters so it's totally speculative) which could mean it wouldn't need the same space as the PureView on the 808.
    Also, studying the left & right profiles of the drawings you can see a thin sliver of the screen, which would suggest it curves around the edges, a la the 800.
  • Just brought the drawings into Photoshop and dragged some guides out to check the screen -  and they're just not high enough resolution to determine if it curves slightly around. Looks like I'll just have to buy one to satisfy my curiosity!
  • According to the screen size they're claiming for this thing some simple equations show this device to be around 13.5mm thick (Not a huge amount smaller than 808). I'd say either this is the 4" model or there is indeed a reasonably specced pureview in there.
  • You, sir, have eagle vision :). Yay for curved screen (love it on my Lumia 800).  Booo, for usb port not covered by a magnetic lock (love that as well on my Lumia 800). I know many people are annoyed with that, but to each, their own :).  Hope it has a smaller brother (4 inch-ish) with curved screen and magnetic lock on usb port, either on top or bottom .  (Yeah, I want a slightly larger lumia 800 with windows 8 phone  - the way microsoft should name the so :) :) :) :)  .  Don't be hating, it's just what I'd like
  • I think they will wait on a wp8 pure view. They need to push this other wp8 first & later take out the big gun (pure view)
  • That would suck eager early adopters of WP8. I'd like to have pureview when I upgrade my phone this November :)
  • It already happened to me once, when I bought Samsung Focus. If I'd waited, I could have gotten a Focus S or a Lumia.
  • This is definitely the next phone I am getting! Nokia has set themselves apart on the windows phone arena.
  • 100% agree. Nokia all the way but I'm holding out for Pureview
  • ME too
  • Can't wait any longer. Have to get the first new Lumia with wp8.
  • Micro USb on the bottom? Great news, maybe we finally see a proper docking station.
  • not only that but it is supper awkward if you are on a call with the phone plugged in. I really feel like the Micro USB is going to be broken with it on top.
  • Ahh man this is heating up. 2 more weeks away from the announcement!  I may have to cuy out of my Sprint contract early. 
  • I guess no PureView? I know I'm beating a dead whatever mentioning this but the sketches don't show it.
  • Where's the love for T Mobile????
  • What colors will be available at launch? I love the design, but I just don't want bulk in my pocket.
  • Where can we see all the patent details???
  • At the bottom of the article where it says 'Source' is probably a good start...
  • You sir have way too much snark. You're supposed to play the impartial journalist, not the angry message boarder. Just tell him where it is, or ask him why he doesn't like the headphone jack placement etc.
  • Nah, I like the snarkiness. He is a blogger on a fan site, not a traditional journalist. It shows a personality behind the articles.
  • if you say so. 
  • Haahaa
  • @ ahuczek I admit sometimes I am too snarky although in this case, it really wasn't meant to be mean or anything to @ejb22, though I can see how it may come off as that way. I'm just a very sarcastic type and sometimes that is hard to convey via text. As far as being an 'impartial journalist' versus a 'blogger', I would lump myself in with the latter. But it's a very difficult and nuanced discussion about the role of tech-media these days and who is who. It's a very different medium than print and roles are less defined due to the social nature of the system.
  • Keep your great work and sense of humor up mr Rubino! Please don't change:)
  • I'll take snarky and interactive over distant and disconnected any day of the week.  I love this site because we can ask questions in the comments and actually get answers!
  • Haha! The way Daniel replies to people is great! Anyone trying to tone him down should quit the girl scouts and grow a sack. Or just relax... ;)
  • Not sure I like the micro usb at the bottom because it will five me to buy a dock to charge the phone in the car, but hey I'll deal. So glad the screen is that big, that is the perfect screen size. Can't understand why would any one want a small screen if you can have a big one that is still manageable with one hand. Can't wait especially if by so.e miracle it has pureview( not holding my breath on that one but one can dream )