Nokia Made a Bunch of Odd Announcements This Morning

Headphones, new phones that look like old phones, and free apps that won't persuade you to buy a different phone. Business Insider has an eye-opening slideshow that reveals the future of Nokia NOK – or lack thereof. For starters, the company unveiled what Business Insider refers to as the company's “flagship Windows phone,” the Lumia 800. The only problem is that it looks scarily similar to the N9. On the upside, the Lumia 800 is reportedly built from one long piece of plastic polycarbonate, which will hopefully mean that it will be one of the most durable phones around. The screen is only 3.7 inches in size but uses a “Clear Black Super AMOLED.” On the downside – you know, just in case its similarities to the N9 weren't enough of a downside – the Lumia 800 features a single-core processor. In a day and age when dual-core is all the rage, why would Nokia rely on old technology to power its newest phone? But hey – at least it has an 8MP camera. Now Nokia can pretend that the iPhone 4S isn't any better – or more popular. Nokia also showed off the Lumia 710, an ugly beast that looks like it was made for children. As an incentive, Nokia is planning to bundle three free apps with each of is new Windows phones: (1) turn-by-turn navigation GPS, (2) ESPN SportsHub (pin your favorite teams and leagues to your home screen), and (3) Nokia Mix Radio (provides free downloadable mixes). Nokia also unveiled a few bland, old-school-style phones for emerging markets. All in all, it was a rather unexciting day for smartphone announcements. Note: The Lumia 800 and 710 images came from the Windows Team Blog. Follow me @LouisBedigian