Nokia unveils the Lumia 928 smartphone for Verizon

Nokia and Verizon Wireless are teaming up to launch the Lumia 928, a variation of the Finnish phone maker’s flagship smartphone.

After a few days of teasing users with vague ads like one that ran in a recent issue of Vanity Fair, the company officially announced the expected device Friday morning through a blog post. And as many expected, the Lumia 928 appears to be very similar to the Lumia 920, a phone that launched last year exclusively for AT&T.

Nokia said the Lumia 928 features a 4.5-inch OLED HD screen. The device also features an 8.7-megapixel camera that comes with Nokia’s PureView technology, which is supposed to help fix blurry pictures and video and take high-quality shots in low light. A key difference between the Lumia 928 and the Lumia 920 is that the new device also features a xenon flash, which is much bigger than the one found on the older version of the phone. In its blog post, Nokia says users can leave their DSLR cameras at home thanks to the xenon flash.

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Besides that, the phone appears to be identical to the Lumia 920, and as such, it includes wireless charging, meaning users can lay the phone on a charging pad and the device begin recharging without the use of a USB cable.

Nokia said the phone will launch on Thursday in stores and online with Verizon. It will be available for $100 with a two-year contract.

The company also has an event scheduled for Tuesday in London, where it promises to reveal what’s next for its Lumia line of phones. It’s unclear if Nokia will simply rehash Friday’s Lumia 928 announcement or if it has something else up its sleeve.

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