AT&T Lumia 830 to come with Qi wireless charging after all

We got our first in-depth look at the new Lumia 830 'affordable flagship' phone yesterday, and I briefly talked almost Qi wireless charging. The Lumia 830 comes with the pop standard built into the removable back cover, leaving two contact points on the phone itself to become a charge.

AT&T has announced that they are getting the Lumia 830, and through our sources, we have pinned down a date for Friday, November 7. This sale date is reportedly the same for the AT&T HTC One for Windows.

The big question for many is will the Lumia 830 have the Qi wireless comprehend or is information technology removed?

A highly reliable source familiar with AT&Ts plans has confirmed to u.s. that the Lumia 830 does come with Qi in the box. AT&T is supposed to get the blackness/grey variant, then this means the Qi should be built right into the device. It also means users should exist able to purchase alternate covers with the colors similar greenish, orange, or black and retain the Qi charging (the curlicue is in the back cover).

Additionally, we are told that the Lumia 830 also supports the PMA standard through the availability of an accessory case for the Lumia 830.

AT&T and PMA

AT&T is on the board of the Power Matters Alliance (PMA), a competing wireless standard to Qi. As such, they have been more aggressive most downplaying Qi in place of PMA. Therefore, although the Lumia 920 had Qi built in, the Lumia 1020 needed a shell to add it. At the time, the reason given for this move was to get in thinner, though this is a dubious explanation as the wireless scroll is newspaper-sparse.

Looking at the Lumia 1520, and AT&T's version is the only one in the world without Qi built in. In fact, the AT&T Lumia 1520 merely supports PMA requiring some sophisticated soldering if you desire to put Qi back into the phone.

Why the modify of heart? If I had to estimate, it is considering Microsoft every bit a visitor is in a better bargaining position than Nokia due to their size and reputation. The sudden turn-about evidences this by Canadian carriers who are all picking up the Lumia 830, despite previously existence dank to Nokia. At that place are even rumors of Sprint getting a Lumia (either the Lumia 635 or Lumia 735), which would be a momentous consequence. Nokia and Sprint accept had some bad blood over CDMA problems and marketing in the past.

For now, we are giving this rumor a 9 (out of ten) on our Rumo'meter only considering we accept non seen it with our own eyes, although our sources on the thing are consistently right. [Update: new data has come forward so I am bumping this to a '10', so consider this rumor confirmed]

If our information is accurate, Microsoft is reaching a middle basis with AT&T: Microsoft gets to keep Qi, just AT&T also gets their PMA choice. For consumers, this is a win-win, since leaving the selection to the market is conspicuously the right manner to become.