Nokia Lumia 822 Unboxing, Hands-On, First Boot

We've already reviewed one variant of Nokia's midrange Lumia 820 -the Luma 810 for T-Mobile USA- but there's enough different on both the inside and the outside of Verizon Wireless' variant that we thought we'd take another dip into the mid-tier Windows Phone 8 pool.

The 822 is a curvier, longer, thicker, but lighter take on the Lumia 820, with a design that summons images of a pebble when viewed from behind, and whose front side packs a little more "chin music" than we're used to. It runs the latest version of Windows Phone 8, projecting it onto a 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display. It's powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 backed up by a gig of RAM, and boasts expandable memory to augment the 16GB on-board. The camera around back is an 8MP shooter, and the whole thing is powered by a removable 1800-mAh battery. Perhaps most important is the addition of LTE support to its domestic CDMA and globetrotting GSM/HSDPA radios, a distinction that might render this 820 variant a trifle more attractive to customers of America's largest wireless network.

There's more we have to show you. Click the video above to watch us free the Lumia 822 from its cardboard shackles, then follow along for a hardware tour and the magical "first boot." Then stay tuned for comparisons and our full review; they're coming in the days ahead!