Wired Magazine says the Nokia Lumia was the most talked about and hyped-up phone at this year’s CES in Las Vegas.  

Excuse me? Nokia? 

Known for low cost,  dependable and let’s be honest - rather boring feature phones, Nokia seemed to have lost their way over past years as smartphones from Apple and Android have transformed the market and stolen millions of customers away from the lumbering Finnish giant. 

Now they’re back with the Lumia 900 - a high end smartphone which rivals the Apple iPhone for design quality. The Lumia is made from a single piece of polycarbonate, has a gorgeous OLED display and exudes a real sense of style. Phone geeks are drooling all over it. 

What really sets it apart is the software. Last year Nokia hooked up with Microsoft to put Windows Phone software on Nokia handsets. The results are impressive. Maybe the single most exciting thing about the Windows Phone software is that it isn’t Apple or Android - it’s a new smartphone operating system that feels, well, a bit more grown up. The  typography is big, functional and sophisticated and draws on the principles of classic Swiss modernist design. It’s clean and fast and simple - and refreshingly different from the fussy icon based interfaces found on Apple and Android phones. 

Nokia has achieved something it’s been trying to do for years - it’s got great press - and great buzz - in the USA. 

Looks like reports of Nokia’s demise were, well, premature.

Read more http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/01/windows-phones-ces-2012/