Nokia, widely seen as Microsoft's right-hand company for smartphones, is expected to unveil a range of new Windows Phone 8 handsets.

Its current Lumia range has received a positive reaction from consumers and critics alike. But Windows Phone 7 limited the hardware in a few ways, such as screen resolution and horsepower.

Now, with Windows Phone 8 modernising and even future-proofing Microsoft's platform to an extent, we take a look at what to expect when Nokia kicks off its show on Wednesday.

So, what's it called?

According to The Verge, citing an evleaks Twitter account, there are two Nokia phones set to be released, namely the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820.

As is to be expected, the 920 is supposedly the higher-end version while the 820 is expected to be the more price-conscious design.

Having said that, we can't help but like the Arrow and Phi codenames that were bandied about earlier this year.

What's it look like?

Nokia has a reputation for building pretty handsets, but not always in the best way, as the 808 PureView showed (that camera hump).

But the company has an impressive track record anyway, with its N9 and Lumia range being fashioned out of durable, sleek polycarbonate (read: plastic).

The same Twitter account responsible for the leaked names has also purportedly shown off a few photos (seen in the main image). In them, we see phones that look pretty similar to the current Lumia range, by no means a bad thing.

A beefier Windows Phone experience

The unveiling of Samsung's Ativ S smartphone has shed some light on the possible tech specs that Nokia's effort would have, again correlating with leaked specifications.

The new Lumia devices are reportedly set to have 1GB of RAM and a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor. It's a stark change from Windows Phone 7, which only supported up to 512MBs of RAM and single-core processors – not that the platform needed more horsepower.

On the storage side of things, the Lumia 920 is reportedly set for 32GBs of space. The 820 will purportedly have microSD expansion, although it's not clear whether the same applies to the Lumia 920.

It's also presumed that Nokia will be packing an NFC chip into their handsets for use with peripherals. The chip makes sense seeing as Windows Phone 8 supports a new wallet feature too.

Wireless charging

The @evleaks account has also claimed that that the company was introducing wireless charging as well, tweeting photos too.

The technology isn't new, being revealed for the Samsung Galaxy SIII and even earlier with the Palm Pre smartphone. However, Nokia's product is looking pretty stylish if the images are to be believed.

Visuals

Nokia's always had some of the best smartphone cameras around thanks to Carl Zeiss optics, but other manufacturers were quick to catch up, such as Apple, HTC and Samsung.

So the company came out with the Nokia 808 PureView, a 41-megapixel behemoth capable of super detailed photos. The titular PureView technology is what makes it so special, merging several pixels into one to create a wonderfully sharp picture.

The technology excels when taking lower megapixel photos, with smaller-sized snaps resulting in more pixels merging, and thus, sharper snaps. 

Nokia has confirmed that the PureView tech is coming to Windows Phones, with no solid time-frame publically known.

That hasn't stopped more rumours, with The Verge citing sources as saying that the company would be shipping an eight-megapixel PureView-enabled camera.

However, earlier reports claimed that the camera would be 21MP - whatever the case, we're sure it'll stand out from other Windows Phones.

Despite the 808's fantastic PureView camera, the smartphone was also let down by a lacklustre 640x360 screen. In fact, even Windows Phone 7 handsets were hampered by the maximum 480x800 resolution.

So it's for that reason that Windows Phone 8 supports HD screens, and it's expected that Nokia will be packing either a 720p or 768p display on their phones.

Price

The all-important price-point is unknown for now, but we're expecting the higher-end 920 to retail for less than R7000 on prepaid. Heck, R5999 seems like a realistic price too. Expect the new Windows Phone range to come out in October or early November.