New York - AT&T Inc. said Thursday it will start selling Nokia's Lumia 820 and 920 in November, becoming the first U.S. wireless carrier to introduce the Finnish phone manufacturer's new Windows Phone 8 devices.

The Lumia 920, a higher-end model, will come in five colors and provide advanced camera and mapping technology, Dallas-based AT&T said Thursday in a statement. Nokia unveiled the phones last month, touting the benefits of Microsoft's new Windows operating system. At the time, Nokia didn't give a release date or say what carriers would offer it.

The Lumia are the linchpin of a comeback plan for Nokia, which has struggled to compete with Apple's iPhone and Google's Android. Microsoft also is counting on Nokia to help win back market share in smartphone software.

"The Lumia 920 will be one of the hottest phones for the holidays," Jeff Bradley, an AT&T senior vice president, said in the statement.

Nokia, based in Espoo, Finland, has identified the United States as a key market in its global turnaround bid. AT&T, the second- largest U.S. carrier, began selling the Lumia 900 exclusively earlier this year. That phone uses older Microsoft software.

Verizon Wireless, the biggest U.S. carrier, plans to start selling a Nokia Windows Phone 8 model later this year, a person familiar with the situation said in August.

The Lumia 920 has a brightly colored plastic body and a spring mounted, 8.7-megapixel camera. It features software called City Lens that displays the names of restaurants and shops when users point their camera at them. Special maps software also shows customers nearby attractions.

The 820 will only come in black. Both devices run on AT&T's long-term evolution, or LTE, network.