Nokia Lumia 920: Hands On Review

Nokia is aiming to make big into smartphone world. Microsoft, too, looks bullish when it comes to Windows Phone 8. Can these two giant have something extraordinary that can blow Android in a big way? Well, for that the Finnish-based giant needs a big hit badly, so badly, that can easily bring back its HQ under its control. In the past also, the company has launched several Windows Phone based devices -but all proved dud. So, this is the last chance for Nokia to prove its mighty dominance with latest Lumia range; most importantly, when your flagship device has to compete with likes of Samsung Galaxy premium series and Apple innovative iPhone range.

GizBot did a thorough review of Nokia Lumia 920 - a new flagship device that has all fancies of being a high-end device, a PureView camera and lastly wireless charging. Let's proceed further.

Design Aesthetics and Display

The Nokia Lumia 920 brings back color back in fashion. Is it so - well, yes to some extent. The device is supremely gorgeous and it indeed a bit different, when compared to Android brigade. The Nokia Lumia 920 feels similar in design and textures when you pit against Lumia 900/800. The device has unibody polycarbonate design, making it durable and sturdy. The curved display design is a solace.

Other knickknack features include: a 3.55 mm headphone jack on the top center, presence of volume rocker button, a power-button and camera button on the right side of the device. Everything is just fine with the device, except- its weight. It's actually heavy, a lot heavy than Samsung Galaxy S3. At 185 grams and thickness of 10.7 mm - Nokia could have made the handset light. Also, watch out for an aluminum body used in future Lumia phones.

Let's talk about the display. Nokia claims that they have made the display crisp - largely thanks to PureMotion HD + technology, which give fluidity to the overall experience and quickness also. The presence of ClearBlack display is a welcome move by Finnish giant. Stuffed with a 4.5-inch IPS LCD display with resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels (332 ppi), the screen is super crisp and produced vivid colors in our tests. Although, videos playing in full 1080p HD do deteriorate. Another astonishing quality of the display is that one can use a key or gloves to swipe menus, which was definitely working when we tried our hands on. Overall, Nokia managed to fit pixels rightly into the display.

Processor and hardware

Nokia has finally moved on from single core processor age to dual core one. The Nokia Lumia 920 packs with Qualcomm Snapdragon S 4 processor. The dual core processor clocks at 1.5GHz and healthy 1GB of RAM. As expected from a dual core processor no in discrepancies were found in our tests. The device performed in a smooth fashion and not a single instance of lag was found.

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Nokia Lumia 920 Hands On

Nokia Lumia 920 Games

Nokia Lumia 920 Volume Rocker

Nokia Lumia 920 Pureview Camera

Nokia Lumia 920 Microsoft Office

Nokia Lumia 920 media player

Nokia Lumia 920 Maps and Navigation

Nokia Lumia 920 Kids Corner

Nokia Lumia 920 Keyboard interface

Nokia Lumia 920 Jack

Nokia Lumia 920 Internet

Nokia Lumia 920 Gmail

Nokia Lumia 920 Games Collection

Nokia Lumia 920 Fruit Ninja

Nokia Lumia 920 Facebook

Nokia Lumia 920 Exclusive Apps

Nokia Lumia 920 Edges

Daylight Inside Shot

Late Evening Shot

Shot taken Around 7.30 pm.

Low Light Panorama

Nokia Lumia 920 Downloaded Apps

Nokia Lumia 920 Customize Tiles

Nokia Lumia 920 City Lens Bangalore

Nokia Lumia 920 City Lens

Nokia Lumia 920 Charge

Nokia Lumia 920 Camera Roll

Nokia Lumia 920 Camera

Nokia Lumia 920 Bing Search

Nokia Lumia 920 Apps Highlight

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Operating system and apps

This has to be the ultimate iron test for the Nokia Lumia 920. Why? Because, the hardware is not alone that sells a device. The convergence of software and hardware is what make a device sellable in the market. Nokia now officially use WP8 to power up its Lumia range. Let's have a look at how Windows Phone 8 worked in our tests. And on the top of it how the Nokia Lumia 920 responded to WP8.

Windows Phone 8 is completely rewritten from a scratch. It is in fact a bit different from Windows Phone 7.5 used to hold. But the look and feel is still the same. The Metro live tile user interface (UI), is classy, very classy. It is the epicenter for checking apps, Bing search and contact details. With WP8, Microsoft has introduced the re-size of live tiles. There are different size options to choose from. Basically, live tiles are meant to indicate you real time information. Your social life is clearly visible on a home screen. Multitasking on WP8 is at the par with iOS and Android. You can run multiple apps at the same time. Notification hubs of Android and iOS are still the best; same cannot be said for WP8.

Now comes some exclusive apps from Nokia. The company has added a significant number of features to make Lumia 920 an interesting device. For instance- Nokia Maps supports turn -by-turn navigation and can be used in an offline mode as well. Other popular apps include: Nokia Drive, Nokia Music and Nokia City Lens.

Although, the biggest disappointment is the lack of quality apps. Many popular apps found in Android /iOS app stores, are not available on WP8. For instance, popular photo filter app- Instagram is still missing. There are no exclusive apps found in WP8 store. Sorry folks, but this thing is very much needed for a platform to grow.

Also, there is Kid's Corner in the Lumia 920, quite useful for all dad's out there. It is a special feature where one can customize games, apps, music and video and make it accessible for your naught young one. After locking the phone, your stuff (emails, settings, NSFW content) remains out of reach of your kids as they will only be able to access the so-called Kid's corner. In a nutshell, its just like another user account in your Lumia 920.

Camera

Windows Phone 8 failed to make any impact on the apps based testing. It's time to see how Nokia Lumia 920 fares in camera department. The Nokia Lumia 920 comes fitted with blazing fast and responsive camera- thanks to the ‘PureView' imaging technology. Is it so?

Well, the company has used 8.7-mega pixels camera inside. Even, its competitors have used similar ranged camera sensors in their products. So, what makes Nokia Lumia 920 - a great camera phone when compared to Apple iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S 3? And the answer to the question will be answered next.

The Nokia Lumia 920 performed exceptionally brilliant when shot in a low-light. Even the shots took in the evenings were natural. And other bright spot - Optical Image Stabilization. It was a good experience of taking Lumia 920 out for a while for tough tests. Shots took in the morning- afternoon time, were fine, but not great.

The camera app is slick and simple to operate. One can also download a variety of lenses to enhance camera more productive. The device is capable of shooting videos in 1080p HD and 720p format without any hiccups.

Miscellaneous features and conclusion

In our tests, the device performed smooth when it comes to fall functionality. There was no lag detected when it comes to call receiving and call reception. Talking about call dialing menu - it is very clean and simple. The phone keypad consists of a dialer with call and save options.

The built in e-mail client is exceptionally good. The experience was at par with Android or iOS, for sake. And talking about WP8- Keyboard, it works really great. No hassles found in our tests.

The company has gone with a large 2000mAh battery(non-removable). But, the battery dried up immediately with excessive use of camera. On normal days, it worked fine.

The device stunned us when tested its browser. The default browser- Internet Explorer, is satisfactory. Bing Search is nowhere when compared to Google search. It has its own uniqueness.

What makes WP8 handset so unique? It must run fully functional - MS Office. One can easily edit documents with one touch. There are options that let you choose your saved documents in four different medium: Phone, SkyDrive (Microsoft's cloud storage medium), E-mail, and in Office 365(indicates paid service).

Further, Nokia also announced a range of wireless charging accessories and partnerships. The Fatboy Recharge Pillow provides a fun way to recharge, while JBL introduced the JBL PowerUP, a wireless charging docking station with high quality audio in retro styling. All are innovative, however quite pricey at the end of the day.

Nokia has tried to make Lumia 920 a full blown monster- but there are lags in-between. The handset is really bulky and the battery life is not exceptional. The PureView camera is a stellar, but could be more original. What tanks the Nokia Lumia 920 is the embedded OS- Windows Phone 8 is, practically, a difficult mobile OS. Any new user to Lumia 920 would give substantial amount of time in learning basics of WP8.

Pros

• Premium design
• Amazing screen display
• Wow media player performance
• Excellent camera

Cons

• Bulky, Very Bulky actually
• Limited Apps
• Battery life average (while excess use of camera)
• Overheating While Multiview Usage

We leave the verdict on you, would you like to spend Rs.38,000 on a device which has out of the box look and feel, amazing camera, navigation but limited number of apps, bulky design and average battery? Choice is yours at the end.

Gizbot Rating to Lumia 920 - 7/10

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