Quick thoughts on the Lumia 920
Discussion
Ok, so I've had my Lumia 920 since Saturday and now think I'm able to give some feedback on what it's like and, more specifically, what Windows Phone 8 is like. In the run up to purchasing the Lumia 920, I've also been using an Apple iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3 and my trust old BlackBerry Bold 9900. I've been doing this to try to determine in which direction the company I work for should move with their mobile comms.
First off, the UI is wonderful. It's arguably the most slick OS available at the moment with a pleasant, uniform design which is far removed from the jumble of styles in BBOS, the tired skeuomorphism of IOS and the easily ruined UI of Android. There were a few mistakes in WP7 which have been corrected, tidied and polished in WP8 and overall all the little tweaks have produced an OS which is greater than the sum of its tweaks. I'm yet to experience and lag, stalling or crashes within WP8, despite my best efforts to try and roger it by running as much stuff as possible and fast-switching between applications. It appears to be quite good at handling multiple processes but maybe not as smooth or as well as the QNX-based OS on the BlackBerry Playbook, which I still believe handles multitasking better than any other mobile device.
The battery life is sometimes questionable. The first couple of days were fairly poor but I put this down to me doing a lot of dicking around with it and the fact it was still calibrating. Its been a lot better since then and appears to be getting stronger every day. The 920 will absolutely munch through its 2000mAh battery if you batter it but then I guess that's to be expected. Out of the four devices I've tried the BB9900 will last the longest, followed by the iPhone 5 and then the battle for last place is going to be between the S3 and 920 - I suspect the 920 squeaks into last place but I need a bit more time with it before I totally condemn it on that front.
On the plus side; wireless charging is almost sexual. You don't realise how much you've needed it in your life until you have it. The wireless charger will throw electricity into the phone at around 85-90% the rate of the mains charger so it's not the quickest way to charge but it's massively better than charging from USB. Every device should have wireless charging. It's lovely.
The display is another high point for the 920 and I definitely rate it as the best out of the devices I tried. The colours are extremely well saturated and everything looks crisp and tidy. I'll acknowledge that a part of this crispness is probably due to the tiled nature of the interface so sharp corners will always look sharper than rounded ones (©), obviously.
I don't need to say a lot about the camera. The height from which it takes a huge, yellow slash on other phone cameras is incalculably huge. That is all.
App choice is one hell of a lot more reasonable that people might have you believe. If we try to bear in mind that 98% of all apps ever written are a waste of time then I don't think anyone would be disappointed with what you can get for WP8 already. Obviously, IOS and Android devices lead by quite a huge margin in this respect but I don't think anyone will be left wanting in WP8. I have my guitar tuner, Paypal, eBay, weather, news and games based around miffed avarians. BBOS is well behind in terms of applications and I really hope that the forthcoming BBX can help turn that around.
In terms of actually using it as a communications device, it's nice to use, handles email and texts well and the integration with Twitter, Facebook and others is well implemented and has clearly been thought about. Coming from a BlackBerry, I'll admit that a lack of a notification LED is getting on my tits a bit but I guess we can't have everything, eh? Speaking of BlackBerrys, I still maintain that if you do a lot of texting, emailing and IM stuff, the BB9900 knocks the competition into a cocked hat... and then poops into the hat. All touchscreen devices are compromised when it comes to typing and that is never going to change (unless we get some sort of kooky living glass with haptic feedback).
Finally, build quality and tactility. The 920 is big and fairly weighty. I can't really complain about its weight too much because as a fully-grown adult male, I don't have too much of a problem lifting 180g. The plus side is that the weight does give it a 'hewn from granite' kind of feel and its unibody polycarb case feels really nice and solid. The downside is that it might make my trousers fall down if I'm not wearing a belt. Swings and roundabouts. At the other end of the specturm, my experience with the iPhone 5 was not a positive one; it looked good but felt cheap, like a chinese knock-off of itself. The 4/4S always felt like a quality item but the 5 is woefully disappointing, feeling unpleasant in the hand, having bits of cheap paint flaking off and just generally fearing it may turn to dust at any point. This is not a quality product. At best, it just has that feeling its been rushed to market and that is not a feeling Apple want to be giving to its customers. Sort it out.
So in summary, I like the 920 I just really hope that a firmware revision or targeted software update will do something to improve the battery life.
First off, the UI is wonderful. It's arguably the most slick OS available at the moment with a pleasant, uniform design which is far removed from the jumble of styles in BBOS, the tired skeuomorphism of IOS and the easily ruined UI of Android. There were a few mistakes in WP7 which have been corrected, tidied and polished in WP8 and overall all the little tweaks have produced an OS which is greater than the sum of its tweaks. I'm yet to experience and lag, stalling or crashes within WP8, despite my best efforts to try and roger it by running as much stuff as possible and fast-switching between applications. It appears to be quite good at handling multiple processes but maybe not as smooth or as well as the QNX-based OS on the BlackBerry Playbook, which I still believe handles multitasking better than any other mobile device.
The battery life is sometimes questionable. The first couple of days were fairly poor but I put this down to me doing a lot of dicking around with it and the fact it was still calibrating. Its been a lot better since then and appears to be getting stronger every day. The 920 will absolutely munch through its 2000mAh battery if you batter it but then I guess that's to be expected. Out of the four devices I've tried the BB9900 will last the longest, followed by the iPhone 5 and then the battle for last place is going to be between the S3 and 920 - I suspect the 920 squeaks into last place but I need a bit more time with it before I totally condemn it on that front.
On the plus side; wireless charging is almost sexual. You don't realise how much you've needed it in your life until you have it. The wireless charger will throw electricity into the phone at around 85-90% the rate of the mains charger so it's not the quickest way to charge but it's massively better than charging from USB. Every device should have wireless charging. It's lovely.
The display is another high point for the 920 and I definitely rate it as the best out of the devices I tried. The colours are extremely well saturated and everything looks crisp and tidy. I'll acknowledge that a part of this crispness is probably due to the tiled nature of the interface so sharp corners will always look sharper than rounded ones (©), obviously.
I don't need to say a lot about the camera. The height from which it takes a huge, yellow slash on other phone cameras is incalculably huge. That is all.
App choice is one hell of a lot more reasonable that people might have you believe. If we try to bear in mind that 98% of all apps ever written are a waste of time then I don't think anyone would be disappointed with what you can get for WP8 already. Obviously, IOS and Android devices lead by quite a huge margin in this respect but I don't think anyone will be left wanting in WP8. I have my guitar tuner, Paypal, eBay, weather, news and games based around miffed avarians. BBOS is well behind in terms of applications and I really hope that the forthcoming BBX can help turn that around.
In terms of actually using it as a communications device, it's nice to use, handles email and texts well and the integration with Twitter, Facebook and others is well implemented and has clearly been thought about. Coming from a BlackBerry, I'll admit that a lack of a notification LED is getting on my tits a bit but I guess we can't have everything, eh? Speaking of BlackBerrys, I still maintain that if you do a lot of texting, emailing and IM stuff, the BB9900 knocks the competition into a cocked hat... and then poops into the hat. All touchscreen devices are compromised when it comes to typing and that is never going to change (unless we get some sort of kooky living glass with haptic feedback).
Finally, build quality and tactility. The 920 is big and fairly weighty. I can't really complain about its weight too much because as a fully-grown adult male, I don't have too much of a problem lifting 180g. The plus side is that the weight does give it a 'hewn from granite' kind of feel and its unibody polycarb case feels really nice and solid. The downside is that it might make my trousers fall down if I'm not wearing a belt. Swings and roundabouts. At the other end of the specturm, my experience with the iPhone 5 was not a positive one; it looked good but felt cheap, like a chinese knock-off of itself. The 4/4S always felt like a quality item but the 5 is woefully disappointing, feeling unpleasant in the hand, having bits of cheap paint flaking off and just generally fearing it may turn to dust at any point. This is not a quality product. At best, it just has that feeling its been rushed to market and that is not a feeling Apple want to be giving to its customers. Sort it out.
So in summary, I like the 920 I just really hope that a firmware revision or targeted software update will do something to improve the battery life.
It's exclusive to EE, Orange, T-Mobile until January 14th. You can get an unlocked, SIM-free one from http://www.clove.co.uk if you really want one.
g7jhp said:
Wait till you try BlackBerry 10, not long until 30th January 
Yeah! Really looking forward to BBX as, from what I've so far, it looks exceptionally well thought out and, as I said in my OP, I still don't think you can beat a Bold 9900 for actually communicating with people 
I think all of the Nokia applications are brilliant! I'm so used to seeing bundled applications as nasty, bodged pieces of poo but Nokia has made some real effort with them and it shows.
Interestingly, I have both a Lumia 920 and 820 at the moment and there are some interesting differences between the two that are worth noting. The 820's AMOLED screen is significantly brighter than the 920's IPS but, having said that, the 820's is over saturated and the colour balance isn't brilliant; as in you may struggle to discern between a low value red and a high value orange. The 820's screen also has a much better range when it comes to viewing angle but then again, how many people look at their screens from a 45° angle?
Performance wise, they're identical, as you'd expect. The 920's camera is obviously much better but the 820's isn't exactly shabby. Battery life on the 820 is also much better and you'll easily get 3 days out of it, compared to 1.5 days out of the 920. The 820 has removable, swappable cases (including wireless charging) and allows you to swap the battery or shove in a MicroSD card, should you need it. Finally, the 820 feels nicer in the hand if you're scared by the 920's himalayan dimensions.
Interestingly, I have both a Lumia 920 and 820 at the moment and there are some interesting differences between the two that are worth noting. The 820's AMOLED screen is significantly brighter than the 920's IPS but, having said that, the 820's is over saturated and the colour balance isn't brilliant; as in you may struggle to discern between a low value red and a high value orange. The 820's screen also has a much better range when it comes to viewing angle but then again, how many people look at their screens from a 45° angle?
Performance wise, they're identical, as you'd expect. The 920's camera is obviously much better but the 820's isn't exactly shabby. Battery life on the 820 is also much better and you'll easily get 3 days out of it, compared to 1.5 days out of the 920. The 820 has removable, swappable cases (including wireless charging) and allows you to swap the battery or shove in a MicroSD card, should you need it. Finally, the 820 feels nicer in the hand if you're scared by the 920's himalayan dimensions.
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