Review Of Nokia Lumia 920. The Most Powerful Windows Smartphone

2023 Author: Gordon Kinson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 08:36

The new Nokia Lumia 920 smartphone is not for beginners. Only the experienced can evaluate its potential, functions, applications. The new smartphone will be a good companion for a person who can open his heart and wallet to him. If you are ready to spend money on buying a new item, then you will become the owner of an excellent design, goodies of the Windows Phone 8 operating system and a good phone.

This unit provides many exciting features, including a bright saturated screen, wireless charging of the handset, support for downloading music from the network. The smartphone will be able to demonstrate all the delights of the new operating system from Microsoft, under which it lives and works.

Well, let's talk about dimensions. Despite the fact that the new brainchild from Nokia was born of a sturdy man, larger than expected, this is not good. To put it simply, the dimensions of the smartphone will not suit many tastes. Not all customers who have entered the mobile phone showroom will choose the Nokia Lumia 920, because there are such devices as Windows Phone 8X from HTC, iPhone 5 from Apple. For the amount spent on the Lumia, you can buy two decent Android smartphones. Such competition does not play into the hands of Nokia.

The technical characteristics of this device are impressive, it is undeniable. However, 16GB of storage is enough for many buyers (while Lumia offers a whopping 32GB).

Still, the main rival of this product is Windows Phone 8X. In my opinion, it is faster, easier to operate and more comfortable than the Lumia 920.

Design

At first glance, this device is slightly larger and significantly heavier than its predecessor, the Lumia 900. Holding it in your hands, you understand that they not only chop nuts, but you can also hammer nails (forgive the comparison). The body of the device is made of polycarbonate, the thickness of which is 1 cm, and the Lumia 920 weighs 185 grams. With such a weight, you can not be afraid to put the phone past your pocket, you will immediately feel it.

The new model adopts the flat design of the previous model, as well as the rounded corners of the screen and the pointed corners of the body itself. There is a small notch on the side where the buttons are located. This design detail of the case allows you to more conveniently mark the gadget in the user's hand.

Despite the fact that the design of the old and new models is very similar, there are some differences. The 920 is slightly longer and slightly wider than the Lumia 900. The design of the buttons was also changed, the micro-USB output was moved to the bottom, base, part of the smartphone. The windows for the camera and flash are also slightly smaller.

If you are looking at the new model for the first time, then you will definitely notice that the screen of the Lumia 920 looks very beautiful, as if flowing into the phone body. Now the screen and the body are a single whole, which cannot be said about the previous model, in which it seemed as if the screen was imprinted into the body.

The screen of the new model has a resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels, which is about 332 pixels per inch. When the company launched an advertisement for a new smartphone, it might have added something like “the new HD screen has the highest pixel density per inch” in the list of innovations. But today this information is no longer relevant - a competitor from HTC has a higher number of pixels per inch, about 342 pixels.

After all, both phones, the new Lumia and the HTC X, have powerful displays. However, the pixel per inch is not decisive. All a potential buyer needs to know is that the picture displayed on the screen of the new model looks just fine.

By releasing this model "in people" the company abandoned the previously used AMOLED technology and decided to take a risky step - to equip the Lumia 920 with a new 4.5-inch IPS LCD display. In the list of innovations this display is referred to as “PureMotion + HD”. However, this screen was not limited to the new name. The smartphone user can now adjust the screen sensitivity level. This can be said to be a huge plus! Earlier, in winter, owners of devices with a touchscreen had to take off their warm gloves in order to answer a call or just flip through a map. The touchscreen can now be operated with gloves and mittens. Big-name gadgets like the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy Note 2 do not support such controls.

The second plus of the screen is the automatic brightness change. Let's say you go outside on a bright, sunny day. Naturally, the screen becomes dark and practically nothing is visible on it. The phone now automatically adjusts the brightness wherever you are.

The third plus will be improved video playback. According to the assurances of representatives of the company, now you can enjoy the captured or downloaded video without lags, braking, distortion.

Wireless phone charging

Lumia 920 received support for wireless charging technology built into the Windows Phone 8 operating system (models of the 820 series can also receive support for this function). Many manufacturers have used this technology with varying success, but Nokia is also introducing “charging centers” in some bars and shops.

And yet, having the wireless charging function, you will not be able to completely abandon the “cords”. You still need to plug the charger into the wall outlet. However, this has its advantages. Such a charge can be easily disguised, say, behind a computer or kitchen table, or as a pillow on which you can put your mobile. To charge, you just need to place the phone in the range of the charger.

In the future, it's a good idea to create a charger that can charge several different phones at once. There is only one plug, and 4 or 5 phones are charged at once. It would be great.

But let's go back to the real world. When using this charger, the phone will charge 35-4o percent in one hour, and if you use regular charging, then during this time you can charge the battery up to 50%. The result of regular charging looks more efficient. Perhaps a technology update will improve the efficiency of the new charger.

Operating system and applications

The Lumia 920 comes with Tap + Send to promote content, apps for kids, resizable headers and new color themes. Support for MS Office 2012 office suite and cloud synchronization with other devices running Windows 8 operating system.

Despite all these "goodies", the operating system has some drawbacks, such as lack of support for voice control, panoramic shooting mode, some popular applications, etc.

The company is trying to correct its omissions. With the release of the update, the gadget has got voice support, albeit when using third-party programs. At the moment, these are all known improvements in this area.

Support for Nokia Music service became a pleasant surprise. This service is very popular among the owners of the company's products due to the selected radio stations, the ability to download music and support for the created playlists (up to 50 songs). The company's engineers have added support for Dolby Surround and an equalizer for true music lovers. However, these are only virtual improvements in sound, which are not audible in every song. Therefore, this feature is rather an amateur.

Another surprise is the Cite Lens augmented reality system. Using this program, you will be aware of what establishments surround you and how to get to the nearest restaurant. But even here it was not without a fly in the ointment, it is difficult to trust the TripAdvisor database, because the database is still very scarce.

Camera and video

An 8.7 megapixel HD camera has been added to the new smartphone. This camera uses lenses from Carl Zeiss. They allow you to ensure the clarity of the image, to convey a wide range of colors and colors. It is worth noting that along with the lenses and optics upgrades, the engineers applied a new PureView algorithm with support for a 41 megapixel sensor and lenses. These algorithms, in fact, are a kind of software layer for rendering photos. Pictures taken with the Lumia 920 have an aspect ratio of 16: 9 and a focal length of 26 millimeters.

During testing of the camera, absolutely all the photos turned out to be clear, bright and juicy, in contrast to the pictures taken on other smartphones. The camera settings, or rather the color rendition settings, were set to “Natural 100%” ie. fully corresponded to the location without any software embellishments.

The iPhone 5 managed to outperform the phone tested today in photo quality only in a few isolated cases, when using the zoom and in certain lighting conditions, and HTC's product was able to boast of sharper pictures.

The new lenses make the Lumia 920 even more colorful when shooting in all conditions than its predecessors.

If we talk about the shooting speed, then the operating system does not "consider" this indicator as a priority. In order to zoom in on the image, the photographer needs to touch a special part of the screen with his finger and only then a special focus will follow and the shooting will take place. You can also zoom in and out of an object in the lens using special keys. Without focusing, the time taken to shoot is negligible, but shooting with focus takes a little patience.

An unpleasant surprise was the small number of shooting modes. The engineers did not provide for the settings for contrast, color rendition, changes in aspect ratios, effects and other things. There are several modes for shooting at night, you can change the ISO, black / white, aspect, aspect ratio, flash and that's it.

The front camera cannot boast of high image quality. The self-portrait, which was made for the test, was of a pretty decent quality and nothing more.

Video playback is good news. Color reproduction is pleasing to the eye, support for 1080p video, high-resolution pictures are reproduced perfectly.

Performance

Lumia 920 has support for 4G LTE networks. If the connection is stable, then you will not feel any discomfort while surfing the Internet. The new smartphone has been tested with some software to obtain performance results. The results will be presented below.

As for the battery, the smartphone is equipped with a built-in 2,000 mAh battery. I emphasize that you cannot get the battery yourself. According to the company, if you actively use the phone, the battery will last for 9 hours, and in standby mode the phone will work for about 13 days. The battery charge will last for 52 hours of listening to music, and with a full charge, you can enjoy five hours of video playback.

Call quality

Communication quality testing was carried out in a telephone network with the following characteristics GSM 850/900/1800/1900; LTE 700/1700/2100. When using such a network, the quality of the connection is simply amazing. The speaker is clearly audible even at medium sound volume settings (7/10), we did not notice any noise or distortion. However, the voice of the person speaking on the new phone had a metallic color, seemed a little "flat" (without high and low frequencies). This cannot but upset.

This experience can be called neither positive nor negative. The new smartphone perfectly accepts calls and transmits the speaker's voice. As for outgoing calls, the quality can be called satisfactory.

Lumia 920 vs Windows Phone 8X

Despite the holivars on the Internet, both phones are worthy of being purchased. HTC's product has its advantages: it is slightly lighter, more “portable” and more comfortable to hold in the hand, but Nokia's product can be charged, which is called “over the air”.

The benefits of a Nokia product don't end with wireless charging. The new smartphone can be controlled by voice, you can download music from a special service and then listen to it offline. The product has a storage capacity of 32GB, which is twice the size of the 8X. And Lumia has another trump up its sleeve - the touchscreen supports gloved control, and the Lumia has a more powerful camera.

So is it worth buying? !

You must buy this smartphone if:

• You like the Windows Phone 8 operating system and interface;

• You are a connoisseur of large screens in smartphones;

• you are using voice control;

• You need a phone with 32 GB memory;

• You liked the idea of wireless charging;

• You always wear gloves during the winter season;

• You take pictures in poorly lit rooms;

• You synchronize your devices with the Windows 8 operating system;

• You are the owner of the Xbox console.

You shouldn't focus on Lumia if:

• You are a fan of “light” phones;

• You are a fan of downloading many applications and games;

• You are an esthete photographer;

• You are a fan of dictating e-mail messages and various notes;

• You are a fan of Android operating systems and generally a fan of Google.

We can now briefly summarize the pros and cons of the product.

pros

• The smartphone can demonstrate the full potential of the new operating system Windows Phone 8;

• The smartphone supports wireless charging;

• Support for control of the device with gloves;

• Support for device voice control.

Minuses

• The phone is quite thick in comparison with competitors;

• The body of the Lumia 920 is very slippery;

• The advertised camera upsets the lack of many settings.

Also see:

Nokia Lumia 920 ad made a ridiculous blunder.

Prices for Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820.