Overview

High-end Windows 8 Phone

The Nokia Lumia 920 has much in common with its sister device, the 820, but is pitched toward the higher end of the market and offers additional capability and hardware. So does it manage to stand out?

Design and Build Quality of Nokia Lumia 920

Like its competitors the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S3, with Lumia 920 is a large and bulky phone – smartphones with this capability can rarely avoid packing on weight, and the 920 weighs in at a hefty 185 grams, compared to the Samsung Galaxy’s 133 grams. The generous 4.5” Clear Black AMOLED screen, at a resolution of 768x1280 pixels, comes with “Nokia PureMotion HD+” technology, which according to Nokia brings new depth and clarity to the phone’s high-definition rendering. The screen is certainly clear, vivid and capable, but it’s not as striking as that of the Samsung Galaxy S3. Overall, the design is quite sharp and pleasing, with a sleek one-piece polycarbonate body and neat side-edge physical keys. The build quality seems like a slight improvement on the overly glossy Lumia 820, and the screen feels more robust, even though both devices are equipped with protective Gorilla Glass.

User Interface and Comfort to Use Nokia Lumia 920

Like the 820, the Lumia 920 runs the new Microsoft Windows Phone 8 operating system, with the “Live Tiles” interface layered on top. Its dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait processor demonstrates Nokia’s belief that hardware isn’t everything – it’s how you use it. Nevertheless, this processor makes it the equal of the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S3, surely the two devices that Nokia is eying closely as its nearest competition. The touchscreen is sensitive and highly responsive, even when wearing gloves,

Telephony and Phonebook

Like the 820, the 920 boasts the well-designed all-in-one phonebook with full social media integration, enabling easy import of all contact information. Editing contacts is easy, and the phonebook stores all contact history in one place, so you can flick quickly from Phone to Messages. Call quality is excellent: the noise filtering technology works well, signal strength is generally good, and voices can be clearly heard. The phone also features smart dialing and voice dialing, both useful. The video calling using the front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera is decent but not exceptional, with some noticeable lag.

Messaging and Emails

The Lumia 920 supports a full range of messaging options, including Gmail, Exchange, Nokia Mail, Yahoo Mail, Live, Hotmail, Outlook, MMS and IM. All of your messages are integrated, so you can see tweets, Facebook updates, Chat, IM and more in one timeline. The phone supports a full range of email protocols, and configuring accounts is quick and easy, even if you’re not using the preferred Windows/Nokia options. Lumia 920’s on-screen keyboard is very good and spacious enough to accommodate large fingers, thanks to the generously sized screen. The voice commands are a handy addition, and some users will appreciate the responsive voice-to-text options.

Gallery, Photo Viewer and Video Player

The phone’s media viewing options are good: images look great on the sharp, expansive screen, and its smart Gallery app includes plenty of image editing options. Photos can be viewed in a variety of ways: favourites, Album view, Social Network, Timeline or Camera Roll. There are plenty of video playback options too, with easy social network sharing, DNLA compatibility, NFC sharing and SkyDrive integration, and it supports a good range of video codecs.

Nokia Lumia 920 Music Player and FM Radio

Equipped with 32GB of in-built storage out of the box, the Lumia 920 is clearly pitched as a device for serious media lovers. You’ll also have access to Microsoft’s cloud storage service, SkyDrive, which is a very pleasing offering and a strong competitor to Google Drive. It also comes equipped with Nokia Music, enabling users to stream and download an unlimited amount of music, free. The Music app is well designed and aesthetically pleasing, with bold album artwork, plenty of functionality and easy playlist creation.

Nokia Lumia 920 Still Camera and Image Quality

The phone’s camera is one of its best features, producing captures of excellent quality, depth and color. First seen on the Nokia PureView 808, the Lumia 920 incorporates Nokia’s patented PureView capability, which has been heaped onto its 8-megapixel sensor. The Optical Image Stabilization is a handy feature, coping well with subjects in motion to produce blur-free images. The 8 megapixel camera can produce stills at 3264x2448 resolution and features a LED flash, but no digital or optical zoom, which may irritate some users and please others. The auto focus feature is, however, capable enough to make up for this lack, coping well even in low light. Unlike the 820, it comes with geo-tagging and face recognition software, useful for social media users.

Video Camera and Video Quality

The main camera offers 1920x1080 resolution at 30fps, with 4x zoom and some handy white balance options. The result is clear, bright, high-definition video with excellent color detail and contrast, and your captures can be quickly sent to social networks or uploaded to SkyDrive. The image stabilization does a great job of capturing objects in motion, and the sensor copes well with a wide range of light settings.

Connectivity Options in Nokia Lumia 920

As one of the latest type of smartphones, the 920 comes equipped with the same options as its rivals: 3G/HSDPA, Bluetooth (although only v. 3.1, to the Samsung Galaxy’s 4.0), Wi-Fi, NFC and GPS. As NFC gains traction in the smartphone market, we’ll see more possible applications for this feature. The phone can also serve as a Wi-Fi hotspot for tethering other devices.

Organiser and Other Utility Tools

The Lumia 920 is designed for use with Windows SkyDrive, enabling users to store all apps, files and documents in the cloud for access everywhere. The phone has very good document support, including PDF, Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

Web Browser and Applications

Like the Lumia 820, the 920 comes equipped with Microsoft Internet Explorer 10, the best incarnation of IE yet. Browsing the web is a joy on its large, color-rich screen, and the phone’s excellent connectivity gives snappy load times. The Lumia 920 comes equipped with the native suite of Nokia apps, including Drive, PureView, Maps, Public Transport, Music, Facebook, Twitter and more.

Google Maps and GPS

Users will probably eschew Google Maps in favour of the native Nokia Maps app, which makes excellent use of the in-built A-GPS to find the user’s location fast. Nokia Drive provides clear, optimized directions to your destination, while the detailed maps are enhanced with plenty of local information and public transport details. Using the City Lens software you can discover nearby local hotspots, places of interest and even local speed limits with a tap of the finger. Support for favourites on and offline helps to save data and enhance functionality even when out of range.

Distinctive Features and Value for Money

The Lumia 920, like the 820, features wireless charging, a feature that will greatly appeal to smartphone users who are weary of lengthy charging processes. The Lumia 920 is designed to be the top-end Lumia device, and while it brings some nice functionality to the table, it is not significantly different to the previous Lumia devices, which makes it difficult to justify its higher price tag

Verdict

Continuing the important strides made by the original WP7-equipped Lumia phones, the Lumia 920 is a superb and capable device that will certainly keep the interest of even the most demanding smartphone user.