The Nokia Lumia 920 is the first Windows Phone 8 handset from Nokia and was announced mid last year with great reviews and expectations. Currently, it still remains as Nokia’s flagship Lumia device in the local market despite the announcement of the Lumia 928 and Lumia 925. Let’s see if this phone is still one of the top choice if you’re looking for a WP8 handset.
Design
The Lumia 920 is a stunner to look at which is of no surprise considering Nokia is known to create beautiful-looking phones. We have the yellow unit with its glossy but high-quality paint job. The design of the phone follows the first of its kind which is the N9 and its unibody look with rounded edges.
The front is covered with the curved edge to edge Gorilla Glass 2 which makes the 4.5″ display look sharper. What I’m not fond of is the this bezel of the display which can shave some millimeters off this phone. There’s the three requisite capacitive Windows Phone buttons at the bottom of the display. On top of the display is the 1.3-megapixel HD front camera beside the speaker while the microUSB port is located at the bottom.
On the right side of this phone you’ll get three similar-look buttons for Volume, Power/Sleep, and a dedicated camera button which you can use to launch the camera from sleep mode. Dead center on top is the 3.5mm audio jack and beside it is the compartment for the microSIM which you need to push with a pin. That’s basically it for the externals. This phone doesn’t come with a microSD slot unlike the other Lumias.
Depending on the color you choose, the back has either a glossy or a matte finish. Serious colors like black will have the matte finish while the yellow and red will get a glossy finish. Only thing you’ll see at the back is the 8-megapixel camera at the center and the dual LED flash beside it.
When you hold the Lumia 920, you’ll quickly notice its bulk. It’s really a handful alright and would probably not suit those with small hands. At 185g, it’s quite heavy in today’s standards considering its below 5″ screen size. You should try holding it for a spell to see if this phone’s heft will appeal to you. It does feel solid and durable with a high-quality of craftsmanship.
Display
Deviating from the typical AMOLED display Nokia uses on their flagship phones, the Lumia 920 uses an IPS LCD touchscreen. However, having a 4.5-inch display with a 1280 x 768 resolution plus Nokia’s ClearBlack technology gives this phone a really good image reproduction with still deep blacks and sharp contrast. Works nice even under bright light and viewing angles are respectable.
Another feature of the display is its super sensitivity allowing you to navigate the screen with a gloved finger without any problems. It also uses Nokia’s PureMotionHD+ technology for an above-average refresh rate which I really didn’t notice much.
Windows Phone 8
First-time smartphone users will find Windows Phone 8 a simple and straightforward OS to use. They will appreciate the tight-integration of their contacts, calendars and social network accounts, the built-in Microsoft Office which can automatically sync with Skydrive account, and the more customizable Live Tiles.
A useful feature for those with young ones around is the Kids Corner mode where you can put your phone in a sandbox mode where the only thing that can be accessed are the apps that you add in that mode. This way, you can lend your unit to your kid to play with without the fear of accidentally calling someone or changing your settings.
However, for old smartphone users, there are instances when WP8 still has usability issues. Managing multimedia files can be a bit better. Sharing files between apps is not widely supported. It can also benefit from a notification window or a settings quick toggle menu for simple things such as turning WiFi on or off. Apps are limited as well, I miss my Android’s video player and torrent downloader app. There’s no Instagram on WP8 yet as well.
To differentiate itself from other brands’ WP8 devices, Nokia added some useful exclusive apps for their Lumia phones such as different “œcamera lens” to add functionality to the camera such as HDR, Panorama, Smart Shoot, and Cinemagraph.
What you will find useful though is the Nokia HERE Drive which turns your phone into a GPS device with turn-by-turn navigation. Also cool to show off is the Nokia HERE City Lens, a location-aware app that lets you see an overlay of nearby points of interests (restos, hotels, gas stations) wherever you point your camera.
Performance
Running the show for the Lumia 920 is a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon (Krait) processor with 1GB RAM. While it’s not the fastest chip on the block (even at the time of its announcement), it still performs admirably on a WP8 phone such as the Lumia 920. During our time of testing, launching apps, browsing through websites, and taking photos and videos all went without a hitch.
Got nothing to say bad about the call quality on this phone. Reception is loud and clear on both ends of the network while WiFi range and quality is strong.
Camera
The Nokia Lumia 920 uses a 26mm wide-angle Carl Zeiss f/2.0 lens with Nokia’s PureView technology. It’s not quite the same as the 41-megapixel Nokia 808 Pureview phone but because of its built-in true Optical Image Stabilization and the technology behind it, Nokia markets the Lumia 920 as having PureView.
This phone captures daylight photos with average to good quality. However, it does excel in low-light conditions. Here are some low-light shots comparing it to the iPhone 5.’s camera in low-light.
iPhone 5 ““ a bit dark but still clear and sharp
Nokia Lumia 920 ““ bright but soft on the edges
iPhone 5 ““ Room is darker than what is seems
Nokia Lumia 920 ““ The assist lamp just before taking the shot made it look like the room is well-lit when it’s not
iPhone 5 ““ Noise is evident but the colors were retained
Nokia Lumia 920 ““ Be careful when using the assist lamp as it may change the color of lights in a dark environment
Clearly, the Nokia Lumia 920 has one of the top-performing cameras on a mobile device we have right now due to the fact that it outputs good-quality low-light shots. Just bear in mind that when it comes to focusing speed, the Lumia 920 falls behind other high-end phones in its class.
Battery
This phone has a 2000mAh non-removable battery which gave us a good 8 hours or so of moderate use with data always on and minimal push activities. Constantly browsing the web with mobile data only lasted for about 4 hours but that’s because we’re connected to LTE. Wireless charging is supported by the Lumia 920 which doesn’t seem to offer any advantage over wired charging in terms of charging speed.
Verdict
The Nokia Lumia 920 is a feature-rich Windows Phone 8 handset. It’s currently one of the only two LTE devices running on WP8 (other is 820) we have in the market at the moment. The heft may be a bit too much for some and lacks a microSD slot but it packs a great camera that performs well for a mobile phone. You’ll also love its sleek design and beautiful display with its super sensitive touch. To top it off, Nokia seems to be the good choice when looking for a WP8 handset because of the added features and apps that are exclusive to it.
The Nokia Lumia 920 originally sold for Php26,990 but you can have it now for as low as Php22,600. Even with the announcement of the Lumia 925 and Lumia 928, there’s hardly any significant difference when it comes to the internals (more on body) so there’s no need to wait for the newer flagship Lumia’s if you want a high-end WP8 handset. If LTE is not that important to you, the lighter but still capable camera phone Lumia 720 comes highly recommended.
Nokia Lumia 920 Specs: |
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4.5″ 720p PureMotionHD+ (1280 x 768 resolution), Super-sensitive touch |
Gorilla Glass 2 |
1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 (Krait) processor |
Adreno 225 GPU |
1GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, 7GB SkyDrive, no microSD |
microSIM |
Windows Phone 8 OS |
8-megapixel Carl Zeiss f/2.0 optics PureView |
1080p video recording |
1.3-megapixel front camera |
Pentaband, HSPA+/FD-LTE |
NFC |
Bluetooth 3.1 |
Qi Wireless charging |
2000 mAh battery (BP-4GW) |
130.3 x 770.8 x 10.7 mm |
185g |
Colors: Yellow, Red, White, Black, Silver |
SRP: Php26,990 (as of March 2013) |