Nokia Lumia 900 – Can Nokia be saved?
Saturday, July 7th, 2012
Whenever I go to buy a cell phone the first thing I consider is, should I buy an iOS powered iPhone or an Android based handset? These two operating systems have taken the consumers by storm and rightfully. Not only are they a breeze to operate but the interfacing with other devices and internet services give the two advantages that no other OS can facilitate. Besides, iOS is from Apple and Android is ‘Google in your pocket’! Shockingly, the trendsetter of mobile phones in Bangladesh accommodates none of the two. But Nokia is trying to get back on its feet with its new handset, the Lumia 900 which is a Windows based phone. But is it good enough?
Look n Feel
Lumia 900 has great build quality, from the individually milled speaker holes to the improved microUSB socket. It is a great improvement from the Lumia 800 that had a flimsy plastic cover on the socket which was easy to damage. Here, the socket sits proud (and uncovered) on the top edge. At 5” tall by 2.7” wide by 0.45” deep, it’s a large yet extremely thin phone. It is a solid and handsome phone that feels good in the hand. Bold as an exclamation mark, it has pure pop-art coursing through its electrical veins. You would love to hold it and show it off. It is much thinner than any iPhone till date. Thus, it is one very flamboyant device.
Screen
It is easily one of the highlights of the phone. The beautiful 4.3 inch AMOLED (active-matrix organic light-emitting diode) screen features ‘ClearBlack’ display technology and Gorilla Glass (for protection). Colours look richly hued, bright, and sharp. In both brightness and richness, the Lumia 900 absolutely blows its Samsung contenders.
Tech-talk and Features
Now for my favourite part – the specifications. The display accommodates 16 million colours and the rest about the screen has been mentioned already. The screen sports a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. The loudspeakers are crystal clear unlike other Nokia models. The next part is important – there is NO memory card slot. You will have to bear with the in-built 16GB storage. The memory strength is very impressive with 512 MB RAM. Among networking technologies, it supports all available mobile phone networks and has a Wireless LAN adaptor. It comes with a primary 8 MP camera with Carl Zeiss optics with dual-LED flash. Thus, Nokia has invested some of their efforts in the camera finally, making it a very impressive camera phone. But that’s not it. It has two cameras. The secondary camera is a menial one having 1.3 MP and no outstanding features.
Operating System and Software
This is where the real war is being waged against Nokia and Nokia is struggling to survive!
Thanks (or ‘no thanks’ if you ask me) to a close partnership between Nokia and Microsoft, the Lumia 900 runs the most recent iteration of Windows Phone OS, version 7.5 Mango. As a result, the Lumia 900 can perform every software task that other Windows Phones do. Nokia doesn’t have much leeway on the software side beyond these apps. Unlike Android, Microsoft keeps its OS pretty locked down, so Nokia has little room to add its own flair on the software side. There you go! Because of all the constraints, you will not find anything like Google Play® or Apple’s Angry Birds® on this phone. This is where all the beauty goes down the drain, in my opinion.
Bangladeshi Users’ Exclusive
This phone is expensive. It will cost you 60,000 Tk. You should know that you can buy the iPhone 4S or a Galaxy TAB with that money. If you think you want a windows phone then no other phone can be better. But personally, I think this sports very poor value for money.
Verdict
This phone is flamboyant and meretricious. The colours indicate that this is for the young crowd but the price tag completely contradicts the claim. The young crowd of Bangladesh will (almost) never buy a 60,000 Taka phone that does not play Angry Birds®. Thus, the misgivings about Nokia’s survival remain.
developed by avocats
Leave a Reply
 |
 |
 |
