The Lumia 900 by Nokia - TheGeekyBeng's Review
The long awaited Nokia Lumia 900 has finally reached my hands. After three weeks of none-stop intensive usage of the phone, where does this speed machine stands? Here's a quick review from TheGeekyBeng.
Key Features (IMHO):
1. Kick-ass 4.3" screen, large and comfy to type.
2. Superb speed for music and video playback - literally no lag especially handy for gym use
3. Polycarbonate Unibody Design (like the N9 and the Lumia800 before it, only bigger) Check out the award this unibody design won
4. Gorilla Glass Screen with anti-glare polarizer (great for walking in sun-shining Singapore streets)
5. Running on WP7.5 aka Mango (enough said, it is not just another android or iOS)
6. King of GPS with it's Built in Nokia Drive features
7. Again, linked to pt. 6 - FREE MAPS!!!
8. Linked to pt 6 again - No need for 3G/Data/Wifi connection to use Turn-by-Turn Navigation - remarkably useful for drivers like me and did i tell u it is for Life-Time support?
9. 16gb on board (that's a norm right?)
10. Built-in FM Radio with RDS (A nokia standard)
11. Nokia Music's MIX RADIO feature (downloadable Internet Radio programmes that you can listen to on the go without Wifi or Data - hereby known as OFFLINE Mix Radio)
12. Internet Sharing capabilities with Google Android Tablets like ASUS Transformers Prime (didn't come with 3G so i normally tether) and due to Google's blocking out some other AD-Hoc Internet Sharing by other devices, i had to get an Android phone to share my monthly 50GB plan on my ATFP, however with the coming and birth of Lumia900's Internet Sharing Capabilities, so-long Android and hello Nokia! Oh did i mention that you can share with up to 5 connections?
13. Crystal Clear screen for watching movies and cartoon even when you are jogging on the threadmill.
14. People Tile allows for greater flexibility and reading what you want to know, heck you can even put your best friends Tiles up front on your home screen and be officially informed each time he/she makes an update, almost too stalker-ish.
15. Did i conveniently forget that the Lumia 900 will get most of the software upgrades from WP7.5 to WP7.8
Here are downside of
a. No full upgrade to WP8 - might put a lot of people off, but think about it, Nokia Lumia 900 is the current cutting edge WP design out in the market. Yes it won't be getting your full WP8 features, mainly due to hardware restrictions, but hey,didn't the fruit and most Droids took the same path?
b. Restrictive Eco-system - lack of MicroSD - i used to think that the EcoSystem is restrictive, however, that was the days of Lumia800 and Lumia710. Coming on with Lumia900, i find the user experience totally different. I can seemingly do alot more things with the Luma900 than with my Lumia800, of course, being a phone whore, i normally will not use a phone for more than 36hrs if it is not good, but the Lumia900 has stuck with me for 24days straight, and to three countries. So is that a good phone? Hmmm .... U decide.
c. Irritating File Transfer (not that much with Lumia 900): Used to take like one whole weekend to transfer 4gb of movies into the Lumia800 but with Lumia900 everything settles in 20mins! Though still a PITA as i missed the good ole days of symbian where i'll just plug and paste into the phone and viola! MicroSoft sure can follow symbian for that learning curve.
d. Lack of native Video Calling features - unlike Symbian Phones - then again, if you go native, how can u talk to the other phones like Apple and Android right? Tango Video calling is the way to!
e. As a movie/cartoon/american serial buff, the lack of direct DIVX playback sucks. Though the speed of transcoding to a WP7.5 format is significantly reduced with the Lumia900.
f. Battery Life - best battery life till date is 30hrs and that was because i was sick and knocked out on the bed most of the time, but in any case, i have used phones with worst battery life before.
g. Camera is a big Nono - for a Flagship phone, no matter how we take pictures, it is no where near the quality of older model like N8 or the newer PV808. Come on Nokia, what's wrong with you?
h. Last but not least, lack of screen capture features!!! ARGGGHHHH!!!! how come no Screen Cap how come!!!
So with a great quality build, exception speed and simply difference OS from the rest, make your first move before the Windows Phone 8 arrive, get to know the WP7.5 on the Amazing Lumia900 ... you will not regret this baby.
Heck, even Siri agrees with me that Nokia Lumia900 is "the best smartphone ever".
