Nokia Lumia 900

Pictues taken with my Lumia on a partly cloudy day. They are completely untouched, no enhancement, no cropping, no white balance etc and all settings on auto.

 

I am starting week Two on the Lumia and decided to do a review but a little differently.

Week 1 - What I love about this phone (obviously the honeymoon oeriod$

Week 2 - What could be better (since there is no perfect phone or OS)

Week 3 - What completely sux.

So, here is week 1:


1. The build quality is superb, the polycarbonate unibody fits perfectly in my hand.
2. The weight is just right
3. The location of the "on" button makes it easy to turn the screen on and unlock with one hand
4. The charging port on top makes it easier to use vehicle chargers
5. The black screen makes it very legible in bright sunlight.

6. The reception is truly stellar, I am being able to get a reasonable signal from places that was a hit or miss
7. The call quality is excellent on both ends, judging by unsolicited comments from smart Alec friends wanting to know if AT&T has done something to their network since I sound so clear.
8. The GPS is quick and dead on.
9. Speaker phone and VVM are loud and clear
10. The BT and WiFi connect quickly and effortlessly.

11. WP is a clean, uncluttered, and efficient OS
12. It is buttery smooth and fluid
13. The calendaring and to do list are perfect for someone used to Outlook
14. It came with mobile MS Office which is far superior to Docs to Go and other such apps.
15. Nokia drive is an adequate navigation app and even chirps when I go over the speed limit.
16. Nokia maps ofcourse can be used offline.
17. The Live Tiles make it easy to see what needs attention at a quick glance.
18. The battery life was a very pleasant surprise. I am still playing with it and after using it for 12-14 hours I end up with 25-30% left. The users that came from Android and iOS have both commented on it.

That's all I can think of right now, I will add to my list things i missed until week two review is due.

Additional:
1. The on screen keyboard is one of the best standard ones I have used.
2. The ability to control notification ringtones separate form call ringtones. This was removed in ICS on the Android.

 

Hello there, I am glad you are liking yours, I moved your post to the review thread I started so all the reviews will be together, thank you for posting one and hoping to hear more.

I am not seeing a female US English on Nokia Drive, were you able to find one?

Just out of curiosity what Android did you have previously?

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows Phone OS 7.5; Trident/5.0; IEMobile/9.0; NOKIA; Lumia 900)

 

Week 2 - What could be better.:


1. The picture quality in low light/indoors (non flash), obvious from the attached pictures.
2. Web browsing is very fast and smooth but not all web sites render correctly.
3. The Gmail is pretty basic compared to Android but ofcourse that is to be expected.

That's all I have found so far, I will add when I find other issues.



I am trying to not go crazy dowloading apps, like I did for my Androids, so I have following on my Lumia for now:

1. Accuweather
2. Amazon Kindle
3. XE Currency*
4. Board Express
5. Flashlight - X
6. Gas Buddy
7. Lunar Phases
8. My AT&T
9. My Stock Portfolio
10. Nokia Drive
11. Scoremobile
12. TripAdvisor
13. Walgreens
14. WhitePages

EDIT: The latest update to My Stocks Portfolio now includes the currency exchange rates, enabling me to un install the XE Currency.

WP may not have the quantity of apps available on iOS or Android but the ones they have are quality apps and with combined functionality.

 

Thanks Joe and don't be fresh

Apps:

The biggest complain about any WP7 device is the lack of apps, so I was a little apprehensive to start out with. As it turned out there are already 60,000 apps in the Marketplace and new ones getting added every day.

I was able to find almost everything I need including some nice to haves. The only one that I need and haven't been able to find a match is "Bedside". Although being able to turn off just the E-Mail notification, is somewhat of a workaround.

Oops, almost forgot - there is no easy way to do screen capture yet, but I am sure it's coming, it took awhile for Android as well.

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows Phone OS 7.5; Trident/5.0; IEMobile/9.0; NOKIA; Lumia 900)

 

I am very happy with the Lumia in every respect and also how well Nokia is supporting and backing it.

Since a handful of users had data connectivity problems an update was rolled out within 5 days of the launch and all restocking fee waived on returns.

Nokia just didn't stop there, anyone who got a Lumia before April 21 got $100 credited to their bill, not just people with problems.

Mine just showed up today, that was quite fast.


PS: it appears that Steve Wozniak likes it as well:
http://anewdomain.net/2012/04/26/ap...-wozniak-why-i-love-my-windows-phone-7-5-fan/

 

Yeah really! Not just that but at least they could have done a video to show is that we were holding it wrong. :lmao:

 

Week 3 - What Sux


This one is really hard since there really is nothing that is a deal breaker for me. Certainly there are a couple of things that could always be improved and will probably be with the next update. The benefits and the positives far out weugh any inconvenience.

For those of who don't know my history, for SmartPhones, I have used, Symbian 60, WM 2003 SE, WM 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1, Blackberry OS 5, Android Versions 1.6, 2.1. 2.2. 2.3, 2.4, 4.03, iOS 4.0X, 5.1. I can honestly say that I have never used any OS that is so beautiful, fluid, buttery smooth, and fast. I have also managed to crash all my devices including by BB9700 which was considered to be too stable, I will be sure to test out the stability of WP7.5

If I had to pick one thing, I would say the decorative metal strip at the back, which appears to scratch if I even look at it wrong. The rest of the phone appears invincible comparatively. So i did what what any self respecting engineer would do - stuck a piece of clear tape on it.

Two pictures for quality comparion, a standard outdoor shot and an extreme close both on auto setting.

 

Thanks viewfly.

The Mini nameplate is the center of the steering wheel. It is out of focus for a variety of reasons, there was a mixture of light falling on it, the reflection of the Lumia and the fact that i didn't use the macro function to name a few. It was probably 2-3" distance. As I mentioned the camera is not the best feature of the Lumia, but good enough for fishing pictures.

The update didn't mess up the phone, it was my inexperience in using a Mac to upgrade a non iOS device that did it. I updated the replacement phone, keeping in mind the lesson learnt from the previous one and it went smoothly.

Hope that answers your questions.

 

Wirelessly posted (Motorola Atrix. : Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows Phone OS 7.5; Trident/5.0; IEMobile/9.0; NOKIA; Lumia 900))

I have no idea what functions the camera has. I never explored it since its not a priority for me.

No it was an update directly from Nokia via either Zune or Windows Phone Connector. I believe the updates from AT&T are OTA or at least that's my understanding.

BTW, its not WM, it's Windows Phone, aka WP, no resemblance to the prior WM devices.

 

Just found out that my phone can read messages via BT in the car as well as other times depending on the settings chosen. It almost made me jump when a strange voice said message from such and such Lol. It then prompted me to reply, delete, or end. That was quite neat, not sure if I can initiate a message or just react to one sent, will have to play with it.

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows Phone OS 7.5; Trident/5.0; IEMobile/9.0; NOKIA; Lumia 900)

 

I was quite surprised to find that a Nokia Lumia review thread turn into yet another iPhone praise thread. I didn't have to look too hard to find that it was our very own dmapr who initiated the derailment. .

Thanks a lot dmapr.

So, what does "Lumia" mean? This depends what language we are talking about, in Spanish it is an obscure word for prostitute, In Italian it means lemon or a lemon grower and in Finnish it means snow. Interestingly so far none of the meanings have anything to do with light, which would have been my first guess like lumens, luminescence, luminaire, etc.

Here is an interesting article on Nokia's name choices:
http://conversations.nokia.com/2011/11/02/naming-the-nokia-lumia/

 

A totally meaningless picture I decided to take and the picture of the that picture in my screen - don't ask

Just ordered the blue gel case from AT&T.

 

Dan, I forgot to mention before that for Google Music there is a program called Cloud City Music (app) that syncs your Google Music account to your Windows Phone? Unfortunately, the app is mispelled so you have to type in Coud City Music to find it

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows Phone OS 7.5; Trident/5.0; IEMobile/9.0; NOKIA; Lumia 900)