L: Nokia Lumia 920 — R: Nokia Lumia 820 — Nokia’s latest Smartphones.
I have used iOS and have seen my friends use Android – both are very popular which also means they are very common. I am planning to buy a new Smartphone and thus was hoping to hop onto a different operating system. BlackBerry OS 10 and Windows Phone 8 were the prime candidates and on 5th of September i.e. yesterday, Nokia teased me with two new phones that will lead its Lumia series – the Lumia 820 and the flagship Lumia 920 – both run latest operating system from Microsoft – Windows Phone 8. Both devices look stunningly beautiful and have a really powerful hardware on the inside.
Without further ado, let’s quickly dig into the technical specifications and features of these gorgeous phones.
Lumia 920: The Flag Bearer
Lumia 920: Nokia’s flagship WP 8 device.
When you first look at the phone, it reminds you of nothing else – Lumia 920’s design is original and classy – something that you expect from a flagship device. It’s made out of unibody polycarbonate shell with ceramic zirconium used for camera detailing and side keys. It measures 130.3 mm in length, 70.8 mm in breadth, 10.7 mm in thickness and weighs 185 grams, it’s slightly heavier than a device I’d like to carry around with me.
It’s got a curved 4.5-inch PureMotion HD+ display (1280-by-768 pixel resolution) which is made out of Corning Gorilla Glass, offers 600 nits of brightness and 332 ppi pixel density (that’s higher pixel-per-inch than Apple’s retina display). Lumia 920’s touchscreen is super sensitive – can be operated with gloved hands.
Smartphone sans powerful hardware is junk.
On the inside, Lumia 920 has a 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, 1 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal storage (7 GB addition storage in Skydrive). I agree Snapdragon S4 isn’t as powerful as Galaxy S III’s Exynos processor, but it’s good enough to deliver a smooth Windows Phone 8 experience. It’s also got NFC (Near Field Communications), which can be used accomplishing variety of tasks including mobile payments, wireless music playback, data sharing, multiplayer gaming, virtual tickets etc.
Because of PureView technology, Lumia phones will take stunning photos, even in low-lighting.
At the front, it’s got a 1.2-megapixel camera that can be used for video calling, Skype etc. It can shoot videos in high-definition (1280-by-720 pixels) resolution. On the back, it has an excellent 8.7-megapixel PureView sensor with Carl Zeiss Tessar lens, which can not only take stunningly sharp photos in low lighting, but also shoot Full HD 1080p video at 30 frames-per-second.
Windows Phone 8 Operating system comes with a revamped user interface on Lumia 920, along with dedicated Office applications like Excel, Word and OneNote. Lumia 920 also sports a powerful 2,000 mAh battery that can deliver nearly 10 hours of talktime on a 3G network. There’s one more thing, main highlight of yesterday’s event – Qi-Wireless Charging. Lumia 920 has integrated support for Qi-Wireless charging (discussed in detail later in this post).
Lumia 820: Superstar’s little brother
Lumia 820: Lumia 920′s successful younger brother.
If Lumia 920 is a popular celebrity, Lumia 820 is his younger brother who’s doing well in the industry but is relatively new. Lumia 820, like 920, is made out a unibody polycarbonate shell – it’s got a 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED WVGA (800-by-480 pixel resolution) display. It measures 123.8 mm in length, 68.5 mm in breadth, 9.9 mm in thickness and weighs 160 grams – now that’s what I call a sexy looking device.
On the inside, just like its elder brother, it has a 1.5 GHz dual core Snapdragon S4 processor, 1 GB of RAM, 7 GB of mass storage in the SkyDrive, 8 GB of internal storage which can be expanded further via a 32 GB (max) microSD card. It’s also an NFC enabled device and works phenomenally with JBL’s Lumia-exclusive speakers.
Lumia 800 didn’t have a front facing camera, but thank goodness, Nokia realized their mistake and this time around, they have put in a VGA camera in addition to a rear 8-megapixel camera that comes equipped with dual-LED flash and PureView technology for snapping marvellous photos, even in low-lighting. You can also shoot Full HD 1080p videos with this device.
Lumia 820 has a 1,650 mAh battery serving its power needs which provide a good 8 hour talktime when used on 3G network. It supports Qi-Wireless charging but after wearing a case that will be sold by Nokia separately.
There’s one more thing, both 820 and 920 will be shipped with Nokia’s City Lens – an app that will let users point their phones’ camera at any restaurant and find reviews about it that were posted by previous customers on the web.
Qi-Wireless Charging
Qi, pronounced “chee” is derived from a Chinese symbol which means flow of energy, which perfectly explains what Qi-Wireless Charging does. It works on the principle of magnetic induction. The base station, which can be a pillow, a plate or simply a stand has an induction coil that creates an alternating EM field, this field is received by a similar coil that’s situated in the device which converts magnetic energy into electricity and uses that to charge the battery.
Since both Lumia 920 and 820 have support for Qi-Wireless Charging, they can be charged Wireless with Nokia’s colourful Qi-Wireless Chargers.
Wireless Charging Plate: Just place your Lumia on it.
Charging Plate: An uninteresting plate with minimalistic design – has unbelievable potential (powerful enough to charge your Lumia phones). Just place your device on the plate and see the battery meter rising, it’s got an indicator at the bottom that will light up once your device is completely charged. It would be available in multiple colors.
Wireless Charging Pillow — made by Fatboy.
Charging Pillow by Fatboy: Works similar to the Charging plate – just place your phone on it and see the magic happen. It would be sold in more than one colour.
JBL Speakers for Lumia series: Tap to your favourite tunes via NFC.
JBL Wireless Speakers: Tap your device onto the speakers in order to form a connection using NFC and start playing your favourite music – wirelessly. It’s been exclusively designed for Lumia phones, thus can charge it wirelessly, just like the Charging Plate and Pillow. If you want to use other phones with it, don’t worry, it connects via Bluetooth too.
A Normal stand for your Lumia. Yeah, right!
Charging Stand: Place your device on it for improved sound quality because of premium acoustic chamber located in the stand. And yes, you can wirelessly charge your phone in addition to that.
So, that’s it, now you know everything there is to know about the new Windows Phone 8 powered entries to Nokia’s Lumia series. This time around, Nokia has really put in their best while designing these phones. Lumia 820 and 920 look absolutely gorgeous – they are prettier than iPhone 4S. As of now, Nokia hasn’t said anything about pricing and availability of these devices – I am really excited to grab one. Also, I am a little doubtful whether these phones would perform the way Nokia’s marketing it. Anyways, how do you like the new Lumias, leave your opinions in the comments section below.
Last week we bought Lumia for our organization to check our future app. Everything works well.