Nokia Lumia 920/820 - First Look

    Today, October 29, at 21:00 Moscow time, the world announcement of Windows Phone 8 will take place, which will reveal the latest secrets of the new mobile OS from Microsoft. On the eve of the start of sales of the desktop and tablet versions of Windows 8, I attended a demonstration of the most innovative smartphone on WP8, Nokia Lumia 920. I want to share my impressions and thoughts about this.



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    Personal


    I'll start, perhaps, with one personal moment. I am a big fan and a loyal user of Linux development Nokia, and therefore, kind of like, should not like WP. But this is not so, that is - not at all! Yes, I didn’t really like the Lumia 800 because, taking it in my hand, I felt that it was not an independent and self-sufficient device, but a smartphone that was hastily remade from N9 under WP7.5. But the Lumia 710, in my opinion, is an excellent smart for its price segment, and 610, although it has little RAM (and for me, the Nokia Asha 311 is much more interesting and honest), it’s a well-thought-out device. There is nothing to say about the Lumia 900 - a real flagship. If it weren’t for Microsoft to upgrade the entire line of operating systems, with the transfer of WP to the desktop kernel of Windows NT, the Lumia 900 would not lag far behind other flagships.

    On the other hand, I am a Windows user with almost 20 years of experience and I never dreamed about any other OS on a desktop computer or laptop. In addition, my first smartphone was on Windows Mobile: HTC 3300 (it still is and still works), and after it the N900 appeared on Maemo 5. So, I didn’t have any negative prejudice towards WP and it could not be. I was only offended and incomprehensible why the work of hundreds of people for nearly 5 years was sacrificed to the development of WP at Nokia, a work whose results were not pleasant to me alone. Accordingly, the requirements for the product that appeared through such a sacrifice were also increased.

    Therefore, when I connected the Lumia 800 to a Windows computer (translated: “windows”) and could not open the smart as an external flash drive in the explorer window, I was mildly discouraged. And they suggest that I be exchanged for Maemo & MeeGo, the devices on which are correctly connected to the computer in several modes, including flash drive mode. Why does the iPhone need to take the worst, which is why almost all users scold iOS too?

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    No less, I was saddened by truncated multitasking in WP 7.5. Only 5 background programs ?! And this is after Maemo & MeeGo, in which full multitasking was limited only by the hardware capabilities, and browser windows and applications worked in the background just like programs in desktop Windows work in the background.

    For the most part, these were my two global claims to WP7.5. And in these claims I was 100% sure. My logic is simple: there is a small device and a large device. And the large device should see the small one as a connected external drive. Point. There can be no other options. Unless, of course, devices and OSes are made for the user. Well, if they are made for Big Brother or Big Dough, then you can invent all kinds of combine harvesters, shut everything down so that the user can act only as the Tsar wants.

    It is still not known exactly how the smartphone on WP8 will be seen by the computer, but there is every reason to believe that the user part of the disk will open as an external disk. Of course, this cannot be called a completely open system, but it can be called an open ordinary user.

    As for multitasking, the issue is also open (until tonight) open and fundamentally important. In WP7.5, due to limited multitasking, system performance was achieved. Scrolling in WP8 compared to WP7.5 is many times smoother and faster. But how full-fledged multitasking we get is a question. Although for me, the most ideal option would be if in WP8 the user had the opportunity to customize the behavior of a particular application in the background. It is with the user, not the application developer. Because the developer cannot imagine all the combinations of using the application he created. An operating system in which the user himself will be able to assign a “freeze” mode in the background, or a full multitasking mode for this or that application, will be an ideal OS for me,

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    Devices


    And now I’ll get down to business, that is, to the devices themselves and, naturally, I’ll start with the flagship: Lumia 920. Of course, I want to avoid superlatives when I haven’t tested the device for at least a day or two, but on the other hand, it’s a little that I was in close proximity to the Lumia 920 and even occasionally held it in my hands, I really want to define this device in one word: a masterpiece. True, without exaggeration!

    Despite the 4.5-inch display diagonal and a little more than a centimeter thick, the smartphone doesn’t feel bulky in the hand - this is firstly. Secondly, despite the glossy polycarbonate from which the Lumia 920 solid body is made, the smartphone does not slip at all in the hand, on the contrary, the plastic seems to stick to the palm of your hand. This quality personally made me very happy.



    Covered with a protective glass Gorilla Glass 2, the display rises by a fraction of a millimeter above the case, as it was in the first device in a one-piece polycarbonate case - N9.

    The display itself is one of the main features of the smartphone. First, he understands touching through a glove or metal. This is due to the new Synaptics sensor. To my question, whether such a responsiveness of the display will turn out to be the problem of its involuntary unlocking in my pocket, I was assured that, firstly, the WP lock screen simply cannot be unlocked in your pocket by itself, since the screen saver needs to be raised from bottom to top the end, and secondly, proximity and lighting sensors will interfere with unlocking, through which the smartphone will understand that these are false pulses, but in fact it is in your pocket and no one has ordered it to unlock.

    Further about the display. Its resolution is 1280x768, which, when converted to pixels per inch, will be 332 ppi, this seems to be a record, in any case, the iPhone has less. The display is made using LCD technology using the proprietary Nokia ClearBlack technology. These are not empty words. I have repeatedly compared the display, for example, the N9 with the AMOLED displays of other smartphones, and in brightness in the sun, the N9 did it for everyone. And all thanks to ClearBlack. The display is covered with an oleophobic coating that prevents the formation of fingerprints on it. Another distinctive feature of the PureMotion HD + display is the display speed of the interface. For the first time in the industry, the interface was able to display at 60 frames per second. This will allow you to scroll the page in the browser without blur, for example, and in other applications, especially games, I’m sure

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    Now back to the case. Nokia has traditionally had a micro-USB connector located on top, on the upper end. It was not very convenient especially when using a smartphone in a car (which, incidentally, is not very permitted in my opinion). Now the connector has moved to the bottom, which I personally can’t help but greet. A 3.5 mm jack for headphones or a headset is located on the upper end, where a micro-SIM slot recessed into the housing is also located.

    The physical buttons on the right side face (volume buttons, the on and off button, it also locks and unlocks the display), as well as the camera control button, are made in Lumia 920 from diamond-coated ceramic. This is felt not only at the tactile level, but also visually actually brings Lumia 920 closer to Vertu jewelry masterpieces. Also, a plate around the camera on the back of the case is now made of ceramic. So, if earlier users complained that this overlay (being metal) scratched over time, then now, there is reason to believe that aging does not threaten it. The Nokia logo, which has moved to the upper right corner, looks wildly stylish for my taste.

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    Now from the exterior of the device we turn to its hardware characteristics. So, the smartphone is based on a 2-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, clocked at 1.5 GHz. In addition to its other interesting characteristics (for example, automatic transition to single-core mode of operation, when the user just dials SMS and two cores are clearly not required), this chip has one fundamentally important characteristic: it supports a new generation of communications - LTE, providing the user with a speed of 10 times faster than a 3G connection. So both Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 will support Russian LTE networks. Snapdragon S4 is manufactured according to the latest 28 nim process and is equipped with an Adreno 225 GPU.

    Unlike previous smartphones on WP, working with 512 MB of RAM, Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 are equipped with 1 GB of RAM, which, I think, will be enough for comfortable work, traditionally quite undemanding to the hardware resources of WP. As a flash drive, the Lumia 920 uses a 32 GB built-in flash drive. That is, the Lumia 920 will be sold in only one version. There is no connector for a removable micro-SD card in the device, since the case is one-piece. But in the Lumia 820, which has 8 GB of internal memory, the back cover is removed and under it is located a slot for removable micro-SD, supporting cards up to 32 GB.

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    If we talk about the difference between the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, then it is easy to paint on several points. Displays differ - they differ both in diagonal size and in manufacturing technology. While the Lumia 920 is an LCD IPS, the Lumia 820 is an OLED. However, the proprietary Synaptics technology, which allows you to recognize touches by fingernail, gloved hand or key, is also present in the Lumia 820 display.

    One of the most important differences between the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 is the camera. The fact is that in the Lumia 920 8MP, the camera is equipped with PureView technology. However, unlike the Nokia 808 PureView super-cameraphone, which went on sale in summer 41MP, in this case the essence of PureView technology is not in the huge resolution of the matrix, but in a unique optical stabilization system, first implemented in a mobile device. The so-called floating lens is built into the lens of the Lumia 920 lens, which, through the gyro commands, gives instructions to the sensor and provides image stabilization unprecedented so far both in photo and video shooting. At the same time, the resolution of the matrix of the Lumia 920 is 8.7 megapixels. Such at first glance, the resolution is caused by the fact that to achieve maximum quality when shooting with an aspect ratio of 16: 9,





    All these innovative wonders in the camera Lumia 820 not. The Lumia 820 has an ordinary (albeit excellent) 8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, which are traditional for Nokia devices. The Lumia 820 does not have an integrated wireless charging system, which is implemented in the Lumia 920. In order for the Lumia 820 to learn how to charge wirelessly, you will need to buy a new back cover. Lumia 820 also has less battery capacity. If in Lumia 920 it is 2000 mAh, then in Lumia 820 - 1650 mAh. Another difference: the Lumia 820 display is flat, which, for sure, someone will like it more. The Lumia 820 will sell gorgeous multi-colored matte interchangeable covers. And for the Lumia 920, covers will go on sale, which, however, I could not see at the demonstration.

    In addition to the smartphones themselves, Nokia also produces a number of accessories - Monster headphones, as well as a speaker receiver and a wireless charging station in one device from JBL.



    Sub-living


    I have always been a supporter of the concept: one mobile device - one OS. And the N900, and N9, and by the way, the iPhone correspond to this concept. And it's not about grace and exclusivity. Just the ergonomics of the device is not limited to its physical and tactile characteristics. The interface is an integral part of the ergonomics of a mobile device. So, I’m sure that WP8 was largely designed specifically on the basis of the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820. And even if Microsoft releases its own WP-smartphones (which, in principle, can be presented today), they will definitely surpass the uniqueness and innovation of the Lumia 920 will fail. Especially in connection with this, the declared price for the flagship Nokia smartphone is pleasing: 25 thousand. This is a very, very good price, taking into account all the exclusive chips that you will not find in any other device.

    Well, returning to the imaginary dislike of fans of Nokia's Linux solutions for WP, I will not say about everyone, of course, but I will say to myself: I have already pre-ordered the Lumia 920 and am looking forward to the start of sales, the date of which, unfortunately, was not reported to me, limiting myself to streamlined response - soon, very soon.

    Will wait!

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