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"The best WP8 phone. Period."
5.0 starson by CubbyHawkPros: WP8- full integration, smooth, FAST!
Great camera
Glove-useable screen
Plenty of storageCons: It's a BRICK.
Slick phoneSummary: AT&T allows you to upgrade the first of the month you qualify, so I drove to Best Buy on February 1st. Up to the cellphone area, and when they asked what phone I wanted, I proudly said, "The Lumia 920." One associate said, "Oh - the BRICK." Now I had handled the no-guts demo at Best Buy, and played with a fully functional 920 at AT&T stores, as well as at a Microsoft kiosk in New York. I've done my research and compared the two heavy hitters (the Nokia and the HTC 8X). Realizing that I'm a power user, 4G and a dual-core processor are a must. My poor Focus (v. 1.3) doesn't qualify for a Windows Phone 7.8 upgrade, so it was time to make the big jump.
Personalizing the phone is a bit of a chore; it's easier (and faster) to do it yourself if you know how than to wait for the geeks to do it. Zune doesn't work with the WP8 phones, so when you connect, it's a bit maddening. Fortunately, the Windows Phone 'app' downloads easily, and everything in 'the cloud' transfers, no muss, no fuss. Speed-wise, this thing FLIES - downloads are done in a matter of seconds, data transfers are done without thinking about it, and playing videos is not a problem.
I watched the video of the guy (lightly) hammering nails into the Gorilla Glass with no effect, and even using the 920 as a hammer, and it's true, this is a very solid phone. But it feels heavy - it tops out at 8.8 ounces. For reference, a large Fuji apple is 9.1 oz, and my wife's Galaxy Note 2 is 7.7. I think the compactness of the phone adds to the heft. But one major problem with the phone is the problem CNET had with it - it's SLICK. Not that I dropped it a lot, but it's difficult to get a good grip on it for texting or websurfing. But when I added a case (all my phones get a case), that solved the problem. For a phone of this size, make sure you get one with a kickstand - you'll find that you use it more often than you'd think, and it really helps with productivity.
Having all the buttons on one side makes sense since the screen size makes for easier landscape work, but it takes a bit getting used to, especially if your old phone had a different power button position. I was pushing the volume up button out of habit, but the new case (hybrid silicone/plastic) has isolated the center power button for easier access.
The two cameras are excellent, typical Nokia quality. However, I would recommend to do a little reading on the main camera's features before using it; for example, you pinch and zoom on the screen to get closeups, whereas the Focus had a virtual zoom button on the screen.
WP8 - excellent. The OS is maturing nicely, with more integration and smoother operation. If you take the time to just play with it, you'll find it much more intuitive than either iOS or Android. And that's saying a lot - my wife is the proud owner of a Galaxy Note 2, and it's an impressive piece of hardware. But I just prefer how WP8 works over Jellybean. Connection to the cloud is seamless, Office is built in, text now connects automatically to Facebook, and the Live Tiles feature is just amazing. Being able to size the tiles might appear to be just a cosmetic feature, but you can configure your most needed tiles where you want them for quick checking. Another new feature is that you can set notices for text and email on your lock screen. This is available on Mango, but only for a few accounts. And connection to an exchange server (for example, my University account) is a breeze, with full access to all your folders. One of my gripes with WP7/7.5 was that when you deleted an email, it was GONE. Period. Now, you are able to get into stored folders, sent items, and deleted items, so if you make a goof, you can retrieve an item.
My only gripe with WP8 has to do with apps. It's not that there are not enough (as most people say), but that some obvious ones are not available yet for WP8, even those that were available on WP7. The one I'm missing the most is iheartRadio - it's installed on every Windows 8 device, but not on the phones??? This is where Microsoft needs to push the developers.
All of Nokia's added features are worthwhile, although Nokia Music is sort of a redundancy. It's great that you can download maps for offline use (for those times when you don't have service, perish the thought), and the 32GB storage capacity, combined with cloud space, should be ample enough for most. Nokia City Lens is a cute idea, but the Famous tile is a waste of time - apparently the only famous thing near me is the Sears Tower! But on the other hand, I now know how far away Niagra Falls is!
For a feature-packed phone with arguably the best smartphone operating system out there, and if you can deal with phone of its heft, you can't go wrong with the Nokia Lumia 920.
Now, can I have iheartRadio? ;p
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