The Nokia Lumia 900 looks set to be the first Windows Phone device that may just have mass market appeal. With some serious hardware under the hood and a very competitive price tag, does the stylish Nokia Lumia 900 have what it takes to go up against the top selling smartphone on the market, the iPhone 4S? Let’s find out.
iPhone 4S vs Nokia Lumia 900
First up, the hardware. The Nokia Lumia 900 sports a 1.4-GHz Snapdragon processor, 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display, 1830mAh battery capable of pumping out 7 hours of talk time. 8-megapixel camera with and f2.2, wide-angle focal length (28mm) Carl Zeiss lens, front-facing camera, 4G LTE support and 16GB of storage.
Now starting off with the display, you get a much larger screen than on the iPhone 4S which certainly lives up to its ‘ClearBlack’ name. The blacks are much deeper than that on the back-lit iPhone 4S and the 4.3-inch display doesn’t sacrifice much in terms of battery life. Furthermore, due to the slim design, the Nokia Lumia 900 easily slides into your pocket despite the 4.3-inch display.
Another feature it has that the iPhone 4S doesn’t is 4G LTE. If you live in an area with 4G LTE and have used it before, you will very well know just how difficult it is to go back to 3G speeds after experiencing it.
Now while the 1.4GHz Snapdragon processor may sound a little slow on paper when compared to the many dual-core phones on the market, it works exceptionally well with the WIndows Phone platform. While on the subject of the mobile OS, we have to mention just how intuitive the Metro live tiles are. They are a joy to use and many find it more user friendly than widgets and more informational than the dull icons that are the iPhone 4S.
If the Nokia Lumia 900 has any downfalls, it would be two things – the camera and lack of apps. Despite boasting an 8-megapixel shooter with Carl Zeiss lens, we often found the camera software had trouble trying to focus and hence take longer to capture shots. The white balance also wasn’t up to our expectations. As for apps, the Windows Marketplace is still growing and hence you shouldn’t expect as many app choices as in the App Store on Play Store.
With a price tag of only $99 with a two-year AT&T contract, you get a solid high-end smartphone that outprices older devices. The iPhone 4S for one starts at $199 (16GB model) and continues to run upwards when you add Apple’s extended AppleCare warranty. While iPhones may not be known for their longevity, Nokias are.
What do you think of the Nokia Lumia 900? Does it have what it takes to get Nokia and Microsoft back into the smartphone market? Sound off in the comments below.
