The IT Nerd

My latest review is the Nokia Lumia 620 Windows 8 smartphone courtesy of Telus who is the first carrier in North America to have this phone. The first thing that gets my attention is the feel of the phone. The phone feels nice in your hand and it is a good size and weight. Compared to my wife’s iPhone 5, it’s a tiny bit thinner, and a tiny bit shorter. It will fit into your coat or pants pocket easily. It also feels solidly constructed. You can pop off the the back and pop in a 64GB MicroSD card which will supplement the 8GB of internal memory. You can also replace the battery.

The phone is a HSPA phone that will go as fast as 21 Mbps. I couldn’t test that using Speedtest.net , but doesn’t feel slow. Pages using Internet Explorer rendered reasonably quickly. You also get 802.11 B/G/N WiFi to make sure that you don’t burn through too much cellular data. In terms of processing power, you’ve got a dual core 1Ghz Snapdragon processor running the show. There’s a 3.8” WVGA ClearBlack LCD (480 x 800) screen. It’s bright, clear and vibrant. Photos look nice on this screen. I found it to be good, but the iPhone 5 has a sharper screen. The one thing that I will point out is that the screen is glossy and while bright light such as the sun won’t wash out the screen, it could use an anti-glare coating to make it absolutely perfect. The quality of the sound is pretty good as the phone has an equalizer and Dolby based boosting, but only if you use a headset.

As for the built in apps, there are a number that come with the Lumia 620. Some of the ones that stand out are:

• Nokia Drive + Beta: This is a navigation app that offers voice based turn by turn navigation that speaks the names of the streets. The maps are resident on the phone and you can have as few or as many maps as you want on the phone. That means you won’t burn through cellular data constantly downloading maps in real time like you would with Apple Maps or Google Maps. Speaking of maps, there’s a separate maps application called Nokia Maps that also leverages these maps.
• Nokia Transit: This app helps you to navigate using public transit. It fetches public transit schedules to give you an idea of how long your journey will take. It is simple to use and even gets transit schedules to give you a reasonably accurate idea of how long your trip will take.
• Nokia City Lens: This is an augmented-reality app. Hold up the phone in landscape mode to see nearby businesses, landmarks, and happenings. I’m not sure how accurate this info is as it highlighted stores and restaurants that don’t exist anymore. Nor did it show some stores that I was standing right in front of. But I’m sure it can prove useful.

If all of this sounds familiar, it should. These are the same apps that came with the Nokia Lumia 920 that I reviewed a while ago. The difference is that in the case of Nokia Drive + Beta, it works better. That’s the beauty of being a beta product. You get constant improvements.

Also of note, it comes with the usual Windows 8 Phone apps such as Office, OneNote, Internet Explorer and Outlook. Also, if you’re an Angry Birds fan, there’s an app that allows you to easily buy the Angry Birds games and gives you access to all sorts of items related to the game. You can also set up your LinkedIn, FaceBook, and Twitter accounts on the phone and use an app called People so that you can keep tabs on your friends. If you prefer to use a separate app for Facebook or Twitter, you’ll have to take a trip to the Windows Marketplace to grab one.

So far, this phone looks like it’s very feature complete. So we’ll move on the camera. That will be in the next part of this review.

So let me wrap up a few loose ends here:

• In terms of the navigation software, two things I noticed. First is that it would beep if you exceeded the speed limit. This was annoying at first and it can be turned off. But here’s why you don’t want to do that. If you’re in an unfamiliar place where the speed limit is strictly enforced (parts of the US for example) you want this feature enabled. The second thing I noticed is that the speech was very European. It would say things like “follow the course of the road” which for North Americans (like my wife) might be a bit weird to hear. But for me (having been born in England) it didn’t bother me. 
• The battery life is pretty good with the phone lasting just over a day and a bit which is handy as the battery is non-removable. The only way I could drive the battery life down was to use the GPS which is not all that surprising as using GPS on any phone will absolutely hammer battery life.
• I did notice that if your hands are sweaty, moist, or you put some hand cream on your hands, this phone becomes VERY difficult to hold. A case is a must if you want to keep this phone in one piece.
• Similar to the HTC 8X I could not figure out how to upload to YouTube. So the video that I posted yesterday took a trip from the phone, to SkyDrive, to my MacBook Pro, to YouTube. Many users will find this to be a major issue.
• Rogers just told me that the phone is not only available in black, but it’s also available in red, white and yellow. Also, there’s a contest ongoing where you can win one as well.

So, what did I think of the Lumia 920? Compared to the HTC 8X, it’s far more feature complete and usable and I think it’s the choice for those who want a Windows Phone. In fact, it would be a great choice for anyone looking for a smart phone. It has a great camera, great sound, and great apps including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn support. My only reservation is that the app ecosystem for Windows Phone 8 is still something that is growing. You may not be able to find the apps you’re looking for in the short term, so keep that in mind when considering this phone or any Windows Phone. Hopefully more developers come on board to make that issue go away. You’re also tied to Microsoft’s online services such as Hotmail and SkyDrive, but that’s no different than Apple and the iCloud.

Bottom line: This is a great phone. It’s very much worth a serious look.

I had a chance to snap a few pictures with the Nokia Lumia 920 by leveraging the fact that my wife and I went for burgers at the quasi famous Apache Burger in suburban Toronto. Here’s the outside of this burger joint (click for the full size image):

You’ll note that even though it’s night, you get a large amount of detail in this picture. Here’s another shot to show the sort of vivid colours that this camera:

What’s responsible for these pictures? How about a 8.7 megapixel sensor mated to a lens from the famous Carl Zeiss? If you’re serious about pictures, you have to try this camera out. Now I will also mention that there is a 1 megapixel camera up front. It’s meant for video chatting, not for stunning pics like those above.

Speaking of video, here’s a video that I shot. Make sure you select 1080p and full screen to see the video as I shot it:

Now, why did I film this video at night? Look at how clear it is. If it this camera can do video this good at night which is very hard for a camera to do, imagine what it can do during the day.

The bottom line: The camera is impressive. It’s easily the best camera on a phone that I’ve tested and that includes the iPhone 5 before anyone asks.

The final part of this review will wrap up a few loose ends and give you my closing thoughts.

The Nokia Lumia 920 is one of many phones running Microsoft’s phone OS that Rogers is promoting as of late. I was lucky enough to get my hands on one for a brief test and I came away more impressed than the last Windows phone that I tested which was the HTC 8X Windows 8 Phone.

The first thing that I have to say is that this is a big, thick and heavy phone. Okay, it’s no Samsung Galaxy Note or S3 in terms of size, but it’s bigger than the iPhone. Small hands might have a problem holding this phone. As for the weight, it’s heavier than the iPhone by a fair margin. My wife commented that she’d hate carrying it in her purse. Having said that, it is a well put together phone. It feels solid and well constructed.

The Lumia 920’s HD screen has a 1,280×768-pixel resolution. It’s bright and clear and colours look vivid. Photos and videos look stunning on this screen. It’s also viewable in all conditions such as bright light, outdoors, etc. The quality of the sound is pretty good as the phone has an equalizer and Dolby based boosting, but only if you use a headset.

For those of you who want to use your phone to navigate their way through life, you’re in luck. This phone comes with several apps to choose from. There’s Nokia Drive + which is a navigation app that offers voice based turn by turn navigation. It works well enough, but the voice prompts simply tell you to turn left or turn right. It doesn’t name street names. That forces you to look at the phone rather than focus on driving. Perhaps this will improve as this application does have the word “beta” all over it. One advantage that this app has over Apple Maps is that the maps are resident on the phone and you can have as few or as many maps as you want on the phone. Next up is Nokia Transit which helps you to navigate from place to place using public transit. It fetches public transit schedules to give you an idea of how long your journey will take. I have no idea if this accounts for delays on the subway and the like, but it is simple to use. Then there’s Nokia City Lens which is an augmented-reality app. Hold up the phone in landscape mode to see nearby businesses, landmarks, and happenings. I’m not sure how accurate this info is as it highlighted stores and restaurants that don’t exist anymore. Nor did it show some stores that I was standing right in front of. #Fail.

As for the hardware specs, it comes with 32GB of non-expandable RAM. It is also an LTE phone and though I wasn’t able to use Speedtest.net to test the phone, but it does have a max speed of 75 Mbps. It did feel fast when I was testing it for what that’s worth. It also has 802.11 N connectivity as well so you can save some dollars in terms of your phone bill. One thing that I did not get a chance to test is the wireless charging feature. This phone doesn’t need a wire to charge as you can use a compatible charging pad to charge the phone. It sounds neat. I wonder how well it works in practise?

In the next part of the review, I’ll cover the picture and video features of the phone. It comes with a Carl Zeiss lens which means by reputation alone, it should be amazing. We’ll see.