After a considerable delay, Nokia has launched the Lumia 920 in India. This is the phone that was touted as the big PureView smartphone, after the technology was first showcased in the Nokia 808 PureView in the summer of last year. Globally, this phone was launched before the year-end festive season. Better late than never, buyers in India can pick up the Lumia 920 if a good camera phone is what they want.
From the little time we spent with the Lumia 920 at the event, here are our observations.
The polycarbonate unibody design is very well done on the Lumia 920. There is a really premium feel on the phone, something that you would expect from a device this expensive.
What is a bit of a downer is that it looks very similar to the previous generation phone flagship, the Lumia 900. However, we would not hold that against the Lumia 920, because, quite frankly, “if it isn’t broke, then don’t fix it”!
The colour has an enamel finish to it, but if firmly a matte one. You do get some smudges and fingerprints on the body, but nothing that cannot be wiped off.
We have heard a lot of criticism that the Lumia 920 is uncomfortably heavy as a phone. Yes, there is no denying that the Lumia 920 is heavier than the Galaxy Note II, at least on paper. But, we did not find the weight to be a problem. The phone has a very even weight distribution. And doesn’t feel like it’ll topple over; head first, during one-handed operation.
The 4.5-inch display has what Nokia calls the “HD ” resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels. But the real impressive bit is the Pure Motion feature that makes text look crisp and distinct even when you are scrolling within the UI. We will put the display through a detailed test after comparing it with the rivals to see how good it actually is.
While the weight isn’t an issue, the size is a bit bigger than what we expected. And that seems to restrict the ability to use the phone with one hand to a minimum.
The 8.7MP clicker is the PureView camera, which on paper seems lesser than the 12 MP of Sony Xperia S and the 13.1MP of the Sony Xperia Z. In fact, this is nowhere close to the huge 41MP number that the 808 PureView boasted of. However, there are a lot of little add-ons that make this a unique package in its class. First is the “floating lens” optical image stabilization feature that makes videos looks a lot less bouncy at the end of it all. Nokia was talking up the low light performance of the Lumia 920 quite a bit, but we will only comment on how good it is when we are done with our tests.
Nokia has pegged the price of the Lumia 920 at Rs. 38,199 and would be available in certain cities from tomorrow. The phone will be available throughout the country in the next few weeks.
We will get the phone soon for a detailed review. Do stay tuned for that. In the meantime, you can check out some pictures of the phone.
The 4.5-inch display is definitely among the better ones among all smartphones, but we will reserve judgement till we test it in detail.
The camera placement is excellent – no matter what the orientation – you fingers will not accidentally block the vision while clicking.
The polycarbonate unibody has a very premium finish. The colour has a matte finish, but does tend to catch a few fingerprints along the way.
The thickness is fairly well managed, and isn’t much thicker than the Lumia 900.
This is the camera interface – which remains very basic and simple.
Verification, this indeed is the Lumia 920.
The pricing, as announced by Nokia.
