Nokia Lumia 920
Three innovations in the flagship Windows Phone 8 smartphone
With plenty of attention going towards mobile phones on Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android 4.1 “Jelly Bean” platforms, Nokia announced yesterday the flagship model for the Windows Phone 8, the Lumia 920. At first glance, the phone stands out for bright colorways, a glossy 4.5-inch display and hi-res screen. The UI is similarly improved with resizable menu tiles and less lag thanks to speedy Snapdragon 4 processor. Digging deeper, the Lumia 920 turns out to be a step ahead in a few key areas.
We’re rather excited about the built-in wireless charging capabilities—a first for the smartphone market—which seems to be a big step in the right direction for solving the model-specific charger debacle among today’s devices. Nokia is also sweetening the deal by partnering with Virgin Atlantic and Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf to put charging stations in airports and coffee shops. The phone’s substantial battery pack can also be charged through the fun Fatboy Recharge Pillow and JBL’s Power Up, which were developed in partnership with Nokia.
Next is the much-touted PureView camera, which offers improved low-light performance by using a longer exposure that lets in five times more light than competitors. Floating Lens technology is able to compensate for the blur that comes alongside long exposure times. Also included in the system is a cinemagraph app for creating animated GIFs straight from the Lumia.
Finally, Nokia hopes to leap ahead in the navigation space with a comprehensive location suite. Offline maps, voice guided turn-by-turn navigation and interior plans for stations and terminals are among the features that go above and beyond the current navigational tools. Nokia’s City Lens integrates augmented reality with tagging of landmarks and businesses. Perhaps the slickest innovation in this respect is the ability to toggle between AU and maps by rotating the phone.
Without details on carriers, price and release date (it is expected to hit stores in the fourth quarter of 2012), it might be too early to make a hard judgement on the Lumia 920. That said, we’re pretty excited by Nokia’s ability to execute outside of the box on the more capable Windows Phone 8 platform.
