Wired’s Nokia Lumia 920 Review
Next up, another Nokia Lumia 920 review from the influential folks at Wired.
As usual, it’s all about the weight, but they’re not overly obsessed with it in a negative way, making puns such as Nokia the heavy weight. Why not. Heavy isn’t always bad. It’s nice to feel a bit of substance now and again.
They think the Nokia Lumia 920 is stunning with a killer camera and one of the best displays they’ve ever seen. It’s good to hear that wireless charging is simple to use. It’s not enough to have the features there – they must be easy enough that they feel natural.
Conclusion:
WIRED Sleek, tasteful design with a curved glass screen. Stunning camera. Bright display with excellent color and sharpness. Nokia-built software like Nokia Maps and Nokia Music are actually very useful, well-made and great to have built into the phone.
TIRED It’s big — time to reconsider the aversion to salads? Windows Phone still low on apps compared to iOS and Android. Camera’s preview mode is weird, so images may turn out different than expected.
Apps. I feel it will forever be compared as lacking in this department. But are the useful apps there? Is the critical point reached yet? A big phone. Not for everyone but there are plenty of phablet fans about.
Cheers Viipottaja for the tip!
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- Pogledajte i pročitajte recenzije Lumije 820 i 920 | NokiaMob | November 5, 2012
Like I said, nearly every review is going to kill it for the weight. However, it’s still scoring pretty well but then so did the 900.
Again, all of them forget that there is a good reason for it, and there is not other phone out there that can do what the 920 can do in terms of imaging.
So, when samsung or HTC build a phone with similar capabilities, and its lighter, smaller, and better built.. they might have a case, but until then..
Actually, TNW said that with the battery and camera it doesn’t need to make excuses for the weight.
Windows Phone still lacks a lot of useful / important / big apps. The Kindle App for example doesn’t work anymore and wp users are waiting a few weeks for a fix already. Not only there are just a few of such apps, some like this one don’t even work anymore (not that kindle wp was that great at all with many things that could only be done with the browser)
just tried my Kindle App and it seems to work fine.
Mine too.
Not here in Germany. Marketplace is full with bad reviews stating the sane: app stopped to launch. Shows up kindle logo and disappears right after.
We’ll see how that is 6 months from now. WP8 supports native code, making porting a lot easier. It’s then just a matter of matching the WP visual style, but Android’s Holo is already fairly close to that, so it’s not that much work.
I don’t get that score reduction because of lack of apps that blogs sometimes do at their reviews… It just doesn’t make any sense…
Lets assume that a month from now, the WP8 app market would be facing a surge of apps submissions, so it’d have 400K apps.
Now, say HTC releases a device which is slightly less good than the L920 – will it score better than the L920 because now there are more apps in the marketplace, and the L920 was reviewed when there were “only” 120K or so apps?
That’s just plain stupid…
That’s an issue with having scores in the first place. Another way that they could get around that is to have an OS score that gets updated and is bundled in with every hardware review.
Android would be a bit iffy though as while there is a huge selection of apps, not every app works on every device.
Seriously laughing about that weight argument. Got my hands on one today, and seriously? Coming from Optimus 7 and N900, that’s not even noticeable.
What I noticed is in most reviews only some mention WP8 as a positive but most of the people mention stuff like wireless charging,display,design,pureview, all made by Nokia meaning if Nokia went with Meego they would have all this stuff plus an OS which almost every tech site loved!
Btw looks like Nokia went from Symbian and Meego with no apps to WP8 which also has no apps! Now that it looks the major tech people reckon apps is an ecosystem.
I wouldn’t count over 120k apps “no apps”, per se… Also, ecosystem doesn’t quite mean only apps, you know.
And why don’t they mention WP8? Because they’ve reviewed it already elsewhere. Why mention about it every time again and again? It’s quite the same (sans Nokia apps) on other WP8 devices, y’know.
But ecosystem is even more than Elop’s and Microsofts’s theories. They still have to proof that they can really offer the ecosystem they’ve promised. Just having the same kernel on various platforms alone doesn’t make an ecosystem
That’s true too. Proof is in the pudding. We’ll have to see whether they deliver or not, but the building blocks look good.
Microsoft has a very good infrastructure, they just need to execute on the user front. The heavy lifting is already done.
And that’s where they failed again and again and again in the past years…
Actually, they did beautifully with the Xbox.
Nokia “had” a very good infrastructure, they just needed to execute on the user front. The heavy lifting was “also” already done.
well if they review the iphone5 they mention features of iOS, if they review android devices they mention how everyone added stuff to the UI, like Sense,Touchwiz etc
Symbian Also had over 100 000 apps and that number was actually rising before you know what happened.
Dont get me wrong the 920 is an amazing device! one that i am actually gonna get when I can but its just a shame nokia did not change some of the UI to stand out from the other CRAP like HTC and Samsung. Especially the camera UI! you have an amazing Camera but a crap UI! brings us back to the N8 with its PR1.0 camera UI, something which actually counted against Nokia!
They can’t change the UI.. its against Microsoft’s policy, and they probably wouldn’t want to for the sake of the “eco” system. All phones must have the exact same UI.
didn’t they say Microsoft gave them the right to change some of the UI elements? which Elop said they probably wont change it.
they can change the camera ui
which they haven’t done yet.. the belle camera UI is better than the stock WP
yeah but ppl forget that
If you think WP8 takes a beating for the lack of apps, just imagine how bad they’d throw MeeGo under the bus. WP8 in general gets widespread critical acclaim.
Dude you talking about Meego that was already 2 years ago. A full fledge Linux distro on a mobile.
Now if you don’t understand the advantages of developing on Linux (hint: open source codes), that’s a different matter.
Open source isn’t an advantage. Android rates very poorly on openness and it’s the most successful open source OS.
Yes confirmed. You don’t understand the advantages of developing on Linux.
Nobody does. Mainly because there aren’t any.
Yup Confirmed. Even Mark doesn’t understand the advantages of Linux.
Ha that’s funny….
Good review. I don’t get why they always talk about apps. Surely most apps are redundant nowadays with phones having great browers and HD screens? Why have an app for a website it makes no sense.
Yes, a lot of them are..
My question is, when will these “Bloggers”, or Reviewers from these “Tech” sites stop using the “Number of Apps” story. It has no meaningful relevance. Here we are November 2012 and that sad story still gets repeated and repeated. Such an overkill. From the thousands and hundred thousands of apps each ecosystem has, just how many apps does one put on their phone, or use consistently. They never mention/comment on the alternative apps that can be used for any they deem as must have. Heck, we now know that many of these apps are rarely used or even downloaded.
As for the weight comments, it’s simply a joke that does not deserve any response. Why waste print space.
Hear hear!
The Inquirer review is also out. Again, they say it’s heavy but that you get used to it.
They give it a 9/10. Pretty good review!
Pocket Lint and Verge being the only ones who have give it less than 8 thus far (at least of those who give out numbers)? And pocket lint’s review was just hilarious.
The comments are pretty funny. Pocket Lint is pretty Apple biased though, kind of like Stuff.
Well, eventhough I still find the weight an issue on paper (need to have one in my hands to pull the trigger), I also assume Nokia did extensive testing with focus groups and all that kind of things to determine if weight really is an issue both long and short term.
I don’t have any issue whatsoever with the 142g of the 800, but 40 extra seems like a testdrive is in order before a purchase.
Well… Have you ever hold Nokia N900? Kinda the same, weightwise.
Just a few times, but those were always tethered by a security cord. I was more woried about the sheer size back then, but now it seems you can’t get a top tier phone anymore with a 4″ screen. So I’m going with the flow and am considering the 920 with its big 4.5″ screen. But that undoubtably has some merits as well because of the size.
Time for Nokia to release the damn thing in my country already.
The 920 is thinner than the 800 and 900 and there were no complaints against those on size!
They should have tappered the edges in like the 900 and 8x (same thickness) to give the ILLUSION of being thin. Design mistake.
Actually, on the subject of weight…
The iPhone 4 and 4S weighed 4.8 ounces. If the higher quality bumper case (the one with the button covers) was added that brings the weight up to 6.2 ounces.
So most of these bloggers have been using a phone that weighs… err… about the same as the 920 and suddenly it’s an issue?
Psht.
Been my beef thus far with the reviews, and why I find the weight problem to be so hilarious.
Exactly Mark, exactly…
In fact theres a craze here in China where people are mad about the aluminium / metal mix covers. It makes it alot larger and nearly twice as heavy…
go figure…
in the apple store are over 50% never downloaded!
Ok, these reviews aren’t even funny anymore. Why do some of these bloggers even have a job reviewing new tech. Behold the worst review ever at gizmodo. Unbelievable really.
http://gizmodo.com/5957795/lumia-920-review-just-too-damn-heavy
Adressing the weight seems fair enough, not recommending it based on that eventhough they praise different aspects of the phone is a whole different thing.
Screen is great, camera is great, battery life is great, but don’t buy it becuase it is too heavy.
Best comment I read there though:
‘so roughly the weight of the original iPod… remember how hard THAT thing was to carry around and all the folks who collapsed under its weight? Yikes. I get that it’s heavy… but wow… a bit harsh for something that isn’t a big deal for a lot of folks. ‘
interesting, a half minute to boot up would proof that wp7 was only fast on booting because of the minimalistic ce kernel and the very limited functionality. This would mean that another advantage that WP had compared to others will be something of the past with wp8
Perhaps they hope you aren’t rebooting your device that often?
Optimus 7 has been quite solid in that regard, though.
The weight and start up times might be an issue to some, but not to the extent that these reviewers are making it out to be. No mention of all the other pluses that the 920 has going for it. Can’t believe the 8x received a better review. Crazy. I’m waiting on GSMarena’s review cause I consider them a less biased phone review blog. Of all phones.
Of course MNB and AAS is great too, but we like Nokia.
A review by a major blog like gizmodo, which I do like to read, makes them seem less credible.
I love my N8 and at first wasn’t considering the Lumia line, but I like what I see and but wait to see what Nokia brings out next year. Can’t wait.
Of course it really depends on whether you were predisposed to liking a phone before you read the review or not. A lot of people read reviews to confirm their bias (hell, I guarantee most readers of this blog read Lumia 920 reviews to either confirm their opinion that the Lumia 920 is awesome or their opinion that WP is terrible).
You have a good point there. Can’t say that Nokia doesn’t stir up interest whether good or bad. Symbian, Pureview, Lumia, Meego, even Elop stands out from the crowd. Looks like love it or hate it where Nokia is concerned. lol
“A lot of people read reviews to confirm their bias”
You vastly more so than most others…
Hardly, you must have me confused with someone else.
Actually, it’s not that. You’re just an idiot.
I confirmed Migo was an idiot before reading his comment.
Nah not at all. You’re extremely biased & non-objective.
Your history of posting demonstrates that beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Sorry, but the truth just hurts sometimes…
I’ve had problems with the Lumia 710 not regaining signal after it loses it, forcing me to reboot to get off roaming. I’ve got a network with some weak signal strength areas, but it’s a combination of newer Nokia hardware (C7 had the same issue), and WP’s battery saving habits.
Even the fairly fast boot up times are quite annoying.
Hm, can’t you try switching airplane mode on and off to regain the signal?
I’ve tried everything. It works less often than not, so I’ve just gone to rebooting.
Half a pound is 8 ounces, not 6.5 ounces. Also, Biddle used a 4S… with a case.
Don’t trust this man, folks. The phrase ‘complete Apple shill’ doesn’t even come close here.
my coworker was lucky enough to get the dev Lumia 920 from the Build conference last week and I finally got to have some hands on time with it yesterday. The weight issue is completely overblown. Yes it has some weight, but in my opinion, a good weight. Feels like a premium device. Comparing it to my Lumia 800, the 920 feels more solid, especially the volume and lock/power buttons. Anybody complaining about the weight, especially a guy, needs to have his man card revoked. It seems like these bloggers just nit-pick over every little issue.
The screen though, is absolutely gorgeous. smooth, crisp, just amazing. You can also easily spend 10 minutes like i did shaking the phone while testing the OIS on the camera. Tried buying the phone off my coworker since i’m on Tmo but he is too and he’s not selling unfortunately
http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/01/android-75-percent-marketshare-136-million-shipped/