I wanted to like it, I really did. I just purchased a new Win8 computer and figured I would upgrade my phone to the Lumia 920 in the spirit of homogeneity. Let me tell you that doing so was a HORRIBLE idea - where to start.
Weight - this brick, I mean phone, tips the scales at a cool 185 grams, compared to the 133 gram Galaxy S3 or 140 gram iPhone 4S. When asked why it weighed so much, the salesman told me it was because the phone is made from the same composite as is astronaut helmets. Nice - I can now sleep better knowing that if the Mayans are right, at least my Lumia 920 is prepared for its journey through the cosmos.
To all my skinny jean wearing hipsters, you and this phone simply cannot be – the sheer size and mass of it make it a nightmare to carry in regular sized pants, I can’t even imagine the kind of dances you’ll do to get the Lumia in and out of your jeggings pockets. This brick could be a safety hazard if one of these crazy youths tries to rob me on his way to Hot Topic, though my Lumia could possibly double as a shield, or even a weapon if I decided to shotput at my assailant.
Onto the UI – wow, anyone who says the apps are incredible must be kidding. Moving past the fact that google refuses to create apps for the Win8 OS, none of the apps that are built for this phone are designed by their actual developers. Facebook is a Microsoft app, Whatsapp doesn’t even exist, the Pandora app is a blog about the music on Pandora – sweet, nothing satiates my hunger for The Jonas Brothers or Biggie Smalls like the words of Joe and Jane Smith as they opine on hottest 1950’s Christmas album. What few games they do have, i.e. angry birds, looks like they have been shrunk down from a tv screen onto my phone. The aspect ratio is atrocious, not to mention that for me to download anything, I have to use my Hotmail account that I opened and retired when I was in fifth grade – which may be a real selling point for the hipsters as eclectic/old school schwag is all the rage these days.
As per the screen size … the phone may be huge but a good portion of it is cannibalized by the bezel , again probably some brilliant innovation necessary to make the phone more functional as I use it to fend off attacks but not when I want to compose documents in MS office, which is a function I will NEVER use on my phone.
But our friends at Nokia were smart enough to include a wireless charger, this was a HUGE plus, I find that plugging my phone into the wall while I sleep at night is cumbersome AND tedious. Corded phones chargers are so 2010 – what are we still using the rotary phones here? Think of all the extra things I can do now that I don’t have to plug my brick into the wall! At about 6 hours of battery life, I know that whatever charging device I get is going to get plenty of love.
So that’s it, this phone is horrible. Anyone who says otherwise is either crazy, or is finally making the upgrade from their Razor flip phone. Keep up the good work Nokia, you've successfully kept old school by giving us those old school features we expected in 2005.