Nokia Lumia 900 – reviewed

[section_title title=Ease of Use Windows Phone 7.5  – Design and form factor]

Ease of use – Windows Phone 7.5

This was my first real encounter with the Windows Phone 7 OS. I have seen it, and only slightly tried it out on my sons LG Windows Phone previously, but this was really the first time I took the time to get to know this operating system. I have been using the iPhone since the iPhone 3G came along, and have been enjoying iOS. I have also invested heavily in Apples ecosystem with buying apps, music, tv-series and movies. This has been one of the factors holding me back on approaching Windows Phone 7.

As regular readers of my site knows, I have already installed Windows 8 on all the computers in our household. I really like that operating system, although admittedly I spend most of my time in the desktop environment. The coming Windows Phone 8 OS is built off of the same core as Windows 8, and thus the integration is potentially more seamless than with Windows Phone 7, but that experience is already pretty seamless. Both is built on the interface previously known as Metro, and already having created a Windows ID (an outlook.com/hotmail.com/ or live.com address) which I also linked to my Facebook account, twitter, SkyDrive and so forth, it was truly magical to see the Lumia 900 just come to life as I entered my Windows ID and logged in for the first time. My contacts, pictures and social networks was just there – more or less immediately! Nothing short of amazing!

Windows Phone 7 is a task-oriented operating system, versus the more app-centric model in iOS. Where I in iOS would have to go to the camera app to take a picture, switch to the Photo app to see it, and then share it from within a twitter, Facebook or whatever app, I can do all of that from within the camera app itself. With iOS 6 Apple has made sharing more easy than before, but still not as easy as it is in Windows Phone 7.

You can of course follow the more app-centric model on Windows Phone as well, with dedicated apps for Facebook, twitter and so forth, but you really don’t have to.

What Windows Phone 7 has, that you cannot find on iOS for example, is Microsoft Office. On the phone you will find mobile versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. Free of charge, and linked to your SkyDrive account. And the apps are excellent mobile versions of their desktop cousins.

Microsoft will soon release Windows Phone 8, but just so that is clear: The Nokia Lumia 900, or any other Windows Phone 7 devices for that matter, will not be able to upgrade to the new OS due to new hardware requirements. Microsoft will provide a 7.8 release of Windows Phone 7 around the same time as Windows Phone 8 arrives, that will provide some of the features arriving in Windows Phone 8, like the new UI, which allows the Start screen to use more of the available space for tiles, as well as more customizable tiles, as well as more sizes to choose from. Which features that will be included in 7.8 has not been officially announced by Microsoft yet, but word on the street is that it is coming soon. That said, although it is a bummer for current Lumia 900 users that they will not be able to upgrade to 8, the Lumia 900 will still be a great phone, with a great OS a couple of months from now.

It is difficult to describe Windows Phone 7, and offer it the praise that it is due. In order to give you more of an impression I have an extensive gallery of screenshots below:

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Subscore 10 out of 10

Design and form factor

I received the white Lumia 900, and although this would not be the color of my choosing, it is a really nice looking phone. I like the unibody polycarbonate form factor of the device, that fits into your hand like no other phone I have tried. It feels solid and sturdy, and I am in no way inclined to cover this phone up in a case to protect it.
For some reason Nokia has chosen to put all the buttons on the right side of the phone. This makes it quite easy to know which is up and down on the phone without looking, but it takes a little getting used to. The fact that the power-button is in the middle of this arrangement is strange too. Nokia has decided to have the USB-connector, as well as the  headphone jacks on top of the device. I would personally prefer to have had the USB-connector on the bottom of the device, but that is me. But the main thing is that the Lumia 900 looks great!

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Subscore: 10 out of 10