Nokia Lumia 920/820 - First Look
Today, October 29, at 21.00 Moscow time, the world announcement of Windows Phone 8 will take place, which will reveal the latest secrets of Microsoft's new mobile OS. On the eve of the start of sales of desktop and tablet versions of Windows 8, I attended a demonstration of the most innovative smartphone on WP8, Nokia Lumia 920. I want to share my impressions and thoughts on this subject.
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I will begin, perhaps, from one personal moment. I’m a big fan and loyal user of Nokia’s Linux development, and therefore, like, I should not like WP. But this is not so, that is, - not at all! Yes, I didn’t like the Lumia 800 a lot, because, taking it in my hand, I felt that it was not an independent and self-sufficient device, but a smartphone, hastily converted from N9 under WP7.5. But the Lumia 710, in my opinion, is an excellent smart for its price segment, and even 610, although there is little RAM in it (and for me, the Nokia Asha 311 is much more interesting and honest), is quite a thoughtful device. About Lumia 900 and say nothing, - this flagship. If it were not for the Microsoft-launched global upgrade of the entire line of operating systems, with the transfer of WP to the desktop kernel Windows NT, the Lumia 900 would not lag far behind other flagships.
On the other hand, I am a Windows user with almost 20 years of experience and I have never dreamed of any other operating system on a desktop computer or on a laptop. In addition, my first smartphone was on Windows Mobile: HTC 3300 (it still exists and still works), and after it came the N900 on Maemo 5. So, I didn’t have any negative prejudice to WP and could not be. It was only insulting and incomprehensible to me why the work of hundreds of people was sacrificed to the development of WP in Nokia for almost 5 years, the work, the results of which were not enjoyed by me alone. Accordingly, the requirements for the product, which appeared through such a sacrifice, were also increased.
Therefore, when I connected the Lumia 800 to a computer on Windows (translated: “windows”) and could not open the smart as an external flash drive in the explorer window, I was, to put it mildly, discouraged. And they offer me to exchange them for Maemo & MeeGo, the devices on which they were correctly connected to the computer in several modes, including in the flash drive mode. Why do you need to take the worst from the iPhone, which is why almost all users scold and iOS?
No less, I was disappointed with the reduced multitasking in WP 7.5. Only 5 background programs ?! And this is after Maemo & MeeGo, in which full-fledged multitasking was limited only by the capabilities of hardware, and the browser windows and applications worked in the background as well as in the background the programs run in desktop Windows.
If it is large, then these were my two global claims to WP7.5. And in these of my claims, I was 100% sure. My logic is simple: there is a small device and a large device. And a large device should see a small as a connected external drive. Point. There are no other options here. If, of course, devices and OSes are made for the user. Well, if they are made for the Big Brother or Big Buble, then it is possible to combine harvesters-aggregators, to close everything up, so that the user can act only as the King wishes.
It is not yet known exactly how the WP8 smartphone will be seen by the computer, however, there is every reason to believe that the user part of the disk will open as an external disk. Of course, you cannot call it a fully open system, but you can call it open to an ordinary user.
As for multitasking, the question is also still (until tonight) open and fundamentally important. In WP7.5, due to limited multitasking, system performance was achieved. Scrolling in WP8 compared to WP7.5 is much smoother and faster. But how much full-fledged multitasking we get is a question. Although for me the most ideal option would be if the WP8 user had the opportunity to customize the behavior of an application in the background. It is the user, not the application developer. Because the developer cannot assume all combinations of the use of the application created by him. An operating system in which the user himself can assign a freeze mode in the background, or a full multitasking mode for one application or another, will be the ideal operating system for me, well, or at least optimal.
And now I’ll get down to business, that is, to the devices themselves, and I will begin, of course, with the flagship: Lumia 920. Of course, I want to avoid superlatives, when I haven’t tested the device at least a day or two, but on the other hand, with a little that I was in the immediate vicinity of the Lumia 920, and even from time to time I held it in my hands, I really want to define this device in one word: a masterpiece. True, without exaggeration!
Despite the diagonal of the display 4.5 inches and the thickness of a little more than a centimeter, the smartphone does not feel very cumbersome in the hand at first. Secondly, despite the glossy polycarbonate, from which the whole Lumia 920 case is made, the smartphone does not slip at all in the hand, on the contrary, the plastic seems to stick to the palm. This quality personally pleased me very much.
The display, covered with a protective glass of Gorilla Glass 2, is a fraction of a millimeter above the case, as it was in the first device in a solid polycarbonate case, the N9.
The display itself is one of the main features of the smartphone. First, he understands touching through a glove or metal. This is due to the new Synaptics sensor. When I asked whether such responsiveness of the display would result in the problem of involuntarily unlocking it in my pocket, I was assured that, firstly, the lock screen in WP simply cannot unlock itself in the pocket, because the screen saver needs to be raised from bottom to top. of the end, and secondly, the proximity and lighting sensors, through which the smartphone will understand that these are false impulses, will interfere with unblocking, but in fact it is in your pocket and nobody ordered it to unlock.
Next, about the display. Its resolution is 1280x768, which in terms of pixels per inch will be 332 ppi, this seems to be a record, in any case, the iPhone has less. The display is manufactured using LCD technology using ClearBlack proprietary Nokia technology. These are not empty words. I have repeatedly compared the display, for example, the N9 with the AMOLED displays of other smartphones, and the brightness of the sun on the N9 did everyone. And all thanks to ClearBlack. Covered with a display and oleophobic coating that prevents the formation of fingerprints on it. Another distinctive feature of the display PureMotion HD +, is the speed of the display interface. For the first time in the industry, the interface was able to display at 60 frames per second. This will allow, without blurring, to scroll the page in the browser, for example, and in other applications, especially games, I am sure this technology will demonstrate its advantage.
Now back to the case. Nokia traditionally has a micro-USB connector located on top, on the top. It was not very convenient, especially when using a smartphone in a car (which, by the way, in my opinion is not really allowed). Now the connector has moved to the lower end, which I personally cannot but greet. A 3.5 mm headphone or headset jack is located on the top, where the micro-SIM slot is also located in the case.
Physical buttons on the right side (volume buttons, on and off buttons, it also locks and unlocks the display), as well as a camera control button, are made of diamond-coated ceramic in the Lumia 920. This is felt not only at the tactile level, but also visually in fact brings the Lumia 920 closer to Vertu's jewelry masterpieces. Also ceramic is now made and lining around the camera on the back side of the case. So, if earlier users complained that this pad (being metal) was scratched over time, now, there is reason to believe that aging does not threaten it. Wildly stylish for my taste looks and the Nokia logo that has moved to the upper right corner.
Now from the exterior of the device we go to its hardware characteristics. So, the smartphone is based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 2-core processor running at 1.5 GHz. In addition to its other interesting characteristics (for example, automatic transition to a single-core mode of operation, when the user just dials SMS and the operation of two cores is clearly not required), this chip has one fundamentally important characteristic: it supports the new generation of communications - LTE, providing the user with speed 10 times faster than 3G connection. So, both Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 will be supported by Russian LTE networks. The Snapdragon S4 is manufactured using the latest 28 nim process and is equipped with an Adreno 225 graphics processor.
Unlike previous smartphones on WP, which worked with 512 MB of RAM, the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 are equipped with 1 GB of RAM, which I think will be enough for comfortable work that is traditionally rather undemanding to the hardware resources of WP. As a flash drive in the Lumia 920 uses a 32 GB internal flash drive. That is, Lumia 920 will be sold in only one version. Connector for a removable micro-SD card in the device there, because the body is one-piece. But in the Lumia 820, which has 8 GB of internal memory, the back cover is removed and under it is a slot for a removable micro-SD, supporting cards up to 32 GB.
If we talk about the difference between the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, then it is easy to paint on several points. Displays differ, - differ both in the size of the diagonal and in the manufacturing technology. If the Lumia 920 is an LCD IPS, then the Lumia 820 is an OLED. However, the proprietary Synaptics technology, which recognizes touching with a fingernail, gloved hand, or key, is also present in the Lumia 820 display.
One of the most important differences between the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 is the camera. The fact is that the Lumia 920 8MP camera is equipped with PureView technology. However, in contrast to the Nokia 808 PureView super-cameraphone 41MP in summer, the essence of the PureView technology lies not in the huge resolution of the matrix, but in the unique optical stabilization system first implemented in a mobile device. The so-called floating lens is built into the lens of the Lumia 920, which, through gyro commands, gives instructions to the sensor and provides image stabilization, unseen until now, both in the photo and in the video. The resolution of the matrix of the camera Lumia 920 is 8.7 megapixels. Such a seemingly stunning resolution is due to achieve maximum quality when shooting with a 16: 9 aspect ratio — after all, ordinary 8 megapixel cameras take 16: 9 photographs at 7 megapixels, and 8 megapixel photographs are obtained with a 4: 3 aspect ratio.
All these innovative wonders in the camera Lumia 820 no. The Lumia 820 is equipped with the usual (albeit excellent) 8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, traditional for Nokia devices. There is no Lumia 820 and built-in wireless charging system, which is implemented in the Lumia 920. To Lumia 820 learned how to charge without wires to it, you will need to buy a new back cover. Also less than the Lumia 820 and the battery capacity. If in Lumia 920 it is 2000 mAh, then in Lumia 820 - 1650 mAh. Another difference: the display of the Lumia 820 is flat, which, surely, someone will like it more. For the Lumia 820, gorgeous multi-colored matte interchangeable covers will be sold. And the Lumia 920 will be sold with covers, which, however, I could not see at the demonstration.
In addition to the smartphones themselves, Nokia also launches a range of accessories - Monster headphones, as well as a receiver-speaker and a wireless charging station in one device from the JBL company.
I have always been a supporter of the concept: one mobile device - one operating system. And the N900, and N9 and, by the way, the iPhone correspond to this concept. And it's not about elegance and exclusivity. Just the ergonomics of the device is not limited to its physical and tactile characteristics. The interface is an integral part of the ergonomics of a mobile device. So, I am sure that WP8 was largely designed on the basis of the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820. And even if Microsoft releases its own WP-smartphones (which, in principle, can be presented today), it will be possible to surpass the uniqueness and innovation of the Lumia 920 will not succeed. Especially in this connection, the announced price for the Nokia's flagship smartphone is 25 thousand. This is a very, very good price, taking into account all the exclusive chips that you will not find in any other device.
Well, going back to the imaginary dislike of Nokia’s WP developers, I’m not going to tell everyone, of course, but I’ll tell myself: I already did the pre-order for the Lumia 920 and I’m looking forward to the start of sales, the date of which streamlined response - soon, very soon.
Will wait!
')
Personal
I will begin, perhaps, from one personal moment. I’m a big fan and loyal user of Nokia’s Linux development, and therefore, like, I should not like WP. But this is not so, that is, - not at all! Yes, I didn’t like the Lumia 800 a lot, because, taking it in my hand, I felt that it was not an independent and self-sufficient device, but a smartphone, hastily converted from N9 under WP7.5. But the Lumia 710, in my opinion, is an excellent smart for its price segment, and even 610, although there is little RAM in it (and for me, the Nokia Asha 311 is much more interesting and honest), is quite a thoughtful device. About Lumia 900 and say nothing, - this flagship. If it were not for the Microsoft-launched global upgrade of the entire line of operating systems, with the transfer of WP to the desktop kernel Windows NT, the Lumia 900 would not lag far behind other flagships.
On the other hand, I am a Windows user with almost 20 years of experience and I have never dreamed of any other operating system on a desktop computer or on a laptop. In addition, my first smartphone was on Windows Mobile: HTC 3300 (it still exists and still works), and after it came the N900 on Maemo 5. So, I didn’t have any negative prejudice to WP and could not be. It was only insulting and incomprehensible to me why the work of hundreds of people was sacrificed to the development of WP in Nokia for almost 5 years, the work, the results of which were not enjoyed by me alone. Accordingly, the requirements for the product, which appeared through such a sacrifice, were also increased.
Therefore, when I connected the Lumia 800 to a computer on Windows (translated: “windows”) and could not open the smart as an external flash drive in the explorer window, I was, to put it mildly, discouraged. And they offer me to exchange them for Maemo & MeeGo, the devices on which they were correctly connected to the computer in several modes, including in the flash drive mode. Why do you need to take the worst from the iPhone, which is why almost all users scold and iOS?
No less, I was disappointed with the reduced multitasking in WP 7.5. Only 5 background programs ?! And this is after Maemo & MeeGo, in which full-fledged multitasking was limited only by the capabilities of hardware, and the browser windows and applications worked in the background as well as in the background the programs run in desktop Windows.
If it is large, then these were my two global claims to WP7.5. And in these of my claims, I was 100% sure. My logic is simple: there is a small device and a large device. And a large device should see a small as a connected external drive. Point. There are no other options here. If, of course, devices and OSes are made for the user. Well, if they are made for the Big Brother or Big Buble, then it is possible to combine harvesters-aggregators, to close everything up, so that the user can act only as the King wishes.
It is not yet known exactly how the WP8 smartphone will be seen by the computer, however, there is every reason to believe that the user part of the disk will open as an external disk. Of course, you cannot call it a fully open system, but you can call it open to an ordinary user.
As for multitasking, the question is also still (until tonight) open and fundamentally important. In WP7.5, due to limited multitasking, system performance was achieved. Scrolling in WP8 compared to WP7.5 is much smoother and faster. But how much full-fledged multitasking we get is a question. Although for me the most ideal option would be if the WP8 user had the opportunity to customize the behavior of an application in the background. It is the user, not the application developer. Because the developer cannot assume all combinations of the use of the application created by him. An operating system in which the user himself can assign a freeze mode in the background, or a full multitasking mode for one application or another, will be the ideal operating system for me, well, or at least optimal.
Devices
And now I’ll get down to business, that is, to the devices themselves, and I will begin, of course, with the flagship: Lumia 920. Of course, I want to avoid superlatives, when I haven’t tested the device at least a day or two, but on the other hand, with a little that I was in the immediate vicinity of the Lumia 920, and even from time to time I held it in my hands, I really want to define this device in one word: a masterpiece. True, without exaggeration!
Despite the diagonal of the display 4.5 inches and the thickness of a little more than a centimeter, the smartphone does not feel very cumbersome in the hand at first. Secondly, despite the glossy polycarbonate, from which the whole Lumia 920 case is made, the smartphone does not slip at all in the hand, on the contrary, the plastic seems to stick to the palm. This quality personally pleased me very much.
The display, covered with a protective glass of Gorilla Glass 2, is a fraction of a millimeter above the case, as it was in the first device in a solid polycarbonate case, the N9.
The display itself is one of the main features of the smartphone. First, he understands touching through a glove or metal. This is due to the new Synaptics sensor. When I asked whether such responsiveness of the display would result in the problem of involuntarily unlocking it in my pocket, I was assured that, firstly, the lock screen in WP simply cannot unlock itself in the pocket, because the screen saver needs to be raised from bottom to top. of the end, and secondly, the proximity and lighting sensors, through which the smartphone will understand that these are false impulses, will interfere with unblocking, but in fact it is in your pocket and nobody ordered it to unlock.
Next, about the display. Its resolution is 1280x768, which in terms of pixels per inch will be 332 ppi, this seems to be a record, in any case, the iPhone has less. The display is manufactured using LCD technology using ClearBlack proprietary Nokia technology. These are not empty words. I have repeatedly compared the display, for example, the N9 with the AMOLED displays of other smartphones, and the brightness of the sun on the N9 did everyone. And all thanks to ClearBlack. Covered with a display and oleophobic coating that prevents the formation of fingerprints on it. Another distinctive feature of the display PureMotion HD +, is the speed of the display interface. For the first time in the industry, the interface was able to display at 60 frames per second. This will allow, without blurring, to scroll the page in the browser, for example, and in other applications, especially games, I am sure this technology will demonstrate its advantage.
Now back to the case. Nokia traditionally has a micro-USB connector located on top, on the top. It was not very convenient, especially when using a smartphone in a car (which, by the way, in my opinion is not really allowed). Now the connector has moved to the lower end, which I personally cannot but greet. A 3.5 mm headphone or headset jack is located on the top, where the micro-SIM slot is also located in the case.
Physical buttons on the right side (volume buttons, on and off buttons, it also locks and unlocks the display), as well as a camera control button, are made of diamond-coated ceramic in the Lumia 920. This is felt not only at the tactile level, but also visually in fact brings the Lumia 920 closer to Vertu's jewelry masterpieces. Also ceramic is now made and lining around the camera on the back side of the case. So, if earlier users complained that this pad (being metal) was scratched over time, now, there is reason to believe that aging does not threaten it. Wildly stylish for my taste looks and the Nokia logo that has moved to the upper right corner.
Now from the exterior of the device we go to its hardware characteristics. So, the smartphone is based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 2-core processor running at 1.5 GHz. In addition to its other interesting characteristics (for example, automatic transition to a single-core mode of operation, when the user just dials SMS and the operation of two cores is clearly not required), this chip has one fundamentally important characteristic: it supports the new generation of communications - LTE, providing the user with speed 10 times faster than 3G connection. So, both Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 will be supported by Russian LTE networks. The Snapdragon S4 is manufactured using the latest 28 nim process and is equipped with an Adreno 225 graphics processor.
Unlike previous smartphones on WP, which worked with 512 MB of RAM, the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 are equipped with 1 GB of RAM, which I think will be enough for comfortable work that is traditionally rather undemanding to the hardware resources of WP. As a flash drive in the Lumia 920 uses a 32 GB internal flash drive. That is, Lumia 920 will be sold in only one version. Connector for a removable micro-SD card in the device there, because the body is one-piece. But in the Lumia 820, which has 8 GB of internal memory, the back cover is removed and under it is a slot for a removable micro-SD, supporting cards up to 32 GB.
If we talk about the difference between the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820, then it is easy to paint on several points. Displays differ, - differ both in the size of the diagonal and in the manufacturing technology. If the Lumia 920 is an LCD IPS, then the Lumia 820 is an OLED. However, the proprietary Synaptics technology, which recognizes touching with a fingernail, gloved hand, or key, is also present in the Lumia 820 display.
One of the most important differences between the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 is the camera. The fact is that the Lumia 920 8MP camera is equipped with PureView technology. However, in contrast to the Nokia 808 PureView super-cameraphone 41MP in summer, the essence of the PureView technology lies not in the huge resolution of the matrix, but in the unique optical stabilization system first implemented in a mobile device. The so-called floating lens is built into the lens of the Lumia 920, which, through gyro commands, gives instructions to the sensor and provides image stabilization, unseen until now, both in the photo and in the video. The resolution of the matrix of the camera Lumia 920 is 8.7 megapixels. Such a seemingly stunning resolution is due to achieve maximum quality when shooting with a 16: 9 aspect ratio — after all, ordinary 8 megapixel cameras take 16: 9 photographs at 7 megapixels, and 8 megapixel photographs are obtained with a 4: 3 aspect ratio.
All these innovative wonders in the camera Lumia 820 no. The Lumia 820 is equipped with the usual (albeit excellent) 8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, traditional for Nokia devices. There is no Lumia 820 and built-in wireless charging system, which is implemented in the Lumia 920. To Lumia 820 learned how to charge without wires to it, you will need to buy a new back cover. Also less than the Lumia 820 and the battery capacity. If in Lumia 920 it is 2000 mAh, then in Lumia 820 - 1650 mAh. Another difference: the display of the Lumia 820 is flat, which, surely, someone will like it more. For the Lumia 820, gorgeous multi-colored matte interchangeable covers will be sold. And the Lumia 920 will be sold with covers, which, however, I could not see at the demonstration.
In addition to the smartphones themselves, Nokia also launches a range of accessories - Monster headphones, as well as a receiver-speaker and a wireless charging station in one device from the JBL company.
Uplifting
I have always been a supporter of the concept: one mobile device - one operating system. And the N900, and N9 and, by the way, the iPhone correspond to this concept. And it's not about elegance and exclusivity. Just the ergonomics of the device is not limited to its physical and tactile characteristics. The interface is an integral part of the ergonomics of a mobile device. So, I am sure that WP8 was largely designed on the basis of the Lumia 920 and Lumia 820. And even if Microsoft releases its own WP-smartphones (which, in principle, can be presented today), it will be possible to surpass the uniqueness and innovation of the Lumia 920 will not succeed. Especially in this connection, the announced price for the Nokia's flagship smartphone is 25 thousand. This is a very, very good price, taking into account all the exclusive chips that you will not find in any other device.
Well, going back to the imaginary dislike of Nokia’s WP developers, I’m not going to tell everyone, of course, but I’ll tell myself: I already did the pre-order for the Lumia 920 and I’m looking forward to the start of sales, the date of which streamlined response - soon, very soon.
Will wait!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/156525/
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