Why I pick Nokia Lumia 920 over HTC 8X
<p><a href=”http://www.gadgetdetail.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Lumia-920.jpg”><img alt=”” class=”aligncenter size-large wp-image-7580″ src=”http://www.gadgetdetail.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Lumia-920-640×320.jpg” style=”height:320px; width:640px” title=”Lumia 920″ /></a> One thing that I have learned from picking Samsung Omnia W over Nokia Lumia 710 is that one should not be fooled over paper specification and that one need to look into things that really matter on the long run. Today, we are waiting for HTC 8X and Lumia 920 to hit the market and I thought that I should share my feelings about these two spectacular smartphones and that why I would pick Lumia 910 over Lumia 8X. When I first saw the HTC 8X, it looks so much like the N9 and the subsequent Lumia 9xx Windows Phone devices. Only on digging up more detail, I understood that it has its own DNA that comes from its unibody designs and from its One Android series. That is another story. In this post, let me explain why, even though HTC’s 8X feels better and looks better than Nokia’s Lumia 920, I would pick Lumia 920 and yes, I do know that it weights 185gms. Hit ‘Read More’ for full article<!–more–> <strong>Please do note that in this article, I am not trying to conclude that HTC 8X is not worth buying. HTC 8X is one of the best smartphones available in the market but there are certain features of Lumia 920 that gives 920 upper hand over 8X.</strong></p>
<h3><strong>Camera</strong></h3>
<p>For years, Nokia is holding the prestigious ‘best camera phone’ medal. Lumia 920 is no exception. The camera on this phone is second only to the mighty Nokia Pureview 808 Symbian phone. There is a tiny issue with Lumia 920’s imaging algorithm where there is a loss of quality in daylight and that should be fixed by a software patch (work in progress) and even with this minor issue, Lumia 920 excels at taking photos in bright daylight and is on par with leading camera phones. During low light and no light conditions, the camera on Lumia 920 is unmatched and thanks to Optical Image Stabilization, when you are on the move or have shaky hands, there is minimum disturbance to the picture. Here is a video taken by Engadget staff that compare Lumia 920 video shooting with that of iPhone 5. If you want an in depth comparison of Lumia 920’s camera with competition’s, head to <a href=”http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-57542752-85/nokia-lumia-920-camera-vs-htc-windows-phone-8x-vs-iphone-5/”>this</a> post at CNET.<iframe frameborder=”0″ height=”360″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/ARckSCU8vMw?feature=player_detailpage” width=”640″></iframe> Put your headphones on and watch the video (the audio quality is exceptional). The video is that of a music concert recorded using Lumia 920’s camera.<iframe frameborder=”0″ height=”360″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/KU78NLs3aAw?feature=player_detailpage” width=”640″></iframe> </p>
<h3><strong>Display</strong></h3>
<p>Capacitive display’s biggest drawback is that you cannot operate them with anything other than your hands or specially designed digitizer pen. It may not be a big deal for many but for those who wear gloves a lot (be it riding a two wheeler or during cold climate), this used to be a big headache as the gloves need to be removed to operate the display. Thanks to Synaptics Clearpad 3250 capacitive touchscreen sensing technology using in Lumia 920’s PureMotion HD+ display, you can operate the display with anything. And by saying anything, we do mean ANYTHING! Check out the following test video from Synaptics. Also, the more sensitive touchscreen means that navigating the UI feels just a bit more faster and smoother.<iframe frameborder=”0″ height=”300″ src=”http://player.vimeo.com/video/48892288″ width=”400″></iframe> The display of Lumia 920 is a 4.5″ IPS LCD panel while that of HTC 8X is 4.3″ S-LCD2. The extra 0.2″ of extra real estate is crammed horizontal which means that when accessing web pages or when operating the phone in landscape mode, the extra real estate can be helpful. One downside to the odd 1280×768 resolution that is this seem to have caused Lumia 920 to display slightly less tiles than 8X. In short, HTC’s 8X shows half a tile more on homescreen than Lumia 920. We will add the video/image of the same once we find the article on a tech blog. Another aspect of this HD+ display is that Nokia has used Clear Black Display technology to make sure that users will have maximum visibility under bright sunlight as well as the display produces truly deep blacks making watching video a pleasure. Compared to this HTC 8X comes with a Super LCD2 which is extremely good but falls just a bit behind PureMotion HD+ screen. Do note that while the extra sensitivity makes a huge difference, the picture quality difference may not be that visible when 8X is compared to L920. </p>
<h3><strong>Hubs and applications </strong></h3>
<p>This is an area that Nokia scores big time. This is the feature that made me feel jealous of those who are using Nokia Lumia smartphones and one that tilted me in favor of Lumia as my next Windows Phone device. It is well knows that Microsoft does not allow any kind of UI changes and hence they provided something called (application) Hub. This is essentially a feature using which OEM can offer exclusive applications. To be frank, only Nokia was able to use this feature effective. I see a new announcement almost every single day about a new app being added to Nokia’s hub (a.k.a Nokia Collections). The last time I heard about Samsung’s hub or HTC’s hub getting exclusive app was ….. umm ……. DONT REMEMBER! </p>
<h3><strong>Navigation</strong></h3>
<p>When it comes to navigation, Nokia’s Drive navigation suite is clearly above everything else (well, probably except Google’s navigation). Turn-by-Turn voice guided navigation that gives you option to choose among various map layouts, offline maps that saves you lot of cellular data, setup speed limits and get warned when you are over the limit are few noteworthy features that make this the no.1 navigation suite for Windows Phone devices. Combine this with Nokia City Lens augmented reality application and this is what you get:<iframe frameborder=”0″ height=”360″ src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/AyPtgtpRFw4?feature=player_detailpage” width=”640″></iframe> </p>
<h3><strong>Storage and multimedia</strong></h3>
<p>Both the phones does not come with memory expansion. Lumia 920 comes with 32GB onboard memory (16GB on 8X) and if that is not enough, Lumia 920 supports USB On The Go feature which means that you can connect a USB memory stick or devices to Lumia 920 using USB OTG cable and access the memory on Lumia 920. For music lovers, Nokia offers free subscription for Nokia Music service. Nokia Music is a music subscription service exclusive for Nokia smartphones from where you can download millions of songs for free (for devices with active subscription only) Nokia Music service is avaialble in huge number of countries. Trust me on this one, if you are a music addict, you can proudly show off your huge catalouge of ‘legitimate’ music and make your buddies turn red with jealousness. To get an idea, head to Nokia Music India store <a href=”http://music.ovi.com/in/en/pc?setterritory=1″>here</a> and go through the impressive catalogue. </p>
<h3><strong>The other good things</strong></h3>
<p>Nokia Lumia 920 supports wireless charging though in my opinion it is more of a show-off than anything else as instead of a tiny wire hanging on your desk, you now have a charging plate or pillow lying on your table. The battery on Lumia 920 is slightly bigger but we cannot yet conclude on battery life unless we get clearer battery usage reports for both smartphones. I end the article here and yes, my next phone is Lumia 920. Do send in your feelings and what you think is a better phone. Yes, there are few areas (build and looks, FullHD video calling) where HTC 8X trumps Lumia 920 but I feel that Nokia does offer better features that really matter and that make life easier. Isn’t that what the difference is between good smartphone and great smartphone?</p>
