The mobile world has changed a lot since Nokia last put out a phone that truly wowed large amounts of people. Its tie in with Microsoft spawned some half decent handsets but despite Nokia's best efforts, the world was never truly set alight.
Cue Nokia World 2012 and the announcement of the Nokia Lumia 920. Make no mistake, this is more than a big deal for both Nokia and Microsoft, with both having a lot riding on their respective contributions. Many see it as Nokia's big throw of the dice: make Windows Phone 8 into a top OS and the rewards are huge... fail, and things look ropey for the Finns.
So the big question on everybody's lips is: just how does it shape up against its two current biggest rivals, the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the HTC One X?
(We'll be adding in the iPhone 5 when it's launched on 12 Sept - it's not really fair to use the iPhone 4S at this point)
OS
The Nokia Lumia 920 comes running Microsoft's latest version of its mobile OS, Windows Phone 8, complete with its interactive "Live Tiles" interface.
Both the One X and the Galaxy S3 run Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with custom user interfaces; Touchwiz on the S3 and Sense 4.0 on the One X. Samsung has said that it plans to update the S3 to 4.1 (Jelly Bean) very soon. HTC has also promised its arrival, but has yet to name a timeframe.
HTC One X: Ships with Android 4.0 overlaid with HTC's newest version of Sense
Processor
Nokia have opted for a dual core Snapdragon S4 chip clocked at 1.5GHz, with Nokia standing firm on its belief there's such a thing as too many cores.
Why, might you ask? As Nokia puts it, "why put something you don't need at the expense of battery life?". However on the 'bigger is better' side of the fence, Samsung pops one of its Exynos 4412 1.4GHz quad core's in to Galaxy S3, whereas HTC plumps for the quad core 1.5 GHz Nvidia Tegra 3 chip.
However, in the US all three run the same Snapdragon S4 chip - so the power is pretty even.
Screen
In terms of size, all three devices are rather similar and rather large, with the Lumia 920 measuring in at 4.5 inches, the Galaxy S3 at 4.8 inches and the One X at 4.7 inches.
All three look great, with the Samsung's 306ppi being pipped by the HTC's 312ppi. On the Lumia 920, Nokia have put in 'Nokia PureMotion HD+' which is supposedly better than HD in terms of screen performance. It certainly looks great, but we still can't feel we weren't as 'wowed' as we were when looking at the Super AMOLED HD of the Galaxy S3.
Storage
In the Lumia 920 you'll find 32GB of on board storage, backed up by SkyDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage system.
The Galaxy S3 comes with microSD support on top of Samsung's 16/32/64GB internal drive, whereas HTC decided to only go for 32GB internal storage. However, the former comes with 50GB of Dropbpox of storage, and the latter 25GB from the same source.
Google users also have access to Google Drive, which is Google's answer to the cloud storage question.
Samsung Galaxy S3: Samsung's device comes with 3 different storage size options
Camera
Nokia is playing its trump card in the camera department. Long being known for fantastic camera devices, with Carl Zeiss lenses, Nokia is bringing its PureView technology first seen on the Nokia PureView 808. However, this is placed over the top of a more modest 8MP sensor, with a 1.3MP front facing camera.
It does come with a wealth of fancy features, such as being able to plug in camera apps and optical image stabilisation to help stop blur when you least want it.
Both the Android devices also come with 8MP rear sensors, burst mode for millions of photos per night out, and the HTC also has a 1.3MP front sensor. Samsung, however, has a 1.9MP sensor.
Connectivity
Believe it or not, being the latest breed of smartphones, all three devices come fully loaded with every type of connectivity; 3G/HSDPA, Wi-Fi, (for fast internet browsing on those mega screens), Bluetooth (4.0 on the Galaxy S3 and One X, 3.1 on the Lumia 920), GPS and NFC.
Near Field Communication: With NFC gaining traction, mobile payment is becoming more prevalent
Dimensions and weight
The Nokia Lumia 920 is the shortest phone at 130 x 70.8 x 10.7mm,but the heaviest at 185g. Samsung manages to squeeze in at a similar size of 136.6 x 70.6 but is the thinnest at 8.6 mm, and weighs only 133g.
The HTC, more akin to the Galaxy S3, is the narrowest and lightest at 134.4 x 69.9 x 8.9 mm and 130g.
Battery
Being unreleased, we have yet to have any battery comparisons for the Nokia Lumia 920, but with only a dual core processor, and a 2000mAh battery, we'd be surprised if it wasn't very competitive. Samsung debuted a lot of nifty battery saving tech in the Galaxy S3, and its 2100mAh (removable) battery managed to last a lot better than the 1800mAh (sealed in) offering of HTC.
Early verdict
We can't yet say for sure, as the Nokia Lumia 920 hasn't been released yet, and will hit American shores first in Q4 2012.
That said, Nokia seems to have a device that will continue the strides that the original WP7 Lumia phones made.
As for the other two, both are superb devices in their own right, garnering 4.5 stars each. Maybe you should check out the Samsung Galaxy S3 and HTC One X reviews to keep yourselves going until we bring your the web's most in-depth Nokia Lumia 920 review.
Source : techradar[dot]com
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