Hey Guys!
I have to say, it has been quite the quest this past week getting to the point I'm at now. That said, I'm ecstatic to say I was successful at last today (Friday), as I now have a Lumia 920 in my hands(!), and I've gained a lot of information along the way.
So, to start, as everyone knows Rogers had a pre-launch of the Lumia 920 on Tuesday, Oct 30th. What is interesting to note is, according to a Rogers customer service rep I spoke with, Rogers' pre-launch only included 40 phones for the entire country, and was only shipping them to corporate Rogers Plus location (as far as I could tell). This seems to make sense, as Calgary (arguably Canada's most retailer friendly city) received approximately 5-6 phones. I know this because on Tuesday (and throughout the week) I think I called every corporate Rogers Plus store in the city except one at least once.
Unfortunately, every time I called a store that happened to have received a phone or two, they were long gone. I figured that was a good thing, as it indicates there is plenty of interest in the phone. I did receive a ray of light, though, when one store I called said their shipment (which they confirmed had Lumia's in it) went to the wrong store. They told me that they would get this shipment Friday morning. Long story short, I got incredibly lucky with the timing of my call to them Friday morning, and now I have a Lumia 920! If the information above is correct, it feels weird (but awesome) to be one of 40 proud consumer owners of the Lumia 920 in the world right now.
[EDIT] I was able to get it at the market mall Rogers Plus location. That store is currently being renovated, so all they have is a kiosk in the mall. I believe that is what lead to the shipping confusing that ultimately enabled me to get a device from them on Friday. They received 2 or 3 (probably 2 though). Other locations that received Lumia's were Cross Iron Mills (received 1) and Sunridge Mall (received 2). Shockingly, Chinook Mall, which is Canada's top selling Rogers location (and corporate too) did not receive any from what I've gathered.
Before I move onto the phone itself, it is important to note that the actual full launch date of this device on Rogers (according to the CSR) is November 14th.
Alright, now some details about the Rogers version of this phone:
- I have confirmed that this phone is unlocked from straight from Rogers. I took my friends Telus iPhone sim, and the device worked perfectly, data and all. I do believe that this will only be the case for these initial 40 pre-launch phones however, with the launch phones being locked.
- There are rumours that the phone is also pentaband. Unfortunately, I have not been able to confirm this yet. [EDIT] The phone does have the same bands the phone in this WPCentral article though: http://www.windowscentral.com/developer-edition-lumia-920-one-kind-pentaband
- This phone has no Rogers branding on it
Moving on, some of my impressions of the physical device:
- To start, there was not a single defect of any magnitude on my device. It was flawless.
- I can’t tell you how much I love the fact that Nokia decided to go back to their original matte texture that they had on the Lumia 800. The device feels incredible in the hands as a result.
- The build quality of this device is a significant improvement over the 900. It just feels like a pure premium product. The curved screen looks gorgeous and is tightly in place with no loose corners like my 900. The ergonomics of the rounded edges allow this device to sit in your hand in a way an Apple iPhone could only dream of.
- [EDIT] The fact is, this Lumia phone is big. Compared to the iPhone 5, the Lumia is bigger in every way. By a lot. It is 73 grams heavier, 7mm taller, 12mm wider, and 3mm thicker. The question is, does it matter? My opinion, absolutely not. For me, the heavier, the better (makes it feel valuable). I also wanted a large screen, and as a result, while the height and width are large, I get a much better screen than the iPhone's. From a thickness perspective, this phone is actually thinner than the lumia 900, and because the height and width is larger on the 920, the perceived thickness is even less. At the end of the day, for 90% percent of people, the dimensions aren't going to be a problem to deal with on a physical level. So really, it comes down to preference on looks.
- The small touches are nice. For example, the buttons on the side are black, as opposed to the silver ones on the 900. Looks great.
- To finish, I’ll just reinstate that this phone is absolutely gorgeous. I’ve never held/seen/owned/whatever a nicer phone. While the general look is similar to the 900, this new phone is its own beast, and is leagues better.
- [ADDED] This phone gets warm as you charge it, slightly more so than the 900, but it's nothing of concern.
- [ADDED] The one thing I don't like so far is that they still haven't decided to recess the chrome plate around the camera. So, without a case, this is still going to get crazy scratched.
- [ADDED] I haven't had the device long enough to be able to be able to give you a good indication on battery life, but so far it has handled my heavy use like a champ.
Lumia 920 Specifics Features (I’m not going to bother mentioning Windows Phone 8 improvements. There are plenty of reviews all over the web.):
- This phone is very fast and responsive. It just cruises along. Everything simply runs faster and more fluid.
- Don’t worry, the camera is great. While it is on par with its next closest competition in well-lit environments, the camera is in its own league in low light conditions. Commenting again on the well-lit environment, the iPhone takes amazing pictures in well-lit environments, so to say the Lumia 920 is on par here certainly isn’t a criticism, it’s just not noticeably better.
- The image stabilization works as advertised. It is definitely a lot of fun to show people how well it works, plus it helps take much better photos and videos at the same time.
- All the usual Nokia apps are still just as great as they were, except they all run faster now. And, they are starting to be updated for Windows Phone 8
- I must say, the high contrast mode looks ridiculously awesome (not a Nokia feature, I know).
This is all I can think of for now. I may add to this if something pops into my mind. In the mean time, if anyone has questions, ask away!
-Andrew
I have to say, it has been quite the quest this past week getting to the point I'm at now. That said, I'm ecstatic to say I was successful at last today (Friday), as I now have a Lumia 920 in my hands(!), and I've gained a lot of information along the way.
So, to start, as everyone knows Rogers had a pre-launch of the Lumia 920 on Tuesday, Oct 30th. What is interesting to note is, according to a Rogers customer service rep I spoke with, Rogers' pre-launch only included 40 phones for the entire country, and was only shipping them to corporate Rogers Plus location (as far as I could tell). This seems to make sense, as Calgary (arguably Canada's most retailer friendly city) received approximately 5-6 phones. I know this because on Tuesday (and throughout the week) I think I called every corporate Rogers Plus store in the city except one at least once.
Unfortunately, every time I called a store that happened to have received a phone or two, they were long gone. I figured that was a good thing, as it indicates there is plenty of interest in the phone. I did receive a ray of light, though, when one store I called said their shipment (which they confirmed had Lumia's in it) went to the wrong store. They told me that they would get this shipment Friday morning. Long story short, I got incredibly lucky with the timing of my call to them Friday morning, and now I have a Lumia 920! If the information above is correct, it feels weird (but awesome) to be one of 40 proud consumer owners of the Lumia 920 in the world right now.
[EDIT] I was able to get it at the market mall Rogers Plus location. That store is currently being renovated, so all they have is a kiosk in the mall. I believe that is what lead to the shipping confusing that ultimately enabled me to get a device from them on Friday. They received 2 or 3 (probably 2 though). Other locations that received Lumia's were Cross Iron Mills (received 1) and Sunridge Mall (received 2). Shockingly, Chinook Mall, which is Canada's top selling Rogers location (and corporate too) did not receive any from what I've gathered.
Before I move onto the phone itself, it is important to note that the actual full launch date of this device on Rogers (according to the CSR) is November 14th.
Alright, now some details about the Rogers version of this phone:
- I have confirmed that this phone is unlocked from straight from Rogers. I took my friends Telus iPhone sim, and the device worked perfectly, data and all. I do believe that this will only be the case for these initial 40 pre-launch phones however, with the launch phones being locked.
- There are rumours that the phone is also pentaband. Unfortunately, I have not been able to confirm this yet. [EDIT] The phone does have the same bands the phone in this WPCentral article though: http://www.windowscentral.com/developer-edition-lumia-920-one-kind-pentaband
- This phone has no Rogers branding on it
Moving on, some of my impressions of the physical device:
- To start, there was not a single defect of any magnitude on my device. It was flawless.
- I can’t tell you how much I love the fact that Nokia decided to go back to their original matte texture that they had on the Lumia 800. The device feels incredible in the hands as a result.
- The build quality of this device is a significant improvement over the 900. It just feels like a pure premium product. The curved screen looks gorgeous and is tightly in place with no loose corners like my 900. The ergonomics of the rounded edges allow this device to sit in your hand in a way an Apple iPhone could only dream of.
- [EDIT] The fact is, this Lumia phone is big. Compared to the iPhone 5, the Lumia is bigger in every way. By a lot. It is 73 grams heavier, 7mm taller, 12mm wider, and 3mm thicker. The question is, does it matter? My opinion, absolutely not. For me, the heavier, the better (makes it feel valuable). I also wanted a large screen, and as a result, while the height and width are large, I get a much better screen than the iPhone's. From a thickness perspective, this phone is actually thinner than the lumia 900, and because the height and width is larger on the 920, the perceived thickness is even less. At the end of the day, for 90% percent of people, the dimensions aren't going to be a problem to deal with on a physical level. So really, it comes down to preference on looks.
- The small touches are nice. For example, the buttons on the side are black, as opposed to the silver ones on the 900. Looks great.
- To finish, I’ll just reinstate that this phone is absolutely gorgeous. I’ve never held/seen/owned/whatever a nicer phone. While the general look is similar to the 900, this new phone is its own beast, and is leagues better.
- [ADDED] This phone gets warm as you charge it, slightly more so than the 900, but it's nothing of concern.
- [ADDED] The one thing I don't like so far is that they still haven't decided to recess the chrome plate around the camera. So, without a case, this is still going to get crazy scratched.
- [ADDED] I haven't had the device long enough to be able to be able to give you a good indication on battery life, but so far it has handled my heavy use like a champ.
Lumia 920 Specifics Features (I’m not going to bother mentioning Windows Phone 8 improvements. There are plenty of reviews all over the web.):
- This phone is very fast and responsive. It just cruises along. Everything simply runs faster and more fluid.
- Don’t worry, the camera is great. While it is on par with its next closest competition in well-lit environments, the camera is in its own league in low light conditions. Commenting again on the well-lit environment, the iPhone takes amazing pictures in well-lit environments, so to say the Lumia 920 is on par here certainly isn’t a criticism, it’s just not noticeably better.
- The image stabilization works as advertised. It is definitely a lot of fun to show people how well it works, plus it helps take much better photos and videos at the same time.
- All the usual Nokia apps are still just as great as they were, except they all run faster now. And, they are starting to be updated for Windows Phone 8
- I must say, the high contrast mode looks ridiculously awesome (not a Nokia feature, I know).
This is all I can think of for now. I may add to this if something pops into my mind. In the mean time, if anyone has questions, ask away!
-Andrew
Last edited:
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