Impressions/Reviews

[eastbayrae]

More whining on The Verge:

The Lumia 900 is indeed my next, but here's the problem | The Verge Forums

The real issue is he is an app whore and needs some rehab.

 

[chrise2]

First Impressions of the 900

I thought I'd share some of my initial impressions of the 900. I got the phone on Friday having never seen it or any Windows Phone before.

- I love the screen. Would it be nicer if the resolution was higher? Sure. But in pretty much everything but web browsing, you don't even notice it. What really stood out for me was the colors and that oh so black black. Simply amazing. Also, coming from an iPhone, I love having the larger screen.

- The phone itself is great. I love the build of the device. I haven't had a Nokia phone since the '90s and boy have they sure changed. My only gripe is the camera. However, I do love having a dedicated camera button again. And a 2 stage one at that.

- I can't vouch for battery life yet. Most people are saying its great. So far, its been pretty miserable for me. However, I haven't been away from an AT&T MicroCell yet and from what I've read, they have fantastic power sucking properties. I'll be at work today in NYC so I'll see how it goes as well as AT&T's LTE performance.

- My initial impressions on the Windows Phone OS. Love it. I love how it blends together all of your accounts. It takes some getting used to and I'm still figuring it all out, but its real slick. I like the live tiles and the lock screen.

- Not being an iOS device takes its toll. Steve Jobs did a good job of getting people sucked in. No more streaming to AppleTV, No more Facetime or iMessage and goodbye iCloud. I have found workarounds for most of these so I'm not letting it get me down. The only exception being my Bose headphones designed for the iPhone. They only work as headphones. The mic and buttons don't work. I had to revert to my old Blackberry headset. I haven't tested the mic yet, but the button works at least.

- The lack of apps will take some getting used to, though most of the big things are available. I wanted to Skype my sister yesterday for Easter, but couldn't find it in the Marketplace quick yesterday. Though I did find the beta this morning. Next Easter.

Some questions for the people with Windows Phone experience:

- Is there a way to take a screen shot from the phone like you can with an iOS device?
- Is it just me or does it seem apps in the Marketplace are more expensive in general? I guess developers have to charge more because of the lack of user volume.
- On other devices, I've found that using WiFi when available helps battery life. Is the same true for this and other Windows Phones?

 

[chrise2]

Just got in range of LTE. 20 Meg down / 5 Meg up. Sweet.

 

[cgo88]

I thought I'd share some of my initial impressions of the 900. I got the phone on Friday having never seen it or any Windows Phone before.

- I love the screen. Would it be nicer if the resolution was higher? Sure. But in pretty much everything but web browsing, you don't even notice it. What really stood out for me was the colors and that oh so black black. Simply amazing. Also, coming from an iPhone, I love having the larger screen.

- The phone itself is great. I love the build of the device. I haven't had a Nokia phone since the '90s and boy have they sure changed. My only gripe is the camera. However, I do love having a dedicated camera button again. And a 2 stage one at that.

- I can't vouch for battery life yet. Most people are saying its great. So far, its been pretty miserable for me. However, I haven't been away from an AT&T MicroCell yet and from what I've read, they have fantastic power sucking properties. I'll be at work today in NYC so I'll see how it goes as well as AT&T's LTE performance.

- My initial impressions on the Windows Phone OS. Love it. I love how it blends together all of your accounts. It takes some getting used to and I'm still figuring it all out, but its real slick. I like the live tiles and the lock screen.

- Not being an iOS device takes its toll. Steve Jobs did a good job of getting people sucked in. No more streaming to AppleTV, No more Facetime or iMessage and goodbye iCloud. I have found workarounds for most of these so I'm not letting it get me down. The only exception being my Bose headphones designed for the iPhone. They only work as headphones. The mic and buttons don't work. I had to revert to my old Blackberry headset. I haven't tested the mic yet, but the button works at least.

- The lack of apps will take some getting used to, though most of the big things are available. I wanted to Skype my sister yesterday for Easter, but couldn't find it in the Marketplace quick yesterday. Though I did find the beta this morning. Next Easter.

Some questions for the people with Windows Phone experience:

- Is there a way to take a screen shot from the phone like you can with an iOS device?
- Is it just me or does it seem apps in the Marketplace are more expensive in general? I guess developers have to charge more because of the lack of user volume.
- On other devices, I've found that using WiFi when available helps battery life. Is the same true for this and other Windows Phones?

For screen capture I believe someone over on XDA developed a homebrew app called Screen Capturer v3 that allows you to do so. Though your phone needs to be developer unlocked so you can sideload the XAP.

 

[anon(5335877)]

This is kind of the problem with Windows Phone. Even something so basic as screen capture is a pain in the *** to do, or impossible. I like the stability of WP and the speedy performance. Am planning on getting a cheap WP phone for my mom, who has a hard enough time finding the contacts list on a regular phone. However, the typical consumer is growing more tech savvy and you can't use the baby boomer slow with technology WP would be great! excuse anymore as the new generation of old people can do more than just talk and text.

Well I don't think it was on purpose, they just probably didn't get around to it because it wasn't their top priority.

Now I think iPhone had it since iOS 2.0, but Android when I last had it (9 months ago?) didn't have that feature. Though I think Samsung Android devices have it built in though, and there are apps for taking screenshots on Android.

 

[VernonEL]

Plug

I'm not going to retype a summary my first impressions, and if I copy and paste, it would be an enormous post. Here is a shameless self-promoting plug for the website I contribute to, and my initial impressions of the Nokia Lumia 900:
First Impressions: Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone ? Glance and Go Radio

 

[JetLife87]

A nice new improvement I've noticed coming from a Samsung Omnia 7 is the improved PDF support. PDFs that I couldn't open before I now can. Also, PDFs you view are now integrated into the office hub.

Pretty cool

 

[androsooner]

Here are my first impressions after using the Lumia 900 since April 6th. I was using an HTC Evo 4g on Sprint and I was getting tired of my phone locking up, app force closes, and slow speeds/lack of coverage.

Overall I love the phone and have not had any problems with it.

Hardware: I'm not a fan of the power button on the side, but I'm starting to get used to it. I wish we could turn off the haptic feedback on the capacitive buttons. I also miss my notification LED's but it is by no means a deal breaker.

Screen: I love the display, I wouldn't mind a little better resolution but even tiny text is still quite crisp.

Windows Phone OS: I definitely miss some of the android features. Here are a few examples:

Making custom ringtones out of my music collection was much easier on my Evo.

The ability to delete more than one photo at a time was nice on my Evo.

I would like to be able to easily add photos as my background on my live tiles.

I would like more color options and icon designs for the live tiles.

I wish we could get a 32GB version since I am already down to less than 5 GB memory left.

Creating a playlist entirely on the phone is not very easy to do and I haven't figured out how to modify existing playlists without using my PC.

I do like many things about the OS. It is by far a more visually appealing OS than my android phone. I love the entire Zune music player experience. All of my apps are much nicer looking. I was also concerned about the lack of Pandora on WP7, but I found an app called Radio Controlled that I like much better than the regular Android Pandora app. The lack of Swype was nearly a dealbreaker for me, but I am quite impressed with the ease of use with the WP7 keyboard.

Camera: I have been a little disappointed with the camera, but I have started using the tap to focus instead of the shutter button and my shots have VASTLY improved. I have not experienced any of the haziness that some users have posted. I posted some pics in the photo "sticky" thread that were representative of the average shots that I have been taking with the 900. I am also quite happy with the video quality and the quality of the front facing camera.

Data Connection/Voice Calls: This phone is getting better voice reception than several other folks at my work that have other AT&T phones (including iphones). The LTE speeds are phenomenal! I am consistently getting 18-25 Mbits download speeds. I used to drop at least one call a day on Sprint and I haven't dropped any calls since I got this phone!

Misc: I have been playing around with Nokia Drive. I like this app better than my Google Navigation app on my HTC. There is one issue, it will not provide voice guided directions unless the screen remains on. I hope you have a charger with you if you are needing to use this app.

Lastly, I have been unable to get the mic to work on any set of wired earbuds with mic. Nokia advised that I would have to buy their set of Purity headphones. If anyone finds any less expensive headphones with mic that work with the Lumia 900, please let me know.

 

[cba191]

Making custom ringtones out of my music collection was much easier on my Evo.

easyring&music. You can't make a ringtone from the music on the phone, but making them from youtube is a piece of cake.

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/c55f00a0-1be0-4111-b529-1913f97064b5

 

[cgo88]

Here are my first impressions after using the Lumia 900 since April 6th. I was using an HTC Evo 4g on Sprint and I was getting tired of my phone locking up, app force closes, and slow speeds/lack of coverage.

Overall I love the phone and have not had any problems with it.

Hardware: I'm not a fan of the power button on the side, but I'm starting to get used to it. I wish we could turn off the haptic feedback on the capacitive buttons. I also miss my notification LED's but it is by no means a deal breaker.

Screen: I love the display, I wouldn't mind a little better resolution but even tiny text is still quite crisp.

Windows Phone OS: I definitely miss some of the android features. Here are a few examples:

Making custom ringtones out of my music collection was much easier on my Evo.

The ability to delete more than one photo at a time was nice on my Evo.

I would like to be able to easily add photos as my background on my live tiles.

I would like more color options and icon designs for the live tiles.

I wish we could get a 32GB version since I am already down to less than 5 GB memory left.

Creating a playlist entirely on the phone is not very easy to do and I haven't figured out how to modify existing playlists without using my PC.

I do like many things about the OS. It is by far a more visually appealing OS than my android phone. I love the entire Zune music player experience. All of my apps are much nicer looking. I was also concerned about the lack of Pandora on WP7, but I found an app called Radio Controlled that I like much better than the regular Android Pandora app. The lack of Swype was nearly a dealbreaker for me, but I am quite impressed with the ease of use with the WP7 keyboard.

Camera: I have been a little disappointed with the camera, but I have started using the tap to focus instead of the shutter button and my shots have VASTLY improved. I have not experienced any of the haziness that some users have posted. I posted some pics in the photo "sticky" thread that were representative of the average shots that I have been taking with the 900. I am also quite happy with the video quality and the quality of the front facing camera.

Data Connection/Voice Calls: This phone is getting better voice reception than several other folks at my work that have other AT&T phones (including iphones). The LTE speeds are phenomenal! I am consistently getting 18-25 Mbits download speeds. I used to drop at least one call a day on Sprint and I haven't dropped any calls since I got this phone!

Misc: I have been playing around with Nokia Drive. I like this app better than my Google Navigation app on my HTC. There is one issue, it will not provide voice guided directions unless the screen remains on. I hope you have a charger with you if you are needing to use this app.

Lastly, I have been unable to get the mic to work on any set of wired earbuds with mic. Nokia advised that I would have to buy their set of Purity headphones. If anyone finds any less expensive headphones with mic that work with the Lumia 900, please let me know.

It is a bit of a challenge to modify a playlist on the phone but there is a way. Go to your playlist and start it, then navigate to the song(s) you wish to add to the playlist, when finished navigate back to the current song that is playing, swipe up the hidden menu (the 3 dots) and click 'save as playlist'. You can rename it using the same name as the old playlist and it'll ask if it's okay to replace the old playlist.

A bit tedious, but it's something for now...hopefully a fix will come that will make this process much easier.

 

[panchi2131]

been loving it so far, haven't had any data issues yet ,using it from last 24 hours ...

also heard some guys had issue with tune in radio app when opening page in browser,marketplace has 2 tune in radio apps,one by nokia ,no issues with it when
running other apps or opening webpages wit hsong playing in background ..

maybe the issues were with the other tune in app ....

 

[RiseAgainst94]

I like the device, for me 8.5. No way to have ring and message alerts separate (such a trivial thing any flip phone has), camera is poor unless under ideal situations, apps are lacking.

 

[CDG]

I like the device, for me 8.5. No way to have ring and message alerts separate (such a trivial thing any flip phone has), camera is poor unless under ideal situations, apps are lacking.

The Android ICS did away with separate control on Ring and alerts, maybe that's the way of the future.

 

[bevt]

After 5 days with the Lumia 900

I don't think there is a phone or Operating System that does everything better than all the others - no perfect phone. I chose Lumia 900 and Windows Phone because it was the best option for how I communicate and what is important to me.

In my few days with the Lumia 900 and Windows Phone I've discovered things I really don't like and a lot of things I do.

Don't Like...

I lost several emails from POP3 accounts because I assumed I could delete them on my phone and deal with them when they downloaded at home or at my office later. Nope, WP doesn't download, it syncs. When I delete an email from my phone it deletes it from the server when it syncs. I was used to a copy remaining on the server even if I deleted it from my phone. I really don't like that. It means I have to keep more clutter in my phone inboxes than I would like. I should have an option to leave emails on the server.

You have to unlock the phone to see if you have any messages or notifications. I used to be able to look at my phone across the room and see a little flash of light from the gesture area.

Having to hit back over and over unless you want to leave an app open. A simple "close" command would be nice.

No home screen in IE. IE goes back to the last page you were on.

No quick menu for airplane mode, wifi, bluetooth. Some settings are used too often to go into the settings menu each time. I'm sure I'll find an app for that.

Battery icon doesn't show percentage left without going into the settings and looking in battery saver.

The camera is not great but it is adequate for snapshots. I have real cameras for everything else.

When you're scrolling the text distorts and then settles to clear when you lift your finger. I guess it's something about how this phone refreshes but it takes some getting used to.

I'm going for the brushed metal look on that lens piece on the back.


What I like...

The Lumia 900 feels like a solid, well made phone. It's easy to hold and I really appreciate the larger screen size.

My Cyan Lumia 900 looks so cool with a Lime Green Bumper. It just looks positive, happy. When people see the blue phone they assume it's a case but with the Lime Green Bumper I've heard "is the phone blue?"

I love having the information from and about my family and friends integrated. I have the special people in my life pinned to start and I can easily contact them however I choose and see their updates.

Pictures from my family and friend's albums are right there in my People or Picture hub. Even in Facebook apps I've used on other platforms I had to go to FB online and click through to see pictures. It's so easy to save that special picture someone in my family has posted to my phone.

I can email or text all of the people in a group without having to use a 3rd party app.

In Internet Explorer I can search for the website in the address bar. I usually only type a few letters and the website I'm looking for comes up in suggestions.

The task feature in calendar is nice. It doesn't check off a task though. If you click that you've done it, poof, it's gone.

The integrated tools like local scout and search are a lot better than I imagined. I'm really impressed with Bing. I had used Google for so long and was amazed that Bing is giving me better results frequently. I've started using it more on my PC now too. I can see myself shifting away from Google.

Search is really nice. I can search barcodes, music (what is that song), and what's near me from one button.

Overall my husband and I both feel this was a really good choice. After only a few days our phones are working seamlessly with our lives.

 

[smapor]

I don't think there is a phone or Operating System that does everything better than all the others - no perfect phone. I chose Lumia 900 and Windows Phone because it was the best option for how I communicate and what is important to me.

In my few days with the Lumia 900 and Windows Phone I've discovered things I really don't like and a lot of things I do.

Don't Like...

I lost several emails from POP3 accounts because I assumed I could delete them on my phone and deal with them when they downloaded at home or at my office later. Nope, WP doesn't download, it syncs. When I delete an email from my phone it deletes it from the server when it syncs. I was used to a copy remaining on the server even if I deleted it from my phone. I really don't like that. It means I have to keep more clutter in my phone inboxes than I would like. I should have an option to leave emails on the server.

You have to unlock the phone to see if you have any messages or notifications. I used to be able to look at my phone across the room and see a little flash of light from the gesture area.

Having to hit back over and over unless you want to leave an app open. A simple "close" command would be nice.

No home screen in IE. IE goes back to the last page you were on.

No quick menu for airplane mode, wifi, bluetooth. Some settings are used too often to go into the settings menu each time. I'm sure I'll find an app for that.

Battery icon doesn't show percentage left without going into the settings and looking in battery saver.

The camera is not great but it is adequate for snapshots. I have real cameras for everything else.

When you're scrolling the text distorts and then settles to clear when you lift your finger. I guess it's something about how this phone refreshes but it takes some getting used to.

I'm going for the brushed metal look on that lens piece on the back.


What I like...

The Lumia 900 feels like a solid, well made phone. It's easy to hold and I really appreciate the larger screen size.

My Cyan Lumia 900 looks so cool with a Lime Green Bumper. It just looks positive, happy. When people see the blue phone they assume it's a case but with the Lime Green Bumper I've heard "is the phone blue?"

I love having the information from and about my family and friends integrated. I have the special people in my life pinned to start and I can easily contact them however I choose and see their updates.

Pictures from my family and friend's albums are right there in my People or Picture hub. Even in Facebook apps I've used on other platforms I had to go to FB online and click through to see pictures. It's so easy to save that special picture someone in my family has posted to my phone.

I can email or text all of the people in a group without having to use a 3rd party app.

In Internet Explorer I can search for the website in the address bar. I usually only type a few letters and the website I'm looking for comes up in suggestions.

The task feature in calendar is nice. It doesn't check off a task though. If you click that you've done it, poof, it's gone.

The integrated tools like local scout and search are a lot better than I imagined. I'm really impressed with Bing. I had used Google for so long and was amazed that Bing is giving me better results frequently. I've started using it more on my PC now too. I can see myself shifting away from Google.

Search is really nice. I can search barcodes, music (what is that song), and what's near me from one button.

Overall my husband and I both feel this was a really good choice. After only a few days our phones are working seamlessly with our lives.

There is an app for shortcuts to your settings in the market place. I think it's called connectivity shortcuts. That solved my last pain point. The best part it's free

I also love the ability to take a screenshot of text and translate in bing.

 

[wayneholbrook]

Ive been on the iPhone since the begining. I have an iMac, Macbook Pro and an iPad. Im getting a bit bored with the iPhone and really want to try this 900. The only thing that is holding me back is my contacts and iCal. I dont have a google account I have a icloud account. I set up a ive account and I understand that I can upload my contacts there. The issue is when I add a contact or a calendar event I dont think it will update my iMac and all my other devices automatically like it does now. Is there anyone in my situation that can advise on a work around?

 

[identity-x]

Some "in case you didn't know" 's

Don't Like... [/B]It means I have to keep more clutter in my phone inboxes than I would like. I should have an option to leave emails on the server.

If you just deal with emails when you get home to your computer anyway, you can go into the settings menu and change the sync settings to only save the last 7 days, 2 weeks, etc. worth of email

Having to hit back over and over unless you want to leave an app open. A simple "close" command would be nice.

I was the same way with my Focus for forever - even after "multitasking" was introduced with Mango" - until I embraced the fact that hitting the Windows button and leaving it open has no effect on performance etc. The obvious benefit to leaving it open is having it pick up where it left off when you do the fast-apps switching

No quick menu for airplane mode, wifi, bluetooth. Some settings are used too often to go into the settings menu each time. I'm sure I'll find an app for that.

might I suggest the Connectivity Settings app. Wifi and Data are both pinned to my start screen now.

 

[CDG]

Here is a review I did on a different forum:

Nokia Lumia 900 in AT&T Wireless Forum at WirelessAdvisor.com Forums

Hopefully linking to another forum is allowed, if not please delete my post.


Thanks much.

 

[cckgz4]

Phone is VERY sexy. While some didn't care for the raised glass, I like that part of it. Wish I had Cyan but it's okay. The only negative thiing I have is that it's VERY awkward to hold, but hopefully the case will solve that. Bought this beauty:

 

[pjs37]

So I got one this past Monday while I was in an AT&T store waiting for the restaurant next door to open for lunch. I had little intention of actually buying anything I just wanted to play with it and see how it felt.

For the longest time I have been an iPhone user since the iPhone 1 came out and all the way up to my aging but still reliable iPhone 4. A lot of my impressions will obviousily be compared to the iPhone 4.

I have always enjoyed the Windows Phone 7 Interface design for the most part and was the thing I was looking forward to the most when I made the switch.

TL;DR Edition:Overall a solid phone and an interesting OS still has some niggling maturity issues but I have seen MS respond well to this with the Zune line and I expect similar from them on the Windows Phone front. All in all the 900 is a solid piece of hardware comparable to the iPhone 4 IMHO.

Screen:
This was the major thing for me. I love the retina display on my iPhone 4 and the lack of anything similar on the Windows Phone's have left me rather feeling cautious about switching. However the 900's screen is very vibrant and colorful more then my iPhone feels and while its a lower resolution it doesn't stick out to me as much as ay my iPad 1 does. In addition the larger screen is very nice. It makes the iPhone feel downright tiny by comparison and this isn't even the Titan II. So overall the screen is great, looks great, and cleans easy without fear of scratches.

Body:
I like the shape of it and the feel of it overall. Although I do not feel like its any more sturdy than my iPhone. If I decide to keep it I think I will be buying a case for it which is a shame as I would have liked to have a naked phone for once but the corners I can see will become very worn out. In addition that chrome strip everyone has mentioned is a scratch magnet. Mine seems to be doing ok so far but its mostly been in my work pants and haven't spent much time in my normal weekend and vacation jean pant pockets which tend to be...rougher. I may do like others have and slap a piece of tape on there though I feel that is just an absurd thing to have to do on a any phone. THe buttons are ok placement takes getting used to. I do wish the capacitive buttons would light up all the time in darkness so I could actually see them as more often then not I am missing them at night whole trying to hit them.

Battery:
Worse then my iPhone 4. With my iPhone 4 by the end of the day I would be at ~80% life left still. My 900 seems to end around ~40%-50% so it uses more battery and I am not using it that much more or actually less than my iPhone 4. That being said its a bigger screen seems to run brighter and it still makes it to the end of the day which is when I charge my phones generally. I am fairly confident in a moderate to heavy day of use it would still make it to the end of the day.

Camera:
Performs worse then my iPhone 4 it seems but while the image appears washed out in the previews once I take them they are not that terrible. Its not the worse camera on a smartphone I used and is fairly serviceable I think. I don't often take pictures in dark environments so I am not too concerned about that. I tend to use my SLR for those style photos.

Windows Phone 7 OS:
Overall its a good OS but clearly is showing some signs of its youth. Things that should be addressed: Percentage on battery without going to settings it was annoying on the early iOS's and its still annoying today. In addition an option to keep the status bar down would be nice.

I like the widescreen approach the apps take and is one of the biggest selling points to me. I no longer feel like apps have to be vertical forever like in iOS and app developers are making excellent use of this.

I love the voice/speech options and I feel I will be making heavy use of these. One thing I would love to see is a global search. Given how now I am tending to go through the app list using the search function more and more having to actually go to the list then click search feels silly. I should just have to click the search button and start typing. I should not have to click anything on the screen until the results show up.

I wish the marketplace app had better sorting options as well right now I do a search and what I see is what I get. It works while the lists are short but as the app market grows some sort of filters or sort would be nice. Then again the iPhone still lacks this so who knows.

Also I would love to see OTA updates. Given how much I loved my Zune the fact I didn't need to keep finding my wire to sync and stuff makes the Windows Phone feel like a step back. Apple finally relented on being to tied into the iTunes software and MS needs to do the same thing. Let us run this thing untethered to a PC altogether.

It is very responsive however and makes my iphone 4 feel like a slug going through mud. so I love that. Typing never lags like it did on the iPhone and youtube videos don't choke randomly like on all iOS devices.

App Ecosystem:
This is the biggest (?) of all for the most part its pretty solid right now major apps are all well represented and things that I want for the most part seem to have a program out there. However gone are the pages and pages of selection to a much smaller number that more often than not leaves me with less then half a dozen choices. And the lack of reviews on most programs or most reviews being very vague does not help. This is a entirely a market maturity thing and MS is certainly doing their best to address this. Hopefully with the obvious popularity of the Lumia 900 developers will start supporting it more.

Internet Browsing:
This gets its own section because I feel in today's smartphones its a whole other important issue just as much as ecosystems and battery. For the most part a very solid experience however the number of sites that seem that they want to use the WAP edition of their page is staggering I have a sneaking suspicion this is more due to the fact of the Windows Mobile 6.5 predecessor and earlier than the lack of people paying attention to Windows Phone 7. As a result I feel like I need to keep the IE setting on view desktop sites which is unfortunate as I often prefer the standard smartphone editions of sites. A good example of this is Sigalert.com a site I use to check traffic that does not yet have an app. I can't even take and drag I got to click through like I am on my Dad's old Cingular 2125 windows smart phone. Otherwise the browser itself is fast and renders well. Very comparable to my iPhone 4.

Conclusion:
Overall I think its solid and in 30 days I am confident i will keep it though I still have a few niggling concerns that hopefully will be addressed soon through software updates. (Provided AT&T doesn't screw it up like usual which is my other big concern about leaving the Apple environment)