Am I the only one not impressed with the 900?

[doejoe007]

I just took out my 900 and scrolled all over the place and did not see this issue.

 

[PhilR8]

I had the same experience: I have the Arrive, unhappy with Sprint's recent 3G data speeds and coverage, and I've been deciding if I should just ship to AT&T for the Lumia 900. I almost jumped to AT&T for the Titan back in November but my order was delayed over three weeks by Amazon Wireless and I ended up cancelling it. This time, though, I was sure the sexy Lumia 900 would convince me to switch. So I went to the AT&T store in the mall and I played with a cyan and a black Lumia 900. My thoughts:

1. The silver camera band on the back of the Cyan 900 was completely covered in scratches. The Black 900 was about half covered.
2. The Cyan 900's screen was absolutely dripping with face/fingerprint oil
3. Both 900s seemed very slow when scrolling. I took out my Arrive to compare the scrolling speeds and my Arrive blew the 900s away. My Arrive was much, much snappier at almost all tasks.

I felt a disappointment very similar to yours. I was certain I was going to make the switch before I went to the AT&T store; now, I'm not so sure.

I've been with Sprint for nearly 10 years and have seen the service and data speeds plummet the past couple years. I live in the Raleigh/Cary area and am constantly in Roam. I was all set to order the 900 yesterday, but wanted to see it in person before making the switch to AT&T. The sales rep at my local store let me play with his black 900 and I couldn't believe how slow the scrolling moved on the start screen. I don't want to use the word "lag" because that's not quite correct...it was just slow. On my HTC Arrive, I can give a quick flick and the screen scrolls extremely fast and fluid...not so on his 900. Until yesterday, the Arrive was the only Windows Phone device I've used. Is this slowness common to other Windows Phones?

Also, after seeing the AT&T prices and learning my corporate discount is only applied to the voice plan, I can't justify moving from Sprint at this time. Needless to say, my visit to the AT&T store yesterday was a disappointment.

 

[PhilR8]

I thought about the Titan II until I remembered I wanted the Nokia exclusive apps.

Man, isn't this the truth.

 

[PhilR8]

just out of curiosity, people who encountered the slow touch bug, were the phones plugged in to a charger when you were trying them out?

my focus and focus s would have odd responsiveness issues when charging sometimes, but unplugging them and giving it a couple seconds would result in a return of the super fast scrolling and touch responsiveness that wp is known for

The phone wasn't plugged into the charger, wasn't on WIFI. The 900s I used were both connected to AT&T's LTE network.

 

[jimski]

Sales rep gave me his Black 900 to play with on Friday and the scroll speed seemed about the same as my Surround. Possibly a little tighter. I like the screen to stop when I stop. I have 42 tiles on my Start screen so I am navigating all the time. Didn't see any issue at all with the Lumia. Hope to pick mine up Thursday afternoon or Friday morning (pre-order being delivered to store).

Sent from my HTC Surround using Board Express

 

[JOHNGAETANO]

Scratches? Your saying the silver camera bezel gets scratched up real easy?

 

[quek9]

I've been with Sprint for nearly 10 years and have seen the service and data speeds plummet the past couple years. I live in the Raleigh/Cary area and am constantly in Roam. I was all set to order the 900 yesterday, but wanted to see it in person before making the switch to AT&T. The sales rep at my local store let me play with his black 900 and I couldn't believe how slow the scrolling moved on the start screen. I don't want to use the word "lag" because that's not quite correct...it was just slow. On my HTC Arrive, I can give a quick flick and the screen scrolls extremely fast and fluid...not so on his 900. Until yesterday, the Arrive was the only Windows Phone device I've used. Is this slowness common to other Windows Phones?

Also, after seeing the AT&T prices and learning my corporate discount is only applied to the voice plan, I can't justify moving from Sprint at this time. Needless to say, my visit to the AT&T store yesterday was a disappointment.

only voice? I guess all corporate plans aren't equal because mine apply to voice, data, and data att prices are ridiculous. I couldnt afford 3 phones without my corporate discount.

 

[Adiliyo]

i get discount on voice and data, but only on the 5gb data plan, but in the end voice plus 5gb+tethering is costing me about the same as it would without the discount and the 3gb plan, so i'm happy.

prepaid is cheaper, but you don't get LTE with prepaid...

 

[invertme]

I have 5 days of play time with a 900 under my belt now and I can say for sure it doesn't lag. Not at all. It has a different feel than my Focus for sure not sure how to describe it but there is no lag at all.

 

[Rob41664]

I played with 2 Lumias on Friday when I preordered mine and my daughters. I have used the Focus since day 1 then went to the Focus S on the day it was released. The scroll speed was a little slower on the 900 but it was still fluid and no lagging. It still was faster than my daughters Titan she uses now. The build quality and feel though cant even be compared in my mind to the current crop of devices. It is heads and shoulders above them. As another poster said also Nokia has been quick to release updates to firmware to fix bugs in the 800 and I imagine they will continue that with the 900. I just hope AT&T does a better job of releasing them to us or Nokia finds a way around AT&T to release them.

 

[foosball]

Tested my Arrive against the 900 and the 900 was twice as fast. Weird that others are finding it slower than Gen 1 phones.

I walked away thinking until Apollo drops there is very little differentiating one WP device from another. Difficult to justify leaving Sprint by a cost difference of $1000 for what's on the table now.

Sent from my HTC Arrive using Board Express

 

[kinslayer]

I have a Lumia 800, it had issues. All phones ship with some kind of issue, it's just the nature of the beast. But here's why I recommend Nokia: They *fix* issues. I can't say the same for other OEMs.

So rest assured that this will be addressed by Nokia very quickly. They are very serious about their phones specially right now. It's touch screen tuning, that's all there is to it.

Nokia supports their work very well. That means a lot to me as a customer.

 

[snowmutt]

First off: To those considering moving to AT&T from Sprint, I still believe Sprint will get a Nokia with Apollo, so I would only make this move of you wake up on the morning and your first thought is "I hate this network.....". If not, the 900 is will be a great device, but why move when you are 6 months from the 3rd Gen of WP and it may be coming with LTE to a Sprint upgrade near you?

To those asking if the 900 is better than the Focus S, I have a two part answer: No, the 900 is not better than the "S" unless you live in a LTE area. The "S" is seamless and an amazingly enjoyable device. However, Nokia is better than Samsung, and WP owners will be way better off in their hands. If the slow scrolling problem reported by some of our users is not really a problem, than I would have a hard time not saying grab the 900.

 

[GMJeff]

I have read on a few forums that the demo units possibly aren't running on finalized release firmware.

The units being demoed could also be running multiple apps in the background, as well as having the settings messed with by other users. Multiple issues could add to a phone running slow. Try rebooting the device and see how it runs after a fresh start up.

I mean, if my original Focus with the minimal specs for Windows Phone 7 can run 7.5 with the same ease, a Nokia phone with some slightly better specs should run it the same speed, or faster. Also, as a few here have said, Nokia has been good with the 800 and updating to fix some quirks, the 900 shouldn't be any different, other than the AT&T roadblock.

 

[jawesome]

I have read on a few forums that the demo units possibly aren't running on finalized release firmware.

The units being demoed could also be running multiple apps in the background, as well as having the settings messed with by other users. Multiple issues could add to a phone running slow. Try rebooting the device and see how it runs after a fresh start up.

I mean, if my original Focus with the minimal specs for Windows Phone 7 can run 7.5 with the same ease, a Nokia phone with some slightly better specs should run it the same speed, or faster. Also, as a few here have said, Nokia has been good with the 800 and updating to fix some quirks, the 900 shouldn't be any different, other than the AT&T roadblock.

Have you used a Windows Phone before? Have you ever experienced lag because of "multiple apps running in the background"? No you haven't because apps don't run in the background... they're tombstoned. I can have 5 Xbox Live games "running" in the background on my Focus or Titan and there is never lag. That argument is not a valid one for this or any device. And what settings could possibly make it lag? There is no user accessible setting on any of my devices that would cause a noticeable touchscreen lag.

I'm going to say that the phones the AT&T reps were given and most likely running the same firmware the devices will ship with.
Could a firmware update fix the problem? Probably.
Is the issue being overblown? Probably.

If there really is an issue I think it's ironic because of the Smartphone Beta Test ad campaign of Nokia. If a company is willing to put out such an ad, they better make sure their product is perfected before release.

 

[peestandingup]

I agree with jawesome. A lot of excuses being made. Background apps don't run in the background at all. And they would never give employees a "beta" phone, not this close to release. So you can bet your bottom dollar this is the production unit running the firmware we'll all get.

Just in the 5 minutes I played with it at the AT&T store I noticed right away that it wasn't as smooth as even my old Focus. Not "laggy" like some have suggested, but just not as fluid. The taps wouldn't sometimes register, the scrolling was a little off, etc.

And now that I've seen the mediocre photos it produces, I'm not exactly feeling the 900 at all. I wish it was different, but its not. And since its basically an 800 w a bigger screen & LTE, Nokia really should have any issues ironed out by now. If they're going after the iPhone in their ads, it just makes the whole thing seem rather silly. If they're going to do that, then they better have it together.

 

[krayziehustler]

I agree with jawesome. A lot of excuses being made. Background apps don't run in the background at all. And they would never give employees a "beta" phone, not this close to release. So you can bet your bottom dollar this is the production unit running the firmware we'll all get.

Just in the 5 minutes I played with it at the AT&T store I noticed right away that it wasn't as smooth as even my old Focus. Not "laggy" like some have suggested, but just not as fluid. The taps wouldn't sometimes register, the scrolling was a little off, etc.

And now that I've seen the mediocre photos it produces, I'm not exactly feeling the 900 at all. I wish it was different, but its not. And since its basically an 800 w a bigger screen & LTE, Nokia really should have any issues ironed out by now. If they're going after the iPhone in their ads, it just makes the whole thing seem rather silly. If they're going to do that, then they better have it together.

don't know what you mean by that as I played with 4 900s and they all perform the same way as my Titan.. Samsung users are spoiled because Samsung uses a different algorithm for scrolling. NO ISSUES OR LESS RESPONSIVE THAN OTHER WP

 

[PhilR8]

Chill with the caps lock. I've also experienced the poor responsiveness of a 900 first-hand and compared it to my year-old HTC Arrive and the Arrive was much snappier. However, I'm going to visit a different at&t store this evening to see if another unit handled by an entirely different staff performs any differently. I'll report back to this thread.

don't know what you mean by that as I played with 4 900s and they all perform the same way as my Titan.. Samsung users are spoiled because Samsung uses a different algorithm for scrolling. NO ISSUES OR LESS RESPONSIVE THAN OTHER WP

 

[Dave Blake]

I'm going to throw a monkey in the wrench. I have a Lumia 800 and a Focus S if I was home I would take a video but I'm not so I can't. If I hold them side by side flick both screens the same the Lumia 800 goes all the way to the bottom of my tiles where as the Focus S only makes it about 3/4 of the way down. I propose that the difference you guys are seeing is because of the difference in screen size. The distance your finger travels on the screen on a larger screen device is less than on a smaller screen device. Get it?! On a smaller screen device you are going to move the screen a longer distance because you are accentually telling the screen to scroll further because of the number of pixels/screen rel estate you are dragging your thumb across. Thoughts?

 

[PhilR8]

This is a good post - I'll keep it in mind this afternoon. I'll make sure to take the 900 and compare it to an HTC Titan to see what happens.

I'm going to throw a monkey in the wrench. I have a Lumia 800 and a Focus S if I was home I would take a video but I'm not so I can't. If I hold them side by side flick both screens the same the Lumia 800 goes all the way to the bottom of my tiles where as the Focus S only makes it about 3/4 of the way down. I propose that the difference you guys are seeing is because of the difference in screen size. The distance your finger travels on the screen on a larger screen device is less than on a smaller screen device. Get it?! On a smaller screen device you are going to move the screen a longer distance because you are accentually telling the screen to scroll further because of the number of pixels/screen rel estate you are dragging your thumb across. Thoughts?