Teardown reveals mediocre hardware, reasons for great price

[peestandingup]

Nokia Lumia 900 teardown reveals mediocre hardware, reasons for great price | TechRepublic

I figured this would be the reason for the low price. Most of this stuff is understandable since WP doesn't support dual processors, a higher res screen, etc. But one area I was kind of hoping they'd at least beef up was camera (it seems to be the exact same module as the N9/800).

So it doesn't seem like this is the "super phone but at a low price" we thought it might be where Nokia/MS were gonna be eating some of the cost to make it cheaper. He did note the overall performance was good though.

 

[HeyCori]

I don't think he needed to open it to know that the 900 isn't as powerful as the competition.

 

[chrise2]

The processor and all the specs are public. There's no mystery like an iPhone. Also, as an iPhone user for the past couple of years, I've adjusted my thinking from "more power is better" to as long "as the device works well, who cares what the specs are". If the phone runs fine with a lower end CPU, that will just help battery life. I'm sure they'll come out with a dodecacore 10 GHz processor one day, but unless the phone is nuclear powered, the battery life will be 3 minutes.

 

[AndreaCristiano]

Honestly why is this even a discussion. Specs and the stupidity wars that go along with it make me laugh. We have been tricked by the companies to always buy the biggest and greatest "Specs" meanwhile some of these specked out phones still suck. If the phone gives you a great user experience who cares what the specs are. Get over it!!!
Nokia Lumia 900 review -- Engadget

 

[apoc527]

I've already ranted about this. Hardware is meaningless.

 

[kenosando#AC]

All about software optimization. Sure, WP will eventually start using more powerful CPUs but at the present time, it is not needed (not to mention supported). Just another site trying to detract from the positive flow.

 

[Darth Lumia]

Look at it this way.... Finally we paid a the real price for an outstanding device and not a penny more than we had to like with the $60.00 iPhone.

 

[tekhna]

I've already ranted about this. Hardware is meaningless.

Hardware is not meaningless if the Apollo upgrade is unavailable to us/sucks because of low-end specs. Optimization is awesome, but iOS is heavily optimized and the iphone has some serious power under its hood.
The thing that kills me is the screen. I haven't seen a Lumia yet, so I'll withhold judgement, but it's going to be hard to go back to 800*480 after the 1280*720 screen on my Rezound. I am really glad it has LTE though--after a year on Verizon's LTE I couldn't do a non-LTE phone again.

Edit: I guess I'd be hesitant to sign a two-year contract on hardware that's already two+ years old. 2014 looks a long way off.

 

[dkp23]

Wait, 900 is not dual core???WHAT??????

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

 

[peestandingup]

You guys are mostly talking about how specs don't much matter, but in the sense of things like processors & memory, as long as the OS is optimized for those specs (which I agree isn't a big deal until later down the road with updates). But are you really saying that it doesn't matter in the present for things like using almost 2 year old camera tech & screen res??

I mean, I could kinda see about maybe buying it off contract for $450, because its a very good price IMO. But signing a 2 year contract for older tech? Probably not. I honestly think this phone will be free on contract before too long across the board.

 

[AndreaCristiano]

Hardware is not meaningless if the Apollo upgrade is unavailable to us/sucks because of low-end specs. Optimization is awesome, but iOS is heavily optimized and the iphone has some serious power under its hood.
The thing that kills me is the screen. I haven't seen a Lumia yet, so I'll withhold judgement, but it's going to be hard to go back to 800*480 after the 1280*720 screen on my Rezound. I am really glad it has LTE though--after a year on Verizon's LTE I couldn't do a non-LTE phone again.

Edit: I guess I'd be hesitant to sign a two-year contract on hardware that's already two+ years old. 2014 looks a long way off.

Blah blah blah

 

[AndreaCristiano]

Hardware is not meaningless if the Apollo upgrade is unavailable to us/sucks because of low-end specs. Optimization is awesome, but iOS is heavily optimized and the iphone has some serious power under its hood.
The thing that kills me is the screen. I haven't seen a Lumia yet, so I'll withhold judgement, but it's going to be hard to go back to 800*480 after the 1280*720 screen on my Rezound. I am really glad it has LTE though--after a year on Verizon's LTE I couldn't do a non-LTE phone again.

Edit: I guess I'd be hesitant to sign a two-year contract on hardware that's already two+ years old. 2014 looks a long way off.

Also the Apollo upgrade will make the upgraded hardware accessible it doesn't mean it will make all previous hardware void

 

[hellomiggy]

I love cereal, yet sometimes I don't have a lot of Money, but I have a craving for Fruit Loops, It's 5 bucks dang it, I don't want to spend so much money on something that I can finish in Two days. Ah alas! there is the store branded fruit loops, 2 Big bags for only for 3 dollars and I can get another for free! I'm there! There are choices, and there affordable choices. This is an affordable choice to Many! Which is why it is so eye catching.

 

[apoc527]

You guys are mostly talking about how specs don't much matter, but in the sense of things like processors & memory, as long as the OS is optimized for those specs (which I agree isn't a big deal until later down the road with updates). But are you really saying that it doesn't matter in the present for things like using almost 2 year old camera tech & screen res??

I mean, I could kinda see about maybe buying it off contract for $450, because its a very good price IMO. But signing a 2 year contract for older tech? Probably not. I honestly think this phone will be free on contract before too long across the board.

When someone can definitively tell me that my user experience will be negatively affected by "old" tech, then I will consider the spec argument. Until then, all I hear is fears of using "old" tech and how the "new" tech is so much better. Well, as has been said many times if they had used the new tech, there's no way we'd see a $99 price point. There is also no way this phone could sell at $199 or $299 given WP7's ecosystem.

The ENTIRE point of the Lumia 900 is to grow WP7's marketshare and I think it's going to succeed at that pretty well.

People forget that 4 years ago, the iPhone was new, Blackberry dominated, and Android didn't exist. That's a mere 48 months people. Things change fast in this industry and if AT&T starts pushing phones like the Lumia out the door, marketshare could rebalance itself to look completely different in the next 4 years.

 

[GMJeff]

Once Windows Phone has a bigger foothold in the smartphone market, then the vendors will probably be given free reign on hardware specs.

Windows Phone 7 was meant to run on lower end hardware specs, 1GHz processors, minimal amounts of ram and storage. All of this makes spec hunters look elsewhere due to the thought of "old tech."

Why would Windows Phone not be able to run on a dual core processor? Windows XP ran on dual core processors before it was ever optimized for dual core. If the OS is not made for dual core, it just uses one core. The other lies dormant, a waste. Why put a $200 processor in a phone when a $50 one works as needed and offers a perfectly usable user experience. Dual core in phones seems to only matter in the type of HD video the phone can record, 720p vs. 1080p. Dual core also presumably makes the device more efficient, but I have seen more dual core Android devices stumble on their apps than Windows Phone, meaning worse memory management as well as CPU lag system freezes.

Also, as for "old camera tech", the iPhone has a 8MP camera, 99% or so of the Android devices have a 8MP camera, the Lumia as well as most 2nd gen Windows Phones use 8MP cameras, so how can the tech be "old".

 

[Adiliyo]

People forget that 4 years ago, the iPhone was new, Blackberry dominated, and Android didn't exist. That's a mere 48 months people. Things change fast in this industry and if AT&T starts pushing phones like the Lumia out the door, marketshare could rebalance itself to look completely different in the next 4 years.

i keep reminding people of this when they talk about how android/iOS are so far ahead that it's already a lost game.

i still remember a couple years ago when android 2.0 and the OG droid was coming out and i was all over it and virtually every person i talked to about it was all "yea it's neat but blackberry and iOS are so far ahead that it will never gain traction."

fast forward a year or so and android is dominating everyone and rim is a forgotten memory in the consumer market.

the lumia's build quality combined with WP's excellent user experience and the crazy price point for a well made and visually stunning LTE handset can certainly be a game changer in getting windows phone into people's hands and into the general public's mindshare when considering a new handset.

put all that together with a (hopefully) stellar marketing push from the involved parties and the release of apollo in a few months and the market is going to look like a different animal in a year from now.

while the specs are "dated" they can run anything in the forthcoming windows phone pipeline, and with the hardware being so cheap, if one wants to get a out of contract apollo handset in the fall, they should be able to flip this phone for a new one with very little out of pocket when one considers they only invested $100 (or nothing) for the l900, so even if they spend ~500 later on a new handset, if they can sell the 900 for ~200 later down the road, they aren't dropping too much money to be able to enjoy such a beautiful handset for half a year - 8 months.

i know that's probably what i'm going to do come fall at least.

personally, i feel like for general use, my focus s ran circles around both my gnex and my galaxy note, and those have some beefy hardware.

 

[ljkelley]

You guys are mostly talking about how specs don't much matter, but in the sense of things like processors & memory, as long as the OS is optimized for those specs (which I agree isn't a big deal until later down the road with updates). But are you really saying that it doesn't matter in the present for things like using almost 2 year old camera tech & screen res??

I mean, I could kinda see about maybe buying it off contract for $450, because its a very good price IMO. But signing a 2 year contract for older tech? Probably not. I honestly think this phone will be free on contract before too long across the board.

Apple stills sells and people buy an iPhone 3GS with no LTE, worse camera, 600mhz even older generation CPU, worse screen resolution. No front facing camera.

The iPhone 4 has a better screen resolution, but slower CPU speed and is older gen as well. Camera is 5MP and way worse front facing camera. And obviously no LTE. Its the same price at $99 for 8GB, not 16GB.