Hi, newbie here, also newbie to smartphones, just joined so I could post this NL920 rave. I apologise in advance for the length but I can't help it. Love my new phone so much.
We went along to AT&T with the intention of upgrading our phone plan and getting new feature phones to replace our 3 yr old ones. Smartphones and data plans were not on the cards - unnecessary expense and waste of time, we just need to make calls and texts blah blah – until, that is, we got to the store. The meagre range of feature phones on offer was not calculated to appetize prospective buyers, even ones as undemanding as we are. Most were no better, and in some cases worse, than what we already had, not to mention, even with a plan, more expensive than many of the smartphones. When it transpired, through chatting with an SA, that we could each have for example an iPhone 4 for $.99 and a shared data plan for less than $15 a month more than we were already paying, well, we’d have been silly NOT to get smartphones, right? Right.
Ok, so my husband having being convinced, it was on, he was getting an iPhone. More to the point, I was getting an iPhone. So, while he was hashing out the tedious contract details with the SA, I decided to amuse myself by browsing the display phones. I was getting an iPhone no question but why miss an opportunity to cast a smug eye over the competition? I looked at the Motorolas, Samsungs and Whatever Elses. They all looked to me much alike, I played with a couple of touchscreens and paused to gape at the hugeness of the Galaxy Note. That’s a phone? Wow.
And then, just as I was getting bored and about to go check out the iPads…ooh look at those phones. Colours? You know, I like elegant, minimalist monochrome in design, I really do but the splashes of primary colour in a field of black, white and aluminum drew me like a beacon. The red glossiness of the NL920, that somehow fell into my hand, stood out like a flaming wild rose in a patch of elegant but frosty lilies. Ooh and look, look at all the pretty coloured tiles on the screen. Yes, it was comparatively big and heavy but a pleasingly satisfying, balanced weight, and the gentle curve of the back cradled in my palm just felt right. The glass screen was ridiculously smooth to my fingers, like stroking silk. And the whole Windows tile thingy was super-slick and easy, within seconds I was navigating that phone like I’d had it for years. Yes, I’d fallen under the seductive spell of the 920. It was love at first sight and touch, I wanted to hug it and squeeze it and call it George…ok maybe not George, that’s our cat’s name because, well, you just want to hug him and squeeze him and…you get the picture.
I wanted this phone so badly. One tiny problem, even with the heavily discounted contract price, the 920 was gonna cost $100 as opposed to the $.99 for the – now sadly, much less desirable – iPhone. My husband, while happy to turn a blind eye to my occasional minor extravagances, might be, less than wildly enthusiastic about my sudden perverse volte-face re the iPhone I’d hinted and sighed about forever just as I was within minutes of owning one. And in favour of this upstart new object of desire? And $100 more? What did we know about this Nokia-come-lately anyway? Sure, they used to make good phones and what about this new-fangled Windows Phone OS, who’d even heard of it? Yes, I could already hear all his objections in my head.
Would have to do some very fast talking here. As it turned out, I didn’t. My husband doesn’t always come across as the most observant or sensitive of men but my desperate flirtation with the sleek, red Nokia had not escaped his notice nor that I was finding it difficult to tear myself away to come and sign on dotted lines. He’s not stupid, he has to live with me so he knows when to pick his battles – $4000 on a to-die-for Gucci purse for instance and he’ll fight to the death (mine) but $100 for a phone I’d have for at least two years? He might have to eat the $35 restocking fee if I decided I wanted an iPhone after all within a few days but meh - it just wasn’t worth the grief. He told the SA to get me “that phone, whatever it is,” and him his iPhone so we could get the ferk outta there and en route to his comfort zone in the Home Depot hardware dept.
Now, 5 weeks on, how is my liaison with the NL920 progressing? Well the honeymoon isn’t showing any signs of being over anytime soon. I love this thing and it’s not just cosmetic, yes I’m a fool for a pretty facade but my reality doesn’t allow for many things to get by on looks alone – George the cat being about the only exception. Personal electronics like household appliances have to work and no amount of ‘pretty’ will save them if they don’t. The 920 works, otherwise it would have been back at the store within days and traded for an iPhone like my husband’s. It’s probably – no - definitely way more phone than I need, more than half of what it can do will never be tested in terms of apps, game playing, music etc but what functions I do use are super efficient. For making calls, texting and email the People Hub is a joy to use, I love the live tile and lockscreen updates. Calls are clear and I like the way texts are laid out in neat little threads with pics embedded in the message. Web-browsing on the go and navigation (even my husband is impressed by Nokia Drive - a LOT) are fluid and fast. I like the virtual keyboard and the MS office functions are a nice bonus, not essential to me since I don’t use the phone for business, but useful for editing (not that I have a tendency to be long-winded at all) any docs I do need to attach and send to people. The clarity and sharpness of text, images, colours on that gorgeous screen are a constant delight. The camera is way better than my 3 year old Coolpix point-and-shoot and has more or less replaced it.
The phone’s solid build doesn’t hurt either, I’m not a fan of cases and covers for phones but I would have had to get one had I got the iPhone which is a shame – like putting coveralls over a cocktail dress. I did however get sucked into buying the screen and back protective films by the SA. That was just wrong and I took them off after a week. They made the phone look cheap and, worse, totally ruined the sensuous tactile experience of using it. The back felt rubbery and tacky and the screen was nowhere near as silkily fluid and responsive. No, I’ll take my chances, I’m not unduly rough or clumsy, the 920 is standing up naked to such cavalier treatment as I give it, throwing it into my junk-filled purse or stuffing it in a pocket, without any signs of damage so far.
So, do I have any complaints? Well, battery life perhaps, not that it’s terrible by smartphone standards - I’m getting a good 1 ? - 2 days out of it. I get that there’s a trade-off for more functionality and thus the power consumption of these phones but I have been spoiled by my old Samsung which could easily go 4-5 days. I’ll get used to it. On the plus side, the wireless charging is convenient; the pad lives, neatly unobtrusive, on a side table, no more trying to find and untangle the correct cord from among the many in the kitchen drawer and fiddle with the little connectors. My one other tiny niggle is that I can’t have custom text/email alert tones, the ones on the phone pretty much suck, but since I can have as many custom ringtones as I have contacts I suppose I can live with that minor deficiency.
Occasionally, an object just clicks with me, there’s an instant connection. I had it with my very first cellphone (also, coincidentally, a Nokia – I loved that phone), my 4 year old Sony Vaio laptop, my first iPod Classic and – don’t laugh - a hairdryer I once had that lasted for 15 years, I still mourn it every time I have to buy a new one when they burn out, on average, every 18 months or so. The 920 is just such an object, and here’s to just as enduring a love match.
thanks! Hope you enjoy! 
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