Review: Nokia Lumia 920

The Lumia 920 is a heavy phone. At 6.5 ounces – much heavier than Apple's new iPhone, which is just shy of 4 ounces – the Lumia is big and chunky and not shy about it.

It's as if, with its new flagship Windows Phone device, Nokia has crafted a physical token representative of the weight it would like to wield in the smartphone market.

Nokia has delivered a heavyweight player (pun intended) to take on the other smartphones, Windows Phone or otherwise.Among all Microsoft's hardware partners betting on the Windows Phone platform, Nokia has the most to lose, and potentially the most to gain. Analysts and carriers have said again and again that the smartphone market needs a third platform to compete against iOS and Android. And with the arrival of Windows Phone 8, it looks like we finally have a three-horse race. Should Windows Phone succeed, Nokia could reap untold benefits. If the Windows smartphone market stays lukewarm, Nokia will continue to wilt.

But I have to admit that when I started using the HTC Windows Phone 8X, a device that directly competes with the Lumia 920, the future started looking more grim for Nokia. It seemed as though HTC had beat the Finnish company at its own game, making a gorgeous Windows Phone handset, bright colors and all.

That's not quite the case, though. After days of using the Lumia 920, it's hard to deny Nokia has delivered a heavyweight player (pun intended) to take on the other smartphones, Windows Phone or otherwise.

First off, the Lumia 920 is very well-designed. It looks like a slightly larger, more polished Lumia 900. It has the same rectangular polycarbonate shell, with rounded edges and flat tops. However, the polycarbonate now surrounds a sculpted, 4.5-inch curved Gorilla Glass display. With its rounded edges, it looks more fluid than the flat display of the Lumia 900.

The polycarbonate also now comes in glossy and matte textures. The black model of the phone that I tested has a matte body, which I prefer over the glossy finish I saw in the red and yellow models. The phone also comes in white and cyan. Like other Windows Phones, there are capacitive Home, Search and Back buttons below the screen. Three physical black buttons – a volume rocker, a lock button, and a dedicated camera shutter button – line the right edge. On the inside, there's a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, 32GB of storage, 1GB of RAM and a 2000 mAh battery. Windows Phone 8 was snappy and responsive as usual, and I had no problems with battery life.

This isn't a small, or necessarily pocketable phone. It's more than 5 inches tall and almost 3 inches wide. And as I mentioned, it's a relatively heavy device, weighing 185 grams (or 6.5 ounces) compared to the HTC 8X's 130 grams (or 4.6 ounces) and the iPhone 5's 112 grams (or 3.95 ounces). The heft might deter people who prefer to carry their phones in jean pockets.

But that's one of the few drawbacks to the Lumia 920. Otherwise, it's a stunning device with two killer features: An amazing display and an excellent camera. The 1280x768 pixel PureMotion HD+ display is one of the best I've seen. My one complaint is that whites seemed slightly off, with a hint of yellow, even in the brightest mode. Still, reading on the Lumia 920 was a joy, also thanks to the expansive size of the screen.

Most importantly, the Lumia 920's camera is a winner. Nokia has been touting its PureView technology since the 41-megapixel monster showed up in the 808 PureView Symbian smartphone. The company has ported the software technology over to Windows Phone and slapped in a more modest 8.7-megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss lens. Photos are super-sharp, and taking photos in low light is impressive. I tested it against the iPhone 5 and found that the Lumia 920 was able to capture more light in dim and dark settings than the iPhone.

My only problem with the Lumia 920 camera is that when using the stock Windows Phone camera app, it doesn't give you a live preview of what the image is going to look like. In iOS, you can select which specific part of the image you want to use to set the exposure for the whole frame, and the viewfinder adjusts accordingly to show you what your image will look like. All of my low-light photos shot with the Lumia 920 ended up looking like they were in direct light, which is great for certain situations, but not all. If you want a low-light photo that actually looks like you're in a low-light environment, you'll need to fuss with the settings, and even then you might not get what you expect. (Usually going down to the lowest possible exposure should do the trick.)

Nokia has thrown in some exclusive software, as well: Nokia City Lens, Nokia Drive, Nokia Maps, and Nokia Music. The camera also has several exclusive "Lenses," software add-ons that work in conjunction with the camera app. These include Cinemagraph (moving-image-maker), Smart Shoot (group-photo-taker), and Panorama (take a wild guess).

Of all the built-in apps, I was most surprised that I really liked Nokia Music. The app organizes your personal music, and you can use it to purchase songs like you would in iTunes. But more useful is the Mix Radio option, which has a catalog of 15 million tracks and streams music like Pandora. And it's all free with no ads. The app lets you create your own mixes or choose from a list of pre-made Nokia jams like "Rock the Vote," "The Sound of Nashville," and "Atlanta Rap." Best part: You can download mixes for offline listening.

The wireless charging feature was incredibly simple to use.Nokia Maps works great, and has public transportation directions, unlike the more basic Windows Phone 8 Maps. Nokia Drive is still in beta, but it worked great on short drives from my house to the grocery store. You can also choose to download certain maps, say the California map, for offline use. All the Nokia-made apps look great, with big fonts and graphics.

The wireless charging feature was incredibly simple to use. I used a little wireless charging pillow by Fatboy, and had no problem getting the phone to immediately start drawing juice as soon as I plopped it down. But technically, the set-up is not totally wireless. The pad still needs to be to plugged in, with yes, a wire. The advantage you gain by using an accessory like this is convenience – you can quickly throw down your phone and pick it back up without having to physically plug and unplug it. It probably only saves you a few seconds for each charging session and nominally reduces mechanical wear, but I can see it being handy to have a wireless charging rig in your office while your wired charger stays by your bedside table, or vice versa.

Nokia has stuffed the Lumia 920 with top-shelf features, and it all adds up into a software and hardware amalgamation that gives the phone unique appeal over competitors like HTC's phones. It's also a big step up from the Lumia 900, and it's the first Nokia Windows Phone device we've seen that's technologically on par with high-end Android devices, and even the iPhone 5. Just don't expect it to be as comfortable to carry in your skinny jeans.

WIRED Sleek, tasteful design with a curved glass screen. Stunning camera. Bright display with excellent color and sharpness. Nokia-built software like Nokia Maps and Nokia Music are actually very useful, well-made and great to have built into the phone.

TIRED It's big – time to reconsider the aversion to salads? Windows Phone still low on apps compared to iOS and Android. Camera's preview mode is weird, so images may turn out different than expected.