The Nokia Lumia 920
Nokia has just announced the many features it has piled into its latest Lumia 920 smartphone, confirming that the new device will indeed come with wireless charging and a PureView camera with fantastic imaging capabilities.
The wireless charging capability – which was leaked before today’s launch – is the most unique feature of the new device and opens up a world of options for users to charge their devices on the go. For example, Nokia has already partnered with bean bag manufacturer Fatboy to make a miniature bean bag rest for the Lumia 920 that also charges it up. They’ve also partnered with Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf cafés, who will install plates on their tables that will serve as recharge points, and Virgin Atlantic will also be providing wireless charging options.
That said, the Lumia 920 comes with a 2,000mAh battery and Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor that Nokia claims is up to 30pc more battery efficient than quad-core alternatives, so even without wireless charging points there’s plenty of life in this new device.
Say goodbye to your digital camera
Another feature with a lot of promise is the inclusion of Nokia’s latest PureView camera with a Carl Zeiss lens. The Finnish manufacturer is claiming that the Lumia 920 has the best imaging and video capabilities of any smartphone and the specifications seem to back this up.
First of all, Nokia has attempted to eliminate dark and blurry smartphone pictures by creating a camera that has an increased aperture and allows for extended shutter speed to let in more light, and comes with image stabilisation that Nokia claims is up to 50pc more effective than many high-end digital cameras – so no more shaky hands ruining your pictures.
As well as these advanced image-taking features, the Lumia 920 comes with Lenses, both native and third-party apps that users can use to manipulate and improve their images. For example, the Blink Lens takes a number of photographs of a face and then selects the best one from all the options. All of the data is saved by the app, so users can also go back and modify the image at a later time. There’s also Smart Shoot, that lets users remove moving people or objects from images, and Cinemagraph which is, essentially, a GIF generator – and I can’t even begin to tell you how excited that makes me.
HD curved display
All of this great imaging technology comes with what Nokia deems to be its best smartphone display: PureMotion HD. Pretty much Nokia’s answer to Apple’s Retina display, PureMotion HD claims better-than-HD resolution on the Lumia 920’s 4.5-inch curved glass display and the fastest LCD ever shipped on a smartphone.
Nokia is also boasting that the 920 has the brightest smartphone display ever, and the screen automatically adjusts for users depending on the lighting.
The display is also ‘super sensitive’, which means it can be operated even while wearing gloves – though this make me worry that it could be too sensitive when in your bag or pocket. Something we’ll be sure to check out when the device becomes available.
Windows Phone 8
Of course, it’s not all about Nokia, as a key selling point of the Lumia 920 is that it comes with Windows Phone 8. This means a new customisable start screen with new, smaller tile sizes.
It has been confirmed that Windows Phone 7 apps will also run on the device, but there will be plenty of Windows Phone 8 apps pre-loaded to the device, like People Hub, which aggregates texts, Facebook messages and Facebook posts from your contacts and an exclusive app from Rovio called Angry Birds Roost, which lets users play the games and download ringtones and wallpapers from a single app.
Nokia is also boasting about the 920’s advanced mapping experience, promising comprehensive offline maps and more indoor maps. They’ve also added City Lens, an augmented reality app that displays the names, addresses and phone numbers of restaurants and other establishments on the smartphone display. Augmented reality has also been added to Nokia Maps where users can easily switch to AR mode to see directions and points of interest nearby.
Accessories to beat the band
The Lumia 920 comes with NFC capability and – finally – screenshots are supported on Windows Phone 8. The new phone will be available in yellow, slate grey and red and there will also be a range of compatible accessories from JBL, like the Power Up speaker that takes advantage of the wireless charging function while providing a great speaker for Nokia Music.
We expect there’ll be plenty more accessories making use of this unique functionality and, overall, we’re excited to get our hands on this latest Nokia handset. And, for tighter budgets, there’s also the Lumia 820 – a mid-range alternative to the 920.
