Nokia introduces Lumia 900 exclusively for AT&T

[Art Vandelay]

Kind of like Mr. Art himself.

My opinion is strictly about WP7's viability in the marketplace, not the OS itself. A nice looking Nokia handset isn't nearly enough to change their fortunes.

I wish we could have a legitimate 3rd competitor to Google and Apple. Ironically, I think Nokia still has the best chance, but not with their current Microsoft partnership. The N9 is really the only phone on the market right now that I could get excited about. http://swipe.nokia.com/

[chickenium]

My opinion is strictly about WP7's viability in the marketplace, not the OS itself. A nice looking Nokia handset isn't nearly enough to change their fortunes.

I wish we could have a legitimate 3rd competitor to Google and Apple. Ironically, I think Nokia still has the best chance, but not with their current Microsoft partnership. The N9 is really the only phone on the market right now that I could get excited about. http://swipe.nokia.com/

It's the same phone with a very similar UI.

[Art Vandelay]

It's the same phone with a very similar UI.

Yeah, the hardware is great. I wouldn't call it a very similar UI, though.

[GahannaKid]

My opinion is strictly about WP7's viability in the marketplace, not the OS itself. A nice looking Nokia handset isn't nearly enough to change their fortunes.

Fair enough, though I'm going to still disagree. Granted I'm biased since I own one but I think WP is the only viable third party OS right now and unless something changes dramatically in a fashion that none of us could foresee I predict it will continue to be so in the future.

Android & iOS will continue to dominate, Apple because it's Apple and they're the apple of everyone's eye right now (no pun intended) and Android because it's cheap and allows venders to differentiate themselves. Blackberryis on a downward spiral with no rescue plan in site, the N9 & co are stillborn, Meego has nowhere to go thanks to Android on the high end & Nokia on the low, and Bada doesn't have the support to push any sort of market penetration.

That leaves Windows Phone. A clean OS with good reviews and the weight of two juggernauts behind it. Microsoft has a clear, concise plan for its future,it has developer support that will only improve, and it has/will have the fullintegration of Microsoft’s ecosystem (Xbox, Office, Skype, Skydrive, Windows 8,Zune). Add to that Nokia and their mindshare in overseas markets, plus their navigation system, and their ability to produce top quality hardware and you have a winning combination that Google can’t touch as far as stability & reliability goes and Apple can't touch as far as choice and freedom goes.

People ask what does WP7 have that iPhones or Android don't and the answer is the best of both worlds for all but the minority of people who know and/or care what rooting a phone is. You say WP will be dead in two years and I say in one year it will prove you wrong, and in three it will be a solid third or second place OS with every bit of mind share as iOS or Android (if not more).

[16v]

Then again, operators (one of which I understood you are working at) have expressed that they'd need some more variety to the market with iOS and Android dominating it alone.

those same operators say many things for the benefit of Wall St

[SuperGroove]

love being back with Windows Phone 7.

I get ridiculed all the time by friends for my phone choice, but I never get defensive. I don't make fun of anyone for their phone choice. They like their phones, and I absolutely love my phone. It works, it is stable, it has a fantastic music player, and it has what I need: exchange sync, good battery life, good call quality and fantastic UI.

[Sosl0w]

love being back with Windows Phone 7.

I get ridiculed all the time by friends for my phone choice, but I never get defensive. I don't make fun of anyone for their phone choice. They like their phones, and I absolutely love my phone. It works, it is stable, it has a fantastic music player, and it has what I need: exchange sync, good battery life, good call quality and fantastic UI.

And it's only going to get better.... http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/02/w...ne-8-detailed/

[chickenium]

Yeah, the hardware is great. I wouldn't call it a very similar UI, though.

Well if it's anything like the link you posted, it's pretty much only small cosmetic differences.

• You switch processes by selecting their "snapshots" on the screen, only difference is that they're laid out in 4 quadrants instead of a horizontal line.
  
• The swipe to open is any direction instead of vertical.
  
• There's something very similar to WP7's people hub but they mix in email/phone notifications and calendar (which you can just access by pressing another tile on WP7 although it's pretty nice to have them all at the same place).
  
• Same Email, calendar, phone, etc indicators on the lock screen. Hold touch to access more functions.
  
• Same Vertical app list.
  
• Photo hub is practically the same.
  
• Very crisp and speedy UI like WP7.

Anyway it's a moot point since Meego is dead and won't be used by Nokia beyond the N9. It's a very nice and simple UI but it doesn't really bring anything that WP7 can't do.

The MS ecosystem is getting better with every product they put out. They're starting to interconnect all their devices together very well and it'll only get better with the next Xbox and W8.

Honestly, I think they need to push more games with Xbox interaction. They could grab a sizable part of their console user base if they released solid games.

[Jesse]

WP7 has some serious flaws in my book, in terms of the OS and ecosystem.

First off, there's a lack of apps, and the available apps are frequently functionally deficient compared to Android or iOS counterparts. Apps and games are also priced higher, sometimes several dollars more for similar apps/games, or apps with less functionality. This is definitely a result of MS requiring developers to pay a fee.. fewer apps, and higher prices.

About the OS.. I dislike the large text in some instances, which requires you to scroll to see things that should/could easily be displayed on a single page like in the email app. Multi-tasking is poorly implemented. You're limited to running 6 apps in memory, and if you re-launch those apps from the start menu instead of the multi-tasking window, the app opens a second time, which means you don't restore your previous session and you now have a second instantiation of that app taking up one of your six multi-tasking slots. Notifications are also annoying and poorly implemented.. they should just steal the notification setup from Android like iOS did because they both have it right now. But thats just like, my opinion man.

[Art Vandelay]

Honestly, I think they need to push more games with Xbox interaction.

I think they'd be in a much better position if they had pushed the Xbox angle from the beginning. They could have even called it the Xbox phone. You could easily argue that the Windows brand name is a liability in the smartphone market. Same with touting that the browser is based on Internet Explorer, for that matter.

[chickenium]

WP7 has some serious flaws in my book, in terms of the OS and ecosystem.

First off, there's a lack of apps, and the available apps are frequently functionally deficient compared to Android or iOS counterparts. Apps and games are also priced higher, sometimes several dollars more for similar apps/games, or apps with less functionality. This is definitely a result of MS requiring developers to pay a fee.. fewer apps, and higher prices.

About the OS.. I dislike the large text in some instances, which requires you to scroll to see things that should/could easily be displayed on a single page like in the email app. Multi-tasking is poorly implemented. You're limited to running 6 apps in memory, and if you re-launch those apps from the start menu instead of the multi-tasking window, the app opens a second time, which means you don't restore your previous session and you now have a second instantiation of that app taking up one of your six multi-tasking slots. Notifications are also annoying and poorly implemented.. they should just steal the notification setup from Android like iOS did because they both have it right now. But thats just like, my opinion man.

Apart from games, I don't see any app I'm missing. All the big names are there. If it's not, there's usually half a dozen others that can do the same job.

Agreed on the MS fee for developers, it's dumb and it drives up the prices of apps.

I don't mind the big text but I get your opinion on that one.

I can't see any need to run more than 6 apps at a time especially with the fast UI where you can open one in seconds.

Running the same app twice does NOT take two app slots. They DO resume on relaunch. I don't know where you're taking your info because I just tried it here and now.

I don't see what's wrong with the notifications, they're pretty simple and you just have to press them to go to the app most of the times. But again that is my preference.

[Art Vandelay]

First off, there's a lack of apps, and the available apps are frequently functionally deficient compared to Android or iOS counterparts. Apps and games are also priced higher, sometimes several dollars more for similar apps/games, or apps with less functionality. This is definitely a result of MS requiring developers to pay a fee.. fewer apps, and higher prices.

I was going to port one of my free Android apps to WP7 and go from there, but stopped when I saw the developer agreement. $99 for a really tiny platform is a lot, but $99 every year is not acceptable for my indie stuff that I do for fun. I don't mind developing on a Windows PC, but can you do it with the free version of Visual Studio? I never bothered to find out. Android proved that indie developers can build a platform, and paying customers will follow, but Microsoft apparently didn't learn that lesson.

At work, we were thinking about targeting the WP platform (we have one of those raving lunatic fanboys), but the market is just way too small. There's kind of a chicken/egg situation happening.

[chickenium]

I was going to port one of my free Android apps to WP7 and go from there, but stopped when I saw the developer agreement. $99 for a really tiny platform is a lot, but $99 every year is not acceptable for my indie stuff that I do for fun. I don't mind developing on a Windows PC, but can you do it with the free version of Visual Studio? I never bothered to find out. Android proved that indie developers can build a platform, and paying customers will follow, but Microsoft apparently didn't learn that lesson.

At work, we were thinking about targeting the WP platform (we have one of those raving lunatic fanboys), but the market is just way too small. There's kind of a chicken/egg situation happening.

Yes, they totally need to waive that fee. Support starts with developers IMO.

[Jesse]

Apart from games, I don't see any app I'm missing. All the big names are there. If it's not, there's usually half a dozen others that can do the same job.

Agreed on the MS fee for developers, it's dumb and it drives up the prices of apps.

I don't mind the big text but I get your opinion on that one.

I can't see any need to run more than 6 apps at a time especially with the fast UI where you can open one in seconds.

Running the same app twice does NOT take two app slots. They DO resume on relaunch. I don't know where you're taking your info because I just tried it here and now.

I don't see what's wrong with the notifications, they're pretty simple and you just have to press them to go to the app most of the times. But again that is my preference.

It may not be missing major apps, but some of those apps are missing functionality, like push notifications.

It's lacking a central place to view all notifications. Once the semi-annoying notification bar disappears from the top, you have to access that notification again individually.

As for multi-tasking, if you re-launch an app from the start menu, the app itself re-launches instead of resumes. I guess saying another instantiation launches was incorrect. I meant the app will launch over again instead of resuming even though it was stored in memory. To resume, you have to use the multi-tasking menu. Am I correct in saying this?

[chickenium]

It may not be missing major apps, but some of those apps are missing functionality, like push notifications.

It's lacking a central place to view all notifications. Once the semi-annoying notification bar disappears from the top, you have to access that notification again individually.

As for multi-tasking, if you re-launch an app from the start menu, the app itself re-launches instead of resumes. I guess saying another instantiation launches was incorrect. I meant the app will launch over again instead of resuming even though it was stored in memory. To resume, you have to use the multi-tasking menu. Am I correct in saying this?

Yes I just tried it and it restarts the app. I had never noticed it before but it's pretty dumb to not resume.

[Son]

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1668907/...hes-the-iphone

[Jesse]

http://www.fastcodesign.com/1668907/...hes-the-iphone

So one guy likes the industrial design and awkwardly minimalist UI.. I fail to see anything being crushed however, especially the world's most popular phone.

[GahannaKid]

So one guy likes the industrial design and awkwardly minimalist UI.. I fail to see anything being crushed however, especially the world's most popular phone.

So because his opinion is different than yours it makes his less valid? He never said it would crush the iPhone in sales, he simply says that, In His Opinion, the design crushes that of the iPhone both physically and stylistically.

EVERYONE RUN FOR THE HILLS, WE HAVE CHOICES IN WHAT WE LIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

[Jesse]

So because his opinion is different than yours it makes his less valid? He never said it would crush the iPhone in sales, he simply says that, In His Opinion, the design crushes that of the iPhone both physically and stylistically.

EVERYONE RUN FOR THE HILLS, WE HAVE CHOICES IN WHAT WE LIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

I was simply stating my opinion, same as he did.

[dragonfli_x]

err... go Symbian! I don't have much of a wow factor mindset in the grand scheme I guess... but Nokia's had some awesome hardware WOW factors in its favor - just never made it to the US to wow the droids and i's ... I'm still think Nokia makes a solid phone, just like their smartphones before smart was in phones...

the Lumia 900 is very cool... so fast (relative) and you seriously don't need a big screen to claim better phone - that's stupid... I wish it was available for all GSM carriers because I truly despise AT&T...

and I've tested many types of phones in troubleshooting, setting up networks and getting better battery life out of androids and ios phones... they all have UI navigation and horrendous setup issues in my opinion...

haven't played with it in great detail, but I was really able to navigate to where I wished to be do what I wanted in about 2 min of demoing it. it was quick, in about 5 min, I was almost able to setup calendar events, open up an internet drive and actually pull off downloading a word doc and toy with it. not bad for an OS that's trying to get down with the bloated ones...

If only an upgraded nokia n8 made it to our shores... sigh

I wowed when the carl-zeiss lens went into a phone
I wowed when a 12MP resolution got thrown into a phone
I also liked a noticeably large image sensor in a phone that runs circles around point-n-click digi cameras
oh wait... XENON flash in a phone? not many phones out there can tout those feats...

and yes, the OS was archaic (now it's much more fluid with latest OS updates - Belle)
the slow as balls processor dewowed me - but the separate graphics processor regained my attention...

and the ability for a phone to just read an SD card reader via USB? rare indeed... wow

[chickenium]

The Lumia 900 is rumored to be 499$ unlocked for Rogers in Canada in may. Great deal if you ask me.

[16v]

they all have UI navigation and horrendous setup issues in my opinion...

and this one is no different. Throw in a few other "quirks" and you have a real WOW


LOL

[16v]

whoops

http://www.bgr.com/2012/03/09/atts-n...2nd-for-99-99/

[caliatenza]

whoops

http://www.bgr.com/2012/03/09/atts-n...2nd-for-99-99/

i still think that right now, at least overseas, the best Windows Phone on the market is the Samsung Omnia W . The Lumia 800 aint bad though. Ive heard the Nokia apps are pretty awsome.

[chickenium]

Lumia 900 preorders are open on Rogers.

[Son]

And now available on AT&T for $99. There's a known software bug in the phone that Nokia promised to fix soon. To make up for it, AT&T will throw $100 worth of credit to Lumia 900 owners' accounts until April 21st.

The phone's currently Amazon's top seller.

[Vision33r]

Had a chance to try the phone out for 20mins. I do have some experience with WP prior to checking this device out. This is the best Windows Phone so far.

Phone design:

Very sturdy, nice unibody design and stiff casing. For some reason it doesn't feel good in the hands, very slippery, the paint is probably moisture resistant has a very dry cold touch to it. Gonna need a nice grippy case.

The screen was very nice, brilliant, uniform, sharp, a bit glossier than the iPhone. Lots of reflection in bright room condition.

I find most Nokia designs very similar to Volvos, they have everything backwards. I hate the power-on location, very awkward compared to other makers. It's probably strategically placed to differentiate from other OEMs.

Coming from a Galaxy S2 and Note the 4.3" Lumia seems like a lot of screen but very little space actually. I think that's due to Metro UI's block design, it doesn't scale very well with large screens. This is more complaint about the OS than the device. This is the only OS currently that doesn't scale with larger screens, imo Metro UI is best on a screen smaller than 4" and when it goes higher, the blocks or squares just waste a lot of space.

Operation is very smooth and silky even for a single core device much like the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 you really don't need multi-core to have smooth general operation. This is one area that Google solves with the ICS update, unfortunately only 1% of Android devices are on ICS and most will never see the update as a result of lack of hardware standardization in the past.

As some people noted, the eye candy is cool very slick in the beginning and once you get used to it you want to see it toned down. The tiling transition should have an ability to turned off. The phones is quick but feels slow. It's like driving a powerful automatic sports car, it maybe fast but waiting for gear changes makes it seem less quick.

As with many Windows product, I think there are too many questions and decision making screens. Not a big deal when you configure them.

Imo, Microsoft is going after Apple here with a very chiseled and fluid experience. They are not aiming for the gear heads they are aiming for IT professionals and less tech savvy folks who already are part of Microsoft's ecosystems such as Xbox and Zune.

Here's a rant, I just don't understand why AT&T, Best Buy Mobile, and all these places fails to present the phones correctly or do justice by loading them with working apps and games!! Every WinPhone I tried had very little apps/games loaded. Atleast the iPhone had 2 pages of apps/games but at the Apple Store there are atleast 2-3 dozen top name games loaded to try. Same can be said for most Android phones, I am sick of turning on a phone and have newbie guides and videos showing me how to navigate or use their stupid UI. I can understand specialized phones like the Galaxy Note can use a proper demo to show people what you can do on them but don't lock people out of the home screens!

[caliatenza]

the Windows Phone Summit is Wednesday, cant wait to see what Windows Phone 8 will be like

[SchrickVR6]

Yeah, I've loaded the Lumia I was forced into with a bunch of stuff so customers can see what a non-bone-stock phone looks like.

[Son]

the paint is probably moisture resistant has a very dry cold touch to it. Gonna need a nice grippy case.

Gotta correct this. It's not painted, the plastic is colored thru and thru. And I believe there's a nicely fitting rubber case inbox.