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Windows Phone 8 is lovely, and the Lumia 920 is supposed to be the Ultimate Windows Phone. Sadly, the handset we’ve been excited about for so long is just too fat to love.
Nokia’s best possible Windows Phone, with a much-hyped PureView camera and a big, luxurious screen.
Anyone who has been praying, weeping, and hoping for a Windows Phone that’s every bit as powerful and terrific as the iPhone 5 and top Android handsets. On paper, at least.
Gigantic. Glistening. Sturdy to the point that I’d worry about dropping it on something. Ferrari paint job. This is a phone tooled to make you go “Oh, look at that thing!,” rather than just blending in to the sea of black brick rectangles — though it is essentially just an inflated Lumia 900, which itself was an inflated Lumia 800. There is a pattern here.
The 920 looks and feels like an Italian space mothership, with everything rounded, polished, weighty, and conspicuous. A lovely object. A 1957 Thunderbird. It’s so, so smooth — I slept with it one night, and it felt great against my skin. It is a beautiful thing to look at.
Are you pretty much familiar with Windows Phone 8? No? Read this. Yes? Then you’re pretty much familiar with the Lumia 920. Almost all WP handsets are smooth and responsive, and the 920 follows suit. In terms of interacting with the pixels on your screen, you’ll be in warm, familiar waters. The software is as fine as you’ll find it elsewhere, with the added perks of Nokia’s mostly-stellar exclusive app suite. What few physical buttons there are along its sides — volume rocker, power, camera — are crisp and functional.
The software. Windows Phone 8 is the best version of an already graceful, beautiful, and outright daring phone OS. Those are words you don’t get to use justly in reference to phone software. But it’s true here. Add in Nokia’s apps — the fantastic Maps, the best cinemagraph-maker I’ve ever used, the free streaming music — and you’ve got the best version of an already very good OS.
The Lumia 920 is so heavy that nobody should own it. It’s a sliver away from half a pound. It clocks in at just under than 90 grams less the iPad Mini. A tablet. It weighs more than the Galaxy Note II and the Titan. No, really.
It’s just too heavy. Inexcusably heavy. Way, way too heavy to recommend to anyone. The 920 isn’t just big — the HTC Titan was big, and it was pretty great. The 920 is bloated, cumbersome. Anyone’s first response will be “Ugh, God, this thing is heavy.” It’s a visceral, instant repulsion, and it doesn’t get any less heavy, as if through some polycarbonate osmosis. It’s just as galling every time you take it out of your pocket — stretched within a micron of its life — and that isn’t the kind of feeling you want to have with an object you’re going to be using all day every day.
Our gadgets should be comfortable. They should be made for our hands and fingers. The 920 was perhaps made for hands and fingers, but not of any mortal. Not any of us. Maybe Nokia figured that bigger means better means more things sold means Windows Phone 8 succeeds. Maybe Nokia just couldn’t figure out a way to make it skinny. But we haven’t just been spoiled by the impossibly slight iPhone 5 — the 920 is a design failure all by itself. Everything good about it is nullified by its obesity.
The camera is very good — up there with some of the best you can find on a phone. But for all the hoopla and controversy we went through about the vaunted “PureView” capabilities of this thing, its lens isn’t floating on a bed of springs and diamond lashes. It doesn’t beat the hype.
In very low light (or even at night), it spanks the iPhone 5.
Far less noise.
In cloudy conditions, it’s about on par with the iPhone, although the latter captures more detail.
But when snapping a well-lit shot on the move — you know, touristy stuff — the iPhone wins, beating the 920 even with all the hot talk about image stabilisation.
The 920 has a very, very good camera. But PureView, like Nokia said itself, is just a word, not photographic magic. And in this phone, it sure as hell doesn’t justify bulkiness and stupid overweight excess.
- - Nokia built a terrific display — it’s significantly larger than the iPhone 5′s, but just as sharp (332 ppi on the Lumia versus 326 on the iPhone). It’s highly readable even in bright sunlight — like Nokia claimed it would be — and both photos and video sing, popping on screen with fine colour accuracy. You’ll like reading and watching things on this screen.
- - Wireless charging works, but isn’t a big deal at all. I tested out a Fatboy charging pillow, which does indeed charge your 920 sans wires, but also is a big pillow instead of a wire. Not a very good tradeoff. More like a gimmick.
- - This thing is slow to turn on. Like, half a minute boot slow. Bummer.
- - Battery life is fantastic, even with both LTE and Wi-Fi enabled — more than enough to last you for an entire day.
- - It can’t be stated enough how annoyingly heavy and bloated the Lumia 920 is.
It kills me to say this, because I wanted to own this instead of an iPhone 5, but no. No you shouldn’t. It’s too big and heavy. It’s not fun to own. It’s not enjoyable to use. If you want a Windows Phone, check out the very good HTC 8X. But this? No, not this.
Lumia 920 Specs
• OS: Windows Phone 8
• CPU: 1.5-GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor
• Screen: 4.5-inch 1,280 x 768 IPS
• RAM: 1 GB
• Storage: 32 GB Internal
• Camera: 8MP Rear
• Battery: 2,000 mAh Li-Ion
• Giz Rank: 3.0 stars
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Photoshop a Nokia Lumia 920; Win a Nokia Lumia 920
Nokia Lumia 920 Versus a Car
As someone who is actually using a Lumia 920 as their phone I can say with 100% honesty that the weight is a total non-issue. On paper it does look bad, in the hand or pocket it feels absolutely fine and more importantly it’s very balanced making it harder to drop.
I can still type one handed as comfortably as any other large screened qwerty device so again no issue. Personally i’m liking the feel of it more than many lighter phones and after a day or two the weight is absolutely un-noticeable.
Guess someone just needed an excuse to put the boot into Nokia yet again?
As with the iPhone 5, the weight ‘issue’ is overblown.
Certainly is, both made a big deal of for the purpose of site hits.
Question. I see the camera isn’t as good as the iPhone5. It just looks to me like a mere higher ISO setting.
Lumia920 or iPhone5, which one should I buy?
Buy both and stick it to the man!
Nexus
I only got mine yesterday so haven’t had much chance to play with the camera other than playing about with cinemagraph. Like most phone camera’s it’s default settings aren’t ideal for all occasions. The results i’ve got so far have been fine. Nokia has said an update is coming that further improves the quality.
The problem is of course that Sam uses an iPhone 5 which is thinner and lighter than the last iPhone, so obviously his first impression of any phone will be that it is heavier than that, and with the 920 that difference is especially marked. However to mark down this phone based on something being different than what you are used to is at the least poor reviewing and at worst, mindless bias.
I actually found that an issue going to the iphone 5 thinking it was too light. I always loved the weight of the original iphone, felt nice and solid and I imagine thats what this one feels like. Like it won’t snap in your hands.
I guess that a “talent” that the reviewer must have is to be impartial to their own brand preference. If this phone had an Apple on the back, the weight and wireless chargind would be praised.
“I slept with it one night, and it felt great against my skin.”
Hysterical, and a good review too
Did you really just reject a high end phone and refuse to recommend it just because you found it heavier than normal? I used to respect some of the reviews on this site, I really did, but this is just crap.
Who cares that it has excellent battery life, a good OS, original aesthetic design, plenty of storage, a beautiful screen and is generally excellent in every department? It weighs more than I personally like, therefore 3 stars. What a load of shite.
Just to clarify, I’m not criticising the content of the review as such, much of that is good. It’s your conclusion I’m slamming.
I agree with you.
Agree. Weight is the absolute LAST thing I would care about in a phone. The LAST.
It’s so utterly unimportant, especially when you consider much of the weight will be screen and battery. Fuck please do give me a big arse heavy battery, I don’t care!
As usual, total bollocks from Biddle.
Wasn’t everyone on here a while ago screaming at the manufactures to stop shaving millimetres off and focus on battery life?
So in summary, it has a fantastic screen, excellent battery life, a superb OS… and you’re giving it 3/5 stars because it’s “too heavy”.
Thanks once again for a shit review, Biddle. I have no idea why you’re still working for Giz.
I just don’t know why they let him review anything.
Be nice.
Is Biddle a freak with toddler sized hands?
Biddle’s review is entirely rational and clearly well reasoned. It is a fantastic phone but is too heavy so no one should get it – I don’t know why you have such an issue with that, it makes perfect sense!!
Why all this talk about weight?! It’s a total non-issue. I have the iPhone 4s with a bumper it comes at about 190 grams. The Lumia 920 feels really comfortably to hold in your hand, not at all heavy. Take a look at this: http://i.imgur.com/3IWdv.png?1
The world has gone mad.
“I slept with it one night, and it felt great against my skin.”
Colour me disturbed!
Perhaps the extra weight is down to the blendproofing?
To YouTube!
Engadget said that Nokia got back to them about the daylight photography issue and they’re working on a software fix for it.
We are collectively repeatedly kicking Biddle in the groin area.
That might help.
Biddlebashing
I’m waiting to head butt him in his nape if he tries to flee.
Instead of this you could try bludgeoning him with a heavy blunt instrument. I recommend the Lumia 920
Yea, that thin is heavy! let’s all get 2 of them to use!
Good, he might get the point.
Biddle has been consistently getting “Jesus Diaz Kicked” for some time.
I’m losing my patience with Nokia. After all the colour hype why are the release phone only in black (and white if you go to Phones4U)? Also seems really hard to get info on a sim free phone, I’m not paying for EE’s 4G nonsense.
I’ve fallen out of love with this phone and it’s not even out yet.
That’s hardly Nokia’s fault. Unlike Apple, I don’t think they’re in any position to negotiate hard with retailers and networks.
Not their fault but it is their problem…
Daylight photos are worse lol.
I think the device looks nice, it’s different but I agree it is too big, it is like they made 2 bezels which I don’t get. Why is the plastic so big and bulky? On top of that the windows buttons at the bottom take up so much room, I’d rather have seen a bigger screen.
The specs are also rather mediocre, I mean an Adreno 225? That is 2 years old, even the Nexus 4 has an Adrenp 320 and that is half the price of the Nokia. The iPhone 5 at the same price just has a GPU that knocks both of them out the park. Considering IOS and Windows Phone are both using locked Operating systems, why not just go for the iPhone? At least it’ll be jail broken before.
Then you have the issues of it being an exclusive until sometime next year here in the UK, even the handset only will be…
They’ve just cut themselves a small market with an over priced bulky Smart Phone.
I was actually waiting for this phone to see how it pans out because I’m still using a GS2 and get an upgrade with Three soon. However I cannot get one because it is an exclusive and all what I’ve said about it, I’m put off and the camera isn’t even that good.
The Nexus 4 came along at £280 for the 16GB model and that has just blown me away for the price. If they fix whatever issues that phone is having to make battery life so poor then I’ll buy one handset only when it comes out. Then I’ll take my free upgrade, get an iPhone 5 and sell it and make a small profit lol.
Will you do the fandango?
This phone is 15% heavier than an iPhone 4, fucknuts.
Biddle, did you kick Apple in the balls because the iPhone 4 was heavy? No, nobody gives a flying toss.
I meant 25% but my point stands, damnit.
Lol, from 15% to 25%! But that is Biddle’s opinion, why should he write nice thing about it if there is one big thing that obviously pisses him off?
You will obviously get use to the weight of the phone after a day or so, I think most of us can think for our self and because a tech site said that a phone is to heavy don’t buy it, doesn’t mean you have to listen. You think for yourself.
This is a review based on his time with the phone.
Unfortunately some untechy people read these lines and makes decision as well… Look at Apple, they use a lot of marketing words and a lot of dumbnuts buying it… Those who doesnt even know the difference between a Samsung and Apple phone…
Tech websites in the long run becomes a marketing tool for big brands as they sponsor heavily and get their products reviewed UNBIASEDLY
my 1 cents…
Nokia sponsored Gizmodo UK a week ago lol.
I know untechy people could read this and be put off by what Biddle say’s, but that shouldn’t make Biddle say lies about the phone, the weight thing is obviously a big thing that you notice.
I mean 25% heavier than an iPhone 4 is quite heavy for a phone, the 5 made the 4 feel heavy, so I can imagine this thing feels like a steel block compared to the plastic Samsung’s and the feather light iPhone 5. I wouldn’t put a phone off because it was heavy (until I held if and judged for myself).
But I wouldn’t get this phone anyway, unless it was less than £279! still even then I would get the Nexus 4 over this, 100% due to software. If this thing had Android 4.2 and was a Nexus! then yup.
yeah, iphone4 is pretty heavy and 25% extra would be crappy. all these people who say the weight isn’t a problem probably wear combat trousers all the time. biddle probably wears chinos, so i think from his perspective he is correct.
Probably, If I even wear loosely fitting jeans with no belt, my phone and wallet don’t help keep my pants up at all, So more weight isn’t good.
Is that a Nokia Lumia 920 in your pocket or a wad of lead.
in fact i don’t like keeping anything in my trouser pockets at all! i think personal pocket weight is a deeply subjective issue.
At that weight you might aswell shove an iPad mini down the front of your pants.
i just drag everything behind me on a piece of rope.
So this phone is 25% heavier than the iPhone 4, and guess what? This phone has a screen that’s also about 25% bigger. Surprise surprise, shock fucking horror! Don’t remember Biddle or anyone else saying ‘TOO HEAVY DO NOT BUY’ when the iPhone 4 came out.
because it’s not 25% heavier than itself? but hey, i’m not really defending biddle here, just that what a man chooses to put in his pockets is a delicate thing.
But do you get my point? This isn’t really any more brick than iPhone 4, it just has a 25% bigger screen…
yeah, i guess it’s all relative. i guess all i’m saying is that it’s comprehensible to most that it may be significant to some.
I personally wouldn’t call 10.7mm fat.
Heavy, not fat.
Big chssis’d
Thick casing.
Why all this talk about weight?! It’s a total non-issue. I have the iPhone 4s with a bumper it comes at about 190 grams. The Lumia 920 feels really comfortably to hold in your hand, not at all heavy. Take a look at this: http://i.imgur.com/3IWdv.png?1
iPhone 5 + Turkey = less weight than the 920. haha, I get it. :-/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jtmFlUg56w
Q, E and if you will, D.
What the hell did I just watch?!
not sure but it made me laugh!
http://gizmodo.com/5875342/they-wouldnt-let-me-sit-on-the-car+sized-ipod-dock-so-i-danced-with-their-booth-babes
what does this prove? Biddle has inaccurate perception of weight?
No, just that he’s a weapons-grade cock.
bravo. i did a real LOL.
Kills me too as I’ve been waiting for this and Windows 8 Phone to come out. The HTC 8X isnt getting great reviews either, so Im just wondering if the 820 will fair any better? Otherwise looks like the Nexus 4 for me.
Advice – pick it up and try it before you believe a tosspot like Sam Biddle. This phone seems pretty damn good to me, but then I’m not a pussy who can’t pick up something weighing 6.5 ounces
Also, Biddle is mentally retarded if he thinks 6.5 ounces is half a pound
6.5 Ounces = 0.40625 (Nearly) meh, this phone looks good, but personally – Nexus 4 or iPhone 5.
How much does it cost?
If you have to ask, you cant afford it.
That may be true as I already own an iPhone 5
But really, how much? More than a Nexus 4?
Everything costs more than a Nexus 4
It does appear to be somewhat retarded to mark a phone down by two fifths because it is heavy and subjectively slow to turn on. I think there is a lot of review bias here and in all honesty this really is quite a poor review. Headline grabbing and link bait I am sure but a poor review.
I don’t know if weight is an issue or not without holding one, I’ll take that with a pinch of salt.
What really does alarm me though is just how bad the colour balance is in those photos taken with the 920. They are not just a little bit artificial we are talking about the equivalent of cranking the Photoshop sliders to 11 here.
In the first photo as an example, the night sky just does not look like that. Blue is way over-represented.
Conversely in the second to last photo, the downhill street view, blues are artificial in the other direction.
The camera was right up there as one of the main selling points of the camera. This showing is very disappointing.
As a suggestion to Gizmodo, in the future could you put a comparison photo taken with a decent SLR too please so it’s more obvious what the image should look like.
If you don’t like the 920 because of it’s weight, I will gladly take it off your hands. Seeing as Phones 4U have no idea when stock will arrive, and Nokia are being cagey about release dates, I’ll happily take it from you
To heavy to post
Ok I get it. Sam has been unfair to mark down this phone due to its weight. But should we be so harsh on him? A simple un-emotional comment would be more than enough, I think.
He has delivered wonderful reviews on other products and we’ve all praised him for it. Let us all concentrate on the positives and merely point out the negatives and hope for it to be rectified. I might get slaughtered here for saying all this, but it’s just my opinion.
Lets be nice to our Giz authors.
“He has delivered wonderful reviews on other products”
Can you give me an example please?
Do you not remember the one about the vegetables? the plastic wrapping kept the veggies fresh for weeks!! Not a review, but non the less it changed my life
And not one Apple article today!! time for a sneeky Apple article to boost the click’s and comments
.
Oh yea, there was a full story on if Apple would allow Google Maps, my bad.
Ok granted that I don’t have a review I can call upon now but when I do get a spare moment I shall let you know. All I’m saying is that we don’t need to be harsh, that’s all. There’s absolutely nothing else. No need to disect into my comment.
The one about the vegetables (as JoeyG410 mentioned below) was rather good
* (or above)
I think the overall point that most here are inferring is that Biddle is unreservedly biased toward the iPhone.
Not necessarily that he makes bad reviews of other things, but that when it comes to phones, nothing will beat his beloved iPhone and he wants everyone to buy one.
I accept what you’re saying Ian. All I’m saying is that we don’t need to be so harsh or volatile to another Human.
Sam clearly has got the wrong end of stick with this phone. In my opinion we should just acknowledge that he’s wrong/mistaken and just merely point out the errors of his way.
If he keeps repeating it then maybe we can let it rip into him…(maybe)…
You will get used to whatever shape or weight your phone is, and whether you need 1, 2, or 3 hands to use it.
its no big deal, one handed is only ideal for those who want to text whilst driving
3 hands….? what sort of freak are you?!!! Some of your previous posts make sense now I know you have 3 hands
thats just my gadget holding hands, i have more that i use for nefarious purposes
Octopus dude! You should be a super villain
i just need a cool name and a lair
“every bit as powerful and terrific as the iPhone 5″
Christ alive……
It actually hurts me how much fanboyism is in this poor excuse for an article. You are clearly an apple cunt who knows nothing about tehchnology. I hope you get fired.
I really.cant get my head around how much of a fuck up this guy and his article are/is
I’m going to need you to turn in your gun, badge, and your gold star.
wow, chillax
Never.
Whoa… take it E-A-S-Y. No call for this much angst.
Just gets on my tits when obvious apple fan boys are allowed to post their drivel
There’s probably hundreds of people who actually know what they are talking about that would like a job writing for a website and they can’t because buffoons like this are here.
Yes, lets all listen to Astronaut-Mike. Lets all take the word of this self proclaimed tech aficionado over that of a legitimate tech journalist who has been doing this for years. Such anger at having the words “terrific” and “iPhone” in the same sentence clearly illustrate the level-headiness and lack bias only present in a true doyen of gadgetry.
shut your tits..
it doesn’t take a “legitimate tech journalist” (who no one has actually even heard of btw) to know that the iPhone is an overpriced overhyped toy…..and that the lumia is a piece of true engineering genius
“Shut your tits”? Now now, lets not become too classy….
Just because I don’t sit on a throne of MacBooks and iPads doesn’t mean I don’t know a shitty article/review when I see one
I concur.
I mean, since when was the iPhone 5 “terrific”?
It’s been hammered more than any other smartphone I can remember for a great number of reasons.
Some have broken in the box, they smash on light impact, they have a money-grabbing new connector, the maps are disastrous, and the only new idea is one Samsung had years back. A bigger screen.
Maybe Samsung should sue.
“It’s just as galling every time you take it out of your pocket — stretched within a micron of its life” it will be just big enough to fit the perfectly pocket sized mini iPad in.
http://cs306401.userapi.com/v306401978/3f12/NPqHGAapF6c.jpg
If you can’t lift an extra few grams you have further issues!
I saw the title of the review and thought “Great, I’ve been looking forward to this”.
Then I saw the name of the “Author”.
If the iPhone 5 costs $199 in parts including $8 to build, how much do the 920 and Nexus 4 cost?
It’s just big boned.
I agree with most of the comments… this review is a joke… I looked up some of the other reviews by Mr.Biddle:
Windows Surface RT – Suggests NOT to buy it… why?
Because its not windows 8 and can only get apps from the app store (just like ipad), because he doesn’t like the keyboard attachment (which you dont have to buy, making it like an iPad), and because it doesn’t have many apps (just like the ipad didnt… but fair enough)… still not enough to suggest it not to be bought, its a new tablet OS of course it wont have many apps…
Nexus 4 – Suggests not to buy it… why?
Apart from everything else about the phone being spectacular, it doesn’t have LTE, which makes it not future proof apparently… LTE is pretty much only available in the USA, the UK is getting it at an expensive rate and will take ages to get worked down due to Everything Everywhere’s near monopoly on it… I mean the phone is 240 quid from google Unlocked… you just do not get phones of this quality for that price.. its unreal..
Lumia 920 – Suggests not to buy it… why?
Well we all know why… because it weights two slices of turkey more than a iphone 5… he states it weighs 90 grams less than an ipad mini as if that margin is negligible… its closer to the weight of a Galaxy S3… so again, apart from everything else being amazing, he suggests not to buy it because of some small almost pointless personal problem with the device…
The only other similar device he reviews… is the Iphone 5 after using it for 7 days… (much longer than these other devices)
In this review he obsesses over every aspect of the phone… except for arguably the largest blunder of the phone… the maps… which he considers as a more humorous aspect of the phone, rather than a problem…. Some of the comments commended his honesty in pointing out the problems with the phone even though he personally likes it… the difference with these other reviews is that he suggests not to buy it because of these problems…
These are the only reviews I could fine that are related to smartphones or new tech by Mr.Biddle… 3/4 were suggested not to buy… the other one was an Apple product… and a product he waited in line and paid for… I have been reading gizmodo articles for years… this is review is a joke.. it makes me want to stop coming here for my tech news…
This Nokia Lumia 920 has been tested to the point that they have advertised the fact that dropping it will not break it.
Now, I don’t think it takes a genius to work out that the extra weight is due to the toughened case and 2nd Gen Gorilla glass to make it floor breakingly solid.
This means you don’t need a protective case to stop it smashing into bits if you fumble. Much unlike the iPhone 5 that apparently breaks in its box if the courier isn’t careful enough. Incidently if you put a protective case on the iPhone 5 to make it as solid as the Lumia 920, it tops 190 grams.
So really, what’s the issue?
ive never bothered ever to comment on Gizmondo but I saw this review and thought I HAD to register and voice something…only to realise im not the only one who thinks Sam Biddles Review is utterly appalling to conclude on the mere fact that he didn’t like it because it was too heavy? (ive got a HTX one x and thats light) but give me a break. I went into EE to look at one and picked it up. Now unless you dont have muscles in your arms its easily picked up. Your conclusion has no substance.
Sam – you are one Staff writer that got his job through who you know what what you know!
I can’t speak for others, but weight has never been a concern for me. I certainly wouldn’t base my purchase on it as it’s so inconsequential. To me that is, I’m sure it’s like a dumbbell to some… toddlers perhaps.