Nokia Lumia 920 Windows Phone a strong contender

There has been a lot of buzz about Nokia's new 920 mobile phone. This is Nokia’s latest, top-of-the-line model that runs Microsoft Mobile 8. Some friends in the high-tech industry tell me they’ve replaced their iPhones and Androids with this new phone. Is this because it’s a novelty, or is there something special about this phone? I decided to see for myself, and I’ve been trying one out for the past two weeks.

The 920 represents a big departure, both in its hardware design and its operating system, from today's popular Android phones and iPhones. It feels different, looks different and works differently. No one will accuse Microsoft of copying its competition. If there’s one word that describes the 920, it’s futuristic.

The phone appears to be carved from a solid slab of hard, dense plastic. In spite of this, it looks rich, stylish and sleek with a mirror finish. The back is smooth and even with its large 4.5-inch display, the phone feels good in the hand. The front of the phone is nearly all display, set slightly forward from the solid block, with a thin frame of color surrounding the touch screen. The front of the display is plastic, not glass, but even after carrying it around in my pocket with keys, it hasn't shown any scratches.

The model I tested is a Maserati red with a high polish finish, reminiscent of the car of the same name. There are no seams, no battery doors and no molding artifacts. It's also quite heavy, which makes it feel more valuable, although after several days, the weight becomes a minor negative. There’s a camera centered on the back and the volume rocker, on/off button and camera button all lined up along the right side; unfortunately, all were unmarked.

A visitor checks his mobile device in front of a video advertisement for a Nokia Lumia 920Windows Phone at a media event during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Photo by Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Equally innovative is Microsoft's operating system. Unlike other phones that use arrays of squares spread out side-by-side on a succession of screens, Microsoft has one home screen that extends vertically, even beyond what’s displayed. Swipe your finger down or up to bring up more of the front display.

The home screen, in turn, is filled with tiles abutting one another, each of which represents an app. Most of the tiles are plain, each with a simple symbol to represent it. Some tiles are little windows into the particular apps, displaying changing photos, the number of emails, or a friend's birthday next to the date. Some tiles just display the standard app cover screen, such as Yelp and TripIt.

Swipe the screen to the left and a second display appears, showing a long list of all of the apps and utilities on the phone. You can drag items in the list to your home screen, where they become tiles. The tiles can be adjusted in size to fit more of them on the home screen, so it might end up looking like a Mondrian painting.

Below the home screen are three touch-sensitive buttons that are always illuminated when the phone is on: home, back and search.

The phone was fun to use and one of the most responsive I've ever used, thanks in part to Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 processor. Swipe the start screen upward and the home screen with the tiles appears. When you touch an app tile, the response is nearly instant and very fluid. As one page moves to another, there’s a lot of animation, such as rotating tiles, pages floating by and words converging from different directions.

Fonts are modern sans serif, and words are often very large, a big improvement over tiny text found in the address books of an iPhone or Android.

All of this looks gorgeous on the high resolution display, which has 330 pixels per inch, more than the iPhone's retina display; text looks like it's printed. Much of the text is white with deep black background and pops off the screen.

The phone worked well. My calls were clear and the call quality on this AT&T phone was excellent. The non-replaceable battery lasted a full day.

Its nearly 9-megapixel camera worked well, although not quite as well as the iPhone's. Images were slightly softer and less contrasty and there was some visible vignetting. Also, the photo and camera apps are not integrated, so you need to open a second app to view the images you just took.

Nokia supplies a number of apps, including its own well-implemented navigation app, equal to Google's navigator. Also included is an unusual app called Nokia City Lens. It brings up a live image of what the camera lens sees, and as you move the phone around, it displays names of restaurants or other attractions that are in a particular direction. I aimed it toward the Solana Beach train station and up came icons for Amtrak and the Coaster. I touched those icons and expected to see their schedules, but all I got was a stylized image of a compass. Perhaps it's a work in progress.

The phone comes with Microsoft Office, which is well implemented and superior to alternatives found on other brands.

During my use I ran into one problem: Perhaps every second day the phone would not come out of standby or turn on, even when having plenty of charge. I had to reset the phone by simultaneously holding down the volume down key with the on button. There was no mention in the user manual about how to reset, but I Googled it to find instructions.

Apart from the failure to turn on, which may be a problem with my sample, this is an excellent phone with a beautiful and thoughtful design. Of course, it goes without saying that it has nowhere near the number of apps of Androids and iPhones, but time will improve that. I was able to find many of my frequently used iPhone apps on Microsoft's app store, including NY Times, OpenTable, Wall Street Journal, and Yelp; but Southwest and other airlines apps were not available.

If you're looking for an “anti-iPhone" or "anti-Android," the 920 could just be the answer. It’s aesthetically superior to either, and its Mobile 8 OS is novel, fun, and easier to use.

The Nokia 920 is available exclusively from AT&T for $99 with a new contract.