Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Smartphone Review and Giveaway!

When I was asked to review a Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone, I have to admit that I was skeptical. To be honest, I am pretty hooked on my iPhone. It is all I have known for the past few years and I highly doubted that anything else could compare. I depend on my phone for just about everything – it is my whole life in one little gadget.

When I received the Nokia Lumia 900, I was immediately smitten. Although the screen is a little bigger than my iPhone, there is a reason for it. The display is absolutely stunning!

Like the iPhone, the apps are all on the home screen in neat little boxes. They are bigger and easier to read than the apps on the iPhone, however. One thing that is similar but different is the swiping feature. with the Nokia Lumia 900, you still do lots of swiping, but instead of it taking you to page after page of apps, it will take you to various other things. For instance, from the home screen (shown above), if you swipe it will bring up a list of apps and options. I really like this feature!

I am still discovering so much about this phone, but what I have seen so far, I really like.

Start up screen

Back of phone/camera

Although the picture below doesn’t really do justice, each and every app, website, etc. is bright and vivid, and very pleasing to the eye. I don’t struggle as much while reading on the Nokia. Just like the iPhone, you can stretch and pull to make things bigger or smaller. Thank goodness, as this would be really hard to do without!

Pros:

• Apps download faster than on iPhone
• People section – puts all of your contacts/friends info in one place
• Grouping contacts info – including social networks
• Voice to text feature much faster than iPhone’s Siri

I was thrilled to discover that things seem to move much faster on the Nokia than my iPhone. Downloading apps is quick! Another thing I absolutely adore about this phone is how accurate and fast the voice feature is. If I don’t feel like typing something out, I can just speak and voila – my words are right there on the screen. With the iPhone, Siri often gets things wrong, and I have to go back in and manually fix them. It’s a huge waste of time. She is also incredibly slow. As a busy blogger, when I grab my phone to do something, I expect it to be fast and helpful – not time consuming. The Nokia phone definitely makes my life a little easier in that aspect.

The battery life on the Nokia Lumia 900 seems about average.  Depending what I am doing on the phone kind of determines the battery duration.

One of my VERY favorite features of the Nokia is the “People” feature. I don’t know how they do this, but it is pretty fantastic. When I pull up a contacts name, it shows me their last Facebook status, and from their very own screen (on my phone), I can text, call, send an IM, post on their Facebook wall, map their location and more. Of course how much information is displayed depends on their settings on Facebook.

Each person has their own profile on my phone, and from there I can form groups of people. I have then for “Friends”, “Family”, and “Fun to Read” (you know those people who always have something interesting to say on Facebook!) .  When I have a little more time, I will be creating plenty more groups of people. The groups show up on my display and it makes it SO easy to find just the person I am looking for, and have all of their info at my fingertips immediately.

Cons:

• Lacks some favorite apps, such as Instagram, Pinterest, Hulu Plus, Flipboard
• No screen capture feature
• Battery meter isn’t easily visible

I am sure that the Nokia Lumia 900 will eventually have the above apps (at least I hope they do, as they are really popular ones). I also miss my favorite games – Zynga’s Words with Friends, Scramble with Friends, etc. There are plenty of games available though, that are also available as iPhone apps, and besides, it is kind of fun to try games that AREN’T in the iTunes store!

I had a bit of trouble setting up my email, but after a bit of Googling, I found out that it is because of my 2-step security feature I use through Gmail. I did finally figure it out, and now it works like a charm. I HAVE to be able to access my email from my phone throughout the day, so I was slightly panicked when I couldn’t get it to work.

What about the shape of the Nokia Lumia 900? Well, it certainly felt different in my hand than the iPhone. I have small hands, so it took some getting used to. Also, the on/off switch and camera button are on the side of the phone.

The camera is pretty nice. I haven’t had a chance to really play with it, but the pictures I did take turned out okay. I like the iPhone camera better so far. As I mentioned above in the cons, I really wish this phone had a screen capture feature. I use this feature so much on my iPhone, and I really hope they will include this on their next upgrade.  I would have loved to take screen captures of the Nokia, from the Nokia, but instead I took the pictures of the Nokia (for this review) from my iPhone.

Microsoft Word, Office, Excel is all included on the phone!   You can learn more about the Microsoft Office on the Nokia Lumia 900 here.

I still have so much to learn about this phone, and so many apps to try.  There are SO many available through the marketplace!

The Nokia Lumia 900 is currently only available to AT & T customers.

THE GIVEAWAY:

One (1) winner will receive a Nokia Lumia 900 Windows Phone ($500 ARV w/o contract)! ****

PLEASE NOTE:  This phone will only work on AT & T plans!

*Giveaway open to US only, ends 10-17-12.

a Rafflecopter giveaway