There Are The Three Features About Nokia Lumia 920

Windows Phone might not offer the sprawling landscape of device choices that Android does, but when Microsoft rebooted the platform with version 8 a few weeks ago, it did so on the back of some very prominent hardware. Samsung's ATIV S offering, unveiled at IFA 2012 in Berlin but since delayed, looks to bring the powerhouse specs of the Galaxy S line -and presumably some of Samsung's massive marketing effort- to Microsoft's platform. The Windows Phone 8X's bright colors, Beats audio, and best-in-class front-facing camera are capturing lots of attention for the Taiwanese-based HTC as well. Even China's Huawei is getting in on the action with its vibrant Ascend W1.

But despite the bulk of Samsung, the clever branding of HTC, and the novelty factor of Huawei, the real star of the Windows Phone show continues to be Microsoft's now-veteran partner, Nokia. That's not just because the two are locked in what the cynical might call a "death embrace," either: while the refocused Nokia is entirely dependent on Microsoft's platform for its survival, it hasn't played the part of a leech. Rather, the relationship has been much more symbiotic, with Nokia adding real value to the Windows Phone platform in the form of custom apps, carefully crafted hardware, and enhanced functionality.

One of the most touted differentiators, in the case of the Nokia Lumia 920, is its camera. Fitted with an optically-stabilized 8.7MP BSI sensor behind a Carl Zeiss ƒ/2.0 lens, Nokia's flagship Windows Phone device features the premium -though controversial- "PureView" branding, despite lacking the more advanced optics of the 41-megapixel 808 PureView. The camera module adds thickness and weight to the device in exchange for delivering what's supposed to be a best-in-class shooting experience on a Windows Phone.

And it delivered. As we mention in our full review of the Lumia 920, the camera is indeed an excellent one, blowing the 8X out of the water in a low-light performance faceoff. It's safe to say the Lumia 920 features the best camera available on a modern Windows Phone.

The problem is, we don't live in a world dominated by Windows Phone– far from it. The Lumia 920 has to contend not just with competition on its own platform, but with the excellent shooters on devices like the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III/Galaxy Note II. Nokia's camera brings a lot of heat to that fight on the hardware side; its low-light performance is excellent, and its optical image stabilization is one-of-a-kind. But it's lacking on the software front in some crucial ways.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Will Be The Very Thin

Samsung is making headlines all over the world and the latest round of rumours circulating is that the next iteration of their flagship device will be thin. Very thin!
A couple of months ago we reported that the Samsung Galaxy S4 might be released as early as March 2013, only about 9 months after the hugely popular Galaxy S3 was released earlier this year. We were sceptical about this rumour, as we felt it would be too soon after the 2012 holiday season and the S3 would still be selling very well over that period.

With the Galaxy Note 2 also selling well, Samsung want to push the Galaxy brand as high as possible, as quickly as possible. According to anonymous in-house sources, the Korean firm wants to blow you away with the latest member of the Galaxy family and has leaked some specs to boot. They seem to indicate that the device will actually be announced at CES 2013 in early 2013, with the device then releasing some time in Q2 2013.

The Christian Post has reported that the device will have a 13 MP camera, which is a distinct possibility however, we would rather they focus on building better lenses and sensors instead of pushing up the megapixel count, as this will make a much bigger difference to picture quality. Also, at its heart it will have a new quad-core Exynos 5450 processor, clocked at 2 GHz. It will boast 2 GB or RAM, with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean running out of the box.

This might sound impossibly large, but it may be necessary to run the 'revolutionary' screen. The S4 will feature full 1080p HD, with a 4.99 inch AMOLED screen! That translates into 441 ppi, which is about 35% more than the iPhone's 326 ppi.

Although I am all for greater screen resolution and performance, what is it with the ever larger screen? Personally, this might place the device at too large of a form factor for me, as I already thought that the Galaxy S3 would be as large as I was willing to go. What are your thoughts on the screen?

Also, interestingly, Samsung has designed the thinnest chip for the device, which will make it the thinnest smartphone ever produced. It uses Samsung's new 10 nanometre technology instead of the previous 20 nanometre.

HTC One X Is A Super Android Phone

The HTC One X is an Android phone offered by the Wireless Phone Network, AT&T. It comes with a clean look and a trusted wireless carrier, here is a good look at the Good and the bad of the phone.

The HTC One X comes with the Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system that many past Android users didn't get to enjoy due to all the can't update shenanigans that Google/Carriers were giving. It has a very modern look and feel, and it feels solidly built.

It feels comfortable and has a big portability feature since the phone is very thin, it fits right in your pocket. However, the phone isn't flat-backed. The Camera on the back of the phone sticks out unlike the iPhone or other Android phones. The One X has a 4.7-inch, 1280 x 720 (720p) LCD screen with Gorilla Glass. Text is crisp and clear, photos are sharp, and videos play well without any issues.

A flat slab that has smoothly rounded edges and a gently curved back, the HTC One X definitely flaunts an ultramodern aesthetic, especially the chic white-hued version I reviewed. You'll want to be careful how you tote the One X since its white surface attracts smudges easily. Measuring 5.3 inches tall by 2.75 inches wide by 0.36 inch thick, the One X certainly is a handful. Still, its 4.6-ounce weight lends the plastic phone some solidity.

The buttons on the One X are all the same color as the case and are small, sleek, and very low profile. The power button is on the top right corner, and the volume buttons is on the right side. In my opinion, the buttons are a little too sleek. They're hard to find when you're fumbling for the power button, or turning down a ring that is suddenly too loud in a quiet room, etc.

The screen is quite narrow, but landscape mode will fix it up if your fingers are too big for texting. The headphone jack is on the top left corner, and the sync port is on the left side. Underneath the screen on the front is three buttons instead of the four: back, home and recent apps and there is no menu or search button.

The phone comes with the Crisp Beats Audio technology, enhancing music, phone calls, videos, apps, and more. The Beats Audio patented sound enhancement truly is out of this world sound quality.

As you'd expect on a modern Android device, the One X comes with the usual Google services on board, including Gmail, Google+, and Navigation, along with the Play Store, from which you can download apps from a catalog of over 500,000 titles. Play also provides digital books, movies, games, and music to purchase. If that's still not enough entertainment, HTC's Watch app hawks TV shows and movies for rental or purchase.

The Phone supports .aac, .amr, .ogg, .m4a, .mid, .mp3, .wav, and .wma audio formats and records audio in .amr. It also supports .3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv , and .avi video formats and records in a .mp4 format.

The Detailed Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Performance

A year on since Samsung wowed the world with its original Galaxy Note it's back with a new model and this time it's even bigger - with a huge 5.5in display. More surprising is a lack competition in those intervening 12 months, with other brands opting not to follow suit. That means this monster handset, and its stylus, is still a unique proposition.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 weighs in at 183g and measures a sizeable 15x81x9.4mm. Big, yes, but it's slimmer than the original Galaxy Note, and it's still just about small enough to fit in your jeans pocket. Its extra heft makes it feel like a tough and sturdy piece of kit, and even though making phone calls continues to be a rather awkward exercise if you've only got one hand free to use it, its narrower dimensions do make it comfortable to hold.

It's the Galaxy Note 2's vibrant 5.5in HD Super AMOLED display that really sets it apart from other smartphones out there. It bridges the gap between smartphones and tablets with style and grace, even if it does still have its predecessor's rather flimsy plastic back cover. Smaller tablets feel rather superfluous when you've got a screen this large.

Its pixel density has actually been reduced as the larger screen has the same 720x1280 resolution as last year's model, it certainly didn't make much difference to us. Better still, despite the lack of Samsung's usual 'Super AMOLED Plus' branding, close-ups of the screen show a full RGB sub-pixel structure, rather than a Pentile design, such as on the Galaxy S3. This explains its clearer and sharper image than paper comparisons might suggest.

The 1.6GHz quad-core processor also makes it one of the speediest Android devices on the market, plus it comes with Android 4.1 with its super-slick front end. Web pages load in an instant, and it rendered the BBC News homepage in less than a second. Most pieces of text can be read very easily with just a double tap on the screen, although the touch-sensitive Back button underneath the screen can be a bit too eager to engage if you knock it accidentally.

The Unique Performance Of iPhone 5

The iPhone 5 is everything we wanted after the iPhone 4S, with a larger display, a faster processor and 4G capability. The redesigned look is snazzy, slim and incredibly light, but this smart phone is more about refining existing features than introducing jaw-dropping ones. A new, less helpful Maps app stops the iPhone 5 from achieving the four and a half stars that its predecessor mustered, but this is still a high-quality mobile that would make an excellent upgrade for people who own a two-year-old iPhone 4.

The iPhone 5 is thinner than the 4S, at an impressive 7.6mm thick. That might not sound like much, but compared to the iPhone 4S, there's a visible difference in thickness.

It has a tall baton-like design, which coupled with the thinner frame, makes this feel like an iPhone 4S that's had a run-in with a rolling pin. It's not significantly wider than the 4S but it's certainly longer. The steel bands around the phone's circumference carry over from its predecessor, but the new stretched-out look means more room for the display, which now measures 4 inches on the diagonal.

This marks the first time Apple has increased the size of the iPhone's screen from the previously standard 3.5 inches. While the difference is subtle, you'll quickly start to appreciate the extra real estate. As with the introduction of the retina display, you'll notice this new feature most when you look at an older iPhone, with the iPhone 4S and 4 starting to feel cramped by comparison.

The bigger panel means there's room for an extra row of icons on the iPhone 5's home screen and -- because it has a 16:9 aspect ratio -- you get fewer annoying black bars when you're watching movies on your mobile. Films shot in 21:9 will still play with black bars above and below the action, though as before, you can zoom in by double-tapping the screen.

The slight size bump when watching video is all well and good, but where you'll really appreciate the longer screen is with the Mail and Notes apps, or when browsing the web. Being able to see just a few more emails, or a bit more text lurking at the bottom of the display, makes a difference.

It's not life changing stuff, but in the Mail app, for example, with one line of preview text you can see six and a half messages on screen, compared with five and a third on the iPhone 4S. Small, handy improvements are the name of the game with the iPhone 5's design.

As well as ramping up the display size, Apple has bumped the iPhone's display resolution. The horizontal pixel count remains the same -- a healthy 640 pixels, but vertically you now get 1,136 of the blighters. Its pixel density is the same, at the retina display standard of 326 pixels per inch. That trumps the Samsung Galaxy S3, although that is much larger, at a mighty 4.8 inches.

The iPhone 5 is powered by iOS 6, the latest version of Apple's mobile OS. Alongside improvements for existing apps and services, iOS 6 brings a number of brand new features, not all of which are welcome changes.

The most significant change is to the Maps app. Apple has ditched Google, instead opting to create its own mapping service, which unfortunately is a step backwards that will likely frustrate those using iOS 6 -- especially in the UK.