One months ago I’ve finally got ridden of my ancient Windows Phone 7.8 mobile (HTC Mozart) and I’ve summarized my thoughts about that OS in a review (http://gebski.tumblr.com/post/63951193630/2-5-years-with-windows-phone-7-x-the-good-the-bad). Since then I was using shiny and new Nokia Lumia 920, running on latest mobile OS from Redmond: Windows Phone 8. As it’s already more than 4 weeks, I think I can already form a statement or few about that brick (and software running it).
Hardware
Shortly: as good as you can deduct using the specs (http://www.nokia.com/global/products/phone/lumia920/specifications/): solid, good looking, with gorgeous (and scratch-resistant, it seems …) display. No cheapy plastic, no wearing down rubber, just nice quality.
Battery lasts for about 36 hours which is neither very good nor very bad. Camera: no complains, same for audio quality (I’m not an audiophile though). One interesting thing - it supports NFC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_field_communication) and you can charge it wirelessly with a proper device:
- Pillow http://www.nokia.com/global/products/accessory/dt-901/ or …
- … Plate http://www.nokia.com/global/products/accessory/dt-900/
I didn’t try it though - too expensive.
OS
Honestly, if someone made an effort and showed me two same looking phones, one with WP8 and the other one with WP7.8, I’m not sure whether I’d be able to find the differences. Seriously, no kidding!
Same tile layouts, same menus, just few new pre-installed apps in WP8 (Wallet for NFC-enabled phones, Data Sense for bandwidth usage monitoring, did I miss anything?), same customization options.
From user’s perspective - it looks exactly the same as WP7.8 did. No difference. So, maybe they did something about the apps?
Apps
Actually, surprisingly, it gets better here.
First: Nokia has rocked the house, for real. They’ve prepared quite an interesting set of apps that are really useful and don’t suck in terms of quality:
- Ringtone Maker (yes, WP was missing that!)
- nice augmented reality app named HERE City Lens
- car navigation app HERE Drive+
- Nokia maps - here as HERE Maps
- few interesting camera tools, incl. one for making panoramas and one for “presenting” pics from your phone on bigger screens (PhotoBeamer) using WebSockets.
WP has also finally got few official apps for the most popular social networks: like Tumblr, Vine or LinkedIn. The selection in Store is still very limited, but it’s recognizably better than it was with WP7.8.
Summary
If you haven’t tried WPx phone yet, try to get a grip on before buying - some like it and some don’t. Don’t risk it. If you’ve already used to WP7.x and you just want to get a new shiny gadget, you’ll be happy with WP8 - but there’s a limited number of new goodies you’ll get.
And finally, if you decided to go for WP8, seriously consider Nokia - their exclusive apps are a very nice addition I’ve missed earlier on my HTC.
Speaking about me: I enjoy using it a lot - it’s fast, reliable and offers the basic functionality I care for. I don’t need fancy games or million of ToDo apps, so lack of goods in WinStore doesn’t hurt me that much.
Recommended, good stuff.