“What is that?” Asked a client as he walked in the room with a box full of bagels as I set down my Lumia 900 to shake his hand.
I started my day unplugging my Lumia 900 and admittedly my iPhone 4 on Verizon. Why do I need to carry two devices? Well for starters, Verizon’s Windows Phone selection is pathetic at this point and I can’t afford to swap carriers like that Kardashians’ change boyfriends so I must use my trusty AT&T PAYG SIM to keep me rocking with the Lumia 900 as a backup device, for now.
Both phones go in to their own pockets, Lumia left, iPhone right. At first, it was a bit different as I am used to the size of the iPhone but the Lumia grew on me within a few hours and I was already brushing off the “is that a Lumia in your pocket” jokes. The 4.3 in screen is deceptively bigger than the iPhone’s but fits elegantly in to your hands and the bright cyan color grabs attention.
I quickly check my calendar on the Lumia, which is integrated exceptionally well with my existing calendars, as I hear my grandfather clock chime 7 times which means that I must be getting out the door if I want to get to my meeting at 8:30 on time.
1830 mAH battery provides enough juice to last an entire day
Heading to a new client that I was not familiar with, I flip up Nokia Drive and punch in the destination. Nokia drive, to put it simply, is far easier to use than the navigation software my SUV has built in and the bigger screen size makes it easier to see when placed on my dashboard than the iPhone.
I need to grab a coffee and check to see if my co-worker is on his way, I pull up Skype and give him a call. Skype app opens, it hums along rather curmudgeonly but I get to my co-worker’s name, hit the call and he answers…”Hello” and I get back in to my car holding the conversation which means I need use Nokia Drive again. I go to switch apps and the call drops, “Damnit”; at first I blame AT&T but then remember that Skype on Windows Phone cannot run in the background, which is somewhat unacceptable.
I pull out my iPhone, finish the call and head on to the client. I arrive 20 minutes early and am able to pull up several documents we will use in the Kick-off meeting for a last minute review before we go in; a big plus on the Lumia as Office is built in.
I get a call about 10 minutes before the meeting, the client is running late; 30 minutes late. He asks if this will be a problem, I lie and say of course not but it will push my schedule a bit tight for a later meeting.
Display is bright, crisp, and responsive but still falls short of 'retina' caliber
I pull up my email, fire off a message to my other co-workers letting them know I may be late and they reply that they will save me a spot at the restaurant and that if I am not on time, they will order me a meatless dish (jerks).
40 minutes to kill, Wordament, Angry Birds and my personal favorite, Fable Coin golf, pass the minutes and my co-worker, who joined me in my car, continues to peer over my shoulder as I play with the Lumia 900.
“Hey Brad, what’s that giant Xbox icon for?”, I show him how the phone integrates with Xbox Live, he balks at how the iPhone can already do this minus a few crucial features like message notifications (and achievements); I also take this time to remind him that the Lumia 900 can control your Xbox.
The OS runs exceptionally well and exhibited no lag.
10 minutes to go before we have to go in and to pass time and I browse the marketplace, Spotify (my go to music app is there) but a few other critical apps like Pandora and Mint are missing (I am an obsessive Mint user, the lack of an app is almost a deal breaker). But, the marketplace does have many offerings, 80K published apps at last report, but that doesn’t mean they are any good.
It’s time to Tweet, the official app is garbage and Rowi is the go-to app of choice for many users. Snap a pic of the cool Spring sky with the Lumia that exhibited minimal camera lag, tweet and post to Facebook and away it goes to the social networks in the sky, quite elegantly I might add too.
The camera exhibits minimal shutter lag but average picture quality, auto-focus is acquired at warp speed.
Stepping out of the car, I get yet another call, this time from the client which makes me bring out my iPhone, he wants to know what kind of bagels we want as an apology for being late. Standing in the direct sunlight it becomes apparent, the Lumia 900s screen is far easier to use when an abundance of photons are bouncing off your screen.
I finally give in and hand my co-worker the Lumia, he loves the size and color, not so much for the texture of the device. To each their own, he believes it will scratch easily and remove the coloring; I laugh and say that Nokia baked the color in, the color is here to stay. His amusement with the live-tiles was profound; this was his first experience with Windows Phone.
Side buttons feel a bit cheap/plasticky, room for improvement here.
“I’m not sure, I think I like the look, but it’s different, and it’s Windows”. To be fair, Windows Mobile did leave a bad taste in the mouths of many people but this is the ‘new’ Microsoft, a much more bold and daring company.
We head in to the client, greet the administrative assistant at the front desk and get our visitor badges. “Who is your meeting with and the where is it located?” She asks, questioning our credentials as she surely has the information on her screen. “It’s on the 12th floor conference room with [redacted]” - we pass her challenge; we are in.
We get to the room, find our seats and throw our documents up on the projector. Again, a few minutes to kill, testing out IE9 and getting pissed that my city does not have LTE but that’s life, I guess. The spacious screen is a joy to use, accurate touch response, bright and excellent off angle viewing.
The client walks in with a box of bagels and two of his staff, I set my phone down to shake his hand and he asks, “What is that?”
“Oh this? This is the phone that will save Nokia and Microsoft."
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