So, the same thing kind of always happens when a new phone launches: usually the media
gets review units before they're widely available, and we get to use them for a few days or maybe
a couple weeks if we're lucky, while we write our review.
Then the date and time of the press embargo arrives, the embargo lifts, everyone posts
their reviews and videos at the same time, it's a huge frenzy, commenters go nuts, there
are defenders and attackers and it's a whole giant explosion of opinion.
For about ... a day.
And then it all goes away.
Sure, there's followup coverage as people find bugs and more news happens, but after
that initial blast, not a lot of people revisit the device to see how it feels a few weeks
or months later, because we're all onto the next thing already.
So let's do something about it.
Let's see how we feel about devices when they're not shiny and new anymore.
I'm Michael Fisher with Pocketnow, this is the Nokia Lumia 900, and this is Episode 1
of "After The Buzz."
So in reviews, we usually cover both the good and the bad, but we don't always have enough
time to see how big a deal something really is or isn't.
Let's see what a few weeks' worth of marinating have done for us on some of these here.
I've tried to avoid using my Galaxy Nexus as a crutch, andI've used the Lumia 900 as
my daily driver for most of the past two weeks.
Okay, first up, is hardware.
I've been rather gentle with my Lumia 900 in the two weeks or so I've been using it,
and that shows; on the whole, the device holds up rather well to long-term use, if you're
not a contractor carrying it around naked on a job site.
I've had clean hands most of the time as well, so I haven't seen much dirt or grime picked
up by the polycarbonate, even on this cyan version.
One thing that hasn't held up all too well is that soft metal that makes up the bezel
surrounding the camera.
The most rough and tumble action this phone has seen is going into and out of pockets
and sitting on some tabletops, and the metal looks like it went through a clothes dryer
with a punch of pocket change.
Granted, it's not too noticeable unless you dwell on it, but this is only after two weeks.
I can't imagine what this'll look like after two months.
It reminds me of the old, easily-scratched iPods.
This is seriously going to hurt the resale value of the phone.
The only other issue I had with hardware over the long term: it hurt me.
Physically.
Even though, as I mentioned in my last video, I absolutely love the hardware design, it
really isn't all that comfortable to hold for long periods, and it actually gave me
a blister.
Yes, I'm totally serious, and here's the photo to prove it.
The Lumia 900 gave me a blister.
Now the answer to that is of course to go out and do more hard work in the fields or
whatever, and maybe it's true that I have soft hands, but I thought it was hilarious.
I did adapt to holding the device a different way, but ... yeah.
It's the price you pay for cutting-edge design.
Wokka.
As for the display, obviously we're not working with an HD panel on this device, but in the
time I've spent using this phone as my primary communicator, it hasn't bothered me.
Can you tell the difference between this and, say, the One X?
Absolutely.
But this is a serviceable display at least, and the saturation and ClearBlack are outstanding.
What about the software?
For a user of many platforms, how does Nokia's take on WP7 hold up after a few weeks?
Really, not bad at all.
I touched on this in my One X-vs-Nokia Lumia video, but Windows Phone 7 continues to be
the most capable underdog platform out there.
Despite the app gap, I found most of the apps I needed, even specialty ones like Boston-area
bus tracking utilities, and even some games and specialty apps I grew rather attached
to.
I'm mildly concerned about the amount of abandonware in the Marketplace, but we'll just have to
see how it plays out.
The camera continues to be the low point on this device.
While photos in ample lighting are okay, too much lighting really overwhelms the sensor,
and too little lighting results in a ton of noise.
The built-in software is simple but lacking in features, and the inconsistent performance
of the pocket-to-picture feature that Adam Lein mentioned in his review is a real annoyance.
Other annoyances, like the sometimes scrolling bug on Windows Phone, can really get under
your skin, as well, and the anemic 16GB of memory didn't allow me to carry my music collection
around with me.
Windows Phone still has some shortcomings, there's concern about this device not being
upgradeable to Windows 8, and the Metro UI isn't quite as fresh as it used to be - but
we've talked bout all these things in other venues.
The question I want to answer is: today, about six weeks after the initial launch of the
Lumia 900, would I still recommend it to an average user, one of my friends, and expect
him or her to be happy
with the device?
Yes.