A phone Steve Jobs would have loved to have April 25, 2012

Reviewer:  Baggu 

If calls is what you miss most in your iPhone then this is the phone you need to have.
Remember the presentation Jobs gave about how all smart phones loose signals when held at certain position, well Nokia has done something which the biggest company in world couldn't do. This is the one smartphone which is also a great phone, apart from everything which a smartphone does, this is a great phone too.

I heard from lot of people that iPhone has dual core procesor and Lumia is just single core so this is slower. They don't know that iPhone has slower cores 800Mhz compared to 1.4GHz processor of Lumia (1.4GHz vs 1.6 GHz (.8x2)), that's just difference of 12.5% in computing power. However 98% of applications made so far are single threaded applications and they can't use dual cores, so a game like Fruit Ninja runs 75% faster in Lumia than on iPhone. So for 99% of applications Lumia has better processor than iPhone.

The White Unicorn of the Mobile World May 8, 2012

Reviewer:  B. Wright  (Fremont, NH, USA) -

Steve Wozniak said to aNewDomain about the Lumia 900, "I'm just shocked, I haven't seen anything yet that isn't more beautiful than the other platforms," and he decided that he will be "carrying the Windows Phone everywhere." This is the last living founder of Apple talking! His recommendation was enough for me to take the plunge.

UI - Windows Phone is fast, usable, and fluid. I like the speed at which everything happens. Android seems to always be plagued by lagginess in its everyday tasks. It is fast and functional, I have never done things faster. The onscreen keyboard is the most comfortable (I had an iPhone 3GS & a Galaxy S2 previously). The comforting, wooden "thump" of each keystroke is aesthetically delicious. The design elements seem to be comfortable with their digital nature, not necessarily trying to look like leather or paper or glass or metal like an iPhone does.

Hardware - The phone itself is very sturdy - classic Nokia. I don't like its shape QUITE as much as the Lumia 800, with its curved glass edges, but it is still head and shoulders over most anything. It is fundamentally attractive and very unique. People will ask you what you have. If you like to blend in and just be "normal," it may be wise to wait until this phone is more mainstream, so you can buy it in a year or so.

Display - the display is very good. It is AMOLED, like a lot of Samsung phones, but it has some singular qualities. The DisplayMate labs rated it as the best phone display PERIOD for outdoor viewing, probably because of Nokia's clearBlack screen polarization. It is not as high-res as some other phone displays, but it has wonderful color saturation, and you will not have reason to complain, unless you are trying to count grains of sand in a beach picture.

Call quality - really clear. But them I'm no expert. Not that much different from my S2 in this regard. The 3GS was a bit worse, but I don't know how it compares to the current iPhone.

Apps - the windows phone marketplace is by no means small, with something like 70,000 apps. That said, some of the top apps on the IPhone and Android are still missing, including DropBox, Instagram, and a couple others. There is a nice curated selection of Xbox Live games, and if you have an Xbox Live account, you will find a lot of nice integrations.

Camera - generally good. Better than average, but not the best I've ever seen. Windows Phone has an elegant mechanism for taking pictures where you just quickly tap on where you want to focus, and the camera will snap the photo fast, so that's something to like. It's an 8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics.

I have browsed through dozens and dozens of the newest phones, and this is my favorite by a solid margin. Here is the end of the Woz's interview: "I surmise that Microsoft hired someone from Apple and put money into having a role in the user interface and appearance of some key apps. I also surmised that Steve Jobs might have been reincarnated at Microsoft due to a lot of what I see and feel with this phone making me think of a lot of great Apple things."

The best of the best May 7, 2012

Reviewer:  Justin VanHalbert 

Best mobile OS? Windows Phone. Check. Amazingly responsive and oh so sexy hardware from Nokia? Check. Are you looking for the best mobile experience? Tired of constantly rebooting your android phone and fighting with it to get it to work? Looking for a better looking more modern interface than what apple has to offer? This is simply the best touchscreen smartphone available today. Get it. You won't regret it.

I'm impressed May 9, 2012

Reviewer:  Maximilian  (WASHINGTON, DC, US) -

The new Windows platform is great by itself. And now it is available on superior phone from Nokia.
More than one year ago I bought two phones: iPhone4 for my wife and Samsung Focus Windows Phone for myself. Both are good. And my kid likes to play with both.
This new Nokia has far better hardware. The front camera is better than in iPhone4S.
I hope it will last long as all my old Nokia phones (I had 2 before, both of them still work).
But it is made of plastic.

Beautiful, Elegant, Efficient and Fast! May 7, 2012

Reviewer:  Jack M  (San Francisco, CA, US) -

I've purchased the black Lumia 900 and have been using it for weeks.

I am extremely amazed with the rich features and fluid navigation:

1. Deep social media integration making it extremely easy to share status.
2. Full email support for Exchange server and live tiles notifications.
3. Live tiles on the main screen provides instant status updates.
4. The phone is 100% stable and never crashes. My iPhone and Droids are constantly being rebooted.
5. Great music and video integration with Zune software and Marketplace.
6. For less than $15 a month, you can subscribe to Zune and download unlimited music to listen to. The subscription will also let you keep 10 songs per month.
7. When taking pictures, it automatically uploads to the cloud (SkyDrive). You can easily share documents and photos and store them on SkyDrive, accessible via desktop or the web. No need to plug into the computer.
8. Power efficient and the battery last all day.
9. The Clear Black Display with AMOLED gives bright colors and easily readable under bright light situations.

Over all, a wonderful phone. :^)

This phone rocks my socks off!!!!!!!! June 13, 2012

Reviewer:  Kristin 

BEST. PHONE. EVER. I got this phone after having a Blackberry for many years. People mentioned that transferring your contacts from Blackberry is hell; using the 'Contacts Transfer' app from Nokia made this an unbelievably easy 2 min task. The ease of use of this phone, the way it synchs your contacts' information with Facebook as well as with Outlook is unparalleled. There are so many free, neat apps you can download from Marketplace and so many customizable options. The calendar synchs with Outlook as well as my Facebook events (Even ones I have not responded to yet!). This phone simplifies and streamlines my entire life and I LOVE IT! Don't get an iPhone, don't get an Android, BUY THIS PHONE!!!!

Just an amazing phone May 25, 2012

Reviewer:  Thomas 

I'm so happy with this phone... it's cool, edgy and a lot phone to use! I just love my new Nokia Lumia 900. I used to have Nokia E7 and you can't even compare these two products. Windows Phone is easy to use and it's so great to get all these extra features for free (Nokia Drive, Nokia Maps, Nokia Public Transport, Creative Studio etc.)

Good job Nokia! And yes "Stormtrooper"-white is my choice! :)

The best phone period. May 21, 2012

Reviewer:  Scott Farriss "srf"  (tampa, fl) -

The phone is truly amazing, and so well designed. Everything is so well thought out, from the placement of the buttons to the overall feel.
Positives:
-Very smooth, unibody design
-Fast fluid, intuitive OS
-Integration w/ all things MS (XBox live, Skydrive, Hotmail)
-Integration w/ Social media (FB, Twitter, Yahoo, Google)
-Incredible screen/display

Negatives:
-Still missing buy-in from some critical app makers (Mint, Audible)
-Camera has good pics, but still needs adjustments to get excellent quality

If they could just fix these 2 items, then this would be a flawless phone.

what a blast! May 12, 2012

Reviewer:  Andia 

I pre-ordered the black one since I thought the back won't go out of the fashion for a long time until it has that 4G connectivity problem. After I read it on line that I can exchange it and also I got hands-on experience with the white one, I decided to go with the white one. Wow, it's such a blast! It's a pure art with shiny white poly-carbonate. It looks way much better than the black one. And it also doesn't scratch at all. (I keep changing the very tight PCU covers, since I got so many colors and it never leave a thing on back)

Here are what I love about this beautiful nokia phone (just list two among all other reasons) .

1.It's all about the maps/GPS.

I had nokia 5800 before, the preloaded map and the turn by turn voice guide is just perfect. Very accurate and I can download any language I want. And last year when I went to China, I just downloaded a Chinese map on my device and it worked perfect too. I don't think any Garmin device can do that, or at least if you don't pay extra to buy maps. With my new Lumia and its 4.3" screen, I just got the best GPS ever and I can go anywhere in the world with it since it's through satellites. All that I need to do is download maps before I go.

Nokia lens is a new app I downloaded. It's a perfect combination of searching, compass and physical display. It's a fun little app worth trying.

2. Windows office.

I am not a specific MS or the windows mango 7.5 OS fan per say, but I have to admit it does do a very smooth job. One feature I really love is the office. Not only I can read word, ppt (the ones i have tried), but also I can edit the file with my phone. The first time I opened a slide and showed it to my labmate, both of us were amazed by the very high quality it displayed and also how easy you can edit the lines. If I just need to change my words in my ppt, I don't really need my computer now.

I really wish there is a app that can make PDF files display as good as WORD files. The former really needs a auto line cutting thing.

They're right, it is beautifully different June 19, 2012

Reviewer:  S. Lofstad "Sanford"  (Leicester) -

Got this phone a week ago, and have to say it really is all it's hyped up to be. The design is making everyone turn their heads and ask what phone it is, and the gorgeous screen with fluent Windows Phone showing off its beautiful Metro UI makes most other phones look ancient.
It still takes a bit getting used to WP coming from Android, but my HTC Desire Z android phone has made me feel a strong resent for both HTC and android, being laggy, unintuitive and unreliable. Integration with Office is another massive WP benefit for anyone depending on the phone for work.

The only con I have found so far is that the volume control is too loud at the lowest setting for some applications. I assume Nokia will fix it with an update, or that a third party app will fix it. And with Nokia and Microsoft's reputation for bringing out updates, I feel confident about being happy with this phone for a long time!

why i made the switch June 27, 2012

Reviewer:  dbehling 

I am a long time iPhone user (since 2008). The type of dude that would wait in long lines when a new version came out just to have it first. It was initially with at&t only and I love that fact. It was different smooth, new and bold. A great looking phone and still is. But after apple decided to open it up to Verizon sprint and even virgin mobile, I noticed everybody had one it seemed. Its like a new car that you purchase but notice everybody got the same model and color. Kinda diminishes it a little, at least for me it did. So I started researching, YouTube first. I knew I wasn't doing android. I always disliked the green robot and the big cheesy clocks on the HTC phones. I came across Nokia lumia 900 vs iPhone. I was intrigued. With its good looks and smoothness and new and different user interface. Updated tiles with real live updated info. Sports scores, weather,pics,messages. It was smooth clean looking, a seemed to pop with its different out of the ordinary look and feel. And by the way, it was exclusively at ar&t. I decided my white 4s was cool but was gonna give another phone a try for a chance, thinking it would fail. In 7 days I was sold. Absolutely love the phone. Extremely fast on lte downloading and smooth. Also i can pin everything on the front screen from apps to albums or songs to web pages I frequent regularly. And tell me voice assistant was great. Answer and send text with voice, while driving. Also make calls on speaker without picking up my phone. Also movies are nice on the screen as well. Also the fact you get Facebook, twitter messages threaded so you respond without going to different apps is cool. I still have my 4s somewhere in my house but never use it since i got the Nokia 900. It feels good to have a phone that when people see me with they stop and look because it's.so totally different than just rows of apps that do nothing that you have to scroll across 7 pages to get to. I don't care if this phone stays a secret and people don't catch on fast cause i like the exclusive.and great user experience that comes with this phone. So there you, that the reason why i made the switch. I'm telling you, take it from a long time iPhone user, if you want something new fast and different, give it a shot. Promise you won't be disappointed.

I luv this July 18, 2012

Reviewer:  Giphimon Sebastian 

Trashed Iphone 4. Got LUMIA 900 White. Fast, Fluid, Solid. Finally I started using a smartphone, real use.
Like the navigation, stream video, music through DLNA. Finally a phone which I can use to read web pages with out pop ups. No need to struggle to find X (close) the pop up. No strain for my eyes. All for 0 dollar, what else one should expect. Finally no call drops.

Partly in-love and partly annoyed!!!! June 19, 2012

Reviewer:  MeandMillie2  (Texas) -

I am having a hard time with this review because for the most part... I actually do LOVE this phone!

Not from a Techie... Just a typical average phone user.... With emphasis on the PHONE!!!!! I mostly use it as a phone....
Allow me to start by saying, I am one of those anti-iphone crazy fools! I've played with them and never wanted one and never really liked them. I am one of those Blackberry fans though. I have had three and recently traded my Blackberry Torch in for the new Nokia Windows phone.

I have a friend that got the Samsung Windows phone when it was first released in 2010... He absolutely LOVES the Windows platform and says it is the best phone he's ever had....

In part I agree with him and in part I do not.....

I've been playing with my new Nokia 900 for a little over a week. Some of my issues may be.... Ummmmmmm....user error that I will correct over time.

[[ASIN:B007T00R66 Nokia Lumia 900 4G Windows Phone, White (AT&T)]]

5 stars - Awesome phone reception. The best I have had, actually! I split my time up between Dallas and Tyler, TX. My house in Tyler has horrible reception for pretty much every phone and wireless carrier that has been in the house. I am lucky if I can get 2 bars anywhere on the premise, including the outside patio. My Blackberry had several dead spots and the reception was affected if I shifted my stance or posture even while standing or sitting. I have had zero problems with my Nokia. The same two bars in the house, but zero interference. I can walk around and neither I nor the person on the other end can hear any difference.... Absolutely amazing!!!!

5 stars - Dallas is LTE and Tyler is not. All internet searching in Dallas over the LTE was so freaking fast! I was amazed. I think it is faster than my home computer. The voice response for searching was fantastic. In Tyler, again not LTE, it is faster than my friend's iphone 4s... We did the same searches... Pretty good if you ask me!

5 stars - Voice to text... Text in a pinch... aka Texting and driving. It was accurate and fast... I love this feature!

5 stars - the feel of the phone in my hand.... It is just perfect! The weight and the size. I am on my phone a lot, and I find that with some of the narrower phones (even my Blackberry) my hand with eventually start the cramp up from either holding it to my ear or texting. Not the case with the Nokia Lumia. It feels sturdier than any phone I have held... I will not throw it to the ground anytime soon to test my theory... But I am not so afraid if it were to slip out of my hands.

4.5 stars - MP3 player... Somehow I notice a huge difference in the sound quality when I play it over Bluetooth in my car or hook it up to my home speakers. It got dinged ½ star because one app I want on my phone is for Audible.com... Can not find it... YET.

4.5 stars - Home screen. Love it! However, I wish we could customize the basic Windows icons to give them some separation (being able to vary the colors would be a big help).... Having them all the same color can be a little blinding.

4.5 stars - Apps. I often wonder how old some of these reviewers are and DO THEY WORK for a living???? How many freaking apps do you need? I do miss my app for my bank, but easily remedied by just pinning a direct link to the website on my home page. Most every app that I had on my Blackberry (not many) I have either found in the app store or found a way around it by pinning the webpage to the home screen. Except, as mentioned above, for my Audible.... But then I cancelled my membership because Audible is behind the times on devices anyway, however that is a whole other review!

3 stars - Nokia Drive.... Couldn't tolerate it more than 5 minutes, actually. I had it navigate me a route I take often from Tyler to Kilgore, TX. It mapped it to where it avoided the major state hwy into Kilgore from Tyler, but took me about 20 minutes and 10 miles out of the way to an interstate but to still hit the same major hwy just outside of Kilgore... Made no sense When I took the highway knowing, it took it a while to correct itself. Disappointed! I even tried it on a trip to Dallas.... Not that great... I may use it if I do not know the area or better routes.

2 stars - Bluetooth.... UGH, this drove me crazy! I turned on my Bluetooth in my car for a 2 hour drive, and it would randomly start reading emails at random times. This may be a user error with some set up feature I have not found yet.... If so, I will update.

1 star - basic phone ringer and notification set up.... For those Blackberry users, you will know what I am talking about. Sound profiles! Loved them. I had about 10 set up and, depending on what was on my work agenda for the day, I would go through 5-6 preset profiles a day... easily . One for when I went to bed at night where it was just the phone that would ring. One for a certain type of meeting where I needed to receive text notification updates... My work email had a different notification tone than my personal Live account and my Yahoo account had a different tone too (I could tell what was coming in without having to look).... My "home" sound profile that I created, I could have my phone ringer on the loudest setting while still managing my email and text notifications at a different volume... Etc etc etc. You could set up different ringers and sounds on different profiles, not just the volume. With this Nokia... it is all one volume and one profile! You turn one down, you turn them all down. If you do not want to receive notifications on emails and such... you have to revert to changing your settings. Totally aggravating and this is the primary reason why I gave the overall phone 4+5++ stars only. Could that be unfair? Maybe. But, I ALMOST traded in my Nokia for another upgrade to a Torch.

2 stars - Emails settings. My Blackberry would often receive my web-based emails faster than my Outlook (where I have everything synced) did on my computer. Regardless of the provider. Yahoo came just as fast as Live and just as fast as my work email. With this Nokia... Windows Live email can be set to update automatically... Hmmmmmm.... All the others, the fastest sync time you can create for it is 15 minutes.

Overall, and after over a week of playing with it.... This Nokia is a keeper for me. The PHONE alone is the best damn phone I have ever had!!!!! Crystal clear reception... so far ZERO interference even with just one or 3 bars... EXCELLENT! I love the speed over an LTE network, and 4G is pretty fast too. Basic 4G is faster than other 4Gs I have compared it too. There is just a few dings, but after a model or two, they may add or correct those features... maybe! Would LOVE to have the ability to create sound profiles... such a little thing, I know... but a great feature.

Amazing, Personal Navigation Smart Phone! July 2, 2012

Reviewer:  - LC -  (San Diego, CA) -

The Nokia lumina 900 excels in almost every way. Super fast web browser with a beautiful rich black screen. Easy to hold and feels wonderful and solid. Nice piece of technology. It's easy and fun to talk, especially with its front facing camera.. The people hub app by Microsoft is a cool, nice feature..
The built in camera shoots great photos with its high end optics And you can even shoot video. You usually don,t need to charge it for many days as its battery holds up amazingly well.

If you have not seen how the "live tiles" work, you will be pleasantly surprised how helpful they are and a very cool feature, plus you can easily customize it,

One of its most amazing features is its built in map and navigation, with it's built in GPS. Make sure you download the U.S. map or your local map for free OFF-LINE use using the amazing "Nokia Drive" app (which you can also download for free in Marketplace) It then becomes a FREE personal navigation device.. And it works great for in car use with its voice navigation. Using the "maps" app gets you local information of nearby attractions, restaurants, hotels, and more with ratings, phone number, hours, reviews, etc and gives you instant directions to any location via public transportation, walking, or driving.

I can hardly believe you get ALL THIS for basically A FREE phone! The personal navigation device alone is worth $150..! Plus the camera, and video recording, and music player all included..

Thers is so much more..You will be very happy with this phone.

Unfortunate flagship. August 25, 2012

Reviewer:  Brandon  (San Francisco, CA) -

I'm on my 3rd phone after sending it in 4 times (about to be 5).

First 2 phones had an issue where they would go into a boot loop if they died (ex. Phone dies, plug in charger, battery charging screen, windows phone screen, AT&T screen, off, and repeat). Different chargers wouldn't fix the issue and I had to send them in to be replaced (2nd phone did this within a week of ownership!).

The 3rd phone is now having problems with its capacitive buttons, where they'll either respond like they're being pressed or not respond at all to touch. Extremely irritating problem that comes and goes on its own. This unit's not even a month old.

Aside from these issues, the phone is nice overall. It has a beautiful design and I absolutely love windows phone. Battery life is pretty good (usually lasts me the day and sometimes some of the next one) and it has a really nice screen. Call quality is ok, but I've noticed that you have to hold it flat against your face or people have a hard time hearing you. Oh, and in call volume is a little too loud for my tastes (even with the volume turned all the way down). Being able to launch the camera from a locked state with the screen off is fantastic (though the feature works inconsistently for me). Camera quality is actually pretty good, though the flash is a bit weak.

Overall, it's a flawed phone. Alluring by design and functionality, but thoroughly disappointing by its fragility. It makes me sad because I haven't even had this phone for 2 months and I'm already shopping around for a replacement. It's really unfortunate that this is Windows Phone's best right now.

Looks different.. stylish..BUT June 30, 2012

Reviewer:  skizhak 

I'm writing this review after second phone also showed up problems with the front capacitive buttons. Following thread discusses front button issues that various customers have reported.

[...]

if you are still a fan of nokia and ready to give a shot, ask Nokia for a testing job salary.

regarding the amazon wireless they looked pretty much helpless and if anything is beyond 30 days of purchase date, there is no replacement and it has to be done through ATT(you know who they are!) or device manufactures warranty.

Now im locked up in this mess. from the bottom of heart a personal suggestion is that there are plenty of good phones out there in market which doesnt frustrate you for basic functions.

I love windows phone and metro tiles but NOKIA?? NOO!! my samsung focus is still way better.

other issues i noted in the second phone i received:
1.headphone volume is very low. you need to crank it to top 25s but then if you use speaker thats too loud!

2.for few times while using the local scout app in indoor place, it showed place near akron, Ohio! where as im in california. this was persistent for a longer time. my maps and all GPS related apps (eg forsquare) was showing the same akron city! WTH. that to me looked like software glitch when its not able to connect to a GPS or something it started showing up like that, but thats my guess.
(UPDATE: as a commenter mentioned below this was a AT&T issue.)

3. i had to run to ATT store once to show them i dont see the unlock code entry screen! store representative surprised to see that and reset the phone.

again this is the second phone. you can discount hardware issues in one but second time?! BIG NO! there are plenty of more things in life to take care of.

if you wants to be in windows family, Samsung is the maker to go. i have used Focus for 2 years without any issues.

and one last thing, with announcement of windows phone 8 and confirmed news of not coming it to existing windows phones currently in market, you can expect the level of support this will get in coming months.

Good luck.

UPDATE:
7/03
13 reviewers before me gave good rating and have not mentioned any issues. i would like to believe that the two phones i received are from the bad lot or others have not really started using the phone.

when you are updating a phone after two year contract, you expect it to work better than what you already have. For me, honestly, from samsung Focus the only plus i see is the front facing camera which you can use for skype.
(Again this also has issues, because when you are talking in speaker phone for sometime either background apps chooser kicks in or the MS tellme)

This link provided above doesn't seems to have published. you can find them in Nokia support discussions and search for 'touch-capacitive'

regarding the Akron, OH issue as mentioned by a commenter below was an AT&T network issue.