Reviews and tests

Testers and critics

I just read a review of the new Nokia Lumia 920, which was very positive indeed. However, my attention was attracted by e single point in the article. It stated that the Lumia 920 had no micro-USB port protection like the Lumia 800, and this was considered to be a negative issue. This is interesting, because I remember the criticism the Lumia 800 received because it has a protected micro-USB port. It was considered too fragile! Now I own a Lumia 800 and the little flap protecting the USB has worked flawlessly. It has a magnetic surface which keeps it perfectly in place.  Sometimes one wonders if it makes any sense to listen to those guys! Anyway the Lumia 920 seems to be a pretty cool thing, and perhaps a major plus is the possibility to use it with your gloves on, as that will make it much easier to use it during wintertime, at least here in Finland.

Actually the Lumia 800 has become very popular due to the attractive price at the moment. It is more compact then the larger 900 version and the Microsoft Office connection makes it very useful for business users.

It seems to me that the more you use the Windows Phone interface the more you like it,  Android and iPhone just feel old fashioned and confusing.

A Secret App

If you are interested in your Lumia’s internal wellbeing, battery status, and other diagnostics, there is a ”secret” application which can be unlocked easily and free of charge. To get the diagnostics just application just dail ##634#. You can test your device, check battery charge an a lot more.

Many new applications have been added to marketplace, gMaps, or Google map which supports street view is very handy. Another nice one, Blood Pressure (Free) can be used to store blood pressure data, draw a graph and send the data by email. A nice Live Tile Clock app is Uno Clock, it gives you a tile with a one handed clock, updated every ten minutes. 

Lumia 900 supports GLONASS , what does it mean

Global Positioning System (GPS) has been integrated in mobile telephones for a long time; Nokia was the first to experiment with integrating GPS and mobile phones. I still have one of the first, it used and GPS cover which was sold separately. With this phone you could get the location in latitude and longitude degrees and store it for later use, pretty much as basic GPS devices, it was slow and needed open space to get a reliable position. Since, the devices have become smarter, faster, and more important global map coverage is standard. All phones have been using the US GPS system, as it is available for free, accurate and reliable. The 24 GPS satellites give 24 hours global coverage.

So what is GLONASS? GLONASS is the Russian counterpart of GPS, and the Nokia Lumia 900 supports both systems. GLONASS has an additional 21 satellites with global coverage, and by using both the amount of available satellites nearly doubles, which greatly enhances positioning capability. 

Theoretically one can calculate a position using three satellites, but for better accuracy a minimum of four is needed, high buildings, forest or other objects can blocks satellite visibility, and that is why adding 21 GLONASS satellites is important.

Europe is building its own global navigation system, Galileo, but this is still under construction, and will be operational somewhere around 2020, adding 30 satellites to the present GPS and GLONASS platforms. 

More Windows phones

HTC HTC has unveiled two new WP 8 phones, and this is a good sign for Microsoft and also for Nokia, as the Windows Phone group is growing. More phones, more users, more applications, it will be good for the market. The HTC devices look very much like the Nokia Lumia series, and some may think this is bad for Nokia. However, if you look at the specifications one notices that the HTC has a lot less to offer in comparison to the new Lumia WP 8 devices.  

The HTC phones have no 4G (LTE), a smaller screen, the camera has on optical image stabilizer (OIS), only one flash LED and less resolution.  Also the memory of the HTC is also 50 % less than its Nokia counterpart. And also only the Nokia has downloadable maps for car navigation. And this is till the greatest advantage of Nokia, be it the Symbian or Lumia series devices.

Lummia 920 and iPhone 5, now we know

So now we know, iPhone 5 and Lunia 920, different design, different operating system, but otherwise pretty much the same. Both have 4G, although it is not certain in which countries it will work. Basically it depends upon the operators, how fast they can build their 4G networks. Actually 4G is very limited in most countries, and there are a lot of different systems all being marketed under the same 4G name. And at the moment many areas are lacking even 3G connections, and for normal phone calls GSM is actually sufficient. And as 3G and 4G even more needs a denser network due to the shorter range I think GSM and 3G will be here for quite some time.

As many have notices the iPhone 5 is not very revolutionary, a bit thinner, wider and lighter and a better camera, but no OIS, (optical image stabilizer), a feature the Nokia Lumia 920 has. The iOS probably has the same problem as Symbian, it is getting older and it will be difficult to create something really new. WP 8 is new and will evolve and get better all the time.

At the moment I am using two phones, a Nokia E7, with a query flip keyboard and a Lumia 800. I just updated the E7 with the new Belle refresh version, and I still have the opinion that it is great, the email widget shows me when and what new emails I received. No widgets in iOS or WP! On the other hand the Lumia is very easy to operate, has a great audio quality and has many Apps you do not get for the Belle version.

What I would like is a Lumia WP8 with a real keyboard, like the E7, this would be a productive piece of equipment. I have an iPad so I do know what the iOS is like, and it is ok, but not the system I would prefer to work on, however, at the moment it is the only viable tablet option. But I will not buy an iPhone, why? As I have an iPad, I really do not need to use a small screen for mailing or web surfing, I can just check if I have any important messages and answer them on the iPad. No need to buy an epensive phone for that. These expensive phones are often quite easy to break, a bit of water and it’s a gonner.

So I will wait until I can see and feel the 920 and make up my mind if ti is worth to change my 800 for a 920. 

Screen lock, can save you money!!

You might ask why use a screen lock, there is a PIN code and I don't have any secrets! But there is another use, one that can save you a lot of money. To illustrate this I tell you a true story, which happened in Germany. The person in question was commuting to work when she noticed her cell phone was missing, assuming she forgot the phone in her apartment there was no reason for alarm. After returning to her apartment she did not find her mobile and realized it was lost or stolen in the underground. After contacting the phone company and locking the phone everything was under control. When the next bill from the telephone operator arrived it was clear something was definitely wrong, a 2000 € bill! The person who found or stole the mobile had made some very expensive long distance calls around the world in about twelve hours. This kind of damage is not covered by insurance, and the bill had to be paid.

This story makes it very clear that a screen lock is a necessary evil, you also lock your house for the same reason, security. Of course you could use a prepaid card, that would limit your loss to the amount on the card, but most people have monthly contracts. My iPad has a lock which allows ten errors, after that all data is erased, the device of course can be initialized again, but the data is secure.

Some phones like Windows Phones or iPhones have some sort of tracking system and be remotely locked using the internet. With the GPS tracking you can check where your device is, did you leave it at home or is it moving on its own? If you have a windows phone go to windowsphone.com to find, ring or erase your phone

WindowsPhone.com

WP 8.0 update?

Thinking about the issue of the new Microsoft Windows Phone 8.0 version and present Lumia phone models I must say the problem is perhaps exaggerated. As the life span of a present Smartphone is about two to three year at max the need to have the latest version of WP is probably not my first priority. From my experience Updating to a new operating system on a platform designed for use with a previous version is usually not very wise and often just leads to the notion that net new version runs slower, as the hardware was not designed for it.  Another thing to keep in mind is that the difference of one version with another is often marginal and mostly “cosmetic”.  For the Lumia 800 and 900 owners (as I am) I would say, just use it and install the updates and improvements you get from Nokia, WP 7.5 is great as it is. When the new series come which are designed for WP 8 you will have the option to update the complete phone. There will be interesting new hardware features waiting, the Pureview super camera to mention one innovation.

The WP system is getting more and more relevant applications, for example free software (Secure Pics) to put your images behind a lock to protect them if your phone gets stolen (you might end up on Facebook or Youtube unintentionally). As a matter of fact, it is very wise to use the automatic screen lock feature (although it is a bit of a nuisance), I met people who had to pay thousands of Euros after their phone was stolen, as somebody used it to make very expensive long distance calls.