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Sadly, if you look at the smartphone market its like looking at a group of teenagers in school. There are the Sports Stars, The Geeks & The Too Cools. Now, I’m planting those titles on any one of the main smartphone groups out there but just like those school groups, the smartphone market has its groups. There are iPhone users, Samsung users and the other phone users. Migration from group to group is slight since the Apps market is what tends to lock in the users due to cost of replacement (There are still people charging for fart apps). So when you get a phone brand in your pocket you tend to stay in that group and get into cyclic upgrades.

I mean...why move? You’re happy right?

Truth is that few of us are actually in love with our phones. We dated a few times and jumped in with both feet and regretted it a little but in the end made it work. In short, your Mom & Dad’s marriage.

Well, what if there was a reason to change?

First, let me thank Adam at Phones4u.co.uk for letting me have the two phones for an extended period. If you’re in the market for a phone, then you should definitely check them out.

When Adam suggested I do a comparison review of two Windows Phones, I can’t lie, I wasn’t swept away on a wave of excitement. I’d had a small play with Windows Phone 7 and it was nice. I liked the interface but nothing really had me by the hair and was pulling me around. It was...nice....ok...but.

I opened the packets when they came in the mail and there started the comparison.

LOOK & FEEL

I opened the Lumia 920 packet first, purely by chance and what presented itself too me was a nice, large phone with a red plastic back an interesting and responsive interface. I took a picture and put it down.

I opened the other packet. What presented itself was a slick, aluminium, cool touch, super large, crystal clear slab of gorgeous looking Tech. As first dates go...this was looking promising. On looks and feel alone 1-0 to Lumia 925 and I hadn’t even bought it a drink! This was a hybrid of The Geeks and The Too Cools. This was Rachel Riley, Alicia Day, Veronica Belmont. This was a 3rd way. Nope read that again I said ‘3rd Way’, calm down.

The Nokia Lumia 925 is a beautiful phone which just feels right in your hand. The buttons are understated but obvious and the ‘edge to edge’ Gorilla 2 Glass is just lovely. Its lighter to the touch (50g lighter) and feels much more classy. In comparison terms, the Lumia 920 is so far away in looks and feel that sitting the two phones side by side is almost pointless.

FEATURES

The 920 was a good start to the line with lots of features, the optically stabilized camera, Puremotion HD LCD Display and a slick OS but the 925 is all that and so much more.

The Camera now has 6 elements, shooting an 9mpx image and capturing 1080p video through a Zeiss f2.0 Lens. The firmware of the Camera is upgraded and the 1.5ghz Snapdragon Dual Core processor is just that, snappy and fast. And this camera is boasting far superior low light performance than anything else on the market.

This Phone is a HUGE stop forward for the Nokia Windows Range. Its like the 920 was just a beta device and THIS was the one they should have released all the time.

SCREEN

Its a good Screen. Next to the 920s LED screen, its a second best and I found it a touch on the yellow side and couldn’t see any way of changing that. But pound for pound and given the weight difference of the 925, its more than good enough. Its sharp and clear which is all you need from your phone display.

CAMERA

Both phones suffer the same problem here. The main camera is in the wrong place. Laying phones down is always an issue as it makes it easy to pick up dirt and grit on the lens and the ‘always to be avoided’ scratches but the 925 has a raised camera unit to cope with the addition elements and whilst its certainly one of the better cellphone cameras I’ve seen, I feared for its safety every time I put it down. I also had my fingers on the lens every time I touched it and as a Professional Photographer, fingers on lenses is as bad as nails being pulled down a blackboard. 

The images are...ok. They are a little washed out in low light and its definitely 'yellower' than I would like. The low light gives a workable image but its pretty grainy but no worse than other Smartphones. The video is crisp and nice in good light as are the stills. I could write more, but its just not...better enough to warrant it. Its ok

The Smart Camera is great, if you stay still. Aim the camera, wait for the action and then click just before it all begins. The Lumia then presents a series of images for you to choose the best. And they are proper images, not video captures which is great. BUT...If you move, not so great.

SOFTWARE & OS

I have no real W8 Apps so you’ll have to defer to those who know more in this area than me, but I got a couple of apps and they worked snappily.

The OS is great. I like the ‘Metro’ interface, always have, and Microsoft should be applauded for trying something new even if its not everyone’s cup of tea. Its slick and easy to use and really intuitive. There wasn’t a lot I couldn't fathom with just a little sliding and clicking.

When you think that the OS needs to have a 60fps resolution to be smooth, you can see that even small drops in processing power are problematic, but the movement and interactivity of the screen was just perfect.

Its a simple interface as well and at the consumer level what do you want it to do? Start Apps, Start a Browser, Start and game, Start a call etc and that where Metro is a killer idea. Its an OS built to start ‘things’ and with the big button approach that it offers with Primary Buttons for the main apps and secondary buttons for the support apps, ergonomically it does a great job.

CLICKING

The phone has Haptic Feedback for some functions and I love it. I have always liked the idea of some recognition of strokes when using the keypad particularly. In the beginning when strokes were sometime missed, smartphones with feedback were a great idea but given improvements in screens perhaps this is less of a feature. I would have preferred more customisation in this area though. As it is, its pretty much either on or off.

MEDIA

My stock TV and Movie watching device on the train, is an iPad Mini but I used the Nokia to watch a movie and was pleasantly surprised. I expected it to be too small on a table a couple of feet away from me but I got a very watchable’ experience. I expected half decent audio with headphones but got a nice listening experience instead.

In terms of the speakers, they are as bad as all other smartphones. They go pretty loud but break up badly on the last push of the volume button. Back it off one stop and its nothing more than decent.

In the past, one of the main barriers to giving up the iPhone has been interaction with a Mac but The ‘Windows Phone App’ in the Mac Apps Store has solved that problem and works seamlessly.

Standard data is synced easily, Music is also not an issue and contacts and diary are also easy.That said, don’t expect your DRM content to behave. I couldn’t get any iTunes Movie Purchases to sync.

STORAGE

Ok there had to be a downside. Its 16GB or 32GB and 2GB is gone to the OS. The smaller is just not enough, with a movie and podcasts its easy to crack 16GB. The online prices reflect this but the price of the 32GB sends the phone ever closer to the overpriced iPhone 32GB. You might say that you can always get an extra card, but you can’t, there is no expandability. The phone comes with 7GB of cloud storage free with Nokia.

APP STORE & ACCESSORIES

Well there is a lot less available but I found a Twitter client and Facebook client in an instant, there was also plenty of utilities and in a week, the only real app I missed was ‘Skywalk’

The link to your Xbox though should make up for that but time will tell if Microsoft has an inclusive or exclusive policy on game purchases. If it really means that One Purchase lets me have multi-platform gaming as was always the nirvana...I’m in

Let’s also not forget the free Nokia Music Service. No Ads, No Sign-up & No Subscription

There are some fabulous NFC based accessories as well. Wireless charging. Music Players with wireless charging stations included and Nokia Chats, wireless bluetooth headset with wireless charging docks.

CONCLUSIONS

OK, the real killer question is, 'Will the Nokia 925 make you drop your iPhone or Samsung Galaxy and move over'? Hmmm

Yes.

For me it ticks all the right boxes. I’m no power user of the iPhone so the easy start options appeal. The Mac interaction issues are gone with a simple yet effective Free Mac App. Everything I have is easily synced including contacts and media and there is no real barrier to swapping other than all the apps I’ve bought. And of course my iPhone can still be an 'iPod Touch' even afterwards

Come September, Apple need to wow me. They have until then and I see what’s coming next in the iPhone line but if its not something that leaps ahead, I will be sorely tempted to check out the Nokia Lumia 925 Prices at Phones4U.co.uk

Ewen