Today’s unveiling by HTC and Nokia at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES) should send shivers down the spines of Windows Phone fans all over the world.
For starters, the long-rumoured Nokia Lumia 900 is finally a reality, and it’s every bit as awesome as I had imagined. The new Nokia flagship smartphone features a 4.3-inch ClearBlack AMOLED display (800 x 480), a 1.4GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. No word on whether there will be other storage options, and 16GB just seems so 2008.
At 11.4mm, the Lumia 900 is definitely not a skinny phone. But it packs a 1,830mAh battery, which, coupled with the power-efficiency of an AMOLED screen, should mean a very impressive battery life.
The phone is compatible with LTE networks, and Nokia boasts that it will allow download speeds of up to 50Mbps on US carrier AT&T’s networks. This should tie in nicely with the gradual rollout of LTE networks over Singapore.
The 8-megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lenses on the back is likely the same as the one found on the Lumia 800, and there’s finally a front-facing camera that Nokia says has a wide-angle lens.
There’s no word on pricing or availability other than it going to be released in the US in the next couple of months. But seeing that Singapore was one of the first countries in Asia to get the Lumia 800, I would bet we’ll see the Lumia 900 soon after it launches.
The Lumia 900 isn’t the first Windows Phone to come with an LTE radio. That honour belongs to the HTC Titan II, the second iteration of the fantastic HTC Titan launched just 4 months ago in September 2011.
What completely stole the show is the Titan II’s incredible 16-megapixel camera with a backside illuminated sensor. It’s official, folks: 8-megapixel phone cameras are so 2011!
But of course, megapixel-count is not everything, and it’s possible that the only benefit is higher-res photos. At 16-megapixels, the quality of the lens is also going to be a key factor in image quality, but unlike Nokia trumpeting its Carl Zeiss lenses, HTC doesn’t seem to be using anything fancy.
Still, HTC has packed in some serious camera features, including an f/2.6 wide-angle lens, red-eye reduction, image stabilisation, and a dedicated image processor.
Other than the insanely bumped-up camera, the Titan II is not that much different from the Titan, save a few cosmetic changes. It runs on a 1.5GHz processor and 512MB of RAM, and is marginally lighter than the Lumia 900.
There’s a front-facing camera, naturally. And of course, that massive 4.7-inch Super LCD screen (800 x 480) is an absolute delight for watching videos, playing games and looking at spreadsheets. The battery is also bumped up from the first Titan, but at 1,730mAh, I don’t think battery life will be as good as the Lumia 900.
And seeing that HTC didn’t bring the first Titan to Singapore, I wouldn’t be too hopeful about the Titan II as well.
It’s going to be an interesting fight between these two phones. Nokia’s long-awaited hero phone doesn’t disappoint, but HTC’s newest offering should make those waiting for the Lumia 900 to pause and reconsider their options.
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