The wait for the long awaited and highly heralded phone is finally over. At last AT&T has launched the Nokia Lumia 900. AT&T is charging $99.99 for a 2 year contract. This phone is Nokia’s only hope of sealing the deal in the US market.

Nokia had tried desperately to turn the tides in its favor with the launch of Lumia 800 in the recent past but it didn’t work out at all. So what Nokia has managed to do is, change the looks of the phone (a little), bump up the specs and attach a very attractive price sticker. This indeed is a very good looking windows phone and in terms of build quality is top notch.

 DESIGN:

Its not hard to imagine why this phone has caught the attention of so many people as far as looks are concerned. The profile and the form-factor stand out. Personally I am waiting for the much hyped white color launching April 22nd. At 5 inches in length, 2.7 inches in width and .45 inches in depth, this is a pretty large phone by current market trends. With its matte finish and flat body it feels very nice to slide it in and out of the pocket. It weighs a mighty 5.6 ounces and initially might feel heavy and takes some getting used to, but there is a very reassuring sturdy feel attached with this device. This is a strong phone and is built to last.

The Lumia 900 has a front facing camera and has the all important LTE connectivity. It is slightly larger than Lumia 800 and unfortunately has some noticeable gaps that Nokia surprisingly overlooked. One is at the back where one can put a fingernail to pull out the SIM from the SIM compartment and the other at the edge of the screen where the glass and the body have a minute separation. (Sloppy work from Nokia.)

Plus there is 1 more awkward design which I firmly believe Nokia shouldn’t have gone with, the raised glass surface from the body which previously on the 800 blended smoothly with the body. This gives a rather jarring touch and the entire feel of it is not very pleasing to be honest.

The 900 sports a larger 4.3 inch AMOLED screen with a modest 800X480 pixels. Colors are very bright, are perfectly hued and appear very crisp. The 900 provides a deep contrast compared to any other Nokia and hence black appears deep black and the greens become “true green”. It has the standard 3.5 mm headphone jack, volume rockers, a micro USB charging port and a Micro SIM slot like the iPhone. At the back side you see the Carl Zeiss 8 MP camera lens and a dual LED flash.

APPS:

Nokia’s partnership with Microsoft ensures that the Lumia series get all the latest updates on OS from Microsoft. Software side as is clearly visible, Nokia hasn’t got much to play with as it is windows a locked down OS and a complete contrast to Android. So Nokia cant show of its specialty as a manufacturer as other Android phone makers do. Still there are quite a few pre-defined apps like Nokia Drive, Nokia Maps, Nokia Transit, and Nokia Contacts transfer, ESPN, CNN etc.

Most windows phone have the same apps and looks and hence behave the same way. Hence the “extras” or “add-ons” from companies are very important. In Nokia’s case it is the provision of LTE connection. Wi-Fi connectivity is standard but unfortunately the Bluetooth driver installed is an outdated one featuring a 2.1 version. Windows phone OS does provide social network integration, threaded messaging, task switching and even voice searching. Besides there are the Bing maps and other cool list of day-to-day apps that Nokia has provided. Plus there are the usual bundled apps provided by the carrier AT&T.

 Speaking of the camera takes us through a journey of very sharp and crisp images to slightly fuzzy ones. The camera is most suited for well lit conditions. Hence suiting outdoor is the key to snap great pictures.

SPECS:

• 1.4 GHz single core processor
• 16 GB storage, 512 MB RAM
• 8 MP front camera, 1.3 MP rear camera
• 800X480 pixels on 4.3 inch display
• 720p video recording at 30 fps
• OS: Windows phone 7.5 Mango

All in all its a good phone to use and the user experience is what you can say is purely windows oriented. There are a few design flaws which Nokia should have seen to, but still these are minor and can be overlooked. It has a very crisp display and overall makes for a great value-for money phone.