Nokia Lumia 920: Windows Phone's most powerful handset yet
The good: The Nokia Lumia 920 forges new Windows Phone ground with wireless charging support and a highly sensitive screen you can use with gloves. Moreover, Nokia helps fill in Windows Phone OS gaps with a few missing features.
The bad: A thick, heavy build and slippery finish for some colors make the Lumia 920 harder to hold and carry, and the phone's overhyped camera doesn't have enough settings.
The bottom line: Nokia's Lumia 920 is heavy and thick, but if you want the most powerful, feature-rich Windows phone available, this is it.
Design and build
Slightly larger and significantly heavier than its predecessor, the Lumia 920 could do some serious damage if you were to catch it in the jaw. With its consistent 0.4-inch thickness throughout the polycarbonate unibody, the Lumia 920 has presence. And gravity; 6.5 ounces of gravity, to be exact. As such, it's a handset you notice when you drop it in your purse, shove it into a pocket, and casually lift it off a tabletop.
Slightly larger and significantly heavier than its predecessor, the Lumia 920 could do some serious damage if you were to catch it in the jaw. With its consistent 0.4-inch thickness throughout the polycarbonate unibody, the Lumia 920 has presence. And gravity; 6.5 ounces of gravity, to be exact. As such, it's a handset you notice when you drop it in your purse, shove it into a pocket, and casually lift it off a tabletop.
The 920 retains the Lumia 900's perfectly flat top and bottom, round spines, and distinct 90-degree angles around the face. On the plus side, its curvier back gives it a more comfortable palm feel than the Lumia 900's mostly straight plane. Yet its girth makes it a bulkier back-pocket companion than I prefer. I usually desensitize to the phones I carry around in my jeans, but the Lumia 920 never let me forget.
Although the two Lumias are clearly cut from the same cloth, there are differences. The Lumia 920 is 0.1 inch taller (5.1 inches) and 0.1 inch wider (2.8 inches) than the 900, its side buttons are slightly redesigned and repositioned, and the Micro-USB charger moves from the top to the 920's base, while also adding two small screws. The camera and flash also drop a few millimeters on the back.
Nokia's Lumia 920 is sculpted, but also heavy and bulky.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
If you're really into staring at details, you'll note that the Lumia 920's screen ditches the 900's raised ridges, which made the predecessor feel like it was slapped onto a polycarbonate slab rather than sculpted altogether. In the 920, the screen is a smooth, seamless part of the phone.
The white version I tested has a high-gloss plastic finish that's slippery to the touch. In fact, when CNET Editor in Chief Lindsey Turrentine picked up the phone, it immediately slipped through her fingers and dropped back onto my desk. The yellow and red models also receive this shiny treatment, but cyan and black get a matte finish, just like the Lumia 900.
The side buttons rise above the surface and are easy to find and press by feel.
(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)
Are you ready to move on to the screen yet? So am I. The Lumia 920's HD screen has a 1,280x768-pixel resolution (WXGA) with a pixel density of 332 pixels per inch. Whe
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