A lovely design, but do the specs of this Nokia device measure up for creatives?
Nokia trades on good looks and quality camera
Of all the phones here, the Lumia probably looks the coolest. It's a great design. Whether white, black, blue or pink (yes, pink), the phone's form factor is very neat – curves where there needs to be curves, a lovely gloss finish on the white model at least, with the screen almost melting into the body.
It's an incredibly good-looking device that doesn't feel too big in the hand, even with its 4.3in screen. It's not quite as lovely as the smaller, more curvaceous, Lumia 800, but it's still an excellent design. One thing – the battery is sealed in (like the iPhone and the HTC One X here). Just part of Apple's influence on the mobile market.
Screen
The screen on the 900 is, though, not the greatest. You're so used to seeing something classed as 'retina' that when you only have a resolution of 800x480 on a screen this size, it's disappointing.
Sure, this is a standard Windows Phone resolution (it runs 7.5, Mango) but that's not the point – images aren't quite as sharp as you feel they should be and the UI itself just feels fuzzy. The camera is great, as you'd expect from Nokia, but viewing images isn't the greatest.
Metro
Windows Phone and its Metro Design Language is a departure from the often skeuomorphic designs found in smartphones to a flatter, ultimately more typographic navigation system.
It's very easy to use, although when you dig deeper into the apps the navigation does begin to lose its clarity ever so slightly.
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Apps
There's no doubt that Windows Marketplace has many tools and games, but is way behind both the iOS App Store and Google Play. It is not quite as terminally bereft of apps as the Blackberry, but there is much room for expansion here - and with Microsoft desperate to claw back market share from the Google and Apple behemoths, you can bet that this area will improve in the future.
However, with the Lumia 900 unable to feature the upcoming all-singing all-dancing Windows 8 OS there may be compatibility issues with future apps.
Price
Free on contract (from around £21 per month). Around £400 sim-free.
Specs: Nokia Lumia 900
Size: 127.8x68.5x11.5mm
Weight: 160g
Screen: AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 480x800 pixels, 4.3in, 217ppi pixel density
CPU: 1.4GHz
Camera: 8MP, video at 720p at 24fps
OS: Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Mango
Storage: 16GB
Micro SD card slot: No
Scores
UI: 7/10
Design: 10/10
Apps: 5/10
Features: 6/10
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