THE EMPIRES STRIKE BACK
Mihir Patkar & Savio D’Souza
Not so long ago, the iPhone and Android began their
domination of the smartphone market. Soon, old giants like Nokia, Microsoft and
BlackBerry found themselves playing catch-up. Now, to regain lost ground, they
have come up with refreshed operating systems, top-of-the-line hardware, and
refined design. With new flagships, can these past stalwarts jostle for space
with Apple, Google and Samsung once again?
Nokia Lumia 920
Specs: 4.5-inch IPS touchscreen (1280x768 pixels) |
1.5GHz dual-core CPU | 1GB RAM | 32GB storage, no microSD slot | 8MP rear
camera, 1080p FullHD video recording | 1.3MP front camera, 720p HD video | 3G,
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.1, micro USB, GPS | 2000mAh battery, around 14 hours of
average usage | Windows Phone 8
Look & Feel: The Lumia 920 boasts of a unibody construction, a unique curved-glass design, and is available in red, yellow, grey, black and white. It looks trendy, expensive and sophisticated, all at once. It’s large and heavy, but you do get used to the weight after a while.
Interface: Windows Phone 8 has a tile-based interface that feels fresh,
modern and is intuitive and smooth. But it does not have a notification bar for
instant updates
on emails, social network posts and missed calls. Its ‘Live Tiles’ display updates for corresponding apps, but you won’t put every single app on the start screen, will you? And inexplicably, the battery and clock bar isn’t always on screen – a small thing, but we found it really annoying. Of course, the biggest miss is the lack of a robust app store.
on emails, social network posts and missed calls. Its ‘Live Tiles’ display updates for corresponding apps, but you won’t put every single app on the start screen, will you? And inexplicably, the battery and clock bar isn’t always on screen – a small thing, but we found it really annoying. Of course, the biggest miss is the lack of a robust app store.
Screen : The screen is capable of bright, true colours while maintaining
deep black levels. The size is great and the sunlight legibility is fantastic.
However, instead of smooth gradients of colours, you see banding in hues.
Performance: The phone is a smooth performer, but the multi-tasking
limitations of the OS are a pain. At any time, you can run only 8 apps; and not
all apps update in the background, such as Twitter apps. In fact, multi-tasking
is the biggest problem. While listening to a song, if another app has any small
sound – even a solitary ‘ding’ when playing Words With Friends – the track will
stop. It feels half-baked, and isn’t an enjoyable experience.
Music: Nokia Music lets you download thousands of songs for free,
legally, which is great for music lovers. On the down side, the music playback
app is atrocious, the worst we have used. Simple tasks like fast-forwarding or
creating a playlist are unintuitive and cumbersome.
GPS & Maps: Nokia Maps remains the best mobile navigation solution
for Indian users, with its large number of POIs (points of interest), great
point-to-point directions, and detailed maps.
Battery: The Lumia 920 has worse
battery life than most Androids in its price range. On an average day of light
3G gaming, plenty of browsing, some video playback, lots of music playback,
about an hour of calls, and a little 3G usage, it lasted just 14 hours. Very
disappointing.
Price: At the price it asks for, we just don’t think it’s worth the
money, especially considering the alternatives available in Android phones.
Nokia Music’s free song downloads is its only saving grace.
Camera: Barring the out-of-production PureView 808, the Lumia 920 sports
the best camera on a smartphone today. Photos are clear and crisp, enough to be
a decent replacement for most pointand-shoots. It excels in low-light shots,
but the 920 still artificially punches up colours, so you don’t get true images
– blacks appear blue, reds appear pink; it’s messy.
Verdict: Nokia Lumia 920 boasts of great hardware,
let down by poor software; Windows Phone 8 just doesn’t match up to the
experience on Android or iOS. When the Samsung Galaxy S III is available for
28,500, there is simply not a compelling enough reason to pay so much more for
the Lumia.
BlackBerry Z10
Specs: 4.2-inch IPS touchscreen (1280x768 pixels) |
1.5GHz dual-core CPU | 2GB RAM | 16GB storage, microSD up to 32GB | 8MP rear
camera, 1080p FullHD video recording | 2MP front camera, 720p HD video | 3G,
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4, micro USB, GPS | 1800mAh battery, around 16 hours of
average usage | BlackBerry OS 10
Look & Feel: The Z10 sports an elegant and
minimalistic design. Brushed metal buttons that are firm and responsive; a
screen that fades to a wonderful pitch black when in sleep mode; and a back
cover with a texturedrubber coating make this BlackBerry polished and classy.
Interface: The BB10 OS uses gestures for various tasks. Unlocking the
screen or ‘minimizing’ a fullscreen app involves swiping from the bottom edge.
Multi-tasking is smooth, and all minimized apps – again, only eight at a time –
can be accessed from a screen called the ‘Active Frame’ panel. A universal
swipe gesture takes you to the ‘Hub’, which is home to your notifications:
BBMs, emails, social network updates, etc. Also, new notifications are conveyed
by a blinking red LED. Those who’ve used the BB Playbook will be up to speed in
no time, while the intuitive UI will have new users comfortable in a few days.
Screen: The Z10 packs in 356 pixels per inch; greater than the iPhone
5’s 326 ppi. Images and text look sharp, and colours are rendered accurately
with rich blacks. Add the wide viewing angles and a screen that’s legible in
sunlight, and you have a display that befits a premium handset.
Performance: FullHD videos and heavy apps pose no problem to the phone’s
hardware. Call quality is clear and the touchscreen is receptive to touches and
swipes. Additionally, the phone’s voice control feature works well for small
tasks like web searches, or to initiate phone calls. To create notes, you will
be better served by the Z10’s virtual keyboard that minimizes typing errors.
Music: You can find songs (with rupee prices) at the BB World store.
Lata, Rafi, Adele, Metallica, The Who – they’re all here. As far as playback is
concerned, the Z10 boasts of
above average sound quality with good bass, though treble might seem lacking due to its warm fuzzy sound. Also, it lacks equalizer settings.
above average sound quality with good bass, though treble might seem lacking due to its warm fuzzy sound. Also, it lacks equalizer settings.
GPS & Maps: The GPS and Maps app on the Z10 is grossly inadequate to
use as a direction guide. The device locks onto location co-ordinates, but
lacks detailed cartographical data to be of any practical use.
Battery: In a day’s use that includes gaming, web browsing, video and
music playback, 3G and Wi-Fi, the Z10 gave us around 16 hours of battery;
mostly lasting well over a day when we didn’t push the device.
Price: At 43,490, the Z10 is too expensive.
Camera: Pictures shot in daylight are crisp and clear – but in low
light, they appear blurred and grainy. Video quality is decent. Overall, the
camera performance is on par with most premium handsets, although it is
definitely not the best in class. One of the standout features of the Z10’s
camera is its TimeShift mode to get rid of bad shots, where it captures 11
images of a scene so that the user can use a slider mechanism to create a
snapshot where everyone has their eyes open and is smiling.
Verdict: The Z10, by and large, is defined by
sterling hardware, coupled with a very innovative and intuitive OS. Its price
and lack of well-known apps, however, work against it. Recommended only for
those die-hard BB users who are fans of its secure enterprise services and BBM.
SUMMING IT UP…
At present, Nokia has great camera optics, a superb navigation tool in the form of Nokia Maps, and a free music service. Plus, Windows Phone 8 is buttery smooth. BlackBerry, on the other hand, has BBM and secure enterprise services, which they can leverage upon against the competition. The BB 10 OS, in fact, is something we put on par with iOS and Android. Nokia, Microsoft and Blackberry are brands we have loved in the past, so it’s hard not to root for them.
However, these brands will need to launch devices in lower price brackets to take on Android. A larger user base, spread across price bands, will also entice developers to build apps for both OSes.
Indeed, the biggest problem for both the Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry OS 10 platforms is ‘apps’. Good hardware, great design and beautiful user interfaces come to naught when users can’t go online and download Instagram, or play Temple Run 2. Past records have shown that new apps are released for these platforms much after being introduced on iOS and Android. Noticeably missing from both app stores is the official Gmail app (although both devices support Gmail through their native mail app).
To sum it up, the Lumia 920 and the Z10 are good devices, but do not offer value for money due to lack of proper app support. Still, we would be cautious about writing these brands off. Regular OS updates, up-to-date app stores and better pricing from these players could very well change the smartphone ecosystem for the better.
At present, Nokia has great camera optics, a superb navigation tool in the form of Nokia Maps, and a free music service. Plus, Windows Phone 8 is buttery smooth. BlackBerry, on the other hand, has BBM and secure enterprise services, which they can leverage upon against the competition. The BB 10 OS, in fact, is something we put on par with iOS and Android. Nokia, Microsoft and Blackberry are brands we have loved in the past, so it’s hard not to root for them.
However, these brands will need to launch devices in lower price brackets to take on Android. A larger user base, spread across price bands, will also entice developers to build apps for both OSes.
Indeed, the biggest problem for both the Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry OS 10 platforms is ‘apps’. Good hardware, great design and beautiful user interfaces come to naught when users can’t go online and download Instagram, or play Temple Run 2. Past records have shown that new apps are released for these platforms much after being introduced on iOS and Android. Noticeably missing from both app stores is the official Gmail app (although both devices support Gmail through their native mail app).
To sum it up, the Lumia 920 and the Z10 are good devices, but do not offer value for money due to lack of proper app support. Still, we would be cautious about writing these brands off. Regular OS updates, up-to-date app stores and better pricing from these players could very well change the smartphone ecosystem for the better.
