Windows Phone 8: HTC, Nokia and Samsung

As of a few days ago, the current count of phones that will ship with Windows Phone 8 is…five. Two from Nokia, two from HTC and one from Samsung.

With Windows Phone 8 set to officially launch in October, it seems that many phone manufacturers wish to jump on the wagon and make some money. In this day and age, any competition is good, pushing companies to one-up one another creating the better device and consumers reaping the rewards. As long as no company is copying another, all is good (won’t go too much into the recent Apple vs Samsung fiasco because to be honest, who cares?). So what is currently being offered by the three big non-fruit phone makers then?

The best iPhone yet...wait wha?

I shall start with the Samsung Ativ S. For all those hoping for something different, you will be disappointed. It is as if Samsung has taken the Galaxy S3 and put WP8 on it with a compatible CPU. The Ativ S has the same 4.8 inch display, almost the same form factor (although less “round” than the S3) and the same 16GB or 32GB option plus microSD card slot.

The Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 are a different story. Building upon the reasonably successful design of the Lumia 900 and 800, the successors are set to take back what was rightfully Nokia’s – the claim to the mobile phone throne. The only differences between the two Lumias are the Lumia 820 has a smaller form factor and has a 4.3 inch 480 x 800 pixels display using AMOLED technology, 8GB of on-board memory plus an added microSD slot. The Lumia 920 does away with the microSD slot and gives everyone 32GB of memory. There is a 4.5 inch display pushing 1280 x 768 resolution, yes that is beyond HD 720p (slightly taller than widescreen) @332 ppi density – higher than retina. The touch screen technology is IPS with ClearBlack offering incredible vibrance contrast and is super sensitive meaning that one no longer has to use just their fingers to navigate their phone; a great feature especially if you use gloves or prefer to use a pointer for writing and drawing. The Lumia 820 has interchangeable covers one of which includes a wireless charging backplate but the Lumia 920 has this as standard.

820 far, 920 close

Both phones will have front facing cameras, albeit the 820’s one only being capable of VGA whilst the 920 one is capable of 1.2MP. As with the main camera, the 820 will have an 8PM camera plus flash whereas the 920 will have a 8.7MP one with PureView with Optical Image Stabalisation and a camera backlighting technique that captures low light images as if they were shot during the day.

Wireless charging? Yes please!

Both phones will be available in a selection of colours, are LTE (4G) capable and will be offered exclusively on UK’s 4GEE (Everything Everywhere) network, which is a bummer for guys like me who aren’t on T-Mobile or Orange, EE’s partner networks, and wanted to upgrade later this year.

The copycats

And finally we get to HTC. HTC unveiled its newest Windows Phone 8 devices, the 8X and 8S. With a similar naming scheme to the One X and One S, one would expect the WP8 siblings to have similar specs and appearance, just like with any HTC product, and one would be right, sort of. The HTC 8 series boast unibody designs and a selection of colours with the 8X being the larger one with a 4.3 inch display and the 8S with a 4.0 inch one. The 8X display sports a nice 720p resolution and the fact that is it 0.2 inches smaller than the one in the Nokia 920 means it has a density of 342 ppi, giving it the crown of density along with Sony’s new Xperia range. The phones will have the same processor as the one in the Lumia range. Like with all HTC phones, the classic flip clock interface is now present as a large live tile. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer praised the newfound partnership with the Taiwanese mobile giant but mentioned nothing of the all important billion dollar partnership Microsoft has with Nokia. What is interesting is that the HTC phones are WP8 signature ones, whatever that means, and Nokia’s Lumias aren’t. It is doubtful that this will make any difference to any of the sales, followers, stocks, arguments or trolling at all.

Now everyone can have a HUD!

During all the announcement events, the most anyone had to see of any software was at Nokia’s, where it showed apps such as City Lens – augmented reality showing POIs overlaid on your camera display. Microsoft has been very tight lipped about its operating system, which can either mean it is still unsure about something, perhaps a bug, and is unable to suppress it during any demo, or that it is highly proud of its creation and doesn’t wish to display anything until the actual release. Whatever the case, here’s to hoping it will be great.

Fight!

While the selection of devices is a bit thin, all the phones released offer something that the Apple iPhone 5 does not and that is the fresh factor – the feeling of using something new that no longer feels outdated. BlackBerry has suffered this recently and the more learned of the iPhone 5, users are definitely feeling that Apple’s innovation may be grinding to a halt. There will no doubt be those arguing about the amount of apps in the iTunes store compared to the Windows one but the point is that the main and most useful apps such as the social networking ones, RSS and mail clients, camera and productivity tools are available on both platforms.

Think the iPhone 5 Has the “World’s Most Advanced Display”? You’re Wrong.

Mobility Digest has a post exploring the screen of the iPhone 5, described by Apple CEO Tim Cook as the “world’s most advanced display” at the launch event, and comparing it to the screen on the recently announced Lumia 920 (and the 900). The result? Cook is either ignorant of his competition, or he lied. If he is emulating Steve Jobs, then we’ll place money on the latter, but who knows?

To give a quick rundown, the iPhone 5 has a resolution of 1136 x 640, compared to 1280 x 768 on the Lumia 900. The iPhone 5 also has 326 pixels per inch (PPI) vs the Lumia’s 332.

The Lumia 900 has 600 nits for brightness, the iPhone 5 has 569. These Lumia specs are from its existing model, and the 920 has progressed even further. “The next generation of Clear Back Display [Nokia’s outstanding screen technology] technology found in Lumia 920 adds a high-luminescence mode that works automatically improving contrast and brightness outdoors performing even than the old CBD in 900.”

Bear in mind that 900 won awards, against the iPhone and others, for its visibility outdoors. The 920 automatically adjusts itself depending on glare and brightness outside.

The screen refresh rate on the 920 is 50% faster than the iPhone 5, producing “a clean transition from frame to frame allowing the display to deliver a steady 60 FPS without any blurring” (head over to the Mobility Digest article to see the comparison of this).

Apple is boasting about the iPhone 5’s sensitivity – the 920 works with almost anything, including thick gloves.

The end result? Compared to the Lumia 920, the iPhone 5 results are:

Screen PPI: -2%

Screen Resolution: -25%

Screen Sensitivity: it would beĀ embarrassingĀ to find a percentage.

Screen Refresh Rate: -50%

Screen Brightness: -5%

Screen Reflectance: -40%

Screen Outdoor Legibility: -15%

 

Apple Mobile and Music refresh 2012 a.k.a Let-Down of 2012

Last week, Nokia announced its new flagship mobile phones – the Lumia 920 and 820. Although the hype was certainly there, the interest was not and Nokia’s stock continued to drop. Tonight, Apple showed off its newest iPhone and musical device/software refreshes. Hype was certainly there, interest and wow factor…not so much and the really annoying thing is, I predict its stock will still keep rising.

Tim Cook and iPhone 5

Led by new CEO Paul O’Grady…I mean Tim Cook (seriously they really do look like each other), Apple’s September event kicked off as usual with some statistics on how well the fabled glass and metal products are selling around the world. Awesome. A few minutes in and the iPhone 5 was unveiled. The naming of the device is totally logical seeing as it is the sixth iPhone and therefore iPhone 5 is the obvious name for it. To those of you that saw the leaked images and rumored designs of this new device, it is exactly the same. Like with every iDevice launch, there is little to no surprise as with the help of the Internet everyone knows exactly what to expect. The non-surprises don’t end there; the new iPhone has a 8-megapixel camera that improves on the one found in the 4S with some new technologies that make shooting in the dark or finding the nice bokeh background easier; it certainly took me by non-surprise. The new iPhone also has LTE capabilities, meaning a faster 4G antenna. For those of you who aren’t familiar, 3G was like broadband for the mobile phones, 4G/LTE is like fiberoptics allowing a very quick data connection to your mobile when you are in a supported area. The iPhone 5 will also have Bluetooth 4.0 and of course iOS 6, the features which were covered in one of my previous articles. Oh and a quicker A6 processor. All these updates seem a bit dull and expected but wait! There are a few new things the iPhone 5 offers that lift it a step up from dull to mundane.

Insert here.

The new iPhone 5 has a redesigned dock connector. Gone are the days of the nine year old (seriously that long ago?!) 30-pin iPod connector and in is the new “Lightning” connector. The cable still uses USB but one can probably assume that it will be 3.0 with the possibility of there being a Thunderbolt alternative. Given the naming of the new connector, I reckon this is very likely. The new connector is also reversible meaning that it is the same when rotated 180 degrees reducing the possibility of a broken port when fumbling around the charger in the dark after a night out.

One plays basketball...

And finally, the iPhone 5 has the long rumoured and debated larger screen. Measuring in at 4 inches diagonal, it is still one of the smaller screens in the world of touchscreen smart phones. Apple’s reasoning being this is that it wishes to preserve the fact that a phone should still “fit” in ones had. In order to maintain the iPhone 4’s Leica-Camera-like form factor, the iPhone 5’s display is merely longer with 1136 pixels across as opposed to 960. Still shy of the 720p displays that many smartphones are now sporting. Heck the Lumia 920 has a whopping 1280×768 in a 4.5″ display. That’s 35% more pixels. The display is now 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio and many apps are being updated to support this new size. It seems that this time round, Apple was more focused on the form factor because the iPhone 5 has a metal back and is much thinner than the 4/4S but at what cost? Is the 4 inch display really enough to rival the competition?

Simple is better?

After the iPhone 5 came iTunes. iTunes has been updated to version 11 with a redesigned user-interface, a simpler store that is the same across all Apple devices and more social integration. By that I mean there is a “Like” button attached to almost everything. The new iTunes needs to be used rather than described as it is more about the interface rather than features. The only actual new feature seems to be the iCloud integration for those into backing stuff up in the sky and even that isn’t very new as everyone knew it was coming anyway.
Bit of discrimination?
Another non-surprise was the iPod Touch. With every release of an iPhone, the iPod Touch models also get an update to keep up with the apps that will be inevitably developed with the iPhone as a priority over the iPod. This time was no different. The new iPod Touch models are updated with the new 4 inch display and better cameras front and back. The processor has also been updated to the A5, a step down from the A6 in the iPhone 5. And like it’s mobile bigger brother, the iPod Touch sports the new Lightning connector. It comes in various colours and has a pop out bit to tie a strap to much like a pocket camera.

I hate round icons...

Finally, two refreshed products that I genuinely did not see coming. First the iPod Nano. Completely redesigned and now looks like someone nicked an iPod Touch from Tinker Bell. It has a 2.5 inch touch screen and also a home button not dissimilar to the one on the iPod Touch. The display is also multitouch. For the first time, the iPod Nano gets Bluetooth 4.0 which means better handsfree capabilities whether in the car or the gym. Aesthetically, the Nano looks shockingly like the Nokia Lumia range:

Will Nokia sue Apple for copying its design like Apple sued Samsung?
Fit for a stormtrooper

The last product was the Apple earPods. Redesigned earphones that will ship with all new iDevices.

So Apple has announced its new products and every year, my hype and excitement decreased. Probably because the smartphone market is so saturated and innovation is dwindling. It is hard to come up with something new without it being copied or ridiculously useless. The iPhone 5 was everything I expected and nothing more. When the iPhone 4S receives the iOS 6 update, it will be the same phone, just shorter. Frankly the only thing that grabbed anything that resembled my attention today was the iPod Nano getting Bluetooth. The iPhone still lacks NFC, the hardware has not improved to play audio at a remotely acceptable level through the speakers, the recording capabilities have not improved, the camera is much the same except for improved low-light conditions (which was absolutely necessary). Compared to the Nokia Lumia 920, which has PureView, PureMotion HD+ screen that can be used while wearing gloves, and Rich Recording that can record up to 140 dB without losing clarity, it’s clear where the real innovation lies.

People will naturally queue to get their hands on the iPhone 5 but I have a feeling that the numbers will not compare to when the iPhone 4 launched. A month or two ago, I stated that Apple had better pull it out of the bag or my next phone will be something different, thus severing my last tie with Apple. I am due an upgrade in November, guess it won’t be an iPhone anymore.