Nokia Lumia 920 - first impressions

Nokia is pinning its hopes on its new Lumia handsets with Windows Phone 8 but how good are they? Matt Warman tries out the Lumia 920.

The fresh Nokia Lumia 920 mobile phone is the most excellent the company has ever made – its 4.5” screen curves round a pleasantly solid body that surround a camera that’s so clever it can even work out when public walked in front of your shot, or add some moving fundamentals to still photographs. Its maps now flawlessly add content from the web to show the street you’re walking down in splendid ‘augmented reality’. Wireless charging means that even your bedside table or desk will look neater thanks to Nokia.

There is, of course, a ‘but’ – the operating system, Windows Phone, is struggling to attract users and Microsoft’s overall market share is still falling. Nokia couldn’t get its act together to release prices or release dates for its latest, lovely handset. That basic blunder is not one that Apple will make when it announces the iPhone 5 next week, or that Samsung makes when it launches important new products.

The Windows Phone 8 software remains excellent – its start screen has been upgraded to use space more effectively, live tiles continue to offer constant updates. Nokia itself has worked hard with partners to build apps that provide real enhancements for the camera, and the package comes together to make sure consumers feel that they’re always using one coherent device rather than a phone that is constantly having new apps bolted uncomfortably onto it.

Offline maps, too, work so well that the satnav is even more redundant than it was before, because they’re built in properly to the phone. In the short time I had hands-on with the phone, all the camera features worked effectively, and the wireless charging is a neat addition, but of course still relies on users being near to a charger, albeit one that is now wireless in its connection to the phone.

The biggest challenge Nokia faces in the UK is not that there aren’t many users who will soon be buying their first smartphone and could be tempted by a Windows Phone. In an objective world, it would probably be the most tempting on the market. The real problem is that to attain the critical mass Windows Phone needs, it must, led by Nokia, steal users from Android and Apple. While that ought to be perfectly possible, it’s hard to see anybody managing, even with pockets as deep as Microsoft’s. The Windows maker can’t afford to fail, but it will need many more devices at least as good as the 920 to reach its goal.

First trailer - Vidya Balan Flaunts Her Curves In ‘The Dirty Picture’

We have seen her sensuous side in a number of films, but this one is going to be different. Her movie The Dirty Picture is riding high on her shoulders, in fact on her oomph. The first trailer of the film is out and Vidya Balangets to flaunt her curves in the movie which is a kind of biopic on the life of the sex symbol Silk Smitha. 

To portray Silk Smitha with finesse, Vidya has walked an extra mile slipping not just into skimpy blouses with plunging necklines that leaves the onlookers’ eyes popped out; she seems to have done that better than her detractors would have ever anticipated. 

The uninhibited display of her cleavage, the fuller mid-riff (typical of south Indian actresses), the coy smile, and that seductive posture make her every bit the oomph diva a la Silk Smitha. 

Vidya also has steamy scenes with her co-actors in the film. Though she is sharing screen space with Tusshar Kapoor and Emraan Hashmi, she has mostly shot for intimate scenes with much older Naseeruddin Shah, who also gets to undrape her sari in the teaser.