Some Thoughts on the Nokia Lumia 920

The purchase of the Lumia 920 was unfortunately a fiasco. The Rogers kiosk in West Edmonton Mall (Rogers Wireless – Phase II by West 49) really gave me a hard time. The kiosk is run by Digital Communications Group. Needless to say, after that experience we will not be back to any of their stores.

On to the White Nokia Lumia 920.

Wow, is it _heavy_! This is one solid phone and will take a bit to get used to the weight.

One would not think of it, but button placement on the Samsung ATIV S was a real pain. The buttons on the Lumia 920 are in a perfect spot.

Power is right where one’s ring and middle fingers sit naturally so powering up and down is easy. The volume and camera buttons are on the same side and in easy reach.

The ATIV S has the volume along the bottom, so when the phone is rotated landscape for tapping messages the volume control slider occasionally comes up due to a knuckle hit on the button. A real pain. The power switch is on the left near the top of the phone when screen faces forward. That was always tough to get to or it would be hit accidentally while landscape tapping.

WOW! The Lumia 920 takes _awesome_ pictures and the first shot is fast!

My daughter took that shot in the passenger seat while poking around the phone. We were driving West into a full-blown 1630 Hours low horizon sun. The camera compensated really well for the light changes especially considering I’m wearing a black shirt!

Suweet: When the phone was first fired up the first question the OS asked was: Do you want to restore your settings from the ATIV S phone?

Answered, “Yes” and about 10 minutes later _everything_ that was on the ATIV S was now on the Nokia. There are a few apps/games that are stuck in the download queue that need to be looked at though.

Screen: The screen quality is noticeably better on the Lumia. This was surprising as Samsung makes one of the better quality LED/LCD panels out there. Everything is crisp, clear, and colour rich on the Lumia’s screen.

The screen’s glass is a bit thick so it will take some getting used to when it comes to tapping out messages.

In the end, the original decision to run with the Samsung was a solid one. Yes, we have the added cost of the Samsung however we now have a reasonable “loaner” if the Nokia gives us any issues, plus after having worked on the Samsung for a couple of months or three the contrast between the two already stands out.

We shall see what happens three months down the road! :)

Note that the Rogers LTE version of the Nokia Lumia 920 has _all five bands_ for the LTE radio where TELUS and Bell tend to strip bands out. This is important for those that intend to roam into the US or other areas of the world.

Also, the Lumia 920 on Rogers has 32GB of internal storage. So, no real loss there since the ATIV S had 16GB of internal and a Micro-SD card at 16GB.

Vlad: I stuck with Windows Phone because I do like the OS. Yes, it has its issues. Another reason is that I am heavily invested in the Xbox Music Pass music content. It has literally saved me four figures worth of downloads on other services that would otherwise get trashed.

The one thing that bites about Android is this: In our make-up art class yesterday (Anne-Marie and I have been going to art class once a week during the school year together for over three years now) Anne-Marie finished her piece. Dixie, our art teacher, likes to take photos of the finished work. She has an S3. She said yes to an Android update the other day.

Guess what her complaint was? And, I’ve heard this many times before after Android updates...

Since the update things are missing and other things don’t work. Her camera on the phone can no longer focus on the art pieces that she takes shots of plus, as above, things are missing and/or now broken.

At least with Windows Phone updates I know that the phone will be the same after the fact.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen
Find out more at
www.thirdtier.net/enterprise-solutions-for-small-business/

Windows Live Writer

About Had It With My Samsung ATIV S Windows Phone 8

Here we are a number of months in since purchasing the new Samsung ATIV S to replace my ageing HTC HD7 phone.

The major killers at this time are:

• Bluetooth just cuts out. Period.
• I’ll be on a call when Bluetooth on the phone will seize up. No sound or voice in/out.
• A full power-down and up is required.
• I’ve taken to hard power cycling the phone once every three or four days to avoid this.
• Go figure, Bluetooth just died. :P
• The camera takes _ages_ to focus and shoot the first time.
• Can’t count the number of shots missed because of this.
• Taking video is hit/miss with focus.
• This one is a real pain. There is no way to focus like the HD7 had by touching the screen. Screen touch is start/stop on the ATIV S.

We’ve seen it said that it is a phone and not a camera.

Well, in my case I use the camera on the phone almost all of the time here in the shop to take product shots, screen shots, build process pictures, and so much more.

The above is a shot of our yard after having 5 or 7 centimetres of snow fall a week or two ago.

This shot is sunrise over the city of Edmonton on my way into the shop.

The camera takes pretty decent pictures though the size of the sensor really limits the quality of the shots.

Call quality wise the phone has been pretty good though at times it takes a long time to pick up LTE from our provider’s tower here at the shop even though there are five bars. This seems to be a regular experience where the phone will show 4G instead of LTE.

Some pluses that Windows Phone 8 does have despite problems with this particular handset:

• Organizing the tiles by size makes at-a-glance for important items simple.
• Voice recognition for in-vehicle hands-free is excellent for calls and hands-free texts.
• Any vehicle that has the ability to tap into the phone’s address book has been flawless to date.
• When bonding the phone to a rental I use “Delete Me” as a tag just-in-case I forget to remove the phone.

So, while overall Windows Phone 8 is a good step forward this particular handset is a real dog. Whether this is tied to the hardware or the platform has yet to be determined. Since the provider’s warranty is 30 seconds or 30 feet, whichever comes first, we are left to Samsung’s warranty support.

Now we get to see how Samsung performs in the RMA department. :P

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Chef de partie in the SMBKitchen
Find out more at
www.thirdtier.net/enterprise-solutions-for-small-business/

Windows Live Writer

Samsung ATIV S Camera Shots and Thoughts

The Samsung ATIV S is a great Windows Phone 8 device.

The voice command capability and voice recognition via Bluetooth is the best we have seen so far.

The camera also takes some pretty decent shots. Here are some shots taken while on the road this morning.

Edmonton City Skyline:

The city’s buildings are in the right side of the sunrise glow. Obviously with a sensor as small as the one is in the camera we are not able to get too detailed on those distance type shots.

Another of the skyline:

And yes, we have had around 24” of snow fall in the last few months:

One storm in around 14” (35cm-40cm) and another in at around 6” (15cm to 18cm). Then a whole smattering of smaller snowfalls.

Our really big beef with the ATIV S camera: The first shot takes EONS to focus and shoot. We have missed plenty a shot as a result of that. :(

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer

Samsung ATIV S Windows Phone 8 Thoughts and Tweaks

Wow, is this ever a _nice_ phone!

It’s light, though a bit slippery, and the screen is brilliant.

Some initial observations:

• My music collection lists were there as soon as I signed into the Music App!
• Now to authorize it and remove my HD7 from the allowed list.
• Added a 32GB Class 10 microSD Card
• Split storage between pictures on the phone and multimedia on the card.
• This is a killer feature that no other Windows Phone 8 device has at this time.
• Bluetooth clarity is awesome in the 2010 Sierra’s hands free setup.
• Voices come through a lot clearer than the HD7 ever did on the same system.
• Windows 8 seamless integration wins!
• All my social media accounts were there without having to do anything.
• Automatic profile migration via Microsoft ID/Live ID is absolutely awesome.
• The raised Windows button at the bottom is a nice touch.
• No accidental touch happening like the HD7 did.
• The phone is big.
• One handed operation with my stubby fingers is a bit of a challenge.
• The screen is beautiful.
• Wow ... everything looks really good on this phone.
• Icon Organization
• It took about 15 minutes to get my key mail folders (I have hundreds) synchronized and then set up the way I like them on the Start screen.
• The ability to have three sizes for the Live Tiles is awesome!

Once the phone is set up the next step is to give it a name.

On a Windows 8 machine or Sufrace: WIN+F, Store, and search for “Windows Phone”.

It’s in the bottom left of the above snip. It takes all of a second to install.

Run the app:

Give the phone a name and then we are done with the configuration.

We then get a big picture view of the phone’s status:

My daughter and my eldest son were hamming it up a bit for the front facing camera on the phone. ;)

To the right above we find:

 

Click on the Finding a lost phone link and give it a minute:

It’s bang on. I don’t know whether I’m happy or “Minority Report” concerned about that!

Oh, and a little surprise turned up in our Inbox:

Someone will always know where I am though. ;)

Conclusion

This is a really _kewl_ phone!

Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 work seamlessly together across device platforms via Microsoft ID to make adding a new device and managing devices a simple process.

It really does look like a lot of effort has been put into the social integration and ease of use across devices that can be found on other platforms.

So far, we have connected a number of new Windows 8 devices, computers, VMs, and online services and they _just work_ across all of those platforms.

The Bluetooth connectivity is second to none. It is clear and crisp and sounds great on all devices that have been connected to it so far. Bluetooth on this phone is definitely superior to the HTC HD7.

Xbox Music Pass

Oh, and if you want to save yourself perhaps thousands of dollars in useless song purchases on the other services get an Xbox Music Pass. No 30 second snippet of something that may or may not stick around in the playlists.

Download, listen, add to playlists, and then if the song is something worth purchasing do so to get an MP3 version that becomes portable and permanent.

Four devices can be hooked into the service with all Windows 8/Windows Phone 8 devices keeping all playlists and music synchronized across them! No more juggling multiple devices to figure out how to get music libraries moved around.

Hat Tip on the WP8 App: MVP Tom Zeigmann

NOTE: The Rogers version has 16GB of on board useable memory. Yesterday we posted that they had a 32GB version. The wires were crossed with the external storage capability of up to 32GB.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer

Poll: Which Windows Phone 8 Device and Why?

We finally have Windows Phone 8 devices on Bell Mobility here in Canada. With Monique’s Lumia 710 phone on Rogers we need at least one Bell/TELUS phone as Rogers has poor rural coverage.

The HTC 8X looks like a decent phone but at 16GB of internal storage with no way to add more it is out of the running.

That leaves the Samsung ATIV S and the Nokia Lumia 920.

Having looked at both there are plus and minus points for both.

• Lumia 920
• Camera setup is supposed to be the best.
• Weight is a factor. The phone is _heavy_ compared to the Samsung.
• 32GB of storage can be a bit small.
• No microSD capability.
• The colour choice is neat.
• LTE bands are 700/850/1900/1700/2100 (Rogers)
• Samsung ATIV S
• Allows for 32GB of external storage to be added.
• Bell version comes with 16GB of on board storage (96GB total).
• Rogers version comes with 32GB of on board storage (indicates no microSD though).
• Important for that large Zune/Xbox Music Pass library!
• Phone is _really_ light.
• The phone is quite large to handle.
• LTE band(s):
• 700MHz (Bell shows only one band)
• 700/850/1900/1700/2100 (Rogers)

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. :0)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer

An Interesting Read – Keylogger Found On Factory Original Samsung Laptops

Remember the Sony Rootkit fiasco not so long ago?

In the following two part article on the Network World Web site, it looks as though Samsung is placing a clandestine product on their laptops that logs keystrokes:

1. NetworkWorld: Samsung installs keylogger on its laptop computers: Part 1 – Discovery
2. NetworkWorld: Samsung responds to installation of keylogger on its laptop computers (Part 2)

To quote Part 2:

“The supervisor who spoke with me was not sure how this software ended up in the new laptop thus put me on hold. He confirmed that yes, Samsung did knowingly put this software on the laptop to, as he put it, ‘monitor the performance of the machine and to find out how it is being used.’"

It is really awesome that we have folks out there that are watching our backs! 8-O

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

*Our original iMac was stolen (previous blog post). We now have a new MacBook Pro courtesy of Vlad Mazek, owner of OWN.

Windows Live Writer