The Nokia Lumia 900 squares up to its predecessor, the Lumia 800

There is nothing like an upgrade to allow smartphone users to consider how far their favourite manufacturer has come along. The Nokia Lumia 800 was a definite watershed for Nokia. Its first Windows Phone device, representing a shedding of its in-house Symbian technology, the device combined a good build and design with an impressive operating system.

The two melded together well. Yet while reviewers may have welcomed the device consumers were not quite as eager. Nokia says it shipped around one million Lumia devices which hardly puts it in the same category as Apple or Samsung. Last year the manufacturer saw its sales fall and its losses rise which suggests while it may have ambitions to net its share of the smartphone marketplace it still has a long way to go.

Nokia is never a firm to rest easy on its laurels, tarnished or otherwise, so right out of the trap in 2012 it shows off a new Lumia device, the 900 and an upgrade to the 800. At the same time it reveals the 710, the baby brother of both handsets. Now the new Nokia Lumia 900 has been unveiled we can begin to work out just how different it might be from the first Lumia.

Like its predecessor the Nokia Lumia 800, the 900 has a 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, bearing 512MB of RAM, and will come complete with Windows Phone 7.

The comparison comes out in 900’s favour against the 800, as it sports a very sexy 4.3-inch AMOLED screen – and users will notice a huge difference compared to the 800’s 3.7-inch screen. Nothing like a bit of in-built obsolescence to keep us panting for more. However, the larger screen sees the same WVGA screen resolution that the Lumia 800 has this already, resulting in a slightly less defined image for the new device.

The Nokia Lumia 900’s body type is almost an exact copy of the 800, but obviously plumper and curvier. The polycarbonate body gave it a certain bulk but at 5.6 ounces, no one is going to look down at the scales in horror. The size difference actually makes the Lumia 900 more appealing, and more unique – the Lumia 800 was physically almost identical to the Nokia N9.

The Lumia 900 also has an 8 megapixel 28mm f/2.2 Carl Zeiss lens on the back and dual-LED flash. The 28mm focal length is wide angle designed specifically for phones and now you can fit all the family in the frame – how technology responds to our every desire eh?

Added to all of that is a wide angle front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera, ideal for video tete a tetes. This was perhaps the biggest feature missing from the original Lumia. People might not use video calling that much but the ability to video call was one of the major new enhancements to Windows Phone Mango, of which the Lumia 800 was one of the first phones to use.

The 900 will come in both cyan and black and generally makes this phone tip the 800 into a cocked hat. Due to a leaked image on the Nokia Facebook page, which was supposed to show the Lumia 800 in white, it is now known that the Lumia 900 will be released pigment free as well. Perhaps this goes to show that the design between these Lumia phones is so similar that even Nokia can’t tell them apart, but Nokia’s blunder gives us something to look forward to.

Nokia have not been forthcoming on whether they were happy with their sales figures for the Lumia 800. Before Christmas they announced the device had broken their previous sales record in the UK. Yet they need this upgrade to do well. It is a more powerful device and Nokia are doing the right thing of building on what worked about the Lumia 800 and just making it better. Originally thought to be exclusive to the United States it has since been confirmed that the phone will be released in other countries too.

This article was written by one of the many guest authors of TechPatio. Thanks to Simon for submitting this one!