Upgrade your Nokia N8 to Nokia Lumia 900

The Nokia Lumia 900 will be hitting UK shelves over the coming weeks, and it’s an attractive new upgrade option for a number of Nokia N8 users who are finally ready to let their baby go! We take a look at what the new handset has to offer compared to the old champion.

Nokia Lumia 900 – the best multimedia smartphone yet?

As far as legendary smartphones go, few have lasted the course as well as the Nokia N8. Thanks to its rugged shell, striking looks and photographic abilities that are only just set to be usurped (thanks to the Nokia 808 PureView), it’s stood the test of time – all while building up an avid fanbase.

So which new Nokia phone is going to tempt Nokia N8 users into and upgrade? Well, for purely photographic elements the Nokia 808 PureView will be hard to beat, but as an all-round multimedia smartphone we’d say that the Nokia Lumia 900 will be your best option.

Why? Well for one thing there’s the Nokia Lumia 900′s screen. It’s a huge improvement over the Nokia N8′s. While both use AMOLED technology for brighter colours and blacker blacks, the Nokia Lumia 900′s is much bigger (4.3-inch versus 3.5-inch) and sharper (217 ppi against 210 ppi). It also uses superior RGB matrix technology for a crisper image.

Then there’s what sits under that screen. The Lumia 900′s 1.4GHz CPU offers more than double the processing power of the Nokia N8′s 680MHz chip, while it also has double the RAM for handling advanced tasks more smoothly.

Speaking of advanced tasks, the Nokia Lumia 900 has far more of them to handle. That’s because of its Windows Phone 7.5 OS, which is not only a big step on from the Nokia N8′s Nokia Belle OS – it’s a big step on from any other mobile OS out there. All the major tasks your expect a modern smartphone to fulfill – from search and calendar to email and social network updates – is tightly integrated into the experience.

In the hand, too, the Nokia Lumia 900 is major advancement over the Nokia N8. It’s heavier, as you’d expect, but it’s considerably thinner. The unibody polycarbonate shell of the Nokia Lumia 900 can be seen as a natural evolution of the Nokia N8 design. They share a similar basic shape, but the Lumia device is just much more streamlined and sophisticated.

Of course, the Nokia Lumia 900′s camera can’t quite compete with the Nokia N8′s – but then no smartphone camera currently on the market can. As a usuble day-to-day snapper, the Nokia Lumia 900′s 8-megapixel camera is excellent, thanks to its large f/2.2 aperture and Carl Zeiss lens. Plus, the Windows Phone camera software is superb, letting you get into the camera app ridiculously quick and opening up a whole heap of sharing options once you’ve taken a picture.

So, if you’re a Nokia N8 owner in the market for an upgrade, the Nokia Lumia 900 looks set to best it in almost every area. We’re putting money on it being the best handset Nokia has ever produced – which makes it a more than worthy follow-up to the legendary N8.

Nokia Lumia 900 AMOLED vs Nokia Lumia 800 AMOLED – what’s the difference?

Both the Nokia Lumia 900 and the Nokia Lumia 800use AMOLED screen technology for top notch picture quality. However, you may have heard it mentioned that there are differences in their make-up. We take a closer look at what those differences are and what it means for you.

What’s so special about the Nokia Lumia 900 screen?

When the Nokia Lumia 900 arrives later this year, it will replace the Nokia Lumia 800 as Nokia’s lead device. In truth, they’re very similar in many ways, with mostly the same internal components, the same Windows Phone 7.5 OS and the same gorgeous all-polycarbonate design.

Both phones use AMOLED display technology too, which is a major step on from the more common LCD approach. AMOLED screens light each pixel individually for superior colour contrast and deeper blacks. It’s why your Nokia Lumia 800′s picture positively pops from the screen!

But there are differences. The Nokia Lumia 900′s screen is 0.6 of an inch bigger than the Nokia Lumia 800′s, of course, but this size difference has prompted a change in technological approach from Nokia.

The Nokia Lumia 800′s display is built using a Pen Tile matrix. This means that it uses fewer sub-pixels – the individual red, blue and green elements that make up each pixel – than your average mobile screen, with a greater quantity of greens. This space-efficient approach is ideal – and indeed wholly necessary – for more compact AMOLED displays like the Nokia Lumia 800′s. For bigger screens, though, this technology can lead to image clarity issues.

That’s why the Nokia Lumia 900′s 4.3-inch AMOLED display uses a different technology. Its sub-pixels are arranged like a normal LCD display, with one red, one green and one blue sub-pixel assigned to each pixel. On such a large screen where you can see any image disparities that much clearer, this is essential to a clear picture.

While both devices take different approaches with their AMOLED displays, each uses the best method for the size of the screen. It’s why the Nokia Lumia 900′s screen will look just as clear (if not more so) as the Nokia Lumia 800′s, despite having the exact same resolution stretched over a larger surface area. And of course, both screens make full use of Nokia’s ClearBlack Display technology for excellent outdoor performance!

Whichever Nokia Lumia phone you own – the Nokia Lumia 800 or the Nokia Lumia 900 – you can rest assured you’ll get a super-clear picture and all the benefits that AMOLED technology brings.

Have you seen the Nokia Lumia 800′s AMOLED screen up close? What did you think of it compared to standard LCD handsets? Let us know in the Comments section below.

New global survey: most people want to buy a Nokia next!

When people were asked which brand they believed their next phone would be in a recent survey, the most popular answer was Nokia. Read on to find out more about how Nokia is gaining increased traction worldwide.

Nokia 808 PureView: best accessories for Nokia’s best camera phone

The survey was conducted by Vuclip – a popular mobile video company that enables you to search and watch web videos on any video-enabled mobile device. How reliable is Vuclip for a survey of this kind? Well, the number of participants in this survey hit 560,000 – a pretty decent sample size, we’re sure you’ll agree!

And so to the most telling figure: when these global consumers were asked what mobile brand they wanted to buy next, 37 per cent said Nokia. The next most popular answer on 25 per cent was Apple, with BlackBerry close behind on 21 per cent.

These figures just go to show the level of traction Nokia has gained around the world. The company’s strong presence in developing countries is only set to continue with the Asha series, while in established smartphone markets like the UK phones like the Nokia Lumia 900 and the Nokia 808 PureView are making quite a splash.

As an example of Nokia’s global strength, the Vuclip survey listed the top five most popular handsets in three very different countries – Kenya, Syria and Uruguay. Of the 15 available slots, Nokia phones accounted for 11. Indeed, in Kenya all five of the top five devices are Nokia phones. Impressive!

For these and more results – including the most popular mobile search terms around the globe and the role gender plays in mobile preferences – take a look at the full Vuclip survey. It’s an interesting read.

So how about you? Which phone are you eyeing up next, and why? Let us know in the comments section below.

Dolby Headphone for Nokia 808 PureView: what is it?

The Nokia 808 PureView might boast a 41-megapixel camera sensor, but there’s another feature that has gone under the radar. Dolby Headphone. The amazing audio tech transforms almost any sound into surround sound for music, movies and even YouTube videos. Here are a few more things you need to know about Dolby Headphone for Nokia 808 PureView.

Nokia 808 PureView technology explained!

Thanks to Dolby Headphone, the Nokia 808 PureView will be up there with the very best portable media devices for enjoying music and films. But what is Dolby Headphone? And what does it mean for the Nokia 808 PureView?

Shawn Richards, Mobile Sales Director at Dolby talked the Nokia Conversations blog through the tech, explaining the benefits of Dolby Headphone. “You get a more natural, engaging, and authentic sound.

“Good audio is even more important when you are watching a movie on a small screen. And Dolby Headphone creates a totally immersive feel.”

We can’t wait to hear how such good audio sounds on the Nokia 808 PureView. In the meantime, here are a few things you need to know about Dolby Headphone:

You won’t disturb those around you
By producing a natural spacious sound field, Dolby Headphone doesn’t overload your ears in the same way other headphone tech might. The payoff is better sound that you’ll feel comfortable listening to and enjoying music on your Nokia 808 PureView for longer.

Sound so realistic, you’ll feel part of the action
Dolby Headphone recreates the effect had when listening to films or music through home cinema speakers by using powerful digital signal processing technology that mimics the sonic signature of a speaker system.

5.1 surround sound inside your ears
Listening to music through your Nokia 808 PureView, the experience will be that of sitting in a lounge with two speakers on either side of you, two in front and a subwoofer. That effect is known as 5.1 surround sound. Dolby Stereo accurately replicates the same experience when using headphones. It’ll feel like having a private cinema sound system inside your head.

What do you think? Let us know in the Comments section below.