Nokia Lumia 900 deals & review

The Nokia Lumia 900, at first glance, looks like more of the same. The design is similar to the Lumia 800, and the phone's hardware is only marginally different. But, for a slightly increased price, the new handset’s improvements make all the difference. Featuring a larger screen and state-of-the-art connectivity options, the Lumia doesn't change enough to convert everyone – but it's a decent step-up from its predecessor.

The Nokia Lumia 900 follows in the footsteps of the 800 design-wise, offering up the same smooth surfaces and long, thin shape. However, it's put on a little bit of weight over the winter – 18g heavier than the Lumia 800 at 160g, which is quite surprising given the 900 is a thinner phone – hopefully this means all that extra chunkiness is in the phone's top-notch hardware. We'll see. It's safe to say that if you like the design of the Lumia 800, you'll probably be similarly taken by the 900, which is available in both blue and black.

One of the most noticeable differences between the Lumia 800 and the 900 is screen size. Nokia have packed a huge 4.3-inch AMOLED screen into the 900, compared to the 800's pretty average 3.7-incher. This brings the Lumia more up to date with other high-end smartphones, and sits on the handset beautifully. The phone's camera is, like the camera of the 800, a little disappointing. It's not a terribly bad camera, but given Nokia have included a Carl Zeiss-branded lens, you might expect a little more from it. The Lumia 900 does include a front-facing camera, which is useful for video-calling, and is a welcome addition.

One of the more exciting improvements to the Lumia 900 is its connectivity. The Lumia 800 featured just HSPA+, which is reasonable enough, but the 900 brings us DC-HSPA connectivity, which is claimed to be twice as fast. Whether this is true or not is anyone's guess, but Nokia have made a wise move by jumping on the wagon early. Unfortunately the UK isn't ready for 4G/LTE yet, but our American cousins will be purchasing Lumia 900s with 4G connectivity, too – which is pretty cutting-edge.

The Nokia Lumia 900 features a 1.4GHz single-core chip under the bonnet, which isn't terribly overwhelming these days. It compares nicely to high-end phones of the previous generation, but 2012 is the year of the dual and even quad-core chips. Unfortunately the phone's OS, Windows Phone, isn't yet ready to tackle multi-core chips, so Nokia's hand was forced in processor selection. Nokia have happily included one of the faster single-core chips available and it keeps everything running smoothly. It will struggle to keep up with the best in the business at multitasking and graphically demanding apps, though. Thankfully, Nokia did think to up their battery size for the Lumia 900 – to 1,830mAh. With such a spacious screen, the Lumia 900 is probably going to need it.

The Nokia Lumia 900 is one of a select range of phones released on the Windows Phone operating system – which has both its downsides and its upsides. On the one hand, Windows Phone 7.5 is actually a pretty neat little OS, with easy navigation and simplistic menus, but on the other, it means the Lumia is limited to single-core chips and, woe of all woes, lacks the sheer range of apps available in either the Android Market or the iOS App Store.

That said, this phone is loaded with some useful Windows Phone apps, including a Transport app which reads your location and suggests routes to destinations for you, a little like an automated Google Maps. It also features apps from the previous Lumia phones, including Nokia Drive, Nokia Music and Nokia Maps. All in all, they're pretty good, but no major app market will be a big negative for most users.

HTC One S – The One S features the same display size as the Lumia 900, but combines it with a 1.5GHz dual-core chip for faster processing speeds and better performance. The One S also ships with the Android operating system, which benefits from a host of apps.

Nokia Lumia 610 – If you like the sound of the Nokia Lumia 900, but don't think the price tag is quite within your budget, then the Nokia Lumia 610 is what you're after. It features a 3.7-inch LCD display and a slower processor – but for lighter phone users, this is really all that's needed.

LG Optimus 4X HD – If you want a high-end smartphone that doesn't compromise on power the way the Lumia 900 does, then you'll want the quad-core processing power of the LG Optimus 4X HD, which is more than ample to power the handset's glorious 4.7-inch display.