We put two Windows Phones to battle the Nokia Lumia 900 vs Samsung Focus 2. Which one will win out. Is it the budget price new kid on the block the Samsung Focus 2 or the award-winning king of Windows Phone the Nokia Lumia 900.
Industrial Design
The Samsung Focus 2 and Nokia Lumia 900 ae vastly different when it comes to appearance. With the Focus 2, Samsung has actually backtracked and brought back a design similar to its first iteration of the Galaxy S Series. Then you take it to the flipside and see the great craftsmanship and engineering Nokia has brought to the table with its polycarbonate unibody design on the Lumia 900. Even tho it’s seemingly a rehash of the Nokia N8, it’s so widely abstract and strange, not reusing the design would be a disservice to world (bias & fanboy) lol.
Hardware Specs
When comparing the Samsung Focus 2 and Nokia Lumia 900, the differences don’t stray much from the common theme of Windows Phone devices. The Focus 2 has a second-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255T S2 CPU clocked at 1.4GHz, backed by 512MB of RAM. For storage you get a rather small 8GB, of which only 6GB is user-accessible.It has a 4.0-inch WVGA Super AMOLED pentile-matrix display. For imaging, there’s a 5MP camera on the back with a flash, and a front-facing VGA camera. You get the usual Wi-Fi and Bluetooth radios, plus HSPA+ and its trump card in LTE. Powering the entire unit is a nicely sized 1750mAh battery. The phone comes in at a rather chubby 11mm thick and weighs about 122 grams.
The Nokia Lumia 900 comes into the game being a larger 11.5 mm and a heavyweight champ at 160 grams. It’s a big sexy phone. No one can contest to that. The S2 Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8055 1.4GHz CPU and 512MB RAM keep the device running very smoothly. The Lumia 900 also has 16GB of storage and a beautiful and large 4.3-inch AMOLED Clear Black display . Has the same connectivity as the Focus to with HSPA+ and LTE on board. Of course it also has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, FM radio, accelerometer, etc. There’s an 8-megapixel (which we shall discuss later :/) camera on the back with a dual LED flash and Carl Zeiss lens with a 2.2 f-stop and 28mm equivalent wide-angle field of view. The front facing camera is 0.9 megapixels also with a wide-angle field of view for better video calling. The battery is somewhat large at 1830mAh. When you have the Motorola Razr Maxx packing a 3300mah battery, all others capacities seem to lose their dapperness.
Software
There really isn’t much to say here folks when it comes to the two devices software. Windows Phone Mango 7.5 is the same as it was when it was released last summer and in all honesty, needs another refresh. Not in terms of being totally crippled, but adding much-needed functionality to the platform.
The devices aren’t completely the same software wise, as the Focus 2 has its suite of “Samsung Zone” (horrible name) apps, as does the Lumia 900 in its “Nokia Collection”. Point blank, Nokia destroys all other OEM’s in this category. Nokia Drive, Nokia Maps, Nokia Transit, Contact Transfer, Creative Studio, and the list goes on. It’s not just the quantity of their collection, but the quality of the apps themselves.
For instance, Nokia Drive offers offline downloads of maps for your region so you won’t need a data connection when looking for you’re the nearest Starbucks :). As well as offering turn-by-turn voice navigation, in multiple different languages. Nokia is off to a great start in the app department.
When Windows Phone 8 is released, their value can only be increased software wise if Microsoft will allow current generation WP devices to be upgradeable. Only time will tell.
Camera
This is definitely my favorite part of this match up between the Focus 2 and Lumia 900. My reason being that it will only give credence to my opinion, and somewhat factual thoughts, on how megapixel and fancy names like “Carl Zeiss Lens “ doesn’t make your camera amazing. Putting these two devices head to head, I couldn’t help but walk away with the impression of the Focus 2’s “5” megapixel camera being drastically better the Lumia 900’s. It contained better details in low and high light scenarios, better saturation of colors, and NONE of the photos had the same issue the Lumia 900 does, in having this random pink spot/tinge effect showing up in the middle of photograph.
Nokia Lumia 900 8 Megapixel Camera Samples
Samsung Foucs 5 Megapixel Camera samples
When it comes to video, I can’t really give the edge to either device. In my testing, the frame rate seemed to be faster on the Focus 2. Check out the video samples of each device to form your own decision.
The only place the Lumia 900 has the Focus 2 beat is the front facing camera. The wide-angle lens Nokia is using makes the amount of real estate in a video call or photograph much greater.
Nokia Lumia 900 720p HD Video Sample
Samsung Foucs 2 720p HD Video Sample
Battery Life
In terms of battery life, these device are yet again very similar. The Lumia 900 does have a larger battery, but its 4.3 inch AMOLED Clear Black display sucks that extra 80mah right up. Even knowing that, I was still disappointed that a device that cost $50 more didn’t do much to compensate me in this category. I have this lurking feeling Nokia will shoot out an update to increase the battery life just as they did for the Lumia 800. But at this point, that’s just speculation.
In day-to-day use for both devices, moderate use will give you a day to a day in a half of use. Heavy use gave me around 8-10 hours. So if your productivity knut, bring a charger. Since the Lumia 900 as a unibody design, the battery is non-removable So in theory, the Focus 2 wins this category since you could carry a spare battery if need be.
Call Quality
Let me start off my saying the Nokia Lumia 900 is the BEST phone I used making phone calls. Period. Whether it’s design team back in old Finland, or the blessing from the cellphone god, calls on this device were nothing short of amazing. Clarity, volume, and background noise were all top-notch. Callers on the other end heard every word just fine and I never found myself having to repeat anything. A phone that’s a great phone. What a great idea Nokia.
The Focus 2 isn’t a slouch by any means as calls were enjoyable and lacked the frustration an iPhone user would have 😛 lol. The volume wasn’t too loud, but since the calls were clear words could be made out with little strain.
Summary
The Nokia Lumia 900 comes out on top as the better the device in my opinion. The bump in screen size, increased quality with Nokia’s Clear Black tech, beautifully crafted industrial design, and overall app choice, gives validation to it’s $99.99 price point.
The Samsung Focus 2 is still a bargain when being priced at $49.99. LTE, 4 inch display, above average camera, and even sex appeal( the white glossy finish was rather attractive), you really can’t go wrong with either device.
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