Just recently I wrote a comparison article that would help users pick a phone that would suit them best. An iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone from a guy who has personally tried and owned all platforms, each with their own qualities and downfalls. If you would like to see that article, click the link below.
iPhone, Android, blackberry and Windows Phone. What’s right for me?
Today I decided I would pit my Galaxy Note against the Lumia 900. One of Samsung’s latest Androids against one of Nokia’s latest Windows Phones. On paper the Galaxy Note vs Lumia 900 is near laughable, but on the field it’s a whole new story and I’m about to tell you why.
Click below for Galaxy Note & Lumia 900 Tech Specs.
Interface, Theming, Customization and General Operation.
Ignore the AT&T branding 
If you’ve followed me on Google+ for a while, you’ll know that I’m actually quite fond of the Windows Metro theme style for Windows phones. This Metro style theme is what actually made me seek out the Windows phone in the first place. I really enjoyed the ‘in your face’ home screen setup. Just after unlocking your phone, you’re instantly able to see a number count on each tile of missed calls, IMs, text messages and other notifications without pulling down a status bar or opening a notification window. Clicking on a tile such as text messaging that shows a number of unread messages will instantly drop you into the conversation, as will similar actions when taping on other tiles with unread notifications. Not to mention the Text messaging app also integrates Facebook chat and Live Messenger, (MSN Messenger for my old school readers).
This style and ease of use is really what makes the Windows Phone separate itself from the competition with its super easy point and tap simple interface. I’d have to say, this style is arguably one of the fastest methods of navigation available for popular social media services. This style can be emulated with nearly any Android device, but clearly can never be as true as a pure Windows Phone.
The options and settings of the Lumia 900 Windows Phone is very similar to any other phone on the market, but is more comparable to the iPhone in terms of its customization. When it comes to customizing your Windows Phone to really capture your personality, sadly you’re very limited. The Lumia 900 device is more of an ‘As is’ phone in terms of sounds, wallpapers, themes, and home screen customization. There are a couple little things you can do, but most of which is locked down.
How do I compare it to my Galaxy Note?: The Interface of the Windows Phone is so simplistic, it really makes your everyday texting and emails a snap. I would say I could give the Windows Phone a +1 over the Android UI, just due to ease of use, and very simple and extremely fast handeling of notification and message management.
In terms of customization, The Windows Phone is an epic failure. I NEED that ability to customize my phone, and without those options at my fingers, it’s just not acceptable.
The general speed of the phone while navigating through menus and settings/options is very quick and snappy. I would say it’s equal to our top tear Android phones on the market today, despite the lack of hardware compared to our super powered Android phones. I feel the lack of customization and functionality plays a big factor in the speed boost of the Windows Phones.
Apps & Games.
The Windows Phone sadly suffer big time when it comes to their Market place. With an estimated selection of apps only touching around 70,000 apps including the clones and nonsense apps, doesn’t leave a lot for the the user to play with. Obviously the Windows Phone is not a Google phone, so all my favorite Google apps were not present on the Windows Phone. No big deal, I’ll just go download them on the market right?….Wrong…
I was extremely disappointed to find out that many Google apps that are found on all Androids, iPhones and BlackBerries are all missing on the Windows Phone. No Google maps (What!?!?!), no Google Talk, no YouTube, No Google+, and the list goes on. Just to clarify one thing before someone freaks out in the comments below. There is a YouTube app, but it’s just a port to the Mobile YouTube website, you can even see the address bar when it opens, so in my books, that’s not an app, it’s a bookmark.
The Lumia 900 comes with just a couple pre-installed manufacture and carrier apps, but all are removable very easily. Unlike the Galaxy Note which has many pre-installed apps which are locked down and cannot be removed by normal operation.
It was hard for me to find apps I really enjoyed, and the apps I did find were crudely designed at best. One thing Windows Phone does have going for them is the integration of Xbox Live. You’re able to download small Arcade Xbox Live games on to your Windows Phone and play with friends online, and continue the fun on your Xbox 360 back at home. You’re also able to receive Xbox Live messages and invites on your phone with little hassle at all.
How do I compare Windows Phones Apps and Games to my Galaxy Note?: Windows Phone might have an edge due to the integration of Xbox Live and its arcade games with multiplayer support and removable bloatware, but when it comes to general apps with quality and selection, my Galaxy Note blows the Lumia 900 out of the water hands down.
The Lumia 900 is an amazing phone when you’re using the core apps that come with the phone, but once you start exploring the market of poorly built apps, you start to feel cheated.
Both phones are pretty bad when it comes to games, iPhone still holds the trophy when it comes to the biggest selection and quality of games.
Hardware, Screen, Camera, Battery.
If you checked out the Tech Spec links I posted above, you’ll notice that the Galaxy Note nearly doubles the Lumia 900 is just about everything. When it comes to general navigation around menus and apps, you wouldn’t really notice. Windows Phone surprisingly delivers a punch for what it has. When you start to get in to the larger 3rd party apps/games and multitasking, then you really start to notice the lack of Lumia’s engine under the hood compared to the Galaxy note.
To compare the Galaxy Note’s 5.3″ screen to the Lumia’s 4.3″ just isn’t fair. For the comparison of screen quality I’m going to ignore size and only focus on quality. The Lumia 900 has a 480 x 800 resolution at 217 ppi pixel density, where the Galaxy Note has a 800 x 1280 resolution at 285 ppi pixel density. (What does this all mean?) This will generally determine the overall quality and clarity of the screen. The Lumia 900 tends to show ridges and sharp corners on text and some pictures, where the Galaxy Note with its near double resolution maintains very smooth letters and pictures without jagged lines or pixelated pictures. I also noticed with the Lumia 900, on a low brightness setting, the colors started to look a little off. Once bringing the Lumia back to medium to high brightness, everything looks fine again.
Both phones feature 8MP cameras, but sadly the Nokia Lumia 900 falls very short in terms of quality. Pictures tend to come out wtih an orange/red tint in medium to low light situations, and has some shutter lag that requires you to hold your hand very still to avoid a blurry picture. Nokia had a very difficult task to deal with to compete against Samsung’s Galaxy Series Phones. The Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note both have equal and AMAZING fast and clear cameras with many functions and very quick shutter speeds to reduce those blurry pictures. Sadly the Lumia 900 just didn’t stand a chance.
In terms of battery life, Nokia’s Lumia 900 has an edge over the Galaxy Note, but spoils it in the end by not making the battery removable. Out of the box, the Lumia will last just a little longer than the Galaxy Note, but with the Lumia’s Unibody design, swapping out for an extra or extended battery is out of the question. This once again tips the scales in the favor the Galaxy Note. Being able to swap out batteries is something every phone should be able to do. Whether we want to carry an extra battery for those emergency situations, or an extended battery for the heavy users, no user should ever be limited to an ‘as is’ phone.
A Quick Summary of These Two Phones.
User Interface: I tip my hat to the Lumia 900 Windows Phone for having a very fast and extremely friendly user interface, but comes at the cost of customization settings. This phone could really shine if they allowed you more setting to really personalize it and make it truly your own.
Apps & Games: For the exception of the Xbox Live support and Core apps that come with your Lumia 900 Windows phone, the selection and quality of 3rd party apps is a total failure. I was very disappointed, but hopefully they’ll get some more developer attention and turn this around in the coming months with Windows Phone 8 just around the corner.
Screen & Camera: Samsung set the bar so high, it’s really hard for other phones to really touch them at this point. Their only real competitor at this point is the iPhone. The Lumia 900 fell short with it’s lack luster screen with a very low resolution. However, this is not the fault of Nokia, this is a Windows Phone 7 limitation, so hopefully Windows Phone 8 will address this issue. The Lumia 900’s lack of quality hardware compared to the Galaxy Note really shows when you’re using your camera side by side. Galaxy Note snaps pictures faster, more clear, and has a bigger brighter screen to view them on. Sadly Lumia 900 just couldn’t touch Samsung’s Galaxy Note.
Battery: As I said above, the Lumia does a lot for it’s dated hardware. It also utilizes its battery a little better than the Galaxy Note. A non-removable battery may or may not be a deal breaker for some, but I personally like to change my battery. But in a real life setting, a longer battery rules the day. I have to give the edge to the Lumia 900 on this one.
Price: The Galaxy Note’s price sits right around $700 buyout price, where the Lumia 900 sits around $500. Clearly the savings of $200 reflects on the hardware inside. However, if you’re just the average user who doesn’t need the latest and greatest, perhaps the saving might tip the scales in your favor.
Note: Decisions and opinions made in this post is how I experienced both of these phones, everyone has their own style and flavour. Not everyone may agree with my choices, and for those people I invite you to state your case in the comments below. Do you feel differently on some of the aspects I mentioned above? Tell us what you disagree with and why.
Until then, keep those phones charged up. You’ll never know when the next benchmark battle will come.
