Kurt Shintaku's Blog

I bought a brand new Nokia Lumia 928 – just released this week – and there’s a number of reasons why this phone seems almost designed for me.

MUSIC CONCERTS & VEGAS.
Some of you know I go to an occasional concert & sometimes go to Las Vegas. 🙂 Both are, frankly, places where photos are taken in low-light.  If you know anything about the Nokia Lumia 928, that in itself should give you all the reasoning you need!

LOW-LIGHT VIDEO.
The Nokia Lumia 928 is a phenomenal 8.7MP camera in it of itself for both ‘stills’ as well as ‘video’.  It sports hardware-based optical image stabilization that prevents blurring during photos & ‘shaky cam’ syndrome during video clips.  And to augment the LED flash, there’s an extra-killer Xenon flash on the unit, usually reserved for REAL cameras.  But most importantly, the night time imaging with rapid movement is simply off the charts compared to anything else on the market, including my 8X.

Take a look at the following video that compares the Nokia Lumia 928’s low-light, fast motion video recording with some of the more popular competitors:

LOUD AUDIO RECORDING/PLAYBACK.
Because I’m constantly using my smartphone as a speakerphone for business, having an amplified speaker is very important and they’ve done that right on the 928.  This thing cranks sound, enough so that it is more than audible while driving & hearing ambient car noise around me.

Additionally, concerts with amplified music virtually always blow out the high end of the audio recording capabilities of a phone.  Not with the Lumia 928 which has the ability to record high decibel music & audio, like that from concerts or stadiums for accurate, high quality, & enjoyable sounding recordings.

STORAGE & APPS.
Outside of that, the fact that it comes with 32GB is great leaving it plenty of room for media & most importantly, apps, which is something that I should address. 

I never used to care about the exclusive Nokia apps until I stumbled upon a few unique & memorable apps that only Nokia has.  One in particular is a favorite of mine called “Storage Check” which breaks down how your storage is being used.  It shows storage consumed by photos, music, documents, email, etc. but it will also list out all your APPS and tell you how much space each is taking up.  NO OTHER APP PROVIDES THIS & IT IS EXCLUSIVE TO NOKIA.  *mind blown*

PRACTICAL DESIGN.
I’ve really come to love the Qi Wireless Charging capability.  You can’t really understand the convenience of not having to locate the charger cable… orient the jack correctly… and plug it into your phone to charge your phone until you’ve experienced the bliss of simply dropping your phone on a charging plate forgetting about it.

However, I’m not going to lie:  I think the phone is frankly less attractive than other Windows Phones.  It’s only available in a white (???) glossy finish and while both the back & the front glass are curved or “pillowed” out, it physically looks like a big ol’ blocky rectangle.  It reminds one of a Volvo.

But like a Volvo, there’s a method to this design madness:  Speaking from experience, I’ve compared other phones to the 928, and while the sides are flat & the back is slightly curved, this is very practical because it allows you to keep a firm grip on the phone.

If you’ve ever been concerned about maintaining a grip on your phone, the 928 will appeal to you because the surface area of contact between your palm/fingers & the phone’s side/back is really optimized… and while it’s not as elegant as some of our other designs, it really feels secure in your hand because of the glossy finish which delivers an additional level of friction & prevents slipping out of your palm.

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For more details on the Nokia Lumia 928:
http://www.nokia.com/us-en/phones/phone/lumia928/