Comments on: Right price, spec, buzz… so how will AT&T, Microsoft and Nokia screw up the Lumia 900?

By: Peter Noble

Peter Noble — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 22:39:00 +0000

I’ve ordered the Lumia 900 after being impressed with an AT&T store assistant’s live Nokia. The UI is smooth and so very simple to use. The hardware buttons are easy to fathom. The plastic case feels strong and unlike my iPhone 4 I do not feel the need to have to order a case for it.
I read headlines crowing that the Nokia Lumia 900 will be a big fail for having a Data bug. Unlike Apple, Nokia owned up to its part very quickly.
Apple’s arrogance with the iPhone 4 antennae problem left me harboring a grudge. Android though could not get me to switch. It was an operating system from a company whose CEO does the monkey dance and is often mocked as being too little too late, that turned my head, and made me reach for my credit card. I was surprised to be upset at not being able to purchase a Nokia Lumia 900 on the spot. Not since the original iPhone have I been so excited by a mere smart cell phone. The halo effect for MS has already occurred and I am planning to upgrade to an HP Z800 running Windows 8 or a Samsung Tablet. I have never bought MS products before except for rare specific needs. Now I cannot imagine buying anything else. Apple’s arrogance towards its customers has made me delighted to jump ship and choose an operating system that makes iOS 5 look clumsy, cluttered and like Windows Mobile 6.5.

By: Qwertyops

Qwertyops — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:07:00 +0000

It is my understanding that the updates MS pushes out for the OS can be done via Zune software. This was a major focus of MS to have that control no matter the phone manufacturer.

By: Kek379

Kek379 — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:36:00 +0000

Halfway

By: Kek379

Kek379 — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:35:00 +0000

All most have way through using them 400,000 + apps, and its only taken me 6 months. Don’t get me wrong I am all for more choices.

By: Kek379

Kek379 — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:26:00 +0000

There is difference between good marketing and swap meet marketing, but then I guess it depends on which market you want. I like the idea of the 710 with Virgin Mobile, but the 900 for $100.00 is a good price point.

By: Guest1

Guest1 — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 19:27:00 +0000

Verizon and Sprint (CDMA) coverage is terrible in my neighborhood. I don’t have a choice. AT&T is pretty much it.

By: LakeLevel The

LakeLevel The — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 04:41:00 +0000

The lumia 610 will probably sell for around $200 off contract street price. Let’s face it, Nokia is rolling out the big guns and the AT&T 900 is just a fraction of it.

By: Kiddo2050

Kiddo2050 — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:57:00 +0000

Thank God we can move on from the iPhone. I’m so sick of hear ing about and seeing that phone it’s almost vomit inducing. The world needs a change. Goodbye Apple, 2010 is over.

By: SangHan

SangHan — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:56:00 +0000

Nokia 900 doesn’t carry that usual 4.x inch screen size that android has..WTF?

By: postulation

postulation — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 13:04:00 +0000

Jimbo,

While the number of Android and iphone users dwarf that of WP7, there are still over 10M WP7 phones out there. There is no way that Microsoft is going to subsidize $150-$200 for every WP7 Handset sold without a contract. Ridiculous.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:54:00 +0000

I agree.

This isn’t the first two generations of the iPhone. Nobody is going to switch to AT&T, just to try the new Windows Phone.

If you end up not happy with the device, then you’re stuck with AT&T, and who wants that?

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:51:00 +0000

No, actually Eddie is spot on.

Microsoft (and Nokia) need potential customers to actually try the phones out, but nobody wants to take the chance and be stuck with a phone they don’t like for two years on contract.

The way around this is for Microsoft to open up the check book even more, and offer/subsidize a very cheap prepaid Windows Phone from Nokia, maybe the 710, on, say, Virgin Mobile.

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:44:00 +0000

Well, that’s great…..if you live in central Florida.

In many other places, AT&T is pretty subpar; they didn’t make last place in both Consumer Reports’ customer surveys and JD Powers for being swell.

Around the NY metro area, AT&T is pretty terrible and often outperformed by tiny T-Mobile, but largely NY/NJ/Connecticut are where Verizon is pretty strong.

By: Saidas108

Saidas108 — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:14:00 +0000

How is WP7 an iOS wannabe? Night & day.

By: Magnum2013

Magnum2013 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 18:29:00 +0000

Verizon doesn’t want to get burned like it did when Microsoft released the Kin. I hope that Microsoft learned it’s lesson that you can’t just rush a half baked sub standard product to market. It looks like their partnership with Nokia is a step in the right direction but we’ll see if that can lure Verizon to take a risk with them once again.

By: fauxshizzl

fauxshizzl — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:35:00 +0000

There are some large obstacles for WP7 to overcome, but I have a feeling whatever RIM brings out at the end of the year for their big unvieling of whatever they call QNX now will be to little to late. That would leave a huge gap to be filled by WP7. It is merely a chance, but the best one MS has right now.

By: phoni

phoni — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 11:01:00 +0000

Nothing like a little good competition, every once and a while…

By: Anaooa

Anaooa — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 10:52:00 +0000

In truth I like your arguments. Of course they come from the misguided American belief that the US is the only market in the world, but they’re useful nonetheless due to the fact that what happens in the US does tend to influence what happens elsewhere. However, (and this is a big however), as soon as MS/Nokia/AT&T get something right (finally), it will spell the end for the i-monopoly. OEMs will gladly put any OS that sells onto their hardware. And as soon as WP7 can do everything an iPhone can do and better, and cheaper, you’ll all be jumping on the Nokia bandwagon once again. To me, that’s a good thing. Nokia produces better phones than HTC, and always has. Welcome back Nokia!

By: Aaron Baker

Aaron Baker — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 05:07:00 +0000

lol funny title. Yeah really how will they mess it up? Well I don’t think are in that complacent place anymore so I don’t think they’ll mess it up this time.

By: greenarcher02

greenarcher02 — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:20:00 +0000

iOS interface? Customize?

By: Avatar Roku

Avatar Roku — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 02:52:00 +0000

The Atrix 2 has no LTE support, a terrible camera, it’s slow compared to a Windows Phone and it only comes with a 2GB card which means you have to buy a memory card. The Atrix 2 hardware body is very cheap compared to the Nokia Lumia 800 & 900 design.

Holding the two devices side by side there is no way you would choose the Atrix 2 over a Lumia 900 unless you were married to Android.

By: fiberm0ar

fiberm0ar — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 01:59:00 +0000

Not everyone lives in Florida. The rest of us have dead spots everywhere and EDGE in half the country.

Liking AT&T is analogous to thinking McDonald’s makes the best food because it’s the only thing you’ve ever eaten. Verizon makes them look like a steaming pile of crap. Hell, T-Mobile and Sprint perform better than AT&T in the cities and suburbs.

By: Counsel Dew

Counsel Dew — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 01:45:00 +0000

Then you’d buy the iphone… you know, because it has more apps…

By: Guest

Guest — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 01:38:00 +0000

The problem with WP7 (and Win 8 on tablets (WOA)) is they have given the competition too much of a head start. Apple loses very few customers to Android or WP7. Android reminds me of MS with Windows 3.11 and the big breakout with Win 95. All Mac users used to look down their nose at DOS/Win 3.11 and then Win 95 came along. Android with ICS reminds me of Win 95 – it’s the first version of Android that looks and operates well. And MS is giving Android another year to get its tablets right. The other problem for MS on the Tablet front is the hardware bar set by the iPad is enormous – entry level at $399 and a great piece of hardware (whatever you think of iOS) in the “new iPad”. That display is amazing (would love to see it on some laptops where most displays are only 1368X768 – very low dpi compared to the Retina – would love to see that display stretched to 13 – 15″ – it would still be WAY better than current displays). The last thing is the low adoption rate for WP7 means there are a lot of corporations (think travel and finance/banks) that aren’t developing for WP7. I’m a big sports fan and while there are iOS and Android apps for MLB, NFL, NHL and NBA there are no apps there. If there is an app out there you can almost guarantee there will be iOS and Android support (the WP7 fans are “celebrating” the upcoming Audible app after 18 months on the market). Also, they have nothing worth buying on Verizon (the 18 mo. old specs w/o LTE of the Trophy don’t hack it for me). I would really like to see WP7 succeed but the current pace leads me to think it will never get there. Also, while Apollo (WP8) will have support for higher res when will we see it. If you’ve ever looked at iPhone Retina or 720P Android phones it is startling to see the difference against WVGA (especially on the 4.7″ Titan).

By: Guest

Guest — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 01:38:00 +0000

By: SangHan

SangHan — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:16:00 +0000

number of cores just one of the option I displayed since some people swear by it. Also, my iphone 3gs crashes lot more than my wife’s android atrix 2. So I think dual core helps in that department.

By: SangHan

SangHan — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:14:00 +0000

If they are not on sale, it’s $50 at bestbuy so still a good deal. I wouldn’t spend $100 on lumia 900. Plus android has lot more apps.

By: Kevin Snyder

Kevin Snyder — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 21:14:00 +0000

April 19th is a more important date than April 8th. That’s when Nokia announces 1Q results and we’ll get a preliminary feel for how the Nokia/WP partnership is doing in the marketplace. MS can afford to throw money into WP for a long time. Nokia doesn’t have that luxury. Their short term problem is they need to make phones that people will buy or face irrelevance. They have an infrastructure to support, and irrelevance doesn’t feed the baby. If they don’t substantially arrest their market share decline by the end of 2Q, I predict major shareholder pressure on them to execute Plan C, which would likely be Android (I don’t see any other alternative). If they don’t have Plan C ready to go by that time, then Elop deserves to be fired.

Pass the popcorn.

By: Mike Henriquez

Mike Henriquez — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:49:00 +0000

$100 without contract? what else do you want? maybe they (Nokia and Microsoft) can also pay your telephone bill while they are at it. I wonder what it feels like to smoke crack.

By: hollywoodford

hollywoodford — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:35:00 +0000

You ruined the point by saying ($0 at Best Buy, SOMETIMES) – emphasis mine, you can get a lot of great deals on smartphones, just like this one will be at the start. Did you see the speculation that $100 is going to be a launch only price?

By: Guerrahp

Guerrahp — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:26:00 +0000

being able to personalize an interface keeps it from getting old and boring.

By: The_Four_Freedoms

The_Four_Freedoms — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:24:00 +0000

Actually they got ICS running on the Nokia N9, which came out six months ago.

The big question is, how long will Elop last at Nokia if the Lumia 900 bombs out.

The other question is, does the Nokia Board have a short list to replace him ?

By: First Name

First Name — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:19:00 +0000

What else does it bring to the table? A friggin’ stable OS.

I’ve had a Samsung Focus since November 2010. The OS has crashed and rebooted twice. IE has crashed somewhere around 5 or 6 times total. My sister’s latest flagship Nexus crashes that often… each day.

The only people that can screw this up are AT&T by not promoting the actual features of the device. Who gives a crap how many cores it has when all that people care about is how well it /works for them/.

By: TrentBradley

TrentBradley — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:12:00 +0000

Someone explain to me why AT&T gets so much hate. In central Florida they are arguably the best WSP. Super fast data speeds, excellent phone selection and great customer service. What’s the deal?

By: Joe Grindrod

Joe Grindrod — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:56:00 +0000

How is a 2 year old interface dated? Vs. the 4 year old Android interface and the 5 year old iPhone interface? Explain that to me.

By: fauxshizzl

fauxshizzl — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 18:08:00 +0000

Didnt they just get ICS running on one of these? It might be worth my time if they can get all the bugs worked out. I like the look of the phone, and Nokia’s always treated me well in the past (think back to black and green screens and snake as your primary game.) I understand the Metro UI is appealing to many, just not myself personally.

By: htowngtr

htowngtr — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:35:00 +0000

Something to do with WP7/MS/Nokia not playing well with CDMA.

By: Mystic

Mystic — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:29:00 +0000

AT&T isn’t going to reinvent their plans for Microsoft/Nokia, no matter how much money is thrown at them. They’re going to treat this just like any other smart phone.
There are other routes WP& could’ve gone I think. Nokia has(had?) a strong presence in the unlocked market and they should capitalize on that. Unfortunately they’ve fallen into the same mindset as RIM, ‘our smart phones are so good people will pay what we ask’ (working in a contract phone sales, I was exposed to all the full prices of several carriers, and most new Blackberry phones were close to $700 off contract, Phones like the N900 had prices almost as crazy online). Fairly powerful component prices and WP7 isn’t a spec hungry OS, in comparison to the competition. I think Nokia could’ve made a respectable WP7 phone for about $300 off contract and it would’ve sold if marketed right.

By: Droidfan

Droidfan — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:25:00 +0000

Nokia and MS are making the same mistake Apple made….exclusive with AT&T. If the iPhone had been available on Verizon from the start….Android would never have been able to get a foot hold to build a following. (God am I grateful Android did.) Beyond that…as friendly as the UI is…the UI is looking dated. Two years ago it was a fresh look. Now…not so much. And the WP7 still has the problem of being a iPhone wanabe. After the limited time pricing ends….I don’t see a compelling reason to buy this phone over an iPhone or an Android product. And short of a gun to their head…I don’t see a compelling reason for other OEMs to produce a WP7 phone. MS is clearly giving Nokia an inside advantage…to the disadvantage of the OEMs. How does an OEM differentiate its WP7 from Nokia. Hardware? Ask the PC manufacturers how that works out. I am not saying MS and Nokia won’t gain some market share. But they have a slow, painful ride ahead.

By: SangHan

SangHan — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:21:00 +0000

Look at atrix 2 ($0 at bestbuy sometimes). 8MP camera, dual core, good size display, 4G, 16GB memory, microSD slot. What else Lumia brings to the table besides 4G LTE, that costs $100 more?