Lumia my day

The icing on the cake for the day was spotting this on my regular walkabout.

Taken with Nokia 808

Yes fellow Red-Dotters! The enormous, mindbogglingly heavy Lumia 920 are up for preview. They are estimated to arrive for sale in the first week of December.

I had the opportunity to hold one. The Nokia Rep had his personal unit and was willing to let customers hold it. Stupidly I actually asked why was he allowed to get one before the rest. Green was my colour.

The Windows OS navigation is a bit of a learning curve, but nothing too difficult.

I tried the camera of course, it is quite responsive and the Optical Stabilisation seem to work quite well. The camera settings are far less sophisticated than the 808 and works more in an Auto mode.

One quirk though. The 920 NFC doesn't connect well to the N9 and 808. I could not transfer photos as seamlessly as between the 808 and N9, but Bluetooth transfer works well manually.

Now comes the complaint of so many tech reviewers, that the 920 is too heavy.
My first immediate impression was: It is very comfortable to hold and feels like it will stay without taking wings to a concrete oblivion. This is based on holding a tethered display set.

Now while holding the Rep's personal phone, I had no issue with the weight. Perhaps the various reviewers was like the lady who asked to try my 808 and found it heavy.

Nonetheless, after actually holding the phone and I felt I had to respond in particularly to one review.

Warning: Mild Profanity 



Dear Mr Sam Biddle

The following is my opinion of your review in Gizmodo of the Lumia 920.

This phone is not fucking way way too HEAVY. There was no visceral instant repulsion nor do I feel exasperated  holding it. My hand have not been deformed in anyway bearing it's supposedly incredible weight. I have to inform you that I am very very mortal nor have I been exposed to comical amount of gamma radiation and it fits quite nicely in my hands and fingers.

You Sir, are either lying about your experience or suffering from a disability. If the latter, I offer my apologies and sympathy. Otherwise, you are a Princess moaning about a fucking pea.

Glad to know that you won't be in the way for the rest of us mortals to owning this beautifully designed work of art.

Good Day

Started the day early and the sky was grey and gloomy, but it was still a good day.

Don't know if this is the effects of climate change, but the recent cycling of heavy rain and bright sun shine might have confused some plants. It is beautiful though.

It is always good to be able to sit down and have tea and cakes in comfort. Such a privilege.
Under estimated the lighting and picked iso 800. Takes quite an effort to make picture more palatable, no wonder Instagram is such a hit. Instagram lookalike done with Lightroom Preset.

Blue Skies

Nice to have blue skies after days of afternoon showers.

Missed catching the moon in the first picture being on a moving bus. Otherwise I think it would have been better with the Art Decor look of the tower.

PureView 808 and cooked with Lightroom

Pure Cat

Obligatory cat picture. They are the natural, sometimes unwilling subject for quick draw snapshots.

It Ain't Heavy, It's My Phone

Updated 
It has been a while since I posted anything because I simply couldn't not summon up enough brain cells to work out a sentence, let alone a whole paragraph. However this little comment by one Sam Biddle of Gizmodo energized me enough into action.

Sam is the opposite of Joshua Topolsky's overly sunny reviews of anything Apple. He is overly critical of anything not Apple.

OK, that comment is totally based on hearsay and a single reading of one of his work, so to be fair, one should read more of his work.

But I am not in a fair mood.

The offending article is titled Lumia 920 Review: Just Too Damn Heavy. Below is an excerpt where dear Sammy dedicated 3 paragraphs to what amounts to a group of skinny girls doing a body check at the beach.

Tragic Flaw
It's just too heavy.
The Lumia 920 weighs almost half a pound. It clocks in at just under than 90 grams less the iPad Mini. A tablet. It weighs more than the Galaxy Note II and the Titan. No, really. It's uncomfortable enough to be disqualified from serious consideration. 

It's just too heavy. Inexcusably heavy. Way, way too heavy to recommend to anyone. The 920 isn't just big—the HTC Titan was big, and it was pretty great. The 920 is bloated, cumbersome. Anyone's first response will be "Ugh, God, this thing is heavy." It's a visceral, instant repulsion, and it doesn't get any less heavy, as if through some polycarbonate osmosis. It's just as galling every time you take it out of your pocket—stretched within a micron of its life—and that isn't the kind of feeling you want to have with an object you're going to be using all day every day.

Our gadgets should be comfortable. They should be made for our hands and fingers. The 920 was perhaps made for hands and fingers, but not of any mortal. Not any of us. Maybe Nokia figured that bigger means better means more things sold means Windows Phone 8 succeeds. Maybe Nokia just couldn't figure out a way to make it skinny. But we haven't just been spoiled by the impossibly slight iPhone 5—the 920 is a design failure all by itself. Everything good about it is nullified by its obesity.

Wow.

Seriously?!

Paragraph 2 is basically one long "Your Momma is so heavy" joke and good old Sammy practically ends with a "Girl you so fat, there ain't nothin' you can do to be good." (I have been watching too much US TV shows sorry!)

Just how heavy is the Lumia 920? It weighs in at 185 grams, just a mere 5 more than the Galaxy Note 2 to warrant a disqualification. Or as Sam noted, 90 grams lighter than a iPad Mini. So while weight distribution would change the feel on the hand, something that is 90 grams lighter is "inexcusably" heavier and "instantly repulsive"?

My Nokia 808 is 169 grams, just 16 less than the Lumia, but I have yet to suffer any wardrobe malfunction while carrying it together with the N9 and a key pouch in one trouser pocket.

Sadly Sam Biddle is not the only writer with such sentiments, but he takes the cake with his vehemence.

Update:
This YouTube video is kind of how I might respond if I wasn't a shy person.
Warning! Heavily laced with profanities. You have been warned!

Presenting GeneralTheDestroyer. One American who loves his Nokia.