LAS VEGAS – I'm so glad they kept the blue. Nokia's Lumia 900 for AT&T is a little less charming than the European Lumia 800, because it's a little bigger with its 4.3-inch screen compared to the European phone's 3.7-inch panel. But it keeps many of the design touches that made Nokia's first high-end Windows phone stand out. I spent a few minutes with the Lumia 900 today.
The Lumia 900 is bigger and squarer than the Lumia 800, just a step closer to the traditional slab shape that it feels like most smartphones cling to today. But like the Lumia 800, it uses a polycarbonate body, it comes in blue as well as black, and the color wraps around the edge. That gives the Lumia 900 just a touch of that standout charm, which says that this isn't just any other phone.
The 8-megapixel camera on the back features a Carl Zeiss lens. I didn't get to test it, but as Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told me (in an interview you'll be reading soon), it aims to deliver higher-quality images than thecompeting HTC Titan II's 16-megapixel camera. As I saw in my hands-on with the Titan II, megapixels aren't everything; the Titan II had some trouble with dynamic range and focus, and 8 well-tuned megapixels can create a better print than 16 sloppy ones.
The Lumia 900 definitely pops. The Lumia 800 did, too. The Lumia 710 doesn't, and neither does the Titan II. With its high-end phones, Nokia gets that it isn't enough to just look like a clone of the most popular Android models, and that software innovation — which is definitely in here — has to be accompanied by great hardware design. The question remains whether Nokia and Microsoft can sell Americans, through their wireless carriers, on a platform that still hasn't broken through.