Say hello to the Nokia Lumia 900

So many cell phones, so many choices. That is a good thing, right? Of course it is. 

Although it seems that Nokia has entered the smartphone game a little late — at this point, it is better late than later.

The Nokia Lumia 900 is the flagship cell phone for the Finnish firm. Nokia seems to have outdone itself with this stylish phone, which is 127.8-mm tall, 68.5mm wide and at 11.5mm thick. I know many folks that swear by the Nokia Lumia 900.

The Lumia 900 features a classy, unibody frame made from polycarbonate. It’s tough and feels tough in your hand; Nokia’s industrial design work has clearly not been dulled by age.

The Lumia 900 is a little bit heavier than the other smartphones on the market. But for some people its length helps because it ensures a tighter hold on their Lumias.

The front of the Lumia 900 is a 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels.

It is equipped with an 8-megapixel auto focus camera lens with Nokia’s customary Carl Zeiss optics next to a dual LED flash.

It comes with16GB of storage, although this is not expandable.

The Nokia Lumia 900 comes with the Windows Phone Mango operating system.

The Lumia 900’s lock screen displays signal levels for cellular, Wi-Fi and battery at top, with time and date more prominently at bottom. Upcoming calendar events handily appear below the date, along with icons for incoming e-mail or message counts as they come in.

While locked, notifications appear in a band of color at top, which varies depending on what theme is selected.

If you hold down the shutter button on the right of the Lumia 900, you can jump straight into the camera app from the lock screen, which is perfect if you like taking pictures at whim.

Swiping a finger from the bottom of the screen unlocks the Lumia 900 and reveals two columns of tiles representing apps, services and contacts.

Many of these are “live” tiles, which can display information such as missed calls, text messages, e-mail inbox counts and more. All you have to do is hold down on a tile, with the choice to either change its position in the grid, or remove it from view, which is known as “unpinning.”

Tap the arrow at the upper right of the display, or swipe from right to left to reveal the list of installed apps, sorted alphabetically.

To quickly jump to an app, tap any letter and choose from an A to Z grid — for example, “T” for Twitter. Frequently used apps can also be pinned to the Start menu; simply tap and hold on the desired app, then select “Pin to start.”

Once pinned, many apps include live, updating information like photos, weather or news in place of a dedicated notification area used by competitors.

To quickly jump between open apps, hold down the back button for a moment to bring up the basic multi-tasking menu, then swipe and tap to select.

Yes, there are lots of things one can do with a simple press on a tile on the Nokia Lumia, which makes its easy to use — and easy to learn to use if you are a first timer to the Nokia Lumia.

Taking shots, watching videos

As I took the Lumia 900 for a test run, I was fascinated by how quickly I could take Instagram shots. And, even more thrilled at how quickly I was able to upload them. I’m really not one of those who like posting every little thing I shoot, but with the Nokia Lumia 900 and a good Wi-Fi connection, it was fun.

Picture taking done, I went on to catch a few videos on YouTube. Clear, and with good sound quality, I was happy with what I had seen. 

All these new ways of connecting, other than texting and calling, always fascinate me. But I guess I am just showing my age (early 50s) when I say this because I am not too sure why all the young folks I know really love to share all (or almost all of) their lives on Twitter and Instagram.

I still am a bit old-fashioned when it comes to connecting with people. I am not even happy if all I get is a text — although a text is better than no contact.

I am a call type of person, and making calls on the Nokia Lumia was more fun than all the Instagramming, Facebooking and Tweeting.

Of course, there are some things that will never change when it comes to personalizing my cell phone. So, yes, I did load my fave ringtones and yes, that all-time fave photo of my canine companions as wallpaper.

So, I guess, I like the Nokia Lumia because it has some of the old things — like the way one can personalize the cell phone and how the ringtones and profiles can be fixed, which are really some of the thing I liked about the first Nokia cell phone I owned.

Yet it has been loaded with all the new stuff that the young cell phone users of today look for — quick Wi-Fi connections, apps that keep them online, all the time and a look that says it has arrived — both functional and yet stylish.