Apple iPhone 5 vs Nokia Lumia 920
 

It is a well-known fact that Nokia went through a rough patch for the past couple of years due to the low sales volume. We have talked about the background behind the sudden fall in Nokia several times here at DifferenceBetween. In short, it’s because Nokia had trouble competing with the advance operating systems offered by Google and Apple with their Symbian counterpart. However, they are gaining their ground now with their new partnership with Microsoft offering to produce smartphones that run on Windows Phone operating system. Windows Phone as an operating system is older than every chap around the block, but it is relatively not as matured as Apple or Android. This is because Windows had to reengineer the operating system completely to comply the needs of an OS of the modern day. With that reformation, Windows app store went low and Microsoft is currently trying to encourage developers to increase the number of applications released in the Windows Phone market which seems to work. Although it is evident that Android has ten times the apps as Windows, and Apple has even more than that, Windows will be able to catch up in a couple of years in the rate they are going now. So today we wanted to compare the newest product from Apple, Apple iPhone 5 alongside the newest product from Nokia featuring Windows Phone 8. We’ll talk about the first impressions we had on these devices first and compare them with each other in the same arena to find out which gives you the best option.

Apple iPhone 5 Review

Apple iPhone 5 that was announced on 12th September comes as the successor for prestigious Apple iPhone 4S. The phone was launched on the 21st of September to the stores, and already getting some pretty good impressions by those who have put their hands on the device.. Apple claims iPhone 5 to be the thinnest smartphone in the market scoring a thickness of 7.6mm which is really cool. It scores dimensions of 123.8 x 58.5mm and 112g of weight which makes it lighter than most of the smartphones out there in the world. Apple has kept the width at the same pace while making it taller in order to let the customers hang on to the familiar width when they hold the handset in their palms. It is made entirely from glass and Aluminum which is a great news for artistic consumers. No one would doubt the premium nature of this handset for Apple has tirelessly engineered even the smallest parts. The two tone back plate feels genuinely metallic and is pleasing to hold on to the handset. We particularly loved the Black model although Apple offers a White model, as well.

iPhone 5 uses an Apple A6 chipset along with Apple iOS 6 as the operating system. It will be powered by a 1GHz Dual Core processor that Apple has come up with for iPhone 5. This processor is said to have Apple’s own SoC using ARM v7 based instruction set. The cores are based on Cortex A7 architecture which was previously rumored to be of A15 architecture. It is to be noted that this is not the Vanilla Cortex A7, but rather an in-house modified version of Apple’s Cortex A7 probably fabricated by Samsung. Apple iPhone 5 being a LTE smartphone, we are bound to expect some deviation from the normal battery life. However, Apple has addressed that problem with the custom made Cortex A7 cores. As you can see, they haven’t increased the clock frequency at all, but instead, they have been successful in increasing the number of instructions executed per clock. Also, it was noticeable in the GeekBench benchmarks that the memory bandwidth has been significantly improved, as well. So all in all, now we have reason to believe that Tim Cook wasn’t exaggerating when he claimed that iPhone 5 is twice as faster as iPhone 4S. The internal storage would come in three variations of 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB with no option to expand storage using microSD card.

Apple iPhone 5 has 4 inch LED backlit IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels at a pixel density of 326ppi. It is said to have 44% better color saturation with full sRGB rendering enabled. The usual Corning gorilla glass coating is available making the display scratch resistant. Apple CEO Tim Cook claims that this is the most advanced display panel in the world. Apple also claimed that the GPU performance is as twice better compared to iPhone 4S. There may be several other possibilities for them to achieve this, but we have reason to believe that the GPU is PowerVR SGX 543MP3 with a slightly overclocked frequency compared to that of iPhone 4S. Apple has apparently moved the headphone port all the down to the bottom of the smartphone. If you have invested in iReady accessories, you may well have to buy a conversion unit because Apple has introduced a new port for this iPhone.

The handset comes with 4G LTE connectivity as well as CDMA connectivity in different versions. The implications of this are subtle. Once you commit to a network provider and a specific version of Apple iPhone 5, there’s no going back. You can’t buy an AT&T model and then transfer the iPhone 5 to Verizon or Sprint’s network without buying another iPhone 5. So you will have to think rather carefully on what you want before committing to a handset. Apple boasts of an ultrafast Wi-Fi connectivity as well offering Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n dual band Wi-Fi Plus cellular adapter. Unfortunately, Apple iPhone 5 doesn’t feature NFC connectivity nor does it support wireless charging. The camera is the regular culprit of 8MP with autofocus and LED flash that can capture 1080p HD videos @ 30 frames per second. It also has a front camera to make video calls. It is worthwhile to note that Apple iPhone 5 only supports nano SIM card. The new operating system seems to provide better capabilities than the old one as usual.

Nokia Lumia 920 Review

Nokia Lumia 920 is important for Nokia due to a list of reasons. It is the first smartphone featuring 4G LTE connectivity in Window Phone 8 for Nokia, and it is also the first smartphone from Nokia which runs on Windows Phone 8. The handset is powered by 1.5GHz Dual Core Krait processor on top of Qualcomm 8960 Snapdragon chipset with Adreno 225 GPU and 1GB of RAM. Our first impressions about Wndows 8 managing the handset were good. Nokia Lumia 920 has 4.5 inch IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 1280 x 768 pixels at a pixel density of 332ppi which unofficially qualifies it as a retina display, as well. It comes with Nokia’s PureMotion HD+ display technology and is reinforced with Corning Gorilla glass, to be scratch resistant. One interesting feature this display offers is the Synaptic touch technology which enables the user to operate the touchscreen with various objects. Essentially, any object can be used as a stylus, to scribble on top of this screen.

It is not the thinnest smartphone in the block scoring a thickness of 10.7mm, but it sure is thinner than its predecessor. We like Nokia’s Unibody design that takes well thought ergonomics into account forming a polycarbonate body. Scratch proof ceramic was used to make the buttons and the rear camera module claims Nokia. However, what worries us is the weight of 185g which is towards the extreme heftier side in the smartphone spectrum. Nokia is usually very strict about the camera they include in their smartphones. They have included 8MP camera with optical stabilization, autofocus and LED flash which can capture 1080p HD videos at 30 frames per second. This camera features Nokia’s legendary PureView camera technology that is said to use floating point optics to minimize the blurring occurred by camera shake. The Verge team has taken the smartphone for a ride in the dark and claimed that Lumia 920 outperforms the cameras of similar smartphones. This may be because it has an aperture of f2.0 to let the sensor absorb more light in resulting in sharp images even in dark situations.

Nokia Lumia 920 is also the first Nokia smartphone to feature the Windows Phone 8’s expandable storage featuring an internal storage of 32GB and having the ability to expand it using microSD card. It comes with 4G LTE connectivity which Nokia claims can achieve speeds up to 100Mbps and gracefully degrades to HSDPA when the signal strength is not enough. Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n ensures continuous connectivity while Lumia 920 also features Near Field Communication. Another interesting feature that caught our eye is the ability to charge this handset wireless. Nokia has included the inductive charging technology in this smartphone enabling customers to use any charger in compliance with Qi Wireless Charging Standard to be used to charge the smartphone. This is a pretty nifty piece of technology, and we are glad Nokia took the initiation to put it in their flagship product. It is worthwhile to note that Lumia 920 would only support microSIM card support. Nokia claims a maximum talk time of 17 hours (in 2G networks) with the 2000mAh battery.

A Brief Comparison Between Apple iPhone 5 and Nokia Lumia 920

• Apple iPhone 5 is powered by 1GHz Dual Core processor that is based on Cortex A7 architecture on top of Apple A6 chipset while Nokia Lumia 920 is powered by 1.5GHz Krait Dual Core processor on top of Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon chipset with Adreno 225 GPU and 1GB of RAM.

• Apple iPhone 5 runs on iOS 6 while Nokia Lumia 920 runs on Windows Phone 8.

• Apple iPhone 5 has 4 inch LED backlit IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen featuring a resolution of 1136 x 640 pixels at a pixel density of 326ppi while Nokia Lumia 920 has 4.5 inch IPS TFT capacitive touchscreen display featuring PureMotion HD+ display technology and a resolution of 1280x 768 pixels at a pixel density of 332ppi.

• Apple iPhone 5 has 8MP camera that can capture 1080p HD videos @ 30 fps and images simultaneously while Nokia Lumia 920 has 8MP camera with PureView technology with autofocus and optical image stabilization that can capture 1080p HD videos @ 30 fps.

• Apple iPhone 5 is smaller, thinner and significantly lighter (123.8 x 58.6mm / 7.6mm / 112g) compared to Nokia Lumia 920 (130.3 x 70.8mm / 10.7mm / 185g).

Conclusion

If you keep a close tab on the technology world, you would know that Nokia had to undergo a PR nightmare recently because they failed to include a disclaimer in a video they used. Due to this and several other reasons, it is the common belief of the analysts that Apple has pushed Microsoft and Nokia to reveal a premature product that still needs to be worked on just days before the iPhone 5 was released. May that be, our intention here is neither to run down Nokia’s faults nor to appreciate Apple’s dominance. Let us talk about these two handsets at hand. They are as different as two handsets can be. The processor architecture is different; the instruction set is different, and the operating system is also different. There are a number of parameters to be considered before giving a verdict. We at DifferenceBetween think that Apple iPhone 5 may excel in benchmarks as it has already been proved that Tim Cook wasn’t exaggerating. However, this is unlikely to throw Nokia Lumia 920 out of competition. On the contrary, it was shown that Lumia 920 has an unmatchable performance when it comes to optics which Apple would find hard to match. The price it is offered at will be at a lower point compared to iPhone 5.  Also, Lumia 920 features Near Field Communication and you can charge this handset wireless. Given these facts, perhaps it is logical to go for Lumia 920 if you are a fan of a great camera and fancy about wireless charging. Otherwise, Apple iPhone 5 will give you a prestigious looking smartphone that you can carry around, but it’ll also cost you significantly.

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