Nokia has a great Windows Phone 8 lineup, but is Samsung’s handset better for media enthusiasts?
The recently announced Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 pack some pretty impressive hardware, including wireless charging, a PureView camera, and a touch screen that even works through thick gloves. Unfortunately, the Lumia 920’s 32GB of storage isn’t accompanied by a microSD card slot, so if you’re concerned about being able to store a lot of media on your device, it might not be the best option.
The lack of expandable memory in the Lumia 920 is, according to Nokia executive vice president Kevin Shields, because “to put an SD card slot in it would have defiled [the uncompromised physical form].” While the design philosophy behind this is understandable – having minimal ports helps cut down on dirt and makes the chassis more streamlined – it’s just enough of a drawback to make some media enthusiasts consider going with a phone which supports expandable memory.
The Samsung ATIV S, in particular, looks like it will be great for storing lots of music, pictures, videos, and games thanks to its microSD SDXC card slot. The Secure Digital eXtended Capacity (SDXC) standard lends support for up to 2TB of data, but most microSD SDXC cards only go up to about 64GB. This means that you could, in theory, complement the stock 32GB with a 64GB card, resulting in a whopping 96GB of storage space. When you look at it this way, it’s obvious which choice is the best for media enthusiasts.
While one could make the argument that the cloud is the way to go – and indeed, every Windows Phone comes with 7GB of free storage on SkyDrive, plus up to an additional 100GB for $50 per year – we currently don’t know the extent of Windows Phone 8’s SkyDrive integration. If the OS ends up supporting streaming videos from Xbox Video, music streaming from SkyDrive, and a virtual music collection based on locations like SkyDrive and Xbox Music, than you might be able to get away with less storage. But some people want or need access to their content in an offline capacity when a data connection is inaccessible or too costly. Cloud storage also isn’t ideal for games and apps at this point.
Nokia has made a number of top-notch contributions to the Windows Phone ecosystem, such as wireless charging, great accessories, fantastic first-party apps, and timed exclusive third-party apps, so choosing a different brand would be a difficult decision. One has to take HTC’s soon-to-be-announced devices into account as well. But if storage is what you need on your Windows Phone, the ATIV S is currently the way to go. I haven’t made my decision yet, but the ATIV S is certainly compelling, despite the Lumia 920’s numerous advantages.
Your right. Nokias windows phone os phones dont have a sd card slot but they still makre great windows phones. Kinda of a tricky situation. Sd card or no sd card
I might be a bit of a Lumia-fanatic, but I still think the 920 is the way to go. I’m sold on the pixel-density alone. Also, after seeing the camera abilities stacked against the S III, it’s pretty impressive. The Ativ S is – in this person’s opinion – just a slight variation of the S III, screen-size and all. I’d rather pocket a device that is utterly and completely designed for WIndows Phone 8, and that device will be the 920.
I’d have to agree with you. I’m definitely leaning toward the Lumia 920, but the storage capacity on the ATIV S is just… so…
Faking videos, skipping sd slots because “it wouldn’t look good, yo”. No wonder Nokia’s stock is crashing faster than a device running Symbian xD
Nokia is shooting themselves in the foot. I’m getting away from Windows Phone for many reasons, but certainly the lack of having expandable storage when data prices are ONLY going up, therefore killing the benefit of cloud storage is a big deal for many people. 32GB is much better than what they currently have available, and should satisfy most. However, Msoft and Nokia need to appeal the the enthusiasts and get them excited about the platform, which should trickle down to the mainstream just like Android did.
I’m leaning Nokia in this one.. even as a Samsung fan.
@kasrhp. Good point. As long as networks keep restricting data, the cloud will never be useful for media storage, especially videos. SD slot is becoming more important, not less.
Nokia makes excellent devices though I’m leaning Samsung in this one. I have a great history with Samsung’s quality and I like the Windows Phone device they are putting forth. I am definately heavy on memory and especially on portable memory so a SD card slot is necessary.
While I like all of the new innovation I see in the Lumia 920, I don’t need a high-end camera (own one) and I don’t need a high screen density…the current offerings seem to display my content just fine. What I need is my content when I want it…and having cloud storage as an option is nice, but I wouldn’t want it as my only option. With so many digital copies of content available, to have to worry about running out of memory doesn’t sit well with me. I could very easily be in a place where I have no reception as one other poster noted, and I would like to know that I could still have my content available to me through additional storage…so for now, I’d go Samsung (even though I would go Lumia hands down if they just had storage…).