The Lumia phones really need to be held in the hand to appreciate the design. There are a few salient points:
- The colors are fantastic, the palette is incredibly vibrant without being gaudy.
- Despite the bright colors, the material feels high-quality and not plasticky, which is the fate that usually befalls brightly colored consumer electronics. The texture of the colored bits is really, really good - better than anything HTC or Samsung is fielding, IMO.
- The curvature of the device feels very natural in the hand, moreso than IMO most phones - particularly Motorola phones that feels very front-heavy and too-thin.
- The glass front feels like glass, unlike, say, Samsung's phones. My Galaxy Nexus's glass feels very distinctly plasticky, almost like a thin film has been deposited on top (and I suppose it might actually be just that).
- There's a comfortable heft to it that subtly reminds you that it's supposed to be an upmarket device, similar to iPhone, and dissimilar to Samsung's flagship phones, which feel too light to be taken seriously.
Not to mention the excellent build quality. I've dropped my N900 from my car once and onto the ground many times. It's got a single small scratch in the bezel to show for it, and it's the same story for my friend's N810. Nokia really knows how to build solid hardware.
- The colors are fantastic, the palette is incredibly vibrant without being gaudy.
- Despite the bright colors, the material feels high-quality and not plasticky, which is the fate that usually befalls brightly colored consumer electronics. The texture of the colored bits is really, really good - better than anything HTC or Samsung is fielding, IMO.
- The curvature of the device feels very natural in the hand, moreso than IMO most phones - particularly Motorola phones that feels very front-heavy and too-thin.
- The glass front feels like glass, unlike, say, Samsung's phones. My Galaxy Nexus's glass feels very distinctly plasticky, almost like a thin film has been deposited on top (and I suppose it might actually be just that).
- There's a comfortable heft to it that subtly reminds you that it's supposed to be an upmarket device, similar to iPhone, and dissimilar to Samsung's flagship phones, which feel too light to be taken seriously.