You could say we’re a little passionate about the issue of smartphone size.
But sometimes it’s more interesting to look at the device-size issue from the opposite angle. Instead of saying, “this is the situation; do you like it or do you hate it?” sometimes it’s fun to ask, “how did this situation come about?”
Ideally before it gets to this point.
That’s how I looked at the size and weight questions posed by the Nokia Lumia 920 after my first hands-on experience. The device was unquestionably thicker and heavier than I’d anticipated; while that didn’t bother me much, it did prompt me to wonder why. The answers came to me in an alliterative, if not entirely accurate, revelatory double-punch: the Lumia 920 is thick and heavy because of PureView and polycarbonate.
PureView
We know that the Nokia Lumia 920 doesn’t pack the same pixel-punch as its oddball predecessor, the PureView 808. We’ve commented on the issue at length, even going so far as to say that Nokia could have done real damage to the brand among smartphone shutterbugs by affixing the name to the comparatively weak optical hardware of the 920.
But all that aside, it’s hard to argue that the Lumia 920 doesn’t have an amazing camera. Judging from some of the test shots we’ve seen thus far, and our own eyes-on time, we feel pretty confident in saying that the 920′s camera stands ready to outperform many others in the smartphone sector. The reason for that is a mix of software and hardware, with the PureView camera module comprising the latter. CNet Asia got a chance to see what that module looks like:
Sitting alongside the device itself, you can instantly see where the Lumia 920 gets most of its bulk. The chassis has to be thick enough to accommodate the comparatively huge camera module — not because it’s primitive or otherwise handicapped, but because the unit needs to be that big to deliver fancy features like optical image stabilization.
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