Dropping the ball: It’s a fight for your post iPhone heart

So it was that time of year again where your favourite tech blog goes into overdrive. But I’m not here to try to spin relatively disappointing releases into something awesome. Now that we have seen what every phone maker released for the next year, we can now decide which phone is actually the best one to get. I’m not including HTC in this because let’s be honest, the One X is old and I’m not too excited about the 8X (it looks like it belongs in a long-distant era).

So to the new smartphone buyer or the person who wants to upgrade, the choice is between the Nokia Lumia 920, Samsung Galaxy SIII and the iPhone 4S2 — sorry, the iPhone 5.

Raw data

It’s pretty clear these days that raw specifications don’t mean anything anymore, unless you really let the ball drop. Software and free services are where it is at. The new iPhone now sports a massive app store with over 700 thousand apps. Apparently 90% of these apps are actually being downloaded which is not a great barometer for usability. Besides its huge marketplace it will feature a faster processor, a slightly bigger screen at 4 inches and a higher resolution but not improved DPI.

The Samsung Galaxy SIII comes in and takes on the new iPhone by matching every single specification and surpassing it slightly with a bigger display. But we’re all too familiar with the nagging performance issues with Android and we hope Jelly Bean actually fixes it… whenever Samsung decides to update its devices.

Simple pleasures

Music, Movies and Apps: that is what we want on our phones. Apple boasts its massive iTunes market and for a price you can get anything from your favourite Nicky Minaj song, or whoever is at the top of the chart at that particular second, to the latest Top Gear season (given that you have the relevant access).

Google tries to mimic this by offering the same via Google Play and it does a fairly good job, however I’ll give it to Apple for making it easy for us outside the US to bypass the region controls (I’m looking at you).

But you must be thinking, yeah so they’re the same and the iPhone might be prettier. This is where the Nokia Lumia 920 comes in. Probably the worlds most downplayed product launch by anxious bloggers (pre-iPhone5), it is simply put the ‘Most innovative smartphone in the world’.

The upper hand

That is saying a lot. The Lumia beats the above phones to a pulp in pure awesomeness and adds some fuel to their burning bodies. The highest resolution display on any phone in the market with the higher than ‘Retina Display’ DPI count. Wireless charging. Software integration iOS can only dream about. Well over 100 thousand apps and more arrive every minute. NFC with tap to share. The best camera on any mobile device with a higher aperture than the iPhone 5, which is basically the same as the 4S camera with some fancy added software enhancements.

Besides that, if you’re still not swayed, Nokia throws in free Nokia Maps, Nokia Music, and many more. Nokia Music lets you stream music free of charge. If that isn’t enough you can opt for the Xbox Music service which lets you stream and download unlimited amounts of music for a mere US $9.99. If you’re in the regions applicable Netflix and Xbox Video will be available. I’ll be eagerly running my VPN on this phone and downloading and streaming my movies on the go.

Like I said, software and services are at the forefront of the new smartphone revolution. All these new phones are carbon copies when it comes to the hardware (Nokia and Microsoft must be smiling right now) so it comes down to what you can offer your supporters.

Best of both worlds

If you’re looking for a phone that will definitely have the best security and integration in the industry with the best value for money services all included in a pretty black or white (or whatever colour you fancy) unibody, then it’s pretty obvious… you need the Lumia 920.

It is no secret that Windows Phones are the highest rated smartphones in the industry, and their users are the most satisfied. Well you don’t need to take my word for it: just look at Amazon.com and any service provider’s website for a clearer picture.

Now I’m excited about dumping my ageing (but not really) HD7 for the White Lumia 920. Can’t October come quicker?