Lumia 920 vs iPhone 5: What Should You Buy?

By Sumit Passary | Dec 01, 2012 10:17 AM EST

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The iPhone 5 has been creating waves since its September launch despite some minor niggles, and bears testimony to Apple's Midas touch. Nokia too released its Windows Phone 8-powered Lumia 920 smartphone in partnership with Microsoft, and is looking to upset the apple cart.

The Nokia Lumia 920 hit the U.S. shelves on Nov. 9 and has met with a positive response. The WP8 device from the Finnish company is looking to challenge existing smartphone players and eat into their market share.

With both the iPhone 5 and Lumia 920 packing in robust features and specifications, which device should you buy? We take a look at both the device's to help you decide.

Here's how the two smartphones - the Lumia 920 and iPhone 5 - measure up against each other.

Processor

The Lumia 920 features a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, which Qualcomm claims has "best in-class performance." On the other hand, the iPhone 5 features a powerful dual-core A6 processor, which is clocked at 1.3GHz.

Display

The iPhone 5 sports a 4-inch IPS LCD Retina display vis-à-vis the Lumia 920's slightly bigger 4.5-inch PureMotion HD+ display. The iPhone 5 and Lumia 920 offer a pixel resolution of 1136 x 640 and 1280 x 768, respectively.

The Apple and Nokia smartphones have pixel densities of 332 ppi and 326 ppi.

Weight, Thickness, and Body

The Lumia 920 measures 5.13 x 2.79 x 0.42 inches, compared to the iPhone 5's 4.87 x 2.31 x 0.30 inches dimensions, making the former taller, wider, and thicker than the Apple offering. Weight wise, at 3.95 ounces, the iPhone 5 is much lighter than the Lumia 920 which weighs 6.52 ounces.

Storage and Memory

When it comes to storage, the Apple smartphone trounces the Nokia offering. The iPhone 5 offers 16/32/64GB of internal memory, compared to Lumia 920's only 32GB option. Both smartphones do not have the option to expand the memory and offer 1GB of RAM.

Camera

The Lumia 920 features an 8.7-megapixel rear-facing camera, whereas the iPhone 5 has a 8-megapixel rear-facing snapper. Both the smartphones have a 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera.

Software and Battery

The Lumia 920 runs on Microsoft's latest Windows Phone 8 OS, whereas the iPhone 5 runs on the iOS 6.

A 2000mAh battery powers the Lumia 920 and supports 9 hours of talk time on 3G. The size details of the iPhone 5's battery are not yet known, but the smartphone supports 8 hours of talk time on 3G.

Colors, Availability, and Pricing

The Lumia 920 is available in five colors: yellow, white, red, black, and gray. The iPhone 5 is available in black and white.

The Lumia 920 (32GB) is available for $99.99 on a two-year contract with AT&T. On the other hand, the 16GB version of the iPhone 5 will set consumers back by $199.99 on the carrier. The 32GB and 64GB versions cost $299.99 and $399.99 on a two-year contract, respectively. The on contract price is same for Sprint and Verizon.

Alternately, an unlocked version of the 32GB Lumia 920 will cost between $700 to $750. The unlocked version of the iPhone 5 costs $649, $749, and $849 for the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB versions, respectively.