Browsing the Web is certainly a key
feature of any smartphone, so we also conducted some formal speed tests
to see how well the Lumia 900 compares to some of today's hottest
smartphones.
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| Some Notes Network Speed Tests, WiFi and 3G
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Web Browser Performance
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Due to the limitations of Internet
Explorer within WP7, we weren't able to run our full gauntlet of mobile
speed tests as we usually do with Android handsets. That said, we want to make clear that the Web browsing
experience with the Lumina 900 was also impressive. In fact, much more impressive than with prior WP7 devices. Internet Explorer has been tweaked in Mango, and the improvements are great. Surfing was brisk and fluid, and we loved Microsoft's decision to place the address bar at the bottom of the screen, not top.
AT&T's LTE support is also a boon for this device, but we certainly wish that Verizon Wireless would've received the phone as well; it's LTE network is far more vast than AT&T's. For now, AT&T's LTE network hits just a
handful of cities, so you'll need to be located in one of those to fully take advantage. However, AT&T's LTE network is so sparingly used right now, speeds are still impressive. We found ourselves hitting
20Mbps down and around 7.5Mbps up routinely. AT&T's 3G woes are well-documented, and those in NYC / SF should take the usual precautions before buying the Lumia 900 on a network that has proven to be less than stellar in their neck of the woods. That said, both 3G and 4G performance (as well as Wi-Fi) was great on this phone, and we also loved the subtle notification bar message whenever a nearby Wi-Fi network was in range. This prevented us from having to barge into settings and refresh the list each time; a small thing, but a useful thing.
;)
