BlackBerry Z10 vs Nokia Lumia 920 – Specs and features comparison

Both Nokia and BlackBerry are examples of companies that once ruled their domains and now have fallen from grace. After both announcing very interesting looking offerings last year, it was left to see how they’d finally turn out. Luckily for both manufacturers, their respective devices have been well received. The Nokia Lumia 920 was praised for it’s excellent build, innovative features, snappy performance and fantastic camera while the BlackBerry Z10 was praised for the new OS, social and business integration, excellent communications and quick interface. So if you’re looking to buy a premium smartphone but don’t want to go the Android or iOS way, which one of these should you go for? Read on for our BlackBerry Z10 vs Nokia Lumia 920 feature!

Must read: Nokia Lumia 920 Review

BlackBerry Z10 vs Nokia Lumia 920 – Head to head comparison:

Specs and hardware

In terms of specs, both flagships are quite similar and use the same SoC, with the exception of the BlackBerry Z10 packing in a generous 2 GB of RAM compared to the Lumia 920’s 1 GB of RAM. So in terms of benchmark performance, there probably shouldn’t be too much of a difference, and since they’re running different operating systems, we cannot really put them head to head. Furthermore, there’s no cross platform benchmarking app so for the most part we can consider this a draw.

	Nokia Lumia 920	BlackBerry Z10
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8960	Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8960
CPU	1.5 GHz dual core Krait	1.5 GHz dual core Krait
GPU	Adreno 225	Adreno 225
RAM	1 GB RAM	2 GB RAM
Storage	32 GB, non expandable	16 GB, expandable upto 64 GB via MicroSD
Screen	4.5 inches PureMotion HD+ ClearBlack IPS LCD screen, 768 x 1280px (332 ppi)	4.2 inches TFT LCD screen, 768 x 1280px (355 ppi)
Camera	8.7MP PureView rear facing camera (1080P video recording), 1.3MP front facing camera (720P video recording)	8 MP rear facing camera (1080P video recording), 2MP front facing camera (720P video recording)
Connectivity	Bluetooth v3.1, NFC, GPS, WiFi, MicroUSB 2.0 slot	Bluetooth v4.0, NFC, GPS, WiFi, MicroUSB 2.0 slot
Battery	2000 mAh	1800 mAh

Design, build and size

Both these phones go for different sort of designs. While the Lumia 920 is a solid and large device built to last, the Z10 is more of a compact and petite device. None of the devices lack in build quality though, and both of them feel premium, with the Lumia 920 probably edging out the Z10 in terms of ruggedness.

The Z10 weighs in at just 137 gm and is 9 mm thick while the Lumia 920 is a hefty 185 gm with a thickness of 10.7 mm. If large phones bother you, you probably should go for the Z10, but then again, if 185 gm is too much to hold you probably have more problems to deal with. Color wise the Lumia 920 has more options and comes in red, yellow, white and black, as well as grey and cyan for some markets. The Z10, on the other hands comes in just black and white. Funky colors not withstanding, both phones looks great and it’s just a matter of what appeals to you more.

Screen

The one thing common between both these devices is a great screen. Both the units are of the LCD variety and are excellent at reproducing colors and contrasts. Sharpness is top notch too, since both employ a resolution of 1280 x 768 in a similar screen size, which results in a pixel density value of more than 330 ppi. In terms of numbers, the Z10 has a higher pixels per inch value because it’s a 4.2 inch screen compared to the Lumia 920’s 4.5 inch screen, but in the real world you really won’t be able to make out any difference.

Tech wise though, the Lumia 920 has a superior and more responsive touchscreen, which comes with the PureMotion tech. It has the lowest refresh time of 5ms and can also be used with gloves, a stylus, nails, you name it. The screen also automatically adjusts brightness and contrast in the sunlight for maximum readability. The Z10 is also very usable in sunlight, it just doesn’t adjust brightness and contrast. All in all, both these phones have great touchscreens worthy of any flagship.

Camera

None of the BlackBerry devices are particularly known for their cameras and unfortunately it’s the same case with the Z10. It’s probably the best camera of all BlackBerry’s, but it just doesn’t compete with the Lumia 920’s excellent PureView camera. Only just now it’s got features like tap to click that have been standards on smartphones since years.

In daylight, the Z10 does a pretty fine job of capturing photos but tends to become slightly noisy and grainy. The Lumia 920 isn’t the best in daylight photos but does pip the Z10 in this regard. In low light however, the Lumia 920 destroys the competition, Z10 included. It must be said that with flash on, the Z10 puts up a pretty good fight.

Extra features wise, both cameras have different names for similar technologies (Time Shift in the Z10 and Smart Shoot in the Lumia 920), but again the Lumia 920 is the clear winner because of 360 degree panoramas, optical image stabilization and a variety of camera lens applications to enhance pictures. If you’re a photography lover, make no mistake, the Lumia 920 should be your choice.

Storage

The BlackBerry Z10 is the winner here hands down because of the ability to use a MicroSD card to expand storage. Lumia 920’s 32 GB of internal non expandable storage might be enough for most, but the ability to expand storage is always welcome. The BlackBerry Z10 comes with 16 GB of internal storage.

Battery

Battery life varies wildly on both these smartphones. While the initial battery life of the Lumia 920 was lackluster, after a week or two of usage it improves and users have reported excellent battery life. On an average you can easily get around 12-14 hours of moderate to heavy usage which isn’t bad at all considering how much tech has to be powered, like the large and super sensitive touchscreen.

The Z10 is a similar case, and many users complained about battery life at launch. However, there has been an update that apparently fixes these issues and now users are reporting improved battery life in the region of 12 hours or so of moderate to heavy usage which puts both smartphones in the same boat in terms of battery life.

OS and special features

Here’s where the smartphones really differ. The Nokia Lumia 920 runs on the Windows Phone 8 OS while the BlackBerry Z10 runs on the all new BlackBerry 10 OS. We’ve covered the launch and features of both these operating systems in detail and there’s really no way to crown a winner. Both have their advantages and disadvantages, as well as similarities. Windows Phone 8 and BlackBerry 10 are both new OS’es looking to challenge the supremacy of Android and iOS, and are quite similar in the regards of low app store count, integrated social hubs, easy to use interface etc.

But no matter the number of similarities, they’re very different operating systems. While one goes for simple and minimalistic, one is intuitive and slick. BlackBerry 10 will definitely appeal to older BlackBerry users even though it’s a paradigm shift. The business and communication features are still top of the pile.

Windows Phone 8 will appeal to Windows 8 and Windows Phone 7.5/7.8 users, who won’t find much of a difference shifting to it, visually at least. It remains one of the most no nonsense, fast and easy to use operating systems out there and is a good choice for pretty much any user.

Speaking of special features, the Lumia 920 has a lot of hardware features like the PureView camera, PureMotion HD+ screen, wireless charging and such, while the Z10 boasts of the best keyboard in the market, unparalleled business and security features and exclusive communication features like the BlackBerry Messenger.

This is a very subjective category and we recommend having a little hands on with both of the phones before making a final decision, because they’re so different it cannot be described. Both operating systems are fantastic in their own regard and it depends on what you’re going to be using the phone for.

Must read:  BlackBerry 10 Devices and Specs, features

Conclusion

So is there a clear winner here? We can’t say. Both these flagships from the fallen titans are fantastic devices that won’t disappoint in any regard and no matter the sales, we can confidently say that no matter your choice, you won’t go wrong. After comparing the categories above you can perhaps make an informed decision depending on your lifestyle, and in daily use none of the phones are going to disappoint. It’s great to see competition from smartphones that aren’t Android and iOS, not only because it gives the customer more choice, but because of the age old concept, competition drives innovation.We’re going to see a lot more phones and features come up because every manufacturer is looking to one up the other, and in the end it’s to our advantage! Do let us know what you thought of the BlackBerry Z10 vs Nokia Lumia 920 feature and tell us about your user experiences as well as which smartphone you think is better and why.