- Conclusion Get the lowdown
- Features How they compare
- Performance Real world benchmarks
- Differences Technical showdown
- Reviews Word on the street
- Competition Others to consider
- Discussion Answers and opinions
Compare with...
- Apple iPhone 5
- HTC One X
- Samsung Galaxy S III mini
- Nokia Lumia 820
- HTC One
by GSM Arena (Dec, 2011)The device feels solidly built despite its low weight.
by TrustedReviews (Sep, 2012)With a resolution of 800 x 1280 pixels, it's up there with the best in terms of resolution, but Nokia reckons it's also 25% brighter than its closest rival LCD and 2.5x faster, making for super smooth animation.
Conclusion Which is better for you?
Features Key features of the Samsung Focus S compared to the Nokia Lumia 920
GHz1.5
Windows Phone 7.5 Mango 3.5G
by GSM Arena (Dec, 2011)The device looks beautiful, has a screen up to snuff, and is more pocketable than the Samsung.
1.5 GHz
Windows Phone 8 4G
screen size
4.3"
4.5"
Focus S by S.-Singh--sujsingh (Sep, 2012)The quality of screen, size and the vividness is just impressive.
Lumia 920 by Leonard-Frances-Lasecki (Nov, 2012)The larger screen makes business emails much easier to type, and the overall larger size/weight is a plus for working in a rugged environment.
screen resolution
Focus S by Louis-W. (Dec, 2011)It's not as high as Apple's Retina display (around 326 ppi), but tremendously better than the 3GS's 163 ppi.
Lumia 920 by LarsBars (Dec, 2012)The phone has a really great screen, with currently the highest resolution available on any Windows Phone, (and quite high for any phone).
memory
| 0 GB | 1 GB | 1 GB |
processor
Focus S by Alexander-Stevens (Mar, 2012)Those who say that the single core processor is a drawback has never used one of these before.
Lumia 920 by c|net (Sep, 2012)Thanks to Windows Phone 8's new capabilities, the Lumia 920 will feature the same dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor as found in high-end phones in the U.S. like the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the HTC One X. This was a smart move, especially since LTE is already integrated with the chipset, and I'm expecting blazing-fast responsiveness alongside quick data speeds.
camera resolution
| 0 MP | 8.7 MP | 9 MP |
Focus S by c|net (Nov, 2011)The Samsung Focus S, introduced by AT&T, is a beautiful device: it's thin, it's light (maybe too light), and it sports a gorgeous 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and a quite good 8-megapixel rear-facing camera.
Lumia 920 by Scrambles (Jan, 2013)Their speeds and performance will be nearly identical; the only differences will be Camera, Screen size and resolutions, battery mah, weight, colors, etc..
Performance Real world tests of Samsung Focus S vs Nokia Lumia 920
cpu speed
Lumia 920 by Throw-your-mouse-away (Nov, 2012)In all fairness HTC WP8 also very smooth on screen scrolling etc, the processors on both phones are top notch.
talk time
390 min
600 min
Focus S by ArgonBattery is outstanding in its class of high-end smartphones, for all the speed and smooth experience it provides.
Lumia 920 by Jeff-B--Jeff (Nov, 2012)When you get the phone, fully charge it, then let it fully drain through normal use (I got about 6 hours of charge).
Differences What are the advantages of each
Advantages compared to the Nokia Lumia 920
| Much lighter | 111 g | vs | 185 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40% lighter | |||
| Has a removable battery | Yes | vs | No |
| Somewhat common; Old batteries can be replaced inexpensively | |||
| Screen uses OLED technology | Yes | vs | No |
| About half of phones are OLED; OLED screens are typically higher contrast and use less power | |||
| Supports FM radio | Yes | vs | No |
| Somewhat common; Listen to music and news from local radio stations | |||
| Much smaller | 67 x 126 x 8 mm | vs | 71 x 130 x 11 mm |
| More than 30% smaller | |||
| Quite a bit thinner | 8 mm | vs | 11 mm |
| Around 30% thinner | |||
Advantages compared to the Samsung Focus S
| Is 4G | Yes | vs | No |
|---|---|---|---|
| Somewhat common; Supports the fastest, most reliable networks | |||
| Supports NFC | Yes | vs | No |
| Somewhat common; Enables payment by phone and other wireless communications | |||
| Outputs video to TV | Proprietary | vs | None |
| About half of smartphones can output to TVs; the modern day slide projector, great for sharing your photos & videos | |||
| Significantly sharper screen | 331 ppi | vs | 216 ppi |
| More than 50% sharper PPI; enjoy photo-realistic, crisp images | |||
| Significantly higher resolution screen | 1280 x 768 | vs | 800 x 480 |
| More than 2.5x higher resolution screen | |||
| Store significantly more stuff | 32 GB | vs | 16 GB |
| 2x more storage capacity; free yourself from memory cards | |||
| More cores | Dual core | vs | Single core |
| Twice as many cores; each additional core lets your phone do more without visible UI slowdowns and jerkiness | |||
| Records higher definition video | 1920 x 1080 @ 30 fps | vs | 1280 x 720 @ 30 fps |
| Around 2.5x higher definition video | |||
| More battery capacity | 2,000 mA·h | vs | 1,650 mA·h |
| More than 20% more battery capacity | |||
| Longer talk time | 600 min | vs | 390 min |
| More than 50% longer talk time; go days without charging | |||
| Better theoretical download speed | 42.2 Mb/s | vs | 7.2 Mb/s (HSDPA) |
| Around 6x better theoretical download speed; enjoy lightning fast downloads on modern networks | |||
| Marginally newer | Nov, 2012 | vs | Nov, 2011 |
| Release date a year later | |||
| Longer standby time | 24,000 min | vs | 15,000 min |
| 60% longer standby time | |||
| Slightly bigger screen | 4.5" | vs | 4.3" |
| Almost the same | |||
Reviews Word on the street
Samsung Focus S | Nokia Lumia 920 | ||
 |  
| 
| |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Rated by 90 users at amazon.com Rated 100% by by Lea (Nov, 2011)  Rated 100% by by Bacchus (Nov, 2011) Rated 100% by by Bacchus (Nov, 2011) | Rated by 374 users at amazon.com Rated 100% by by myechal (Nov, 2012) Rated 100% by by LarsBars (Dec, 2012) | |
focus
Nokia Lumia 920 | Rated 80% by by Michael-Anthony-To (Nov, 2012)I've own the Samsung Focus, The Focus S, The Lumia 900 and this beauty.
Samsung Focus S | by GSM Arena (Dec, 2011)The Samsung Focus S packs an 8MP autofocus camera, capable of shooting photos with 3264x2448 pixels in resolution.
Samsung Focus S | Rated 80% by by c|net (Nov, 2011)Samsung has definitely led the way with Windows Phones, from the original Samsung Focus to the loosely related Focus Flash and Focus S we see now.
camera
Samsung Focus S | Rated 80% by by c|net (Nov, 2011)Set to maximum sharpness, the Focus S' 8-megapixel camera captured the texture and color of the flower petals.
Samsung Focus S | Rated 80% by by c|net (Nov, 2011)The Focus S is essentially the same shell as AT&T's excellent Samsung Galaxy S II phone, minus the Android operating system (and a few other internals), and plus a physical camera button.
Samsung Focus S | by GSM Arena (Dec, 2011)The differences between the two are in the screen size, built-in memory, and the camera units – here the Focus S is better equipped.
Competition What else you should consider
 | 1 | Apple iPhone 5 Most built-in storage |
 | 2 | HTC One X 2-way tie: OK standby time |
 | 3 | Samsung Galaxy S III mini 2-way tie: Lightest |
 | 4 | Nokia Lumia 820 Longest battery life during active use |
 | 5 | HTC One Better than usual battery capacity |
 | 6 | HTC 8X 5-way tie: Supports Flash |
 | 7 | HTC 8S 4-way tie: Has expandable storage |
 | 8 | BLU Tango 3-way tie: Has a removable battery |
