Its an obvious truth you don't get luck and chance everyday. Apparently, I got both of these a few days ago while I was visiting the town with my Dad.

Well, the main goal was to buy the XII books as I can't wait for school to re-open to start my academics -- well, not due to my keen interest in studies but since the coaching would start during the summer vacation. The next main purpose was to look out for the latest Windows 8 devices in the market -- especially, tablets and hybrids.

The Sony Vaio Duo 11. I could buy a Nano with the price of that!

The secondary purpose ended in an utter failure and big disappointment. We couldn't find any Windows 8 hybrids/convertibles in the stores. We first dropped by the Reliance Digital but we couldn't notice a tail of any such gizmos there except for some Windows 8 Ultrabooks. There was nothing new in there so we left there pretty quick. Next, we went to Nikshan Electronics, Kannur's premier electronics and gadget shop. However, this too led us to a disappointment as again, no such devices were found. However, we saw a few brochures there and though the devices weren't on display, they could be ordered from there. However, the price of the Sony Vaio Duo 11 about which, the brochure was made my jaws drop. A striking 90K rupees! Now, that's near the price of a Nano car and it was way over affordable. I was surprised to hear big price tags for these 'could-be' useful devices and hence, got to an understanding that buying a convertible won't be easy as I think it would be. Same was the story of Ultrabooks as they were ultra-thin and powerful while they were ultra-rich. Hybrids could be very useful devices as they are multipurpose -- you get a tablet when you need one while at the same time, satisfying your daily works and needs as a laptop or a PC. However, such price tags aren't going to make this easy for Windows 8, I presumed.

My big disappointment came to a slight relief when we passed by the mobile store. I saw a set of Nokia Lumia boxes at the shelf and unlike most other stores, it was Nokia blue throughout the shelves. I also saw a few dummy pieces of the Lumia 920, 820 and 620. I quickly grabbed one to see how it feels and truth be told -- it was comfortable. However, I was greedy. I wanted to see a real one but I couldn't notice it anywhere. Suddenly, my eyes went to a family-customers next to us. The salesman dressed in a Nokia blue T-shirt was explaining a Lumia 710 to the family. I listened and as soon as he finished with the 710, he took his hands to the pocket and what came out was a serene white Lumia 920. Believe me, I was the most happiest person in the planet at that moment. Seeing one at such a close viewpoint is something unbelievable ( Yeah, I thought I would never see one ).

---

Hands-on with the Lumia 920

The salesman continued his theory class to the family and finally put it aside. I wasted no time and grabbed it. It was the most heavenly feeling that struck me since a long time. I felt over-joyed and I couldn't control the emotion. It was comfortable, soft yet the bulk could be felt on your hands. Don't think I'm exaggerating. To be frank, I admit that it is heavy and bulky but that doesn't mean it has no beauty in the design and shape or that doesn't even make it uncomfortable. The truth is, its very much comfortable and fits in your hand perfectly. But unlike others, its a heavy monster. But being ultra-light doesn't make the phone better than Lumia 920. Infact, the Galaxy S3 is light-weight but won't be safe unless you wear a tough cover around it -- its very much fragile. However, the robust and tough design of Lumia 920 can withstand all of that and hence, you wont be needing any extra shielding for this amazing phone.

I unlocked the phone and went through the Windows Phone 8 interface. It was fairly responsive like any other Windows Phone but presented a more vibrant feeling. It was very much similar to Windows Phone 7.8 but there's a tincture or more of a difference that I can't merely explain in words -- you gotta check it out yourself. Its fast and fluid and hence, follows the Windows Phone tradition. I tried navigating the touchscreen with my nails and yeah, it works but the glossy screen-guard was preventing me to test the touch-screen on a full-scale. However, even with the guard, the features work and yes, the display is brilliant and bright.

The next thing that came up in my mind was to test the camera and so I went into the menu and opened the camera app. I took a few shots myself and reviewed some shots that were taken before and there's no doubt -- the camera is highly promising. There were some low-light pictures too and they were very perfect and promising. The pictures I took also where colourful and vibrant and the camera was too much promising for me. I also tested the camcorder and the recording too was fine except that the recording is just in mono. However, that wasn't a big setback for its brilliant photographic features. I also checked out the features like Smart Shoot, OIS but I couldn't go in-depth into that as I didn't had the time to do that.

Credit: The Verge

The last thing I checked was the apps loaded in the device. The device already comes preloaded with a bunch of apps where most are Nokia exclusives and a lot of lenses are also present. The Office app is still there, much of it the same as in the WP7 version and it works pretty well. The rest of the apps are similar but different in some way or the other.

I couldn't get much time to tinker with it as the salesman asked for the device as the family customers wanted to see more of it. I was quite sad to let it out of my hands I wished I had it once again. Yeah, I was sad.

Apart form the Lumia 920, Lumia 820 was also present but I didn't get the chance to get a hands-on. The Lumia 620 was yet to arrive even though it was launched a few days ago in India. After some enquiries we left the shop riding back to home.

Lesson to other Mobile shops

However, there's one thing I fantasized on my visit to Nikshan. I can frankly tell that its one of the fairest and the best mobile shops I've ever seen. You know, when I go to most mobile shops, the first thing they would say would be - " Sir, Nokia phones are very bad and they don't have resale values. Android is the best and there are lot of apps in Android phones. If you're buying, buy a Samsung Android phone." even before you could express your like or wish for a device. I find this very much annoying. Bur right now, all I got to tell is that the shops shouldn't behave like this. I still don't remember whether they told the same dialogue a few years back when Android was out of the game and Nokia was the premier mobile company in India. Even if it lost the ground today, its still trying to climb back and there's not a single problem with the phones Nokia makes. All are roust, tough and promising -- even the Symbian ones.

Now, unlike these Android fanboy shops, I find this one distinct. They don't talk against a phone -- neither Samsung, nor Nokia or any other manufacturers.  Instead, they briefly explain the salient features and summaries it for us. Of course there are Samsung devices in that shop but still, they consider the time and the present situation and accordingly, they act to customers. Unlike other shops, they don't complain Windows Phones and I was awestruck to hear that they loved it and praises it for being simple and fast. I was joyful to hear at least someone who spoke the truth at last. They still sell Android phones but they are aware of the fact that Windows Phones are one step better --  a truth which most other shops ignore just for the sake of money.

I'm not going much into an Android vs. Windows Phone debate and I will do that sometime later. However, the day was indeed a joyful one for me as I got the chance to meet a brilliant and a beautiful device. I just hope I could make it mine one day.