Amber on Nokia Lumia 920: Quick Hands-On

Nokia has started rolling out the Lumia Amber update (finally!) for all Nokia Lumia 920s across the globe. Yes, that includes me too and I'm glad to announce that I updated mine to Amber -- too.

The update began to roll out here, in India, on August 15th -- Independence Day midnight. Good time for an update and a wise choice. Kudos to Nokia for that. :)

Back to Amber. I started the update August 16th as I was forced to because I was in the hangover of celebrations and slept for a long time. Anyways, the next day, I began the update and it took about 2 hours to download but that's because of the 256Kbps bandwidth I have right now. Still, the update is about 1 GB and it should take time to get on your phone if you are in India. Installation was pretty long -- about half an hour. Another 5 minutes was spent for setting up the phone (migrating data and stuff!). Even at a time, I thought the phone bricked because it got stuck for a long time at the turning cogs.

But in the end, the long wait paid off. You wouldn't notice anything at all once you've finished updating. The same old Start Screen as GDR2 hasn't brought much into the Windows Phones except for the FM Radio and a few fixes. But Amber is one hell of a package Nokia made to spice up GDR2.

Yes, I've tried many of them. Data Sense earned my heart. Its so easy to manage mobile data now as I can set-up limits and cycles. However, most Indian carriers are still out of support for Data Sense and I don't expect any soon.

Nokia Smart Camera, Pro Camera and other apps are now available for download and play with GDR2. All these apps are uber cool and awesome! They are best in what they do. Nokia Pro Camera wasn't complicated at all for me (I'm not a pro photographer btw) and it gives me more control and in the end gives me a better picture. Smart Cam can shoot awesome shots with cool new effects.

Glance Screen won my heart too. I love the way in which the status is being showed and its simple and conserves the battery for the better part. By the motion of my hand, I can see the time and see the battery status too.

I will be doing a quick hands-on with the Amber on 920 real soon. To know more about Amber and GDR2 updates and the new stuff that comes with it, take a quick look at the article I made before explaining Amber and its features.

>> What is Nokia Lumia Amber and GDR2?