Nokia Lumia 900 vs HTC Titan II

Design, build quality, hardware

Like we already mentioned, the design approach in both devices couldn't have been more different. The Nokia Lumia 900 looks bold and, very importantly, like nothing else on the market. The HTC Titan II on the other hand, is almost a carbon copy of its predecessor. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, using the term innovation in this instance will be quite a stretch.

The two rivals side by side

The build quality of the Nokia Lumia is great. Save for the rather flimsy hardware buttons on the smartphone's side, and its gentle microSIM tray, there is absolutely nothing to frown about. The phone's polycarbonate unibody is also great in handling accidental drops.

The Lumia 900 measures are 127.8 x 68.5 x 11.5 mm, while the handset's weight tips the scale at a rather hefty 160 grams.

Nokia Lumia 900 build quality is great

The HTC Titan II however, is just as solidly put together, if not even better. While lacking unibody construction, the metal-clad Titan II feels just as well built as its rival. This is hardly a surprise given the manufacturer's reputation for quality - even the pickiest user will have a hard time finding something to complain about on this instance.

As its name suggests, the HTC Titan II packs serious measures. They are 132 x 69 x 13 mm, with the thickness largely attributed to the large camera sensor on the handset's back. Interestingly enough however, the Titan II is a good 13 grams lighter than the Lumia, with a weight of 147 grams.

HTC Titan II is as superbly put together, as any HTC

In terms of hardware, the most obvious difference between the two smartphones is their displays. The Nokia Lumia 900 does with a 4.3" ClearBlack AMOLED screen, while the HTC Titan II packs a 4.7" S-LCD unit. Thankfully, both displays are non-PenTile - a welcome fact, given their Microsoft enforced WVGA resolution.

The Nokia Lumia 900 has a serious advantage over the HTC Titan II in the display department. Along with a better pixel density of 217ppi (the Titan II has 199ppi), the Lumia 900's screen offers better contrast and viewing angles than the HTC offering. It is also easier on the battery. As far as sunlight legibility goes, the two units are on par - good news for the Titan II.

Of course, if you are after the most screen real estate, picking the Titan II is an easy choice.

The Lumia 900's display has the upper hand in this comparison

The HTC Titan II has a miniscule edge over the Lumia 900 in the CPU department. The Taiwanese offering sports a 1.5GHz Scorpion CPU, compared to the same unit, but clocked at 1.4GHz found in the Lumia 900. Both devices sport identical GPUs and 512MB of RAM to go with their LTE radios.

Speaking of LTE radios, the battery performance is easily one of the most important features for both devices. On this occasion, it is the Nokia Lumia 900 which has the upper hand. With a smaller ClearBlack AMOLED screen, and a bigger, 1830mAh battery, the smartphone achieved an endurance rating of 29 in our test.

Things did not go so well for the HTC Titan II. Sadly, the smartphone's endurance rating managed to dip to a rating of only 23. This means that your Titan II will last less than 24 hours if you use it for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback.

You can find out all about the battery performance of the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II here and here respectively.

Clearly, both devices are far from great in terms of battery life. LTE network connectivity is mostly the factor to blame here. It is essentially an extra addition to an already ageing chipset, which was not exactly known for being energy efficient.

Overall, the Nokia Lumia 900 seems to have a slight edge over the HTC Titan II in the design and hardware section. It looks (arguably) better, feels almost as solid as the HTC, and offers better battery performance, albeit marginally. The extra clock speed of HTC's CPU might actually be doing it a bad favor as far as battery life is concerned.