TECHNOLOGY

Nokia and Microsoft are betting big on the Lumia 900, hoping the device will help make a name for Windows Phone in the United States. The handset will be exclusively offered by AT&T for a mere $99.99 with a new two-year agreement on April 8th. TechRepublic on Tuesday cracked open the device and examined its internal components. The conclusion: mediocre hardware is the reasons for its low price. With almost every other competing smartphone offering dual-core or quad-core processors, Nokia instead chose a single-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 chipset clocked at 1.4 GHz. The Lumia has a smaller battery, lower resolution display and less RAM than most of its competitors as well. The handset is also thicker and heavier than most, although it has a good build quality according to the site. Despite these shortcomings, Nokia’s Lumia 900 is a terrific smartphone that gives Windows Phone its best shot yet to succeed.