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That's too bad because aspects of both the Lumia 900 and WindowsPhone show real promise and class. It's easy to be entranced by the"basic black dress" simplicity of the Lumia 900's design (availablein blue, white, and black models), and the tiled interface ofWindows Phone is truly inspired, elegant, and alluring. But if youlook deeper, you find that the Lumia 900, like Windows Phone 7itself, is a deficient product whose surface beauty masks aweakling. The Lumia 900 costs $550 ($100 with a two-year contract) and runson AT&T's network. It uses the standard Windows Phone 7.5"Mango" operating system, adding nothing to address Windows Phone'smany business shortcomings. Windows Phone 7.5 can't be used in mostbusinesses because it lacks security features such as on-deviceencryption, VPN support, and support for Microsoft ExchangeActveSync (EAS) policies beyond the very basic set. Its Officesuite is also primitive, with bare-bones capabilities far exceededby apps available for other mobile OSes, such as the popular andcapable Quickoffice for Android and iOS (but not for WindowsPhone). The iPhone's iOS of course offers the essential security andmanagement capabilities, as well as business app selection , that make it a great fit in business. Android devices also have a decent selection of business apps. Though Android itself has weak security and managementcapabilities, Motorola Mobility's Android devices all add such iOS-level capabilities, as do some Samsung Android smartphones . A mom-and-pop shop might get away with using a Windows Phonedevice, but not most businesses. Windows Phone 7 -- and the Lumia900 -- is more plausible for personal use. Hardware In many ways, the Nokia Lumia 900 is similar to the Samsung Focus S , perhaps the best-known Windows Phone smartphone in the UnitedStates. Both are as thin and light as an iPhone but a tad wider andtaller (0.25 inch in each direction); they deliver a nice-sizescreen without taking up much more space in your pocket -- the samestrategy of many Android smartphones. Their screens are 4.3 inchesin diameter versus the iPhone's 3.5 inches. It's the size an iPhoneshould be, and the size of many Android smartphones. At first blush, the Lumia 900's AMOLED screen is attractive: clearand bright, without the cartoonish colors of some Super AMOLEDscreens. But the more I used it, the more it bothered me. Thescreen resolution is a paltry 480 by 800 pixels, for a resolutionof 217 pixels per inch (ppi). An iPhone's smaller screen has aresolution of 640 by 960 pixels, for a 326-ppi resolution. TheSamsung Galaxy Nexus flagship Android smartphone has a 720-by-1,280screen (316 ppi), and the no-nonsense Motorola Droid Razr Maxx has a 540-by-960 screen (256 ppi). In other words, the Lumia 900'sscreen is coarse by comparison and gives the impression of beinglower quality. The screen is just the start -- the Lumia 900's hardware isunderpowered across the board. Like the Samsung Focus S , it uses a 1.4GHz single-core CPU, versus the faster dual-coreCPUs of Android and iOS devices. Its 512MB of system RAM is halfthat of its Android and iOS competitors; its graphics coprocessoris also subpar. The 8-megapixel camera sounds impressive, but theresults are disappointing compared to what the iPhone 4S and flagship Android devices' cameras deliver; the Lumia'spictures are a bit muddy and have a narrower tonal range. Thebattery power is also on the low side. Like the Focus S, the Lumiaoften can't make a full workday on a single charge, and its ratedusage times are about half to two-thirds that of competing Androidand iOS smartphones. I'm surprised and disappointed that the Lumia 900 -- meant to beNokia's best foot forward -- uses the same middling hardware as theSamsung Focus S, a device not trying to be the king of the hill.It's almost as if they are the same device in different bezels. Theonly real hardware difference is in the cellular radio: The Lumia900 supports LTE 4G networks in addition to 3G GSM connections. As AT&T's LTE service isavailable in only a few dozen cities, that faster radio speed isone you may only rarely experience. Few serious apps are available for Windows Phone, so the Lumia 900feels snappy, but only because it's not doing much when in use.Microsoft is working on Windows Phone 8 (code-named Apollo) that allegedly will fix the many gaps in Windows Phone'scapabilities, but I find it hard to trust that the underpoweredhardware of the Lumia 900 will be able to run serious applicationsor games as Android and iOS flagship devices can today. I simplydon't see the Lumia 900's hardware being able to keep up withWindows Phone and new apps if Microsoft were to get serious aboutthe OS. The Lumia 900's bezel is pleasant to hold. Although a slab, it's anelegantly simple one that draws character from its minimalism andsubtle lines. There are the usual volume rocker, audio jack,MicroUSB jack, camera button, and front camera (1.3 megapixels), aswell as the Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G-plus-LTE cellular radios. Thesimple design means the power and camera buttons are both unlabeledand identical in appearance, so it's easy to press the wrong oneuntil your motor memory kicks in. There's no video-out capability,so forget about using the Lumia to make presentations via an HDTVor projector as you can with iPhones and many Android smartphones. Beyond the hardware, the Nokia Lumia 900 offers no alterations tothe Windows Phone 7.5 OS; you get the standard "Mango" experience. 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