5 things the iPhone 5 could learn from the Nokia Lumia 920

Apple's next iPhone would do well to match Nokia's new flagship in several areas.

The iPhone 5 might be the world’s most anticipated smartphone, but we suspect there are a few ways in which the Nokia Lumia 920 might have it beat.

The camera

The Lumia 920 sports what looks like a fantastic camera. Sure, 8MP is pretty standard in terms of sensor size, but it’s other things that make it noteworthy: the floating optical image stabilisation to combat shaky hand syndrome and improve the sharpness of low light photography, not to mention the bright F2.0 aperture. Obviously details of the iPhone 5’s camera are still under wraps, but we reckon it’ll do well to beat the Lumia 920’s snapper.

Wireless charging

While wireless charging for phones isn’t a new concept (remember the Palm Pre?), it’s never really enjoyed support from the big manufacturers. That’s changed with the Nokia Lumia 920: now there’s a premium smartphone with built-in wireless charging. Apple is certainly toying with the concept of cable-free battery replenishment, but the feeling is that it won’t come on the iPhone 5 – which is strongly rumoured to have a new smaller dock connector.

NFC

Will the iPhone 5 have NFC? Some think it will, some say it won’t. The Nokia Lumia 920 certainly does have it, and it’s useful for more than merely paying for things. NFC works to painlessly pair the phone with the JBL speaker and headphones, for instance – much easier than faffing around with Bluetooth.

Battery life

The Lumia 920 boasts a mighty 2000mAh battery, which should keep the phone going for a long old stretch. Any iPhone owner knows that it’s all too easy to deplete the battery, especially if you’re hammering 3G, so the 4G-toting iPhone 5 will need a pretty capacious power source on it.

Touchscreen

The iPhone 5 will likely beat the Lumia 920’s display when it comes to pixel density, but Nokia has delivered a fantastic screen on its flagship phone. Not only is it beautifully bright, crisp and reportedly clearly visible in bright sunlight, it also works with gloved fingers – will the iPhone 5’s do that? We’ll have to wait and see.