Nokia Lumia 900 handset was on display here at CES 2012, and though we couldn’t quite get our hands on it, we did the next best thing. Nokia Lumia 900 for AT&T is likely to be the one that gets phone fans’ hearts fluttering. With its 4.3-inch AMOLED display, 1-megapixel front-facing camera, stylish polycarbonate design and support for AT&T’s fledging 4G LTE network, it could soon be the Windows Phone to beat in the United States.

Nokia Lumia 900 New Features

Nokia Lumia 900 brings Windows Mobile 7.5, or Mango as its known in the common tongue. Nokia Lumia 900 upgrade in mid-2011 was a massive boon to the fledgling Windows Phone platform offering indications that reaching its obvious potential was in sight. The Mango update brought 250 new features including IE9, threaded messages, improved Xbox LIVE integration, multi-tasking and improved live tiles allowing more information to be displayed on the homescreen, as found on the HTC Titan.

The native Windows Phone operating system really shines on Nokia’s devices. We enjoyed the limited time we were given browsing through the interface. Nokia reps were pretty adamant that we weren’t able to browse through apps as the final software build wasn’t complete.

In terms of other features on Nokia Lumia 900 device, Nokia continues its long tradition of offering massively well-specced cameras on its smartphones. The rear facing camera boasts Carl Zeiss Tessar optics (as expected). As we mentioned above, the Nokia Lumia 900 boasts a wide-angle lens, enabling you to capture more within the frame.

Other than Nokia Lumia 900 size increase, 4G LTE internet is the main upgrade on show, although on the show floor at CES we were unable to test for increased speeds. In terms of other connectivity there’s Wi-Fi, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.1 and GPS.

4.3-inch AMOLED screen is an absolute joy to behold. It boasts an 800×480 resolution and the same ClearBlack technology we saw on the Lumia 800. The colourful Windows Phone OS Live Tiles interface really shines through and practically beams from the device. The capacitive touchscreen was a pleasure to use, like the Lumia 800, and we had no problem typing using the Gorilla Glass display.

Nokia Lumia 900 as our access to the interface was very limited. We were able to whizz through the live tiles, but were forbidden from opening any apps or web pages. “I can’t let you open that, sir” was the standard response whenever we broke the rules and delved into Netflix, Office or Xbox LIVE.

However, we were able to get a good look at the new ESPN app for Windows Phone which showed a really smooth, well structured UI and no signs of any lag, with the now modest 512MB RAM and 1.4GHz Scorpion processor. Whether that will hold up in the dual-core era remains to be seen.

Nokia Lumia 900 Release Date ?

Windows guru Paul Thurrott, who dropped Nokia Lumia 900 date on the most recent Windows Weekly podcast. Thurrott isn’t one to share spurious rumors, and he’s often equipped with insider Microsoft knowledge, so there’s good reason to believe him. He also previously mentioned the March 18 date in December when discussing Microsoft’s Windows Phone LTE plans.

Thurrott was on the podcast with ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley and named the March 18 release date when the conversation turned to a potential March launch date for the Nokia Lumia 900 based on Nokia developer documentation.