Best phone of CES 2012: Nokia Lumia 900

Phones aren't the main focus of the CES this week but one caught my eye as the best of those in attendance. Nokia showed off the Lumia 900, and it looks like a fantastic Windows Phone with outstanding hardware, design, and software. The Lumia 900 will be coming to AT&T in the U. S. and is the best Nokia phone since the partnership with Microsoft with Windows Phone.

The clean hardware design encases a 1.4 GHz processor and a 4.3-inch AMOLED ClearBlack display. Every demo I have seen of the display shows off the Windows Phone screen in bright, vivid detail. The front 1MP camera brings video calling to Windows Phone, and the 8MP rear camera with Carl Zeiss optics (F2.2 aperture) may be the best on any smartphone.

The Lumia 900 will operate on the AT&T LTE network, which unfortunately may task the 1830 mAh battery. The 14.5GB of internal memory is not expandable due to the lack of a memory slot, but will likely be sufficient for most buyers with the included SkyDrive cloud storage. While the Lumia 900 doesn't have the best hardware on a smartphone, it is the best phone running Windows Phone.

No word on when the Nokia Lumia 900 will be available from AT&T, nor pricing. This is definitely the Windows Phone to beat.

See related:

• Initial impressions of the T-Mobile Nokia Lumia 710 (video and gallery)
• Microsoft and partners to heavily promote Windows Phone in 2012
• Great Debate lost: What will it take for Windows Phone to be the 3rd platform?
• Windows Phone users: LTE models may be closer than you think
• Without 4G pronto, Nokia’s Windows Phones are hampered in U.S.