Pre-Review: Nokia Lumia 920

As some of you may know, for the past six years or so I’ve lived in the woods of New Hampshire, where things like traffic lights and cell signals have yet to rear their ugly heads. Aside from a couple of cheap Tracfones, I haven’t used a cellphone since 2006, which has honestly been kind of nice — especially in terms of not having to carry a contract.

I’m still a man, though, and when the folks at M80 and AT&T got in touch with Popdose about having us review the Nokia Lumia 920, I felt the irresistible allure of the new gadget — and when none of our staffers were interested in writing up the phone, I agreed to take it and report on my findings. This little guy is supposed to show up on my doorstep tomorrow:

If you pay attention to new phones, you know the Lumia 920 has been getting solid reviews — Engadget called it “Nokia’s greatest Windows phone yet” — and you might be wondering why AT&T would want to hand out a phone to the Rush-loving, bourbon-swilling weirdos at Popdose. (I wondered too.) Turns out it’s for a holiday promotion detailed below:

This holiday season AT&T is launching ”A Gift That Money Can’t Buy,” a site that allows teens to give their parent a one-of-a-kind digital gift. The site will also nudge the recipient in the right direction of what to get for their kids, which is (hint hint), the latest and greatest AT&T smartphone — specifically a Nokia Lumia 920. Check out the great gifts available:

• A very, very very personal greeting from Luke Perry
• A guitar solo from Richie Sambora
• A holiday feast prepared by celebrity chef Michael Voltaggio
• A joke handed down from comedian Richard Lewis
• A cameo in this month’s The Onion

Each week throughout the holiday season we’ll be refreshing the site with new gifts like A Top Secret Golf Tip from a Pro… just for starters.

I’ll check back in after a few days to offer my thoughts on the phone. In the meantime, Luke Perry is waiting for you — go get ‘im.