My family has like seven lines or so on Verizon, so we always have upgrades floating around. I've been fascinated with how "new and hip" the new Windows Phones were looking. Saw some posts about the free 822 at Walmart on Friday. Printed the ad, found a Best Buy that had some (only 2) in stock - and retired my iPhone 5. Great deal! The phone seems pretty amazing thus far, and it was FREE (minus the $30 upgrade fee which was quietly billed to the family account - which they didn't mention until I asked about it, and it was already on the receipt 
).
After calling various retailers, it seems the grey 822's are exclusive to Verizon stores and the VZW website? Best Buy and Walmart only had black and white listed in their systems so far. And, neither Walmart nor Best Buy had the whites in stock. So I ended up with the black - which won't matter anyway after the different colored back plates show up for purchase *more on this later*.
I ended up going to the Verizon store once I had my Lumia up and running to get a screen protector. Verizon had the black and white ones on display, but no grey model on the floor to look at. Does anyone know if the grey ones have actually been released yet? The white models looked pretty shiny or glossy.
Been spending the day getting acclimated with the WP8 OS. It's a very user-friendly system, but I'm so used to the complexity of Android (and I've had a couple iPhones), that it's taking a little while to get to know WP8. Setting up, sizing, and picking my Live Tiles has been really fun! I'm sure I'll have more questions about the in's-and-out's later. The OS is SO FREAKIN' FLUID. So quick and seamless. The Best Buy employee setting it up commented that this was the first WP8 that had been activated at their location, and he and his coworkers were gathered around drooling at it. I offered to let him take a couple minutes to browse through, and he wanted to - but he was like "Nah, man, it's your new phone. Enjoy it!" Hahah.
I'm very impressed with the physical phone itself. Feels very solid and well-built, while not too heavy, ya know?
Now, back to the issue of the back plates. I was under the impression that you had to buy the specific 'wireless charging' back that would work with the charging pad? The Verizon employee said the original backs are made for wireless charging - is that true? One big draw for me getting a new Lumia was how there was supposed to be a variety of swappable backs for sale (different colors, a "ruggedized" one, etc). However, I cannot find these for sale *anywhere*. And the Verizon employees had no clue when I asked. One went to his computer to look it up for me, but all he did was log onto the verizonwireless website. While I appreciate the initiative, I'd already looked there - all over the web actually.
So, does anyone know when these different backs will be released to purchase? I hope this feature doesn't someone get cancelled or forgotten about. That's be a huge bummer for me (I know, it's sad, but I love little things like that when it comes to customizing my phones.
To wrap up, I'd have to say that, thus far, the 822 and its WP8 OS is the best-running OS I've come across. Once I start figuring more out and get with the flow of it, I think it will be golden! And to compare, lemme throw out some other smartphones I've had, in case you were curious:
Blackberry Storm 1
Blackberry Tour
Blackberry 8350
HTC Rezound
iPhone 3GS
iPhone 5
Motorola Droid 2
Motorola Droid Razr Maxx
Samsung Galaxy S (Fascinate)
I'm really excited to be a new member of the WP8 family! ERMAHGERD!
-mcskipp
).After calling various retailers, it seems the grey 822's are exclusive to Verizon stores and the VZW website? Best Buy and Walmart only had black and white listed in their systems so far. And, neither Walmart nor Best Buy had the whites in stock. So I ended up with the black - which won't matter anyway after the different colored back plates show up for purchase *more on this later*.
I ended up going to the Verizon store once I had my Lumia up and running to get a screen protector. Verizon had the black and white ones on display, but no grey model on the floor to look at. Does anyone know if the grey ones have actually been released yet? The white models looked pretty shiny or glossy.
Been spending the day getting acclimated with the WP8 OS. It's a very user-friendly system, but I'm so used to the complexity of Android (and I've had a couple iPhones), that it's taking a little while to get to know WP8. Setting up, sizing, and picking my Live Tiles has been really fun! I'm sure I'll have more questions about the in's-and-out's later. The OS is SO FREAKIN' FLUID. So quick and seamless. The Best Buy employee setting it up commented that this was the first WP8 that had been activated at their location, and he and his coworkers were gathered around drooling at it. I offered to let him take a couple minutes to browse through, and he wanted to - but he was like "Nah, man, it's your new phone. Enjoy it!" Hahah.
I'm very impressed with the physical phone itself. Feels very solid and well-built, while not too heavy, ya know?
Now, back to the issue of the back plates. I was under the impression that you had to buy the specific 'wireless charging' back that would work with the charging pad? The Verizon employee said the original backs are made for wireless charging - is that true? One big draw for me getting a new Lumia was how there was supposed to be a variety of swappable backs for sale (different colors, a "ruggedized" one, etc). However, I cannot find these for sale *anywhere*. And the Verizon employees had no clue when I asked. One went to his computer to look it up for me, but all he did was log onto the verizonwireless website. While I appreciate the initiative, I'd already looked there - all over the web actually.
So, does anyone know when these different backs will be released to purchase? I hope this feature doesn't someone get cancelled or forgotten about. That's be a huge bummer for me (I know, it's sad, but I love little things like that when it comes to customizing my phones.
To wrap up, I'd have to say that, thus far, the 822 and its WP8 OS is the best-running OS I've come across. Once I start figuring more out and get with the flow of it, I think it will be golden! And to compare, lemme throw out some other smartphones I've had, in case you were curious:
Blackberry Storm 1
Blackberry Tour
Blackberry 8350
HTC Rezound
iPhone 3GS
iPhone 5
Motorola Droid 2
Motorola Droid Razr Maxx
Samsung Galaxy S (Fascinate)
I'm really excited to be a new member of the WP8 family! ERMAHGERD!
-mcskipp
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