Goodbye Verizon, Hello Lumia 950 & thank you Icon Forum!

[Michael Bromley]

You Icon-ers have helped, amused, and informed me since I bought mine back in May of 2014. And you most importantly kept me both on the edge and sane through the 8.1 Denim trials. I want to thank you for all the fun!
My Icon is a beast and doesn't need replacement, but using the excuse of setting up a new business account separate from my family account on Verizon, this evening I jumped to a 950 from ATT. I didn't need to switch, but I'm glad I did. I have no expectations that AT&T will be anything but the monstrous, unresponsive blob that is Verizon, but they all own the towers, and I'm just glad for the connection.
I gotta say, this 950 machine is sweet. I love the feel, I love the weight, and starting up on Win 10 has been seamless. It loaded all my apps and -- love this ! -- kept my start screen the same as before. The only real test will be if it can survive the near daily drops and bangups that my Icon endured like a champ. Haven't tested the camera yet, but I'm confident it's even better than the fantastic images the Icon gave me. Really happy with both phones, but also happy to be done w/ VZ.
Thanks and good luck to you all!

 

[ADufresne]

I'm going to make the same transition in the next month myself. Sad to leave Verizon's stellar coverage but I just can't leave Windows Phone.

 

[aximtreo]

Ditto on all the Icon and other windows phone help through the Verizon days. Activated my 950 xl yesterday on AT&T and not looking back. Now, if MS / Verizon can send out a firmware update for my 950 XL that allows it to run on CDMA, I'll go back and re-join my family plan.

 

[Michael Bromley]

Fingers crossed on coverage. I'm only worried about our summer camp in central Maine where the only tower nearby is Verizon. I'll just have to enable a VZ hotspot if my phone doesn't do well there. Otherwise, I guess I just won't be able to get any work done on vacation...

 

[Michael Bromley]

Thought I'd give an update on my experience w/ AT&T and the 950.

Overall, I'm ambivalent about Win 10. There are some things I really like and there's nothing specific from 8.1 that I miss, so I'm good with it. It's not a huge change, just some new tweaks, some of which are great like having more control over quick access, notifications, battery & storage. Probably the most significant difference is that this phone is fast. I notice it mostly in how it manages photos and OneDrive, otherwise there's not much difference from the Icon. I imagine had I gone from a lesser phone than the Icon it'd be mind blowing.

As for Continuum, I haven't tried it, but it will be fun to try it out when I give a presentation next month. It'll freak out anyone in the audience who's never seen a Windows Phone before.

What I was most worried about was AT&T, and I have to give them high marks. Since I set up my new phone as a business account, I can't compare to Verizon, but I have a feeling that AT&T supports small business better than Verizon, since I was on a family account there. But Little things like having a static IP without the $500 fee Verizon threatened me for it, and a dedicated account rep are great. My only issue with AT&T is that it sends email-to-text messages as each a unique messaging thread, which clutters my SMS inbox. Verizon ran them all in a single thread, and there's nothing I can do about that.

Maybe this will help someone out in making the decision.

 

[Indistinguishable]

Glad you were able to get a 950!

I think this Icon subsection has been a pretty good little community within the community.

 

[jwpear]

I have been considering doing this exact same thing. Appreciate you sharing your experience.

My son and I are the only two crazy Windows Phone users in our family. I have the Icon and he had a 520. Everyone is on VZW except him. He has a GoPhone plan. I just picked up a 640 for him on Black Friday. Couldn't pass up the deal. He wanted a selfie camera and flash.

The 640 is pretty awesome. I love the weight, thinness, and size. Despite having the rounded corners, it just looks more chiseled to me. For a cheap phone, it feels really good.

I also love the SD card expansion. It was so simple moving his photos, music, and vids over from the 520. We just moved the SD card. The storage flexibility is just great. Do not understand why that wasn't built into earlier Lumias like the Icon.

He's dropped the 640 a couple of times already, on concrete to boot. It's just a solid as the 520. A few scratches on the cover, but nothing to worry about. Screen is perfect. And really, for $30, I wouldn't care too much if it broke when it hit the concrete.

If the 950 is similar externally to the 640, but with internals similar to Icon, it is truly a nice phone. I was put off by the look of the 950 at first, but the 640 has really changed my perspective.