Why I came back to Lumia 1020?

[niutu]

Last year I had the Lumia 1020, but switched it for 925 during summer. Fast forward to the end of 2014/beginning of this year and during the past four months I've had Lumia 830, 930 and 735. However I just switched back to 1020. Why?

Here's my reasoning:
-Lumia 830 was a solid device, sleek and light, but I simply disliked its LCD IPS screen. To me it was worse than the 920's for instance. Glance was a welcome addition, though it was greatly hindered by bad readability (no match for an AMOLED screen). Also somehow it seemed that glance was much slower to wake up (peek function) than anything I previously had experienced with the 925 or 1020.
-Lumia 930 had an excellent AMOLED screen, but suffered from the omission of glance. There were also a lot of bugs found with my handset: the infamous purple hue with automatic brightness, creaking build and rattling side-buttons. All too common I guess for the 930...
-Lumia 735 had a great AMOLED screen, a stylish N9-like build. But somehow the cheapness of the device became apparent soon - I could push the screen from the below part back to its chassis now and then. I first thought the lack of a camera button wouldn't bother me too much, but I was wrong.

So I bought an unopened 1020 for 215 euros, a bargain I'd say.
Now I have the best (subjective) camera-phone out there. I have a properly working glance screen. Plus I got a proper camera-button and 32 GB of inbuilt memory (limited memory might be a con, though it has been enough for me so far). It's not a perfect device, but Lumia 1020 still stands out among the best overall Windows Phone experiences out there.
It's a shame the ecosystem is now filled with devices that make too many compromises.
Well, here's hoping the situation improves this year and we'll get more "differentiation" (made famous by Elop) among the handsets...

 

[JaniM]

Lumia 1020 really stands out still. I have both 1020 and 930 and I'm happy with each one of them. Lumia 1020 is such a gem, I'll propably keep it as long as it works. Compared to 930 it looks kinda old and dull and feels a bit sluggish but it's still perfectly usable without noticeable lagging. If it works well with Windows 10, all the better. Let's hope that the successor of Lumia 1020 is as awesome as 1020 is.

 

[Easy-G]

If it works well with Windows 10, all the better.

I have this sneaking suspicion that phones running Snapdragon S4 and older will be left out in the cold when it comes to Windows 10. If they do get Windows 10, they'll probably be lacking in most new features when compared to those running Snapdragon 200/400/600/800 series processors. That said, I hope I'm wrong.

 

[vEEP pEEP]

How long did you have the 930 for?

 

[niutu]

@ vEEP pEEP
About a month. I usually switch phones quite often....if the 930 would've had glance and those quality issues nonexistent I probably would've kept it longer.

 

[PepperdotNet]

The Lumia 1020 has everything I want in a high-end phone, except for speed. Like you, everything I've considered replacing it with has one or more omissions that rule it out for me. I can get one that's faster, but the screen, or lack of US LTE bands, or lack of glance, or it's too big or too much like cheap plastic.

I just wish I could get rid of the dang ATT logo on the glass and on the boot screen.

 

[JaniM]

I have this sneaking suspicion that phones running Snapdragon S4 and older will be left out in the cold when it comes to Windows 10. If they do get Windows 10, they'll probably be lacking in most new features when compared to those running Snapdragon 200/400/600/800 series processors. That said, I hope I'm wrong.

There should be windows 10 available for every windows phone 8 and windows phone 8.1 -phones. I'm looking forward for some updates in UI design and usability, I'm not that interested in most new features what others are looking forward to.

 

[Arup Roy Chowdhury]

As a SONY Xperia Z3 owner, I fully concur that the 1020 is the best camera phone ever. Also for basic needs its quite good with good call quality. Skype and Whatsapp works and so does Gmail and MS Office, thats all I need it for. For heavier stuff I use the quad core Z3.

 

[blue1k]

As a SONY Xperia Z3 owner, I fully concur that the 1020 is the best camera phone ever. Also for basic needs its quite good with good call quality. Skype and Whatsapp works and so does Gmail and MS Office, thats all I need it for. For heavier stuff I use the quad core Z3.

Agreed.

After going to a 1520,Galaxy S5, 930, 830, iPhone 5S I am very happy to be back another 1020.

It may be slow but if you know how to use manual settings and when then there is simply no substitute. I'm not compromising for anything less than a 1020 successor. Hopefully one with a snapdragon 810.

 

[Christus Hirschus]

I bought the 1020 a few weeks ago after I destroyed my LG G2. Why? Even though it's an 'old' phone it still has the best camera around and it's running smooth without any problems. Also the polycarbonate -body makes the phone really durable - I managed to drop it a few times and there is not even a scratch.

But...if I needed a phone for more than texting, photographing and searching the web there would be definitely better phones around. As it doesn't matter for me, I still love my 1020.

 

[JaniM]

And something to think about, second hand almost mint condition Lumia 1020:s are sold about 150 euros (or about $170) so it is absolutely the best phone in that price range.

 

[niutu]

And something to think about, second hand almost mint condition Lumia 1020:s are sold about 150 euros (or about $170) so it is absolutely the best phone in that price range.

That's totally true, for me the 1020 offers currently the best price-quality ratio among the Lumia lineup.

 

[John20212]

With the Lumia 1020 still being the preferred WP flagship by many, it is sad that Microsoft has given it so little time and just decided not to bother with implementing at least some of the Denim features on the 1020.

 

[blue1k]

And something to think about, second hand almost mint condition Lumia 1020:s are sold about 150 euros (or about $170) so it is absolutely the best phone in that price range.

Not here in Canada. Lumia phone prices second hand have increased a lot. 1020s sell for 300 used. When I sold my 1520 I only got $420 for it. Now you are lucky to find one for 500 used.

 

[niutu]

Not here in Canada. Lumia phone prices second hand have increased a lot. 1020s sell for 300 used. When I sold my 1520 I only got $420 for it. Now you are lucky to find one for 500 used.

Yep, situation is similar in terms of availability in Finland. New ones aren't easily found. That's why I suggest everyone even vaguely interested in Lumia 1020's capabilities to grab one while they can...

 

[claireggie]

i have two lumia 1020 and i am saving the other for the future.

because i know that in the future once the other breaks, i will really miss it... and regret that i didnt buy an another one.

 

[Arup Roy Chowdhury]

They were being sold relatively cheap here in India by Flipkart but now they are out of stock and am afraid won't be back in near future.

 

[niutu]

Oh forgot to mention the Lumia 1020 has two good additional things: show more tiles option and Nokia Creative Studio with collage function. Both features have been omitted from newer Lumias/updates...

 

[Steve Adams]

We love our 1020s. They are the best phones we have owned, which included iphones, a yaffle of galaxy phones, ativs, and HTC offerings. The 1020 is so far ahead with build quality, and performance overall that there is nothing we want to trade for. maybe the 1030 will make me switch, not sure with my wife.

 

[killinghall]

When I broke my 1020 screen a year ago, I immediately ordered another unlocked 1020. No second thoughts!