[Real Users] My Lumia 1520 Review

[RyanKennedy]

Re: Lumis 1520 Reviews

Well, I just got back from AT&T.... suffice to say I won't be placing any pre-orders. While the camera was phenomenal compared to the 920, and I enjoyed the larger and higher resolution screen, the phone is just too big for my hands. I tried to put it in my pocket, and it wouldn't fit. I will say that AT&T is doing a good job of promoting it though... posters were up in the windows, and the sales guy was extremely helpful and praised the entire WP line.

 

[gladbecker82]

Re: Played extensively with the 1520 at the Microsoft Store Today

I was thinking of holding money back for this one but got the Note 3 instead, i thought it would be too big, looking at the picture above they seem to look almost the same but im not sure, i can handle the Note 3 with 1 hand in most case, its just not as comfortable as with my Lumia 920, a phone that fitted like a Glove really.

 

[trandz]

Re: Played extensively with the 1520 at the Microsoft Store Today

The note 3 isnt big to me at all really. This phone though seems way bigger

 

[9520G]

I saw one today, I was really looking forward to this since I have been wanting a big phone. It basically look like an overgrown htc 8x. Way too big for daily use and not that good looking.

 

[Isadora Moustata]

When I purchased the Lumia 1020 with AT&T Next, I only paid the sales tax up front. I do not remember an upgrade fee which may not have applied to my case because I am not on a contract. The monthly payment for the phone was added to my monthly bill. I found out, however, that any over payment is considered a credit. From what I understand, the "Next" payment is paid monthly or paid in full in one payment.

 

[Isadora Moustata]

Sorry about this. I was attempting to reply to a question someone posted. I did not know my reply would appear in the middle of the thread.

 

[jfa1]

Re: Played extensively with the 1520 at the Microsoft Store Today

So basically what everyone has been saying for YEARS is true? Windows Phone doesn't need four cores to run butter smooth?

My biggest gripe is that things like Whatsapp take forever to open. It's a joke.

We'll see what 8.1 does.

Maybe those apps are not properly optimized for WP8.

 

[psudotechzealot]

 

[Citizen X]

Re: NOKIA 1520 DISPLAY experince IM IN LOVE Positive Post Only

You win if you make enough to pay for the monthly fees, but don't make enough to pay for the device upfront.

That's the entire point of Next...a way to keep up to date on the latest hardware each year, without it costing you a ton upfront each time.

The phone is on sale right now for $99. Really that's like less than two months of cell service on at&t with unlimited data. If you can't pony that up front you need to consider another phone... or a budget.

 

[warrentaye]

Re: NOKIA 1520 DISPLAY experince IM IN LOVE Positive Post Only

Unlimited data on AT&T? With a new contract? How and where?

 

[cckgz4]

Got to play with the phone for a second. Loved how light it felt and how thin it was, screen was beautiful, and everything was considerably fast compared to a 920 that was next to it. But it is too big for me to be my phone.

Sent from my temporary device using Tapatalk

 

[g808]

Pretty fair review

Nokia Lumia 1520 review - Pocket-lint

 

[memo926]

http://www.expansys-usa.com/.........www.expansys.ca.... at Canada colors unlooked ...32g preorders

 

[kevm14]

Those guys appear to carry the RM-938. Not sure on price yet.

 

[InfiniteRefrain]

Best reviewer line yet!!
"The Lumia 1520 makes the iPhone 5S look like a child who is holding its mother’s hand walking through the circus. Nokia, perhaps, has gone over the deep end."

Source: The Best Of Windows Phone: The Nokia Lumia 1520 [Review] – ReadWrite

 

[psudotechzealot]

http://www.expansys-usa.com/.........www.expansys.ca.... at Canada colors unlooked ...32g preorders

The link is down.

 

[psudotechzealot]

Those guys appear to carry the RM-938. Not sure on price yet.

How do you know? I did not see the specs on there yet? I hope you're right though.

 

[Mike Gibson]

We tried out the 1520 again in an ATT store yesterday and finally figured out why the 1520 isn't as obnoxious as the Samsung Mega. All of us (me, wife, and daughter who has a Note 2) hated the Mega. It was huge and awkward to handle. However, the other day we tried the 1520 at an ATT store and did not get the same impression. I couldn't figure out why. The phones are about the same size so the absolute size didn't make the Mega "obnoxious".

It turns out that the side of the Mega is basically rectangular while the 1520 is curved/rounded. Since the phones are so wide, your fingers are stretched out to hold them which makes them obliquely meet the back edges on the sides. With the rectangular sides on the Mega your fingers don't get a chance to start bending until they are at the edge. This makes the phone feel much wider and your grip less secure. With the curved sides on the 1520 your fingers get to bend earlier and grip the phone more securely. It simply "fits" in the hand better.

These phones are already at the limits of comfort due to their size, so seemingly minor differences like the shape of the edges can make a huge difference in usability. We went from a universal "hated it" response to the Mega to a "hey, this might work" response for the 1520. It won't be my phone since it won't fit comfortably in a pants pocket but my wife, who thought she would hate it like the Mega, is now trying to figure out how to make it work with her purse. Her 920 fits neatly in an internal side pocket of the purse but the 1520 won't, so she would need to lay it sideways inside the main part of the purse.

 

[INCREMENTAL]

I played around with the 1520 lastnight. Im a Verizon Note 2 user with unlimited data and all I got to say is.........

Im extremely jealous of you ATT guys lol. I loved the phone, wish I was using it right now but sadly ATT just sucks around here. That said good luck to you guys that have it or gonna purchase it. You got a really nice phone and something to brag about.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using WPCentral Forums mobile app

 

[Phrozty]

Initial thoughts on the 1520

I've had my phone for a day now, so there's still a lot to explore, but there are some common things, both good and bad, that stand out about it. My previous history with windows phones is restricted to the HTC Titan, which was a big phone, but also only WP 7.5. Some of these "cool things" could be WP8 related and I just didn't know about them.

Things I like about it:
DAT SCREEN THO! Seriously though... the screen. People talk and talk about how awesome it is, but you literally cannot describe it with words well enough. You just have to see it in person.

- While I have mine on automatic brightness, I've checked the brightest setting and it really just takes your breath away to think that an electronic device can look like that. Not that I'd want to regularly use it at it's brightest, but it's something I've never seen in a device before.
- The viewing angles are also unbelievable. You can turn the screen away from you until you literally cannot SEE the screen, turn it back just slightly, and you can see everything on it! It looks just like a picture!

​

Layout of the buttons/program - They clearly knew they were designing a device that is "too big," and they made some compensations to help that.

- The buttons pop out just enough to use them and no more. It keeps the device sleek but fully functional.
- The extra space allows for bigger buttons, but also plenty of room between them so that you can grip the phone without hitting them.
- I like the fact that they left some space to either side of the 3 bottom buttons. This is the perfect amount of space to hold the phone by the corner with your thumb(s) while you're reading without hitting the back or search button. The light under the bottom 3 buttons themselves seem a bit muddled, but that's a really nitpicky item.
- The native programs seem to have been designed with BIG in mind as well. For example, when you are in a call, all of the buttons are dropped to the bottom third of the screen so that you can reach them with your fingers.

​

Misc

- LOVE the glance screen. I have it on all the time which is perfect for my OCD time-checking tendencies, and I haven't noticed any extra drain on the battery.
- Which brings me to the battery! I got it from the store w/about half a charge. Played some spartan assault, read plenty of emails/forums, spent a lot of time changing things around on my screen, re-installed a lot of my apps and checked them out, kept a lot of windows open, have a LOT of the extra services kept on. Still had about 1/4th of a charge by the end of the day. We'll see how it handles over the next few days.
- The pre-installed apps are pretty nice!... the Nokia ones of course. The ATT ones are almost all gone lol. It's nice to get a phone out of the box and it handle 75% of what I'll regularly be doing
- Speakers are VERY loud and clear!! Played some punk and some techno.. both came through fantastically!
- On the topic of music, Mix Radio is really nice to have! I was blown away by how many selections they had for some genres. However I was a bit surprised that while some genres were split out very specifically, others were lumped together. For instance, ALL electronic music was lumped into electronic music... so all techno/trance/drum n bass/breaks/everything all had to share the 15 spots for that genre, which of course left out a lot of "electronic" music.
- Again on the music scene, it was awesome to see the "gigs" section in music that actually listed gigs in my town!! I heard about some stuff on my phone that I hadn't even heard about around town yet!
- Love love LOVE the fact that I can individually access my voicemails by clicking on them instead of having to log into voicemail and wait for the "you have. 2. new messages. ... .. ... First message ... ... ... Sent. Monday. At 3...... ... .. forty 3. PEE em."
- VERY happy to be able to access my files on this phone through a regular windows explorer window. I was NOT a fan of having to use Zune to access my music/images on my HTC Titan.
​

Things that are so-so:
- There seems to be a problem w/the touchscreen that a lot of people are experiencing, but that may be fixable through software: http://forums.windowscentral.com/nokia-lumia-1520/251321-small-issue-touch-sensitivity.html
- Phone calls are fine. That's about it. They are clear, but could be louder. Definitely seems to be better quality than my Titan though.
- Not that I ever plan to mess with it, but the rep who installed my sim card seemed to have to balance it PERFECTLY on the tray as it was being put in. He was a WP enthusiast, so I know it wasn't lack of experience. It seems kind of like a poor design.


Things that I'm not too happy about:
- Every review mentions the pointy corners.... I now know why. I thought they were being nitpicky about it, but they do seem to get annoying when trying to walk around w/the device. I can definitely fit it into my pants pockets, but you have to position it a certain way while driving, else you get jabbed every time you hit the brakes. I actually find it's easier to put it in my cup holder.
- I don't like the mini USB at the bottom.. or maybe how it's cut. I realize that it's probably the best place to put it, but when I'm holding the phone, my pinky naturally lays right on the port to balance the phone, and if I'm holding the phone for any period of time, it tends to be pretty cutty/uncomfortable. Almost would prefer a flap on it while not in use, just to make things a bit nicer.
- I seem to be getting artifacts when I scroll sometimes. Screen skipping back and forth slightly. It's nothing debilitating, but it's something I saw in WP7.5, and I'm really surprised it hasn't been fixed yet. There were also a few times when these artifacts got a LOT worse in 7.5 and I had to take the battery out to reset it. Since I can't do that with this phone, it kind of worries me.



** One thing you'll notice: I really haven't said anything about the camera/video. I haven't used it yet except to take one photo for the 1520 photo thread, and I wasn't too impressed w/it, but then again I didn't spend more than 5 second snapping it, cropping it, and posting it. I don't think that's a fair amount of use to judge it.

I'll be using this thread to update my experience w/the phone. Love it so far!