I got mine three days after release day. Have a black AT&T one on an unlimited "all you can eat" bandwidth account on a not too expensive amount as my wife's employer has a "deal" with AT&T for that!!!
Also got a few other items (cases etc) from eBay vendors, who as expected always have trouble with anything non-iPhone for the first few weeks of a device's life. That said, supply is better now and they don't want to send me a Galaxy item instead of a 1520 item as they all did in the first week!
I like the relatively high mega-pixel camera. Have taken some really good pics with it that come darn close to my (five year old entry-level) digital SLR in quality. The RAW files import into my Adobe Photoshop set up perfectly and are pretty good... They not as good in low light or anything where any camera would be stressed, but for a camera built into a phone (for gods sake, some perspective here), it's delivers some pretty darn good nearly 16MP images - and the 5MP JPG files are more than enough for sharing on for example, Facebook.
I like the screen on my 1520. It is so easy to read compared to any other on the phone market right now. The large size makes it easy to actually type on, two handed (two thumbed) and I might actually change my email signature line to stop apologizing for the typos on a mobile device as I don't seem to be making any now... :evil:
I'm going to get a 64Gb SD card for it to put my music and picture files onto, NOT from AT&T or any big box stores but perhaps online once the post-Christmas sales are under way?
The latest firmware update seems to have fixed a bunch of issues that people have reported too. All good.
Gripes? Oh yes...
1. Lack of apps in the store. It's getting better and it really does remind me of the situation with Android in it's first year. It'll improve with time.
2. Volume controls... Need a more "fine-grain" control for audio volumes. Call, ring, alerts, media all separately controllable from one 'app' screen would be nice, rather than how it is now.
3. It's a shame you still have to do firmware updates over WiFi as LTE is way quicker than any WiFi available... Is LTE/OTA all THAT unreliable? I am getting north of 15MB/sec OTA but of course, no matter what your Broadband speed is, it's only ever going to be south of a TENTH (or is that a twentieth?) of that with an "n" standard WiFi router.
4. Wireless Charging. What brain dead nut case at AT&T decided to do what they did? Whoever it is needs to be fired. That decision will cost users more in the long run as the charging cases we will now have to buy are more expensive than and as a result are an extra expense that the regular Nokia method would have avoided. Oh sorry - not brain dead, but "More profit for AT&T through extra accessory sales" .... dumb-*** sales, as anyone with more than three brain cells will buy from eBay vendors for this in a month or three when these become more available once the next few container ships arrive from China in San Francisco. Sorry - if you don't like this view Mister AT&T, but that's how it looks to me!
I think that my gripes #1 and #2 are going to be addresses over time. Don't know about why #3 is as it is (I am sure someone will enlighten me as I just don't know), but as for #4? I may be too cynical, but I suspect not. Shame on AT&T?
So. After a month with Gigantor, how do I feel?
Pretty good.
I used WP5 or so for a couple of years, and WP8 is way better. I think the issues with the phone itself are getting resolved thanks to new firmware and app updates and the hardware itself feels solid enough to last the 2 year contract. If the other issues get resolved, I'll be happy to pick up another WP and Nokia device when the time comes.
:wink: