Canadian review / user experience with the 1520.3 (RM-938 variant)

[ATATKDDad]

Very Nice review. I have the ATT 1520 running on T-Mobile because I couldn't wait for the 1520.3(RM-938) to come out. I did buy the New egg 1520.3 and should be here tomorrow. So my ATT will be going on sale this weekend. Based on the above review it will be worth it.

 

[o4komodo]

Got full LTE signal, did a test... 82ms ping, 46.52Mbps down and 11.96Mbps up on Fido.

 

[Michael M Maslowski]

Thanks for an excellent and quite exhaustive review. :smile:

You would not happen to know how the unit performs with other carriers, like Telus (my carrier of preference), would you?

In addition, do you foresee any issues with getting the 8.1 update installed?

Thanks and greetings from the Maritimes!

 

[MrGoodSmith]

Thanks for an excellent and quite exhaustive review. :smile:

You would not happen to know how the unit performs with other carriers, like Telus (my carrier of preference), would you?

In addition, do you foresee any issues with getting the 8.1 update installed?

Thanks and greetings from the Maritimes!

I don't think the phone would have a problem running a sim card from telus, as long as they have the nano size, or you can resize it yourself like what I did.

As for the 8.1 update, I already installed it and it's running fine without any issues.

 

[Michael M Maslowski]

I don't think the phone would have a problem running a sim card from telus, as long as they have the nano size, or you can resize it yourself like what I did.

As for the 8.1 update, I already installed it and it's running fine without any issues.

Thank you for that. I already have the nano SIM with my current device, so not a biggie.

I contacted the retailer that you had acquired the device from and I should be able to finalize shortly.

Thanks!

 

[BaritoneGuy]

Thank you for that. I already have the nano SIM with my current device, so not a biggie.

I contacted the retailer that you had acquired the device from and I should be able to finalize shortly.

Thanks!

I have this version 1520.3 from Omega Cell running on Bell which shares the network with Telus and it works fine. This phone even supports the new 700 MHz LTE frequencies that they are starting to turn on as well. In short, this should work on any Canadian carrier.

 

[Michael M Maslowski]

I have this version 1520.3 from Omega Cell running on Bell which shares the network with Telus and it works fine. This phone even supports the new 700 MHz LTE frequencies that they are starting to turn on as well. In short, this should work on any Canadian carrier.

Excellent news. I appreciate the effort sharing your experience. This is exactly the device that I am going to get, then.

I understand that I do not need to wait for carrier supported 8.1 update and that I should be able to download it directly from MS, correct?

Thanks!

 

[Solar Mike]

Bought my 1520 from Omega Cell and upgraded it to WP8.1 just 3 days after receiving it.

Running great and not a single problem. Spending lots of time trying out new things with Cortana. The many other upgrade aspects of 8.1 make the phone experience much better.

The Bell LTE service usually means really fast web page loads but occasional slow loads for some reason. Definitely fast though most of the time.

Bought the wireless charging stand from the Yorkdale Mall Microsoft store. Great service there.

It has been true what others have said: the phone only seems big for a few days, and then all you notice is how great the screen is and bow fast the phone is overall.

 

[Michael M Maslowski]

Bought my 1520 from Omega Cell and upgraded it to WP8.1 just 3 days after receiving it.

Running great and not a single problem. Spending lots of time trying out new things with Cortana. The many other upgrade aspects of 8.1 make the phone experience much better.

The Bell LTE service usually means really fast web page loads but occasional slow loads for some reason. Definitely fast though most of the time.

Bought the wireless charging stand from the Yorkdale Mall Microsoft store. Great service there.

It has been true what others have said: the phone only seems big for a few days, and then all you notice is how great the screen is and bow fast the phone is overall.

Thank you for that, sounds great. I am going to order the DT-900 wireless plate from the MS Store after I receive my device. I appreciate your input on this.

Thanks!

 

[BaritoneGuy]

Excellent news. I appreciate the effort sharing your experience. This is exactly the device that I am going to get, then.

I understand that I do not need to wait for carrier supported 8.1 update and that I should be able to download it directly from MS, correct?

Thanks!

Correct. The only thing we have to wait for is the firmware (cyan) part. I have had 8.1 since the day it came out and it works great after an initial soaking in period as all Windows devices need after a fresh install.

 

[Michael M Maslowski]

Correct. The only thing we have to wait for is the firmware (cyan) part. I have had 8.1 since the day it came out and it works great after an initial soaking in period as all Windows devices need after a fresh install.

Thank you for your reply.

My only point of concern is availability of the 8.1 with Telus (which technically should be offered, as they sell WP 8 devices), same for the Cyan firmware update. Will both be coming via the carrier? Perhaps, it will be possible to simply download both of them directly from Nokia & Microsoft, and I mean both as GA releases (once become officially available), thus bypassing the carrier?

Any thoughts/suggestions? What would be the preferred/common practice?

Thanks!

 

[o4komodo]

Thank you for your reply.

My only point of concern is availability of the 8.1 with Telus (which technically should be offered, as they sell WP 8 devices), same for the Cyan firmware update. Will both be coming via the carrier? Perhaps, it will be possible to simply download both of them directly from Nokia & Microsoft, and I mean both as GA releases (once become officially available), thus bypassing the carrier?

Any thoughts/suggestions? What would be the preferred/common practice?

Thanks!

Unbranded phones don't have updates from carrier---it's all done by Nokia/MSFT.
Branded phones [the ones you buy from Bell/Telus/Rogers/Fido/etc are dependent on carrier]

 

[Michael M Maslowski]

Unbranded phones don't have updates from carrier---it's all done by Nokia/MSFT.
Branded phones [the ones you buy from Bell/Telus/Rogers/Fido/etc are dependent on carrier]

Thank you for clarification.

I guess my question is then, how is done by Nokia/MSFT? Do we get notified about pending updates once they become GA updates? Will we be getting a notification directly on the device, or will we have to go to a specific website?

Thanks!

 

[BaritoneGuy]

Thank you for clarification.

I guess my question is then, how is done by Nokia/MSFT? Do we get notified about pending updates once they become GA updates? Will we be getting a notification directly on the device, or will we have to go to a specific website?

Thanks!

My 1520 from Omega Cell is unlocked, not unbranded so when the carrier (Costa Rica I think) certifies the update it will be pushed OTA from MS just like for any other update. For truly unbranded they come from MS and you will get a notification saying that an update is available.

 

[Michael M Maslowski]

My 1520 from Omega Cell is unlocked, not unbranded so when the carrier (Costa Rica I think) certifies the update it will be pushed OTA from MS just like for any other update. For truly unbranded they come from MS and you will get a notification saying that an update is available.

I guess this is loud & clear now. I am going to proceed with the purchase shortly.

Thank you guys for your answers, you have certainly helped me a lot with this topic.

 

[MrGoodSmith]

I wouldn?t worry about getting firmware updates for my unbranded Nokia phone. When a firmware is available, Nokia releases the ROMs for every product code and makes them available online (if you know how to get them). Usually I use Nokia Care Suite to find out my phone?s product code and then download and flash the new ROM into it. This will of course wipe everything on the phone, but I can always have backups of everything and start afresh with the new firmware.

Nokia Care Suite is not publicly available to end users, but if you search online there are threads about how to download it and update it so that end users can make use of it. Just be careful when doing so because there is risk to end up downloaded harmful software.

By the way, I would still prefer to use this method to update my phone even if the update is pushed OTA. Just like formatting your PC and starting clean with a new system (if you have the ISO image), I like to have the new ROM image and do the same with my windows phone

 

[tsobol]

Nice review.
How can one know if the 1520.3 RM-938 device is unbranded or just unlocked?

 

[Michael M Maslowski]

I wouldn’t worry about getting firmware updates for my unbranded Nokia phone. When a firmware is available, Nokia releases the ROMs for every product code and makes them available online (if you know how to get them). Usually I use Nokia Care Suite to find out my phone’s product code and then download and flash the new ROM into it. This will of course wipe everything on the phone, but I can always have backups of everything and start afresh with the new firmware.

Nokia Care Suite is not publicly available to end users, but if you search online there are threads about how to download it and update it so that end users can make use of it. Just be careful when doing so because there is risk to end up downloaded harmful software.

By the way, I would still prefer to use this method to update my phone even if the update is pushed OTA. Just like formatting your PC and starting clean with a new system (if you have the ISO image), I like to have the new ROM image and do the same with my windows phone ��

I get it what you are saying, as I have played with dev releases of other platforms before. That being said, based on my personal experience, I need an impeccable phone in terms of software stability, and I will simply prefer to wait for the GA release and then install it.

If I read it correctly, the consensus here is that we will get a notification on our devices once the final release (GA) is ready to install. I am assuming that the update will include firmware update as well.

Thank you.

 

[MrGoodSmith]

Nice review.
How can one know if the 1520.3 RM-938 device is unbranded or just unlocked?

Branded means the phone has a carrier logo printed on the phone or carrier apps preinstalled, or carrier logo displayed on the screen when you turn it on. Locked means the phone would work only with SIM cards from that carrier.

The 1520.3 from omegacell is both unbranded and unlocked. It only starts in Spanish when you turn it on for the first time.

 

[freestaterocker]

I don't know why people still hold on to this idea of "conditioning" their battery. This hasn't been necessary, or even BENEFICIAL for almost a decade. As soon as we started seeing lithium-based batteries in our various devices, completely depleting the battery in a regular basis became a bad idea. Lithium ion and lithium polymer batteries don't have a "charge memory" like the older rechargeables do. What they have instead is a LIMITED NUMBER OF POWER CYCLES. (complete depletion and recharge=1 power cycle) So what people are actually doing when they attempt to "condition" these batteries is killing them faster.

To make your lithium ion or lithium polymer battery last as long as possible, AVOID complete power cycles. Do this by charging your battery before it gets under 10% whenever possible. Partial charges are also ideal, but just leaving your phone on the charger all night isn't going to hurt anything. There is software built in to the core level of the OS to prevent overcharging. This is why you can't leave a WP device powered down while it charges.