I'm hopeful, optimistic... and also a bit scared.
Thought October 2nd was the earliest anyone would see it, but the tracking info has showed me at least two facilities it's departed. Either way this looks to be everything I've wanted out of a Windows Phone.
While I try to keep my composure over the excitement, I'll give you guys the story of me and WP.
Samsung Focus Flash: While I technically started with WM5.0 and had many different WM6 phones too, the Focus Flash was my first break into the semi-current gen of Windows Phones. I actually got that phone to have some education and firsthand experience behind it when I went on my royal WP-bashing spree. What happened was completely and absolutely the opposite.
Lumia 520: This is the cheapest, weakest most feature-lacking phone I ever loved. It had no front-facing camera, a crappy screen that would get scratched by thin air if not protected... but it was very smooth, very reliable... and while the 512MB held it back from running many apps, it handled the apps it could run like a damn champion... and the external storage paired with 8.1 put it above many phones that beat it in the game of raw power. The 512MB of ram ultimately pushed me to seek better options.
Lumia 1020: This phone broke me forever... to a point in which I wish I'd never sold it (at times). I'm no photographer, and seeing how many "photographers" can't pay their bills off that profession has driven me away from any aspiration I may have to learn the trade... but GOD DAMN that camera was wonderful. Performance wasn't bad either. What got me away from this was the branded decision to make a camera that had no SD card expansion. If the 1020 had an SD card slot... I'd probably still have that beast today.
Lumia Icon: I'd always wanted a phone that would match the design of my Surface Pro. Knowing damn well that the lack of SD card would turn me off, I bought it anyway thinking I'd simply invest more into cloud computing. Took nearly a week to get everything I had on SkyDrive then I was off... thing is, the Icon came with a ton of problems I never anticipated. It did this weird thing where it'd just start overheating in my pocket. Nothing was open, it was totally idle... but scorching hot! Of course this also came with monstrous battery drain and it would also have me waiting through loads of "loading" and "resuming" screens that delayed my usage a couple seconds (and often a couple minutes). The WiFi was unreliable as well, meaning I'd go to install a massive game, take a jog, and come back to see that my app wasn't installed because of some retarded issue. There was also the issue that this didn't play nicely with AT&T. I could deal with the lack of LTE, and thought I could lose out on MMS too (I was wrong, btw). When the phone worked, I loved it... but that wasn't very often. The 1080p panel even caused me problems as it broke two of my favorite games (Order & Chaos, Chaos Rings) I had myself an absolutely beautiful overheating brick that was only somewhat functional on my network. I had to bid this phone farewell.
Lumia 1520: Spent large amounts of time convincing myself this phone was just too damn big, then that I wanted the size. I was all too happy to get my LTE back, have my MMS, play with glance again... AND have something that accepts an SD card. Being able to say I had the highest benchmarking phone in the world was kinda nice too... but my original thought turned out to be correct. Just taking this phone with me turned out to be annoying. It did fit in the pockets, but it was huge. No one-handed operation, and putting a case on it made it real unreasonable... real fast. This just wasn't a balanced experience... I needed to get a smaller phone in my life, pronto.
Lumia 820: I didn't even know this thing existed until getting a recommendation to try it out... and everything honestly seemed stacked against it. I'd come from the respective #2 and #1 highest benchmarking phones ON EARTH to something with a little S4 processor and 480p screen? Sounded ridiculous... but I was unsatisfied with the Icon/1520... and this phone was so stupidly cheap that I decided "Why not?"
BEST. DECISION. EVER.
The Lumia 820 had the size of the L520 that I loved... but with the front-facing camera and 1GB RAM the L520 lacked. The SD card slot that the L1020/Icon lacked... and a practical size that the L1520 sadly did not have... and that low-res screen actually worked in my favor. The games that 1080p panels broke worked again, my Final Fantasy III was no longer upscaled... and I was a happy camper. Still am actually. Purchased a Nexus 5 recently... went right back to the L820. This phone isn't particularly powerful... but it's got balance. Quite possibly the best sense of balance I've seen in my entire time with WP.
Needless to say, I'm totally sold on the 8XX series. 830 looks to simply expand on everything that makes the L820 so balanced, and I can't wait to have my hands on it.
Thought October 2nd was the earliest anyone would see it, but the tracking info has showed me at least two facilities it's departed. Either way this looks to be everything I've wanted out of a Windows Phone.
While I try to keep my composure over the excitement, I'll give you guys the story of me and WP.
Samsung Focus Flash: While I technically started with WM5.0 and had many different WM6 phones too, the Focus Flash was my first break into the semi-current gen of Windows Phones. I actually got that phone to have some education and firsthand experience behind it when I went on my royal WP-bashing spree. What happened was completely and absolutely the opposite.
Lumia 520: This is the cheapest, weakest most feature-lacking phone I ever loved. It had no front-facing camera, a crappy screen that would get scratched by thin air if not protected... but it was very smooth, very reliable... and while the 512MB held it back from running many apps, it handled the apps it could run like a damn champion... and the external storage paired with 8.1 put it above many phones that beat it in the game of raw power. The 512MB of ram ultimately pushed me to seek better options.
Lumia 1020: This phone broke me forever... to a point in which I wish I'd never sold it (at times). I'm no photographer, and seeing how many "photographers" can't pay their bills off that profession has driven me away from any aspiration I may have to learn the trade... but GOD DAMN that camera was wonderful. Performance wasn't bad either. What got me away from this was the branded decision to make a camera that had no SD card expansion. If the 1020 had an SD card slot... I'd probably still have that beast today.
Lumia Icon: I'd always wanted a phone that would match the design of my Surface Pro. Knowing damn well that the lack of SD card would turn me off, I bought it anyway thinking I'd simply invest more into cloud computing. Took nearly a week to get everything I had on SkyDrive then I was off... thing is, the Icon came with a ton of problems I never anticipated. It did this weird thing where it'd just start overheating in my pocket. Nothing was open, it was totally idle... but scorching hot! Of course this also came with monstrous battery drain and it would also have me waiting through loads of "loading" and "resuming" screens that delayed my usage a couple seconds (and often a couple minutes). The WiFi was unreliable as well, meaning I'd go to install a massive game, take a jog, and come back to see that my app wasn't installed because of some retarded issue. There was also the issue that this didn't play nicely with AT&T. I could deal with the lack of LTE, and thought I could lose out on MMS too (I was wrong, btw). When the phone worked, I loved it... but that wasn't very often. The 1080p panel even caused me problems as it broke two of my favorite games (Order & Chaos, Chaos Rings) I had myself an absolutely beautiful overheating brick that was only somewhat functional on my network. I had to bid this phone farewell.
Lumia 1520: Spent large amounts of time convincing myself this phone was just too damn big, then that I wanted the size. I was all too happy to get my LTE back, have my MMS, play with glance again... AND have something that accepts an SD card. Being able to say I had the highest benchmarking phone in the world was kinda nice too... but my original thought turned out to be correct. Just taking this phone with me turned out to be annoying. It did fit in the pockets, but it was huge. No one-handed operation, and putting a case on it made it real unreasonable... real fast. This just wasn't a balanced experience... I needed to get a smaller phone in my life, pronto.
Lumia 820: I didn't even know this thing existed until getting a recommendation to try it out... and everything honestly seemed stacked against it. I'd come from the respective #2 and #1 highest benchmarking phones ON EARTH to something with a little S4 processor and 480p screen? Sounded ridiculous... but I was unsatisfied with the Icon/1520... and this phone was so stupidly cheap that I decided "Why not?"
BEST. DECISION. EVER.
The Lumia 820 had the size of the L520 that I loved... but with the front-facing camera and 1GB RAM the L520 lacked. The SD card slot that the L1020/Icon lacked... and a practical size that the L1520 sadly did not have... and that low-res screen actually worked in my favor. The games that 1080p panels broke worked again, my Final Fantasy III was no longer upscaled... and I was a happy camper. Still am actually. Purchased a Nexus 5 recently... went right back to the L820. This phone isn't particularly powerful... but it's got balance. Quite possibly the best sense of balance I've seen in my entire time with WP.
Needless to say, I'm totally sold on the 8XX series. 830 looks to simply expand on everything that makes the L820 so balanced, and I can't wait to have my hands on it.
Last edited:
can't wait to play around with it 
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram