the verge 920 review

trivor

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Ah, The Verge, those old ecosystem whores :p
If they gave the ecosystem a 9, the overall score would be close to a 9. I would say that speaks for the device. I also found the good score for battery life quite relieving.
Also ... I wonder why they gave reception a mere 7 while stating they are in a bad reception area? Weird.

There are still WAY TOO many applications missing on WP8 for me to even consider switching and it's not the major ones people would think.

I am a sports fan and WP8 does not (and probably will not for a long time) team specific apps for Football, Baseball or Hockey (I'm not talking about ESPN, etc). They do not have specific apps for my banks (remote check deposit from my phone is awesome and indispensable) or Brokerage accounts. They do not have all the travel apps (Airlines, Hotels, Flight Tracking). I could go on and on and I'm sure I will get flamed for this. WP8 has to be as good (and don't tell me there are alternatives because the ones I mentioned above are used almost daily) and the idea that you have to try WP8 to appreciate it does not work very well in the world of Verizon 14 day return periods. While it MAY eventually get up to double digits (on the same growth path as XBox) there is a reason that iOS and Android have 85% of the current phone market. There is no law stating that there must be 3 viable, competing phone OSes and for many people (and I don't even use most of the top 50/100 apps) missing some of the applications they are using on their current OS (iOS or Android) makes WP8 a non-starter (that's not even including the cost of replacing a number of the apps that are available).
 

tissotti

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Thinking the score Lumia 800 received for ecosystem imo WP8 score is simply wrong there, especially thinking the apps that have already been announced thanks to NT kernel.

Other than that i think the review was fair. I knew they would never give any of the Windows phones 8 or over, just knew it.
I'm expecting even a bit more positive review from Engadget.

There are still WAY TOO many applications missing on WP8 for me to even consider switching and it's not the major ones people would think.

I am a sports fan and WP8 does not (and probably will not for a long time) team specific apps for Football, Baseball or Hockey (I'm not talking about ESPN, etc). They do not have specific apps for my banks (remote check deposit from my phone is awesome and indispensable) or Brokerage accounts. They do not have all the travel apps (Airlines, Hotels, Flight Tracking). I could go on and on and I'm sure I will get flamed for this. WP8 has to be as good (and don't tell me there are alternatives because the ones I mentioned above are used almost daily) and the idea that you have to try WP8 to appreciate it does not work very well in the world of Verizon 14 day return periods. While it MAY eventually get up to double digits (on the same growth path as XBox) there is a reason that iOS and Android have 85% of the current phone market. There is no law stating that there must be 3 viable, competing phone OSes and for many people (and I don't even use most of the top 50/100 apps) missing some of the applications they are using on their current OS (iOS or Android) makes WP8 a non-starter (that's not even including the cost of replacing a number of the apps that are available).


I actually agree with you. I personally don't really understand the talk about Instagram, to me it's about the specific sport team apps or searching for cooking app and getting 7 very high quality apps were you can chose the one you want.

Though to me the score is just a bit too slow if you scale it to their other reviews.
 

DungMasterFang

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Ah, The Verge, those old ecosystem whores :p
If they gave the ecosystem a 9, the overall score would be close to a 9. I would say that speaks for the device. I also found the good score for battery life quite relieving.
Also ... I wonder why they gave reception a mere 7 while stating they are in a bad reception area? Weird.

"Call quality was uniformly good, but I've had intermittent issues with reception, especially on LTE. Nokia tells me that this unit is technically still running preproduction software, other 920 users I spoke to didn?t have the issue, and finally AT&T in Seattle generally seems lackluster, so I'm not willing to say definitively that there's a real problem here"

Still gave it a 7...
 

DungMasterFang

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Why is no one talking about the mic quality in a review? For me is it very important, like recording concerts
/ the Swedish guy

Lumia 920:

[YT]v=loxDegj3fFE[/YT]

this is the closest thing I can give you... He says the music was so loud it hurt his ears

Nokia rich recording:

[YT]v=Ur6La-ucGxM[/YT]

Be sure to check out 2:06 for Galaxy Nexus
 
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CaptDjob

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Why is no one talking about the mic quality in a review? For me is it very important, like recording concerts
/ the Swedish guy

Maybe because its so good? It has the same "rich recording" tech and mic as Pureview 808 except that in this phone it is just mono.

So enjoy your concerts afterwards.
 

jhoff80

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Objectively better camera than an iPhone 5, but same score

It's not objectively better though. I mean, it's clearly better in low light, but the rest of it is subjective, and he describes in the article having issues with auto-white balance as well.

On top of that, there's not as much detail in the 920 pictures, still most likely due to over-aggressive noise reduction.

I suspect most of us will be happy with the 920 camera most of the time (if I wasn't confident in that, I wouldn't be planning on buying one), but there's also going to be time where you can get a better picture with an iPhone 5.

I do still hope that Nokia updates the software to tweak the noise reduction for more detail and sharpness and less smearing.
 

chfhyh

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i do not know what problem they have against Nokia...

they can complaint about the weight and app, but at least give 10 for screen and 10 for camera, coz these are revolutionary features. what it is the point of having the same score but not higher than other phone.
 

corsica

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Ah, The Verge, those old ecosystem whores :p
If they gave the ecosystem a 9, the overall score would be close to a 9. I would say that speaks for the device. I also found the good score for battery life quite relieving.
Also ... I wonder why they gave reception a mere 7 while stating they are in a bad reception area? Weird.

they did explain a bit more in the vergecast. the ecosystem score is not only app availabilty and quality, but also third party accessories and such. You've got to admit that even in that department, it'll be pretty much impossible to catch up to Apple in the next few months
 

keizka

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they did explain a bit more in the vergecast. the ecosystem score is not only app availabilty and quality, but also third party accessories and such. You've got to admit that even in that department, it'll be pretty much impossible to catch up to Apple in the next few months

That doesn't make sense. Apple effectively rebooted their accessory market with new Lightning connector. That noted, they should deduct quite a many points from Apple products.
 

rareohs

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There are still WAY TOO many applications missing on WP8 for me to even consider switching and it's not the major ones people would think.

I am a sports fan and WP8 does not (and probably will not for a long time) team specific apps for Football, Baseball or Hockey (I'm not talking about ESPN, etc). They do not have specific apps for my banks (remote check deposit from my phone is awesome and indispensable) or Brokerage accounts. They do not have all the travel apps (Airlines, Hotels, Flight Tracking). I could go on and on and I'm sure I will get flamed for this.

respect where you're coming from and not flaming in the least... but a month ago i switched from iPhone to nokia 900, and overall i'm ok (not great, not thrilled, but ok) with the app selection.

Sports: 100% fine with ESPN. I created a home screen tile to the best fan page for my favorite pro teams (pats and blazers) and that works for me.

Banks: I'm lucky that USAA has a full-featured windows app. deposit from phone = killer.

Travel: Tripit, Kayak, enought for me right now. I'm sure Orbitz will be along soon enough.

Games: HUGELY lacking. Then again, I'm spending less time playing mobile games and spending less $$ on buying games, so there's that. For me, having less is more in a way, since I really need to try and disconnect a little, you know?

I soured on Apple (haha see what I did there??) and for some reason android has never appealed to me, so I really like how different Windows is. Also, a stellar camera is huge for me, so the 920 is very appealing.
 

corsica

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That doesn't make sense. Apple effectively rebooted their accessory market with new Lightning connector. That noted, they should deduct quite a many points from Apple products.

agreed, however, don't forget cases and such things. protective screen covers etc. Also I guess it won't really be long until most of the 3rd party accessorie industry will have made the switch to lightning. With the amount of spread, market penetration and positive street cred that Apple undoubtly has, it's just inevitable. I wish it were the same for WP/Android, but it just isn't.
 

a5cent

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Better review than I was expecting from them, but still a ton of factual errors:
Nokia calls this a ClearBlack display, which consists of polarizing layers of glass to help make blacks deeper and reduce reflections. It's technology that was introduced back in 2010, and here it doesn't seem to have much effect. The blacks on the 920 aren't nearly as deep as on the 900 — but the tradeoff is well worth it in my opinion.
ClearBlack refers only to Nokia's optical solution for reducing reflections. It can't magically bestow an LCD screen with the same black levels as an AMOLED screen (like the Lumia 900 has), but according to his statement that is what he expects of it. It's like saying: This Ferrari's 400 HP engine doesn't seem to have much effect as it doesn't enable the car to fly. Had he measured reflectivity the effect would have been obvious. Shouldn't these guys at least know what Nokia's marketing buzz words actually refer to?

Just one example, many more... :-/
 
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weetigo

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Speaking of which, will you guys be using a cover for you phone or will this phone be okay without one?

I'd say its fine being without, having used the 800 and 900 previously. 900 still looks flawless, and the 800 had a slight indentation in case at bottom when I dropped it (multiple times), but barely noticeable.
 

SuddenlyDinosaur

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This was actually a fair and partial review. And for the people complaining about Camera and Reception scored, let me reiterate what Dieter said:

1. In terms of reception, although the problems may have been from the pre-release phone or the actual area he is in, he doesn't want to change the score unless he knows for sure that the official model will sound better.

This makes sense. There's no point in telling someone that a specific aspect of the phone will get better unless you know for sure that it will.

2. The camera score being the same as the iPhone's score. This is because he stated that the iPhone would be an easier camera to use for the general public, whereas it will mostly pros that enjoy the full benefits of the 920's camera.

7.9 seems right to me.
 

vlad0

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Oh I agree. I agree very much. If they managed to get the mic even close to 808 standards, it would be awesome gig cam.
Well.. the 920 doesn't record in stereo like the 808 does, but the mic in there should be the same.. which lets you record sounds up to 140 decibels, which is very important for concerts/clubs etc.
 

a5cent

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1. In terms of reception, although the problems may have been from the pre-release phone or the actual area he is in, he doesn't want to change the score unless he knows for sure that the official model will sound better.

7.9 seems right to me.

Nah, it's garbage. I don't trust anyone to be impartial in these types of tests. People hear what they want to hear. It's human nature. What you do is measure signal strength and reception quality. You play pre-recorded test signals and measure audio quality. There is no excuse for half-baked, unreliable, fuzzy results in a professional device test like this. Companies fortunes and peoples jobs depend on it, and those people deserve a fair shake. As it is, I don't know if this review gave them that fair shake or not. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. You don't punish without it being deserved. You don't publish if your data isn't ready.
 

dharmababa

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Speaking of which, will you guys be using a cover for you phone or will this phone be okay without one?

Oh and MS/Nokia needs Instagram fast, especially with a camera like the 920 has and the color choices. It is obviously catering (one of) to hipsters or youngins. And the lack of Instagram will surely turn off two of their target markets.

Definitely no cover - that will reduce some of the bulk gap :) Also, the buttons and camera panel are now ceramic so they should be fairly scratch proof.

Lumia 920 features ceramic camera strip and buttons | nokiagadgets.com

On the latest wpcentral podcast from today, I think Daniel hinted that he talked to folks who hinted that Instagram was close. Not close enough to announce but definitely happening behind the scenes. I realize that is multiple levels of hinting but hopefully it will happen soon.
 

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