Three weeks later...

[wamsille]

For many of us tomorrow will mark our third week as Lumia 920 owners. All things considered I think that this is a great phone. Yes, there are quirks and I'm not about to suggest that Nokia, Microsoft or AT&T are infalible. However, my experience has been fairly positive.

• I pre-ordered the afternoon of 11/7. While I never received an updated email or status change on my order later that day, the following morning I did have a shipping notice that my phone would be arriving on 11/9. The wireless charging plate was delayed but I eventually received it the following Monday. All in all, not bad.
• Props to FedEx, they agreed to hold my shipment at the local sorting facility which is only a 20 minute drive from my office. I was able to get the phone without much of an issue.
• When AT&T's Black Friday ad reducing the Lumia down from $99 to $49.99 was announced, I inquired about it and Customer Service gave me the $50 no questions asked. I shared this information with the forum which yielded mixed results. AT&T didn't charge me for activation, shipping, the wireless charging plate, I was given a credit for adding a line to my account and I received the price adjustment so in the end I ended up just paying the tax on the phone.
• The camera is wonderful. I didn't expect a DSLR and I didn't get one. Video capture is fantastic and low-light photography is a completely viable solution. I do think the still images could be sharper, regardless of available light. I emailed Mr. Elop and in a kindly worded response I was again assured there would be a release for this issue coming out soon.
• The battery life is acceptable for me. When you purchase a smartphone, you are immediately agreeing to certain compromises. One of those hits you take is to the battery life. Considering all that the device is capble of doing, this isn't a terrible trade-off. There are things are users we can do to extend the life of the battery and it is up to you whether implementing those suggestions is something you want to do.
• My phone heats up. My phone also has what some would consider a horrid vibration sound. Compared to what, though? It doesn't prevent me from using the phone. The vibration probably has something to do with the design, either that will be fixed with a change during production or the next Lumia model. It isn't a deal-breaker. The heat comes from using certain apps, games mostly. In my response back from Mr. Elop Drive+ was mentioned specifically as a good example of the battery becoming warm during extended use. It is being addressed and future updates should resolve this.

I like my phone. It was the best ~$20 I spent on a smartpone to date. I can't speak for everyone when I say I don't regret my purchase. I also can't tell other people how to spend their hard earned money. If they bought the Lumia and hate it, they can swap out and get a replacement or get a new phone entirely provided they act within those first 14 days. The Galaxy S III, Droid DNA, iPhone 5 or Nexus 4 might be better for them. Why else would there be so many different smartphones on the market? There isn't one specific model that will meet everyone's needs and preferred tastes.

 

[leftturney]

Yep, I have had a similar experience, my phone showed up on the following Monday. I just got back from the store yesterday actually to purchase a second Lumia 920 for my fiancee. I converted her to WP a long time ago, she was on the Focus Flash but wanted a faster phone.

 

[Ebaneeezor]

Nice post.. thanks - I was just thinking about this last night, and one of the coolest things for me is that because its a newer platform/phone - everyday there is something new to read/download/try - the platform is literally spilling over with new stuff at every angle, I rather enjoy the "updated/released" reads everyday

 

[damon312]

I like the comments on this thread. I do find this OS to be extremely refreshing from the old iPhone interface which has been the same pretty much since 07 (look and feel) not so much hardware/firmware/OS improvements; another story. I like being able to customize or 'personalize' my screen in addition to what else I continue to learn about this device. Happy with my purchase so far and I came over from iPhone 4. So glad I didn't get an iPhone 5 at this point.

 

[wamsille]

People seem to forget the HTC G1 was released back in 2008, since then we've been on Eclair, Froyo, Gingerbread, Honeycomb (tablets), Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean. iOS came out in 2007, and now in 2012 we are on iOS 6.

Windows Phone was scheduled to be released in 2009, but with delays Windows Mobile 6.5 was an interim release while Windows Phone was retooled. Windows Phone 7 came out in 2010, followed by 7.5 in 2011 and now Windows Phone 8 in 2012. Legacy devices will be able to upgrade to 7.8 in early 2013. It's been two years, and while the updates aren't as fast and furious as Android they are consistent much in the way iOS has been. I feel that Windows Phone is an OS that is between Android and iOS - the best of both worlds but still maturing into something that will eventually be better than that. This is a two-year old mobile operating system - the best has yet to come.

 

[SteveISU]

OS is great, but MS desperately needs to do something to attract the big app developers. Throw more money at them then apple does. Anything!

 

[iamtim]

I've had a *very* positive experience and I think this forum needs some positive experiences, so I'm going to lay mine out here.

On 11/9 I went down to my local AT&T (La Habra, CA, USA) store with intent to upgrade my iPhone 4 to a white Lumia 920. I was helped by a guy named Wells, who was totally awesome. I told him what I wanted, and he hooked me up. The highlights of the transaction? "I suppose you want to keep your grandfathered unlimited data plan?" he asked me and moved it over when I confirmed his assumption. Also, he told me they were out of the charging plates and told me I should check back in a week; later that night, he called me to tell me he went ahead and ordered one for me. Finally, he took my iPhone 4 as a trade in; I walked out of there with a car charger and money in my pocket.

Sadly, the 920 was not meant for me. It had a data connectivity problem (it would not connect to anything even though it showed 4 bars until I restarted the phone) and an overheating problem. Hearing so much about the HTC 8X's, I contacted Wells and asked him if he had any in-stock; he did, so I went down to the store and he exchanged it for me. He cancelled the charging plate order, and took the car charger as a refund to offset the restocking fee. At this point, the only actual money I have spent is the $35 fee for upgrade/activation.

Sadly, the 8X was not meant for me. It was a super nice phone, but I did not like the buttons (they're too flush and really weird to press; I couldn't do so one-handed), the rubbery coating felt weird in my hand, and... it felt light and flimsy to me. I felt like I was going to break it every time I used it. So another call to Wells to inquire about the 820 and I was off to the store again. (I should note that the AT&T store in La Habra is about 2 miles from my house and I'm a tech junkie so going there is NOT A PROBLEM, heh.)

Normally, AT&T allows for one exchange to a different model, but because Wells is an awesome rep and I'm a good customer (at the same time I was dealing with settling on a Windows Phone, my brother and dad both wanted iPhones so I brought them down to see Wells who went above and beyond to hook them up, but that's a different story for a different day) they made an exception for me. Once I picked up and held the 820, I knew that was the phone I wanted. It's rad, I love my 820. Anyway, the lower cost of the phone ($49 vs $99 for the 920/8X) made up for the restocking fee, but I bought a microSD card; so add a total of about $25 to the $35 I spent for the initial activation fee. So, in 3 weeks I've had each of the newly released Windows Phones, I've spent a total of about $60 out-of-pocket, and I'm totally happy with my phone.

The funny part is that all my local wifi spots are slower than the phone's native 4G LTE; because I have my grandfathered unlimited data plan and I'm always in a good LTE area, I've only turned on the wifi once or twice just to make sure it works.

 

[TonyDedrick]

⬆⬆⬆

Glad you like the 820. It was my phone of choice as well (more for the expandable memory). Its a really good and sturdy phone. Doesn't get enough love with all the drooling over the 920.

 

[iamtim]

(the 820) Doesn't get enough love with all the drooling over the 920.

Yeah, I agree. I've seen a lot of "OMG, the screen resolution is horrible" comments but damn... the screen is fine. Its resolution and PPI put it smack dab in between the iPhone 3G/3GS screen and the iPhone 4 ("retina display") screen. I have no problems with the screen.

But this is a 920 forum, so let's not stray too far off topic with 820 accolades.

 

[wamsille]

I'm curious to see what the other Windows Phones are like. I'll admit a little part of me wants to see how the 8x performs against the 920.

 

[gsquared]

OS is great, but MS desperately needs to do something to attract the big app developers. Throw more money at them then apple does. Anything!

There are several articles out today stating WP8 has sold 4x more units than this time last year. Where the people go the app developers will follow.

 

[stmav]

I ordered mine on the 7th and received it on the 10th. It's been fantastic. I learn something new about the phone everyday. I was on a Evo with android. But my wife has an arrive so I know my way around the OS somewhat. I did have one freeze yesterday when doing a nokia update. A soft reset took care of that. My battery life has been fine. No heating problems. And the LTE speed is amazing.

I'm not a major app user but they have one for the few things I do use one for. Except for a couple that I hope will come in time. I can just use the web version on IE10 in the meantime for those two.

All in all, so far the switch, the phone and the experience has been everything I was looking for. And it can only get better with updates and tweaks after the 1st of the year.

 

[damon312]

There are several articles out today stating WP8 has sold 4x more units than this time last year. Where the people go the app developers will follow.

I'm hoping so, well said!

 

[jdhooghe]

Got it the morning it came out Had issues with the camera as it wouldn't load. Took it back to the store and they showed me how to volume down+power. Also, battery life was really bad. But I had to go to France. Used it as my camera and it took beautiful photos. The problem was that during notre dame and the louvre I had to transfer photos to my computer as I had to data and reset the phone as the camera wouldn't load no matter what. Also, during the Louvre the phone was restarting itself. I was surprised though that the camera didn't suck up battery like my 4s did. Anyway, reset it and have been really happy since. All of a sudden yesterday I've been getting phenomenal battery life(I'm thinking maybe it was the update but not sure, no evidence to support it other than suddenly battery was really good). I'm at 11 hours with 80% left...granted that is really light use in airplane mode. We'll see once I get back to the states how it holds up when LTE is going on.