Lumia 928. Please tell me it gets better!

[MikeD72]

Hello all. Long time lurker, first time poster.

Two weeks ago today, my wife and I took the plunge, and each got a Nokia Lumia from Verizon. Thus far, I can say I've never been more disappointed in a phone. Maybe I hyped it up to myself too much. Maybe I didn't do enough research. Maybe the legendary Nokia reputation was too much for me to withstand.

First, with our phones, we each got an Incipio case. We were NOT going to get cases, but our sales rep specifically told us that we needed good cases to protect our phones, and these cases were of good quality and would give our phones the extra protection we needed. Well, they didn't provide enough protection, because my wife dropped her purse, which had her phone in it, and the screen is now cracked. The phone stayed in the purse (in other words, it didn't fall out of the open pocket or anything), but still got cracked. Verizon said that something in her purse hit the phone and cracked it, but the only thing she really carries in there are papers. She had her keys in her hand to unlock her van door. Her wallet was in another pouch, on the other side of the purse. She doesn't have brushes, makeup kits, or any of those things you typically find in a woman's purse. Verizon said that we have to submit an insurance claim, which means my wife is going to get a used phone...even though we reported this and in fact are still in our 'trial period'. Well, I could live with this, but...

Second, my phone seems to go through the battery real quick. I'm talking, I took it off the charger (after charging overnight) at 7:00 this morning, have NOT USED IT at all, and just over an hour later, the battery reads 54%!. Even with email coming in on my phone, should it be using this much battery this quickly? It reads 54% now, but it will stay on that reading until well after noon. I don't care for this...even if it lasts me the rest of the day, why would the charge suddenly drop?

Please, tell me it gets better. I'm regretting my purchase of this phone at this point in time. My old trophy, while battered, weak, and not even running the latest software version, was twice the phone that this one is.


Thanks,

Mike

PS...I need to get Verizon because all the other carries in my area have garbage coverage.

 

[aximtreo]

Sorry you are having problems with your WP8 phones. As for the broken screen, that will have to resolve itself through the insurance coverage. You say that it's still in the 14 day trial; try taking it back for credit and see what happens.

I have the 928 and the first couple of weeks the battery life was suspect but since then, three months, it's been fine. Again, if you are that concerned, take it back under the 14 day trial period.

I love my Nokia 928, best phone I've ever had but I guess I've been lucky and not had any problems. I's sure more experienced posters will offer better advice but return within the 14 day trial period is my best advice at this point.

 

[flackberry]

You should be able to exchange yours if you are in the 14 day period. Not sure on the policy for your wifes but you might pitch that you were going to exchange it anyway and the screen broke. Ask for an alternate replacement under the insurance since you're completely unhappy with the phones. Personally I'd call the Verizon customer service instead of dealing with store employees who are only there to sell the latest and greatest phones.

 

[Muessig]

1. The Cases - Of course your rep is going to try to sell you as much as possible. No you do not need a case - in fact quite a few people specifically avoid them with the lumia line of phones because they are built well and feel better to use without one. The only case I'd personally use is a Nokia case that's designed to look like your phone doesn't even have a case on.

It's really unfortunate the screen cracked and by the sounds of it, it must have landed in the bag with some force on one of its corners to do this. There are countless testimonies and videos online that show how hard wearing the build quality of the lumia's can be and the fact yours cracked so easily really won't inspire confidence, but know that your experience is the exception and not the rule generally. You have a 1 year manufacturers warranty so if you describe your problem to Nokia you should get a replacement device if you don't want to go through the Verizon store. But it sounds like you had a bit of a bad store experience -- Normally they would just replace the phone without going through insurance but there's always a chance you won't get another brand new model. Can you try going to another store at all?

2. Battery wise, what settings on your phone are on and what apps do you have? Personally I only have wifi and data on when I need them, tap and send, location and Bluetooth are turned off 90% of the time and I can get a 3 day battery life with medium-light use. If you go to settings>applications>background tasks you can limit which apps will run in the background -- some apps can drain your battery if they run in the background a lot. You should also recognise that the Li-ion batteries in the lumia phones take a few charging cycles to get the best use of them. Charge your phone right up to 100% and let it discharge to 15-20% (a full cycle) a few times and your battery life will usually extend noticeably.

Hope this has helped some and welcome to WPCentral!

 

[jleebiker]

It gets better!!!

Sorry about the cracked screen. Nothing you can do now except go through the insurance process. I've had mine since release day and put the gel cover on it and a screen protector on it and have dropped it numerous times from various heights and still no problems.

As for the battery life, the battery needs to "normalize" for lack of a better word. There are multiple threads on this topic, but mostly, give it a few days for it to be normal. I came from a Trophy as well and I have to say that the 928 is LEAPS and BOUNDS better than the Trophy in many respects. Wish it had an internal MicroSD card, but that's my one hangup.

Give it a chance. Your experience will get better.

 

[freddyfromutah]

I dropped my phone last week (left it on the hood of my car), the replacement that came from Asurion was great. I have no idea if it was used, but it sure looks and functions as brand new. As for the battery issues, I haven't experienced them. I was getting 1-2 days out of single charge on my old phone, and as soon as I get everything set up on my current model, I expect I will be getting the same. I would check the background tasks, how many email accounts do you have set up, how often do they check, etc. Hope things get better.

 

[Cindy_H]

You might try a soft reset on your phone (hold down power and volume down until it vibrates). I was noticing significant battery drainage after the recent update, and this fixed it for me. Other than that, check your background tasks as has already been suggested.

Not much you can do about the cracked screen other than file an insurance claim. Hope you hang in there, though. The 928 is a very good phone

 

[hopmedic]

As has been said, sorry for your bad luck with the screen. I've had either the TPU case or the Poetic Atmosphere on my phone since purchase. I've dropped it a number of times, and the only time the screen broke was when I dropped it on the edge of a concrete step, when a headless 50' long anaconda attempted to eat me, and I used the phone as a shield, causing me to drop it on the step. I've dropped it on the stone tile at home, concrete floors at stores, and my concrete driveway, and that one time was the only problem I've had.

Unfortunately, no, the warranty will not cover this. I've worked in the insurance industry, managing warranties and extended warranties, and the only way you'll get it covered without paying the deductible is if you can talk someone into going against what he gets paid to do. Good luck, but the chances are pretty slim.

I've also had experience similar to those who say the battery will normalize, but I'd also add that you can look in Data Sense, see what apps are using the most data (that you're possibly not aware of), and use that as a guide to decide if you want to keep those apps or block their background agents. It's not a perfect solution, but it does help you to get an idea of where your battery is going, since there's no way to tell directly what apps use the most power - it's a good general rule that those using data are using power, though not a hard fast rule.

 

[Funky Cricket]

Screen has nothing to do with phone, just bad luck. I've dropped tons of phones and never broke a screen, my wife dropped her old android, and shattered.

battery, try a reboot, some app updates hold open locations services, and a reboot fixes.


These appear to be fairly normal issues with owning portable computers, and while you have 2 issues I wouldn't necessarily blame the phones.

 

[MikeD72]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

In the end, I had a chat with Customer Service, and they advised I take my phone to the store. The sales rep did a factory reset on my phone, and the batter dropped from 52% clear down to 14%. She acknowledged there was a problem with the phone, and we did a swap. I'll see about my battery life from this point on.

My wife has a new phone on the way from Asurion, so we'll have to see what happens from here.

Once again, thanks for the replies, everyone.


Mike

 

[mas90guru]

I've swapped phones through Verizon and even though the replacement comes in a plain box have never had a problem. I would not worry about refurb v new.

WRT to battery - are you wirelessly charging? I've had issues where I thought I put my phone on the charger but it didn't take and when I went to use it the battery was very low.

I think you made a good move with a case. My screen cracked on my 928 from a drop to the grass. The crack is very small and in the corner. I did not have a case at the time.

 

[odin09]

I loved my Trophy but the 928 blows it away. It really is a great phone. If I use the phone heavily I will get about 10 hours before battery saver kicks in. On a normal moderate heavy use day I make it 14 hours with no problem.

 

[xrs22]

I had the reset for 24 hrs and my phone was sent, a refurb, and I sent in my old one, no probe. Got my phone updated with all the current OS updated. Probably from there run your phone to, like they said 15-20% and full charge it and check from there. If it goes down faster than it should check apps running un the back ground, ones you don't use all the time, and turn those off. Switch your email to manually check and same with WiFi and cellular. Then try the soft reset, vol down and power button at the same time.