Questions about the 930 in Canada

[jkamoh]

Thanks for the info, I'm also on WiFi for majority of the day. I watch videos on YouTube once in awhile but other than that I don't do a lot of downloading of data. LTE is not a deal breaker.

 

[Squachy]

Would anyone be willing to provide their 930 IMEI number so that I can check carriers ?

I wouldn't put much stock in their checking system.
I went to a Telus store after I picked up my Lumia 930 to get a nanosim. Pretty much the first thing the rep said to me was "what is that??" The rep wanted me to give them the IMEI number so they can check their compatibility software and according to that software the 930 was NOT compatible. Of course I knew it was compatible other than LTE so I suggested if there was a way provide me a nanosim to check. She had one in her phone so she lent it to me briefly and it picked up the telus signal no problem.
That convinced her it worked (even though the compatibility software says it was not)

So my experience after having it for a month or so is as follows:
-Runs perfect on Telus network (no LTE). I didn't have to set up anything really, just plugged it in and went, SMS and MMS work fine, everything autodetected fine. I do have a weird quirk with my MMS And SMS though. Sometimes it doesn't send right away, and is a little delayed. Sometimes I get 4 of the same messages. I think that might have to do with a weaker signal. didn't need any nokia network+ app or whatever like my 710 did.
-Battery life, well I don't know what some of you expect but I only expect my phone to last me through the working day. I get home, I plug it in. Seems around 15hrs give or take would be average. Good enough for me, it already doubled my Lumia 710 (that thing was pretty much an 8hr phone). I haven't seen any phone (iPhone, Nexus 5, HTC One M7) last more than a day so I don't know how people even do that.
-IT does heat up after doing certain things. 3d games (been playing major mayhem awhile, that seems to heat it up the most ive felt), Skype messaging seems to heat it up more than whatsapp and line (which don't really heat up much with those). Im under the impression the 'cooling' solution used in this isn't the best (being a passive cooling system, I think the best way would be to use a copper heatsink. I looked into a teardown and it APPEARS that the heatsink is made of steel or aluminum.) Don't get scared, you just cant get a chip that small with the power it has (2.2ghz quad cores and a fairly substantially powerful GPU) to NOT get hot under heavy load without more than just a fairly thin heatsink.
-Its got a good camera. Night shots may require manually fiddling as automode doesn't seem to do so great but with ample light, this thing is ace.
-Video recording....1080p, 30fps, very nice, very sharp, very good sound quality too.
-The screen is awesome, very sharp, very clear.
-Thickness? Yeah its kinda thick and blocky. How many people do you know have an iPhone with a big fatass case on it? Heck how many people do you know have a case on their phones period? I've not seen anyone with a phone case on their phone and have it still remain thinner than a naked 930. My GF's iPhone has a case and its thicker than my 930. My friend's HTC One M7 has a case and I think its thicker than my 930. Thickness should not even be a bullet point, its negated the instant someone puts a case on it. What good is a thin phone if you have a case that makes it thick anyways? It does have some heft to it but it feels very solid. Im just gonna put a screen protector on it and call it a day, don't need a case.
-WP8.1 is leaps and bounds better than the 710 on WP7.8. That's all there is to say, doing the same things, it already feels like its a helluva lot less restrictive.

 

[ziplocks]

Super Helpful, thanks!

I'm open to networks but Virgin seems to have the best deals for me. Aka Bell towers. Anyone on Bell, or even preferably Virgin?

 

[Squachy]

Super Helpful, thanks!

I'm open to networks but Virgin seems to have the best deals for me. Aka Bell towers. Anyone on Bell, or even preferably Virgin?

I read somewhere that telus and bell actually share towers so they should work. Heck I think all of Canada uses the same frequencies for 3G and LTE, except for some of the smaller players like Wind, they use AWS 1700/2100 for 3G and 700mhz for LTE (im not sure). So at least with Wind the 930 may not work. But it'll work fine with the big 3, Virgin I guess as well since they piggyback off of Bells network sounds like?

Its not like the States where AT&T is pretty much like the carriers up here (works fine) but Verizon and sprint uses different technology (older CDMA vs everyone else GSM), and T Mobile I think could get 2G from the 930 but 3G may be questionable.

 

[jkamoh]

Thanks for the info. I am also on Telus and considering 930. Do you miss LTE at all?

 

[ladyruri]

anyone living in Victoria or Vancouver interested in buying my Lumia 930?
i think i'll be switching over to something else
send me a pm if your interested

 

[Squachy]

Thanks for the info. I am also on Telus and considering 930. Do you miss LTE at all?

I came from a Lumia 710 so I never had LTE to begin with. That said, the 3G connections seems plenty fast for me, ive been able to load short youtube videos without having to wait for buffer most of the times, and I try not to use data whenever I can. With our ugly Canadian data limits you want to keep that usage as low as possible.