My First Windows Phone - Nokia Lumia Icon - Review, and initial impressions

nasellok

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Dec 3, 2012
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OK - so, I bought it on launch day last week, the build quality is superb ? my iphone and droid toting friends are all in awe of the thing. I do agree with some of the other reviews out there, the shape and rigidity was a bit awkward to start, but after using it for a few days, it is totally comfortable in the hands ? its a new device, u have to give it a chance. I am coming off of 6 years of Android, and Rooting, Roming, and Kernaling, nandroid backups, etc has really gotten old for me. I was so sick and tired of waiting an hour for the phone to backup, install new rom, see that it lags like crazy and have to download a new one and try over again. I just grew to really hate it. Enter Windows 8 into my life ? ive been using Dell Venue 8 pro tablet, and a Surface RT before that, and I really love the interface. I thought, why not try a windows phone, so Ive stalked the Windows Phone Central website, learned of the upcoming release of the Icon, and planned to at a minimum give it a try for the 2 weeks and see if I like it. Well, I am seriously impressed. The animations are all smooth, no stuttering, no lag?..this thing seriously flies. The Camera is phenomenal ? way better than anything else I've used. My wife has a Iphone 5S, and we were comparing photos last weekend, and the Icon was just visibly better for everything - low light, panoramic, portraits, flash on / off, etc - just better. The screen is huge, the bezels are small enough, and the build quality is really great, way better than anything Samsung ever threw out there. I love the glass that is used - its like it is finger print proof.

The WP app store has everything I need, and then some. I just don?t get all these people that cry over apps ? are you seriously writing novels and making presentations with your cell phones? I use my phone for the following in order if importance:
1. Camera ? video (I have 2 kids, and there is nothing better than not having to go grab another device to get good photos at a good resolution)
2. Email
3. SMS
4. Phone
5. News reader / web browser
6. Facebook
7. Games

I see no gap in the app store for my use case (maybe some of the latest games are not there, but I hardly care), and I don?t think im alone in this. I am looking forward to WP 8.1, and all of the new features involved in that OS upgrade. I am loving the live tiles, and the constant updating information. I wish notification center was available now, but I am getting used to not having it ? it will be a welcome addition to 8.1 in the coming months. As far as battery life, I am not having any issues getting through the day ? its not Droid Maxx battery, but it gets me to 11pm with at least 20% remaining, and that?s with somewhat heavy use. Way better than my old Galaxy Nexus, that would not even make it to lunch time without giving me the 14% warning. Ive been streaming Pandora for 3.5 hours, and configuring Weave, and cycling though the app store for anything that catches my eye, and I still have 70% battery at 12:30.

What ive noticed - If you buy a few apps, it really gives you everything you will need with respect to access, and functionality:
1. Custom Tiles Maker ? lets you select an image to overlay with tiles on your start screen ? kind of like having a background image ? only you can select more than 1 image to cycle and the tiles change to each image. Really cool, love it, would really like to see larger tiles, and ability to use more than 2 images.
2. Pocket File Manager ? gives you access to the folders and file structure of the OS ? I am just learning that its a new thing, but this app gives you access to the high resolution photos that you take.

Being critical ? I think the OS still needs some work, you should be able to have a background image, and be able to make the accent color transparent. Also, you should be able to save only high resolution images, and not have to save the downsampled images as well (5mp+16mp). I want only the 16mp files, and this is not an option. Also, I have unlimited data, I should be able to upload files and videos to my hearts content, and not be limited to wifi only.

Other than that, im loving this phone. I don?t see myself going back to Android. As a matter of fact, I can no longer recommend Android phones to my friends, as every Android phone ive owned, and seen my friends own crap out on them after 1 year (sometimes less).

My biggest gripe with this phone, is the lack of marketing for it - if I didn't go on this site, or the other tech sites, there would be no way in hell I knew about it. I haven't seen a single commercial, the Verizon store salesperson was completely clueless with Windows Phone. The phone was just sandwiched between 2 other droid phones, and not a single placard, or anything advertising it as a new release. Nokia, and Microsoft really need to push these devices harder - there are a lot of stupid people out there that listen to the salespeople at the carrier stores - when in fact that the people that work and sell these phones are typically even dumber than the person buying it. They should force the salespeople to learn, and use each phone.

*edit - Ive uploaded a few images taken with the camera - all taken with auto settings - I haven't really gotten into the manual controls yet, but look forward to doing so. One thing Ive noticed is that its uploading duplicate images to my Skydrive - they have a (1), (2), (3) etc. file name associated to them. I know one file is high res, the other is lower res - but why do I have 4 of some of them - any help would be appreciated. Im still new to the OS, and haven't really gotten through all the settings yet. Thanks!
THE WINDOWS PHONE WATER IS WARM??..CMON IN
 

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california86

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Sep 18, 2013
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Great review.

Also, thanks for introducing me to Pocket File Manager. It'd be sweet if this functionality was built into the OS, but I'll take what I can get.
 

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