After enjoying the Icon for about three weeks, with a few days left in the return window I made the decision to send it back to Microsoft. It's an excellent device from a hardware perspective, but it doesn't offer enough on the software front to make it worth the premium over continuing to use my 928. Hey Cortana and Lumia Camera are compelling benefits, but even after three weeks they were simply being underused. Excluding those perks--and also taking into account the loss of what I feel are key features like Glance and double-tap to wake--I couldn't justify the $250 expenditure any longer...so I'm back to rockin' my 928.
I think this speaks more to the lasting goodness of the 928 versus the deficiency of the Icon, as well as the fact that the OS is optimized to run well on devices that don't necessarily have high-end specs. While there are apps on the 928 that launch a bit more slowly than they do on the Icon, from a basic user interface standpoint the two devices are very similar. I've used several devices in the last two or three years, and I still hold that the 928 has the best display of any of them, hands down. The external speaker on the 928 is louder than the Icon's, though it is a bit more tinny. Both headphone and charging ports are on the top edge of the device--a layout I find ideal and very convenient, especially when resting the phone in a stand or cradle.
In another post somewhere around here, I read a good bit where Windows Phones simply age better than Android devices, precisely because of the modest OS requirements on hardware. While a two-year-old Android phone would be a stuttering slow mess, the 928 is nearly on par with the Icon from a speed standpoint, at least to my perspective. The Icon is most certainly a faster and better-spec'd device, but unfortunately when used side by side, the advantages of the souped up internals just do not show as drastically as they should.
I think I'm going to continue using my trusty 928 and hold out hope for a game-changing Surface Phone at some point, while resisting the urge to try out other offerings in Android and iOS flavors. While I like what was done with the Icon and find the new flagship Windows 10 phones appealing, I don't think that's Microsoft's true future in mobile. (I mostly agree with everything Daniel wrote on this topic a few days ago)
I think this speaks more to the lasting goodness of the 928 versus the deficiency of the Icon, as well as the fact that the OS is optimized to run well on devices that don't necessarily have high-end specs. While there are apps on the 928 that launch a bit more slowly than they do on the Icon, from a basic user interface standpoint the two devices are very similar. I've used several devices in the last two or three years, and I still hold that the 928 has the best display of any of them, hands down. The external speaker on the 928 is louder than the Icon's, though it is a bit more tinny. Both headphone and charging ports are on the top edge of the device--a layout I find ideal and very convenient, especially when resting the phone in a stand or cradle.
In another post somewhere around here, I read a good bit where Windows Phones simply age better than Android devices, precisely because of the modest OS requirements on hardware. While a two-year-old Android phone would be a stuttering slow mess, the 928 is nearly on par with the Icon from a speed standpoint, at least to my perspective. The Icon is most certainly a faster and better-spec'd device, but unfortunately when used side by side, the advantages of the souped up internals just do not show as drastically as they should.
I think I'm going to continue using my trusty 928 and hold out hope for a game-changing Surface Phone at some point, while resisting the urge to try out other offerings in Android and iOS flavors. While I like what was done with the Icon and find the new flagship Windows 10 phones appealing, I don't think that's Microsoft's true future in mobile. (I mostly agree with everything Daniel wrote on this topic a few days ago)
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram