Cracked Screen = Time to Upgrade? HTC One vs Icon vs. 928

[coip]

My wife dropped her Lumia 928. Still has about 9 months on contract. The bottom right corner of the screen cracked a bit. The phone still works fine, but clearly it's not ideal (little glass slivers rub off with every use, so we put a screen protector over it). So, we have a few options for her and I was wondering what you all thought. We're on Verizon, so we can

1. just keep using the cracked 928 for 9 more months
2. buy a used 928 or 822 on ebay
3. upgrade early via Edge to the Lumia Icon
4. upgrade early via Edge to the HTC One

The HTC One seems appealing as it comes with WP8.1 pre-installed and I'm sure she'd like the Dot case, but I'm a little hesitant to give HTC a shot, given their historically poor support for WP and WP updates. It would be good to know if another high-end Lumia was coming soon to Verizon (my guess is nothing till January 2015), and I've always been averse to early trade-in programs like Edge, but given that we're on a 10GB shared plan, it would actually cost the same per month with an Icon or only $5 more per month for the HTC One. Your thoughts?

 

[TripsG]

There are two schools of thought here; want vs. best business practices. The best business practice would suggest that waiting the 9 months would probably be the best decision as it will allow you more options plus give you the best bang for the buck. The "want" factor states that if you can't wait the 9 months or the phone just becomes unusable you should go ahead and upgrade now. I played around with the Icon at the MS Store while waiting on my 1520 to get replaced and I found it to be a fantastic phone for the size (I can't ever imagine giving up the real estate found on my 1520). My wife had 2 different HTC 8X phones and both were extremely problematic so, in my personal experience, the HTC would not get my money, though it looks like a sexy phone.

Yeah, rough problem to have!

 

[salmanahmad]

I would recommend getting the Lumia Icon, a solid performer with a spectacular camera and amazing Nokia bundled software.

 

[Rodrigo Mendes]

HTC One: Better hardware, lighter and more elegant.

Icon: Much better camera and exclusive apps and updates

One more vote for Lumia Icon.

 

[Adiliyo]

I would generally say it comes down to wanting a nicer camera or nicer speakers and a faster camera.

If you can find a 928 or 822 for under $100 it might be a good solution as well but over $100 and I don't think its worth it.

 

[coip]

Are the Nokia exclusive apps still exclusive to Lumia devices? I assumed Microsoft would open them up to all Windows Phone devices after the acquisition.

The one gripe I have with the Icon is the lack of Glance. We both used that all the time on our 928s. Figured the Dot Case with Cortana could compensate for that.

 

[salmanahmad]

Are the Nokia exclusive apps still exclusive to Lumia devices? I assumed Microsoft would open them up to all Windows Phone devices after the acquisition.

The one gripe I have with the Icon is the lack of Glance. We both used that all the time on our 928s. Figured the Dot Case with Cortana could compensate for that.

Microsoft should so this. The Microsoft Camera app is very lackluster, they should rename Nokia Camera to Microsoft Camera and make it available to all phones.

They should also open up other services to other Windows Phone OEMs but the Nokia Camera is most important for me.

 

[PanWorks]

I'm lucky enough to own the HTC One and the Lumia Icon. They are both great phones, but I would currently recommend the HTC One for the following reasons:

1. The hardware is extremely nice, and I find that the curved back is more comfortable in the hand.
2. I use WP 8.1, and the Dev Preview has some problems on the Icon. This should change with Cyan, but things like a non-responsive power button and flaky Wi-Fi are currently an issue on 8.1.
3. The fast HTC One camera works better for me since I mostly take pictures of my cat. I think that the One has a great cats and kids camera.

Honestly, all four phones you mention are all solid choices. My dad uses an 822 with WP 8.1, and it runs extremely well. Good luck with your decision.

 

[psiu_glen]

Someone else had just posted about a similar situation (upgrading from 928) which is what I just did.

Couple thoughts to help with a phone choice if you go that way:

Icon:
928+1=929, it really is just incremental;
No Glance, theoretically the Cyan update should have tap to wake though;
Better camera if she wants to push it, also, hardware camera button;
Qi charging

One M8:
Has microSD slot for expansion;
Nice enough camera for day to day use most likely;
Front facing speakers sound appealing, no pun in tended.

Few thoughts after a long weekend with the Icon:

Camera takes some work in lower light, but daylight shots are stunning for sure.
Speaker is quiet and far inferior to the one on the 928.
Little taller, wider, maybe thinner, feels lighter, doesn't nestle into my hand quite as easy. Better feel for buttons on a naked phone though.

Some build and quality issues on mine:
Back flexes at the top;
Camera has some distortion at the edges it seems like;
Aggressive flickering when outside, I think it might be a combination of auto brightness and sunlight readability? Very disconcerting though.

 

[coip]

Icon:
hardware camera button;
Qi charging

Ah, thank you for reminding me about this. Not that it's a deal breaker, but the HTC One doesn't have a camera button or Qi wireless charging? My wife uses a wireless charging plate all the time to charge her 928. I assume that same plate will work with the Icon, but not the One. And with no camera button, you can't quickly wake up the phone and snap a picture? I'll have to present all these pros and cons to her.

 

[salmanahmad]

Ah, thank you for reminding me about this. Not that it's a deal breaker, but the HTC One doesn't have a camera button or Qi wireless charging? My wife uses a wireless charging plate all the time to charge her 928. I assume that same plate will work with the Icon, but not the One. And with no camera button, you can't quickly wake up the phone and snap a picture? I'll have to present all these pros and cons to her.

The HTC One M8 for Android had some additional gestures to replace a hardware camera button, you could hold the volume button instead however sadly those gestures aren't supported on the Windows Phone version.

Windows Phone has no good fast way to open the camera from lock screen for devices that don't have a hardware shutter key, except for maybe placing a camera in the notification tray(which is slower.)

 

[RichHowerton]

I'm lucky enough to own the HTC One and the Lumia Icon. They are both great phones, but I would currently recommend the HTC One for the following reasons:

1. The hardware is extremely nice, and I find that the curved back is more comfortable in the hand.
2. I use WP 8.1, and the Dev Preview has some problems on the Icon. This should change with Cyan, but things like a non-responsive power button and flaky Wi-Fi are currently an issue on 8.1.
3. The fast HTC One camera works better for me since I mostly take pictures of my cat. I think that the One has a great cats and kids camera.

Honestly, all four phones you mention are all solid choices. My dad uses an 822 with WP 8.1, and it runs extremely well. Good luck with your decision.

I also have both phones, and if I had to pick, the HTC one would be the one I would chose. Even without wireless charging, camera button and a premium shooter,,....HTC One has 8.1.1, Cortana, light weight, decent camera, longer lasting battery and biggest feature imho is the micro SD, with a 128gb card. Tons of room for photos, movies, music. I no longer worry about my available storage, like I did the ICON. Both nice phones, but for me, the ONE is my choice. The 8.1 features and dot view case are really nice.

 

[psiu_glen]

Ah, thank you for reminding me about this. Not that it's a deal breaker, but the HTC One doesn't have a camera button or Qi wireless charging? My wife uses a wireless charging plate all the time to charge her 928. I assume that same plate will work with the Icon, but not the One. And with no camera button, you can't quickly wake up the phone and snap a picture? I'll have to present all these pros and cons to her.

Also, fwiw, was playing around with my 928 and Icon hand in hand, and outside of app loading times, they are basically identical in speed and responsiveness.

According to the benchmarks, the Icon blows the 928 away, but in actual usage I just don't see it.

However, it does make a 4.5" screen seem small, heh.

 

[GreenScrew]

We've had 3 HTC 8x's since they were available in my family. All have been flawless, and have not had to wait for updates. Actually, have had 4 as 1 was dropped in a lake (actually got it up and working months later). So I have no concerns about HTC support of the Windows Phone platform. That said, no Qi and no camera buttons would be a deal breaker for me on any future phone. Storage space isn't a concern of mine. Goes to show you everyone has their own needs/priorities in a phone. I upgraded to an Icon a couple months ago. Its a nice phone, but is really thick/big in one hand. Some of the Nokia apps are really nice, but I find that other than the Here suite, I don't use them much. You have the right approach, provide the pros/cons and see what she goes for.

 

[berty6294]

Don't do edge unless you are planning on upgrading at about every 12 months, in which case it will be break even. Any more or less and you are getting screwed. Id suggest buying off contract if you have the money upfront.

 

[Blkacesvf41]

Just to mess you up even more: The Lumia 830 is coming to Verizon next month.

 

[worldspy99]

If you want a Lumia 822 for really cheap let me know.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

Microsoft should so this. The Microsoft Camera app is very lackluster, they should rename Nokia Camera to Microsoft Camera and make it available to all phones.

They should also open up other services to other Windows Phone OEMs but the Nokia Camera is most important for me.

No they shouldn't lol. Sorry but we Lumia owners should keep our exclusives.

If Samsung, HTC etc can have their exclusive bs on their phones then so should lumias. It's sickening to even think that the Lumia line loses alot of its plusses to go to OEMs who do little for the platform.

If people want the exclusive apps, then get a Lumia. It bugged me when Nokia released here to all windows phones.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

I has the 928. It was a nice phone. I would definitely get it over a one m8. But get the icon if you can

 

[DavidinCT]

HTC One: Better hardware, lighter and more elegant.

Icon: Much better camera and exclusive apps and updates

One more vote for Lumia Icon.

Add to that for the HTC One: Front speakers (this is a big deal if you listen to your phone in public places with noise) and the big deal is expandable MicroSD storage.

If the camera is very important to you, then the ICON, if storage and flexibility is a bigger worry, then the One would be the answer...

They are both nice phones but, if you can live with out the awesome camera on the ICON, the One has some nice features...

and 8.1 installed, who knows how long we will be waiting for Cyan for the ICON/929///