I need help deciding on a Lumia 1520 or Note 3.. please help and please don't be biased

[jkrc717]

I have never used an android before. So I have no idea what it's like. I really don't have time to play with a friends android either to see what it's about in detail.

I jumped from Blackberry to WP.

A buddy of mine who has a 920 told me that although it was fun trying something new, he says I should get Android because when he plays with his wifes Galaxy mega, he says you can do anything.

What is it that android can do that WP can't? Really.

I wish I can find specifics.

 

[freestaterocker]

Based solely on size, I'd go with the Note 3, simply because I'm not a fan of big phones, and the Note is smaller. I personally prefer WP8 over Android, but I can't deny there is some great Android functionality I'd love to have access to. Either way I wouldn't be buying a phablet as a primary device. So where I already have a WP as my main device, I would definitely consider a Note 3 to play around with.

Most of the advantages Android holds over WP have to do with customization and app selection. There are many apps that get more thorough support on Android, which results in better performance and/or more features.

 

[harmon rabb]

Android is more configurable than anything. If you know what you're doing, you can have your home screens look like anything you want. Hell, you can have them look like IOS or WP if you want.

That's the large advantage of android. The app store is a lot more developed too, but really the WP app store is quite decent these days so no big deal.

Are your primary uses personal or business?

 

[AE Sid]

it depends on what you want out of your phone. if you enjoy customization to the point where you can change the OS design then maybe the Note 3 is better for you. imo, WPs are more about its minimalist design and the essentials of what is in a smartphone these days. I've sold phones for a living last year so I know the Note 3 is a lovely device. I haven't the chance to hold the 1520 yet.

 

[harmon rabb]

it depends on what you want out of your phone. if you enjoy customization to the point where you can change the OS design then maybe the Note 3 is better for you. imo, WPs are more about its minimalist design and the essentials of what is in a smartphone these days. I've sold phones for a living last year so I know the Note 3 is a lovely device. I haven't the chance to hold the 1520 yet.

i find it interesting in these threads that what i see as a real advantage of WP is never mentioned. how about business purposes? you can get a 1020 or 1520 for free these days at a MS store if you trade in an old ios or android device, and for very cheap on sale if you don't, and either comes loaded and ready to rock for business. outlook is miles ahead of any email client for android. despite one annoyance of office for wp (can't scroll out to get a page width view), it has features the clones for android (which you have to pay for) do not have. maybe i just never set up my android devices right, but they were never able to search the server remotely for email address not in my contacts if i types in names, yet outlook on wp does without issue. same goes for contacts on lync on wp vs android. and how about skydrive? complete seamless integration what what you'd like to back up, seamless integration with office and outlook (download an attachment from office, goes right into your skydrive folder), direct folder level access to what's saved on there from your desktop.

 

[MelCali82]

I love BB10, WP8 and Android. I switch back and forth between devices. I always choose Android as my main device because yeah, you basically can do anything on it. From heavy visual customizations to adding new features with apps(the availability of these api's make it possible for devs to create some awesome apps for Android).

I'll list some things I think are pro's for the Note 3. Maybe others can chime in on the 1520 pro's.

GNote 3 Pro's:

Battery life. I get around 5-6 hours of screen-on time. That is within 24 hours off a full charge. I am not conservative. I leave auto brightness on and dont bother turning off wifi, gps, etc right away.

Attachments in email. You can send almost anything you want to anybody. You can send app files, pdf, vids, pics, .ai, psd, etc. I am a freelance graphic designer so I receive a slew of different files and send .ai, psd, and pdf's. to clients.

The s-pen. I find it faster when I am in a hurry to jot something down with the s-pen. With the Gnote 3, once you pull out the s-pen, you quickly get a popup to start writing on(this can be changed in settings). I also use the s-pen to mark-up some website mockups and logo concepts.

Download any file. Like I said with the attachments.. the ability to handle different files on the go like on a regular computer is a big plus for me.

The multi-window. If you stay stock, it is limited on what apps support the multi-window. But the default apps, to me, are the most used ones anyways. Going through client emails and having Adobe Reader open in another window and seamlessly going back and forth, AMAZING.

Google Now.(available on all jellybean/kitkat devices) People who compare Google Now to Suri have no clue. Totally different. If you choose to accept usage of Google Now, it almost becomes a personal concierge. You can set location based reminders, have it show you scores automatically, have it show you traffic and how long it will take to go home from your current location, notify you of deals once you arrive at certain grocery stores, etc. People complain about the privacy but I guess they forgot that in order to use GNow, you have to go through like 4 example screens before you can hit "Yes, I'm In!" or "No, Maybe Later".

IR-port. I used to use it a lot but I don't watch much tv. But it's very useful if you have cable/dish. You can control tv/cable box/stereo with the Note.

 

[Jarip]

About battery, based on gsmarena tests:

Note 3 - 75 hours, link: Samsung Galaxy Note 3 battery life test - GSMArena Blog

Lumia 1520 - 107 hours: link: Nokia Lumia 1520 battery life test - GSMArena Blog

 

[wiggum15]

Keep your GNote then, i dont think you will be happy with a WP.

 

[megamsp]

I have the same dilema. Note 3 or 1520? I have the Note 2 and i love some of his features. The Note 3 is much the same as the Note 2 except for the full hd screen and other small tweaks. Android do have some cons. After the update to 4.3 my Note 2 battery doesnt last as long as before. The wifi connection is not the best. But apart from this i have been using it for about a year and i am now used to it. My biggest fear is, will i be Ok with the WP 1520? I have read that some users have been facing some problems with the 1520. I hope that i dont receive a 1520 with some of the problems that i have read here. If i buy the Nokia Lumia 1520 it will be the european version factory unlocked. That 6' screen looks really good. Should i take the chance? Any help would be great. Has anybody here that had the Note 2 and bought the 1520?

 

[Destructobrat]

Former Note 1 user here. Upgrade was long overdue, so I researched my options. I needed a large screen, so iPhone and Blackberry were automatically out. I wanted the fastest processor available, as I don't want to go through lag issues like I did with my Note (sometimes it took me 10 seconds to make a phone call). That left the Note 3 and the Lumia 1520. Read up on both of them, researched available apps, and played with them a few times at my local AT&T store.

Selecting the 1520 was a no-brainer for me. Great screen readability, a superior camera, zero lag, MS Office, IE, my must have apps were available, and superior battery life did it for me.

Do I have any complaints? Sure. Would love to be able to set a default IE page, a proper notification center would be nice, would like a TiVo app. None of these were dealbreakers for me.

I'm very happy with my choice.

Sent from my RM-940_nam_att_200 using Tapatalk

 

[Luck Flores]

I have lumia 920 and Galaxy note 3 so based on my experience the Galaxy note 3 is Amazing, you can do a lot of things especially with the multi-tasking feature the only downside is that its kinda big compare to my lumia 920 and it always pops out in my pocket when I'm driving. The camera (I looked kinda green or yellow with grains when Im taking photos) and video recording is so shaky, horrible in video calling using Skype I looked like A pastel from painting. It has the great features except for the CAMERA. pictures are pretty good in daylight ( or in good light condition like outdoor photos) low light is just horrible like I said green and yellow colors are present plus grains. I like taking photos so I stick with my lumia 920. But for everyday living I'll choose Samsung Galaxy note 3 . I Hope this will help you! Cheers.!

 

[megamsp]

Thank for the reply. Last xmas i gave the 920 to my son. I have played around with it and i think it is a zippy smartphone with good camera. The multitasking on the Note 2 is something that i used once or twice. The s pen is cool but after a will you forget about it. With the Last uptade im having lesse battery like and the ram is always close to max (2gb). Especially on youtube it is sometimes irritating. I see one v?deo or two with no problems and then it starts buffering all the time. The wifi issues with the Note are well nowed. I have a good Internet fiber connection at home. What im looking for is something that doesnt **** me when im seeing v?deos and doesnt lag at all. The size to me doesnt manter much because i am already used to the Note 2 size. And i use a man hand bag. Never used a screen protector not have either used a case. My screen is like new. Doesnt have any scratch or marks. I am careful with my smartphone. Why im thinking to buy the Nokia Lumia 1520 instead of the Note 3? To get something different. The Note 3 as i know is a good smartphone but it shure has its cons. The wifi connection seems to be the same as the Note 2. Not that good. The 1520 from what i have seen has a really beautiful screen. To me it looks better than the Note 3. I love to taking photos and the 1520 looks in this department really good with cool camera apps. My biggest concern is if i dont get along with the WP os. The Note 3 is good as i said but doesnt look that much different from the Note 2 and im a little bored now from android. My biggest fear is am i gonna get bored first with the Nokia 1520 and miss my Note?

 

[Destructobrat]

Here's a thought - come up with a list of needs, pros and cons. Then figure out what apps you need, then break that out by critical vs meh. I surprised myself when I did that.

Sent from my Lumia 1520 using Tapatalk

 

[spazzmeister]

Note 3. I like the stylus )))

 

[megamsp]

I like the stylus but its not a deal breaker. Its fun for a while then you forget that you have it. At least for me thats what happened. Im not a power user as some android users like to call themselves. I just want something that works right with no lags. I dont have either much apps on my Note 2. But the ones that i have, i want that they work right. The thing that, i think will miss more is a native youtube app. But Mytube does the job on my son 920. I want a good screen, good sound, good camera with no fuss. Will the 1520 do the work right? I hope so. Greetings from Portugal.

 

[snowmutt]

Android VS. WP is truly an excercise in strengths VS. weaknesses in OS's.

Are you a huge app user or think you will be? Deal breaker- go Android. MS has done a wonderful job building up the WP app selection, but from local apps to games and apps arriving first, Android has it all over WP still.

Do you get bored, love tinkering with things, are into playing around with those little things that make a smart phone smart, then Android wins.

Multitasking, changing keyboards, so on so forth. This is what makes Android the success it is.

Do you like to set up your phone to basically work, and have it work for you everytime the same way you last left it? WP wins. Android has got this strange quirk about people saying a lot of "HUH?" and "Why won't it load up this?", no matter the device or the premium or budget set up. WP tends to be more atable, even after constant use over long periods of time.

Seamless, smooth operations? Look, I like Android, but over time even the best of those devices- and the Note 3 is among the best- require a lot of tinkering to keep moving efficiently. Open apps in multitasking modes, UI's that slowly add to the device having a stutter or a sputter, updates that make existing tasks slower, background apps that run without you knowing it, and about a dozen other aspects of Android all contribute to a phone that after a year is not the same joy to use that it was when you bought it. There are background tasks to control in WP as well, but they are easily managed and disposed of if you want. It is designed to allow long term operation, and the lack of UI a lot of people site as a reason to not like WP is the reason updates generally work smoother and with less negative effects on it.

Support? Samsung is good at supporting their top end devices, so while Nokia is among the best, this may be a wash with the Note 3. I had decent support with my Samsung WP7. My wife has had a couple of firmware updates and an OS update on her Note 1. Nokia and MS have done a fantastic job supporting ALL their devices, though. So I stillI give the nod to Nokia/MS, but not by much.

The Note 3 stylist is a great tool, only found on it. It's split screen options are great. It is more pocketable.

The L1520 has an amazing screen, it's camera and battery are both regarded in most reviews as better then the Note 3, and Lumias are basically sherman tanks with phone guts ut in them. Lift up a L1520 and a Note 3 at the same time, and the feel of the L1520 just screams winner of the local "Tuff Man" contest.

Tools: Google Maps are still the best, and intergration with Google services are a handy thing.

WP has both Nokia Maps and Bing Maps (I prefer Nokia maps), Office built in, and the exclusive apps on Nokia WPs are a blast.


Also, I suggest investing in whatever ecosystem you grab the smartphone on. Google services have a great relationship with Android phones (duh), and the more you invest in Microsoft services (Outlook, Skydrive, XBOX Services, so on) the better you will enjoy a WP phone.

Let us know what you decide!!

 

[Alain_A]

here an idea.....buy both of them.............

 

[Faustous]

I just switched from the Galaxy Note 3 to the Nokia 1520.

I came from iOS to Android to WP; there were other random things before the iOS as well. I had a Galaxy S3, S4, Note 2 and Note 3 (My wife had the Note 1). The L1520 and the Note 3 are both, IMHO, the best devices on the market now. I don't put the iPhone 5s in this list because I don't believe that they made enough of a difference in the last few iterations.

The Note 3 never let me down, but I never used the S-Pen except to show people that it had one (Oh, and my daughter used it to draw with). It is highly customizable, especially if you root the device. But, this is where I had issues: Customizations. I spent the vast majority of my time customizing the phone! I was using 3 different launcher (Themer, Nova and Everything Me) and all my time on the phone was either Reddit or looking at new ways to customize it.

The App Store is SO glutted with junk (I just did a search for "fart" - 243 apps!). I saw (before Google cleaned it out) 12 Flappy Bird clones on the top 50 app page.
Most of the top apps are games or customization apps. One of the reasons why the Google app store has such a high number of apps is because of the customization apps. Searching for "Nova" (The most popular launcher on Android) yields over 250 themes. These are addons to Nova Launcher and not apps in and of themselves. This is a great way to up the number of apps the store has.

Since being on Windows Phone for all of 2 days, I have found all of my apps that I needed and had on Android, plus a few others that people have recommended to me, quickly and easily.

Hardware wise, they are relatively comparable, but you can read and watch reviews that will show you the same thing. I will say, that I loved the back of the Note 3. It made it very easy to hold as the back was leather like tacky. The L1520 is really slick and scary to hold naked. But the build quality on the L1520 far surpasses the Note 3 (though the Note 3 is far better than the Note 2 and S3). But, I get a wireless charger with a nice case (Incipio).

I haven't been able to listen to the L1520 with headphones yet (I use V-Moda M100 with a ZO2 amp), but I can say that I LOVED the audio with the Note 3, It was really wonderful.
I will take some time now to listen to the L1520.
OK, back... that was COOL! Dolby Headphones? I didn't know that the L1520 had that! The M100's lack a bit in the mids, but having the Dolby Headphone and boosting the mids up a smidge really sounded great. It's definitely better than the Note 3 (stock). I had a rooted Note 3 and was running Viper4Android with settings tweaked for the M100; This was head and shoulders better than the L1520, but root was needed which means that I need to be careful when updating that I don't brick the phone or trip Knox (the secure element within the Note 3) or I am paddling up a creek sans paddle.

My wife currently has my Note 3 as an upgrade from her Note 2. I will be selling the Note 2 and hoping, through use, to convince her that the Windows Phone route is a better path.
I haven't even begun to talk about Windows Phone 8.1, here is how I see WP8 and WP8.1:

In the beginning, iOS ruled the world. Android crawled out of the mire and announced it's presence, but iOS just looked down on it and shook it's head. Then, after a time, Android presented an Ice Cream Sandwich to iOS. It was smooth and silky and iOS became a bit nervous. Then, Android started flicking Jellybeans at iOS and really started to hurt iOS's feelings. So, iOS changed it's colors and decided to join with Android and create iOS 5. Android laughed and patted iOS on the head.

Windows Phone 8 is like Ice Cream Sandwich, where ICS made Android a viable contender.
Windows Phone 8.1 is like Jellybean, where JB made Android a force in the market.
WP is poised to do the same thing to the smartphone arena.
I am glad to be on board.

OH! And one of my FAVORITE things that I found out...
You can uninstall the AT&T apps in Windows Phone! Actually uninstall them, not hide them, not remove updates and just pretend they aren't taking up space. But UNINSTALL them completely!
This is awesome.

EDIT: I just searched for "fart" on Windows Phone Store. Apparently people like farts, there are 239 fart apps. sigh.

 

[trivor]

Android VS. WP is truly an excercise in strengths VS. weaknesses in OS's.

Are you a huge app user or think you will be? Deal breaker- go Android. MS has done a wonderful job building up the WP app selection, but from local apps to games and apps arriving first, Android has it all over WP still.

Do you get bored, love tinkering with things, are into playing around with those little things that make a smart phone smart, then Android wins.

Multitasking, changing keyboards, so on so forth. This is what makes Android the success it is.

Do you like to set up your phone to basically work, and have it work for you everytime the same way you last left it? WP wins. Android has got this strange quirk about people saying a lot of "HUH?" and "Why won't it load up this?", no matter the device or the premium or budget set up. WP tends to be more atable, even after constant use over long periods of time.

Seamless, smooth operations? Look, I like Android, but over time even the best of those devices- and the Note 3 is among the best- require a lot of tinkering to keep moving efficiently. Open apps in multitasking modes, UI's that slowly add to the device having a stutter or a sputter, updates that make existing tasks slower, background apps that run without you knowing it, and about a dozen other aspects of Android all contribute to a phone that after a year is not the same joy to use that it was when you bought it. There are background tasks to control in WP as well, but they are easily managed and disposed of if you want. It is designed to allow long term operation, and the lack of UI a lot of people site as a reason to not like WP is the reason updates generally work smoother and with less negative effects on it.

Support? Samsung is good at supporting their top end devices, so while Nokia is among the best, this may be a wash with the Note 3. I had decent support with my Samsung WP7. My wife has had a couple of firmware updates and an OS update on her Note 1. Nokia and MS have done a fantastic job supporting ALL their devices, though. So I stillI give the nod to Nokia/MS, but not by much.

The Note 3 stylist is a great tool, only found on it. It's split screen options are great. It is more pocketable.

The L1520 has an amazing screen, it's camera and battery are both regarded in most reviews as better then the Note 3, and Lumias are basically sherman tanks with phone guts ut in them. Lift up a L1520 and a Note 3 at the same time, and the feel of the L1520 just screams winner of the local "Tuff Man" contest.

Tools: Google Maps are still the best, and intergration with Google services are a handy thing.

WP has both Nokia Maps and Bing Maps (I prefer Nokia maps), Office built in, and the exclusive apps on Nokia WPs are a blast.


Also, I suggest investing in whatever ecosystem you grab the smartphone on. Google services have a great relationship with Android phones (duh), and the more you invest in Microsoft services (Outlook, Skydrive, XBOX Services, so on) the better you will enjoy a WP phone.

Let us know what you decide!!

Actually, one of MS's biggest problems is that it gives great support to MS services on Android (Onedrive, Outlook, Skype, Smartglass, XBox Music) while Google is doing everything in its power to prevent Google's services on Windows Phone. If you use Google and MS services (GMail, Outlook, Google Drive, OneDrive, Google Maps, so on) then you will be better on Android than Windows phone. IF there is a must have app (varies for everyone) make sure Windows Phone has it or you will be disappointed.

 

[lrn2board]

I just recently, literally 2 days ago, upgraded from a note 2 to the lumia 1520. I loved my note 2 but the screen cracked really bad (Which I am going to get fixed and keep as a backup). I decided to go with a WP8 phone because a coworker of mine told me he loved his new surface tablet. Let me start off with the Pros: Beautiful screen, no lag, love the tiles, have most of the apps I want (I am looking at you Time Warner), the sound is super crisp and louder then any phone I have heard including the HTC one. The feel in my hand is equal if not better then the note 2 as well. But there are some huge cons: the worst is the fact that there is no file explorer to look through your files This is extremely annoying when you are trying to locate files. Also you cant transfer anything to your sd card unless you plug your phone into a PC. Also the app market has the essentials but doesn't have a lot of support. I personnaly have a pebble smart watch, and there is currently no support for that on lumia 1520, but I am hopeful that there will be one. The last thing I will say about this phone is that it does have onedrive (formally skydrive) integrated right in so its nice to be able to do cloud storage so easily, and the xbox game market is pretty awesome, can you say Halo: Sparten Assault on 6 iches of beauty? But I am still within my 14 day grace period so I will update in a couple days on whether I kept the phone or not. Hope this helps!