Hands On & Reviews

[afnan_mc]

Here's Pocket Now's comparison. Pretty well done, I must say.
Lumia Icon vs Galaxy S 4 - YouTube

 

[lancepr]

Upgraded the wifes 822 to an icon last night. Phone is very nice, I have screen envy with my 928 now! Transfer was EASY, so far no problems

 

[radmanvr]

A lot of people seem to dislike the rigid bulkiness of it just like how they hated on the X1.

Maybe its because I'm from Texas or maybe because I just like big things but the Icon is definitely a piece of work. I think its sweet size and I love the rigidness.

 

[JBConforti]

A lot of people seem to dislike the rigid bulkiness of it just like how they hated on the X1.

Maybe its because I'm from Texas or maybe because I just like big things but the Icon is definitely a piece of work. I think its sweet size and I love the rigidness.

I'm with ya on that, its absolutely perfect in my hands. Maybe because I have big hands but I like it. Only have a little bit of shimmying to do to reach the top row of small icons with my thumb. Weight is perfect. I hated feeling like my GS3 was going to snap in half all the time.

 

[afnan_mc]

So, here's Gizmodo's review. You're probably not going to be happy with it.
http://gizmodo.com/nokia-lumia-icon-beauty-thats-sometimes-only-skin-dee-1527146998

 

[Indistinguishable]

So, here's Gizmodo's review. You're probably not going to be happy with it.
Nokia Lumia Icon: Looks Only Get You So Far

And the award for worst review of a piece of technology ever goes to...

 

[mozman68]

The comments are priceless

 

[Astropin]

So, here's Gizmodo's review. You're probably not going to be happy with it.
Nokia Lumia Icon Review: Looks Only Get You So Far

Not Happy? Not that.....more like utter confusion at her complete ignorance. Why was she reviewing this phone (probably any phone)?

Just wow!

 

[xboxonthego3]

Lol read every comment. Everyone essentially thought the review was awful.

 

[Jack Janik]

Sorry for the language, but DITCH THE ******* EXCLUSIVES

 

[Justafkinname]

I received mine today and I REALLY wanted to like WP coming from android...but I can't do it. The phone is awkward, the OS is awkward (I use Win 8.1 on my desktop), no swype style input on the keyboard, everything just seems less to me. I have grown to really like my 8.1 on my desktop but I don't see me keeping the Icon and likely am going back to Android.

 

[Astropin]

I received mine today and I REALLY wanted to like WP coming from android...but I can't do it. The phone is awkward, the OS is awkward (I use Win 8.1 on my desktop), no swype style input on the keyboard, everything just seems less to me. I have grown to really like my 8.1 on my desktop but I don't see me keeping the Icon and likely am going back to Android.

 

[Astropin]

Interesting...I'm coming from the same background (8.1 desktop & android) But I absolutely love my new Icon!

 

[Justafkinname]

I just feel limited. I really can't stand the keyboard, the tiles are either enormous or tiny, and my main gripe is the email. I was hoping for more off a true outlook 13 feel but I got generic.

 

[mozman68]

I just feel limited. I really can't stand the keyboard, the tiles are either enormous or tiny, and my main gripe is the email. I was hoping for more off a true outlook 13 feel but I got generic.

I'm confused as to why you would think that....it is a mail client that let's you get mail through all mail services....just like every other smart phone.

 

[Justafkinname]

Not true, it looks like a bunched up jumbled mess. So much so that after 4 hours of tinkering with the phone last night I sent it back this morning. It just lacks what I expected and truthfully the keyboard input was a deal killer.

 

[Starrbuck]

I'm confused as to why you would think that....it is a mail client that let's you get mail through all mail services....just like every other smart phone.

Yep, you can combine them or not or even combine several into different shared inboxes. And it's so much faster than the iPhone 5's mail client. Loving my Icon so far!

 

[mozman68]

Not true, it looks like a bunched up jumbled mess. So much so that after 4 hours of tinkering with the phone last night I sent it back this morning. It just lacks what I expected and truthfully the keyboard input was a deal killer.

So, I would say, no phone other than an Android phone will do for you as the iPhone actually handles mail and typing worse than WP. And i say that as my opinion as I was on iPhone since the first phone.

Would love to try swype, but haven't had the chance.

The mail client on WP is superior IMHO as it allows you to combine or separate inboxes as needed which in turn allows me to set tiles (and glance in my case for my 1520) for my precise notifications. Also, I have found that Outlook in general lets me consolidate all contact info better than any other software I have ever seen.

 

[litzman]

I am not one to normally post any types of reviews but thought I might help those considering the Icon for their next phone coming from something other than win phone. I have been looking to get a new phone for sometime, my iPhone 4 was growing old and tired and I didn't much care for ios7. I was also looking to get a bigger phone, prior to the iphone I had a HTC Evo which I liked the size of, but I didn't have a desire to go back to android.

My hope was that I would love the Icon as soon as I put it in my hand, but the reality was it wasn't quite that easy. Making a phone change requires more than an hour to make up your mind. There were things that just took a little time to solve, but once I was able to navigate my way through the apps and what I needed, I have pretty much managed to replace all the things I did on my iphone with the Icon. Now I am not a power phone user by any means, so I didn't have a need for all the "so called" apps that are out there for ios and android, but I have found that just about everything I needed is out in the windows store.

There were a couple of things that did take me a little while to figure out with the help of the many users on this site.
1. There is no visual voicemail (by default), which I had come to rely on more than I had known. However with a little research, there were plenty of options in the store to satisfy what I was looking for. I end up using MagikMail.
2. Because I was coming from an iphone I wasn't receiving text messages from my family and friends that have iphones. Again after doing a little research, I learned that I had to unregister my old phone through Apple. Once I did that, smooth sailing with the text messages.

Now back to the Icon. I won't repeat all the good things so many have already talked about. I really do like the phone, it just took me a little time to make the adjustment. I do love the fact that I really can customize the home screen of this phone with the things that I use most often and keep the other apps that I use tied to the apps screen. The phone size is exactly what I was looking for and to me doesn't feel bulky or heavy as some of the other tech reviews have mentioned.

So far the only thing I have noticed is that the icon is pretty rough on the battery life. This again could be user error as I am getting more familiar with how things need to be setup. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Lastly, the thing that surprised me most, even though I was really familiar with what I was getting myself into with the Icon, change is hard and it really takes a little time and effort to switch eco systems. In the end I am very excited to be on a windows phone. Hope this helps those wanting to make a switch.

 

[antsin3d]

Have you done the usual battery saving things, like turn off the XBox connection, keep it off 100% brightness, turn off NFC, etc? That made a lot of difference on my 928. Icon's bat does seem small on the spec sheet though, which is maddening.