Icon since 8.1.1?

[Siah1214]

I heard that the Icon with 8.1 was a very poor experience, has it improved since the Dev Preview update? Thinking about upgrading but if it's no good with 8.1 then there's no point. Happy with my 928 now but always on the lookout for better. Thanks

 

[MikeSo]

Who said Icon with 8.1 is a very poor experience? Except for the reduced WiFi range I've had a great experience with it. Unless you mean 8.1 in general, which has a few drawbacks, that still are outweighed by all the good stuff.

 

[wkgray]

Not sure where you heard this. Since installing the 8.1 I've had only a few minor problems. I initially had a drop in battery charge, which corrected itself within a couple days and I experienced a power button lag when waking the phone. Wi-fi was hit and miss for a while, but since the latest MS update last week, all these have corrected. I thought the Icon was a great phone when it was WP8 and it's better now with 8.1. Of course, like any phone, I guess it depends on how you use it and what your expectations are.

 

[GreenScrew]

WiFi and battery still terrible even with 8.1 update 1.

 

[Siah1214]

Who said Icon with 8.1 is a very poor experience? Except for the reduced WiFi range I've had a great experience with it. Unless you mean 8.1 in general, which has a few drawbacks, that still are outweighed by all the good stuff.

Heard there were issues with the phone waking up, battery life issues, stuff like that. Saw it posted on these forums and comment sections on other sites.

 

[Mortalmoss]

I've had a problem with my Icon where it starts running very slow and hot, as if it is under max processing load. When waking the phone up I get a black "Loading" screen as it tries to display the Start screen. Of course, this also causes the battery to drain quickly if I don't catch it. A reboot fixes it. I can't seem to reproduce the issue and it seems to be completely random. Battery usage also doesn't show anything out of the ordinary so I am having trouble tracking it down. Anyone else with an Icon experience this?

 

[Dreamspell]

Here is my post from the Developer Preview forum:

Update (05/19): I had rolled back to 8.0, installed the new *.1417.0047 firmware then updated to the new DP release *.12382.878 on the 13th.

1. Didn't suffer from the 3 second screen wake delay for 6 days and then it came back. Only happens when WiFi is on.

2. My WiFi reception is better on 8.1 with the new firmware, but still not as good as on 8.0 with the new firmware.

3. No more purple hue, though I have tweaked the color profile.

4. I still sometimes get false battery readings, mostly when playing games while connected. A scenario was: my battery was at 90%, plugged in my phone, started to play a game, and after a couple minutes I realized the battery icon was showing that the battery was fully charged. After playing for a while, I closed the game, removed my phone from my charger and went to do something else. When I took the phone off the charger it was at 100% and about 30 minutes later when I came back the phone was at 93%, from no use. So I plug it back in and it does the same thing - straight back to 100%. So I restart my phone and it goes back to 93% and continues charging. Never happened in 8.0.

5. It doesn't overheat with simple tasks anymore.

Original post:

1. The lock screen takes about 3 seconds to power on after pressing the power button. Never happened on the first day, started happening frequently after the first day.

2. Extremely poor WiFi reception. I lose signal even when i'm relatively close to the access point. The WiFi icon reading also isn't accurate.

3. Purple hue screen in automatic brightness mode. My display goes purple, especially in grey areas such as the keyboard, when the display goes into the very low brightness mode while using the automatic mode.

4. False battery meter readings. I charged my phone to 100%, took it off the charger, took a 2 hour nap and the battery reading was at 90%. I soft reset and then the battery reading was at 100%. 10 minutes later with no use it was at 98%. 30 minutes later it was still at 98%. Another 30 minutes later with no use, 97%. 1 hour later with no use, my phone got really hot and went down to 80% - when I unlocked the phone I got a Loading/Resuming screen for the start screen.

5. Overheating with simple tasks. Even just using the messaging app will cause the phone to get warm. Playing games such as Subway Surfers, or taking pictures with the camera causes unbearable heat, after 3 minutes of use. Even just browsing the store heats up the phone.

 

[anon(7901790)]

I'm running 8.1 on my Icon and I am not having issues with WiFi range, my battery life is about the same with 8.0. Also, I do have a second or so lag when I wake the phone. But compared to all of the improvements that 8.1 brings, I can live with that.

So, yes there are people who had or are having problems, but by and large, 8.1 on the Icon seems to be pretty good and a huge improvement over 8.0. Also, Cyan is expected to fix some problems as well. and I'm betting that there will be another small update as they refine the OS (no actual news on that, just my personal assessment). In any case, whether you have stay with the 928 or get an Icon, sometime around June-ish, you'll be getting 8.1 anyway.

 

[pursuit2550]

I hope widows gets it right by the time 8.1 rolls out. I have flip flopped from android to WP several times. I did a review on the 822, which became a sticky and waiting to see what 8.1 brings. There are things I still miss from the android is and hope WP integrates it. All though I haven't seen it mentioned.

 

[petersun21]

I am having issues after wp8.1u1. the phone get heated on average once a day. That drain battery really quick if you do not intervene. I am using Icon on AT&T.

 

[petersun21]

I hope widows gets it right by the time 8.1 rolls out. I have flip flopped from android to WP several times. I did a review on the 822, which became a sticky and waiting to see what 8.1 brings. There are things I still miss from the android is and hope WP integrates it. All though I haven't seen it mentioned.

Lumia 630 is on sale so wp8.1 has been rolled out. I tweeted windowsphonesupport a couple of times and posted on developer's website a couple of times. There is no acknowledgement that there is a problem.

 

[grafixguy#AC]

Not having any issues here, but I suppose it's worth noting that I bought the Icon and put 8.1 on it immediately. I do notice that wi fi range is less than my old Samsung Galaxy SIII but it's not horrible.

 

[Troy Mast]

I am having issues after wp8.1u1. the phone get heated on average once a day. That drain battery really quick if you do not intervene. I am using Icon on AT&T.

This is indeed MY biggest issue, although I'm on Verizon. I still can't quite pin down the cause. Perhaps it's the WIFI being on, but I also notice that if I have multiple Live Tiles that are updating, it will do heat up and the start screen is "loading" when you press the on button. Yes, there is a delay at times when this button is pressed. When the delay comes, I think "Oh boy, here we go.." The obvious clue though is when you pick up the phone and it is quite warm, even through my case.

Coming from iPhone, then Android...I started with Windows Phone 7 when it first came out. Switched back to Android twice, but I keep coming back to the WP. If windows phone wouldn't be so persnickety...I wouldn't feel guilt about getting an Android yet again. Who am I kidding....they will bury me with a windows phone...

 

[cbreze]

I'm loving 8.1 and not looking back. My WiFi bars/signal can seem low but it always stays connected so no issue there IMO. I get better battery life, so very pleased about that. The icon seems snappier all around in every aspect of operations so happy about that. Seems no two installs are ever the same. When I did the bigger one from 8 > 8.1 , I didn't hard reset and everything was great, working very smooth. Then the lesser upgrade (1) that came along after F'd everything up, battery life went to crap, running hot , other weird stuff was going on. I was cursing myself for screwing up my phone that had been working so perfectly. Well, did the dreaded hard reset and now it is absolutely perfect again. Battery is even better than back on 8. So smooth and snappy. lesson learned: hard reset as needed. I'm a believer.

 

[Tepid]

Whoever said that the experience of WP8.1 is poor, has no idea what they are talking about.

I wouldn't go back to WP8.

the only reason I did was to get the new Firmware that was pushed out.
But then went right back to WP8.1, no regrets.

BTW, with moderate use, I am on 2 days with 28% battery left.
With heavy, heavy use, I get about 4 hours, otherwise I get a good full day out of it no problem.

 

[J Ice70]

I'm hoping that with the efforts to get the 930 released with 8.1, that the firmware with 929 will be ironed out and we will have a great transition.

 

[loki993]

Im on 8.1.1, just got the phone, had it about 4 days now, so I don't have comparison to WP 8. My battery life is pretty good but Im also coming from a phone that literally got one hour of screen on time on a good day..so Im probably not the best example to judge the battery life.

wifi doesn't seem to be much worse than my work GSII.

I do get the screen on lag when on Wifi but its not 3 seconds....maybe like a second at the most.

The facebook app randomly crashes.

One time I opened a you tube video from facebook the video ran..the phone got a bit warm and rebooted....

Do we think they will release something for 8.1? I really don't want to flash back to 8.0, apply the firmware update and then load 8.1 again.....Ill do it if I have to but I really dont want to lol.
My brother has a icon running 8.0 though and his runs flawlessly he says....

 

[Tepid]

Yes, Cyan Firmware will most likely take care of a lot of that.

Windows Phone 8.1 update: everything you need to know - Conversations

 

[loki993]

Do you think they will release the cyan firmware for 8.1 or do I really need to reflash to 8 to get it?

 

[Tepid]

No, Cyan will come with the Official WP8.1 release through your carrier.