Nokia Lumia 928 : User Reviews

[Indistinguishable]

So I've had my black 928 for a little while after having been with Android since the Original Droid. Here are some thoughts.

Apps- This was one of the biggest reasons the VZ reps were trying to talk me out of this phone. I was told the app selection was very poor, even worse than BlackBerry. After having shopped around, I have yet to not find an app that I want or need. Plenty of games for me and anything else I would want. When the app selection gets bigger I'm sure I'll enjoy that, but I definitely have no issues with apps right now.

Camera- Love the camera and photo editors that are on the phone. Takes solid pictures and any adjustments that are needed are easy to make. I do find that some pictures taken outside in daylight sometimes look soft or oversaturated, but overall I am really digging the camera. Took some pics of the kids in the pool, couldn't have come out any better on phone.

WP8- Much different coming from Android, but I must say I'm loving it. As much as I loved Android,I would be lying if I said that it wasn't buggy. Whether things were force closing or what, I was always changing Roms, looking for that One. Never did find it. With the live tiles and the way things are setup, I don't feel that urge to changing things up. I don't have issues with thing closing. The keyboard is smooth as hell. The browser is smooth. As I'm typing this the screen is automatically moving to adjust to where I'm typing is is cool. I thought I would miss the notification light, but I really don't. Now that I think about, it would annoy the hell out of me to see that thing constantly blinking because I didn't feel like looking at it. I know

I looked at the Nokia 928 as a chance to get away from the hacking, rooting and all that and just enjoy the way the phone was made. I have with this phone. I'm sure as I continue with this I will probably find something missing or that irritating but for now I wouldn't not trade this phone for another out right now. Maybe for an upgraded version of this, but not for a Droid, an iPhone or a Blackberry. This is a keeper.

Great review, thanks man.

 

[Beast of Haeven]

First I listen to a lot of music on my phones and my biggest concern was how loud the speaker is. I've heard many say it's average or not that loud. Ahem...Bull Spit! This thing is loud. It may not have the full range of sound but it is indeed loud. On more than one occasion I have had people ask what was playing so loud. The speaker does crackle every once and a while but it's not a deal breaker.

The screen! My family is 4 out of 6 android and 2 of those phones are 720 screens. I didn't think 768 would be much of a difference but it is! I've shown pictures I've taken and people are amazed at how clear and crisp the images are, its honestly impressive. The screen is also clear as day in direct sun light. I realized a while ago that the super sensitive feature doesn't work with anything but anything that (I assume) can carry some sort of electrical charge. For example, plastic doesn't seem to work but a bottle filled with soda will.

The camera is really nice. I did notice the image is super crisp then softens a tad after the image has been captured. Macro shots are vey nice and low light shots work like black magic. Video looks clear but the dark areas appear too dark. I haven't seen many mention this but again it's not a deal breaker. Audio on the videos is very clear but I'll test that out a little further at the race track.

Battery life is interesting. The phone seems to burn up quick if you use it not stop but it uses damn near no juice when idle. My frost day gave me 6hr on a charge. My second day gave me 20+hr. My setting ATM sacrifice no features except NFC BT and WiFi, everything else is on.

This thing is a looker! A lot of people ask what it is and after I mention the name they say "oh yeah the phone that can take pictures at night". My coworkers know I prefer windows phones and they didn't think much of it until they got a hold of it, then the questions started flowing. Two people who own iPhones tell me they want the 928 because they are bored with their iphones and want something different. One guy saw my first outdoor night shot and was sold. My only concern is if they can deal with 3rd party apps until official apps are released.

 

[Fred Simpson]

2 weeks on Lumia Ive already done 1/2 dozen soft and one hard reset, still having issues. APP Battery HOG. BIG TIME Recently CEO of MS apologized for windows 8. All I need to know. Its a looker, fast, takes great photos, good for calls thats it. Lumia 928 is clearly marketed as 17 hrs of continuous use 21 hrs standby. NO WAY if you use any apps, maybe if you take some photos , make some calls otherwise keep both a car and regular charger close by , you will need them often if you use any apps(windows app store is slim pickings).


PS I have 2 5 star rated battery usage monitoring apps on my Lumia. Each gives me different numbers. Which one should I believe?

 

[pankaj981]

2 weeks on Lumia Ive already done 1/2 dozen soft and one hard reset, still having issues. APP Battery HOG. BIG TIME Recently CEO of MS apologized for windows 8. Al I need to know.

No one apologized for anything...lol

 

[Fred Simpson]

its not just you. WP8 Apps chew through it's non removable battery

 

[Fred Simpson]

You're not overreacting. battery issues are a hot topic on this forum. 11 , 12% drain in less than 20 minutes is standard anytime I use a navigation or game app and thats on my new Lumia phone. My experience batteries don't get better with time and Lumia's is non removable

Anybody have issues with battery life?

Not so much issues, but the battery isn't as good as you hoped? I DL'ed the app "battery" and lets say i go on facebook for a min, answer a txt, then check my email and then go back to the home screen, the phone gets a little hot. Then turn the screen off and come back in like 10 min and the app is reminding me that the battery drained by 10% in the last 20 min. I'm coming from an iPhone 5 and the phone wouldn't get hot after using those three apps, nor would it drain the battery that much either.

I know in WP8, you don't have to close the apps but it's a habit and to ME, I feel like it conserves battery better and cools the phone down faster if I manually hit back on all my open apps, even though....in theory, I don't have to close them.

Another example would be: I'm playing Jetpack Joyride for maybe 10-20 min and I get the battery notification saying I lost 11% in the last 20 min. I know playing a game is a little bit more needy on the phone but is that normal? I feel that the iPhone 5 never got hot like this phone nor did it drain battery that quickly while in the middle of 3 or 4 apps or a game.

ONE more thing I'm noticing. I do a lot of driving for my work and using the Maps app gets the phone REAL hot and the battery drains quickly using ONLY maps too.

Maybe it's just me? Maybe I'm spoiled from using an iPhone? Anyone wana elaborate and maybe gimme an explanation? Or maybe I'm just overreacting. XD

 

[KCandSunshine13]

My company pays for our phones and for a long while they provided just BlackBerrys. Recently, they started allowing us to choose a device. So, everyone jumped on the iPhone 4 bandwagon. Everyone that is except me. I kept my Bold 9930 waiting to see how the new BlackBerry 10 OS would work. While the BB 10 OS is great, it does not integrate with our Outlook Exchange Server as well as my Bold 9930. I did a little research on the Lumia 928 and discovered that it would integrate just as well as my Bold. I then went to 3 different Verizon stores to put my hands on the Lumia 928. Since this is a work phone, I need to be productive. My biggest fears were not being able to see the screen to type (I could just feel the keys on the Bold 9930) and being able to copy/cut & paste. I was able to type well on the touch screen keyboard and the copy/cut & paste feature works well for me. I'm not as fast at typing on the Lumia 928 as I was on the Bold 9930 because the punctuations are in different places. I'm sure once I learn them, they will become 2nd nature. I've had my Lumia 928 for a week now and I love it - and so do others who look/use it. In fact, I was in a bar with some friends, explaining how well it syncs with our Outlook, how wonderful MS Office is on the device and how smooth the software runs. All the while, there was an iPhone user next to us who kept trying to look over the shoulder of one of my friends to get a glimpse of my Lumia 928. I believe he was jealous.

FYI - I have Yahoo Mail and Google Mail accounts on this Lumia 928. They are working for me - including the Google Calender! I love how I can see my Outlook Calendar and my Google Calendar on the same display without having to use a 3rd party app or use the internet browser.

My first weekend with the Lumia 928 the battery lasted more than a day. Granted I was not loading it up with apps (waiting for software Amber update Re: Other Storage issue) nor was I watching Netflix movies for hours and hours. The first few work days, the battery was working all day long. Then I had the app IM+ running all day. That was a battery hog so, I uninstalled it. The next day, the battery lasted all day easily. If you set the battery mode to "Battery Saver" all the time, I noticed that I don't receive emails as often as when in the default mode. So, I would dare say that if you are having battery issues, find the app that is the hog and make some setting changes. I've have Internet Explorer hang up a couple of times but I just create another Tab and close the tab that is stuck - simple work around. I've not loaded Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn on my Lumia yet as the pages display good enough for me via Internet Explorer. I did load the app "I heart Google Maps" because the default maps show my street with a different name (go figure). I've only taken a few photos but I do like the ones that I've taken. With the Perseid meteor shower this weekend, I will use my Lumia 928 in hopes of capturing a few night time shots. Regarding the app gap, I say "Apps, schmapps..." I'm coming from a BlackBerry Bold 9930. I didn't have apps on that device (well, a couple) so, having access to apps on the Windows Phone is just icing on the cake. I've ordered a Beyond Cell Duo-Shield Hard Shell & Silicone Skin case for my phone from Amazon. Speaking of cases, I've read reviews on several sites where people ordered colored cases and the case color around the lens creates a halo around pictures of that same color, e.g. - if you have a pink case, you will have a pink halo around photos. That is why I ordered a black case just to be safe.

As I said, I've only had it a week; however, I don't see myself returning this for another brand device. So, if you use Windows 7 for desktop/laptop software; use MS Office for productivity and use Outlook with an exchange server as email client, then it is a no-brainer. You have to go with a Windows Phone. And for just a penny (see Amazon), how could you go wrong? FYI - My wife is on AT&T and she is thinking of dumping her iPhone 4 for a Lumia 920.

 

[johnnyboy5520]

Picked up mine today (Verizon - black). So far I'm loving it, and I'm a pretty hardcore Android nut. Without sounding too much like an iPhone user, I have to say the phone has a definite 'quality' feel to it. Love the screen. Colors are vivid with excellent contrast. I received one call and the sound clarity was definitely superior to my Galaxy Nexus. So far I've found some of my main apps, but I really haven't started exploring the App Store yet. It's a keeper for sure.


Why I switched from Android? Well, being a Windows 8 user and pretty much liking the OS, I wanted to try out the phone, especially this one as I liked what I saw and read about the software and hardware. Plus, it's fresh and new to me. So far, I'm very impressed. While the apps are slowly getting there (compared to the competition), the OS is smooth, solid and enjoyable. I think MS has a lot of potential here.

 

[mrZoSo]

Well I'm new to the whole Windows Phone scene, former Android user, well I still have two Android tablets in the household. I've had an interest in the Windows phone for some time now and once Windows Phone 8 hit, it really peaked my interest. Cut to the chase, I did my research and went with the 928.
I really like it so far, had it for 5 days and all is good. Feels good in the hand, and feels of quality. Everything is working as it should, minus the FM, which doesn't concern me.

The UI is simple and very efficient, and getting around on the phone has a great flow to it.
Typing on it seems better to me also, don't know if this is a "placebo effect" due to having a new phone, but it definitely has a different feel than Android.

Battery life is very decent. Today I ran four 10 minute RDP sessions, I have 2 exchange accounts setup on it and they are very busy, plus Outlook Mail, and Gmail. Did some moderate texting and a little web surfing, 20 minutes using Nokia Music, and 3 phone calls. Came home from work with 67% left, that's 12 hours from a full charge. I can definitely live with this, especially considering this is my typical day of use during the work week.

All in all, I'm happy with my choice so far, and I hope this good experience continues.

Thanks M$ & Nokia,,, and WPCentral for the wealth of information regarding these devices.

 

[wm.cal]

I was an early adopter of Microsoft?s Pocket PCs. Later, I had some of the first Pocket PC phones from Samsung (i700, i720, i740), that you could download ?apps? to, such as Pocket Informant, and Code Wallet. We were an isolated group of users; when I pulled my phone out anywhere, I got lots of ?stink eye? stares, because the thing was huge compared to the phones of the day; people thought I was a Geek (correct assumption). But being a Geek was not quite cool yet, even though the Internet boom of 1997-2000 had made many ?geeks? Bazzilionaires.
The iPhone changed all that, and I had many frustrating conversations with iPhone toting relatives that could not believe that I was doing what they thought was a new thing years before them. Of course, this is the fault of Microsoft?s failure to make the phone as usable as Apple made theirs (glass touchscreen that actually responded to touch from a finger instead of a stylus.). Bold move, making it out of glass, something that Microsoft would never do.
Anyway, being the Geek that I am I went with Android and wound up with a Droid X from Verizon, and had 3 Droids phones after that. In April this year when the Nokia 928 was released, I was intrigued. I really liked the tile concept, and the phones seemed very snappy (quick to respond) in the store. There?s nothing I hate more than clicking on something on ANY computer and having to wait for a response. I?m also an amateur photographer, and even though I scoff at idea that a phone camera can do anything approaching a good DSLR, I thought that having a decent camera on my phone would be handy in some situations. (Tough to haul a Canon 7D with the EF 70-200 F2.8 IS II around). I bought the Lumia 928, and it was much more than decent, the pictures were excellent, no replacement for the DSLR, but I found myself taking a lot of phone pictures.
I was extremely happy with the phone, I am an Office 365 Small Business subscriber, and I could get all my Outlook mail, plus use OneNote notebooks that I have on my Sharepoint site. The response time for touching anything on the phone was instant, including the browser, which brought up pages very quickly. My Droid RAZR Maxx HD was not nearly that responsive. The Lumia AMOLED Screen completely outclasses the one on the Droid (the blacks are BLACK).
Of course the big problem with Windows Phone is support from app vendors, but I was able to find replacement apps for just about everything I cared about on Android. (I don?t do Instagram or Twitter).
Unfortunately, I broke the screen the other day in a freak accident. The LCD is toast, too, they bond the glass screen, digitizer, and LCD together with optical glue to prevent dust from getting in. The repair would be $270. So I?m back with my Droid RAZR Maxx HD, I?m not getting the Lumia repaired. Last month, Microsoft came out with Office for Android for people with my exact situation, so now OneNote works just like it did on my Windows Phone (it even has a great Widget that you couldn?t have on Windows Phone). There?s no Outlook app though (except for the one that only works with Outlook.com accounts), I have use MailDroid to get mail (not a bad deal, MailDroid is a full featured excellent mail app).
I?ll tell ya though, if and when Verizon gets the Lumia 1020, I?ll pay full retail price to get it if I have to.

 

[pechio]

I ... The LCD is toast, too, they bond the glass screen, digitizer, and LCD together with optical glue to prevent dust from getting in. The repair would be $270. So I’m back with my Droid RAZR Maxx HD, I’m not getting the Lumia repaired. ....

There is no LCD in 928 & what happened to the insurance?

 

[mtalinm]

summary: Love the software, not so much the hardware.

very much like winphone8. only two nits are 1) can't install a swipe-type keyboard 2) cannot set text to vibrate but not ring. otherwise I love it, and I have found all the apps I wanted. phone software is especially amazing.

not crazy about the hardware though. device is just about as big as an G2 or GS4 but has a considerably smaller screen ... smaller even than (much smaller) Moto X. is nearly as heavy as a Note 3 but it's not as if weight buys you incredible battery life. so, generally a letdown there.

If the 929/icon can deliver a 5" screen and better battery life in a similarly-sized chassis, I will probably get one. not sure I'll keep the 928 though.

 

[adv1701]

Question,I've been trying to get my wife to get rid of her old Droid and get a 928. The Microsoft store is the same across carriers? It doesn't matter which carrier you have all the games and apps are the same? I have a 920 on at&t and she likes my apps and games and will switch if she can get the same ones. Thanks in advance.

 

[dkediger]

Don't know of any carrier specific filtering - maybe DataSense - used to be Vzw only I think, but it seems it may have been opened up to all a while ago.

Certainly 3rd party games/apps should be across all carriers.....

 

[CodeGunnerDev]

I'm in love with this phone. Don't get me wrong I loved my iPhone 5, but this phone blows it out of the water in every way possible. The only issue I'm having is getting used to the location of the buttons on the side. Other than that I am totally in love with this phone

 

[ChanceNC]

Hey everyone, I've had my 928 now for about three months and feel that's adequate time to share my thoughts on the device. I know I'm a late adopter and most of this stuff is probably already well-known, but knowledge is power and info fuels it:

Things I like a lot:
-Hardware design...My phone has the matte-black back, and I find build quality to be excellent. I like having all the buttons on one side of the device, and placing the headphone and USB ports on the top of the phone is perfect. As good as it looks "naked", I had to get a case for it, which is a Body Glove DropSuit. The case is fantastic, too.
-Camera...I always envied those with Nokia devices because of the cameras, and the 928 does not disappoint. It really does have an excellent shooter, but to be fair I wouldn't consider it truly special if it wasn't for the Xenon flash. The quality of photos taken in low light without flash is good, but use the flash and it's comparable to a nice, dedicated point-and-shoot camera. Detail is excellent in all circumstances, and while others complain, I find no issues with the color rendition. The reputation of Nokia cameras was probably 50-75% of the reason I chose this phone over Android or Apple offerings, and I'm happy that I wasn't let down.
-Exchange account handling...Getting connected to my work Exchange account was a breeze with everything syncing up beautifully. Before I bought this phone, I was a Gmail user and had been for many years. But the goodness of Exchange on this device convinced me to move right on past the native Outlook.com service and opt for an Office 365 account with Exchange. I am very, very happy I did this--true Exchange experience for both work and personal email/calendars/contacts/tasks. This phone makes those services shine.
-Hubs for Games and Music/Video apps...Saves clutter on the Start screen and logically groups like apps--natively. (although I wish ALL music apps could be grabbed by the hub; seems iHeartRadio and a couple others aren't recognized)
-Start screen design...I never was able to get comfortable with iOS or Android when it came to their designs, widgets, lack of widgets, etc. The Metro design seems just right. I could go into more detail about all the little things about design, tiles and such, but I'll just leave it at "I love it". This is what I was looking for, iOS and Android weren't.
-Battery life...Best I've ever had, and I've used many phones over the years.
-People hub...The only implementation of a social hub on a mobile device I've seen that makes separate installations of related apps (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) truly optional. Everything can be done from here. Well done.
-Nokia Collection apps...Whether it's Beamer, or the variety of lenses for the camera (and Nokia Camera itself), it's clear the manufacturer put a lot of thought into this. It makes the device truly useful without the need for expenditure on apps from Store. These were all free, and they're all excellent.
-Windows Phone app for Mac...This is just brilliant. It's a one stop shop for downloading pictures from your phone to your iPhoto library, and putting music from your iTunes library onto your phone. Even more clever: it automatically transcodes my Apple Lossless music files into a format playable by the 928, enabling compatibility and reducing file size while minimizing the audio quality hit. This is an extremely well done app and a nice bonus for Mac users.

Things I'm OK with:
-App selection...I know many people gripe about this, but I find the app selection in the Windows Store to be perfectly adequate. I have thus far found apps to meet all the needs I've had on prior devices. I'm in the minority of folks who find the Spotify app to be very good. No, you don't get the same feature set as iOS and Android, but I'm not a Spotify cheapskate. I pay the monthly fee because I see value in it, and the app/service delivers. I never really liked their radio function, anyway...that's why I use Pandora--also excellent on Windows Phone. NBA Jam is fantastic for killing time, and the Bing apps for news, weather and sports are better than "stock" apps should be. The app selection could be better, though, which is why I don't love this aspect of the device, but this will most certainly improve over time. For now, though, I have what I need to get by.
-Screen...Viewed head on, it's a stunner, but it has some quirks that I don't see on its contemporaries. Viewing from the sides, it takes on a bluish-green cast, and well before you're completely to the side. Additionally, using certain colors for themes results in white parts of live tiles taking on odd colors when scrolling through the Start screen. These are kind of minor gripes, but they do keep the screen from being a love-it thing. I do like the technology behind the screen, however...works wonders for battery life.
-Internet Explorer...Probably not the fault of Microsoft, but not enough websites out there recognize it as a mobile browser so you're forced to look at the full site in teeny tiny mode. Some sites will allow manual bypassing to the mobile site, but some won't. And there aren't many alternative browser choices in the Store. I think Microsoft needs to market its mobile browser more effectively. Other than that, the browser performs capably and without glitches.

Things that need improvement:
-Fine control over notifications and volume control...The current implementation is primitive and for the life of me I don't understand it. Why can't I have a different notification for each of my email accounts? Why can't I control the notification volume separately from music volume? I understand Windows Phone 8.1 is supposed to correct these shortcomings, and they cannot come soon enough. This is probably my biggest disappointment with the 928. Too often I'm monkeying around with the volume buttons.
-Compatibility with older Office documents...I tried to open an .xls file the other day, which I think was created in the 97-2003 format, and it wouldn't open. This is a joke, right? A Microsoft device should be able, I think, to open any Office-created file with any Office-related extension. Now, I have been able to open other .xls files without issue, but still...an .xls file is an .xls file. This needs to be fixed.
-Albums feature in Photos is useless...Maybe I'm thick, but I see no way to create new albums from pictures in my camera roll. Albums from my social accounts are there. Why can't I create new ones, even if it's just for organization purposes, on the device? Perhaps it's because I choose not to auto upload pictures to OneDrive, but that shouldn't be a holdback.
-Limit on active live tiles...I think I must have run into the wall that I've read about on the forums, whereby if you have too many live tiles going with corresponding background processes, the tiles stop updating. Because of this, I had to slightly change the way my Start screen looked and how I use it. I'm not terribly happy about that, but thankfully the OS and the device don't live and die over live tiles. Still, the limitation is a little confusing, considering live tiles are a core feature of the OS.

I can honestly say I don't "hate" anything about the Lumia 928, but the notifications/volume issue comes close.

I'm very happy I chose this phone over the competition. Now I'm looking forward to WP 8.1 and all its promised improvements. Thanks for reading.

 

[user928]

I can honestly say I don't "hate" anything about the Lumia 928...

Very succinct. What's to hate. It's a keeper. Will pass on the Icon.

 

[Riverrunner88]

One year check in....

On a 1 to 10 scale I'd say it's an 8 over all. I'm using the original phone I bought and haven't had any issues. Battery still lasts 1.5 to 2 days for my use. It requires less restarts now than when I first got it. In fact, I'm not sure when the last reset needed to be performed it's been so long. Quality is on par with my last phone (iphone4) as far as durability, construction, call quality, and signal strength. I like the screen size and resolution. Processor is fast and pretty smooth. The OS is stable and does everything I'd expect a smartphone to do and it does it well. It's fairly customizable which is nice. I've been very happy with the camera performance and it's only gotten better with updates. It takes some incredible photo's for a phone which is one reason I made the switch. Out of pocket cost was reasonable for 32g which has been a relief. I'm no longer fighting storage capacity. With updates, it actually works better than when I got it. Kudo's to Nokia and MS for that!

Why it's an 8 and not a 10...

I'd say it's because of support... Apps... yes there are many now and most of the big players are there. However much of what I like and used in the past are not and it doesn't look like they will be there in the future. It's those small special apps like the ones for a credit union to do some quick account transfers. Yes, I could use the net but it's a little more cumbersome. Or there's the apps from airlines that are not on WP that would be handy. The apps also don't work the same either and iOS or Android. Maybe it's me but I expect the same functionality as the other OS's. It's the little things that after a year are still not there. Take cases for example, I'm outside a lot in inclimate weather and there is not otterbox or life proof case available. Maybe there are others but not to the quality that I have seen or found. I use all three OS's regularly so I see the differences and nuances which gets frustrating.

Just my observations after a year. Hopefully 8.1 will be another incremental improvement if it's available for the 928 (assuming it will be) otherwise I'll be watching to see what happens in the fall and might have to make a change if I can give up the camera.

 

[Riverrunner88]

Two year update...

A couple of weeks ago the earpiece quit working so phone calls have to be used on speaker phone now. I don't always get notification sounds which has been going on for a couple of months. The phone has some sort of internal rattle. Time for a new phone I guess. Kinda disappointed it's only held up for less than two years. I need a fully working phone and while I'm eligible for an upgrade, I'm not sure I want to commit to another 2 years. I may go back to my iPhone 4 which still works fine or hang my head low and use the S4 that girlfriend has sitting around.

Really like the improvements in Window 8.1 and was looking forward to Windows 10. Bummer...

 

[Papek_SVK]

I have similar problem with my 928. Sometimes I have to press back cover over the camera to make earpiece work.