[Real Users] My Lumia 1520 Review

[unstoppablekem]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

I'm sure wp8.1 will help to a lot of the features you felt needed improvement. :smile:

 

[snowmutt]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

No problem with your post, Joker, although I do agree with Citizen X on the Qi charging issue. I understand that it is built in on the International version, and that WP users got it on the L920 and were exposed to the advantages. But wireless charging is the exception in devices, not the norm. Also, I am not a "cheerleader" of AT&T, but they have their advantages:

-Excellent nationwide coverage. Verizon's is better, but no one else is even close.
-Slightly cheaper then Verizon, and now they offer discounts on their plans after your contract is up to make it even a bit easier.
-Excellent choice in devices. For those who like to switch it up or have options, AT&T is the better of any carrier I have seen. From manufacturers, OS's, and device types and form factors, no one else is close.

They are not here to do you favors, I find their website tedious, their customer service still sub-par, and heaven help you if you have a billing problem. Those are nightmares to get fixed in my experience.

All your other points are legit, well thought out, and very close to why my Wife is an Android user and not a Windows Phone user anymore. I appreciate you playing with WP and giving it a fair try. If you go back to Anrdroid, it will be WPC and Microsofts loss as I have enjoyed your posts and thoughts.

 

[mozman68]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

Good review and spot on for the mist part.

I was on iPhone since the first phone, so it was a big change for me to go to a WP.....love the device and I'm getting better with the UI.

I don't find the lack of apps as that big of an issue as I realized that out of the hundreds I have downloaded over the years, I only used less than 5 of them on a regular basis. Most of the rest can be handled via a website. No issues with Here Drive+, but I tend to us Waze during my commute...just wish they would add landscape mode and fix the battery drain issue.

 

[SinisterDuck]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

Personally I am not aware of any phone on any network that comes with 32 GB internal storage and built in Qi charging.

The Lumia 920 has both 32 GB internal storage and Qi charging.



Sent from my Lumia 1520 using Tapatalk

 

[Nisse Tuta]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

Personally I am not aware of any phone on any network that comes with 32 GB internal storage and built in Qi charging. .

The Lumia 1520 comes with 32Gb of storage and Qi and costs 0$ on contract in Sweden. Its been sitting on shelves in Finland since december fourth with 32Gb and Qi charging.

The Lumia 920 has been sold with 32Gb and Qi, free on contract for over a year now.

All phones are free on contract in many countries, i cant believe you would pay money and apply for a contract at the same time. Imo that's buying it twice.

 

[snowmutt]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

All phones are free on contract in many countries, i cant believe you would pay money and apply for a contract at the same time. Imo that's buying it twice.

I KNOW, RIGHT???

The worst part is that the AT&T CEO wants to revisit contract pricing, saying it's only purpose was to convert feature phone users to smartphone users. Now that it has been effective, he wants to get to a larger contract price to offset AT&T's "losses".

Meanwhile, for a midrange device it is $100 US dollars, and top end devices are $250-$300 US dollars on contract. See no way they are losing money on the devices they buy in bulk.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

The Lumia 1520 comes with 32Gb of storage and Qi and costs 0$ on contract in Sweden. Its been sitting on shelves in Finland since december fourth with 32Gb and Qi charging.

The Lumia 920 has been sold with 32Gb and Qi, free on contract for over a year now.

All phones are free on contract in many countries, i cant believe you would pay money and apply for a contract at the same time. Imo that's buying it twice.

I KNOW, RIGHT???

The worst part is that the AT&T CEO wants to revisit contract pricing, saying it's only purpose was to convert feature phone users to smartphone users. Now that it has been effective, he wants to get to a larger contract price to offset AT&T's "losses".

Meanwhile, for a midrange device it is $100 US dollars, and top end devices are $250-$300 US dollars on contract. See no way they are losing money on the devices they buy in bulk.

snowmutt is correct. The carrier policies in the US are terrible compared to the carrier policies in Europe. :unhappy:

 

[05Paris]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

I have gotten the last four windows phones for free and after selling them I even made a little profit. I even got the 2520 for free and will soon be getting the keyboard for free. So all in all I have come out on the good side economically. I can live with free. The best phone ever has been the 1520. I have had no issues whatsoever. Maybe it's because I don't require a whole lot; maybe it because I am all in on one ecosystem; maybe it's because the 1520 is a good fit all the way around. I used to sell phones and I can tell you ever one of them have big issues. Wild horses couldn't pry my 1520 out of my hands. I just may have bought my last phone until it dies.

 

[Huime]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

Default Keyboard
The default keyboard blows away the default Android keyboard. However, Android also has Swype and to me that is by far the best keyboard solution ever made and I miss it sorely. But for those that enjoy regular typing, this one is fantastic and rivals the iOS keyboard. Prediction is pretty decent and it adapts to you but it could be better. I also wish the keyboard had a customization option to have it memorize custom words that it could later recall like the Swype keyboard does for Android.

The keyboard can add whatever custom words you want. Just type it anywhere and tap add.

 

[Nimdock]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

The Lumia 920 has both 32 GB internal storage and Qi charging.



Sent from my Lumia 1520 using Tapatalk

Hahaha nice.

Stupid AT&T.

 

[manicottiK]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

You might as well lump "poor multitasking" in with "lack of developer support" because the problem that you described is one that developers should handle. (Wanting actual multitasking would be a platform knock as MS doesn't want to go in that direction.) You already addressed the rumored notification center for 8.1. We've all beat up AT&T for their decisions. That leaves a Select All function, which I think that very few folks would classify anywhere near "badly needed," although it's important to you.

Virtually all of what you wrote is a consequence of the currently small market share of Windows Phone. Because of that share, firms and developers don't put the resources into apps for it because the ROI would be terrible. (Assuming the same effort to create a good-quality app for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone, which would someone making an economic decision increase costs by 50% to reach only 4% more of the market.) Of course, if one believes many of the analysts who predict WP market share surpassing iOS share in a few years, making an investment in Windows Phone now may help a firm establish a beachhead on the next big platform.

 

[Jazmac]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

"No medical applicaitons! This one just kills it for me and it will for you as well if you are a medical student or resident. Enjoy using Epocrates? Well tough luck because they won't support WP. Same thing for Medscape. Want to do some UWorld questions on the nice 6" screen? Tough because they don't support WP either."

This is the biggest issue in my house OP. My wife is a physician and I convinced her to go with first the Lumia 900 then the 920.( She likes the 920 a lot I should say.) I was able to convince her about the new OS in WP8 would be better and medical devs would then write for it. No such luck. She is not an android fan at all but I suspect once our contract ends with AT&T in a couple months, shes headed to IOS, especially if the next I device has a larger screen. She moves at a different speed than does Microsoft and she isn't willing to wait anymore.

 

[Nimdock]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

"No medical applicaitons! This one just kills it for me and it will for you as well if you are a medical student or resident. Enjoy using Epocrates? Well tough luck because they won't support WP. Same thing for Medscape. Want to do some UWorld questions on the nice 6" screen? Tough because they don't support WP either."

This is the biggest issue in my house OP. My wife is a physician and I convinced her to go with first the Lumia 900 then the 920.( She likes the 920 a lot I should say.) I was able to convince her about the new OS in WP8 would be better and medical devs would then write for it. No such luck. She is not an android fan at all but I suspect once our contract ends with AT&T in a couple months, shes headed to IOS, especially if the next I device has a larger screen. She moves at a different speed than does Microsoft and she isn't willing to wait anymore.

Yes, this is true. I convinced my girlfriend to switch to WP (since the pre-mango days) and she loved the platform (she's an Apple girl) but would constantly complain about the lack of applications for med students that the other students would have. She ended up going back to an iPhone because of this but also because T-Mobile took too much time getting the L925 out.

The lack of an entune application also annoyed her since she owns a Toyota.

 

[astraith]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

First off, good honest opinion. I, being my first two smart phones were BB Curve and WP7, can list in detial features Android doesn't have, and can't live without. I'm use to how WP and BB think, and I hated my Galaxy S and Galaxy S2. So, I understand, coming from Android not being use to how a new platform works.

With that said, I'd like to address some concerns. One, Here+/Maps. Have you tried downloading the latest maps? I don't live in that part of the country, but I haven't had that problem you describe. And I have downloaded TN's map.

Two, notifications. Especially on the 1520, I don't even see that being an issue now. You have a start screen. Virtually every app WP has now will notify you via live tile of new notifications. A few, maybe, don't. I know my Doctor Who app doesn't. But, there is a third party app that fixes this now.

Three, multitasking. Can you tell me what app doesn't keep your place? Every app I have does. I'd be willing to bet the problem lies in the app developer, not updating their app - which leads into the problem I agree with, app development support can be lacking sometimes.

ATT made their choices with the Nokia Lumia 1520, not sure why, but I'm not sure it hindered sales. We'll see, and now that Nokia is Microsoft they might have more power to get more carrier support. So, we'll see if that continues to be an issue, going forward.

I have to go back to work, but I hope that helped some. Hopefully you'll stay with us, but if not then hopefully you'll enjoy your new Note 3!

 

[Editguy1900]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

What the OP posted is fine, but like all reviews it's one persons opinion and we all have our own preferences. So, I thought I would miss swype, but after using WP keyboard with the suggestions I can type much faster than I could with swype with fewer errors. I personally dislike Google maps and by far prefer Nokia maps. Many of your complaints seem to be because you actually are still enamored with Android (and that's you right). I don't care about Google things (and the lack of them are Google's fault, not MS), and as far as YouTube is concerned, the third party app works fine. I will agree with you about the no forward button in IE. What were they thinking? As far as helping someone decide about WP, this should be just one of many reviews someone should read before making a decision, because we all have personal biases (I happen to love WP but understand that many people won't share my opinion).

 

[5150 Joker]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

Some have brought up good points and if I wasn't clear enough in the OP, this "review" if you will was entirely my own personal experience and bias. Some may not face the issues I have and be perfectly happy with the platform. The phone itself is one of the best I've ever used, I'd say I like it more than the Note 3. My biggest gripes were the ones listed in the OP and if MS is able to resolve those, I'd happily stay with WP. However, I'll be starting residency soon and I depend on some key applications and in order to stick with WP, I'd have to carry a secondary device (e.g. old ipod or used iphone) which kind of makes it cumbersome, especially if I have to keep it tethered.

About multitasking, IM+ loses connection and doesn't properly keep track of messages when I hit the start button. It returns to the previous conversation and buffers the missed ones but many times it misses out on the messages. Skype doesn't retain the last conversation, I have to go back to the user manually. Kindle only retains the book/page you were at for a limited time before timing out and sending you back to the home page. These are just a few of the apps I've run into issues with, there's some more as well.

However, the point about it being the fault of developers is probably spot on and I don't contest that. But for an end user, that doesn't really matter does it? MS should have strict standards that these developers have to adhere to so that multitasking is consistent and not app dependent. Android of course is far from perfect but I did have better experience multitasking with it.

With regards to AT&T, some have argued that they made prices more feasible for the masses and while that may be true, they earn that money back through locked contracts. Furthermore, it's hard to argue against Nokia/MS deciding not to sell the unmolested version of the phone at full price via online and their MS store. This would have given ample choice to everyone: Go to AT&T for a subsidized phone or if you want the full 1520 experience, go straight to MS. It would have been win/win and the only reason I can see this not happening is because AT&T forced Nokia's hand.

@manicottiK you're right, "badly needed" was a poor description for the select all feature. Rather it is a needed feature (for me and probably some others) and should not have been left out when they implemented copy/paste. I often find myself scrolling up and down to select all the text on a page and it ends up being pretty cumbersome. It wouldn't have been difficult for MS to add in such a simple feature.

I'm not 100% committed to the Note 3 yet but was contemplating the move. I may hang on until April when WP 8.1 is released + the rumored Apple phablet comes in May so it will be a good time to make a decision then about whether to jump ship or stick it out. I do hope that the OP helped give some insight to those that are thinking of committing to WP. I personally would like to see Microsoft become much more nimble with faster updates and have them prioritize WP development by throwing more money at developers to offset their losses due to the small US marketshare. Obviously WP is making nice headway in Europe so the momentum is there.

 

[astraith]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

Some have brought up good points and if I wasn't clear enough in the OP, this "review" if you will was entirely my own personal experience and bias. Some may not face the issues I have and be perfectly happy with the platform. The phone itself is one of the best I've ever used, I'd say I like it more than the Note 3. My biggest gripes were the ones listed in the OP and if MS is able to resolve those, I'd happily stay with WP. However, I'll be starting residency soon and I depend on some key applications and in order to stick with WP, I'd have to carry a secondary device (e.g. old ipod or used iphone) which kind of makes it cumbersome, especially if I have to keep it tethered.

About multitasking, IM+ loses connection and doesn't properly keep track of messages when I hit the start button. It returns to the previous conversation and buffers the missed ones but many times it misses out on the messages. Skype doesn't retain the last conversation, I have to go back to the user manually. Kindle only retains the book/page you were at for a limited time before timing out and sending you back to the home page. These are just a few of the apps I've run into issues with, there's some more as well.

However, the point about it being the fault of developers is probably spot on and I don't contest that. But for an end user, that doesn't really matter does it? MS should have strict standards that these developers have to adhere to so that multitasking is consistent and not app dependent. Android of course is far from perfect but I did have better experience multitasking with it.

With regards to AT&T, some have argued that they made prices more feasible for the masses and while that may be true, they earn that money back through locked contracts. Furthermore, it's hard to argue against Nokia/MS deciding not to sell the unmolested version of the phone at full price via online and their MS store. This would have given ample choice to everyone: Go to AT&T for a subsidized phone or if you want the full 1520 experience, go straight to MS. It would have been win/win and the only reason I can see this not happening is because AT&T forced Nokia's hand.

@manicottiK you're right, "badly needed" was a poor description for the select all feature. Rather it is a needed feature (for me and probably some others) and should not have been left out when they implemented copy/paste. I often find myself scrolling up and down to select all the text on a page and it ends up being pretty cumbersome. It wouldn't have been difficult for MS to add in such a simple feature.

I'm not 100% committed to the Note 3 yet but was contemplating the move. I may hang on until April when WP 8.1 is released + the rumored Apple phablet comes in May so it will be a good time to make a decision then about whether to jump ship or stick it out. I do hope that the OP helped give some insight to those that are thinking of committing to WP. I personally would like to see Microsoft become much more nimble with faster updates and have them prioritize WP development by throwing more money at developers to offset their losses due to the small US marketshare. Obviously WP is making nice headway in Europe so the momentum is there.

I'll go in and check, but I have IM+ and never used it. I have Kindle I think as well. Skype is odd, but can't you Skype ppl via messaging and not use the app? If so, that might help there.

But, the point I was trying to get across is saying the multitasking issue, and pointing fingers at development support (two negatives) when it's actually one isn't fair.

To be fair, also, Google could have this problem if they went through the same progression MS did with WP7 to WP8. Originally, all third party apps were like IM+. They didn't have access to multitask, which I bet is why Pandora took so long to come to WP. But, after WP8 was released, developers did have access and they had to update their app. How it works is entirely their choice, from my knowledge, but Google and MS are night and day. Google believes the user should control what apps run in the background and MS believes the OS should help manage that, so they do multitasking differently. I prefer MS way because I'm lazy and don't want to close all these apps. And I enjoy my battery life, as I am sure you do as well.

Anyway, no harm, no angry post. Just having a discussion!

 

[Justin Christensen]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

Thanks for the post, helps me a lot.
I've been contemplating moving from Android to WP, and I've been on the fence between getting the Icon (when released) or staying with Android and getting the Note 3. Most of the issues brought up don't bother me a ton, I planned on most of them. I realize the quantity of apps isn't huge, but I've never used a ton of apps so didn't think that would be huge.

However, I'm also a medical student, and I'll be starting 3rd year rotations in a few months. Not having medical apps might be a deal breaker for me. I'm not a heavy user when it comes to my phone, but my main uses are the usual stuff (calls, texts, calendaring, etc.) and medical learning/reference apps.
Even though I'd like to because I think the OS is superior, I might not be able to make the move to WP.
Bummer.

*Edit* Just checked and it looks like Windows Phone does have Uptodate, and some dosage calulators. Luckily I do get an Uptodate subscription through school, so I think I might be ok using existing apps (as well as pestering Medscape and Epocrates to encourage an app from them too). We'll see, still do need the Icon to get released though.

 

[rellyrellz]

After having the phone for a week, I'm slowly getting use to the size. So far its the only negative thing of the phone. I would like a 1520 at 5 inches and i would be perfect. Besides that enjoy the phone as it being my 1st windows phone. I like that camera. i LOVE the battery life. 2 days between charging…hell yes lol. The UI i like because its different. Only thing I don't like is I cannot get a set up I stick with on my screen. I change this and that tile smaller then bigger, unpin this pin that lol. I love the matte white finish even it is slippery and gets kind of dirty quick. I love the feel of the device as a whole. Overall I like the phone.

 

[Ridemyscooter86]

Re: Impressions after honeymoon period is over

Nokia 1520=Battlefield 4.....rushed, not tested, full of bugs, months on still not fixed.

yeah, it sounds like you got a bad one, because mine has been rock solid, its stable, built well, and has the best battery life I've ever had on a phone, ever. Please describe what you mean "full of bugs" I hate it when people say "full of bugs" which means to me that they really have no clue whats wrong wrong with it...