[Real Users] My Lumia 1520 Review

[plasmapuff]

Sooo its been ~1 month since I've changed over to the 1520 and WP8 from android with a Sony Xperia Z Ultra. As promised here are some of my thoughts about the device and the OS during my use.

Overall I'll say that its gone ok and I'm not leaping at the opportunity to leave WP8. The OS is ok but there are some definite niggles/things I need to adapt to/try to work around coming from android.

Apps are mostly there but are definitely subpar in quality vs. android. Missing google maps nav especially for bike route maps. The facebook and evernote apps are key examples. You can't blame google for this either (which is often what's written on wpcentral) as they're not google apps.

My main gripes are also with the browser (IE) /browsers (Surfy/UC) which pale in comparison to the features and fluidity of chrome beta, especially when dealing with multiple tabs. More thoughts here regarding this here.

Outlook/calendar is also not as featured/fluid/easy to navigate for me when I compare it to gmail/calendar, which I've used for the past 10 years. For example, the messaging window on Outlook can not be hidden so there's a permanent bar on the right side which could be better utilised. Outlook Calendar can't display more than 1-2 events in dot points in month view – you get these coloured bars instead which you have to click on individually on each day to see the events.

Keyboard is also not as good as swiftkey – especially the autocorrect and predictions. In swiftkey I type 2 letters and it predicts the rest of my sentence – I just need to press space to insert the words. Its that good.

Why am I still there I hear you ask?
- its new and kinda interesting to experiment. I'm giving it a real go by converting to outlook and calendar and onedrive. I initially tried to use gmail still, but experienced a sub par experience with the apps (metromail was the best) vs. gmail on android and then vs. native outlook on WP.

- Nothing in the android world for phablets is pulling me back. The G3 I thought would do it but with the same tired camera, laser and 2.5k screen gimmicks, I don't know if i'll be enough. Love the new high screen to bezel ratio though – if they can do what they did with the G3 with a better camera in a G2 Pro refresh – then I'm maybe back. Or an XZU 2 refresh with a much better camera.... but TBH nothing is really changing HW wise in the android world and probably won't until the end of the year with the new cycle flagships. I am enjoying the more relaxed refresh cycles of WP.

- Camera of the 1520 is awesome and unrivalled – best I've used so far on a smartphone. Its definitely not the quickest but the photos are awesome. Its replaced my point and shoot. No one in the android world has combined a large sensor with OIS and downsampling. They do 1 or the other. I got shots with the 1520 camera with OIS without flash which I would never have gotten with any android camera.

- Nokia HW is great. Good size and feel. Screen is very nice. Battery life is superb. Glance is a really nice feature.

- 8.1 Lumia cyan update is rolling out next month – things might get more refined?

- Some things MS actually does well – Nokia here maps which shares its offline map data to all other apps. Nokia music with free offline mixes.

- $40 nokia app bonus for the store has helped heaps as a lot of the WP8 apps are paid where they would be free for android. For example wptorrent pro is $4, utorrent is free on android and does exactly the same thing.

So yeah overall I'm sticking with it for now just so I can say to myself I'm given it a fair go. Am I loving it? I'd say I'm surviving and adapting and am looking fwd to what the new updates may bring. Will stay for at least 6 months and go from there. Certainly its fantastic to see MS commit to a schedule of faster updates.

Although I must confess a waterproof, high screen to bezel ratio, 6" phablet with a great camera might bring me back....nothing has come yet and the 1520 is a decent workaround.

The main improvements I feel WP desperately needs are the app quality/features, nokia is doing a fantastic job and 8.1 has made a big difference but 3rd party developers need to do way more to create an equivalent experience for android/ios users. Sadly with <5% share in US and falling, MS is not making a strong case...

Thanks for listening to my rambles Hope to see you around

 

[mozman68]

Wait until you try 8.1.....it really closed the gap for me (especially the calendar).

 

[plasmapuff]

I am on 8.1 developer preview.

Week view is nice but then take take away agenda??

 

[mmcpher]

Thanks for the insightful post, comparing your experience of going from Android to WP. FWIW, ISTM that some of your dissatisfaction may be a function of time because while a month of use is certainly a more-than-valid sample set, there are probably many subliminal (even to yourself) shortcuts or muscle memory advantages acquired over a much longer period of continual use on Android apps. And even were you not switching hardware and OS, going from Google/Chrome/Gmail to Windows/IE/OneDrive/Outlook would likely cause lingering, low-level irritation at this point, whatever direction you were going to/coming from. I have always used Windows/Outlook, so its not surprising that I still prefer them to Google/Chrome/Gmail which I continue to find aggravating to use.

But your post certainly raises good and valid points and I agree the calendar is need of some additional updating. Have you tried the Maxthon Browser for WP? It has recently been updated and is an interesting alternative. WP has been around for years, but owing to the relatively recent ground-up reworking of the OS, it is a platform still in the process of maturing. In light of this, I think the developers, in general, have done a very nice job on the aesthetics, as almost everything looks pretty on the 1520, but there's still work to be done on integration and functionality. The IMDB app looks great for example, but you don't seem to be able to select, cut and paste text from the app. A lot of that is still being worked on. I don't overreact to market share news, but I hope Microsoft takes steps to better promote WP in the US in particular, because that would have the ancillary effect of incentivizing the developers to keep up their good work. I also have and use a Blackberry, who basically have left the US market and have suffered accordingly, across the board and globe, IMHO, in a slow death of a thousand developer cuts. Microsoft has the capital and muscle to counteract such negative momentum. History suggests that they will continue to improve their products across all their platforms and that people will gradually and then increasingly upgrade to Windows 8 (and then 9?). So there may be increased wind in WP's sails. whereas with Blackberry, the devices and BB10 has to make its own way out of the doldrums. We are currently seeing a lot of ads about the new line of Surface Pros (which look drop-dead gorgeous) and I would like to see a similar effort to promote WP.

 

[plasmapuff]

Thanks I'll give Maxathon a try.

I'm used to flicking effortlessly between 5-6 tabs on chrome on android with full desktop view. This is something I've been unable to replicate on WP8 unfortunately due to either a laggy/buggy UI or just constant reloading of tabs. I think its an OS thing as my XZU also just had 2GB of RAM.

Editing text with a cursor is also more difficult than it needs to be as the default action when you click on a word is highlight rather than a text cursor.

No T9 function in the dialler where you can type in people's names and it searches for the contact automatically.
No google now's creepy yet useful reverse phonebook which tells you who is calling when you don't have the contact saved
No flash at al which means no wathcing of youtube live streaming which still uses flash.

I could go on - the major issue is with app quality/feature parity within those apps, however there are small niggles everywhere which are noticeable especially when coming from another platform.

If not for the camera, the Nokia hardware, screen, Nokia music, Here maps, quiet hours, slick OTA updates, general OS stability (not app stability - I get the same number of app hangs/crashes as android), I'd probably be back. But having made the effort, I'm going to stick around and try to survive/get used to things. Definitely looking forward to Nokia Cyan next month

 

[mmcpher]

Thanks I'll give Maxathon a try.

Editing text with a cursor is also more difficult than it needs to be as the default action when you click on a word is highlight rather than a text cursor.

The bashful cursor is definitely another immature aspect of WP. BB10 has an interesting approach to this, where the text location point expands on the screen in a kind of virtual, clear bubble, which is large enough so that you can tick left, right, up or down and the cursor moves one space or row. It allows you to much more precisely pinpoint the cursor.

 

[Byrese]

Something awesome happening today. While at a meeting, everybody put their iPhones in the table. I busted out my beautiful 1520 laid out down to what awe. Love it

 

[sd173]

I got my 1520 four weeks and a day ago after waiting almost 7 months for it. Before that I had a Nokia Lumia 900 (my first phone) for a little more than two years. The 1520, with WP 8.1, is a huge upgrade from the 900 (pun not intended), with WP 7.8. It's the perfect size for me and fits perfectly in my pocket with no edges sticking out. Whenever I use my 900, I get so amused by how small it feels now that I'm used to my 1520. Also, I used to never care about how good a phone's resolution is but after getting used to my 1520's awesome screen, I can easily notice the pixels when using my 900 while I couldn't before I had the 1520. The camera is great and, unlike my 900, after a few settings changes, it takes great night pictures.

The speaker and the buttons are probably the only two things I could possibly not like about the phone. I don't like how the speakers are on the back of my 1520, because whenever I am holding it so that my hand is below the speaker, there is a large, easily noticeable improvement in sound quality. I think the buttons are too close to being flush with the phone and could be sticking out maybe a little less than a millimeter more. I also occasionally have an issue with the back button. Very rarely, the back button is either not very responsive or unresponsive, and when this happens, it's not because of low battery or a touch screen setting. Since the back button works perfectly fine almost all the time, I'm just assuming this is an 8.1 developer preview issue and will hopefully be fixed with the official release.

Windows Phone 8.1 is an overwhelming upgrade from Windows Phone 7.8. I almost immediately put the developer preview on my 1520 after I got it because of what I've seen from WPCentral articles and forum posts. After waiting for what seemed like a never ending 15-20 minutes (pun not intended, again) to download 8.1, I was shocked by how much I've missed in Windows Phone 8 GDR3 and all the new features with Windows Phone 8.1. Two features I'm really hoping the 1520 gets are 3D gestures and/or control using only the eyes, it would probably be limited compared to what the McLaren gets but using a phone without having to hold it is something I've always wanted to be able to do. When the McLaren comes out though, I probably won't be getting it because of how much I like the 1520.

 

[houkoholic]

I got a 1520 over the weekend to compliment my 1020 which I bought at launch. There are several reasons in why I did this: a) battery life: while I love my 1020 its battery life had been poor to me. I do a lot of web browsing and IM during my lunch breaks and it seems that these two usage really strains the battery of the 1020 and I constantly find that I barely have any charge left by the time I get off work at 6. There's been a few times where I forgot to charge my phone in the office and I was caught with a flat battery at night outings, making it difficult to contact my friends if I need to. Also if I go out on the weekend I get into the same situation - namely by 4~5pm my phone will be nearly dead, and since I usually don't like carrying a bag so I don't always have an external battery to top it up. This was something I really hope the 1520 could address, judging from the reviews. b) the next flagship follow ups McLaren isn't going to be out anytime soon, and the 930 seems to have average battery life and missing functionalities like glance. and finally c) even if McLaren comes out it will be expensive (probably in the USD700 upwards range again for unlocked phones, while the 1520's price has dropped considerably).

So with these points in mind I picked up a yellow 1520. I immediately installed 8.1 on it and it was pretty smooth sailing (probably thanks to the fact that this is brand new). Moving from the 1020 to the 1520 poses some issues - namely the size. While the 1020 and the slightly larger 930 are a very palmable, single hand use device for me, the 1520 is most definitely not a single hand device for me. I now understand people's request for an even more dense/smaller scale UI on the 1520, as some bits of the UI is almost comically large (such as the PIN lock screen, now I'm sure everyone can read my PIN as I put it in!). With that said the screen of the 1520 is absolutely stunning, to the point that sometimes I feel it is too clear and bright (eg refer to my PIN point lol, I actually feel less secure now), but browsing on this phone is a joy. Due to the large size I can now thumb type a lot better two, but the trade off is that it's not easy to use the Swype style Word Flow keyboard. The battery so far seems to have held up to the claim, so the size trade off was worth it in addressing my primary concern. Surprisinly I'm not feeling much of a speed improvement compared with my 1020. Sure it's a hair faster but it's nowhere close to being the usual "wow new shiny toy boo-yeah!" feel that one usually gets with PC-ish gadgets. It's a testimoney to how well WP is optimized for lowish hardware. Perhaps with Cyan update with all the proper device specific firmware/drivers I may feel more performance difference.

In conclusion this phone is quite a beast in many sense, provided if one can handle the size, which makes me wonder if they can shrink the size of this phone down by half an inch and increase the thickness to keep the same battery volume it would be a killer flagship phone that's not too large for most people...

 

[rpac78]

First post here in WPCentral; I have to say I do like the community here. But here are my thoughts on the Lumia 1520 but first a bit of background: I came from an iPhone 4S looking to leave IOS and try something new. Also I figured if I was going to try a phablet, why not the largest one I can get my hands on? I liked the whole implementation of Windows phone 8 with the start screen and the live tiles. That being said, I quickly moved to 8.1 and frankly I don't even remember what my phone was like before that.

• Screen resolution: just amazing especially coming from an iPhone 4s. Great colors, sharpness, etc. Videos looks better and I don't have to squint to see stuff anymore.
• Customization: I really like how I can customize the smart screen. Wide tile, medium tile, a few small tiles. It's really quite a change from IOS and the lack of customization there.
• Camera: being a hobbyist photographer, the Lumia camera is also what really what drew me to the 1520. Photos look amazing: colors right on, great sharpness, great in low light. I like how I can half-press the shutter button in order to focus lock and also having access to manual controls is nice.
• SD card: This was another big draw for me since I've been using my smartphone as a replacement for my point and shoot camera and ample space is needed.
• Apps: I'm not too into having a ton of apps so the lack of apps in the marketplace doesn't really affect me. I have my major ones and if I didn't, I would just use the browser. It does remind me of the early days with the iPhone where it was also a bit of hit/miss in finding a nice one.
• Here Drive/Maps: My goto map service. Works great and frankly I haven't missed Google maps.
• Cortana: I wasn't really dependent on Siri while still on my iPhone so Cortana hasn't been much of a game changer for me. I do appreciate the commute time alerts she displays near to when I'm going home. Also I do like how the interaction sounds a bit more free and less robotic.
• Swype keyboard: I'm really liking this now that I've gotten used to it. Sending texts and emails are a bit easier and the predictive text still amazes me.
• Size: ok, it's large. It's like that first time you walk into 7-11 and got a super big gulp. Or when you first saw a photo of Shaquille O'Neill with his tiny ex-wife. It's like, whhaaatt? But after a few hours with it, I hardly notice the size difference; what I do notice is that my eyes don't hurt from squinting at small text.
• Battery life: I've been used to charging my phone every night before going to sleep so having to do that with this phone isn't a biggie and I'm not about to cripple it just to get it to last for 2 days. Basically if I use it lightly it'll last for a day and a half. If I use it normally then I expect to charge it later that night. Also the fast charger gets it back to full in a few hours so no problem there.

That's all the important stuff, for me that is. Is it a great phone? Yup. Is it for everyone? Nope. But my feeling is that if more people try it out and really give it a chance (and more apps migrate over to windows), more people would actually like it over IOS.

 

[kodos78]

So I bought a Lumia 1520 on Wednesday night, and was pleased to find out that on Friday I was able to get the 8.1 update!
My background: iOS user. Big time. I got a iPhone on the first weekend that they were offered, and most recently had a 5S that I got a few weeks after it came out. I also have three iPads at home including the iPad Air.

But I started to do Windows/C# development recently and got a Surface Pro 2, then upgraded to a Surface Pro 3. The Microsoft ecosystem was very enticing and the Surface Pro 3 is an incredible machine. So, I started to look into the Windows Phone, as I was starting to get annoyed with the same old limitations in iOS over the years. I also am an amateur photographer, and I hated taking my camera and iPhone everywhere I wanted to take pics of the kids. I loved the Lumia cameras from what I had seen of them.

So, I started looking into it, and fell in love with Windows Phone 8 when I first saw it, but really intrigued by WP 8.1 based on what I saw. Okay, long backstory over.

I got a 1520, and started using it. Lots of pain at first, coming from iOS and trying to figure out how everything worked. App situation is incredibly sad. No, pathetic. The Kindle app hasn't been updated in forever. Well, no highlighting either? It looks abandoned. Same for a lot of the big name apps on the Windows app store. I don't even have a decent Bible Software to study with and the Bible Software I use on every platform has no intention of putting something out on WP. No Dropbox either? Sigh. At least I am getting everything ported over to OneDrive.

Okay, now the positives!

The UX (user experience) is incredible. Love Windows 8.1. Thankful to get the notification system in, because that would have driven me batty compared to iOS.

The keyboard is great! Love WordFlow. The Camera is fantastic. The Screen! Oh wow, that screen. Crazy good. The voice recognition seems world's better than on iOS. The battery life is great! I miss the fingerprint sensor on the 5S, but I can live with unlocking the phone via PIN.

But the app situation is really disappointing. I'd almost wish that Microsoft would purge the store of these half-functional big-name apps than to leave them festering up there and making people even more upset by the crippled stuff on the app store.

Very happy with the OS and the Hardware. Not so with the application ecosystem.

 

[Zachary Boddy]

I've used quite a few phones. Used an iPhone for a while, and had the opportunity to use many Android devices, such as the M8, S5, Note III, and the G3. My first Windows Phone was a Nokia Lumia 520.
And it beats them all. Of course, personal preference.
But even with the outdated and low powered hardware found in a budget phone such as the 520, the interface was slick, and smooth. Hardly any lag at all and well optimized for quick use. One of my biggest problems with Android was the fact that every phone had a different interface and every phone was just a little bit more work to use then I needed. Most companies are doing better like LG and Samsung in simplifying their interface and cutting back the dozens of pre-installed apps, but the point remains.
I did a lot of research and checked out pretty much every single high end phone on the market today. And I found the 1520.
It's a beautiful phone. Especially compared to the Note III, or indirectly the S5. It's well designed and even though it's 0.3 inches larger then the Note III it really fits in your hand. I can use it one-handed pretty easily.
And the screen...phenomenal. It was released October of last year and it is still a beautiful screen. Although the IPS LCD screen can't quite compete with the blacks of an AMOLED, there is great contrast and brilliant colors. And even with a much larger screen, the 1520 has about the same number of pixels per inch as the fabled iPhone 5s.
And of course, many of the big problems people had with the OS were fixed in the 8.1 update, such as the notifications center and individual volume sliders. The interface is still as original and smooth as ever, but now is more practical and personalized. And looks nicer.
And very good battery life as well. I can easily get through a whole day of use.
And I don't have to say much about the camera. Fantastic.
I could go on for quite a while on the pros of the phone, but most of them are already listed. What about the cons?
There isn't much. It's heavy, but not noticeably so. The Note III is lighter but feels cheap, while the 1520 is only slightly heavier and comes with the well known Nokia build quality. It's solid and feels so.
The button placement isn't the best, but with a phone this size and with everyone's individual preferences I have to say this phone is designed well. The soft keys at the bottom may seem cramped, but with a phone that most people will use two-handed it helps a lot. I haven't had any problems with accidentally pressing the search key like I had with my little 520. And the hard keys at the side are flush with the body and look nice, and are spaced to be accessible but not in the way when you hold the phone.
(It seems my cons list is really a flux pro/con list)
And the app selection has nothing to do with the phone but with the OS, and that is quickly changing. Apps are better, and there are more of them.
Overall, this is a fantastic phone. As long as you're comfortable with the size, I think it's the best Windows Phone available even with the new Icon.
I think this review covers most of the basics, not real in depth but I'm not writing a novel haha. Take in account this is all my opinions and I respect everyone else's opinions.

 

[jammytech]

Been in the UK everyone surrounded by me seems to have a Samsung or iphone. I hate following "hypes" but loved android so I just stuck to android and avoided samsungs. I was (in a way still am) a android ******. And very anti Apple (still am). I had the 920 for a short period when it first came out since I was curious of WP8. I enjoyed it but the app store was awful. I bought a xperia Z1 compact as I wanted a good camera with a smaller screen since I was sick of using 5 inch phones. But having the Z1 compact just made me realise I miss big screens.

I was already planning on going for a android phablet. Like the oppo N1 but the camera was poor according to reviews and I'm a big fan of photography... Then a friend of mine told me to check out the 1520. Was very hesitant due to it being WP8. I thought I would look up customer reviews on the things I use most. Camera. Speaker and how fluid and fast something is. And according to everyone the 1520 excelled in them areas. I now have a 1520 and I love it more than any other phone I have had.

The only 2 negatives are FIFA 14 lags and facebook app is awful.

 

[mozman68]

Been in the UK everyone surrounded by me seems to have a Samsung or iphone. I hate following "hypes" but loved android so I just stuck to android and avoided samsungs. I was (in a way still am) a android ******. And very anti Apple (still am). I had the 920 for a short period when it first came out since I was curious of WP8. I enjoyed it but the app store was awful. I bought a xperia Z1 compact as I wanted a good camera with a smaller screen since I was sick of using 5 inch phones. But having the Z1 compact just made me realise I miss big screens.

I was already planning on going for a android phablet. Like the oppo N1 but the camera was poor according to reviews and I'm a big fan of photography... Then a friend of mine told me to check out the 1520. Was very hesitant due to it being WP8. I thought I would look up customer reviews on the things I use most. Camera. Speaker and how fluid and fast something is. And according to everyone the 1520 excelled in them areas. I now have a 1520 and I love it more than any other phone I have had.

The only 2 negatives are FIFA 14 lags and facebook app is awful.

Facebook Beta app on 8.1 is finally there IMHO. Very Windows and very Facebook. They fixed a lot.

 

[harisyousaf]

Someone please confirm me there is 3g only/wcdma only mode available with cyan update??
Sent from my RM-914_im_india_269 using Tapatalk

 

[martan1981#WN]

No there is no such thing. Still missing. You can still set just the maximal connection, not minimal.

 

[harisyousaf]

Field test working? Jus dial #3282call
Sent from my RM-914_im_india_269 using Tapatalk

 

[DrNitun]

Hello,

Is anyone having any issues with sound notifications? I have my ringer & notification set for 05/10 and media + apps set for 13/30. I was receiving sounds before but after going to the gym using a wired headset, something seems off. I did reboot phone and still no sounds for say text messages coming in.

Any suggestions? I am using the default Windows sounds (ex: new email, new messages, etc). Again, no issues when I got the phone (green lumia 1520) two days ago.

Thanks,

 

[Timbre70]

Check your settings.

 

[lesd777]

I just got my new Lumia 1520 and my first thought was wow this might be too big. However after using it for a day I'll take this over my 1020 any day. The first thing I notice is battery life. It's so much better than my 1020. This alone makes the 1520 worth every penny. The other thing I notice is the camera is super quick and smooth compared to the 1020. The difference in CPU is significant.