Thinking of getting back with the 1020, BUT ..

[yly3]

Hi everyone. Prepare for a long read.

I've been one of the early adopters of WP and in November 2010 I already had a HTC HD7. That was my first touchscreen phone and I was coming from an Nokia E71 !!
Nice to see the community has evolved so much since I last checked more than 2 years ago and that WP is also "getting there".

So anyway, in March 2011 I sold my HD7 mostly because of the battery. It didn't last more than 10-12 with minimal usage and after trying to avoid it as much as I can, in May 2011 I bought an iPhone 4. I loved and still love the iPhone.
Fast forward until I am posting this and I have been through 4S 64gb (my fav iPhone by far), a 16gb iPhone 5 and now I am back to an iPhone 4 lol (long story but I won't get into that).

As the time passed, I kinda got bored of the nowadays smartphones. Theoretically, nowadays it's the best time to be a smartphone fan, but for me, something that was about crafting cool designs/technology has transformed into a (almost useless) specs war and getting phablets size phones which simply put do not interest me.

I started using less and less apps or follow the app store trends. I am not into social media either, i have only twitter and I follow a dozen of people and I have 0 tweets lol.

I am only interested in utilities apps, mostly POI, amazing apps like Localscope for example. Music apps like Shazam, Bandsintown.
I am a huge fan of TED talks and was so happy to hear they made a WP8 app.
Travelling apps like FlightTrack, Booking.com


Basically I want a dumbphone which is smart and I want it to have an as good as it get in a phone camera.
Lumia 1020 was the first phone to get my interest back in the WP.
I knew I was never going to buy the 5S, I hate the 5/5S design, it's too light, it easily bends etc.
Initially I decided to buy a 64GB 4S again, but paying around 400$-450$ (used) for a 2 year old phone started to sound more and more wrong.
The battery would be too old, problems were more probable to appear with the hardware, etc.

Then I started thinking more and more of 1020.
The more I thought, the more I remembered how much I loved the WP keyboard, and how much I appreciate the camera at a phone.
And I really like the 1020 design and build quality.
Let me put this straight, the 4.5 is the maximum I'd be willing to go on a phone. I held the HTC One and it felt annoyingly big for me.
I played in the AT&T/Microsoft stores today with all the colors and I am 90% buying it BUT there are quite a few things which still keep me out, even though I want the phone (I am not drolling over it though) :

1. 650$
I'm buying my phones only unlocked. It's my choice. But I still feel for an underdog the price is still big IMO. And that's the 32GB version, I want the 64gb, what's gonna be what ? 750-800$ LOL !
If i were them, I would price the 32 at 529 and 64 at 639. Even then it would be pushing it imo.
And judging by how they reduced the prices on Surfaces and AT&T 1020 maybe someday soon I will be right.

2. Camera !

Yes ! The mighty camera ! The main selling point, after seeing some reviews and even reading some posts over here, it is indeed very good, but not quite there where it can trully be, especially in the videos.
I even watched that National Geographic video and some parts were just too shacky that reminded me of my N73 days.
And even some shots are sometimes hit or miss. It seems that, in fairly few cases, the focus would be off, the colours would be yellow or the noise would be too much.
Maybe it's because of me, because I've seen Nokia's cameras since the 6230i and I immediately recognised the patters.
Nokia seems to not have changed much in their "camera DNA", to me the Lumia seems like a very edited and polished old Nokia but a very good result while at it. Make no mistake, it's a great camera but it to me it FEELS like it can be 25-30% better.
My 4S videos looked with less noise and better colors and that in NIGHT time...

3. Notification Center

One thing I will miss is a Notification Center but I saw it got leaked and it will get there with windows 8.1.

4. Transition phone ?

I know it's a flagship phone but it seems WP will finally TRULLY mature in 2014. With quad-cores coming out and full-hd screens ( things which do not interest me or benefit me), is how apps will be optimised and what future WP releases will support the phone.
I want a phone that I will keep at least 2 years, preferably 3.
I saw what Microsoft did with WP8 and the first Lumia 6 months after launch. OUCH OUCH !
This insecurity and the 650$ price makes me think twice (or even "thrice").

I am very confident that 1020 WILL get 8.1 but after Microsoft just buying Nokia devices they can trully make a perfect Lumia next year with a real hardware-software integration.
It just feels that next year's phone will be the one to get.
WP will get even better, they might upgrade their camera and even put a 2800-3000 mAh battery.

That being said, the 1020 is still a great buy but not at this price. If Microsoft had right now a "functional enough" OS I would have gotten the phone now even at this price.

I know I am hard to be pleased but I want the best Microsoft and Nokia can deliver (software+hardware integration) and a great camera. Nothing more.

What are you guys feeling ?

 

[tgr42]

The 1020 IS the best Microsoft and Nokia can deliver, right now. If you wait, there's always something better coming.

Sounds to me like you'd better stick with the iPhone. If you love it, why spend so much money to leave it? Bored? Is it really worth it?

 

[crash1989]

Here are my thoughts and mine alone:
I think Nokia already has a phone with a very good camera at a cheaper price - Lumia 925 (or 928 or 920 which ever carrier you prefer). In my country 925 sells for 470$ which is a very good startegy. Lumia 1020 is a premium device and I think one will have to shell out good money for that excellent camera.

Nokia I believe has intentionally pumped up the saturation in the photos so that more users will like the punchier shots, in my opinion some of the shots our users take are stunning, some are not so good.
http://forums.windowscentral.com/nokia-lumia-1020/233015-pictures-video-taken-your-1020-a.html\
You always have manual controls to tweak, I guess it is up to you.

About the video I don't know, I haven't seen any low light videos, so I won't comment.As usual the videos taken in the day are amazing.

Right now I am pretty sure Windows Phone 8.1 and a few more versions will come to 1020 and hopefully the 9XX devices (since internals are almost the same).

It depends on you, if you think the OS is not "functional enough" why not test it out with a dirt cheap device like Lumia 520 and put it through its paces.
(If you feel the same after a few weeks maybe you are better off with your previous device IMHO albeit remembering that you are using the lowest specced device.)

 

[yly3]

The 1020 IS the best Microsoft and Nokia can deliver, right now. If you wait, there's always something better coming.

Sounds to me like you'd better stick with the iPhone. If you love it, why spend so much money to leave it? Bored? Is it really worth it?

Well I want to get it because I want a great camera-phone which happens to also be a smartphone.
I din't like iPhone 5/5S because of the design, and getting a 64gb 4S wouldn't be worth the cash for its age.
The iPhone will never be a true camera-phone since their philosophy is getting things slimmer and slimmer to a point where it sacrifices build quality.

Z1 is out of question because I don't like Android and I highly doubt I will ever get one. Killing background apps for me is a time-waster and having PC specs with lag doesn't ease me either, and to make matter worse, their current flagships are all >5" which is out of question..whatever, that is besides the point.

I used to be a Nokia suporter I simply like the design of the current 1020 plus the yellow colour. It's just something different and good looking in the same time.

Oh and I L.O.V.E the double-tap thing to wake-from-sleep on the Lumia. I only discovered it yesterday and I already miss it.
I also heard you can use gloves with the screen. Awesome.
I don't want/need to buy a cheaper "tester" because I already had a WP7 device for 5 months and had the pleasure to use the 1020 for a couple of hours to see the new improvements in the OS.
My list of WP apps is there I checked it, They even have a Last.fm scrobbler. Boy I so wanted one when I had my HD7.

What I trully want is a Notification Center and possibly a tile-folder-thingy.
Oh, what they should really improve is the music player although I never sync music to my phone.
I have my 240Gb iPod to take care of that..

 

[icstars989]

The problem with all these 'if you wait something better will always be coming' comments with WP8 is that everything post 920 so far has had the same exact internals as the 920. So, by the time your contract is up, it's essentially a 3 year old phone.

It's a stretch I know, but in perspective it's like still using a Droid 2 currently.

 

[yly3]

I thought about the yesterday the entire day and I finaly decided to wait for another year and get the 1020 2.0.
It will be a phone worth the waiting and investing. But I really believe it will come earlier, like in April.
Their new flagship Windows Blue Phone has got to be a Nokia.
The camera could be improved even more, the lag would be gone, you'd have quad-core a better gpu, seriously I don't know what excuse Microsoft to not update this bad bay for at least 2 years, even 3 maybe.
I don't see them going octo-core just for the sake of it. Windows Phone has never been about the latest specs and it surely doesn't need them.
As the cherry on the top, the Marketplace will get even better etc.

Like I said before, 2014 will be THE year of Windows Phone finally.
Give me a 128gb and I will be in heaven !

The only negative would be them increasing the screen, but the current 1020 has big bezels, maybe they can increase screen size by just reducing them.
I'd also get a Red colour
I kinda got excited. Heheh

However if I find a 1020 around 450$ in December I'll just get that. Perfect holydays gift.

 

[yly3]

Hmm.. You can already find them on craigslist for 500-550. Used of course, but how old can they be lol. In a few weekend I bet I can snatch one for 450. I might just pull the trigger.
The used 4S was around 370-420ish anyway so we're still in the budget.

 

[Yetamedi]

I have owned an HTC one and it is currently my wifes phone. Having stated this I can say with certainty that if you thought the HTC was too big then the 1020 will feel bigger. The screen size is only part of the picture when talking about how a phone feels in your hand. The bezel and thickness factor in substantially.

 

[yly3]

I have owned an HTC one and it is currently my wifes phone. Having stated this I can say with certainty that if you thought the HTC was too big then the 1020 will feel bigger. The screen size is only part of the picture when talking about how a phone feels in your hand. The bezel and thickness factor in substantially.

I also held the HTC One in a store and its "tall" 16:9 screen ratio a la iPhone 5 makes it hard for me to reach the top. And that one was 4.7" I think

With the Lumia the smaller screen and also the tiles interface helps because you can push anywhere in that square, you don't have to extend the fingers all the way to the top of the screen.

 

[JoeDizzle33]

To me, it sounds like you are really undecided. If that is the case just stick with what you know you like, which is the iPhone 4s from reading your post. Unless you have a lot of disposable cash it is pointless buying a phone you are unsure of. Better to stick with what you know than what you don't know. For me, I switched from the iPhone 4 to Lumia 900 than to 920. I am really happy with my choice. I can deal with some of the shortcomings of the OS because I know eventually those shortcomings will vanish. If you know you like the iPhone 4 then you should stick with that and be happy.

 

[yaguchi]

not that much cheaper but, Best Buy and Amazon has it right now for 609.99.

 

[stalemate1]

If its a camera you want then either consider the lumia 1020 or Sony z1...if money is limited then wait 4-7 months before purchasing either of these devices (never buy something that is new and just come out-you could save 40% or more on the price if you wait-similar rule to staying away from flagships especially on contract because in 1 year you will be paying the same price as you would for a flagship that is 1 year newer....for example you buy a Samsung galaxy s2 and 1-1.5 years later you are paying the same price for your s2 contract as you would for a Samsung galaxy s4....it annoys me sometimes.

 

[maxnicks]

I agree. You should check out the 928 or 925. EXCELLENT Pureview camera on both. I'm not sure, but I don't think the 920 has the Pureview. Go check the specs to be sure. Another Nokia you may want ot check is the 822. Smaller phone with a darn fine camera too. You can pick them up for $100 on ebay. Don't let the price fool you.

 

[yly3]

Like I already said, there is no point in getting a cheaper alternative because I have already tested the WP since the HD7 days, so it would be wasted money.
Secondly, I WANT the 1020, the biggest feature I want in my next phone is the camera, so the 1020 complies. I love the design, I love the screen size,
Basically the 1020 is THE device I trully want.

You can find them now on craigslist already at around 475$ and some are negotiable.
I think I one month I will get the device surely. Yellow color it will be.
I appreciate everyone's input.
Plus, I would get some money back from selling my iPhone 4.

 

[TechAbstract]

Like I already said, there is no point in getting a cheaper alternative because I have already tested the WP since the HD7 days, so it would be wasted money.
Secondly, I WANT the 1020, the biggest feature I want in my next phone is the camera, so the 1020 complies. I love the design, I love the screen size,
Basically the 1020 is THE device I trully want.

You can find them now on craigslist already at around 475$ and some are negotiable.
I think I one month I will get the device surely. Yellow color it will be.
I appreciate everyone's input.
Plus, I would get some money back from selling my iPhone 4.

If you want the Lumia 1020 then get it. Come back and tell us how you like it. Real hands on experience is the best.

 

[yly3]

^ i fully agree with that. It's just something about the UI of the Windows Phone that I love. Especially when typing messages. It's hard to describe..
Basically, the entire problem was all based on the price. 450$ is what I am willing to pay with no regrets.
It's just the right amount to keep me busy an entire year until the "dream" Lumia device comes alive.

Can somebody brief me on how the warranty thing goes ? If it's bought from AT&T BUT is an unlocked phone can I go into a Microsoft Store if I have a problem.

Just brief me on all possible cases. Thank you