Disappointed about reviews so far...

[WizeGuyDezignz]

Why, oh why are the reviews for this awesome phone sort of mediocre so far? I just did a Google search for 928 reviews and there are a handful of them up now. While most of them gave it an overall good rating, they all seemed to sum up their reviews not highly recommending the device.

Normally I don't care about other people's opinions as long as I like the product, but I'm really rooting for WP to succeed and mediocre reviews aren't going to push people over the edge from Android or iOS. I came from Android myself, but I'm a tech junkie and did tons of research and hands on for myself. Unfortunately the average consumer may read a review or two and just decide to stick on the platform they are on.

Thoughts?

 

[odin09]

While some of the reviews aren't awe inspiring there are a few that I find encouraging. CNET is trusted by a lot of people and their review is very positive. Nokia fans are critical of phonearena's score of 8 but considering their less than enthusiastic WP support I thought it was a pretty good review. They even said that it would have been a 9 if it wasn't so similar to the 920. Im still waiting for a full WP central review.

 

[Penny_1]

I think we also need to keep people's perspectives in mind. For us Verizon customers, this phone being released was a huge deal. For everybody external to Verizon, especially reviewers who are playing with gadgets daily, this is a somewhat improved version of a phone (L920) that was released 6 months ago. On that note, it's also running specs that are outdated among what are considered current flagship devices like the S4 and HTC One (in terms of the specs that most people care about). We can appreciate the attention to details like OIS, high quality mics, xenon flash, Nokia's Apps, etc., but those don't factor significantly into most people's initial impressions.

 

[Huime]

I think we also need to keep people's perspectives in mind. For us Verizon customers, this phone being released was a huge deal. For everybody external to Verizon, especially reviewers who are playing with gadgets daily, this is a somewhat improved version of a phone (L920) that was released 6 months ago. On that note, it's also running specs that are outdated among what are considered current flagship devices like the S4 and HTC One (in terms of the specs that most people care about). We can appreciate the attention to details like OIS, high quality mics, xenon flash, Nokia's Apps, etc., but those don't factor significantly into most people's initial impressions.

To be fair, It will always behind in spec. Partly due to WP uniqueness partly due to slow move by MS. It will only change until the day that the manufacture forced to drop the "not about spec" strategy and have MS agree too.

 

[christenmartin]

Reviews were confusing to my for the longest time. I would have a product that was bad azz and a review would describe it as "mediocre". I realized bias is always going to play a part for whatever reason; marketing dollars, personal preference, etc... I think you have to go around the "press". Do your own marketing. It is not popular to like WP or BB so that is what your going to see in the reviews. That being said i would not be a good one to do are view on ios because I don't appreciate the OS. most of the reviews that I read on the 920 before I bought it were actually pretty good. I think you have to learn how to read reviews. If there is a less than popular product that gets a pretty good review your on to something.

 

[9520G]

For other sites they have to keep their readers satisfied, which most are probably android or IOS users so the more popular phones will get the positive reviews.

 

[Huime]

While some of the reviews aren't awe inspiring there are a few that I find encouraging. CNET is trusted by a lot of people and their review is very positive. Nokia fans are critical of phonearena's score of 8 but considering their less than enthusiastic WP support I thought it was a pretty good review. They even said that it would have been a 9 if it wasn't so similar to the 920. Im still waiting for a full WP central review.

I watched the phonearena video. The speaker already dig out every good part of the phone, what is more the fan wants?

 

[wtf808]

Yup, I think what people forget is that this is Verizon's "920". Nokia couldn't hand them the 920 due to AT&T exclusivity on it until some amount of time, I forget... So I'm guessing VZ and Nokia didn't want to just rebrand the 920 for them, so instead they make some tweaks to it and called it the "928". People are treating it like it supposed to be a completely brand new phone, like iPhone 4 vs iPhone 5.. sadly its not that level of iteration. I think the expectations are misguided.

 

[jiwengang]

I think if only one review or two reviews are mediocre, maybe the reviewer is biased or they valued too much for the feature that is not the strength yet. But if most of them are mediocre, it triggers some reflection on 928 manufacturer (Nokia and MS).

I recently reviewed several phones within the past 2 months : HTC-One, Blackberry Z10, Galaxy S4, Nokia Lumia 928. And my daily driver is Galaxy Note 2. The verdict? Those new phones all have their imperfection that some are good to have if you have a cheap upgrade, some are NOT worth it to jump ship, let alone jump carrier or OS.

HTC One , the one earning most media buzz and seems to be Verge and Android Central's favorite, really failed at battery department for me. I have NO idea in the age of 1080p and LTE, why manufacturers still pack any battery less than 3000 mAH in their phone, and for HTC , it is worse, why they make it non-swappable. For the design. I get it. But as a daily driver, design wears out when you have a few dents or scratches, or even you have a phone case on it, the real deal is the ability to accomplish things to make your life easier and better. A battery dead phone is not making life easier.

Galaxy S4, really boring stuff all over again. If I have an S3, I failed to see why I need to jump to S4, unless I have a 2-year upgrade and get the S4 at deeply discounted price, to accept the question: "oh , did you clean up your S3? it looks so new!"

Z10, as a new comer, the OS still has a long way to go. And the battery sucks big time.

928 is the closest one to convince me that I can live with both GNote 2 and 928. It is beautiful, sleek and it gives refreshing feeling from a new ecosystem. Its battery, though only 2000 mAH, is really amazing so I guess the software must be very very efficient, unlike those in Samsung phones...

Catches on 928?
Microsoft is some kind of deal breaker. Their attitude towards such product is not inspiring. I fully respect Nokia's contribution to this game, their hardware and their exclusive apps are really amazing. While MS, as the OS provider, is too blind or deaf to customer's voices. Their OS now is lagging Android a bit more every day. Not enough fast and quick innovation coming to this platform. I feel like while Android has thousands of developers contributing to the platform everyday, WP has Nokia as third party that makes the biggest contribution and locked-down apps, too little, too slow. After watching the Google IO, I still feel that the gap is widening, not narrowing.

Imagine in the ideal world, Nokia makes an Android phone. Oh my...

 

[TonyDedrick]

Maybe people don't like it?

 

[odin09]

Phone Arena never really gives windows phone a fair shot but in their new comparison between the 928 and iPhone 5 it comes out to a draw. Anyone who reads that site knows that that is a win for the 928. The iPhone 5 beat the 920 in a ridiculous earlier comparison.

 

[Zigmono]

Many of the reviews seem to be premised on the fact the phone technology is six months old. That must be about 120 tech/years based on the perspective of the average techie reviewer. Frankly, I was glad to wait for some of the bugs to be ironed out.

 

[vlad0]

Test it for yourself.

I never trust reviewers.. anandtech and gsmarena are the only two sources I might consider, and still.. I need to see for my self. I think carriers should introduce a "demo" program, kind of like tennis shops have them for tennis rackets.

 

[JudgeHolden]

Imagine in the ideal world, Nokia makes an Android phone. Oh my...

And gets crushed by Samsung.

 

[Paulo1300]

honestly I think if nokia plans to switch to android, the strategy they took is very good.

they made their phones exclusive to windows phone, and then released phones with a lot of innovation (camera, OIS, screen, great design) and android fans were actually saying on other websites that they wish nokia would make droids due to these features

i definitely think they are better off to switch now, than if they tried 2 years ago. plus, they got to use verizon/att and microsofts marketing budget to make people in the US aware of their phones again
I do not think they would have such opportunities if they switched to android to start

i really hope they dont switch to android, cause android is a laggy piece of crap and windows phone would be flat out dead without nokia at this point

 

[Rick2340]

Lisa from Mobile Tech Review has her video review up. I think she is one of the better reviewers - it's a very good review.

 

[trivor]

Test it for yourself.

I never trust reviewers.. anandtech and gsmarena are the only two sources I might consider, and still.. I need to see for my self. I think carriers should introduce a "demo" program, kind of like tennis shops have them for tennis rackets.

Not a good recommendation - Brian Klug @ Anandtech wrote the most amazing review of a phone I've ever seen which basically proclaimed the HTC One as the best smartphone ever made.

 

[a5cent]

Not a good recommendation - Brian Klug @ Anandtech wrote the most amazing review of a phone I've ever seen which basically proclaimed the HTC One as the best smartphone ever made.

A good review isn't one that conforms to our own world view, but one that is scientifically grounded, thorough and fair. I think Brian's review of the HTC One was all of those. The best thing about that review, and what anandtech is generally good at, is not just telling us what they think, but also why they think it. They are also good at separating objective from subjective issues and instead of expecting us to assimilate their view, giving us enough information to make up our own mind. I thought anandtech's review of the HTC One was infinitely better than what is offered elsewhere.

IMHO a great recommendation.