I am not one to normally post any types of reviews but thought I might help those considering the Icon for their next phone coming from something other than win phone. I have been looking to get a new phone for sometime, my iPhone 4 was growing old and tired and I didn't much care for ios7. I was also looking to get a bigger phone, prior to the iphone I had a HTC Evo which I liked the size of, but I didn't have a desire to go back to android.
My hope was that I would love the Icon as soon as I put it in my hand, but the reality was it wasn't quite that easy. Making a phone change requires more than an hour to make up your mind. There were things that just took a little time to solve, but once I was able to navigate my way through the apps and what I needed, I have pretty much managed to replace all the things I did on my iphone with the Icon. Now I am not a power phone user by any means, so I didn't have a need for all the "so called" apps that are out there for ios and android, but I have found that just about everything I needed is out in the windows store.
There were a couple of things that did take me a little while to figure out with the help of the many users on this site.
1. There is no visual voicemail (by default), which I had come to rely on more than I had known. However with a little research, there were plenty of options in the store to satisfy what I was looking for. I end up using MagikMail.
2. Because I was coming from an iphone I wasn't receiving text messages from my family and friends that have iphones. Again after doing a little research, I learned that I had to unregister my old phone through Apple. Once I did that, smooth sailing with the text messages.
Now back to the Icon. I won't repeat all the good things so many have already talked about. I really do like the phone, it just took me a little time to make the adjustment. I do love the fact that I really can customize the home screen of this phone with the things that I use most often and keep the other apps that I use tied to the apps screen. The phone size is exactly what I was looking for and to me doesn't feel bulky or heavy as some of the other tech reviews have mentioned.
So far the only thing I have noticed is that the icon is pretty rough on the battery life. This again could be user error as I am getting more familiar with how things need to be setup. Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Lastly, the thing that surprised me most, even though I was really familiar with what I was getting myself into with the Icon, change is hard and it really takes a little time and effort to switch eco systems. In the end I am very excited to be on a windows phone. Hope this helps those wanting to make a switch.