Hands On & Reviews

[flackberry]

Have you done the usual battery saving things, like turn off the XBox connection, keep it off 100% brightness, turn off NFC, etc? That made a lot of difference on my 928. Icon's bat does seem small on the spec sheet though, which is maddening.

How do you turn off NFC?

 

[RaRa85]

I went into the Verizon store yesterday to get a quick hands on with the Icon. I was really surprised by how gorgeous the phone looks in person. They had the black one on display. The form factor and weight is absolutely dead on. The screen is a beauty. In fact the only flaw I found (not really bad) in the phone was that it was particularly slippery in the hands. The matte black finish was a little tricky to hold on to but if I was on Verizon and due for an upgrade this would definitely be mine. The camera is everything too.

 

[antsin3d]

It's in settings under "Tap + Send" - also go into "cellular" and change "mode selection" to "LTE and CDMA" - Bluetooth, Location, etc all drain battery even when not in use. Also in settings, swipe to "applications" and "games" - disable "Connect with XBox". Also in applications go to "background tasks" and disable anything you don't need running in the BG. Hope it helps!

 

[Sean Stanley]

Given I love my Icon, this is by far one of the best reviews I've read to date on the phone -

Nokia Lumia Icon review: the best Windows Phone handset yet | Pocketnow

 

[SpareBot]

Lol read every comment. Everyone essentially thought the review was awful.

I skipped through some and had to smile. Most of the comments are fairly mild and just point out the fact that this really seems to know her iphone and little more.

Sorry for the language, but DITCH THE ******* EXCLUSIVES

And while you are at it: ditch country variants!

Given I love my Icon, this is by far one of the best reviews I've read to date on the phone -

Nokia Lumia Icon review: the best Windows Phone handset yet | Pocketnow

I also very much like pocketnow. And if you knew the videos of that particular guy (Taylor) you woukd be even more impressed by his review. He is still a wp8 sceptic ...

 

[LumiaIcon]

I agree, PocketNow is both fair and generally reviews phones more from a user prospective than the high brow technology editor that cares more about his ego than the phone.

 

[spicypadthai]

Just upgraded to it yesterday from a Droid Bionic, which was a pretty good piece of hardware, never supported correctly, but that's a topic for another forum. Spent a couple hours last night setting it up. If you're tech/phone savvy at all and familiar with either Android or iOS, you'll have no problem. The interface/settings are clean and simple, pretty intuitive, maybe a little on the minimalist side. Reminds me of the Xbox One, no surprise, with MS apparently intentionally limiting what you can even see, never mind change. For the average user, it's not a big deal and even I'm nitpicking a bit. Speed and display are great. Form factor is about as big as is manageable, i.e., being able to sit comfortably with it in a front pants pocket. I'm liking the tiles, makes me better appreciate what MS is trying to do with Windows 8 and I love being able to delete any app, especially Verizon stuff, very cathartic. No major setup issues - syncing with Exchange was simple, email client blows away what I was used to, and I got my few go to apps installed and working with no problem. One complaint on that front is the Citrix Receiver appears to only support a single account. At least I can't find a way of adding a second account and I went into every setting I could find. But it works and for business users, that's big. It was one of the reasons I held off going to WP until now. Call quality seems decent enough but I didn't spend much time talking on the phone. My biggest gripe, no alert notification/light. I know, I know, 8.1 is on the way but it's 2014, you shouldn't have to unlock your phone to know you have texts/voicemail/email/etc. Even the original Droid in 2009 had an alert light. Anyway, nothing is perfect, I'm happy about the switch so far, and I'm excited about my phone again. That pretty much says it all.

 

[Chrono803]

My biggest gripe, no alert notification/light. I know, I know, 8.1 is on the way but it's 2014, you shouldn't have to unlock your phone to know you have texts/voicemail/email/etc. Even the original Droid in 2009 had an alert light. Anyway, nothing is perfect and overall, I'm happy about the switch so far and I'm excited about my phone again. That pretty much says it all.

I understand how you feel. Coming from my first smartphone as a Blackberry that had the notification light, to my Droid that didn't was a bit of a change. Since the Droid I've gotten used to hitting the power button to see if there are any notifications which is what I still do with my Lumia 900. I've gotten used to it and it seems like second nature now.

I'm glad you're happy with the switch as I've been eyeing this phone for a few days now, myself. I hope it continues!

 

[Kage Maru]

I haven't really noticed it until now but the batterlife on my phone has been great. Under heavy use, I was able to get around 10 hours of use. However now that I've settled back into my normal routine, my phone will last between 20-24 hours before I charge it again. Much better than my older 928 where I would usually charge it at night and again when I got home around 7 in the afternoon. While I still think Nokia should have used a 2600-3000 mAh battery so we could get a whole day with heavy heavy use, the 2420 mAh battery still seems fine.

 

[Indistinguishable]

I haven't really noticed it until now but the batterlife on my phone has been great. Under heavy use, I was able to get around 10 hours of use. However now that I've settled back into my normal routine, my phone will last between 20-24 hours before I charge it again. Much better than my older 928 where I would usually charge it at night and again when I got home around 7 in the afternoon. While I still think Nokia should have used a 2600-3000 mAh battery so we could get a whole day with heavy heavy use, the 2420 mAh battery still seems fine.

I'm with you. My battery life is now tremendous. I also do throw it on a wireless charger sitting at my desk every now and then. The only time I've plugged this phone in is to charge it to full out of the box, and to sync it once to my PC. Besides that, I've gone 5 days without having to charge much at all.

 

[dkediger]

I'll be brief as I'm on the go a lot today - I've had the Icon since Tuesday.

Man, If Verizon/Nokia had built the 928 this way, with the solid feel and heft, what might have been. My 928 was/is a solid and great phone, but the Icon just has a "gravitas" about it. If the hardest part of dealing with this phone is deciding how best to utilize the extra tile space, well then....

 

[fredd]

I just got my Icon yesterday but so far no problems or glitches. Battery life is great. Better than the 928. Great phone.

 

[MazoMark]

Just stopped by Verizon store and got some hands on time with Icon. I'm an Android user currently and have been intrigued by this phone's specs. I tried a 920 out briefly about 9 months ago, but found it and OS weren't quite able to meet my demands. But I've kept watch on Windows Phone and am waiting to see if it addresses some of my issues.

First, I think the Icon is a great looking phone. I like the industrial design look and it feels great in hand - not nearly as heavy as the 920. That screen is outstanding - as good as any Android phone on the market and the camera is better than any Android. The only thing I would knock on design - the speaker seems a little weak to me. Maybe too much noise in the Verizon store, but with volume at 20/30, I still was having hard time hearing sound clearly on video or music.

The OS has come a long way in 9 months and it nearly has me won over. There are still just a few things missing for my use case. One is keyboard - I use Swiftkey Flow on Android and WP doesn't have anything similar yet. Second is VPN. I'm a private consultant and need to take client security seriously, so I always use VPN connection when on public wifi. Again missing from WP currently. Last is Google Now. This is extremely useful tool when traveling - giving quick updates on all travel itinerary and meetings. I'm hoping Cortana is half as good. I know 8.1 is supposed to address nearly all of these concerns. I think I will hold off until it drops and then may give WP another try!

 

[mtalinm]

Here's a smart review: Nokia Lumia Icon review: The best Windows phone yet

 

[Kage Maru]

I didn't think this question warranted a new thread and I wasn't sure where else to post this so I hope this thread is ok. So the two stripes on the top and bottom of the phone are supposed to be antenna. Well I have a couple small scratches on the bottom of my phone from trying to plug it in to charge. Does anyone know if this affects signal strength? Haven't noticed anything myself but was curious if there was additional risk of damaging these parts of the phone.

 

[Starrbuck]

No, scratches shouldn't affect signal at all.

 

[falconrap]

I got a chance to play with the an active demo unit at the MS kiosk in International Plaza (Tampa) this past Saturday. I thought the phone looked good in pictures, but they don't do it justice. I think the phone is gorgeous. The model I saw is the white, which is the one I want, because I like the color of the metal juxtaposed with the color of the back, plus I've had too many black phones. If only they had this thing in red! But I digress. I compared it to my 822. Thinner, but clearly bigger, but not so much that it would be awkward to use. The display is incredible. I wanted to drool all over the thing, but I had to pull myself away so the kids could go get stuff and play. I can't understand how anyone thinks this phone is unattractive...I guess to each his/her own.

Just waiting for the right sale now.

 

[spicypadthai]

So it's been a week and I've spent more time trying different things and tweaking my setup. Here are a few more thoughts.

Likes: Battery life has been good. I'm easily getting 24+ hours per charge and wireless charging is really nice. Here Drive is very good and it's great having the speed limit warnings which, at least around here in MA, have been accurate. I have an Xbox One and I subscribe to Xbox Music and I've been impressed with the integration, especially the Music. It's one of the reasons I went with a Windows Phone and I have not been disappointed. Bing News has been a good surprise. Didn't pay much attention to it but I like how it compiles from national and international sources and customizing topics is a good feature. It's become a go-to app, especially since the mobile abcnews.com site doesn't work in IE (articles don't display, all I see is the categories). myAppFree is another pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting much out of a free-app-per-day app but it's been pretty good with a nice variety.

Don't likes: The button placement on the side, specifically the lock/unlock, is annoying. I've hit it more times by mistake in a week than I probably ever did with my previous two phones combined over 5 years. I've even shut off the phone a couple times without realizing it. The camera is OK, not sure I'd buy any phone for it, but I'm not sure it'll turn out to be the system seller Microsoft is trying to make it. I like the settings and the camera controls, just not super impressed with the photos and I can see how the shutter lag can be an issue.

 

[Indistinguishable]

So it's been a week and I've spent more time trying different things and tweaking my setup. Here are a few more thoughts.

Likes: Battery life has been good. I'm easily getting 24+ hours per charge and wireless charging is really nice. Here Drive is very good and it's great having the speed limit warnings which, at least around here in MA, have been accurate. I have an Xbox One and I subscribe to Xbox Music and I've been impressed with the integration, especially the Music. It's one of the reasons I went with a Windows Phone and I have not been disappointed. Bing News has been a good surprise. Didn't pay much attention to it but I like how it compiles from national and international sources and customizing topics is a good feature. It's become a go-to app, especially since the mobile abcnews.com site doesn't work in IE (articles don't display, all I see is the categories). myAppFree is another pleasant surprise. I wasn't expecting much out of a free-app-per-day app but it's been pretty good with a nice variety.

Don't likes: The button placement on the side, specifically the lock/unlock, is annoying. I've hit it more times by mistake in a week than I probably ever did with my previous two phones combined over 5 years. I've even shut off the phone a couple times without realizing it. The camera is OK, not sure I'd buy any phone for it, but I'm not sure it'll turn out to be the system seller Microsoft is trying to make it. I like the settings and the camera controls, just not super impressed with the photos and I can see how the shutter lag can be an issue.

You'll get used to the button placement shortly. I had to adjust a bit, but now I actually prefer it.

 

[Sean Stanley]

You'll get used to the button placement shortly. I had to adjust a bit, but now I actually prefer it.

Agreed. I've had my Icon for a couple weeks and at first kept hitting wrong buttons (my 8X power was in top), but this post is actually the first time I've thought about it in the past week.

Also, I no longer hut the camera button by accident when trying to hit power.