Alrighty...having been intrigued by the Lumia 929/Icon since its initial leak back on October 2, I finally managed to snag one yesterday. This is my first foray into Windows Phone ownership on Verizon...and, boy, am I disappointed. *sniff*
Verizon is clearly proud of this phone, and they clearly want you to be proud that you're with the carrier who's proud to carry this phone. To that end, they've branded the phone EVERYWHERE -- front, back (x2), the phone tile, the dialer (the DIALER? Really?). It's a small thing, but it stands in such stark contrast to Windows Phone's purposeful minimalism that the silliness of it sticks out like a sore thumb. Honestly, Verizon, your logo on the back of the phone is alright...it's a decent size, and understated. Heck, even your "4G LTE" logo ain't bad. But branding the thing in half a dozen places? C'mon. I promise I won't forget which carrier I'm writing my checks out to each month.
Annoying branding is annoying, but do you know what's worse? A gimped flagship. Compromises on a phone which bills itself as "The One" by which all other Windows Phones should be measured. In the first day, that's been my experience so far...the Lumia Icon is a compromised device. To wit, everyone is aware of a few of the compromises which have received the most attention: lack of Nokia's "Glance" screen/double-tap to wake being the big one, right up there with the conservative hardware design. I knew those things going in, though, and I was cool with it -- the trade-off was that Snapdragon 800! ...and that gorgeous 1080 x 1920 screen! ...and the camera, OMG the camera!
So, imagine my surprise when I go to check my voicemail for the first time...and discover that visual voicemail is nowhere to be found on this phone. Oh, I suppose that's not true, not completely...for $3/month, I can download a separate app (made by Verizon) with which I can emulate the feature. But that's another compromise, and for two reasons: first, VVM has been built-in to Windows Phone since 2012, so I don't want to install and use a separate app! Second, $3/month for VVM? I have a second phone -- an iPhone 5 -- on Verizon that both 1) uses the VVM feature built-in to iOS, and 2) is FREE. What's up with that? But, whatever...I guess I'll go back to using voicemail the same way I did on Windows Phone 7. Nevermind that my $60 Lumia 520 has suddenly become already more capable in this area that my brand-new $550 "flagship."
Peeved, I start going through the Settings to configure the phone as I like: turn on all the location settings, sort my contact list by last name, set my Caller ID to only display to my contacts...WAIT! What? Verizon/Nokia has stripped out the Caller ID preferences, too? You've got to be kidding me. At this point I'm scared to see what else is missing.
The Lumia Icon is a good phone. A REALLY good phone. The camera lives up to its billing, the screen really is gorgeous, and I love having the extra row of live tiles. Qi charging is a godsend. Yet, for customers used to the Windows Phone experience on other carriers there are too many give-and-takes on this device for it to be a GREAT phone. I supposed what irks me most about this is that everyone who is a Windows Phone fan is already making compromises just to stay on the platform -- we delude ourselves into thinking that it's "OK" not to have radio in Spotify, because we didn't really use it that much anyhow. Or, it's okay not to have apps like Dropbox, because we've got OneDrive...or Snapchat, because Rudy Huyn is a freakin' genius. It's fine by us that our phones don't have fingerprint readers, and retina scanners, and whatever else Apple and Google('s partners) are dreaming up these days. But it's all still a compromise, because we love the potential of Windows Phone. Honestly, I'm still fine with a lot of the trade-offs...but, for the love of Heaven, Verizon and Nokia, throw me a bone here. At least give us real VVM.
All of that said, I suppose I'm a little more frustrated than I should be. Perhaps Windows Phone Blue will fix everything and shoot us leaps and bounds beyond the competition. Here's to hoping! In the meantime, I've got a week and a half left to determine whether I keep this phone, or defect back to AT&T. Sigh.
Verizon is clearly proud of this phone, and they clearly want you to be proud that you're with the carrier who's proud to carry this phone. To that end, they've branded the phone EVERYWHERE -- front, back (x2), the phone tile, the dialer (the DIALER? Really?). It's a small thing, but it stands in such stark contrast to Windows Phone's purposeful minimalism that the silliness of it sticks out like a sore thumb. Honestly, Verizon, your logo on the back of the phone is alright...it's a decent size, and understated. Heck, even your "4G LTE" logo ain't bad. But branding the thing in half a dozen places? C'mon. I promise I won't forget which carrier I'm writing my checks out to each month.
Annoying branding is annoying, but do you know what's worse? A gimped flagship. Compromises on a phone which bills itself as "The One" by which all other Windows Phones should be measured. In the first day, that's been my experience so far...the Lumia Icon is a compromised device. To wit, everyone is aware of a few of the compromises which have received the most attention: lack of Nokia's "Glance" screen/double-tap to wake being the big one, right up there with the conservative hardware design. I knew those things going in, though, and I was cool with it -- the trade-off was that Snapdragon 800! ...and that gorgeous 1080 x 1920 screen! ...and the camera, OMG the camera!
So, imagine my surprise when I go to check my voicemail for the first time...and discover that visual voicemail is nowhere to be found on this phone. Oh, I suppose that's not true, not completely...for $3/month, I can download a separate app (made by Verizon) with which I can emulate the feature. But that's another compromise, and for two reasons: first, VVM has been built-in to Windows Phone since 2012, so I don't want to install and use a separate app! Second, $3/month for VVM? I have a second phone -- an iPhone 5 -- on Verizon that both 1) uses the VVM feature built-in to iOS, and 2) is FREE. What's up with that? But, whatever...I guess I'll go back to using voicemail the same way I did on Windows Phone 7. Nevermind that my $60 Lumia 520 has suddenly become already more capable in this area that my brand-new $550 "flagship."
Peeved, I start going through the Settings to configure the phone as I like: turn on all the location settings, sort my contact list by last name, set my Caller ID to only display to my contacts...WAIT! What? Verizon/Nokia has stripped out the Caller ID preferences, too? You've got to be kidding me. At this point I'm scared to see what else is missing.
The Lumia Icon is a good phone. A REALLY good phone. The camera lives up to its billing, the screen really is gorgeous, and I love having the extra row of live tiles. Qi charging is a godsend. Yet, for customers used to the Windows Phone experience on other carriers there are too many give-and-takes on this device for it to be a GREAT phone. I supposed what irks me most about this is that everyone who is a Windows Phone fan is already making compromises just to stay on the platform -- we delude ourselves into thinking that it's "OK" not to have radio in Spotify, because we didn't really use it that much anyhow. Or, it's okay not to have apps like Dropbox, because we've got OneDrive...or Snapchat, because Rudy Huyn is a freakin' genius. It's fine by us that our phones don't have fingerprint readers, and retina scanners, and whatever else Apple and Google('s partners) are dreaming up these days. But it's all still a compromise, because we love the potential of Windows Phone. Honestly, I'm still fine with a lot of the trade-offs...but, for the love of Heaven, Verizon and Nokia, throw me a bone here. At least give us real VVM.
All of that said, I suppose I'm a little more frustrated than I should be. Perhaps Windows Phone Blue will fix everything and shoot us leaps and bounds beyond the competition. Here's to hoping! In the meantime, I've got a week and a half left to determine whether I keep this phone, or defect back to AT&T. Sigh.
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