Got a Lumia 920: My thoughts after 48hrs

[JustGeorge]

The Good:

1. Well made

2. Modern UI concept/execution works well for phones

3. Stable, smooth running experience

4. Simple to figure out and use

5. Nice screen

6. Fits good in the hands

7. Lots of built in storage.

The Bad:

1. Battery life so far, sucks. Didn't make any calls the first day. All I did was spend a while adding contacts, customizing the start screen, add accounts and make one phone call. Had to plug it back in first thing on day two because batt was critically low. I set screen brightness to low full time and enabled battery saver in the phone options. If I have to charge the battery almost every day, I expect I'll have to send the phone off in a little over a year for a battery replacement.

2. Speakers are not loud enough. I made one phone call and noticed that with the speaker on and volume maxed, it was painfully hard to hear the person on the other end with any amount of background noise (Fan, porn DVD playing n the background, etc). No way on hell the alarm is going to wake me up in the morning, either.

3. No SD card slot or removable battery. Seriously, phone manufactures, removing useful features to be more simplistic like Apple is not a good thing! Given the current battery life I am experiencing with the 920, they should've provided a holster with a spare battery change!

4. Windows app store: Not really a knock against the phone, but there just isn't a lot in there yet. Android and Apple have the advantage here for the time being.

Overall, I like the phone and do not regret getting it. Hopefully Nokia gets an update out that can help the battery life issue. Other things like the absence of SD slot and volume problems are a disappointment however.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

2. Speakers are not loud enough. I made one phone call and noticed that with the speaker on and volume maxed, it was painfully hard to hear the person on the other end with any amount of backgound noise (Fan, porn DVD playing n the background, etc). No way on hell the alarm is going to wake me up n the morning, either.

How bad is it?

I heard that from my friend too.

[JustGeorge]

How bad is it?

I heard that from my friend too.

I can deal with the speaker phone issues, but get an alarm clock if you rely on your phone to wake you up.

[jakem1]

To be fair, you knew it didn't have an SD-card slot when you bought it.

Also, having to charge a smartphone once a day isn't too surprising. It's years since I've had a phone that lasted more than a day without needing to be charged.

[JustGeorge]

To be fair, you knew it didn't have an SD-card slot when you bought it.

Also, having to charge a smartphone once a day isn't too surprising. It's years since I've had a phone that lasted more than a day without needing to be charged.

True, I knew about the absence of an SD slot and accepted it, but its still a negative any way you look at it. As far as battery life goes I upgraded from an ENVY 2, so this is my first smart phone experience. I am not a heavy phone user by any means, so I can image what a power user goes through in terms of charging. From a consumer prospective, short battery life and non-removable batteries are a bad combination and why a phone maker would want to deal with replacing something that should serviceable by the end user is beyond me. Again, these design choices are influenced by Apple's iPhone.

[jakem1]

True, I knew about the absence of an SD slot and accepted it, but its still a negative any way you look at it.

I used to think this way too but got used to not having an SD slot when I bought my first Windows Phone. IMO, the Lumia 920 doesn't really need an SD slot because it already has 32GB of storage built in. At this point I think that's more than enough for most people.

As far as battery life goes I upgraded from an ENVY 2, so this is my first smart phone experience. I am not a heavy phone user by any means, so I can image what a power user goes through in terms of charging. From a consumer prospective, short battery life and non-removable batteries are a bad combination and why a phone maker would want to deal with replacing something that should serviceable by the end user is beyond me. Again, these design choices are influenced by Apple's iPhone.

Again, you knew the battery wasn't removable before you bought the phone so you can't really complain about it too much. The lack of replaceable battery might be an issue for some users but there are plenty of phones out there for them to choose from. To be honest, I think the number of people who need to swap batteries on a regular basis is probably pretty slim.

My main concern about the non-replaceable battery would be that you can't just pull the battery if the phone locks up. As long as there's a way to force a reboot (I believe there's a button combination you have to press to do this) then it's not a huge issue.

Unfortunately short battery life is the norm with smartphones so I think you should get used to it. You could always consider taking advantage of the wireless charging present in the Lumia 920 to make regular charging simpler but I'm sure you'll get used to having to remember to charge your phone more frequently.

[Dot Matrix]

1. Battery life so far, sucks. Didn't make any calls the first day. All I did was spend a while adding contacts, customizing the start screen, add accounts and make one phone call. Had to plug it back in first thing on day two because batt was critically low. I set screen brightness to low full time and enabled battery saver in the phone options. If I have to charge the battery almost every day, I expect I'll have to send the phone off in a little over a year for a battery replacement.

Well, fist day usage while you're adding contacts, downloading apps, etc are going to put a strain on the battery. Use it a while before you make this call , and see how the battery lasts then.

[Sandor]

Possibly LTE causing the battery issues?

I know my HTC Raider (getting a bit old by modern standards) would last about a day on LTE. Kicking back to HSPA+ basically doubles my battery life and in the end that was more important to me. I can deal with 10Mbit over 25-30Mbit tbh.

[V8nside]

Most battery driven devices get better after a week or 2 of charge cycles...

I find a lot of phones have poor in call volume performance, any one have a phone that has good-great call volume?

[+Ryster Subscriber²]

I've read that NFC drains the battery quite a lot too. As I'm not using it, and I prefer my phone not to make a little jingly tune when I put it near my wallet, I've turned it off :-)

[patseguin Global Moderator]

I had the previous Lumia for a time and thought it was an exceptional device. I'm sure this one is no different from a build standpoint and probably even better with Windows Phone 8 as opposed to what was on the previous Lumia. Having used Windows Phone, Android, and iOS each for a good amount of time I give the edge to Android but that's not to take anything away from the 920. I'm wondering if some of your bads can be fixed in a firmware update.

[tsupersonic]

Congrats. Yeah, see how battery life becomes once it's broken in, and you move to a different usage pattern. I played with the Lumia 920 at a store, and I wasn't impressed at all. Had very high hopes for this device.

[Scorbing]

The Good:

1. Well made

2. Modern UI concept/execution works well for phones

3. Stable, smooth running experience

4. Simple to figure out and use

5. Nice screen

6. Fits good in the hands

7. Lots of built in storage.

The Bad:

1. Battery life so far, sucks. Didn't make any calls the first day. All I did was spend a while adding contacts, customizing the start screen, add accounts and make one phone call. Had to plug it back in first thing on day two because batt was critically low. I set screen brightness to low full time and enabled battery saver in the phone options. If I have to charge the battery almost every day, I expect I'll have to send the phone off in a little over a year for a battery replacement.

2. Speakers are not loud enough. I made one phone call and noticed that with the speaker on and volume maxed, it was painfully hard to hear the person on the other end with any amount of background noise (Fan, porn DVD playing n the background, etc). No way on hell the alarm is going to wake me up in the morning, either.

3. No SD card slot or removable battery. Seriously, phone manufactures, removing useful features to be more simplistic like Apple is not a good thing! Given the current battery life I am experiencing with the 920, they should've provided a holster with a spare battery change!

4. Windows app store: Not really a knock against the phone, but there just isn't a lot in there yet. Android and Apple have the advantage here for the time being.

Overall, I like the phone and do not regret getting it. Hopefully Nokia gets an update out that can help the battery life issue. Other things like the absence of SD slot and volume problems are a disappointment however.

Did you read the reviews all over the internet before buying it? The reviews clearly state that the battery is not very good at all compared to other units in its class. They also mention that it has no SD card slot or removable battery and they also say that the Windows App store is empty as far as good, useful apps is concerned (but that is not Nokia's fault).

Before you buy a phone you must really consider the pros and cons. To me personally, these are the rules I follow when buying a phone:

1. Battery Life must be excellent and must be removable.

2. SD or Micro SD Card Slot for expansion.

3. Excellent, clear, bright screen that is even bright and clear in sunlight.

4. Processor speed. No less than a dual core CPU.

5. Memory. No less than 2GB of RAM. Very useful when multi-tasking.

I have a friend who bought the Nokia and he regrets it now because he is having the same issues you are. Yes, the Nokia has 32GB of internal storage and it is a technological marvel but what good is that going to do you if it has no real useful apps and no battery life?

If you just got it and and can still return it, I would suggest a Samsung Galaxy S3 or better. Windows Phones have a long way to go before they can catch up with Android and iOS. The Windows Phone app store is really a shame.

Samsung Galaxy S3: http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxys3/

Samsung Galaxy Note 2: http://www.samsung.com/global/microsite/galaxynote/note2/index.html?type=find

They both have 2GB of memory, removable battery and Micro SD Card slot. The U.S. AT&T S3 has a Snapdragon S4 Dual-Core and the Note 2 has a Quad-Core. The international version of the S3 has the same Quad Core as the Note 2.

I hope this helps.

[theyarecomingforyou]

The non-removable battery and terrible battery life are the main reason I'll pass on the Lumia 920, with the weight being a concern - otherwise it appears to be an excellent phone. I don't think that SD-cards are important on most phones and I barely use much storage on my phone, which only has 10GB in total.

The Galaxy S3 and Note 2 are my favourites at the moment but by the time my contract up in about 6 months I'm expecting there to be much better offerings.

[FrankJL]

Got a Lumia 920. EXCEPTIONAL phone I loved it.

But I personally dont want to feel or be part of a new system.

I didnt want to give up my cyan lumia 920.

I reverted back to iphone simply because oevrall it is more mature.

BUt honestly cant wait for WP8 to grow. I am ready to switch out of my iphone and into wp8.

[SuperKRad]

I have this phone. Let the battery drain all the way to 0%, then charge it all the way up to full. For whatever reason, a LOT of people report this helps the battery, and I have now gotten two full days of charge with the phone under light usage, and at least 24 hours with regular usage.

[jakem1]

...the Windows App store is empty as far as good, useful apps is concerned (but that is not Nokia's fault).

Sorry but that's just ridiculous. There are in excess of 120,000 apps in the marketplace and the numbers are increasing every day. The majority of "must have" apps are accounted for or a suitable alternative can be found. It may have fewer apps than iOS or Android but the quality of apps in the WP Marketplace are generally higher than Google Play and the Marketplace isn't riddled with trial versions which add nothing but boost the iOS/Android app count. For that last reason alone the WP Marketplace will always be smaller than the competition but it's better for it.

Your minimum specs are ridiculous too. I'd rather spend money on innovative features like the display or the camera on the Lumia 920 than faster processors and extra RAM which are only needed because the software on your Note 2 hasn't been optimised for the hardware.

[articuno1au]

I have this phone. Let the battery drain all the way to 0%, then charge it all the way up to full. For whatever reason, a LOT of people report this helps the battery, and I have now gotten two full days of charge with the phone under light usage, and at least 24 hours with regular usage.

That's pretty much what I'm seeing.

Also, turn of location awareness for apps like "Angry Birds Roost" and other such stuff.

[sagum]

I can deal with the speaker phone issues, but get an alarm clock if you rely on your phone to wake you up.

I haven't really thought about it until now. But even though I only made the switch to a smart phone less then 2 year ago, I've been using my dumb mobile phone as an alarm since around 2000-1ish time.

With my windows phone, I've got my calendar shared with my girlfriend, so she can add events and chance my alerts and I use the calendar as my alarm (socially enabled if you will..) The battery life has never been amazing on my LG 900 but I came from a Nokia 3210 with a battery life of about ..forever and a day, but still I've gotten into the habit of putting my phone on charge next to my bad, where it'll wirelessly sync to my PC, charge and then wake me up in the morning.

As for the OP's annoyance with the lack of apps.. That should be solved sooner rather then later now that windows 8 is released. More developers will see how easy it is to create apps and can try windows phone development, cross over is very simple to do.. and to top it off, Microsoft recently had marketplace developer access for ?8 so there is little reason for developers not to have signed up to develop and push their apps/games out.

[tsupersonic]

Sorry but that's just ridiculous. There are in excess of 120,000 apps in the marketplace and the numbers are increasing every day. The majority of "must have" apps are accounted for or a suitable alternative can be found. It may have fewer apps than iOS or Android but the quality of apps in the WP Marketplace are generally higher than Google Play and the Marketplace isn't riddled with trial versions which add nothing but boost the iOS/Android app count. For that last reason alone the WP Marketplace will always be smaller than the competition but it's better for it.

Your minimum specs are ridiculous too. I'd rather spend money on innovative features like the display or the camera on the Lumia 920 than faster processors and extra RAM which are only needed because the software on your Note 2 hasn't been optimised for the hardware.

I have to agree with Scorbing with the apps comment. Yes, WP apps are high quality, but quality of apps on Android has vastly improved, as the dev. support boosted the quantity of apps. I would say Android is up there with iOS in terms of quality. I can't get even basic games/apps from Windows phone that I can with Android and iOS. The experience is totally different, and apps certainly do make/break the platform. From what I have seen of the Note 2, it's a fairly smooth experience, but then again, I haven't had a non-smooth experience in JB...

[Scorbing]

Sorry but that's just ridiculous. There are in excess of 120,000 apps in the marketplace and the numbers are increasing every day. The majority of "must have" apps are accounted for or a suitable alternative can be found. It may have fewer apps than iOS or Android but the quality of apps in the WP Marketplace are generally higher than Google Play and the Marketplace isn't riddled with trial versions which add nothing but boost the iOS/Android app count. For that last reason alone the WP Marketplace will always be smaller than the competition but it's better for it.

Your minimum specs are ridiculous too. I'd rather spend money on innovative features like the display or the camera on the Lumia 920 than faster processors and extra RAM which are only needed because the software on your Note 2 hasn't been optimised for the hardware.

1. Those specs I posted, like you said, are the minimum I would accept, and why "ridiculous"? There aren't that many Quad Core phones out there yet. They are just now beginning to pop up. Most are dual core.

2. Just because my Note software is not optimized for my hardware doesn't mean it will not be. At least I know my Note 2 can take anything I throw at it 2 years from now with the hardware its got. Things will get better and better. There is no turning back for Android now that the Apple ship is on creativity trouble.

3. The Windows app store is growing yes, but it doesn't have anything really useful.

[jakem1]

1. Those specs I posted, like you said, are the minimum I would accept, and why "ridiculous"? There aren't that many Quad Core phones out there yet. They are just now beginning to pop up. Most are dual core.

2. Just because my Note software is not optimized for my hardware doesn't mean it will not be. At least I know my Note 2 can take anything I throw at it 2 years from now with the hardware its got. Things will get better and better. There is no turning back for Android now that the Apple ship is on creativity trouble.

3. The Windows app store is growing yes, but it doesn't have anything really useful.

They're ridiculous because you're effectively paying for hardware that your phone doesn't take advantage of effectively. You're paying for a phone with tomorrow's hardware and yesterday's software and the chances of your phone receiving meaningful updates in a year let alone two years is exceedingly slim.

The Windows app store has more than enough really useful apps. Also many of the most useful such as Office come built into WP so there's no need for a separate app.

I'm pleased that you like your Note 2 and it's obvious that the WP Marketplace has to gain a bit more support from notable developers but there's no need to overstate your case. Most people will find exactly what they want or an identical alternative in the WP Marketplace.

[Scorbing]

They're ridiculous because you're effectively paying for hardware that your phone doesn't take advantage of effectively. You're paying for a phone with tomorrow's hardware and yesterday's software and the chances of your phone receiving meaningful updates in a year let alone two years is exceedingly slim.

The Windows app store has more than enough really useful apps. Also many of the most useful such as Office come built into WP so there's no need for a separate app.

I'm pleased that you like your Note 2 and it's obvious that the WP Marketplace has to gain a bit more support from notable developers but there's no need to overstate your case. Most people will find exactly what they want or an identical alternative in the WP Marketplace.

Well my Note 2 software may not support the hardware fully yet, but this is very simple my friend:

Better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it.

[Tuishimi]

Thank you for the review/thread. I have (and enjoy) my Titan II with WP7. When the time comes to upgrade I'll be looking for "the" WP8 device. So all you trailblazers are helping me out. I was looking at the 920 and am leaning toward Nokia... but by the time I am ready there will probably be better phones and WP8 will probably be updated at least once.

[George P Global Moderator]

Thank you for the review/thread. I have (and enjoy) my Titan II with WP7. When the time comes to upgrade I'll be looking for "the" WP8 device. So all you trailblazers are helping me out. I was looking at the 920 and am leaning toward Nokia... but by the time I am ready there will probably be better phones and WP8 will probably be updated at least once.

There seem to be rumors of a titan III in the works with WP8 so when the time comes I wouldn't be surprised if you just moved right up to that from your titan II, unless it doesn't come true.

I;ve got a blue 8X and I love it, I twaked the settings a bit, turned nfc off and so on and I can get a full day off of it same as my old wp7 device. And it's got a smaller battery than the 920, so really you should let the battery drain as low as can and then charge it up full to get the most out of it like others have said.