Lumia 1520

ahoudet said:
Anyone with a 1520 looking at moving back to android? Got an S4 with a bit of cash I'd be interested in trading. Otherwise, anyone selling for a reasonable price?
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One great phone. Was a android fan for many years but using 1520 since Feb now there is little change ever moving back. The big bright screen, 3 day battery life and the great camera is the main plus factors.
 
Wag said:
One great phone. Was a android fan for many years but using 1520 since Feb now there is little change ever moving back. The big bright screen, 3 day battery life and the great camera is the main plus factors.
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I like android. Been using it for less than a year but I get bored quickly and I'm on my 5th or more android phone and want a change now :)
 
Tried to get a Nokia Lumia 1520 on contract at Vodacom today. Consultant told me that the 1520 was discontinued. Now the long wait for the 930.
 
When I view the Vodacom site, the phone is out of stock. When I spoke to a consultant at Vodacom SP, they claimed the phone was no longer being distributed by Vodacom.

 
Got my 1520 last week Friday, thought I'd share my thoughts/perspective to those considering getting it still, even with the 930 around the corner (hopefully).

I've used Android phones since 2010 exclusively (HTC Desire > HTC One X > Samsung Galaxy Note 3) and ended up also getting this 1520. I've always been intrigued by Windows phone because it looks awesome, but was always put off by the lack of apps in the app store, and supposedly poor Google integration (I use chrome, gmail, hangouts, etc).

Anyway, coming straight from the Note 3, the size wasn't too jarring, but it is still bigger than the already big Note 3! However, that screen more than makes up for it - it looks amazing. As for the rest of the physical parts of the phone, it is top notch. I used Nokias before the days of Android and expected good build quality, and was not disappointed. Also, having a camera button is great! Too few android phones have dedicated camera buttons.

On to the OS, as soon as I got it I also got the Developer Preview of 8.1, so no experience with Windows phone except for 8.1. Something I immediately noticed is that it is blazingly fast. The Note 3 on Android 4.4 was fast, don't get me wrong, but it feels like on another level here. Very smooth and fluid animations, things happen as soon as you press anything on the screen, overall great experience there. I was also surprised how many things are available in Windows Phone settings that aren't available in stock Android, and you would normally find it in a OEM skin like TouchWiz or HTC Sense. For example, customisable quick settings in the Action Centre drop down, which actually I only found in custom ROMs for android, not even OEM skins.

Finally, the app store. The one disappointment I still have with Windows Phone, but far less painful than I thought it would be. The only thing I am truly missing is Chrome (never gonna happen?) and Hangouts (possible, perhaps... Google did release developer APIs for Windows Phone a few months ago, who knows!). For YouTube, the browser is fine, and there are apps like MetroTube and MyTube that have received high praise but I have yet to try them. For everything I else I use (RSS News reader, reddit client, Whatsapp, Gmail, facebook, twitter, maps (nokia's maps seem good so far), dropbox, deezer, manga reader, and quite a few more, there are official or good alternatives on the store. (In fact for dropbox, I am using cloudsix for dropbox, and I dare say it's better than the official dropbox apps on iOS and Android).

I am having some teething pains though. I don't understand how sharing works! Sometimes I can share to Whatsapp, sometimes not. Seems inconsistent at times.

I also am having a weird issue, but this is probably due to it being a developer preview, but my Auto Brightness causes a colour shift on the phone. If I set brightness to low, medium or high manually, it is fine, but as soon as I enable Auto Brightness, it shifts all the colours and completely changes some to make the interface and pictures look very weird. I've settled to just setting the brightness manually but would prefer using auto brightness - I haven't had much luck finding out what's the cause or how to fix, so if anyone knows it'd be greatly appreciated.

I'll continue my Windows Phone trial and who knows, maybe I'll stick with Windows Phone for a while :)
 
@ravage Glad you enjoying your 1520.Ive had mine now for about a month and absolutely loving it (previous phone Note 2).
Battery life is superb.Camera ia superb.I'm loving WP. I got the 8.1 update a day after I purchased so thats also all I know.Apps for me havent been a sticky point.Found everything I need.Very pleased overall with the 1520.

The Auto brightness issue / with everything going all wierd has happened to me as well on the odd ocassion.Haven't bothered to find out why it does that or how it can be resolved because it so random and can be sorted out by just switching auto off and settling with one of the low medium or high options.If you do come across anything that tells you why it happens let me know.
 
I've been using a 1520 for the last six months and it's been a very good experience. The lack of apps is really not a big deal. The quality of the apps in general is very good. MS and Nokia tries to address any app shortfalls by doing developments inhouse. The 1520 is a fantastic device that I can recommend without any reservations. One quickly adjusts to the mega size of the thing and the quality of the screen quickly wins one over. The 8.1 update resolved any issues that I had.

It is a real pity that Windows Phone is doing so poorly ito market share. Except for a few exceptions (Spain in particular) it's not picking up. I just cannot see MS keep going at this for a lot longer without shareholders demanding an ax to fall. The market is just not going for Windows Phone no matter what MS puts on the table. If one were to compare the uptake of Android with that of Windows say over the first three years on the market I suspect there will be a massive difference in uptake. How long will investors allow MS to stay in the sub 5% region?

The quality of Windows Phone is not the issue. MS has done all that one can expect from them to make a great mobile OS. What else are they to do?

[Side note: my Nokia 1520 will become available for purchase soon. My six month stint with it is done.]
 
kingrob said:
:eek:

Are you getting a Note 4 or an iPhone 6?
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You're going to laugh when I tell you I'm getting an iPhone 5S soon. I've now standardised on Apple (MBP, iPad and iPhone) and I do not want to get into the whole iPhone 6 craziness now ... I've learned to wait for the second iterations so I'll be going for the 6S if there is such a phone. I just don't have the time and energy to tinker with my devices anymore. The way things are in my life at present things must work exactly right out of the box ... an the different devices must work per the same principles. Days of messing around are over for me. KISS.
 
BeVonk! said:
You're going to laugh when I tell you I'm getting an iPhone 5S soon. I've now standardised on Apple (MBP, iPad and iPhone) and I do not want to get into the whole iPhone 6 craziness now ... I've learned to wait for the second iterations so I'll be going for the 6S if there is such a phone. I just don't have the time and energy to tinker with my devices anymore. The way things are in my life at present things must work exactly right out of the box ... an the different devices must work per the same principles. Days of messing around are over for me. KISS.
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Nice!! Yup, it makes perfect sense when you've invested in the Apple ecosystem.

And I agree with you, my days of loading 50 different custom ROMs on my phone is well over. Just don't like doing it anymore.

Things must just work, that's it.
 
Exactly. One goes through seasons and the one I'm in now wants things to be as hassle free as possible. The seasons for tweaking and messing around is getting further and further apart. I have too much on my plate to deal with these days and a phone is not the go-to device for me as it used to be. I now have a set number of things I need and I want it the same across the device spectrum as much as is possible.

I made a decision some time ago not to go for Windows tablets. I've also broken away from the Window PC ecosystem and am on my second MBP already. The phone is now the last piece of the puzzle. I really believe MS has a really good mobile phone OS now but the tablet experience is not as good and Windows 8 on PC was the last straw for me. I had to give the 1520 a go to have an honest opinion on Windows Phone and as I stated it now is a serious alternative that cannot be dismissed out of hand ... but to get full value out of it one must for the whole Windows ecosystem.
 
BeVonk! said:
It is a real pity that Windows Phone is doing so poorly ito market share. Except for a few exceptions (Spain in particular) it's not picking up. I just cannot see MS keep going at this for a lot longer without shareholders demanding an ax to fall. The market is just not going for Windows Phone no matter what MS puts on the table. If one were to compare the uptake of Android with that of Windows say over the first three years on the market I suspect there will be a massive difference in uptake. How long will investors allow MS to stay in the sub 5% region?
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I wouldn't say it's doing that badly, the success of the Lumia 520 was clearly enough to let them know they're on the right track. Satya won't let the phone branch die even though he was against buying Nokia's hardware side. He's a cloud-first and mobile-first guy and won't let WP die. The kinds of changes being brought in like Files and how OneDrive works is all because of him.

They have to mend their relationship with Google to allow for a IE11-based version of Chrome for WP as well as access to Google Drive, Google Apps and Hangouts/Youtube, but that will take time.
 
The Lumia 1520 is too awesome. You don't need to put it in your pocket. I've had it since December and I can't use a small phone anymore.
 
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