Lumia Icon, best Windows Phone ever, receives tepid reviews

in mobile on 2014-03-19 10:57 (#3GC)

Nokia's latest offering for Windows Phone 8, the Lumia Icon is out for review, and though early reviewers approve of the hardware's build quality, battery life and high-resoution screen and camera, many cite concerns about the OS and its app ecosystem and conclude the phone fails to compel.

Sporting a 2.22Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM, 32GB internal storage (but no SD slot), a 20 megapixel rear-facing camera, a 1.2 megapixel front-facing camera, and a 5" 440ppi, HD-capable 1920x1080 resolution screen, the phone is no slouch. But reviews by Wired , Digital Trends , Gizmodo , The Verge , and IGN all use conflicting language like "best Windows phone ever made" and "pretty but flawed," "fantastic," and "bland," or "beautiful" and "unrefined." What's going on here? Is this a winner for the struggling Windows Phone brand, or does it fall short of the mark?

Lastly, rumours are circulating that Microsoft is considering Android compatibility. Is this going to be the secret sauce, or will it undermine WinPhones the way Windows compatability led to poor sales of IBM's OS/2?

7 comments

No Thanks (Score: 2, Insightful)

by vanderhoth@pipedot.org on 2014-03-19 11:48 (#P2)

Impressive specs, but I wouldn't touch a windows phone with a 10' pole. I give it another year and MS will be backing down and anyone holding one of those will be left in the cold wondering what to do with it. Even if they support Android apps, why wouldn't I just get a frigging Android to support Android apps! It's a losing strategy because it's not like Android phones are in short supply.

MS really screwed themselves when they had win phone 7 and dropped everyone that had already bought into their product when win 8 came out. How do you know they won't do the same when Windows 9 comes out next year? We all know it's coming, and we all know it'll be a complete back peddle on Windows 8.

Re: No Thanks (Score: 3, Funny)

by sleazyridr@pipedot.org on 2014-03-19 14:37 (#PB)

Yeah, "Best Windows Phone Ever" is kind of like saying that you're the tallest midget in the world, or that you're the most athletic nerd on |.

It's ending (Score: 1, Insightful)

by nightsky30@pipedot.org on 2014-03-19 13:01 (#P5)

I think the days of the mass consumed proprietary OS are coming to an end. If you don't give your customers what they want, they aren't going to remain happy. And if the customers aren't happy, and know of an alternative that can be customized to fit their needs, they will leave you for said alternative.

Linux has matured over the past decade. It isn't perfect, but neither is Windows. At least Linux allows more freedoms to its users. Many thanks to Linus and all the kernel developers for their work. Valve and Google have also done a great job leveraging Linux in their technological and commercial offerings. People may finally be waking up to the realization there are other options.

Android compatibility: yes please (Score: 1)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-03-19 13:10 (#P6)

I don't care what Windows did to OS/2. (Well, yes I do). But here and now, there's potentially hope for app compatibility. I've got a few Samsung Android phones, including the Note 3, which is their flagship (and it's a pretty great phone). But I'm looking seriously at the new Blackberry Q10 with keyboard. Why? I like the hardware, and Blackberry does things that no Samsung Android does today. I can assign shortcuts/hotkeys to the physical keyboard, and launch a call to my wife in a single keypress. On my phablet I've got to unlock the screen, navigate over to the phone icon, hit favorites, and select her from the list (voice control works when I have a wifi connection, but I don't always have one).

Point is just: I wouldn't be considering BB alone because their software ecosystem isn't as good. But getting a Q10 Blackberry hardware with Android app compatability is potentially a sweet spot for a consumer like me! (ironic, since most tech analysts look at Blackberry and tell them to stop making handsets, as their value is increasingly only in their patent portfolio - how stupid).

Re: Android compatibility: yes please (Score: 1)

by vanderhoth@pipedot.org on 2014-03-19 14:07 (#P9)

I have a Note II, I was able to create a shortcut to my wife on my home screen so it's just unlock phone, click shortcut, click call. Not trying to talk you out of BB or anything, BB makes some great phones, just wanted to give you the heads up in case you didn't realize you could create a shortcut to a contact.

I'm a big fan of the stylus for my Note II. Writing text messages by hand beats typing on tiny keyboards for me any day, but if I didn't have the stylus definitely a physical keyboard is better than a touch screen keyboard.

Re: Android compatibility: yes please (Score: 2, Insightful)

by zafiro17@pipedot.org on 2014-03-19 15:36 (#PE)

Hey, I'm glad to know that! Thanks. (Still want me a real keyboard though - I wish those early Androids with physical keyboards were still around but alas, the market has spoken).

Re: Android compatibility: yes please (Score: 2, Insightful)

by vanderhoth@pipedot.org on 2014-03-19 16:59 (#PJ)

Yeah, I had the HTC Desire Z with the flip-out keyboard and thought it was the greatest thing. Then when I was thinking of getting my next phone, 3 years after that, there were no more physical keyboards for Android phones, only touch screen. I was worried until I stumbled on the Note II with the stylus. It can be a bit quirky because I have pretty messy handwriting, but 90% of the time it works great and it's light years better than typing on a touch, which is still an option on the Note II. I hope there's something with a stylus available in two years when I'll be looking for my next phone.