I have been an avid Apple user since late 2009 and wanted to try something different as i am getting frustrated by their lack of exciting new features each time they bring out a new phone!
Before Apple's iPhone, i had always had Nokia phones - the ones with buttons rather than touch screens. Due to this, i really wanted to test out a Nokia before comitting to a 12-24 month contract with one.
When it arrived, i was pleased with the overal look and feel of the phone. I was quite looking forward to using the amazing camera tht i had heard so much about. I have always been a simplistic user, not straying too far into the settings on each part of the phone and wanting to pick up and use without thinking too much about it. After all, phones are for talking to people.
After a little bit of button pushing and frustration, i discovered that just by plugging it into the mains, it came to life. I couldnt work out which button was the power button as there were no little markings on any of the 3 buttons. (later discovered the power button in the middle one)
I went through the set up process which was fairly painless. I put in my details, decided what i wanted to set up and what i would leave until later. After a few minutes the phone was ready to use.
I installed a couple of common aps, Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter. They all worked really well and i was quite impressed with the screen and how bright and clear everything was.
Then i went into the camera. I didnt play with the settings and took a photo of my childs colourful toy with the Nokia and then with the iPhone. As you can see from the photos, the Nokia camera had a much more true to life colour, whereas the iPhone was quite dark and had a blue tinge to everything. The problem i found was when i loaded the photos on to my main desktop pc, i zoomed in on both and discovered the pixels for the Nokia were not coming thorugh as they should. THe iPhone was a much better zoom. I was quite shocked by this and i asked my parter who is a tech man to help me work out what was wrong. In my mind the Nokia pictures were meant to be far superior to the iPhones as the camera is of a much better quality.
After looking though the properties of each photo, he informed me that i must have been using a poorper camera setting on the Nokia as the pixels of the shot did not match the specification of the phones write up. We both looked in the setting and we were unable to find out why this was the case.
Therefore, in a simplistic usage review, i am going to have to say the camera let me down. This is going against everything i want to write and please do not ridicule me for my honest opinion. THe photos are here for you to see:
1st is the iPhone image
2nd the Nokia 1020
You can clearly see the difference and i so wanted to say how impressed i was with the Nokias camera. However, in the standard shot, without zooming, i felt the Nokia won hands down. Before you start zooming and playing with the photos, the Nokia shots look a lot clearer and sharper. I think the screen helps the camera a lot with this and the two work very well together.
Moving on from the camera, by this stage i was starting ti use the phone a bit more. I was getting frustrated that i kept getting little boxes up asking if i wanted to transmit the information to Microsoft. I believe in the set up there was the option of turning this off, but i didnt fully understand what the phone was asking so i went with it. I didnt realise it would ask me quite frequently. I did manage to turn this off in the settings but it did take a while to find out where.
One of the features of this phone that i absolutely love is the Kids corner. Having two small children, i found it to be brilliant. The eldest (5 years old) was able to play his games and look at things safely and unsupervised. He enjoyed the freedom and i enjoyed the fact i could let him play and that i could add things to his home screen easily if i saw soemthing i knew he would like. This is a feature i have not seen before. Although Apple offer the setting for the children, they are not simple to set up and get the hang of, this was. A mega thumbs up from all of the family on this one! Well done Nokia!
As for the rest of the phone, i cant complain. Most of the apps i have on the iPhone were available. I didnt go through all of them, but the main ones i use were there. Some of the games i play had different set ups, but they were available in a form to download and get on with.
The phone worked quickly, i like the split second vibrate when you were touching the bottons on screen so that it was letting you know you had pressed it. The on screen keyboard was simple to use. THe bottons were slightly narrower than the iPhone, but after a few goes, i wasnt pushing one or more key at a time and it was quicker than the iPhone at typing.
I love how you can fully customise the home screen. You can have what you want where you want. You can have as much or as little as you desire and everything is one touch away.
What i did find initially was that the quick launch for things like bluetooth, wifi and the camera wasnt there. With the iPhone, you swipe up at any point and you have a few simple running options to change. THis wasnt on the Nokia. However, my tech mad husband then mentioned an update that it could have and that it was worth doing. Once the pdate had been done, i found that the quick launch section appeared and i was able to do similar things to the iPhone at the swipe of the screen. Well done Nokia, you again came up trumps.
THe battery life of the phone was brilliant. It lasted more than 18 hours which is new for me! I think i charged it once every 48 hours. This was a bonus as my iPhone has a habit of turning off mid afternoon even though it has had very little usage. Very frustrating.
Overall, i am seriously considering a Windows phone when i upgrade. THey are user friendly and modern. What more could you ask??!!
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Good job. Nicely written too 
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...and much cheaper than the iphone.
A good honest review from a newcomer to Windows phones. I tried the 1020 too but to be honest I didn't really get on with it, much preferring the Note 2 I had at the time. I enjoyed reading the review though and it seems to be much improved after the update which wasn't available when I trialled the 1020. Maybe I should trial another Windows phone now.
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Good interesting review @Anonymous Great to see a newcomer posting something so informative.
I liked the way as an iPhone user you tried to embrace the aspects of a Windows phone.
Brilliant that you 'stuck to your guns' about the camera on the Nokia. Well done 
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Such a shame you didn't find the setting for the full 40mp camera, it is rather stupid, they have the camera app(5mp), and then a professional app(41mp) completely separate. Barmy.
A good review, with a nice open and honest look at the phone. Well done.
A good review, with a nice open and honest look at the phone. Well done.
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Great review @Anonymous !
Its great to see a few picture comparisons. We'll try and get some more Windows phones for everyone to test out.
Well done
