Nokia Lumia 1020 On-Going Review (Part of the 'Try the Tech' trials)

[DinoF]

As part of O2's 'Try the Tech' trials, I am testing the Nokia Lumia 1020 handset so apologies as this is gonna be lengthy…!!

Thought I would post up an ongoing review as think this would be best as I can then post my thoughts as and when I come across various things which I like and don't like about his phone...! Perhaps a little biased, I don’t know, but my review is going to have comparisons to my current iPhone 5 (I have never used a Lumia or any kind of Windows phone before).

Firstly, my initial impressions of the phone are that it is quite large..!! It doesn’t seem to want to fit my hand very well (I am the type of user who likes to hold his phone in one hand only and have never been a 2 handed phone user! I grip my phone in my right hand, bottom right of phone is held by palm of hand, forefinger is behind the phone supporting it, middle finger, ring finger and ‘pinky’ fingers grip the left edge and my thumb is free to navigate the screen) – I have to stretch my thumb to reach the top corners of the screen..!!  Also, the fact that the phone is square and the corners are not very rounded, doesn’t really give a comfortable grip! I quite like the size of the current iPhone 5 screen - I can reach all parts of the screen with my thumb without having to over stretch.

The screen of the Lumia, is another strange one…?!  This is probably not going to make much sense but I am initially finding it to be too smooth for my thumb!  By this a mean that when my thumb tip touches the screen to navigate it, its as if as soon as it touches the screen, it kinda slides away from the point where its actually making the impact (that makes no sense!!!). So, trying to text on it – my thumb comes down over the top of the letter ‘a’ for example but because the screen is silky smooth, when my thumb touches the screen on the ‘a’, it kinda wants to slide all over the place so I might actually touch the keys around the ‘a’ and not the ‘a’ itself….!  On my iPhone 5, the screen tends to have a very slight drag to it so when you navigate the screen, there is a very slight resistance so you feel as though you are actually dragging things around. With the Lumia, there appears to be no resistance at all - I don’t get the same feeling that I am actually dragging screens across because my thumb is just effortlessly gliding across the screen instead..?! Definitely a different feeling altogether…!!!

That’s is for now as these are just my very first initial thoughts on opening the box and having a ‘play’ for the first hour or so..!

Will post further updates on the interface as and when I have used it for a little longer…!!

[Anonymous]

Thank you for sharing @DinoF

I look forward to further thoughts.

Especially as I'm reviewing the same phone

[Toby]

This is looking good DinoF! Look forward to more views!

[DinoF]

PART 2

Battery Life

So today, I am posting my findings on the battery of the Lumia 1020.

As a direct comparison, yesterday, I decided to charge my iPhone 5 and also the Lumia until both phones had reached 100%. Both phones were at 100% at 8am in the morning.  I used both phones during my commute into work, for various functions ranging from browsing social media apps, reading emails and general web browsing.  This was less than about half an hours usage combined for both phones.

Once in the office, I sat both phones on my desk and both were then connected to wifi and were left in ‘Standby’.  By 12:30 lunchtime, I looked at both phones and noted the battery levels: the iPhone was now at 89% and the Lumia was at an alarming 68%

So, went out at lunch time and used both phones equally yet again (mainly using downloaded apps) and the total usage combined for both phones was again, about half an hour.  After lunch, came back and again, sat both phones on my desk, both connected to wifi and both left in Standby.

At 4pm, I decided to take another reading – the iPhone was showing a battery level of 85% and the Lumia was now showing 49%.

I was quite gobsmacked by how quick the Lumia’s battery was actually draining…?!  Perhaps this was down to the specific handset I had received (the phone has obviously been used quite a bit so perhaps the battery has been used to excess but then again, my iPhone 5 is also a year old and the battery is still holding its own).

By the time I had reached home (at around 6ish and with another half an hours combined usage for both phones), the Lumia was showing around the 30% mark and the iPhone was showing at around 79%.

I had an app on the Lumia, which gave a detailed analysis of the battery and according to that, it stated that the Lumia was basically losing 5-6% per hour – which is a massive amount!  I really was not expecting to have to charge the Lumia (which I did have to do) that night but at around 30%, it was not even going to last the rest of the evening…….. As another comparison, today, my iPhone is still using the same charge from yesterday morning and is still sitting here at 53% - the Lumia could not even last 1 full day….!!

Personally, for me, battery levels are an important factor when choosing a smartphone and based purely on my testing above, I would not obviously choose the Lumia (I am not one for charging my phone every single night...!)

Stay tuned for further updates......!

[Anonymous]

Thanks @DinoF for the great reviews

[aldaweb]

Hi @DinoF 

Have you tried the commute function in the maps yet?

Just curious to see if your experience of battery depletion during that is similar to mine (see link to review in sig).

[DinoF]

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@aldaweb wrote:

Hi @DinoF 

Have you tried the commute function in the maps yet?

Just curious to see if your experience of battery depletion during that is similar to mine (see link to review in sig).

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....to be honest, not tried the maps functioins just yet. I'm plannnig on testing out the camera over this Bank Holiday Weekend - gonna be taking some comparison shots against my current iPhone 5 camera so will be interesting to see the results.

As for the battery depletion - the phone is just losing battery power even when it is just sitting on my desk doing nothing!  I fired up my phone last night at around 6pm (the battery was on 100% as I had just charged it) - had a play with it (YouTube and camera and video ) for literally no longer than 15-20 minutes. Just before I put it into Standby, I noticed that the battery was still on 100% and I was actually impressed that it had not lost a single %age in that usage.  I then indeed put it into Standby and then did not use the phone until much later in the evening at about 10pm, where I noticed that the battery had now dropped top 79%

There is no way the Lumia which I am testing (it may be different on other peoples?) is able to last one whole day.  Even the battery app, which I have pinned to the Start menu, shows on the lockscreen as losing anywhere between 4 and 7 % every hour and that is just terrible......

[DinoF]

Part 3 : Camera

So I was out and about over the weekend and was playing around with the camera. Didn't manage to shoot any videos yet (might do that later) but took a comparison shot against my iPhone 5:

(can't post actual photos as the file sizes are too large to post to these forums)

Lumia Camera

iPhone 5 Camera

If you click on the 2 link and open up the pics in separate tabs on your browser, you can do a side by side comparison of the 2 shots.

Both photos were taken using both devices default camera settings with no tweeks or add ons.  The iPhone photo is showing as 3264 x 2448 at 4.03 MB and the Lumia photo is showing as 3072 x 1728 at 3.22 MB.

I am not an expert in photography so any feedback on what people's perceptions of the 2 shots are, would be good...!!

Will also try and get some video up, of the 2 phones, for a comparison.

[Toby]

A great part 3 Dino! Some videos would be amazing if possible :).

[MI5]

My opinion is that the Lumia slightly wins with better colour saturation and definition....
In reality, both are just "snaps" and most people wouldn't complain about either photo.
If you're making a living out of photography you are unlikely to be using a phone camera anyway

[DinoF]

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@MI5 wrote:
My opinion is that the Lumia slightly wins with better colour saturation and definition....
In reality, both are just "snaps" and most people wouldn't complain about either photo.
If you're making a living out of photography you are unlikely to be using a phone camera anyway

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...yep - I think I would agree with you there!  The greens seem to be a lot more vivid and bright on the Lumia shot than the iPhone.  Also, the Lumia shot, to me, seems that little bit more sharp and has better definition. On the Lumia shot, the trees and bushes behind the fence (and also the fence itself) look a lot more sharp and still in focus when compared to the iPhone shot.

Both cameras had their flashes set to 'auto' but I noticed that the iPhone flash did not fire when I took the shot whereas, the Lumia flash did indeed fire - perhaps the reason for the slightly more vivid colours on the Lumia........

Will also get some video comparisons up this week as well.

[Anonymous]

Hi @DinoF


I find the Nokia Lumia 1020 picture to be sharper than the iPhone 5 version.

This IMO is to be expected due to the difference in specs and camera.

It also believe it depends on what an individual see's in a photo.

I generally find most high end smart phones fine for taking a quick snap to keep that special / funny moment.

[DinoF]

Part 4 - Video Camera

So here is my testing of the Lumia video camera comparing it with my current handset, the iPhone 5. 

I haven't had a chance to get out and about to record some video outside, so this test was conducted by recording the same game trailer (the new game 'Watchdogs' on the Xbox 360) from each device. The test was carried out by just recording the trailer as it played on my Samsung HD tv so ignore the sound quality.

Just want to also add, I wasn't previouisly aware that this would happen, but the trailer does contain a few 'naughty' words so you may have to listen with some caution (not sure how to edit these out...?)

Again, can't post the actual vids here as probably too large for this forum but here are the links (open both in separate tabs in your browser for a direct side by side comparison):

iPhone Watchdogs Trailer

Lumia Watchdogs Trailer

The iPhone video was auto saved as a .mov file with 116MB whereas the Lumia video was auto saved as a .mp4 file with 12.4 MB.  Both trailers are 1 minute long.

Let me know your thoughts.......

[jonsie]

I don't see an awful lot of difference to be honest though the colour maybe a little better with the Lumia (my eyes aren't what they were!)

Love the indepth ongoing review and maybe you could join them all into one post at a later stage

[Toby]

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jonsie wrote:

Love the indepth ongoing review and maybe you could join them all into one post at a later stage

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Not a bad shout @jonsie 

If you would like to do this Dino (no pressure to do so though), let me know and I can do it for you.

Part 4 is great! Really like the video comparisons. 

[DinoF]

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@Toby wrote:

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@jonsie wrote:

Love the indepth ongoing review and maybe you could join them all into one post at a later stage

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Not a bad shout @jonsie 

If you would like to do this Dino (no pressure to do so though), let me know and I can do it for you.

Part 4 is great! Really like the video comparisons. 

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...I will do a final 'Part 5' on the handset interface probably some time tomorrow. After that, you are welcome to put all the parts together into one post.

[DinoF]

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@jonsie wrote:

I don't see an awful lot of difference to be honest though the colour maybe a little better with the Lumia (my eyes aren't what they were!)

Love the indepth ongoing review and maybe you could join them all into one post at a later stage

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...yep, thats what I thought as well!  The Lumia seemed to have slightly better colours on its video compared to the iPhone, but the differences were very minimal.  Both seemed to do an excellent job.

[DinoF]

Part 5 - Interface

So here is my final part of my on-going review.....!

Personally, I quite like how the Windows Operating system works on the phone and I especially like the fact that all Nokias (that I know of) how now adopted this OS for their handsets.

The boot up time, is on par with my iPhone 5 - both take pretty much the same amount of time.  The Lumia, does, however, go through several 'Welcome' screens though - on powering up, it first shows a Nokia screen, which is then followed by a Windows screen and then lastly, an O2 screen before finally loading the home screen.

The Home screen then greets you with a screen full of squares, which are called ‘Tiles’!!  These, are basically, shortcuts to all of your favourite apps and web links.  These are all customizable - you can move them to any order you like, resize them and even change their colour.  Some of these are ‘Live’ tiles which give you real time updates of that specific apps - something I wish the iPhone would incorporate better.

The background colour of the interface of the Lumia, can also be chosen from black or white, however, if you are the type of person who likes setting wallpapers on your homescreen – you’re out of luck with the Lumia as wallpapers can only be added to the Lockscreen, although I have heard that the new Windows 8.1 update, which is due very soon, will allow the ‘Tiles’ to be coloured with your chosen wallpaper.

Talking of the Lockscreen, this will naturally show any missed calls, messages, notifications, etc however, unlike the iPhone, none of these can be accessed from the lockscreen itself – you need to unlock the phone and go to the relevant app to read the notification.  I think this really should be included in an update so that it does indeed allow access to notifications via the lockscreen.

Swiping to the right of the home screen, basically just takes you to a long list of all the apps which are currently on the phone – something which, for me, doesn’t really look that nice. I would rather the apps were all in a grid, like they are in iOS and Android phones as if you have loads of apps, the list is going to get very long indeed………!!

Talking of apps, I don’t really feel I should judge the phone based on apps as these are available on every type of phone anyway, however, I did find some glaring omissions from the Windows Market Place (apps which I use on my iPhone, like Dropbox and WhatsApp are not catered for on Windows MarketPlace. Granted – WhatsApp has been on there, however, was recently pulled).

One thing I did particularly like though was the ability to ‘pin’ anything you find (whether it is a web link, a photo, a setting, an app, a contact or whatever) to the home screen, for quick access. I would never tire of pinning and re-arranging my tiles…!!

Conclusion

All in all, a great handset which I would recommend to anyone.  Personally, for me, I would not choose it myself! The main reasons being the serious battery drain (it would only literally last me from 9am until about 6pm-7pm when it needed re-charging), the lack of decent apps in the Market Place (I think it doesn’t even come half way when compared to the number of apps available on Apples iOS App Store), and for me , the size of the handset as well (I found it too large to operate with just one hand – I am not a 2 handed user, and often found the phone slipping from my hand whilst trying to text!!).

It is very easy to use (my handset did not come with instructions, however, after a days 'play', I think I knew everything about it!!  If you are a heavy Windows user, then this handset is for you! Enter your Windows ID once and it signs you in to pretty much everything Microsoft on the phone. Integration with everything ‘Windows’ is understandably good! 

Out of a rating of 1 to 10 (10 being the top), I would rate it a good 7.5.

Last but not least, a big thank you to @Toby for the opportunity to test this phone:smileywink:

(feel free to combine this part, with all the others, into one post!)

[Toby]

An awesome end to an awesome review

I think what I'll do is make 5 links (one to each part) at the top of your first post, that way we can leave it as is, but make all of the parts accessible from the top of the thread. How does that sound?

[DinoF]

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@Toby wrote:
An awesome end to an awesome review

I think what I'll do is make 5 links (one to each part) at the top of your first post, that way we can leave it as is, but make all of the parts accessible from the top of the thread. How does that sound?

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...perfect!

[aldaweb]

Very full review @DinoF 

Since reviewing it myself, I've bought a Nokia 625 to upgrade one of my PAYG SIMs to 4G and found the battery life to be much better probably due to the lower res screen, particularly in the 'My Commute' function where the phone charged when plugged into a 500mA charge socket against the 1020 losing 20% battery level plugged into a 1A charging socket.

 I'm still no fan of the Windows Phone interface as it stands at present but then I have plenty of others to chose from.

[jonsie]

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@DinoF wrote:

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@Toby wrote:
An awesome end to an awesome review

I think what I'll do is make 5 links (one to each part) at the top of your first post, that way we can leave it as is, but make all of the parts accessible from the top of the thread. How does that sound?

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...perfect!

That's a good idea and should be easy enough to follow.

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