Nokia, a company known for great build quality, awesome cameras and just an all around great experience. Back in February they announced the Nokia Lumia Icon, I thought very highly of this device ever since launch and still think it’s a great phone. But is it the best? And has Nokia made a winner? Well read our full review to find out.
In order to have a great phone it must be able to keep up with your everyday activities, so let’s start with what’s under the hood. Running a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 paired with a Quad-core 2.2 GHz Krait 400 CPU and an Adreno 330 GPU it can keep up with everything you need it to with flying colors. I had no issues with lag and everything ran very smoothly. In fact I haven’t ever heard of a Windows phone slowing down or showing lag, that brings me to my next point, OS.
Running Windows Phone 8 Black it has everything you would expect from a Windows phone. As always the live tiles are back in full glory. The regular keyboard and apps from Windows are back and that’s a good thing. Plus since it is a Nokia device, you can take advantage of the whole host of Nokia apps. I’m not the biggest fan of the fact that Windows still doesn’t have a dedicated notification center, nor is there a voice assistant, but rest assured that all theses will be included in the release of Windows 8.1, which is rumored to be released to all devices June 24th (also take a look at that article on the Geekanoids website.) Windows just has a way of creating a great experience and that is no different here.
So that’s what’s under the hood but what about build quality? Well this is really the odd duckling of the Lumia family; not in a bad way though. We are all used to the elaborate colorful outer skin of most Lumia’s. But Nokia has dialed it back, with a much understated design and I personally am a fan. It’s only found in either black or white and has a nice matte finish that feels very industrialized in the hand. With its hard edges and sharp corners, it feels very solid. At 167g (5.89 oz) it feels superb in the hand.
The screen is just amazing; the 5 inch 1080p screen is eye- opening. With a pixel density of 441ppi colors look great and the contrast is good too. Viewing angles are literally amazing, literally the best viewing angles from a phone I’ve used in a while. AMOLED is perfect for Windows Phone and yes it does come with Gorilla Glass 3 and a ClearBlack display. Boy oh boy I sure loved the wireless charging as well.
Camera quality is great too. The 20MP PureView primary camera takes great shots and with its Carl Zeiss optics, and Optical image stabilization (OIS) low light performance is good too. The front facing camera is 1.2MP and should provide a great “selfie” taking experience. Not to mention how the front facing camera takes 720p video and the back is 1080p HD video, sound is also very pleasing.
It’s a shame that the Icon is only available for Verizon Wireless in the U.S, but hopefully there is a worldwide device soon.
So is this the phone for you? Well if you’re looking for a great Windows phone, with a nice build, awesome camera and a great experience on Verizon, then yes this is a great phone. I will give this phone an 8/10; the only downside is the lack of availability. Other than that it is a great phone and one that will make a great companion for your pocket. So what do you think of this device? As always leave a comment and follow Geekanoids on social media, subscribe to us on YouTube and check the website frequently. Thanks for reading!
Author: Ben Smith - Twitter
