The Verizon exclusive Nokia Lumia 929 a.k.a. Nokia Lumia Icon has been rumored and various leaks revealed a lot of information about the phone. To put the rumors to rest, Nokia launched the device a few days ago in the US. The phone is a successor of the Lumia 928 and a sibling to the Lumia 1520, but is it worth switching to Verizon, just to get your hands on the phone?
Design & Specifications
The Nokia Lumia Icon (929) is a Windows Phone 8 device that features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC with a 2.2GHz quad-core CPU, backed up by 2GB of RAM. The available built-in memory of 32GB is not expandable, but should let you enjoy an extensive digital library on the 5 inch Full HD display featured on the smart device. Everything is packed in a 137 x 72 x 9.8 mm case, giving the phone an overall weight of just 167 grams. Despite the color variety of other smart devices from the Nokia Lumia family, the Icon comes in only two colors (white and black) giving the device a more stylish and sleek overall feel.
Display & Sound
The display featured on the device is a Clear Black AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with a Corning Gorilla Glass 2 protection, offering Full HD (1920 x 1080 p) quality that is further enhanced by the screen’s pixel density of 441 PPI. The Nokia Lumia Icon (929) features an extra brightness option, which is perfect for outdoor reading and an extra sensitivity option making the phone easy to operate with nails and gloves on. The sound of the device is pretty clear and with the crisp picture quality, the smart phone is perfect for games, movies and browsing the internet.
Battery Life
The battery the Lumia Icon comes with is a 2420 mAh Li-Ion is an upgrade from the one featured on the Lumia 928. However, due to the specification differences the battery life of the devices is familiar. In a 3G network, the smart device will sustain about 16 hours of conversation and about 18 days in a stand by mode. As the phone features polycarbonate backing, the back of the phone can’t be removed making the battery quite hard to replace with an additional one, so if you are planning an extensive use of the phone during long trips, make sure to have a backup device.
The Nokia Lumia Icon (929) Camera
The smart device features a 20 MP PureView unit with 1/2.5″ BSI sensor, f/2.4, OIS and a dual-LED flash. Even though the software lets you capture high quality 5 MP photos for easier sharing, the true power of the camera can be seen by the 16 MP option. On the front of the device there is a 2 MP camera offering 1.2 MP for stills, but full 2MP for video capturing, making the Lumia Icon perfect for video conferencing.
Overall
It may not be beneficial to switch to Verizon, just for the Nokia Lumia Icon (929) as the internationally available Lumia 1520 0r the Lumia 1020 may be a better choice for you. However, if you have already considered signing a 2 year contract, the smart device features top-notch hardware backed up by every feature of the Windows Phone 8 operating system, including Microsoft Office, as well as some additional Nokia apps especially for the camera. The Nokia Lumia Icon (929) will be officially available with the signing of a 2 year contract with Verizon for just $199 on February 20th, 2014.
Would you switch to Verizon just to get your hands on the smartphone? Leave your thoughts in the comments below or join us in a discussion in our forums.