NOKIA Lumia 928 Pro Reviews

We don’t speak about it much–probably because it’s among the easier and older features to nail. But call quality on the Nokia Lumia 928 is decent familiar and otherwise run of the mill. Dropped calls and odd distortion when reception is at full bars have occurred. Was it more than most? Maybe! Also could have been due to area and reception issues. But the this is really a handsome looking, intuitive and fun smartphone to use. More apps are needed, but coming at a steady clip. The camera is very good at times but I’m no fan of the heavy color saturation. Battery life is strong. It’s priced well to move units. All in all, I like the weight and feel of the device in hand. The looks scream “Status symbol” even if the hardware doesn’t. But watching movies and general smartphone stuff like checking emails navigating through your favorite social networking apps, texting and browsing the web are all fun and enjoyable. But it is a rare find carrier-wise. AT&T has the 1020. But unlocked versions of the 928 will work on AT&T. Otherwise Verizon is the only legit way to cop a Lumia 928. It’s definitely worth the cost of entry.

Nokia Lumia 928 review | Verizon's Lumia lacks pop, but delivers performance and value Reviews | TechRadar

The Nokia Lumia 928 is a minor improvement over the Lumia 920, which we already thought was a solid Windows Phone 8 device. The improvements Nokia made with the Lumia 928 are slight and certainly make this a better device, but still not enough to earn our “excellent” rating as we still aren’t big fans of the device’s physical button layout, and the Windows Phone 8 Marketplace still has yet to catch up with Android and iOS in regards to providing must-have applications. Still – if you’re a fan of Windows Phone 8 and want the absolute best device on Verizon, then you shouldn’t hesitate to pick up the Lumia 928 as it improves an already great smartphone experience to the point where we can easily consider it better than the original.

There’s a sad truth to the 928: It’s a Lumia 920 with a slightly worse design, a dearth of snazzy color choices, and a xenon flash that I found myself not needing very often. Verizon needed a “flagship” Windows Phone from the platform’s flagship OEM, no question — it just would’ve been helpful to see it at the same time that AT&T got the 920. And it needed to look better than this. Nokia also undercut the 928 by introducing the gorgeous Lumia 925 at the same time, which is thinner, trimmed in aluminum, and equipped with better camera optics. But then again, Verizon won’t be getting it — T-Mobile will. In other words, if you’re in the market for a Windows Phone 8 device, Verizon isn’t your best choice; if you can’t go elsewhere, though, the 928 is certainly worth a look over HTC’s Windows Phone 8X.

The Lumia 928 is not the smartphone that’s going to catapult Windows Phone to a massive gain in US marketshare. It’s too mild, too iterative for that. But what it will do -what it’s already doing- is bringing what remains of the buzz surrounding the Lumia 920 to the nation’s largest wireless carrier. Is it a little late? Yes. But is it a good thing? Also yes. From an industry-watching perspective, the Lumia 928 may be more exciting as a portent of things to come – it’s tempting to speculate that it’s the canary in the coal mine of the Nokia/AT&T exclusivity relationship. But more importantly: it’s still exciting in its own right as a very capable WP8 device -and a very capable smartphone in general- on a very large network. If you are already, or are thinking of becoming, a Verizon Wireless customer, this is the high-end Windows Phone you’ve been waiting for.

The Lumia 928 may be a very minor update to the Lumia 920, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The Lumia 920 was a great phone, and one that left subscribers to other carriers feeling envious of AT&T. For Verizon customers, the Lumia 928 is the perfect solution to that jealousy. It takes everything that was desirable about the Lumia 920, tweaks the design for the better, and throws a Xenon flash in the mix to ensure that it remains the king of low-light smartphone camera shooting. There are still some problems with it, however, including its big, heavy, slippery build, slightly dated specs, and the inherent flaws of the platform (namely, the weak app selection). But for that demographic of Verizon customers who happen to also be fans of the Windows Phone platform -- and don't want to compromise by settling for a mid-level phone like the Samsung ATIV Odyssey or the Lumia 822 -- the Lumia 928 is their savior.

The Lumia 928 is a fine phone, though it stops short of being excellent. I find the blocky nature of the design a bit unappealing and the weight and finicky controls don't help much. The screen is great, though, and the 928 does a fantastic job of connecting to Verizon's network. Voice calls were mediocre, but battery life was really good. The software features aren't that different from other Windows Phone devices, save for the custom apps developed by Nokia. Nokia's HERE Maps and Creative Suite apps are highlights, for sure. For the amount of boasting that Nokia does about its PureView camera technology, I was not impressed with the 928's performance in that regard. The camera can be fantastic, but all too often it is merely just OK. For Verizon customers who want or need a Windows Phone device, the Nokia Lumia 928 is a solid choice for the moment.

The Nokia Lumia 928 really is a memorable character. Thanks to its top-end spec sheet (by Windows Phone 8 standards), headed by the hugely capable camera with xenon flash, the handset outshines every competitor, which runs Microsoft's mobile OS. The camera's lowlight performance is expectedly impressive. Thanks to the optical image stabilization on board, the snapper can pull off impressively low shutter speeds and therefore great low-light photos without using a flash. The xenon flash itself on the other hand, adds further to the photography credentials of the Nokia Lumia 928 in dark places.

The Nokia Lumia 928 is excellent for capturing images in low-light environments, but the phone falls victim to Windows Phone's various shortcomings.

Probably not right now. Windows Phone is getting much, much better, and it will be getting some more improvements this summer with Windows Phone 8.1, but since we're just a few months away from that, you may as well wait and see. Further, this is a mid-cycle upgrade from Nokia. It released the 920 more than half a year ago, and the 928 has the same guts, just with a better screen, a different, lighter body, and the new flash. Those are GREAT upgrades, but you'll likely be seeing this same great camera and flash in a new top-tier phone, launched with the new Windows Phone software sooner rather than later. In the meantime though, if you need-need a new phone right now, want to try WP, and the camera is a priority, yes, definitely check this out. At the very least, at $100 it's a cheaper option than what you'll find in Android and iOS land.

For their respective platforms, it’s a no-brainer that the two are at the head of their class, but when pitted against one another, it all boils down to personal preference. As we’ve seen, they deliver the goods on where it matters the most, but when we throw in pricing to the mix, it’ll make people think twice about making a final decision. Currently, the Galaxy S4 is selling for $200 on-contract through Verizon – while the Lumia 928 comes out from the gates with an aggressive $100 price point. Indeed, you’re going to spend double the money picking up the Galaxy S4, but the cost difference is highly justified, since the Galaxy S4 is boasting an insane amount of features that drastically puts it way ahead of what the Lumia 928 has to offer. Overall, if you care about having a diverse features set and a deeper apps ecosystem, the Galaxy S4 is going to be your go-to handset. However, if you’re on a budget and love taking photos primarily, then it’s a no-brainer decision to pick up the Lumia 928. Whatever the choice, you won’t regret the decision.

The Verizon Nokia Lumia 928 will cost you $99 USD with a 2-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate – that’s less than half the cost of some of the higher-end competitors on the carrier today (like the Samsung GALAXY S 4 and the Galaxy Note II), and essentially equal to that of the Samsung Galaxy S III. It’s also equal to the price of the Windows Phone 8X from HTC, a device that was released several months ago that we reviewed as well. If you’re going for tactile feeling alone, you might want the HTC device – otherwise I’d stick by the Nokia hardware for basically everything else. The Nokia Lumia 928 is easily Verizon’s finest Windows Phone 8 device, and with its advanced camera abilities, it may well be the nicest Windows Phone 8 device in the USA as well. Until another Windows Phone 8 device comes along with a metal body, on the other hand, the Nokia Lumia 925 will continue to roll with that title worldwide.

The Lumia 928 is only $100 with a two-year contract and comes with a $25 gift card for the Windows Store, for apps, music, or videos. If price is important to you, at $100, it is one of the best buys on Verizon. We also like the Windows Phone 8X by HTC, the LG Spectrum 2, and the Samsung Galaxy S3, but we’d recommend trying a Windows Phone before shelling out for an iPhone 4S or BlackBerry. However, if you’re willing to jump up to $200, it’s tough to recommend buying the Lumia 928 over the iPhone 5, Galaxy Note 2 (if you have big hands), or Samsung Galaxy S4. Overall, the Lumia 928 is one of, if not the, best Windows Phone’s around. It has a gorgeous screen and Nokia has packed in some great exclusives. It’s only weakness is Windows Phone itself, which still has some oddities and will undoubtedly be missing at least one app that you hold dear. But hey, give it a chance. Unlike Apple and Samsung, Nokia could honestly use your support.

If we were to go back and look at how the two performed against one another in all of the categories, you’ll probably be taken by surprise to know that they performed similarly to each other. To tell you the truth, it merely boils down to personal preference, as the platform experience is by far the biggest differentiator. Despite that, we can’t help but think about price, since you know, it’s a huge driving force for some. On one side of the ring, Verizon customers will have to fork over at least $200 to pick up the base model of the iPhone 5 – while the Nokia Lumia 928 jumps out from the get-go with its aggressive $100 on-contract price. Knowing that, if you’re tight on a budget and want to experiment, but don’t want to see any sacrifices in raw performance, we absolutely recommend scoping out Nokia’s latest entrant to the space. Oppositely, if money isn’t a concern, you still can’t go wrong with the iPhone 5 with its premium build and expansive ecosystem.

The Lumia 928 is the best Windows phone yet, but it isn't Verizon's best phone overall.