wraggster
February 12th, 2014, 21:05
http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/adam/4be133bbf5bc1eff9c592207970c96e/DSC09394.jpgYes, Windows Phones are finally keeping up with the Joneses. Thanks to the latest update (http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/14/microsoft-gdr3-windows-phone/), smartphones running Microsoft's mobile OS can now have top-of-the-line components. We got a good taste of how this feels with the Nokia Lumia 1520 (http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/18/nokia-lumia-1520-review/)(spoiler: It's pretty dang good), but most people would prefer flagship specs in a smaller phone. Enter the Lumia Icon, a loaded 5-inch WP8 device exclusive to Verizon that goes on sale in black and white colors February 20th for $200 with a two-year contract. (It'll cost $550 at full retail or Edge pricing.)
The Icon comes with nearly all the same specs as the Lumia 1520: a 1080p display, 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 20-megapixel PureView rear camera (with optical image stabilization, a 1.2MP front-facing webcam, a Gorilla Glass 3 screen, Qi wireless charging, NFC, dual-band WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0 + LE. Unsurprisingly, the 2,420mAh battery is smaller, and we hope it can efficiently manage the high-def screen and quad-core processor without a huge drain to the battery.
Aside from the battery and smaller screen, the Icon is an exclusive to Verizon, as evidenced by the three carrier-specific logos on the front and back. And while we wouldn't be surprised to see a 5-inch 1080p Lumia device hit the rest of the market at some point, it probably won't look like the Icon. The phone sports straight aluminum sides and a curved back fashioned out of matte polycarbonate. In many ways, the setup reminds us of the Lumia 925 (http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/15/nokia-lumia-925-review/), which features rounded metal sides and the same plastic back; the Icon is 0.5mm thicker, but it also doesn't have a distracting camera hump like the 925 has. We'll offer more impressions below, but not before showing off a gallery of images and a brief walk-through video.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/12/nokia-lumia-icon-hands-on/
The Icon comes with nearly all the same specs as the Lumia 1520: a 1080p display, 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor, 20-megapixel PureView rear camera (with optical image stabilization, a 1.2MP front-facing webcam, a Gorilla Glass 3 screen, Qi wireless charging, NFC, dual-band WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0 + LE. Unsurprisingly, the 2,420mAh battery is smaller, and we hope it can efficiently manage the high-def screen and quad-core processor without a huge drain to the battery.
Aside from the battery and smaller screen, the Icon is an exclusive to Verizon, as evidenced by the three carrier-specific logos on the front and back. And while we wouldn't be surprised to see a 5-inch 1080p Lumia device hit the rest of the market at some point, it probably won't look like the Icon. The phone sports straight aluminum sides and a curved back fashioned out of matte polycarbonate. In many ways, the setup reminds us of the Lumia 925 (http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/15/nokia-lumia-925-review/), which features rounded metal sides and the same plastic back; the Icon is 0.5mm thicker, but it also doesn't have a distracting camera hump like the 925 has. We'll offer more impressions below, but not before showing off a gallery of images and a brief walk-through video.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/12/nokia-lumia-icon-hands-on/