14 DAY TRIAL // If you’ve read my journal before, you probably know that I come from a world full of BlackBerries which no longer make sense in a modern lifestyle, not necessarily because they’re bad devices, but mostly because the improvements their manufacturer makes are years behind what you can find right now on rivaling platforms.
A few weeks ago, I decided to switch from BlackBerry to Windows Phone, and since I wanted the best I could have, the Lumia 1520 was pretty much the obvious choice.
There’s no doubt that a Lumia 1520 is almost a perfect device and you’ll understand in the next paragraphs why that “almost” really makes sense in this phrase.
At the very beginning, the Lumia 1520 was huge. And I mean huge. A 6-inch phone with a not-so-delicate bezel that in the end creates a 7.2-inch device is not at all the kind of smartphone the average Joe would use on a daily basis.
It took me a while to get used to it, but when I finally did, the smartphone world below 6 inches didn’t make much sense. Web browsing was a delight, and so was chatting, emailing, and everything else that included the gigantic keyboard which made typing a breeze. Of course, there were some annoyances, such as the big fonts that I came across on random occasions, but the overall package was pretty neat.
And it’s no surprise that the Lumia 1520 played the most important role in this first adventure into the world of Windows Phones. A terrific success that has (almost) everything you can have right now from a Windows Phone handset, which is not only very sleek, but also blazing fast and very productive.
And still, there were some things that made me look for an alternative.
Why I decided to give up on the 1520
First and foremost, there’s no doubt that the 1520 is a big device and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But it all comes down to the way you want to use it. And without making compromises, you won’t be able to do it.
A 7.2-inch device with a 6-inch screen is obviously unusable with one hand and there are times when you simply can’t use it with both hands. It happened to me too many times not to think about the days when I was using a one-hand phone.
For example, it’s clearly very dangerous to use the Lumia 1520 while driving, and yes, I know that we shouldn’t text and drive, but if for instance you want to call someone really quick and use a hands-free, you need to get both hands off the wheel to start the call. In other words, you might have to stop the car, call your contact and only then get back in motion.
If you get over the size, the Lumia 1520 is incredible. But I couldn’t. And still, it all depends on the way you want to use it.
One of my colleagues, who was also an avid fan of BlackBerry, decided to give Windows Phone a try after reading about how much I loved it. His adoption curve, however, went much smoother, mostly because he was already used with phablets. He used a Samsung Note 3, then a BlackBerry Z30, and now the Lumia 1520. And as things seem to go right now, he’ll most likely stick to Windows Phone for many years to come and it’s easy to see why.
The bottom line this time is that it all depends on how well you get along with big screens. While I enjoyed it a lot, I had a hard time doing my usual stuff, so I decided to give up on the Lumia 1520 for a… Lumia 930.
Why I had second thoughts about the 930
The best thing about the Lumia 1520 is that it’s so awesome that it makes you fall in love with Windows Phone. That’s actually the reason why I decided to stick to this platform, and while the bigger device wasn’t quite helpful in my case, the 930 comes in much handier.
Microsoft pretty much got two new power users on Windows Phone almost instantly, all thanks to the same phone.
The Lumia 930, however, is much smaller than the 1520, but there’s something that made me have some second thoughts about getting one.
Glance Screen isn’t available on the Lumia 930, which is quite a bummer given the fact that there’s basically no other notification system available on the device. If you search the web looking for people complaining about the lack of Glance Screen on Lumia 930, you’ll easily understand that I’m not the only one in need of such a feature.
Microsoft and Nokia weren’t able to introduce Glance Screen on the Lumia 930 because of the AMOLED screen being used. Company representatives have said that the 930 doesn’t have enough display memory to run Glance, so Microsoft actually decided to launch the device without it.
A few months ago, I could hardly imagine using a phone without a permanent notification system. Now that I like Windows Phone more than any other platform, I’m willing to give it a try. And since I have the phone almost all the time around me, the lack of Glance shouldn’t be a deal killer.
Is there a perfect phone?
The short answer is no. The longer answer is that it all depends on how many compromises you’re actually willing to make.
And take my case as the best example. At first, when I decided to jump ship and go all-in on Windows Phone, the Lumia 1520 seemed to be the perfect device. It had a big screen, high-quality camera, awesome operating system, and a really impressive battery. But after a while, I discovered that the phone’s dimensions weren’t quite appropriate for the type of phone you can use anywhere at any time, so if I were to keep using it, making a compromise was the only way to go.
Now, the Lumia 930. As I said, there’s no Glance Screen support, which is obviously a big setback for many users. Especially when taking into account that I receive tens of emails every day and tons of messages on WhatsApp and BBM, so it’s easy to see how my inbox gets full really fast.
But this time, the phone’s physical dimensions are much more appropriate for my needs, so I decided to give it a shot. Again, I’m willing to make a compromise just because it’s almost impossible to find a perfect phone.
No matter how hard you try it, each phone has its own downsides, and after a while, it gets more annoying than you’d expect it to be. So in the end, it all comes down to our ability to get over things we don’t like. And for the Lumia 930, I promise I’ll do my best.