Score: 9/10 (Fantastic)
Pros Nice design, feels sturdy and durable, screen looks sharp, snappy processor, camera is a great performer, long-lasting battery, Windows Phone 8 is as fluid and fun to use as ever. | Cons No expandable storage, Microsoft's Windows Store still isn't up to the quality of Apples App Store or the Google Play Store. |
Nokia's first Windows Phone 8-powered handset to land on Verizon was the Lumia 822. Although we never reviewed the 822 here on MobileCupOfJoe, it was a relatively mid-range handset that wasn't up to the quality of AT&T's Nokia Lumia 920. Since then, Verizon now has their own variant of the Lumia 920, and is calling it the Nokia Lumia 928. So, how does the Lumia 928 stack up to the Lumia 822 and HTC 8X (Verizon's only other 2 Windows Phone 8 handsets)? Find out in our full review!
Design/Build Quality
Personally, I really dig the design that's present here on the Nokia Lumia 928. Measuring in at 5.24 x 2.71 x 0.40 in, and with a weight of 5.71 oz, the Lumia 928 may not be the slimmest or lightest smartphone on the market, but it still feels really great in the hand. This is due to the fact that the edges of the 928 are flat and straight, which make it easy to get a firm grip on. Like all Nokia Lumia devices, the phone's power/lock button, volume rocker, and dedicated camera-capture button can be found on the right-hand side of the phone. All of the 928's ports can be found on the top, with noise-canceling microphone pinhole, microUSB charging port, SIM card tray, and 3.5mm headphone jack. The back of the 928 is rounded, and rests comfortably in the palm of your hand. Along with it's nice curves, the back of the 928 is home to its speaker grill, which kicked out some surprisingly loud audio.
Hardware
At 4.5-inches, the Nokia Lumia 928's screen is relatively smaller when compared to other flagship handsets. The screen resolution is also lower to, at 1280 x 768. Despite the lower resolution, the display on the Lumia 928 looks darn good. The 928 uses an AMOLED screen, and also takes advantage of Nokia's ClearBlack screen technology which allows for really deep blacks on the display. The color-filled world of Live Tiles pops on 928's screen, and with 332 ppi, text is razor sharp and Web pages, pictures, games, and video all look fantastic. Along with it's good looks, the 928's screen is also a Corning Gorilla Glass 2 panel, so you won't have to be worried about scratching up your oh-so pretty display.
Even though its 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU and 1GB of RAM don't sound impressive on paper, the Nokia Lumia 928 isn't a slow phone by any stretch of the imagination. In my time with the device, the Nokia Lumia 928 never seemed to want to slow down. Whether I was scrolling through my Live Tiles, streaming YouTube videos, browsing the Web, or playing a game like Temple Run, the Lumia 928 always felt like a processing powerhouse. What's great about Windows Phone 8, is that it doesn't require nearly as much processing power to run fluid and smoothly like Android-powered handsets do. Because of this, you can get excellent performance without having to have the absolute latest CPU and/or a high amount of RAM. The Lumia 928 also comes with 32GB of internal storage, but lacks an option to expand it via microSD card. While this may be a turn off for some, between cloud storage and 32GB, the Lumia 928 should have more than enough storage for most people.
In terms of cameras, the Lumia 928 is packing in a 8.7MP shooter on the back, along with a 1.3MP front-facing camera. Aside from it's odd megapixel count, the 928's main camera is coupled with a xenon flash. Because of this, the Lumia 928 's camera is able to capture incredible low-light photos. While they may not be breathtaking, I was still able to take some pretty great looking pictures with the 928. Colors were accurate and the auto-focus and depth of field were wonderful. Check out the last three photos to see just how well the Lumia 928 performs in low-light situations. The last three photos were taken when there last little-to-no light available, and they still look great.
Being an exclusive to Verizon Wireless, the Lumia 928 has access to Verizon's killer 4G LTE network. During my time with the handset, I was able to get some pretty impressive LTE speeds. Download speeds had an average of 20Mbps (spike of 32Mbps), and upload speeds averaged out at around 12Mbps (spike of 16Mbps). Along with the ultra-fast 4G LTE, the 928 also has great call quality, even when using the speakerphone.
To get you through your days of use, the Lumia 928 has a 2,000 mAh non-removable battery. Despite it not being the largest battery we've ever seen, the 928 impressed me with just how long it could last. From turning the phone out at around 7:00 AM and with moderate usage of texting, Web browsing, application usage, and picture taking, I still had about 18% remaining at 11:00 PM. I was always able to get though a full day of use with the 928, and never found myself looking for my charger before 8:00 PM, even with heavy usage throughout the day.
Software
The Nokia Lumia 928 is running on Windows Phone 8. Windows Phone 8 is the latest iteration of Microsoft's mobile OS, and personally, I love it. The biggest feature of WP8 is easily the Live Tiles. The Live Tiles are present on your Start screen, which is essentially your main home screen. As I've mentioned before in previous reviews of Windows Phone 8-powered devices, Live Tiles present you with live information that is relevant to that specific app. For an example, the IMDb Live Tiles shows the latest bit of movie news, and The Weather Channel Live Tile shows information based on the weather locations in your area. You can place the Live Tiles wherever you want to on your Start screen, and can adjust the size of them as well. One of the coolest features on WP8 is the Me Tile. From the Me Tile, you can see notifications, see what's new, and post updates to all of you social networking websites. You can also add Live Tiles for individual contacts as well. From these Live Tiles, you can see updates from all the social networking sites that that contact is on, write on their Facebook Wall, mention them on Twitter, and more. These features make WP8 a very unified operating system, and makes the OS feel clean and organized.
Since the Lumia 928 is manufactured by Nokia, you have access to Nokia's killer selection of Windows Phone 8 applications. These apps include Nokia Music, SophieLens, Nokia Cinemagraph, HERE Drive+, HERE City Lens, HERE Transit, and more. All of these apps work great, and really differentiate the Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 8 devices from handsets such as the HTC 8X and Samsung ATIV Odyssey.
While on the topic of applications, it is worth noting that Microsoft's Windows Store still has some catching up to do before it has content offerings that are similar to Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store. Thankfully, Microsoft has done a pretty good job and making sure that all of the major applications you could want are available for you to download, with official applications for Pandora, Skype, Facebook, Twitter, iHeartRadio, Evernote, Netflix, Hulu+, and more. There is also a hefty offering of unofficial apps for services like Instagram, Vine, YouTube, and Trello, but all of these are very well made and finely polished.
Final Verdict
For $99 with a new two year contract, the Nokia Lumia 928 gives consumers an excellent bang for their buck. The Lumia 928 is a flagship smartphone, and has the price tag of a mid-range handset. Combine that with its nice design, gorgeous screen, fast processing speeds, excellent camera, and a great mobile OS, and you have one heck of a smartphone on your hands. The Nokia Lumia 928 isn't for everyone (mainly because it runs Windows Phone 8) but if you enjoy Microsoft's mobile OS like I do, then I'm pretty certain you won't have a hard time falling in love with the Lumia 928 at all.
DISCLAIMER: Joseph Maring used the Nokia Lumia 928 for 11 days before beginning to write his review of the device. Verizon Wireless sent us the Lumia 928 to review, but in no way affected our final score of the handset.
Author:Joseph Maring
DISCLAIMER: Joseph Maring used the Nokia Lumia 928 for 11 days before beginning to write his review of the device. Verizon Wireless sent us the Lumia 928 to review, but in no way affected our final score of the handset.
Author:Joseph Maring
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