Absolutely beautiful, functional, fluid device November 20, 2012

Reviewer:  aceoforder 

I manage mobile devices for a corporation in Rhode Island, USA and chose the Nokia Lumia 822 when we switched our account over to Verizon. I couldn't be happier.

I previously had an HTC HD7 from T-Mobile, and here some some of my observations:

- The AMOLED screen on this device is superb and quite possibly one of the best smartphone screens I've ever used. It is made of Gorilla Glass 2 and easily adjusts brightness to ambient light surroundings, keeping the colors sharp and bright whether in sunlight or in a dark room. Don't be turned off by the lower resolution of the 822 - it didn't make any sort of difference to me. Also, it is true that this screen features Nokia's high-sensitivity glass augmentation that allows it to be used with gloves. I can successfully choose music, tap on tiles, and even text without unnecessary effort.

- Compared to my 1ghz HD7 running Windows Phone 7, this device is incredibly quick. WP7 was not a laggy operating system by any means, but the 1.5ghz dual-core in this device plus WP8 is a dramatic change. I have experienced absolutely no lag, whether I am switching apps, opening apps (the splash screens for most apps appear for less than a second, even with some video games). Alot of this is due to the OS itself: WP7 was built on Windows CE which had its own hardware and coding limits. WP8 shares the Windows 8 kernel for maximum hardware compatibility and optimization.

I'll leave reviews of the actual Phone 8 OS to the rest of the Internet.... but it is elegant, beautiful, fast, capable, and very very under-appreciated in the marketplace. I believe this'll change, and am recommending my company to deploy Windows Phone 8.

Lumia 822 In Depth November 29, 2012

Reviewer:  James 

The Nokia Lumia 822 from Verizon is an excellent choice for Verizon customers looking to move to a Windows Phone.

ASTHETICS
I'll start off with the asthetics of this phone. This phone is much more attractive then the photos make it appear to be.
PLASTIC - The plastic is sturdy and thick with a high quality fit and finish to it. The black and grey is a flat finish while the white is glossy. It is a plastic with no grip coating and a nice textured look. It does not have the rubbery looking finish as seen on the 8X. For the White glossy finish it however takes a hit in the quality department. The glossy finish gives off a cheap look and feel. It's sad because I was really gunning to get it in white until I saw it. The back cover uses a snap on clip system that hold firmly and does not flex without moderate force. The back cover features NFC but the WIRELESS CHARGING IS NOT INCLUDED. A new cover is required.
FEEL - The sides of the phone have and inward slant from bottom to top which makes it comfortable to hold and easy to maintain a firm grip.The phone uses a wider display then you see on other phones. I have big hands and it fits well into them. It feels nice weight wise. It has a little heft to it when holding it but not heavy enough to be bothersome. It feels durable but it a little thick. If you like the iPhone 5 for it's size then this will surely let you down.
BUTTONS - The buttons are located on the right side and are thin. They have a firm placement and a nice click to them. The click isn't loud but it makes for an excellent feel. The power button is placed perfectly for your right thumb, I however am left handed and I find it a little more difficult to press.The Photo button is a 2 stage button. It takes a little getting used to as the second stage feels muddy and firmer then the size of the button leads on to be.
GLASS - The glass uses an edge to edge front with the exception of the plastic on the bottom portion of the phone. The bezel around the glass is very slight with no gaps. It sports a nice solid black surrounding the display with very responsive touch buttons below.

HARDWARE
DISPLAY - The display is a 480x800 AMOLED Gorilla glass 2 display. Don't let the resolution fool you though. The screen is bright and the colors pop nicely. I found it to look much better than the 8X display. When the display is turned off or is showing black it blends in with the bezel and looks great. The display sesitivity is great and features an ultra sensitive capacitive touchscreen that works with gloves on although your experience will depend on the gloves. Thicker leather gloves do not work. The touch buttons are just as responsive.
PHONE- Phone calls are crystal clear and other callers hear me perfectly. Easily the highest performing phone I've ever owned smartphone wise. The speakerphone is loud and clear as well. The reception on this phone is great as well recieving a reliable signal in even the most problematic areas.
CAMERA - This camera is amazing, for the most part. Low light shots come out great with the extreme flash good enough to take a good photo in a blacked out room. it does however suffer from oversaturation and sometimes the white balance just does not work out so well. I think it's more of a software issue and I expect the problems to be resolved in future updates. Nokia exclusive software includes Creative studio for photo editing and Cinemagraph to make animated photos. I took a picure with my daughter moving round in front of a mirror and edited it so she was standing still and just the reflection was moving. Everyone loves it. It outpaces my iphone in every way imaginable. The front camera stays on average grounds however.
AUDIO - It features a mono speaker located on the bottom left of the phone. It's really loud but it suffers from a tinny sound. I could hear this thing from across the house though. The earpiece however sounde great and has excellent balance to it. I can hear people even in a noisy room. the headphone jack is on the top right of the phone and features features audio processing from Dolby to include an EQ and "Dolby Headphone". Dolby headphone would be best described as the equivelant of the Beats Audio software. It boosts some frequencies and thats about it. It helped out my high ohm headphones out a little bit but is not a replacement for a hardware amplifier.
BATTERY - The battery is average and nothing to write home about. I use my phone moderately and it gives me about 16-17 hours on a charge. It stays at the 100% mark for about 2 hours and slowly rolls down hill after that. It is nice having the removable battery though. This includes talking, web surfing, apps, games, photos, texting, ect.

MEMORY - 16GB on board memory provides about 12GB of free space after a hard reset is performed (deletes all of the downloaded maps from Nokia Drive). You can then download only the areas you need from Nokia Drive. It also sports an internal SD slot and the battery has to be removed to insert/remove the card. Apps cannot be stored on it.

CPU/RAM - This phone has all of the same core hardware specification as every other windows Phone currently available in the U.S. The lower resolution display frees up some memory though and enables the OS to be zippier.

SOFTWARE
APPLICATION EXCLUSIVES - One thing you get with Nokia is exclusive software. Nokia Drive is not on other handsets yet. It also includes a few extra "lenses" (photo apps) such as the aformentioned cinemagraph, Panorama, and smart shoot which takes a series of pictures and then lets you replace peoples faces until you get a shot where everyone is simling. These apps all work great and are fun to play around with. It also includes Creative Studio which is like a photoshop/Instagram filter app. It works well and holds alot of features. Other apps include ESPN, Univision, Words With Friends, Foursquare, Groupon, Nokia City Lens and more. There are currently 32 apps exclusive to Nokia phones on the store as of this writing.

OS - Windows phone 8 is a whole new review, I came from the iPhone and I love it. There are enough note worthy apps available to keep me comfortable and the operating system holds enough features to be more then usable on a daily basis. It has it's fall backs but there is nothing to make me run for the hills. I can say that it runs like a champ on this phone. No stuttering, slow loading times, or crashes have happened on this phone. It outpaces my iPhones performance enough to make me go wow. The Verizon exclusive (for now) Data Sense software works great and tracks your data usage and breaks it down to Cellular/Wifi and each app usage and resets whenever you want it to.

APP STORE - It's got alot of junk, but if you sift through it there is alot of cool stuff on there. Some things are slim pickings while others have a copy of a copy of a copy. It's no better then android or Apple. There are alot of big name developers announcing new titles every day.

OVERALL
Overall the phone is fairly attractive, solid, well designed, high quality and very usable. The only design problems I have is the power button being odd for a left hander and the 2nd stage of the camera button just not feeling quite right. The OS is fast, responsive and zippy. The phone works like a champ, The camera is a little quirky but it still is a great camera considering what you have to compete against. It's big and heafty but not quite a brick and I love that. The display is amazzzzzing even though he resolution is a little below current industry standards. Battery is good enough but could be better, I feel like I will get caught with my pants down one of these days.

For 100$ you cant go wrong with this phone. It is way better quality then anything else you can find for this price and sets a standard by which every phone in its price range will need to improve to outpace it. If your looking into a windows phone This will surely not disapoint unless you really cant settle for the lower resolution display.

Beautiful and Innovative Phone December 2, 2012

Reviewer:  J. Rothwell  (Washington, DC) -

Basaed on reviews and confidence in Nokia, I switched from a Motorolla Droid 2 Global, which I liked, to the Nokia Lumia 822. Here are some of the main reasons why I am delighted with that decision after having a chance to use the phone:

The Lumia 822 camera is excellent; the video and photos are clearer and the lighting more natural than the droid's camera and any smartphone I've seen.

The Lumia music features are amazing. Not only can you sink all of you ITunes material with the Lumia device, Nokia provides a free no-add Pandora-like service. Moreover, I've downloaded an app "Amazing Music," which allows you to stream and store quick links to entire albums.

Nokia/Lumia's driving and mapping services are rated as the world's best. Though I haven't taken a road trip yet, I tested it with my commute to work, which involves walking and taking the metro: It was incredibly accurate and even told me the stops in between the one I needed.

The homepage is incredible. The Windows operating system lets you customize the location and prominence of your apps, and let's you pick a few for live constant updates. For example, when you "pin" your contact to the front page (or further down), you see his or her facebook, twitter, or linked-in updates displayed overtop the app. So, you don't even need to log into Facebook to see what your closest friends and family are posting.

Indeed, the Facebook and twitter synching is the best I've ever seen. It takes seconds to take a photo, post it on Facebook, and tag your friends. It even remembers your recently used tags. It also shows pictures you were tagged in as a banner as you scroll and read upadates, which you can change if you want.

Another plus is that Microsoft office is readily available, so you can edit Word documents and Excel documents, which is very useful for work. It also has a family room app that allows you to sink to-do lists, grocery lists, and anything else across phones and accounts with anyone who has a facebook, hotmail, or MSN account, or wants to create one for free.

The keyboard is my only complaint, since I have big thumbs. I moved from the slideout QWERTY from Motorolla to the Iphone-like keyboard here. Still, it is larger, I believe, than the iphone board when you turn it sideways (it has a very wide screen), and the word suggestion tool is very good. I'm getting better at.

The app store is a minor issue too, as developers are still getting use to Microsoft's new and impressive operating system (Windows 8). Yet, there are many excellent apps, and almost all of the apps I used with Google's operating system are available (and often look even better), including: Public transit trip planners, Gmail, white noise, chess, YouTube, a photo editor, Wikipedia, Facebook, a flashlight, bike share services, weather channel, a public parking payment app, and The New York Times. For gamers, there are an increible number of options, including Xbox compatibility, but I don't play games other than chess.

Overall, these issues are minor. The best part of the phone is its elegance and beauty. The image, picture, and video quality are the best I've ever seen, and the tile colors can be easily changed to your mood or preferences. The conversation and sound quality is also superb.

It is easily one of the best phones on the market and is roughly half the price. I highly recommend it.

An excellent phone, especially for Microsoft Office users. December 17, 2012

Reviewer:  liverdonor 

I purchased a grey 822 from the Verizon store on November 9th (sorry, Amazon - couldn't find it on your site).

Nonetheless - this phone has some excellent features, and a few nits.

Pro: As has been mentioned, the screen is nice. Surprisingly, you can read it outdoors although direct sunlight reduces visibility somewhat.

Pro: Real, honest-to-God Microsoft Office applications - not knockoffs. I've even edited Powerpoint presentations on the way to meetings, with no problems.

Pro: RF. I have owned cellular phones, both dumb and smart, since 1992. Sometimes the radios are good, and sometimes you can't hold onto a session to save your life. Out of all the smartphones I've used (including Motorola, who normally makes great radios), this has one of the best. I get reception in places my wife's feature phone can't even pick up one RSSI bar and my older iPhone 4 can't get any reception at all. A fine radio. Can't wait to try it out overseas and see how the HSPA radio works!

Pro: Bluetooth 3.0. Very good performance with all my BT devices (including my boat's BT navigation equipment).

Con: Bluetooth profiles missing. Why, oh why, didn't Nokia include the HID profile? iPhone and the higher-end Android phones have it, and it's really handy to be able to whip out a BT keyboard to edit some documents.

Con: So, Microsoft - where the heck is VPN support? This is easily the biggest complaint I have. I NEED VPN support to connect to machines in my office and monitor builds, perform IT support etc. As it is, I have to kludge by with using WiFi connection sharing and hooking through with my laptop, which is slow and lame and uses up my precious GBs. I have heard rumors that MSFT may include it in Apollo+ (or WP8.1 or whatever they're calling it). We'll just have to wait and see, but that was a big mistake, IMHO.

Pro: I concur with previous reviewers on the Nokia apps. They are, for the most part, excellent - especially the "offline map" mode in the Drive and Maps applications. Tested by driving all over the lower mainland (British Columbia, Canada for those of you who don't know it), in offline mode and never got lost.

Con: Another nit is the lack of connection between the Favorites in the Maps application and the Drive application. One would think you could store a Maps fave and have it show up in the Drive app, but no dice. I had to do everything twice. Annoying.

Pro: Audio quality, especially over A2DP (stereo Bluetooth) connection. I play through my BT-enabled receiver and it sounds awesome - especially high-quality rips of discs I own. Who needs an iPod or other player anymore?

Summary - a little over one month in, I still like this phone very much and find it a lot easier to use than Android and generally smoother flow than Apple's iOS. If any of you are software folks, you'd appreciate that this OS's design seems to have taken a lesson from this book [[ASIN:0672316498 The Inmates Are Running the Asylum]] - almost all of my most common tasks are very easy to accomplish with very few gestures/keystrokes. All in all, very satisfied with this device.

Love It! November 19, 2012

Reviewer:  Amocat 

I just switched to the Nokia 822 from the HTC Trophy. Many in the store were getting the HTC 8X, I think because it seems like a Nokia 920 (only on AT&T for now). I did lots of research on both the 822 and the 8X and I kept coming back to the 822.

This phone is wonderful! The screen is so easy on the eyes, everything is so clear. The Camera is very good. The screen response is spot on. The Nokia FREE apps are fabulous (Nokia Drive, Nokia Maps, Nokia City Lens, Nokia Music and more).

Not sure if Verizon, MS or Nokia added this, but FINALLY you can change the font size in text/messaging, people, email and more. You can also "magnify" the screen. (See "ease of access" in the Settings area).

The only negative I have found with this phone, is the hard edge where your ear touches the phone. I am already adapting to that.

Excellent November 27, 2012

Reviewer:  Kym/Kyle 

I switched from the HTC Incredible to this phone. I absolutely love it! It is very fast, the free apps (Nokia city lens, free music streaming - with offline play mode, etc.) work wonderfully, it's really easy to customize just about everything, and the layout is very easy on the eyes...I just love it!

Pretty sure extended life battery will fit in an Otterbox case.

Now for the cons:

There are a limited number of apps at the moment. So far - the only app I have not been able to get that I wanted was the Nook app (although it seems like it will be coming any time now). Furthermore - I think the app dev's will come once more people pick up this phone.

Battery life on this puppy (without using the battery saver) is about one to two days depending on your usage of the music streaming, etc. Although, I am NOT using the extended life battery - so that would probably significantly improve.

TL: DR -- really nice lookin, easy to use phone; not alot of apps right now & battery life can be short. Overall, the pros far outweigh the cons imo.

great phone January 8, 2013

Reviewer:  ezcamper 

I was concerned about switching from my Android phone (Samsung Galaxy Nexus). I thought I would miss my apps and the Google ecosystem. I don't. Even though there aren't a lot of apps yet, there are enough to keep you well connected to your community. My whole reason for changing my phone was the bad battery life of the Galaxy Nexus. I was surprises at how much longer the battery lasts in 822, well at least at the beginning.
So how long is it lasting? Well I took a trip to Disneyland with the kids... taking lots of pictures, using the theme park app, and checking in on foursquare. The phone outlasted my wife's iPhone 5, lasting 16 hours before I decided to charge it. It still had charge. I don't know if this attributed to the phone or the OS.

I really liked Android, but I find Windows Phone 8 to be plain beautiful and simple to use.
I have completely converted over WP 8; and there is no looking back.

Love this phone.

Very Happy with my choice December 30, 2012

Reviewer:  Gary Watson  (Los Gatos, CA USA) -

I was interested in trying this OS and I keep hearing good reviews, even from the Apple fan-boys. The start screen is fun to watch and it definitely gets attention. So far it is very stable. Not one single lockup or crash. It happened all the time with my Galaxy S. There are only a couple of Apps that I haven't found a substitute for, but something will come along soon.

A Great Choice December 4, 2012

Reviewer:  Ryan 

I picked up the Nokia Lumia 822 last week and so far I absolutely love this phone.

Hardware:
Overall--outstanding.
Rock solid construction--it feels substantial and well-made.
Screen--crystal clear, smooth animation, vivid colors.
Camera--I'm not a heavy camera user, but in the few pictures I've taken the camera has worked well, even in low light.
Phone--During calls, earpiece audio is clear. Folks I am speaking with say I sound much clearer than my previous phone.
Size--the right size for me at a 4.3 inch screen. I don't want anything larger than this because it gets too large to fit comfortably in my pocket.
Battery Life--good. I keep most of my apps from running in the background and I can get 2 days out of it. Other users who keep more apps running will likely get one day from the battery.

Software/Ecosystem:
Windows Phone 8 is awesome. The level of integration between the phone OS, Microsoft Office (including Outlook), apps, Facebook etc., and hardware is outstanding. A great example of this is the People Hub. From one live tile, I can access any of my contacts, whether they are contacts through Facebook, Outlook (from work), Skype, or just a regular contact on my phone--they are all in the People Hub. If I pull someone up, I have several options--I can call them, text them, email them, write on their Facebook Wall, call them on Skype, get directions to their house, etc. The phone pulls in all this information automatically from all of its sources (Facebook, Skype, etc.) so I don't have to spend hours assembling the information myself. Rather than opening up a specific app to do a specific thing, all I need to do is pull up my contact in the People Hub. This is a simple example, but it's one of many innovative features on Windows Phone.

One final note--the phone is great for work because it has Microsoft Office & Outlook. I can sync Outlook on my phone with my work email server so that I can easily stay on top of things at the office, without having to rely on a third party app written by a no-name company. I can easily edit Office documents on my phone and sync them to SkyDrive so they are immediately available on all my devices (work computer, personal computer, tablet), all integrated into the phone out of the box.

The app selection is somewhat limited compared to iOS & Android, but I haven't had any trouble finding most of the stuff I need. I imagine the app selection will continue to improve once Windows 8 has been out for several months.

Folks who are skeptical of Windows Phone 8 should just do one thing--give it a try. The more you use it, the more you discover how good it really is.

Nice Phone, But... December 5, 2012

Reviewer:  Christian Book Reader 

I purchased this phone directly from a Microsoft Store based on many positive reviews. After using the phone for a couple of days, I seriously question whether the reviewers actually use this phone as their primary smartphone. I consider myself an average smartphone user, and based on the Lumia's still lacking features, I have since returned the phone. However, I would highly recommend buying products from a Microsoft Store as they are very helpful answering questions, and have a good return policy.

Here are the things that I liked about this phone:
* The screen is bright and crisp.
* The email and calendar apps have nice features and are easy to use.
* The battery life was very good.
* Call quality was good.

Here are the things that I did not like about the phone:
* The Nokia Drive navigation app does not announce street names. It does show the names on the screen, but having to look down at the phone defeats the purpose of using voice enabled navigation.
* Many websites do not recognize the phone as a mobile device, so the page is the desktop version. As such, the text does not automatically wrap across the screen.
* A widely used podcast/mp3 was not recognized by the phone, so I was unable to download.
* There are still quite a few popular apps that are not designed for Windows 8.

In summary, if the above items were addressed, I would definitely purchase this phone.

Excellent 4G LTE Smartphone with some limitations April 13, 2013

Reviewer:  PSP Fan 

I purchased this phone as an emergency backup phone should my primary (Samsung Galaxy Note II) ever need repair or be out of commission. I was able to pick one up off Ebay for roughly $140.00 and it was one of the better investments I have made.

Before writing this review I will tell you a little about my tech experience: I've been with verizon for over 8 years, have used IOS, Android (current) and intermittently used Windows Phone Operating System. Each operating system (and ecosystem) has its advantages and disadvantages, as does the manufacturer. Let's begin with what the Nokia Lumia 822 has going for it.

Pros:
Build Quality-- The Nokia Lumia 822 is exceptionally well made. While thicker than most smartphones currently on the market, this phone feels surprisingly good in the hands. The weight is evenly distributed throughout the body of the phone, and all the necessary buttons (i.e. power, volume, and camera) are located on the right-side for easy one-handed use. The true black display is 4.3" and is doing a well job of displaying color. This phone is readily viewable outdoors at 75% brightness, and the Gorilla Glass 2 glass panel is very durable (Though I would still recommend a SKINOMI TECH SKIN SCREEN PROTECTOR for added protection).

Battery Life-- The Lumia comes with a 2100MHA battery. This is one of the largest OEM standard batteries a manufacturer can put in a phone right out of the box. (For instance, the original galaxy nexus on verizon only came with a 1800, with an extended that pushed 2100). Depending on your use the phone can last a solid 20hours of light-moderate use, and roughly 12-14 hours of heavy use (I define heavy use as video streaming). This is respectable battery duration and let's face it, most people will have a charger in the car, carry an external battery backup etc.

Operating System: Windows Phone 8 Operating System is extremely user friendly. You are limited in personalization but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Live-tiles (which are re-sizeable) dominant the viewing screen and like with most functions, a single tap opens the desired program. Unlike other operating systems (i.e. android and IOS phones), windows phone provides you the ability to REMOVE BLOATWARE FROM YOUR DEVICE WITHOUT THE NEED OF ROOTING/JAILBREAKING. This, for me, is a huge plus as rooting a device generally voids your warranting at you run the risk of damaging (bricking) your phone.

Manufacturer Support/Investment-- Nokia's suite of apps are simply AMAZING. You get Nokia Map/Drive and Nokia Go-Music. The Nokia Map/Drive is similar to Google Maps and Navigation. The Nokia Go-Music is a FREE music streaming service native on all Nokia smartphones. This app is similar to Pandora but unlike Pandora it is commercial free, you do not need to register, and you are allowed to download approximately ~250songs for offline use. Nokia customer/tech support is also one of the best.

GLOBAL ROAMING/UNLOCKED-- One of the primary reasons I bought the lumia is that ALL WINDOWS PHONES FROM NOKIA ARE REGION-FREE SIM UNLOCKED. Meaning, so long as the carrier (other than verizon) produces the cell bands the phone's modem can pick up, you will be able to use the phone on that network. The Lumia 822 CAN BE USED ON T-MOBILE, ATT, ROGERS... and EVEN OVER SEAS. Verizon, a CDMA network, offers very few phones that are unlocked, let alone as capable of being used on GSM networks. So not only is this phone a good back-up phone, it's also a phone which can be used in case you want to switch carriers and don't want to sign a 2year contract/buy a new phone.

Cons:
Lack of Developer Investment-- The Windows Store has roughly 150,000 apps on the market, as compared to IOS and Google which have over 700,000. The list of apps also grows very slowly in Windows Store-- some of the more popular apps aren't available either.

Lack of Mainstream Appeal-- The lack of personalization is a deterrent for some. The live tiles can get boring.

>>List will be updated at a later date

Elegant Phone - Recommend February 28, 2013

Reviewer:  regves 

I've had this phone since mid-November. Windows 8 is very easy to learn and works well. Internet surfing is exceptionally fast, especially when on wifi or 4G. It also seems to be durable, having dropped it twice while standing. Both times the battery and cover flew off but putting it back together it worked fine. I would subtract a half star for thickness and weight if possible. Additionally the screen is bright and clear and the camera works great under most conditions, lacking a bit in low light as most small digital cameras seem to. Battery - twice since I've owned it I've run out of battery during the day after quite a bit of game playing/web surfing so that seems good to me. Haven't experienced any functionality problems. Highly recommend the phone.

great phone for the price. January 7, 2013

Reviewer:  R. Bozzuto  (Boise ID, USA) -

This is a great phone so far. I thought I ordered the black model but they sent it in white. I came from palm pre 2 and so far I love the Lumia. I didn't want an iphone I think they're overrated and clunky. Ive seen my sister in laws with the case on it its like half the size of my kindle. I don't carry a purse and don't want to but with something that big it wouldn't fit comfortably in my pocket. Ive had a droid x too I wasn't impressed with call quality with some calls being echoed. It also didn't have a vibrate option for all alerts which was a turn off here.
I was tired of the short battery life of my pre 2 so thats already a step up Id say its average as someone else put it but still one day more than I got out of my old phone.
The crisp features of the Lumia are great and receiving and or editing MS docs is a no brainer. The music option is great as you can add your favorites to your desktop. Tune in radio and Pandora are already installed. GREAT for me I'm a music person.
I noticed you have to shut it down when it doesn't react like it should. Ive had to once in two weeks so no biggie. One thing I did which I think is a great idea is that for $5-6 you can buy a small case for the phone since it has a slick feel to it you might not hold onto it easily. Ive dropped mine a couple times and it hasn't cracked the screen as someone else said. Its still nice and slim too.
The bigger screen is a plus from the pre2 but no real keyboard its all about touch with the Lumia. Id given it 5 stars if it had better battery life.
I'm not a big gamer but I see the xbox option on the home screen and I'm sure any of the apps not updated will be soon. It was free to me with a Verizon upgrade so that's great too.
After using the a couple weeks after writing this I had to order another phone. The OS didn't seem to be working properly and I want a different color.

Just a great phone! December 5, 2012

Reviewer:  Sierra Sam 

I switched from an ancient iPhone and could not be more pleased. I was a little unsure the first couple days if I had made the right choice, but I did. I actually use my phone as a phone and I have a hearing impairment. Sound is very good and is this thing ever fast.

Only drawbacks I can see is I wish the speakerphone was better and that the battery lasted longer.

Try it, you may like it. Mine was particularly appealing as it was free through Best Buy matching WalMart.

Update 12/12/12-I really like this phone but the battery just does not cut it. I have everything turned off and it still drains like crazy. I am running a WPBench test on it now and may try and exchange it tomorrow. On my old iPhone 3G with my normal usage it would go 3-4 days. At best, the 822 will go one day. I am hoping this is a defective phone/battery.

Awesome Phone March 6, 2013

Reviewer:  W. Dillon  (Columbus, GA) -

The 822 is overall a solid phone. The screen looks great, and while it's not as high of a resolution as some other phones are, it still looks excellent, and video looks really good on it. Call quality is good. The speaker for music isn't that great, but it gets the job done. The phone is built well, and it's survived a few drops. I love the fact that it has a microSD card slot and a removable battery. I have a 64GB card in it with plenty of videos and music on it. Currently you cannot have apps on the microSD, which is a bummer, but not a huge deal.

As far as the OS, WP8 is awesome. It's beautiful, super fast, and has a lot of cool things built in. It is currently missing some features, but it is expected that Microsoft will add many wanted features with future updates. The live tiles are awesome, I couldn't imagine a phone without them now. The one thing I do miss is the ability to sync with Zune (WP7 had this ability), which, in my opinion, is the best syncing software out there. Hopefully Microsoft will add the ability back as many people have cried out for its return.

So overall the phone is great. I do recommend it, but do know that there aren't as many apps as iOS or Android, though they are getting there, and most popular apps are already available.

Elegant Device With A Few Quirks May 17, 2013

Reviewer:  Matthew K. Morgan  (Ruther Glen, VA USA) -

I moved to a Lumia 822 Windows Phone after having had a first generation Droid for several years. I was happy with my Droid and it worked well, but after it finally started to degrade it was time to move to a new phone. I decided to try the Windows phone platform for no reason other than wanting something different, and of the options available to me I was most impressed with the Lumia 822. I wish I had made this switch a while ago...

The Lumia is a larger phone than my original Droid, and I was a little apprehensive when I bought it because of this. My concern was that it would be bulky and would be cumbersome to use, but this has not been the case. It fits almost perfectly in a pants pocket and it is just the right size when in operation for comfortable talk. It is large enough to allow for talking into the actual receiver instead of relying on the way someone holds the phone which means consistent sound clarity for the person on the other end.

Call quality has been great. So far I have had no issues with the ability to speak and be heard in a call. In fact, when switching between speaker phone and regular calling mode the person on the other end has said that they cannot always tell the difference. This was an unexpected bonus - most phones I have used do not work as well as speaker phones.

It is important to understand that this phone does not have a standard physical QWERTY keyboard but instead has a virtual keyboard that it displays on the screen. This is becoming the norm anymore, though I personally prefer having a phone that has a physical fly-out keyboard. In use, the keyboard works fairly well though I have occasional issues with tapping the right keys as I have larger fingers which means that sometimes the phone registers the wrong button pressed. This is more the exception than the rule but it happens often enough to merit attention - if you have larger hands, be aware that typing can get a little frustrating if you're in a hurry.

The greatest difficulty I have had with this phone is when using it with the car. I have a Ford Focus with full Sync system, and my Droid worked flawlessly with it. The Lumia works almost as well, though I have had the same problem many have had - when making an outbound call the system can shift into privacy mode and no one on either end hears anything. I have found that by using the phone to dial instead of using voice or the dashboard keypad the problem can be completely avoided but this is inconvenient. Recently my phone downloaded a large update and since then it seems to be working more consistently - time will tell if this has truly fixed the issue, but for now I have an acceptable workaround.

Now, about Windows 8 on the phone... I am not a huge fan of Windows on the normal (non-touchscreen) computer, but on a touchscreen phone it seems like this is the way a phone should work. The Windows phone OS is very intuitive, easy to use and it just works. I love the tile-based screens. With my Droid I occasionally had issues where I somehow scrolled to a different screen and got icons messed up because of it; I have not had any issues of that kind with the Windows OS and so far am absolutely pleased. The one drawback I have with the platform is that once in a great while the phone will simply reboot without warning - never during a call (so far) but always unexpected. To be fair, I had the same problem with Android at about the same frequency, but it still needs to be mentioned.

As at least one other reviewer mentioned, the number of apps in the online store is small compared to the quantity of apps in the Android or iPhone store. So far I have had no problem finding applications to suit my needs. There are more applications being added all the time but the problem is that the market share does not favor the Windows phone. The biggest targets are Android and iOS and that is where the majority of the applications are found right now.

There is one application that I have been unable to find that I think is sorely needed - a reputable security suite. As I write this I have found none at all. I have looked at Norton and Kaspersky in particular for applications of this type and they do not support Windows 8 on the phone. To me, this is a big deal. There are partial solutions in the store but so far I have not found an antivirus or anything else that would be termed good mobile security. I do sincerely hope this is corrected soon. This is not a shortcoming of the phone itself; rather, it is a reflection of the Windows 8 mobile market share.

The Lumia 822 is not without its quirks and issues but overall it is a very nice phone. It has a good feature set, it is easy to use and it's the right size for me. When it eventually dies, I will likely get something similar.

Great phone, perfect size May 15, 2013

Reviewer:  A. massena  (Fort Lauderdale, florida United States) -

I had a windows phone with at&t for about 18 mos. When I moved to Utah the at&t signal was so bad I ended up going to Verizon. When I went to Verizon last summer they had one windows phone which did not seem very good so I bought a Samsung S3. The Samsung is a really solid phone and I like it...However I missed my windows phone so I purchased an 822 on Ebay. I have been using the phone for the past 3 months. I personally like the 822 much better than the S3 because..

The 822 is a bit smaller and it is easier to hold.

I get much better battery life

Windows phones are infinitely easier to use.

I prefer one long page to 5 pages.

Fits in my pocket better.

I have 4 emails and I can set icons for each on the screen

I love the new small/large icon setup.

I love the history tab on each contact. I hate having to dig up emails from months ago..flip to the person who sent it and go to history and there it is.

You cannot go wrong with either the S3 or the 822. It all comes down to personal preference. One thing I love about Verizon is that you just pop out your sim card and put it in your other phone and your good. You could not do that at at&t when I was with them. I did try my S3 a week ago just to see how the experience was....I was back to my 822 in a few days.

excellent phone! May 3, 2013

Reviewer:  I. Smith  (Welcome, NC USA) -

I've owned so many phones from all OSes... And this is one of my favorite phones, hands down. Windows Phone 8 has minor, but very nice upgrades over windows phone 7. Most impressive is the hardware. I never owned a Nokia phone, but this one is really nice for the price. The quality and feel are excellent. Highly recommended.

I wish I would have known.... February 3, 2013

Reviewer:  Mickey Batin 

I have had this phone since the end of November and have had nothing but problems. The phone always shuts off when it sits too long and reboots. I've also experienced a problem with the volume control. I am a customer of Verizon Wireless, and all they have done is offer a replacement and a factory reset, both of which have done nothing. I was told by tech support that this is a known issue with this phone, but they have no clue when Nokia will be providing a system update for this phone. I do not recommend this phone, especially if you don't have time to sit around and wait for Nokia to fix the issues or to make several calls to Verizon Wireless Customer Care as they provide ZERO service for these issues.

Cute Phone but Not Ready for Prime Time January 9, 2013

Reviewer:  Gretchen Kromer  (Bloomington, Indiana) -

My 3-year-old XV6800 smart phone was working fine but so obsolete that I couldn't use Wi-Fi in some locations, so it was time for a change. I spent several months considering my options and settled on the Nokia Windows 8 phone, partly because I'm a Windows user and partly because of the extra-good camera. Over the next two weeks I had a lot of problems with it, mostly software-related, so I traded it in for an Android.

Whenever I get a new piece of equipment, I like to start off with the user guide in front of me so I can survey the features and be sure I understand how everything works. The introductory booklet said I could get a user guide by downloading it or by calling Nokia or Verizon . The guide was full of graphics and fancy fonts and choked up my printer so I called first Nokia and then Verizon. Both said that they would not send me a user guide. An obliging Verizon store rep finally printed one for me.

I connected the phone to my Windows 7 laptop. It found the phone and gave me a link to download the necessary software. I downloaded it and tried to install it but got the following error message:
"Windows Phone requires Net framework 4.0. Please install from '[...]"
No actual link was given and the address didn't work but I managed to find the necessary page and downloaded the software. After that the laptop recognized the phone but I was not able to set up playlists using either Windows Media Player or Zune and finally gave up on that. I haven't taken the time to tackle this issue on the Android. I'm still using my old phone to play music at the gym. When I tried to get help from Nokia and Verizon they didn't seem to know what to do either. If manufacturers of hospital equipment or kitchen appliances treated their customers this way there would be lawsuits; why do we tolerate this sort of behavior in the case of tech companies?

The front screen of the Nokia phone with the flipping tiles was very cute and I loved being able to make a little mini version of my blog page there but these features were not enough to compensate for the hassles. Also, after the withering review by Walter Mossberg in today's Wall Street Journal, I won't be upgrading to Windows 8 anytime soon.