Nokia Lumia 928

Overview

Verizon Exclusive Windows Smartphone

Nokia Lumia 928 is a brother phone of Nokia Lumia 920. This device is specific for Verizon's 4G LTE network in US.

Nokia Lumia 928 Design and Build Quality

On the first look, the phone looks like Lumia 920 but when you hold it in your hand, you will feel the difference. The phone has curved edges and a slightly upraised back. The USB port is on top, which may not be liked by all. The phone’s dimensions are 133 x 68.9 x 10.1 mm and the phone weighs 162 grams only. The phones body is made of polycarbonate material. The phone’s build is exceptional. However, the grip of the phone is not so good. It is difficult to hold in one hand and often slips from the grip. The battery of the phone will last you for about 8 hours with calling, emailing, and music.

User Interface and Comfort to Use Nokia Lumia 928

Like its predecessors, the phone also runs the Windows 8 OS. The 4.5" PureMotionHD+ AMOLED display screen compliments the OS perfectly. The phone has a powerful 1.5GHz dual-core Krait CPU and 1GB of RAM. Windows 8 is fairly easy to use and understand. The phone supports integrated wireless charging which is of great use when you do not want to put your phone to charge. There is not option of adding MicroSD card on the phone, which is a big drawback. Unlike other Lumia phone, the phone does not have any lock screen notification display. We especially liked the way the phone can be controlled by voice. It does not take long for the phone to adapt to your voice. The live app tiles are resizable and since the phone supports multitasking, you do not miss a moment of work.

Telephony and Phonebook

There were no issues with the signal reception and the call quality is very good. Noise cancellation works very well on the phone and you will be easily able to hear clear voices even when travelling in train. Loudspeaker on the phone is good. The phonebook is the people hub, which is a one-stop place for all contacts and social networking. Rooms are another unique feature of the phone. You can create rooms for group chats, create private calendar entries, share photos, and videos, and create private to do lists. These rooms can be share with iOS and WP 7 users only.

Messaging and Emails

Messaging and email are another two powerful features of the phone. Messaging is divided in to messages and online. Email client supports outlook, Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo mail, and Nokia Mail. Other accounts can be added using the setup.

Gallery, Photo Viewer and Video Player

Photos hub on the phone has editing options, which comes in handy when you want to upload to social media sites. Also the photos are sorted in a way to let you easily view your favourites. Photos can be integrated with SkyDrive, which means that you do not have to worry about transferring from the phone every time. The video app is integrated with the music app. It plays all the formats and the playback is smooth.

Nokia Lumia 928 Music Player and FM Radio

The new music+video app on the device come with many interesting features such as and is called the Mix Radio. It lets you stream live music and even save some songs temporarily to listen to offline. Equalizer options are enough to please even very musical minds. The loudspeaker on the back of the phone works very well. The phone supports digital surround sound in the earphones.

Nokia Lumia 928 Camera and Image Quality

The phone has an 8.7MP camera, with Carl Zeiss lens, PureView software and a Xenon flash. The flash enables you to take great photos in low light too. The phone also has various editing and camera features like creative studio, white balance etc. The front camera is 1.3MP. Photos from the rear camera turn out to be excellent in broad daylight, however under artificial lighting and low light situations the photos are not too great.

Video Camera and Video Quality

The phone does excellent video recording. The phone can record 1080p@30fps with surround sound. Video stabilization on the phone is excellent and we have not complaints about the motion videos that we had recorded. In low light the videos turn out to be very basic but are still very usable.

Nokia Lumia 928 Connectivity Options

As said before the phone is dedicated to Verizon 4G network. Other connectivity options include GPRS, WLAN, EDGE, USB, NFC, and Bluetooth. Connectivity is speedy and seamless. In addition the users also get 7GB of free SkyDrive space.

Organiser and Other Utility Tools

The presence of MS office is the highest selling point of the Windows 8 phones. Word and excel are the two most important apps on the phone are Word and Excel. Calendar, Calculator, Alarm, To-do, and clock are the other tools on the phone.

Web Browser and Applications

IE 10 is the default browser on the phone. The browser buttons are placed at the bottom, which are very convenient. Default search engine is Bing. Zune software is perfect for downloading high data apps. Nokia Xbox live tile is very good useful for music lovers. Common apps include Facebook, twitter, and Google.

Maps and GPS

Map application is the default Nokia Here Maps app. It consists of HERE Maps, HERE City Lens, Here Drive+ and HERE Transit which contain turn-by-turn navigation. The map app is very quick to latch on to the GPS and works seamlessly.

Distinctive Features of Nokia Lumia 928

One mentionable feature of the phone is the Kids corner. The Kids Corner in the UI gives you to the freedom to restrict apps and features for kids. In the kids’ corner, you can add the apps and tool, which you think, are OK to be used by your children.

Value for money

The phone is currently not available in India.

Verdict

We would rate this phone a 4.3 out of 5 stars. The phone has a good battery life but the storage is limited.