Nokia Lumia 928 – Unboxing and first impressions of Verizon’s upcoming Windows Phone

It's a shame Verizon don't give you a discount on your plan when you buy a phone outright.

Does anyone know what the full retail price of this sweet baby is?!? I walked into Verizon and they had no clue......

Nokia US has repeated it on twitter numerous times. About the same price as the 920 $499.99 full retail

thnx mate!!!

Was there any word on the retail cost of this? Edit: 499.99 is better than I expected.

http://yourguide.vzw.com/devices/device-payment-plan/

wow, thanks as always for the run down and the unboxing :)
makes us wonder how long you had this in your hands since you were able to take it to london with you!
EDIT: how many phones did you take with you!? :)

I prefer the look of that to the 920. Id rather one of them to be honest. Any idea why they went back to amoled rather than sticking to ips though? Does that mean blue tinge or am i being ignorant?

I think it means better battery life.

Look at the N9. Look at all of the Symbian^3, Anna and Belle Nokia phones (I know, I know, sans 500, 603 and 701).
What do you see? ALWAYS-ON CLOCK and an AMOLED screen. (They made it work on LCD screens, too.)

I don't know what point you're trying to make. The 920 has a terrible battery life. The only downside. So I bet that's why they went with amoled screens on the 928.

I liked the color on my focus more than my 920. I just turned my focus on recently for the first time since I got my 920 and I was reminded how much I miss amoled.

Amoled on Focus looks better but it fails in sunlight, compared to the 920 screen.

If your 920 has" terrible battery life", you must be a real heavy user (videos/games all day), or you need to block some apps that you don't need to be running in the background... I'm on my phone quite a bit throughout the day, with occasional videos, surfing, etc. and I still have 40% of my battery after 12+ hrs...

Wow... I might need to exchange my phone with Nokia. I have everything blocked in the background. I do game. Even without gaming I get about 3-4 hours just from surfing the web, texting and talking. I keep a dark theme because I heard it takes less power. I do keep my screen on high brightness. I can't deal with a dull screen. Seems like I read in the forums that the battery was horrible. I just assumed 3 hours was all I could get. If your going all day with surfing the web I am gonna call Nokia in the morning and see if I can get my phone checked out or exchanged.
If I game I can get about 1 hour and she's dead. So basically I game plugged to a charger. Even then my battery still slowly goes down.

You should check some of your apps one of them will cause battery drainage quickly, and this happened to me. One day, and i don't know which apps or update I did but my live tiles stopped working and the battery life is horrible 50% down within 3 hrs. So I started uninstalling apps that I know might have cause the problem, and when I did everything is normal again. Some apps works none stop it's like attacking itself llike "DDos". I hope this helps you!

Same experience on my HTC 8X. Looks like MS did a modest job with it's OS. I was really struggling with the One S. Tried the One X+ and had the same problem - had to recharge the phones after 6 - 7hrs. Could as well be a HTC problem but still doesn't explain why the 8X performs so much better.

Why is no one saying what os and firmware it is running :|

Exactly

This is what I want to know, too.

Maybe they are under an embargo order on that tidbit till after some announcement Nokia has planned. 

Nah, just not interesting. For the record: 10211, Windows Phone 8

thanks for ruining our day :)
NOW we have to look forward to Tuesday for a surprise :)
Thanks seriously for the coverage.

I think its running Windows Phone 8, but I'm not sure /s

Daniel must have missed the memo that the 928 is plastic, thick and cheap looking, according to other sites. Must have got a different 928.../s Btw I agree, better looking than the 920 but I'll still enjoy mine. Nice that the Lumia love will spread. :)

That's harsh. GS4 is plastic, thick, and cheap looking. Have you seen and felt it?

He was being sarcastic, noting that other sites have complained about the build and feel of the 928. WPCentral and Technobuffalo are the only sites I've seen so far that have said the phone feels solid and great in the hand.

The Verge (Warren) also said the phone feels great in the hands and didn't complain on build quality.

Hadn't read their hands-on when I posted my comment. Tom Warren seems to be a good source for unbiased WP info from what I understand.

As did Jessica Dolcourt from CNET

Note the "/s" in his post...means "end sarcasm." It's akin to HTML coding. Nevertheless, he was being sarcastic in that first line.
 

Oops, sorry. I'm kinda slow with symbols.

"according to other sites" should have been enough for you to realize it wasnt his opinion. Just sayin. :)

Isn't the 920 plastic?

Polycarbonate

And polycarbonate is a class of thermoplastic polymers. a.k.a. a form of plastic.

Polycarbonate is plastic... It should be the same material as the 900.

Well, you get a lot of different metal to, but they all behave different. 

The 928 and 920 are the same materials. The blogs are referring to the glossy finish feeling and looking cheap. Many said the same about the 920. All accounts have said that the 928 feels well built still.

Technically Polycarbonate is a 'plastic'; however, when people say this in a dismissive manner they are either assuming their audience is ignorant or showing their own ignorance.
 
Polycarbonate is primarily used in non-consumer grade products, like aircraft and even bullet proof glass due to the strength and long term usage in extended evironments.
 
The polycarbonate casing is one reason that the 'drop test' videos on Youtube couldn't shatter the Nokia 920, even after using it as a baseball and whacking it with a bat across a parking lot.  To break the screen, they had to throw it at a sharp corner of a light pole hitting the screen at full impact.  (Normal drops and even throwing it 30 feet into the air had no impact on the device.)
 
It is really strange to see reviews 'ignore' what they think 'feels cheap' in their hands, when they are holding a product used on a jet fighter, and then picking up a simple consumer level plastic device like a Samsung S3/S4 or even the malable iPhone that still easily cracks and calling them quality is either ignornance or bias.
 
Maybe if these reviews spent more time in actual chemistry classes or had ever worked on jetfighters and even components for the ISS they would have a different opinion about what is or feels 'cheap'.

Design cues look similar to my 810... Cool phone.

Is it me or this phone is badass!!! Lol I wanted the Catwalk buy so far doesn't look as nice as the 920 or this beautiful 928!!

I was thinking the same.That 925 (Catwalk) doesn't seem to look as good as the 920 & 928.I really hope I'm wrong, cause I want to upgrade from my 620 pretty soon so one of these 3 is gonna be my choice.Don't get me wrong, the red 920 is still a favorite :D

Yes I agree I hope I'm wrong about the catwalk, I hope its on par with the looks of the 920 and 928 we'll see tomorrow!!! Ahhhhh I can't wait!!

I love my 8X, but can't wait to upgrade to this! Strange how my 8X was $150 but this is only $99...

I paid $200 for my 8X but I got it the day it came out.

We have 2 8x and I have the L920. It was a waist both product and money to have purchased the 8x's. Horrible horrible camera and video! It has a small screen and lacks HTC full support. The L920 was cheaper when we bought 8x's. Why!? How could we be so stupid! The product and overall value ratio of the L920 vs the 8x is 100:1!!!! Oh well, lesson learned. Next product, Nokia or nothing!

We did give Dan a little British beer before this video but damned if you can't tell!

Jay I bet it tastes better than most beer in the US but I'll take my beer cold over taste any day :)

the give away was the way he careless threw the manual and box off the screen and i reckon he pulled that sticky tape fairly hard to his surpirse that it pulled out the sim tray. i call wasted!

LOL. Is that why he called the SIM tray a "micro USB...holder"?

I'm not a fan of white phones in general, but I feel like especially in this case that black is the way to go.  Something about the more squared off design just doesn't look appealing in glossy white, but maybe I'm the only one.

It's funny you say that because I'm starting to feel like Black is the best color. I have a Nokia Red and Cyan case for my Black 920 but when I have those colours on I feel like I can't change the tile color beyond the color of the case because the colours clash to much. With Black you can switch to any color you want.

White also gives you the same freedom.

Yu don't have that problem with the 928 because the color doesn't bleed to the front of the phone. The front of the phone is always black glass.

+1

Actually, green tiles go well with red phone as well.

I go with emerald for my red 920. With it being as bright as it is, contrasting bright colors don't look out of place.

Red would look good with this design.

Still no word on the off-contract pricing?
 
And I sure would've liked this in Red. 

Thought I heard $549 off contract, but don't quote me on that. I can't remember where I heard/read it.

Nokia US tweeted that full retail price would be $499.

They tweeted to me directly that the price will be $499.99. Good deal. Not too expensive.

Anyone know how to get the phone off contract and price? used my upgrade for 822

Probably just buy it direct from VerizonWireless.com or at your local store for full retail.

Isn't it weird that they have the power connector on the top .
Is this how it was on the 920 ?

I was thinking the same thing... I thought that the bottom center location of the USB port was a MS standard for all WP8 devices to enable greater accessory compatibility?

There was never a standard.  However, I suppose this proves it.

The 920 has it on the bottom.

HTC Titan is on the lower left. I think you are referring to the camera button.

Not on Verizon, so I won't be getting this...can't say I'm too thrilled with the design at all. Hoping the leaks for the 925 are right because that thing looks really nice. Also hoping it comes to T-Mo asap...like, this week.

Come on Nokia Phablet and 1080p screen! Where are you?!

I don't think we'll see 1080p until the "Blue" refresh at the Fall/Holiday season timeframe, but that's just me.

This!

How good is your eyesight? I used to have 20/10 vision, and have tested the Nokia 1280x768 and the HTC 8X 1280x720 screens on several people in the 18-30 range, and have yet to find someone that can spot a single pixel on the screen in our test application. Even the highest contrasting pixels, with a random single pixel thrown on the screen is hard to find with magnification. Now factor in that most elements on the screen are anti-aliased and identifying a single pixel at this PPI becomes 4x harder. I am all for the highest resolution possible, but 1080p on a sub 5" device is wasted on 99 out of 100 users that couldn't discern the difference. Back when HD was introduced, even a sub 40" screen at a normal viewing distance most people could not see the difference between 720p and 1080p. (Especially when using 1080i with a lower refresh, that is still considered a sub par image to even 720p at 60fps.) If the device can hold and manage the 30fps or 60fps of the screen locked rate, then 4K displays would be brilliant. However, as the world has watched with the 1080p Android devices and even the Retina iPad, the extra pixels eat processing power rather quickly, and the only way around it is with a fast upscaler and rendering games and other elements at a sub 720p resolution. As gaming on phones gets closer to an Xbox 360, if you can't see the pixels, why burn the power or processing power? In reality, the 1080p Android and iPad Retina use it as marketing, and give users non-native upscaling for gaming and other items that need the speed. Sure the drive game looks good, but often just the game UI is being rendered at the full resolution (if that) and textures and other important details are not even 720p quality.

I wish the average person would think even 10% as much as this. They think they're getting more for their money, but they're actually getting less. >_>

Well, bloggers and tech journalists claim the HTC One and GS4 has the most gorgeous ever! How you refute that?

Its only because at such a small scale like 4.7 inches (HTC One) and 5 inches (GS4) stuff liek text sharpness will increase but thats it, thats why they say it. There is really no difference.

thisssss

That screen is gorgeous! I couldn't even tell where the screen ended because the blacks are so deep! My 920 is still awesome though :)

Man, Nokia is bring thier A game and MS where are you

Wow, that's an awesome looking device. Kind of would like a metallic version though, none of this plastic looking thing. Enjoying the 8X still!

Hero device for Verizon, amirite?  yet they have the two generic colors available only. 
 
Verizon only dipping their little toes into the windows phone pool,

I honestly think this design is stunning. Love the white with the squared edges tbh. I just wish it was matt and not glossy!
Looking forward to the 925 announcement tomorrow along with some surprises hopefully!

I swear to god, this phone looks so much like a Cadburry.  So delicious.

the design reminds me of cassette tape !

Currently own the 8X, which I love, but I've always wanted to give Nokia a try. Wishing for the off-contract price to be a bit lower than $550, especially since the 2 year is only $99, but I doubt it.
Would totally buy it for $300.

499

Off contract price is 499.99 so they say...

I really like its design, but usb on top is very weird, and makes little sense, I thought we had reached some sort of unofficial convention to put it on bottom.
But..., my god, straight lines are so cool!

It becomes much less important with wireless charging and bluetooth support.

I have a 900 and trust me its not a deal breaker once I upgrade im sure I'll miss it at the top

I love how the rectangular style sets off a nice look to the phone but hey i like rectangles :P. But i love my lumia 920 all the same...

Looks great!  My wife just broke her Focus S and it looks like we'll be paying AT&T an ETF and jumping ship to Verizon with his and her 928s.

Boo! I was hoping GDR2. Well hopefully that update gets pushed this month.

Decision time - punted my wife to AT&T for the 920 when her Trophy died (right around the 920 launch) but I'm still on VZW.  Had been planning to make the switch to AT&T for the 920 (or successor) once the Good for Enterprise app was out.  
 
Well Good is now in beta so it's about time to make the jump off Android (yay!!!!), yet this is causing me to consider staying on VZW for a while....and make the jump to AT&T if/when 41mp goodness comes its way.  I guess the big decision will be upgrade + ETF or full price plus no ETF.
 
I'll obviously be watching to see what gets announced during tomorrow's big day for Nokia.

ahhhh, first world problems my friend :-)

Considering the fact that the upgrade price is $400 (+tax) less than full retail ($499-$99 after mail in rebate) and the ETF is $350 minus $10 for each month you stay with Verizon, it wouldn't make sense to buy the phone outright if you even think there's a chance that you'll leave for AT&T.

Would love to have one of those, but hey, money doesn't grow on trees, and I'm happy with my 820. Good for people who will get this beauty. Happy for you.

In actually person (In this video I mean) it looks much better than in the pictures. Its worthy of being apart of the 9xx series.

can you tell us if it has group messaging?  all windows phones on verizon currently do not...

928 looks much better than the 920. think i may get this one as my next device, or wait for the 925 whichever comes to the UK first.

Can someone confirm the wireless charging back is included out of the box from Verizon. It was an overpriced add on for my 822. Thinking about upgrading but cost to buy outright is probably to steep, even worse if you have to add a $50 back. Also, is it me or does Verizon want all their phones to look the same. No love for WP8, I don't know why I stuck with them. Can get excited about catwalk but know it will be a year late or uglified version that Verizon gets.

This phone includes wireless charging capability.  Wireless charging pad is seperate accessory....

wireless charging is inbuilt .. no need for charging back.

Well, thanks for the video. This just confirms what I already thought about the 928. It's not that different from the 920. It's just uglier.
As for the thickness (something I have no beef whatsoever with the 920, but then again, I have big hands), the 928 isn't actually that thinner. It's just that, it's a rectangular box with no curves. With no curves, it obviously becomes thiner. However the angled edges become unconfortable to hold. Nah. I pass on this. Glad for Verizon clients though, now at least you can get a good Nokia WP8 phone. And perhaps now Microsoft can stop being a bunch of *ssh*les and release freaking DataSense to the rest of the World....

My goodness the Verizon logo up top is huge!

This one looks great.... Just wait for more hands-on and review
I love Nokia :)

I actually like the look of the 928 much better than my 920. Definitely not enough there to make anyone switch carriers for it though. Looking forward to tomorrows announcement.

A sexy device. I can't wait till Nokia is able to greatly reduce the size of the bezel around their Lumia phones. Edge-to-edge screen (or nearly so) would be perfect on that phone body.

I thought it was standard for Windows Phone 8 devices to put the USB port at the BOTTOM of the device. Why the hell is the USB port on top now? WTF?

Heres a thought :)
Isnt it nice to have such a variety of choice in style from ONE company like Nokia?
We have people saying they dont like 920, but like the 928, then others saying they prefer the 925.
Three different styles in about 6 months.
Have to see Samsung or Apple do this - even once a year!

I really like the design. While I prefer the sides to be rounded, the back seems to raise up from the side to the center where it becomes flat as opposed to the 920 where it completely curves. I think this can be a true successor to my 900, although quite not sure until tomorrow....

Omg the design is stunning! I like way better than the 920. Its a more modern design language with it being more squared. And I love that's its thinner. Im not a fan of the thickness of,the 920 from the top and bottom. I want this. I hope they release this phone in Canada! Otherwise I'll have to figure out a way to get it

It's most likely not coming outside of the US. But the Lumia 925 (Catwalk) is being announced tomorrow!

I really hope mine got overnighted so I get it tomorrow.

Lucky bastard!

Any chance the 928 will work on at&t with an at&t SIM like the Verizon 822 does?

You would get this over the 920? In red? In yellow?

I would! Better screen (Imo), xenon flash and better battery is enough for me. And it looks awesome! My red 920 is still great though!

Well... I think this is the best phone option on Verizon.  I wish I had Verizon service... AT&T gives me pretty relatively crappy service on LTE.
 
Design-wise, though... I prefer the 920 in every way except the zenon flash and AMOLED screen.  All the tweaks they made make it more unattractive to me.  It looks uncomfortable to hold with all the sharp angles.  I prefer the USB on the bottom given that I hardly ever use it, though that's not too big a deal.  It hardly seems at all thinner.  And it's really strange that they are not offering any other colors... one of the things that makes Nokia stand out usually.  I also can't stand fingerprint magnet gloss finishes, but that's an issue on many 920 colors as well.
 
The speaker placement could go either way... I do have issues playing games in landscape and covering the speaker on the 920.  But I also worry about it being on the back and being covered when laid down with the 928.  Looks liek the back may be curved enough to avoid that though.
 
Definitely not anything for 920 owners to lust after, though as I said I am very happy that there is finally a flagship on Verizon... hopefully will lead to some great sales.
 
Is the black version of this phone matte or glossy?  Matte would at least make it look a bit better.

Besides the HTC one this has to be the best looking phone out right now.

The 928 definitely looks amazing in white. I love this design....it is an amazing phone. Very very nice but my 920 is still a beast of a phone and looks amazing in red lol

Am I the only one who really likes the 928 body?

I also love the design. Best looking Lumia yet.

Hmmm Danny Boy has the instadagram app on his 920... Lol

L920 looks a lot more appealing IMO. I think these carriers need to keep their opinions toward design to themselves and stick to handling network issues. This phone isn't horrible but I just feel like it isn't truly Nokia. Carriers need to let OEM's do their thing!

NOKIA SHOULD STOP MAKING VARIANTS / CUSTOM VERSIONS FOR THESE PICKY CARRIERS UGGH

+1

I find the USB could be troublesome in light rain sprinkles.. Like when leaving the car going to your house door.... Don't say hang up and call back. Its not ideal. But I do like the way it looks a lot.

The tank looks better.. 920 all the way... The 928 looks cheap!!!

+1

Just you wait for the 925 which is this but in aluminium. That'll look even cheaper lol

On 920 buttons are zirconium, not just any ceramic.

It's a little disappointing that Nokia went away from the character of the Lumia 800, 900, 920 with the front of the phone's design but I'm sure Verizon customers will not be complaining. The 925 is as blank and uninspiring as the 810 as Daniel compared but with the specs you want in a Nokia flaship. But this is definitely a win for Verizon and Windows Phone.

I'm a 920 user and love it, but to be fair another 920-esque design langauge will be labeled "rehash". Or might. Don't want to go the $am$ung road milking every last drop of the design on all their 2013 product line.

That's fair to say but at least give the device some flair on the front. I mean it's just a flat, clean slab and rehash or not, the design language used in those models are by far one of the most attractive ones to look at.

I guess it doesn't have a aluminum body after all and is it polycarbonate or plastic?

928 looks good for sure but the 920 is more distinctive :) Good choice between the 2 though if I was switching now I'd be a mess trying to choose. 
Glad I went with the Yellow 920 half a year ago though. Best smartphone ever. I'd like to tap that 928 also though. 
Cat walk I'll need to see. Doesn't look as good as I thought.

You know, when you've had the pleasure (?) of taking a Windows Phone apart to fix broken Gorilla glass (which is supposed to be invincible) etc, the bang for your buck becomes readily apparent.  These phones ooze sophistication, but are nonetheless somewhat overpriced.  The thrill is gone for me, as any phone's beauty is truly now only skin-deep.  However, I will be buying either the Lumia 925 or 928 regardless.  After all, a refined man has to have some eye candy with him every now and then.

I'll be at my local Verizon store as soon as they open to pick up a black 928. I can't wait to be back to a Windows Phone 8 device.

Did you see how his hands started sweating after he broke the sim tray ? lol 

Love my 920, but the latest few devices from Nokia makes it seem to me like they are becoming complacent design-wise.

Catwalk looks like Huawei's W1

Really reminds me of the Razr HD, but say what you will about the design, its premium AF

Whats up with Nokia using stone age concept of placing the mini usb port on top? It not only looks UGLY, you can't connect a dock connector. if you are connecting it with a wired charging you have to place it inverted in order to see.
1) Mini USB on bottom and
2) 3.5MM Audio on top
Should be the standard every smartphone manufacturer should follow

Ya, I know what you mean... Every  night before going to bed I stare at the top of my Lumia 920 and marvel at how BEAUTIFUL it is in it's simplicity. lol
I can't get my head around your otherr complaint. I keep my phone in my center console cup holder..without a wired connection because my battery life is great.. but I digress. Anyway, with my phone vertical in the cup holder it would be impossible for me to power my phone with an in-car charger. The 928 location would be perfect. Say I didn't have cup holders.. just a flat center console so I had to lay my phone flat, with the top of the phone towards the dash. Again, the 928 charging location is more convenient for a car charger.
With these phones featuring wireless charging I don't see the necessity for a "dock connector".

Is anyone else annoyed that this phone isn't even out yet and they are already announcing the update?

Looks a bit too much like a Sony Android phone to me... Probably be getting the 920 if there's nothing better when my time for upgrade comes.

I thought Microsoft was going to have all the manufacturers of WP8 devices put micro USB port on the bottom. Would have helped with accessories...oh well, there goes that

Would this work in the UK?  I hate that Verizon logo on the front, though.  Why do they do that?!  One of the reasons the iPhone looks so slick as a piece of hardware is the lack of logos printed all over it.

How well does the speaker work if it's on the back???

You said in the video that the phone is definitely much thinner.
However, if I measure it's height (video on mark 3:24-3:30) it seems to be exactly the same height as 920 including the "bump" at the back. Or?

Nice looking device.  I prefer this to the 925 as far as looks go.  Glad to see variants and Nokia pushing hard on getting multiple devices out vs the 1-2 a year that Sammy was pushing out.

Anybody else notice the the corners are very similar to the surface? Interesting......

This is by far the best looking phone I ever seen in my life. PERIOD! I really hope it comes to Canada on Telus or Bell. This is everything,I wanted the 920 to be

The weight is finally over!
 

Nokia Lumia 928 First hands-on video
watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s48ZUwJXo3c
nokia 920 The camera is the most important feature of the Nokia Lumia 928 and perhaps the only reason why Nokia launched a brand new device instead of continuing with the Lumia 920. As mentioned above, Nokia Lumia 928 comes with 8.7 MP rear end camera and a Xenon flash. While the Lumia 920 had a dual-LED flash, the next Lumia ups it. The phone is said to have best low-light shooting experience and also prevents noise. Same goes for video-recording at 720p@30fps. Nokia Lumia 928 First hands-on video?

Why doesn't this get the same 6 lense upgrade as the 925?

I was sooo excited for this phone, but went in to Verizon to check out the demo unit today. They still have the max screen standby time at 5 minutes. What is Verizon doing that. They did the same thing with the 8x and that is why I didn't keep mine. Why does Verizon always have to put their dirty little hands on changing factory settings. The Lumia 920 has an option for never turning the screen off and so do the international versions of the 8x. Try listening to streaming music on a long car trip when you have to physically turn the power button on every 5 minutes to skip a song or change playlists. This is ridiculous! Unless anyone knows how to hack the screen standby time I will be taking a pass on this awesome looking device or switching to AT&T.

Group texting, anyone see if it is available in the OS build on the phone?

Daniel, can you post an update to this first impressions to go through what your impressions are on how responsive or unresponsive you find the on-screen keyboard when typing messages, addresses, etc? Does it seem more accurate and easy than say typing on an iPhone5 screen or BB10 or Android? Or about the same to what you've seen with other on-screen keyboards?