The Nokia Lumia Windows phone comes in a few different flavors. There’s the 810, 820, 920 and then Verizon Wireless has their own branded version which is called the 822. It’s basically the Lumia 820 for Verizon.
It feels like no one talks that much about Windows phones these days. It’s usually the Apple iPhone and Android phones we hear about the most. When Verizon Wireless sent me the Nokia Lumia 822 to test and review, I wasn't sure if I would like it or not. I have personally used an iPhone for several years and, although I have always been a Windows user on my desktop computer, I haven’t personally found Windows phones to be anything special. But I was in for a surprise.
The interface of the phone is very simple and block-like. At first I wasn't sure about the look, but I actually ended up really liking the tile interface that the Windows phone uses. It’s very clean looking and you can easily change the main color of the tiles. You can also rearrange the tiles in any order and select from three sizes for a tile. Some apps even utilize what are called “live” tiles that show animation and/or information pertinent to the app. I find this functionality to be extremely nice. I can check my weather at a glance and every few seconds the weather tile flips over and shows a live satellite map of current weather in my area.
PROS:
Glove Mode: With this feature turned on, you can control the touchscreen even while wearing gloves. I happen to have special gloves that I use with my main phone, but if you don’t have them, this feature is pretty amazing.
Battery: The phone is rated for about 10.2 hours of talk time on 3G. I found it to be just about seven hours while on 4G LTE.
Camera Lens (forward facing): The camera has an 8-megapixel Carl Zeiss optics lens. It’s better than the Galaxy Nexus, but not quite as good as the iPhone’s lens.
Apps: While the phone doesn't have as many pre-installed Verizon apps as some of their other phones, it does come preloaded with My Verizon, NFL Mobile, ESPN, Univision, The Weather Channel and Data Sense.
CONS:
External Button Placement: This is just a personal preference, but I found the volume buttons tended to get in the way when I was trying to press the power/wake button.
Weight: It isn't too heavy, but the device could be a little bit lighter.
Customization: While I grew to like the tiled layout, I also found it somewhat more difficult to locate apps on the screen because, unlike colorful iPhone or Android app icons, a lot of them are all the same color.
App Store: The app store for Windows phones doesn't have quite the same scope of the iPhone or Android app stores. Most popular, mainstream apps are available, but you won’t find everything.
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Not surprisingly, the best thing about the phone is that it runs on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network… and it’s amazingly fast. I still rank Verizon Wireless as the best Wireless provider when it comes to coverage, speed and reliability; especially in the Dayton, OH area.
Since I am currently locked into a contract with another wireless provider, I eagerly look forward to each new device Verizon Wireless sends me to test. Because I know that I’ll have access to the awesome speed of their network.
I give the Lumia 822, on the Verizon Wireless network, three out of five stars.
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