

Verizon Lumia Icon

We've previously covered the mistakes of sales teams at numerous retailers and outlets in multiple regions around the world. The latest blooper appears to be located at a Fry's store in California where a consumer spotted what appears to be the yet-to-be-announced Nokia Lumia Icon. The overall design,1080p display and more gives it away. Not only was a dummy unit on display, but it was labeled as the Nokia Lumia 928.

Instead of looking at the Lumia 928, which is a gorgeous Windows Phone, potential buyers would instead be handling the upcoming Verizon smartphone. The Nokia Icon hasn't yet made its way to the US yet, but China is already digging the Verizon exclusive Windows Phone (yes, you read that correctly). Here's a quick recap of the specifications you can expect to see:

  • Qualcomm Quad-core Snapdragon 800 at 2.2 GHz
  • 5 inch AMOLED display, 1080 x 1920
  • 2 GB of RAM; 32 GB of internal storage (no micro SD)
  • 20 MP PureView rear camera with oversampling (16 MP + 5 MP photos); Front facing camera
  • Dual LED flash
  • NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE
  • Qi wireless charging
  • FM Radio
  • At least three HAAC microphones
  • Data Sense, NFL Mobile, Verizon Tones, VZ Navigator, My Verizon Mobile, Nokia StoryTeller, Nokia Screen Beamer
  • Available colors: glossy white or matte black

We're still waiting for launch details and more, but hopefully it'll not be long now, folks. Who will be picking one up?

Source: Reddit; thanks, Kirk, for the tip!


Reader comments



Let me tell you that the 3400mha battery in the 1520 is nothing short of amazing. Even with the 6" 1080p screen the 1520 can last literally all day long, 24hrs, with normal use.. Now, I use my phone literally for 8 hours a day at work, and it can last the entire time.. That's amazing! The only reason I charge it at work is so that it's not dead when I leave... It can't be just the battery in this case. This hardware has to be seriously optimized for the software to achieve this.. So, if that Icon comes with the same battery then it's gotta be the longest lasting phone in the world..

Haha I saw this at the Fry's in Burbank ca yesterday. Nice phone but I like my at&t 1520 better. VZ coverage stinks in my area.

I am so sick of hearing about this phone haha. It's almost as bad as that stupid Normandy one :) With that said, I am hoping this phone will come out soon for those VZW customers as well as a T-mobile variant as well, as I may be willing to part with my 1520 and move over to tmobile for a device of this caliber.

When you said T-Mobile, now you're speaking my language. I just need to see it to believe it and not get screwed by giving us another 16gb flagship.

Arent' LTE Verizon phones unlocked anyway?  I'd rather buy it, and just transfer it over.  I don't trust TMO to support their devices past the last page of their motivational calenders. 

Why do Nokia keep slapping only 32gb in these things? I mean they are allowing us to save DNG format pictures for christs sake yet they think half the storage of an iphone is enough. *facepalm*

I know right? I have a 64gb chip in my 520 for christ sake. A high end phone like that and you're STUCK at 32 is a DEALBREAKER.

I moved on and Nokia is not tending to my/our needs, coming from 810/925 then returned the 925 for a Z1S. The Sony phone fits my lifestyle perfect has everything I want in a phone and then some. I got tired of waiting, if and when Nokia will build a phone with internal 32gig with SD support and a 3k battery. Sony's got me covered and Nokia lost me as a customer oh well....

You need to rethink your definition of "troll." All he said was that Nokia's devices didn't fit his needs, which is a totally fair thing to say. Trolling is intentionally saying inflammatory things to get and emotional response, not just saying something you disagree with.

Well he did say us. And he us trolling since it was pointed out that the 1520 offers 32gb internal with microsd support and he still continued.

The 32gb varient only comes in boring black tho - NO other colors, If they had it in white I woulda got it but NOOOOO only in boring black. SMH

That's not trolling. I think what's more likely here is that he was unaware there's a 32gb 1520 available in the US now. Other than some mild ignorance of the phone, he didn't say anything inflammatory about Nokia or Windows Phone.

And everyone was giving the guy who ported flappy bird over a hard time for "stealing" it. The developers who r too lazy or as they say too "busy" to port over their apps shouldn't complain if someone takes over the reigns and ports it over. If the developers care so much they should have come out with one for windows phone from the start or release one close to the release for the other os.

Except that's a phablet and doesn't count. A lot of us are all waiting for a top-end / flagship mobile in the 4.5-5" range. It's the only gap in the mobile market lacking microSD. Low-end, mid-range and phablets have microSD. Top-end models miss out.

Well that's because you were lucky Sony created the Z1S for T-Mobile with 32Gb and SD card. 'cause the rest of the world is stuck with the 16Gb version.
But since you have it...which networks does it support? Just to see if I can get one and use it in Europe...


  • LTE (Bands 4/17)

If you're with At&t you could send all of your music to At&t Locker and stream at will. That's what I've done. Also have an Xbox Music pass. No need for music to be saved to the phone.

I'll bet the 64gb iPhone is a pretty rare beast in the wild. Everyone I know has a 16gb. But they should definitely offer 64gb versions of these 20+ mp phones.

Agree.  I might've left AT&T for Verizon for this... but not without a microSD card slot.  Sorry.


Why does Nokia always seem to hobble its phones?  Just give us what we want, d*mnit, and maybe you'll see your market share increase!  Geesh!

why?  Att will have a compariable model soon I am sure.  Much quicker than tmo.  ATT usually gets the newest models and has the best lineup of phone of any carrier.  

How difficult is it to upload to a computer or SkyDrive and delete? I think you are in the minority and 32 GB is really more than enough for the avg person that doesn't hoard photos on his/her phone.

I have a 920 have all my music all my pictures including the ones that were on my Samsung Focus which was over a thousand a lot of programs and I still have 10 GB left over

I also have a 920 but I need to clear my phone every two months otherwise the storage becomes full. I do take a lot of pictures/movies of the family and have about 10GB's of music on the device.  For me adding an extra SD-card would be VERY welcome...

For me 32 GB is not enough (920). Most of my storage is used by apps and games, a small amount for photos and music. At one point I had 20+ GB with just apps and games. A microSD slot would be highly beneficial for me.

You sir, are an outlier. OEMs study usage patterns and decide what storage is suitable for the most users. Hence most phones come with 16 GB. some of the higher end phones come with 32 GB and no SD slot to preserve design aesthetic and control cost. This won't change anytime soon.


There's a significant group of enthusiats that want a 32gb phone with a SD slot.     As far as the larger market I am not so concerned, nor do I think I should be.   For those people who have an interest in a flagship device, in that case OEM's looking at usage pattern of the average people really doesn't matter if we are talking about a flagship device.

These type of comments calling for a SD card slot on top of 32gb is quite common.  I have a 920 as well and I consider a phone with 32gb of internal memory and a SD card slot to be my idea storage for my next phone.   People wanting a flaship desire flagship specs and OEMs rationalizing away desires like that end up meaning they limit the sales for their phones.

What is significant to you may not be to Nokia,  Yes, they might lose a few, but if vzw says we want one SKU and there is presure to keep this attractively priced relative to Notes, iphones, etc., what is Nokia to do? First, is it feasible to incorporate this change without making design compromises?  Second, can we hit our profit and schedule targets and keep this competitively priced with all these features.  Last, what is the consequence if we don't? Will we gain more customers by keeping the price low than we will lose by alienating x number of people with abnormal storage needs?  Do most people even care?  It's not as easy as cutting a hole in the side and soldering some wires.  Anyone who's sat in design meetings knows that everything is a trade between design, schedule, and cost.  Cell device manufacturers have the added complexity of pleasing the carrier in additionn to users and shareholders.  But let's all sit back and ignorantly claim that an SD slot can and should be there. That's the last I'll speak of it.

oh you are so charming at times...   Clearly AT&T decided in the end to go with two SKU's for the 1520, even if the second is only distributed online.   What I am saying that a significant percentage of those interested in what they think is a flagship device are interested in a 32gb device with a SD card slot.  If you want to be insulting and call looking for flagship stats "abnormal" or "ignorant" you fucking go ahead.  But like other people have stated about display or even form factor size what you think is "ignorant" or "abnormal" becomes a standard over time.

Whoa. Ignorant=not privy to the design process, trade studies, and stakeholder interests. Abnormal=more than is normal. You can take it there if you want, but I'm really not interested.

I've seen enough comments to know that 32gb with a SD card slot is in fact very important to a significant amount of consumers who are interested in a flagship device.  

I've already addressed that desires and standards change over time and so your notion of "abnormal" is very problematic.  I am not talking about a 64gb internal memory phone, but rather a 32gb with a SD card slot.   

The 929 is incredibly close to what many people would define as an ideal phone at this point.   So what I am suggesting is that the OEM or carrier that comes out with something  with the form factor, display size and resolution, with QI wireless charging, and 32gb of internal memory with a SD Card Slot will have a lot of very interested customers.

So talk about "ignorance" and "abnormal" is so much horseshit.   We WILL see a phone like what I am talking about and we will see a lot of interest in it by enthusiasts.  

Cool, but I have all my music (10,000+), pictures (2,500+) and apps (150+) on my 16GB 822, with a 64GB microSD card... and only 8GB of free space.

Ditto, have 11,000 mp3s ( my whole music collection) and pictures on a 64gb SD card in a 822. I have a out 7 GB left on the sdcard and about 2.5gb left on my actual phone. I am not giving up carrying my whole music collection. 32gb is not enough.

It's not about the "difficulty" but, rather, having a large amount of local storage so as not avoid having to pay data charges to access music collections, games, etc. This is 2014 and there is no valid excuse for not having a micro SD slot. It only costs a few dollars more which isn't going to preclude anyone from buying this level a phone and the extra cost is offeset by those who want this feature and the spec bragging rights alone. 1080p isn't really necessary either in that regard either but woe unto those who don't offer it soon.

So maybe you don't have your entire 15 GB music collection on the phone and maybe you only store a half dozen games that you're actually playing. Not worth crying about. iPhone users make do and they believe their phone is the reincarnation of Jesus.

Yeah and they are douchebags.

Saying WP doesn't need something because iPhone doesn't have it may the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

I know a few people that switched to Android specifically so they could have microSD and not pay ridiculous prices for a higher storage iphone

I understand that a lot of people are in the car for their jobs. In that case, you probably have a laptop or tablet that you can store all your music on and switch out files as you see fit. But if you spend a lot of time at the beach or lake, you are certainly able to afford more data. The point is that these usage cases are not typical. With a low markershare, Nokia will make whatever suits most. Android OEMs and apple have huge markets and can make niche models and still move millions of units. It's a business, not a democracy. Get used to it. I've come to terms with the fact that the 4th largest carrier will only get a new high end WP once in a blue moon. I used to complain a lot. It does no good, so I'm going to switch and pay a bit more. #1stworldproblems.

It is just ridiculous to imply that WiFi or any data service at all, is everywhere, at reasonable signal strength, all the time. Think about what you are saying. This is especially true when access to your files (music, word, excel, games...) is wanted or needed and waiting till later, is the wrong answer. The device should be set up to serve us, to the extent possible.
The easy, obvious answer is to have the files on your phone and sync when, when there is access to data service. Memory is cheap. My 64GB card cost less than $50.00.
I won't buy a phone that can't have memory added.

Best wishes, no worries.

Who implied WiFi was everywhere? Using a mix of WiFi and cellular is the best option for most. So you can't listen to ALL your music everywhere all the time...but I bet you could listen to most of your music from storage and stream ALL when you have enough data or ample WiFi. OR swap out your music every once in a while. Again, these aren't the typical usage scenarios. And one more thing. That metal band surrounding the icon is almost certain 2-3 different antennas. I'm no RF engineer, but I don't think cutting a hole in it would be good for reception. But hey, you guys and gals are the armchair designs, so you tell me

I expect that kind of crap (lack of space, swapping files all the time) on a low-end model, not top-end that I've paid a premium for. The time that I really need a lot of files (music, videos, photos, ebooks) are when I'm travelling. Having to rely on WiFi when travelling can be trying at best. It's often very slow and you might only be able to access it from certain locations. Mobile reception can be very unreliable too. Only having 16 GB means that it runs out fast or I can't have very much. 32 GB is marginally better, but microSD solves all problems. I can have music and videos on one card, another for taking photos & videos (as I don't always lug around my camera).

Wth are you talking about? This phone IS a PureView phone. But they managed to not ruin the design with stupid humps like the 925/1520.
You just won't get to 1020 camera obviously. But this is a flagship, the 1020 isn't.

Yeah right, the 1020 is more of a flagship than this because of the camera along. After seeing what the full Pureview sensor can do, anything less is unacceptable.

Stupid carriers that's the reason WP won't grow in the U.S. My bought her Lumia 925 from t-mobile cause of me, she told me that they offered her an iphone5 and an sg4, when she said no she wanted the Lumia the asked her why.

I actually told a sales rep once, "Because I said so. It's what I want, because it's a superior platform. Stop trying to sell me on something else!" At that point, they were finally curious enough to listen to me on why.

Same thing happened to my friend a few days ago at T-Mobile...He left crappy Sprint for the T-Mobile ETF deal...His son wanted to buy a Windows phone and the sales guy told him "You don't want a Windows phone because 1 out of every 3 gets returned"...They than proceeded into selling his soon another Android phone...His son has a Surface tablet that he loves and a Windows phone would have been great for him...These damn salespeople are ridiculously biased in my opinion...They need to let people just buy what they want!

Because of biased reps I always order my phone online. A few days shipping, but at least I get what I want and no stupid rep to argue with. During my time working for Tele2 Sweden I actually sold more WP than anything else. WP fits about everything people actually want from their smartphone.

When I told the that I wanted the 1520 she came with a note 3 I looked at her and said I said Lumia 1520, she smiled and said yes but this phone is much better, I looked again and said are you stupid I got up and went to another rep. He asked did you have some sort of problem with her I said no I asked for a phone she brought me another saying its better called her stupid and here I am.

This would be a very effective way of handling a situation like this. Ask for the manager to join your conversation. "I plainy told two sales reps that I wanted to purchase a Lumia 1520 and they are trying to sell me something else. They clearly have an incentive or bias to sell me something other than a Windows phone. Is this company or store policy and if it is neither, then why is taking place on your floor?"

Speaking as a sales rep who loves WP I still push android phones on people as it makes your job significantly harder if you sell WP because they do have a higher return rate and you have to babysit the customer more. You want market share? Give a commission to the sales rep and sales will skyrocket. Samsung reps are always running contests and promotions, that's a significant part of the success.

This!  As a Sales Manager in a different industry, incentives are what move products for the sales reps.  If MSFT had some incentives to move WP, it would be sold hard by the reps.  Samsung gets this!  Not to push to a customer that is a novice but to at least learn the product and offer it to customers who are open to something other than iphone or galaxy.  Sales reps do not push what they do not know.  

Exactly! Sales Reps sell what makes them the most money even if it is a worse product. Microsoft's marketing needs to be spent not as much on consumers but incentives in-store to push the product, then you might see some market share gains in North America.

This. It's all about the $$ and M$ needs to step up their marketing dollars on incentives for reps to freakin push WP. Enough with the lame soccer mom commercials! Get aggressive and for gawd sakes put some edgy tech feature in the phones that iOS and android don't have and market the hell out of it. Just do it already.

You're right about marketing, but in tech I think there ok. Best camera only on Lumia devices, I'd say they need software only, there behind in that area in so many basic features. Some unique but usable software will do the trick.

If I have my mind set on a phone and I ask for that phone only no options why bring me another one, that's being plain stupid not all reps are bad but the majority are just stupid, you can't ask them about specs they'll just answer its an Android.

Typically because people are usually pretty clueless and don't know what they want. Most of the time they just walk into the store with no clue what they want. By stating that the majority are just stupid puts you in this category of an ignorant and very small minded person. Have some respect next time you go in instead of being a giant asshole.

You have to be 1 of those reps that no matter how many times I say I want this device you keep asking why. Who's the bad guy or asshole like you put it when you don't give your client what you want. The rep. Told me in other words don't buy that buy this and I said no twice cause I know what I want or am I wrong.

Curious what the higher return rate is about. Is it build quality? User experience? Buyer's remorse? My mother has had an 822 for over a year and has had 2 major problems that caused her to replace it. My biz partner has had the same experience with his 8x - 2 major problems leading to replacement. Wife and I have 920s that have been flawless since we picked them up over a year ago. 

It's probably more of the same after they make their purchase with family and friends, who know nothing of WP8, saying, "Why did you get that? **** is so much better...."

Its usually has to do with returns do to not understanding the phone because they come from android or an iPhone. These customers can be swayed by teaching them how to use it and then they like it more, however time is money and unfortunately it isn't worth the time.

A friend was interested in getting a WP. However, when her husband went into the AT&T store to get her a phone, he came home with an S4. I am not sure what happened, but I am sure he was talked out of a WP. I am not happy about it.

It was probably because she has 3 kids. It was out of my control, they live an hour away. She wanted a free upgrade and they gave them a S4 for free.

But they do let people buy what they want.  Your friends son had the choice to buy what he wanted - he chose to walk out of T-Mobile with an Android device (unless you're telling us that the T-Mobile sales rep held a gun to his head and forced him to purchase an Android device).


Your wallet, your choice.

My buddy was going to get a 920 about a year ago to replace his ipod touch w/ phone 4, the lady at att talk him out of it and he bought an ipod touch w/ phone 4s. A phone that was already out of date. Wasted his upgrade too.

I was in a store (won't say which one) looking at a 1020 when a rep came up to me and asked if if was interested in it . I said yes. He then asked why and and I said it was because of the camera. He then went on about how the S4 is a better camera because it has better lens elements while the 1020's lenses are cheap and rubbish (?).
I then pointed out that I had looked at many camera tests between the 1020 and the S4 zoom, let alone the S4. He then said something along the lines of the S4 zoom' camera is worse than the S4 and all the websites are photoshopped and biased and in real life the 1020's camera is rubbish. When I still said I wanted the 1020 he looked at me in a sort of disgust. Still got the 1020 to replace my trusty N8 and still live it. Camera is excellent btw.

That's the problem if I want a phone give me the phone I want I don't care about how much you make for selling me a Samsung or apple device, I want a Lumia or an HTC, why do reps argue with the clients, again I repeat myself just being stupid.

I wanted to try it for size before I committed to a 2 year contract. I bought it online anyway because it came with a wireless charger and camera grip for free.

That guy must eat crap for breakfast. Cheap lenses? Carl Zeiss? LOL Must be the reason why you only find them in the best and most expensive DSLRs. Because they are cheap.
That guy was an idiot. I would have had a blast trashing him down :P

I had to buy both of my WPs sight unseen because the stores refused to stock them. I went into every wireless store that I could find locally and was ridiculed and berated by the slimy sales guys in every store...

I asked a sales rep about the 1020 and he proceeded to pull his own 1020 out and explain exactly how he got all the great photos from his niece's wedding. YMMV.

I'm so eager to upgrade my Lumia 521 for this. I need it to work with T-Mobile though. Or maybe I'll suck it up and go with Verizon...

Wonder if the unbranded international version of this phone will have an sd card slot... If there is an international unbranded version, of course ;)

Have to agree, some people like them of course, but for me as a daily driver it was just too big. Returned mine - loved it except for the size. a 1520 with in a 5" screen size (and sd support also) is what I'm hoping for. (might as well put wireless charging on the wish list also).

My 920 will work until then.

I know what you're saying, it was really hard to send my 1520 back - the screen is absolutely killer for outside in the sun, and I could just about use it as a full fledged tablet, but in the end, for me anyway, my job demands made it too ackward for me to use. 

Do you realize that unlocked is not the same as unbranded, do you? I do not depend on carriers to receive updates with my unbranded 920.

You do realize that you alluded to interest in have a hardware rev with an SD slot, not firmware updates, right? And don't be so sure that you will get updates before carrier versions. I'm still waiting for an unbranded 720 update while ATT is chugging along with their devices.

Could they please make me one of these but with l1020 camera and xenon flash, and maybe a little bigger screen with stylus support..

Yeah, it was matte. I took the two photos that where used in this article at a Fry's in San Marcos, CA. It is an non-functional dummy model and they thought it was a Lumia 928. 

Exactly. It's not a fingerprint magnet like the glossy white NL900 I just sold when I upgraded to the white NL1520


I think the release of this phone will turn out to be a let down at this point. They are just taking too long. The phone isn't innovative so, when it's released, it will just be a larger 928. It would've been different it was like AT&T's 41 megapixel camera phone.

Nope I did not try to buy one. They didn't have any 929s for sale when I took the pictures, only 928s. They mistakingly put the 929 dummy model on display instead of the 928. 

"Mistaken" as a 928 means I would have played dumb and made an attempt to buy at 928 price.

And if the date on that phone is correct, the pic is two weeks old.

Which Fry's in L.A.? There's one in Burbank and one near me off the 60 freeway east in Montebello area. I'm so pissed about how much this has been pushed back...I don't know who's at fault, but man. I've been a loyal supporter of WP since my HTC Trophy days. Verizon screwed up getting the 928 at a decent time because of At&t's exclusive on the 920. We're all holding up money to buy something that ceases to be released. C'mon, don't make me go Android..I don't wanna be a robot!

I'm wanting that all aluminum one they leaked way back when the 1520  was leaked, it to was a phablet but I think it had a camera array.

I know what happened to that aluminum body I believe it also had a huge hole where the camera is positioned, maybe they are making 55 MP Lumia 1520.

My 822 has an SD slot for total 80gb storage, qi charging, replaceable battery back. For me, these were the most important features when I selected this phone. Will we ever see a Nokia with these basic features again?

We usually go to the retail store and try them out there. Then we go to either Costco, sams club, Wal-Mart or new egg and order them there. I've been with windows since the Samsung focus and plan on staying. 32gb is good for me and only if it came in more colors with the last 2 Verizon phones other than black and white.

I hope it comes out VERY soon. Otherwise I'll be forced into going back to Android. I don't want to go back to Android. WAH WAH Baby...go call your mommy.

I really can't wait into a 64 GB Lumia comes out with a huge price tag so you people complaining about storage can prove your willing to pay for what you've been asking for. Keeping the price lower then some other phones on Verizon and At&t is important to Nokia but I also think now that Microsoft is buying them they should sell 64 GB versions and other phones that aren't locked to just one carrier at Microsoft Stores.

I can understand having 3 columns of tiles on a 6" screen, but I hope that on 5" 1080p, there will be an option to change the display to 2 columns.  2 columns on the ATIV S (4.8") is perfect.  I worry that the small tiles on a 3 column 5" will be too tiny.

It breaks my heart when I walk in a retail store and see that they have the wrong windows phone on display. Happens alot, and they usually could care less. Its never been an up and coming device though..that'd be about the opposite emotion!