Design
Taking the OS out of the equation the Icon is without a doubt one of the best phones I have ever had the chance to look at. The quality of the phone is the first thing you will notice with it, its all-aluminum construction gives it a solid feel. Combine that with the beveled glass that I have seen on a few other phones now and you have a really cool phone. The interesting thing is Nokia didn’t go with flashy colors like on their previous phones and they didn’t need a Kevlar weave in the back panel to catch your attention like the MAXX, it’s the quality that does it, just like on an iPhone.
Starting on the front of the Icon we can see the bevel in the glass near the edges. The only break in the glass is for the speaker slot. Next to it you also have the front facing camera that stands out against the black trim. The front facing camera is no slouch on the Icon with its 1280 x 960 photo resolution as well as its capability to record video in 720p. Also up top are the Verizon and Nokia logos.
Down at the bottom things are simple. There are three integrated buttons, the windows key, back, and a search button. This is similar to the three button layout on Android phones as well, substituting the windows key for the home button. Also most Android phones integrate the button into the screen itself to gain extra real estate when watching videos and playing games.
Down along the bottom edge is our charging/data connection with a silver line on each side of it to highlight it. Nokia stuck with the same Micro-USB plug that nearly everything other than the iPhone uses. This is great for someone like me who has multiple devices that need charged around the house, I can plug in anywhere and pack fewer chargers when traveling. Nokia also integrated full Qi Wireless charging into the Icon as well to make things even easier!
Along the right side of the phone we will find all of the phones buttons. To the right (closest to the top of the phone) is the volume toggle. In the middle is the power button, this isn’t where I would have expected to see the power/lock button but it is still worlds better than the LG G2. Down at the bottom is the camera button, holding this will open up the camera app, even when the phone is locked. Having a dedicated camera button is always nice and isn’t a big surprise considering the focus on photography with the Icons two top notch camera’s.
Up top we have the same double lines that were also on the bottom, but this time they go around the headphone plug. Having the headphone plug is a big benefit to anyone who puts their phone in their pocket while listing to music on headphones. Phones with the headphone port on the bottom or side for example make doing that much harder.
The only thing on the left side of the Icon is the SIM card slot that is tucked away in a hard to pull out tray. It’s great that it can be swapped out but in this phones case, being on Verizon, it only is related to the 4G data.
The back of the Icon is all aluminum as well and they matched the same bevel that I saw on the glass as well. Beyond that the only thing of interest is the camera and LED flash. Nokia really went all out with the Icon’s rear facing camera with a 20MP sensor, I can’t wait to see how it performs.
Booting the phone up its 5 inch 1080p screen takes us right into the tiled home screen of Windows Phone 8, I will talk about how everything performed in the next section.
