The phone was released for sale exclusively through Verizon in the United States for $199.99 with a 2-year contract or $549.99 with no contract. The Lumia Icon has almost identical internal specifications to the larger Nokia Lumia 1520 with the primary difference being that it has a smaller screen of 5 inches compared with the Lumia 1520's 6 inches. The Nokia Lumia 930, released in April 2014, is nearly identical to the Icon in both appearance and specifications. However, the 930 uses GSM radios and comes with Windows Phone 8.1 and the Cyan firmware, and is the worldwide variant of the Icon. While the 930 has since been updated to Denim, Verizon previously faced criticism for not releasing the Cyan update for the Icon. Now that Verizon Wireless has updated the Icon directly to Denim, skipping Cyan, the OS and firmware distinctions have largely been eliminated.
Naming
While in development, the Nokia Lumia Icon was known by its model number. Early development screenshots and prototype accessories referred to the phone as the Lumia 929. This was in keeping with Nokia's previous branding practice of assigning a corresponding number to the place where the phone would sit in Nokia's lineup, with higher numbers indicating higher-end models and lower numbers indicating lower-end products. Upon release, the phone kept the model number 929, but was the first Lumia to utilize a name other than its model number for branding.
Reception
The Lumia Icon received fairly positive reviews, with some reviewers calling it the best Windows Phone released, praising the phone's camera quality, display, and overall speed but detracting its being locked to one carrier and having a camera with a slow transition time between taking photographs. Reviewers were split on the design of the phone, with some praising its metal build quality as solid and premium, and others criticizing it for being too utilitarian and conservative. Brad Molen of Engadget called the Lumia Icon "the solid high-end Windows Phone that we've wanted for a long time. It has an amazing display, great performance and solid imaging capability, but its exclusivity to Verizon will severely limit its appeal." and Mark Hachman of PCWorld said "If you’re an app fiend, you’d still be better off buying an iPhone or Android phone, which dependably receive third-party apps. But the Icon and Lumia 1520 are clearly the best Windows Phones on the market. Deciding between them simply depends on which size you prefer." Christina Bonnington from Wired said that the best Windows Phone ever still disappoints, and mentioned poor call quality as one of the detractors, but praised the solid build quality, inclusion of wireless charging, and powerful processor.
