What got you into Windows Phone?

thatotherdude24

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My daily phone is still an iPhone but on a daily basis I find myself using my Lumia 822 now.

One of the things I have always enjoyed about Apple is everything goes together. Apple TV, iPhone, iPod, iPad and Mac all work together and for the most part it's pretty reliable. I've always been a fan of trying to stick with one company such as Apple, because of the association between devices. Up until Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 Microsoft didn't have that, they had all these devices but none of them worked together. That's probably why I have accumulated so many Apple devices, I loved being able to go to one company for everything and it worked together. Apple has big down falls though, PRICE, everything is soooooo expensive. Another to me is serviceability, I'm in IT and if I need more RAM or the hard drive goes bad I want to be able to open it up and do what needs done. Same thing with expand ability it's not there. From a business model it's brilliant but from a user model it's terrible.

Microsoft is opening new doors, they're becoming a devices company which I love and they're all working together. It's not quite there yet but it's getting closer. I am concerned about how user serviceable all these new hybrids and all in ones will be, if I'm paying 1k for a device I want to fix it myself.

So now that I've written an essay, I got into WP8 because I wanted to go all into one company. Microsoft was my choice because they're more complete (business and home, Apple lacks big in the business dept) and for the most part affordable. I like the idea of my phone and computer being the same and streaming my phone to my Xbox or computer. However I think WP8 would be more attractive if it ran Windows RT on phones.

That's my never ending 2 cents.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
 

Res215dg

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#1 Xbox Games + achievements integration into Windows Phone- Being a huge gamer, Halo coming to WP8 gave me almost no option but to come back to WP8 :)

#2 Knowing the Nokia Lumia 920 was an amazing phone and was always anticipating it's release even as an android user stuck on a contract

#3 Live Tiles Live Tiles Live Tiles!!
 

jongthechemist

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the UI was different, the off center tiles were certainly eye-catching for me at that time in wp7. i always loved iconography especially in airports. so to be able to interact with them on a touchscreen was mind-blowing. I was eyeing windows phone since it was launched but never had the confidence to buy any hardware before nokia joined in. i bought my first smartphone (used ipod touch before), the lumia 800 which looked like it was meant to be a wp device even though it was designed for meego. started app development and i'm pretty hooked now. initially i didn't dig the wp8 start screen but now that i found customizing is much easier, i love it. now using lumia 920 and 620 for dev.
 

cckgz4

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Because i had a Zune subscription and my last best device was my htc snap running windows mobile. I waited until mango to get it tho
 

gab1972

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Into Windows Phone? Honestly, it was an Android app called WP7 Launcher that emulated the look and feel of the metro tiles. It was brilliant. Live tiles. Customized tiles. I loved the way you would navigate your apps. So it got me more curious about WP. Still, I kept my Androids. I loved (still love) my Android. But I noticed more and more that fragmentation was becoming a frustration.

Let me back up...

I've owned, in order, a HTC G1, HTC MyTouch, Samsung Galaxy S, HTC Thunderbolt (most *ugh* experience ever), Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and an iPhone 4s. Now...my beloved Lumia 928.

What drew me to Android was the customization. You could change the look and feel of the home screen. Change the icons. Change wall papers and live wall papers. Then I started rooting and putting on custom ROMs. It was the *only* way to stay up with the latest OS. Otherwise, you were left salivating over what everyone else was enjoying. You either must upgrade your phone every 4 to 6 months or hack it and hope someone has cooked up a ROM. Life was good with the Galaxy Nexus.

But then I started noticing something. Beyond customizing the look and feel of my phone - I really wasn't enjoying it. I was like a little 12-year old girl playing dress up with her Barbies (I'm a 40-year old man!!). I was trying this on, changing this, tweaking the look of that. But that's it. I was really *using* my phone. It was becoming a time-consuming array of "what icon pack can I change today?". And don't get me started on the battery life. Ugh.

So then I thought I'd try iPhone. EVERYONE has an iPhone these days. My friends. My kids. Television stars. I challenge you to find a movie or TV show where the computer ISN'T an Apple product. So, I found a poor soul who was foolish enough to even-trade me my rooted Galaxy Nexus for an iPhone 4S. Siri was cool for about a week. Beyond that it was just a novelty. However, I do miss being able to say, "wake me up in an hour" and have it set my alarm. The UI was simple enough...just pages and pages of your apps. But the lockscreen is *blah* and the screen is...small. Granted, the upcoming iOS7 looks amazing, it's still the same phone.

So it was time for something new. I'd always been curious about WP so I figured, what the hell. I read forums, articles, and watched countless videos of the Lumia 928 VS everyone else. I was sold.

What I like:
  • Screen vibrancy
  • UI
  • LIVE TILES!!
  • Integration with MS Office (it was the easiest experience I've ever had signing into my Exchange account)
  • Performance (I can't believe a dual core processor is this snappy)
  • Larger screen! Not to mention Gorilla Glass 2.
  • People Hub with social integration. It's amazing that you don't even need the FB app! Plus, I like the History function of the People Hub
  • Battery life
  • Xbox integration
  • MS Office
  • The app list. It's genius. Instead of just giving you a huge list or giving you pages upon pages...you can actually sort them and use the letter keys to quickly navigate. Genius!

What I don't like:
  • I *REALLY* miss my Swyping keyboard. However, the keyboard on this is extremely fast and accurate for me.
  • Talk to text dictation. While it picks up what I say pretty accurately, you can't say punctuation. This slows things down for me because you can't talk multiple sentences. Am I missing something?
  • OS integration. No way to save webpages to OneNote directly from the webpage? Can't hold the home button and give commands like "wake me up in a half hour" or "turn on wifi"?

So for now, my list of dislikes is short. And the lack of some apps wasn't a deal breaker for me. While I did enjoy Google Now, Candy Crush, BB&T bank, Simple bank, and a few others...I'm sure that once WP gains more popularity, those apps will come.

What got me into Windows Phone? A very intuitive and visually pleasing UI with great social integration and a kick@ss camera. Sure the app market could use a few more entries. Group messaging isn't there for Verizon. And maybe they could implement a few more things. But what OS is perfect?

Sorry for the long post, but like me at one point, I'm sure there are lurkers who are on the fence about WP. I've owned many Android phones and my wife has owned iPhones since the iPhone 3G...and I tell everyone that this is the best phone I've owned yet. And coming from me, that's a profound statement.
 

Duvi

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Nokia was one of the first smartphone devices I used, although some would argue that it wasn't, but it had PIM functions and Nokia/AT&T classified it as a smartphone with the smartphone price tag!

Always used them for regular phones too and remember how great the reception and build quality of the devices were.

I then enjoyed the fresh UI, metro and it was love at first sight.
 

flyingsolid

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Nokia hardware and brand history, Microsoft's updated software support cycle, irritation from using Google, use of Windows and Hotmail to date from a long time ago, and high price of BB10 devices. Yup, that about sums it up. Still new to the platform so I am sure soon enough I will have my list of gripes.
 

tomacotuna

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For my was nokia at first i got my lumia 900 but i have some problem because it was from another country...so i sold it and buy a samsung galaxy nexus i was happy with it but i got bored with android to much time spend to customize....so i decided to give another shot to wp8 and now im soo happy with my nokia lumia 920 is just perfect for me
 

Matt Thompson3

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Having used Android for about 3 years prior to changing to Windows Phone, I was quite embedded with the Google ecosystem (Gmail, Drive, Calendar etc) but was growing rapidly tired of Google releasing a new Android version every 6 months, or so it seemed, and promoting loads of features that only the USA got. I was also hugely disappointed with the Nexus 4, having owned a Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus previously. Having used iOS previously before Android, I did not want to go back to that as I have absolutely zero interest in Apple or any of their products. I looked at Windows Phone for a while, and bought a Windows 8 tablet which I really liked, so I decided within hours of using the tablet to go for a Windows Phone, and don't regret it at all. Ok, so the selection of apps is not as good as Android, and some of the apps are currently not as good as the Android equivalent (Skype for example, which I use a fair amount), but I don't miss any apps I had on Android. I've managed to move over from the Google ecosystem into the Microsoft ecosystem and am now using Outlook.com, SkyDrive and Office 365. I prefer the UI on WP, it seems to be more refined than Android and live tiles are, in my opinion, a lot better than widgets on Android.

I've had my Ativ S since mid-March, and whilst there are some things I would like to see on WP, such as a notification centre, I think the OS is so much better than Android and really hope that the system does gain more traction, because it truly deserves it. I'm currently working on trying to get my parents, sister and girlfriend over to Windows Phone now.
 

metalchick719

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I started reading up on WP back when the Lumia 710 and Radar were out on T-Mobile. I pretty much just educated myself to the point where I ended up convincing my friend to get her 710 when it first hit T-Mobile. I was using my iPhone 4 back then but got more and more interested in WP to the point where I nearly bit the bullet and bought a 710 or the Radar myself. I held off, though, and ended up getting the Lumia 810 because I decided it was worth waiting for WP8, especially once I learned phones running 7.5 wouldn't get updated to it. I was also a Nokia loyalist from day one when I got my first cell phone (iPhone 4 being the exception, of course), and I wanted to return to a Nokia.
 

smurfercom

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My Pearl flip was shot and I was due for an upgrade. Windows announces 18 month support is what sold me, but then after I got the phone I realized I was screwed from the beginning. Didn't know carriers were in total control of the updates I thought it was going to work like BB my bad for not doing enough research on the windows phone updates.
 

budney

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T-MOBILE G1 ooh the memories. Such an awesome phone when it came out. :D

I really liked my Fender MyTouch LE. Doughnut and ?clair were great Android builds. It was Froyo were the wheels fell off.


Having had many Windows Mobile devices back in the day, and so many issues with many Android Froyo devices. T-Mobile had a great deal on the 710 on prepay, so I tried it for a month. I really liked it, and was amazed that less powerful hardware was running circles against my high end buggy Android devices. So having enough of Android I bought a HTC Arrive. The phone was great, but Sprint's EVDO data had disappeared. Finally had enough of the snail data and switched to AT&T and the Lumia 900. And I have been mostly with WP since (brief fling with a iPhone 5). :smile:
 

index1366

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I wanted to try something new, away from Android and iOS, and I was also addicted to Microsoft, so that was a big factor for me.. There was something crazy about the OS, and the Tiles were amazing, something new, because before that, I've spent 2 years on Symbian... This was totally new for me, and I like to try something new :). So I stuck with it for 2.5 years, got "in love" with it, and a few weeks ago I got my L920. Never moving away from it :)
 

pjotr11

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I had nokias up to the n95, thats when apples first phone came out. then i switched to the samsung galaxy (fine phone).
however nokia made solid phones and just after the announcement of switching from symbian to wp the launched 808 pure view just to show the world that they r still there. I just had to buy the 920 wp8 was part of the package and I never regret it!.
 

WinFan1

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i was intrigued by windows phone when i had a mytouch 4g hated android hated the iphone ive owned all of them including high end devices like the n4 htc1 iphone5 gs4 but i had grown so accustomed to windows phone i went back to wp8 and currently own a 925 white :D love wp also i was a huge fan of the searay design aka n9 for the lumia 800 and was soooo bummed when i had to get a 900 i always felt the 800 was superb.
 

Doohickie

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It looked pretty.

This is my first smart phone. My wife got a Galaxy 3S with Android, and I wanted to have a different phone (so we don't pick up the wrong phone by mistake). So I just grabbed one.

If I had it to do again, I'd probably stick with Windows, but might have gone with a Nokia instead of an HTC. I'm pretty happy with the phone, but Nokia just seems more active in the WP8 market.
 

Sgele

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I had an HD2 which allowed somehow to fork WP7 on it. Ever since then I was interested. Still, an Evo3D, iPhone 3GS, Samsung GalaxyS3 was necessary to convince me to get the Lumia 920 and just go for it. No regrets at all :)
 

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