Stay Android or Move to WP8?

[BytorJr]

Hi, first of all, I just want to reiterate, I'm not trolling here. My primary use of my phone is 1) calls, 2) email, 3) web-apps (weather, news, stocks, banking), 4) texting. I do not do the whole "social networking" thing which I garner is a big selling point for WP8. I'd really like WP8 to work, because I'm considering a Windows RT tablet in the future too, having had a totally bad experience with a Nexus 7 (battery hardware).

Currently, I have an HTC Thunderbolt (having previously had a Nokia E75 and HTC Tilt in the smart-phone world). This HTC phone has to be one of the worst phones ever; and, I'm really wanting to get a new phone, off contract, to replace it. I'm a big Nokia fan, and if AT&T had any coverage in the last two cities I've worked, I'd still have the E75 functioning. I'm a bit concerned about some of the features of WP8.

My concerns are:
1) email and all that threading stuff - I currently use the Yahoo app on android which I find better than the built in email. Is this threading of emails a major issue? There appears not to be a yahoo app, so I think I'd be stuck with the stock mail app.
2) Ringer vs music vs other notification sounds. I usually have email/txt off and ringer full blast. Is this possible? Is it possible to set these sounds based upon time of day (like tasker does in android, or built in with Symbian S60v3)?
3) Is it easy to turn off LTE and go to pure CDMA only?
4) The tiles...they look confusing, but are they? I'm so used to going to different screens I'm wondering how big of transition this will be. I think I'm a bit puzzled by the setup of WP8, and don't truly understand the benefit of "tiles" either live or static. Seems like everything is essentially on one screen.
5) Battery life....I'd like to be able to go through the day (15 hours) without having a charger handy. My biggest issue with VZ and esp the HTC.

I loved the 822 screen, that it's visible outdoors is a big plus. However, I'm looking at either the 822 or the Motorola Razr M. If Android wasn't such a complete mess (IMO only), I know my answer. But what kills me about Android is how nothing is standardized, settings exist all over the place, forced close on some platforms but not on other, etc, etc. Please tell me WP8 isn't this bad, is it? I want to like it; but I'm scared it doesn't have even the basic customizations that even my E75 had. Thanks!!!! Sorry to be so long-winded.

 

[Getintothegame]

This isn't the long winded answer I wanted to type out, but I'd like to point out that if you are so inclined, you can try the 822 out for 14 days. After that, you cannot exchange or return the device. I'd say that it's really worth the try. I think you'll really like it, and I came from Android to iOS, back to Android, then to Windows Phone. It was completely worth it.

1) Threading works perfectly in Windows Phone. It's very much similar to Android, and possibly iOS 6 where replies, forwards, etc, are all grouped together. Folder support has improved as well.

2) Not possible to disable sounds on only part of the device, like messages. A simple fix would be a silent ringtone but you're unable to add this as far as I know. As of now, there is no scheduling either, but it is a frequently requested feature.

3) As far as I see, it's not possible to disable LTE. Only Global, LTE and CDMA, and LTE, GSM, or UMTS.

4) I've seen so many people absolutely love live tiles after playing with them. Think of the start screen on Windows 8 to that of Windows Phone 8. Instead of scrolling horizontally, you'll scroll vertically.

5) Battery life, as mentioned in other threads, is very good. I wouldn't call it perfect, as it does take some break in, but it will last you through the day.

 

[BytorJr]

Does that 14 days include the fact I'm not changing my plan? I'm buying outright, as I don't want to lose my unlimited data plan. Not that this is related to my questions; but I probably shouldn't have left AT&T, but I had 2 days left to get unlimited VZ data and the kicker was AT&T was trying to charge me 30 bucks for a sim card (I suspected it was messed up and asked to get another)!!! Yes, 30 bucks for a 4 year customer! Hence, I'm on VZ now.

 

[BytorJr]

If I understand the answer given, then:
#2 is almost a deal killer - I cannot have constant non-silent notifications popping through at all times of the day. I just need a ringer during the day.
#3 is a real deal killer then. I work in what effectively is a Faraday cage (a lab) and cannot get 4G LTE well during the day. That would drain my battery too quickly. At least with the thunderbolt I can still disable that.
#1) I don't use threaded emailing, doesn't appeal to me, so is this optional or forced?

The one thing I'm rediscovering with my new OS search is the Symbian S60 offered a lot of features Android and WP8 seem to be missing...ahh, had they ONLY updated the visuals on S60 we'd still be in a Symbian world (or I would be....LOL).

Thanks for answering.

 

[hopmedic]

Hello, and welcome. I came to Windows Phone from Windows Mobile, using that since somewhere around 2005 or 06. I look at Android and I think to myself that's Windows Mobile with newer technology than we had back then, basically. The Windows Mobile crowd was the bunch that was hacking our phones, coming up with new ROMs, and all that, like the Android crowd is now. We had the skins with screens and icons and such like you have on Android now, so while underneath the OSs are quite different, the basic philosophy behind the two seem to me at least to be very similar. I give you my background just so that you know what perspective I'm answering your questions from, and I'm going to answer your questions and also throw in a few extras for you to think about.

1. Email - I haven't set my email accounts up on my new phone yet, so I haven't looked at how WP8 differs from WP7 yet. Let someone else answer this one from WP8 perspective, but on WP7 I had gmail, hotmail, and yahoo, and while I don't use yahoo much at all, I never had any problems with it. I'm not sure what you mean when you ask if this threading of emails is a major issue. I like how Outlook on the phone handles email, myself, and it is Outlook that manages your email, whether it's hotmail, gmail, yahoo, or some other mail host.
2. Ringers - You can not have separate volumes for different ringers. You can turn them on/off separately though. But if the ringer is off for a certain notification, then it will not vibrate, with exception of phone and text. Those will vibrate if you choose to have ringer off and vibrate on. In other words, you cannot have vibrate on email, and sound on text and ringer.
3. You cannot turn off LTE.
4. Tiles are great in my opinion. I am open minded enough to realize that there is not one phone that will satisfy everyone, though. Not everything is on one screen, unless you want to put it there. The home screen only has what you want to have there, and when you swipe to the right you will find all the other apps on the app list. Games will be under the game tile. People will be under the People hub. Pictures will be under the Picture hub. You're seeing a theme, here, right?
5. Battery life - After only having the 822 for two days now, I'm quite impressed. I used the charger on the way to the airport this am because I was trying out Nokia Drive, and that kept the screen on the whole time, but hadn't plugged it in since then (about 12 hours ago). It was a light-use day for me, because I was busy, but I have quite a few live tiles, and I did take a number of moments to look into my phone, as I'm quite a geek. Later, when I got home, I let my grandson play Angry Birds Star Wars for about 2 hours. When I finally told him that was enough, the battery was at 48%. My Trophy would have been about dead by then.

As far as social, yes, that's one of the big plusses, but you don't have to use it. WP8 actually has been improved quite a bit for business over WP7, and can be locked down and remotely wiped, and such, and while I don't know the enterprise details because I'm not in one, I know there have been some big improvements from the standpoint of letting system admins have some control over phones that they let into their enterprise, including whole device encryption and remote wiping (even WP7 would allow me to remotely wipe my phone if I lost it). But for calls, email, weather, stocks, banking, this phone will do you well. You might not currently find an app for every bank, so be aware of that, but the browser is IE10.

Here's the extra that I wanted to give you. Not to start a debate, but for you to think about, and I am only sticking this part of the post in here because you said you do banking on your phone. My wife wants me to get off the computer, so I'm not going to go into all the details of how it works, but I'm a Windows Phone developer with a few apps in the Windows Phone Store, so I speak with that experience behind me.

What concerns me about your banking on an Android device is the security model of Android. Basically there isn't much of one. Developers can do pretty much what they want in the phone, and all the user gets is a notice when they run the app the first time (or is it on install - I don't know - I'm not an Android user), and we all know how people click through those things, yeah, I don't care if you monitor my location, use my microphone, use my address book, blah blah blah. Well, that's how so much malware gets into the Android marketplace.

When a developer submits in Android, the app is available for download right away. Not so in Windows Phone or iPhone. Those two platforms test the apps for a number of things, including security. If an app is discovered malicious in Android, they can pull it from Marketplace. If an app gets through Microsoft or Apple's testing, and it can happen, as no one is perfect, they can pull it there, as well. But on Android, that's it. From there, it's up to users to find out they have a bad app, and get rid of it. On Microsoft, and I've heard this is so on Apple, but I haven't looked into it myself, they can pull the security certificate, and the app will not allow the user to run it - the next time they try, it will pop a message box that says the security certificate has been revoked, and it will uninstall. No action on the user's part. User can't use the app.

Additionally, I don't know about Apple, but in Windows Phone, if I store data in the phone, no other app can access it. Even if I write two apps, even though I'm the developer of both of them, I can't access one apps data with the other app. Now I have not had a chance to dig into the WP8 SDK yet, but I've heard that they have made some changes to make it easier for apps to share data, but I don't know what they mean by "share data", so I don't know just how much that has changed, but I do know that Microsoft has kept security at the forefront.

So with all this in mind, and not wanting to start a debate, this is my recommendation - Windows Phone. And if you don't like Windows Phone, go iPhone. I'm not a fan of Android for one reason - their security model - or lack of it.

Here are a few links:
Windows Phone dodges Black Hat 2012 certificate vulnerability bullet - other smartphones not so lucky... | Windows Phone Central
Multiple Samsung handsets vulnerable to remote wipe hack | Dialed In - CNET Blogs
Hackers attack the Galaxy S3
IPhone and Android Apps Breach Privacy - WSJ.com
Android Trojan Records Phone Calls - Slashdot - a particularly scary one
Software recording data & keystrokes on millions of smartphones. Windows Phone exempt? | Windows Phone Central
http://on.msnbc.com/ujR4Zk
Android Trojan Taps Your Phone Calls - a particularly scary one
Close to 10% of Android Apps festering pits of spyware, worms and premium SMS senders, getting worse | WMPoweruser
More Android Malware Uncovered - Tech Europe - WSJ
Google Pulls Malware-Infected Apps from Android Market | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

I hope this has been helpful.

 

[Mr. MacPhisto]

Not possible to set the ringer, etc for time of day in the OS at this point, though I'd imagine they could put it there. However you can configure it to not play sounds for app notifications (at least in WP7) and the text message alert, voicemail alert, etc can all be set to "none" so no sound plays when you're notified, though the phone will vibrate unless you just turn vibrate on and the ringer off.

Because it is in the settings menu, I'd imagine that there can be an app that will automatically change the settings for you based on the time, but I've never looked for one.

 

[BytorJr]

Yes, I do LIMITED banking with android, and never feel comfortable about it. That's another reason I want to leave is all the potential for stolen data.
As for the email, if it works like outlook (even with Yahoo, like my home computer does), then I'll be more than totally happy.

As long as I can turn all notification sounds off, and still have a loud ringer, then that issue is gone for me - I think I understood that correctly.

Now for the LTE portion, this really could be an issue for me unless the Nokia is much better at this than Thunderbolt. Seriously, with Thunderbolt and LTE, my battery will last (even outside of the pseudo-Faraday cage at work) MAYBE 3 or 4 hours before it's down to 20% battery from full charge. At this point, with my corporate 20% discount (which I hope will work on this phone) I'd be < 400 bucks and would be willing to take that chance. My upgrade is in March, and I don't think I can mentally handle 5 more months of the Thunderbolt.

As for the security, yes, that and Google spying is another reason I'm considering moving. In all honesty, I think the reason Apple has been so successful in the app department is that they are "approved" and they control that - much like MS is doing. Furthermore, MS controls the operating system, whereas each manufacturer does what he wants to the Android OS...and here again is another reason I want to leave.

 

[Verkunder]

I get to work with a full charge, and when I leave eight hours later, I'm anywhere from 60-70%. If the 822 is anything like the 920, I don't think you'll have to worry about lte taking up too much charge.

 

[BytorJr]

Starting to sound like my biggest decision will be to wait until first week of March. I just don't know if I can live 4 months with HTC. Does anybody know if the Upgrade means I have to get rid of unlimited and renew for 2 years? I know, I don't use more than 4GB, but it's that I am paying < $90/month(before taxes) for 900min/unlimted txt/data. Still seems to favor buying outright to keep unlimited. Thanks folks for the info so far!!! Now, back to F-1 Qualifying.

 

[hopmedic]

It sounds to me like your only real issue may be the LTE then, because yes, I do believe you understand the ringers correctly. The ringer for the phone is a toggle. The vibrate is a toggle. There is a select for the sound file for each of the ringtone, text or IM, voice mail, and email. Any of these can also choose none. There are check boxes for Reminders, Key Press (the tapping when you type), Lock and Unlock, Camera shutter, and All other notifications. Anything that is unchecked will not make a sound. Also, those that have vibrate associated with them will also not vibrate if they are unchecked, so they will not have any notification at all. Also, email for instance, if there is no sound selected, will not vibrate either.

 

[TaliZorah]

I know people have already given their answers but here are mine...

1) email and all that threading stuff - I currently use the Yahoo app on android which I find better than the built in email. Is this threading of emails a major issue? There appears not to be a yahoo app, so I think I'd be stuck with the stock mail app.

The stock email app on WP7/8 is the best email app on any smartphone! It's honestly one of the biggest reasons I love the OS. I have had android (HTC and Samsung) and their stock apps are horrible! Iphone has a good one but it takes about 3 times as long to sync as WP. Seriously, its FAST. and I got 5 email accounts on it. Verizons LTE is freaking quick with the 822.

2) Ringer vs music vs other notification sounds. I usually have email/txt off and ringer full blast. Is this possible? Is it possible to set these sounds based upon time of day (like tasker does in android, or built in with Symbian S60v3)?

You cannot set them based on time of day without an outside app (I am not sure one exists). However I do know that the ringer acts a lot like the iphone. Where if it's in "silent" mode then you go play a game / watch a movie / have an alarm set, you WILL get sound. The OS figures that's user controlled and they want sound.

3) Is it easy to turn off LTE and go to pure CDMA only?

I can't figure out a way to turn off LTE, the celluar settings are "Global" (which says it will connect to whatever your sim is allowed to connect to), "LTE / CDMA" which is exactly what it sounds like and it will ALWAYS try for LTE if it's available. and then theres an option for "GSM" networks which unless you have a SIM that allows for it you wont get any service on Verizon. The bright light at the end of the tunnel though is the fact that you can manually add APN's so with some trickery you might be able to make the phone 3G only.

4) The tiles...they look confusing, but are they? I'm so used to going to different screens I'm wondering how big of transition this will be. I think I'm a bit puzzled by the setup of WP8, and don't truly understand the benefit of "tiles" either live or static. Seems like everything is essentially on one screen.

Personally I have never been a fan of widgets, push notigifications, live tiles... etc. I just love my battery life and don't want ANYTHING to suck it away. Crazy I know, I dont use / like live-tiles and I have a WP. (The OS is just that good for me). I have played with them though. Had weather, data sense, and news all flipping tiles. Very easy to see headlines, temperatiure, data-usage at a glance. The problem is sometimes you cannot customize how often they flip so you can see that info, so you will catch yourself staring at your screen for a good 5 seconds before it flips and you get what you wanted. By that time you could have already opened the app to see what you wanted. I don't know, not my cup of tea but I can understand why people like those things.

5) Battery life....I'd like to be able to go through the day (15 hours) without having a charger handy. My biggest issue with VZ and esp the HTC.

For the 822 specifically It has an AMOLED screen so it will get better battery life than the 8x and it's LCD2 screen. I am a battery power nazi and I do everything to keep battery life (that means no location, blue tooth, live tiles, background tasks, i close every app when I am done with it... etc) I got my 822 on Thursday, plugged it in to full charge at 1pm. I have changed it once since then and it was only down to 22% when I did that. It's now Saturday night and i have 56%. So for me, a full day with normal use I don't even use half the battery and that is on LTE ALL day long.

I really like HTC phones but battery life always gets me with them because they use high-powered screens with tons of ppi. Great if you like watching movies though.

 

[Coolknight1968]

If you manage the connectivity on a HTC 8X and adjust your phone using my tips and tricks under the 8X forum, after two weeks and two days of use, you have a two day device for normal use and it holds up a day, for intensive use.
Key is: Setup a outlook.com account as your primary account for the phone.

 

[PuckCowboy]

My Dad and I just switched from Androids today! (He had a Fascinate and I had a Rezound). We picked up the 822's for free at Best Buy after the price match and we couldn't be happier! I wanted something easy and fun to use without having to tinker with anything any more like Android. For now, I couldnt be happier... and the 822 is a SWEET phone! Like it better than the 8X for function and for form. Very comfortable in the hand.

 

[downstevedown]

Bytor,

Others have covered 1) through 3) well, so I'll skip those to keep the thread neat.

4) You can, if you want to, think of the tiles as a single page, scrollable launcher. The difference is that the buttons can be (and are) of different sizes, and most have the ability to display dynamic content related to the button's application. iOS has no direct analog to this, and so can't be compared. With Android, just imagine that every application had a WIDGET which showed info about that app's status/content, and that's ALL you used on your homescreen(s).

I like the tiles, but there is some adaptation, as there is with any new UI. It's very much a YMMV proposition.

Unrelated hint: Use the short cut in the People app (tap any alphabet letter icon in the list), and you get a "jump screen" of letters. Click on a letter, and you're taken to that part of the list. Makes navigating large contact lists a LOT easier.

5) Battery life - I took my phone off charger at 5PM yesterday, it's now 7AM, and I have 68% left, with estimated remaining time of 17:42. I think that driving a lower-res screen will have a positive effect on battery life.

So, now I'll respond, not to your primary concern, but your primary USE of the phone - calls. I switched from a Galaxy Nexus because it was the best smartphone and the worst phone I had ever used. I was off contract, and frankly, the Win Phone 8 phones were cheaper than comparable, current Android or Apple phones. That made the experiment easier to tolerate.

The 822 seems to have a great combination of radio/voice codec, because this thing is clearer than my GNex ever was. My wife has a Blackberry whose calls are difficult to understand from most ANY phone, but I have an OK time with this phone - that's my acid test.

Since I've had both the 822 and 8X, I can say the 8X is a sexier phone, and the resolution is nicer, but to me it was less comfortable to hold, and the buttons harder to use. The 822 is easier on the hand, and the colors are punchier/higher contrast.

Good luck with the decision, and my best to the Snow Dog!

 

[hopmedic]

I just thought of something - not ideal by any stretch - in fact, pretty much NOT what I'd want to do, but a workaround that would work, I THINK, for disabling LTE. Take out the SIM card. Check with Verizon to be sure.

On the ringtones and time of day, I know it was not possible for an app to manage that in WP7, but I don't know about WP8, if they've allowed it in the new SDK.

 

[identity-x]

Too much reading to see if it was mentioned, but after the Lumia 900 was released a way to disable LTE and set it to "3G only" came to light. I've been wondering if the same will happen for the 920

 

[BytorJr]

Thanks again all. "Downtown", I'll say hello to Snowdog in Dallas for ya ; good to know about the email/contacts. "Hopmed" and "TaliZ" thanks for your insight as well.

I'm probably going to ride the HTC out till March when I'm due for the upgrade (unless that nullifies my unlimited). I think I'll make the switch based more on the security aspect and getting away from the GOOG and some semblance of stable software that works across multiple phone brands. Now, if that upgrade does nullify me, then I'll be picking up the 822 sooner than later. The main concern with the LTE was battery life as I've seen that on the HTC just suck the life out; appears that's been fixed on newer phones. Thanks again!!!

 

[hopmedic]

If you want to keep the unlimited, you will have to pay full price. If you pay an upgrade price, you're going to lose the unlimited. I'd heard months ago that if you bought an LTE device that you'd lose it, but based on what I'm seeing on the forums, it sounds like that bit of news was untrue. If you're going to be paying full price, I think I saw on one of the forums that Amazon had it for $399, but I haven't checked, myself.

 

[ciscog33k]

Actually, you can turn off LTE (at least on a lumia 920)

1.Just got to settings->mobile networks
2.change "highest connection speed" from LTE to 3G or 2G. You're done.

I wish there were something that simple for turning off emails sounds at night (preferably on a schedule). It's the one thing I really don't like about windows phone and they need to get it sorted because it's such a basic feature. Was showing someone at work that has the power to decide to get rid of the blackberries and he loved office and a bunch of other stuff, but the lack of profiles is embarrassing.

 

[hopmedic]

Actually, you can turn off LTE (at least on a lumia 920)

1.Just got to settings->mobile networks
2.change "highest connection speed" from LTE to 3G or 2G. You're done.

I wish there were something that simple for turning off emails sounds at night (preferably on a schedule). It's the one thing I really don't like about windows phone and they need to get it sorted because it's such a basic feature. Was showing someone at work that has the power to decide to get rid of the blackberries and he loved office and a bunch of other stuff, but the lack of profiles is embarrassing.

Verizon phones don't have those settings. We have Cellular in settings, and the choices are [Global], [LTE and CDMA], or [LTE, GSM or UMTS].

Yes, we all wish we could set ringtone profiles with time of day. Oddly, Microsoft had this in Windows Mobile back in 2005 or 2006 or so. I had it in my phone back then. I'm both surprised and disappointed that they didn't bake it into WP8 already, as it was one of the most requested features for WP7.