Android User going to Windows Phone -- Pros / Cons Ive found so far.

[sammyboy405]

So Ive had my WIndows Phone about a week. I made a list of Pros and cons.

http://1drv.ms/1luYpcY

Ive posted it on my OneDrive / made it Read Only on a Excel sheet. Figured hey Im on a windows phone lets keep it all microsoft.

What im REALLY have the most difficulty with is not so much Windows Phone but just App Support for VPN App Called Junos Pulse Where I work we have to use Junos Pulse to Access the Wifi at work.

For the Life of me I cannot get it to work. For 1, Windows Phone wont connect to the Wifi because there is no Internet on (till you use the Junos App) So when I try to use the Junos App It wont see the Junos Server you use to log into. But If I try and use it outside where I work to connect to the VPN I get Authentication Cannot Complete. If you have any Junos Pulse Experience please let me know.

But So far my experience from switching from Android (I was a LONG time android user Ive had an android since the OG Moto Droid) but it has been awesome with the switch over to Microsoft.

I Miss my Google Music.. But I did find one app that can access it.. Cloudmuzik,

If anyone can address any of my Cons on my list, the list is short. And have any ideas.. That'd be great. Because some of them maybe just from lack of knowledge of using the phone.

Thanks!

 

[Jan Tomsic]

Cloudmuzik is pretty great, it just crashes a lot lately, it just stops playing randomly.

about Spam spam spam, could you elaborate? You can't install apps any other way but from Store, and there is (almost) no spam there, apps usually work as advertised, and they certainly don't display ads in notifications and add shortcuts to spam on your homescreen like plenty of apps in Play store do. I really don't know what you're talking about, except for normal ads in free apps I've experienced less spam than on android.
I also don't have any spam on my windows pc, I have adblocker installed in browsers and popups are being blocked by default on all modern browsers.
If you mean spam as in email, it has nothing to do with OS but email provider or server settings, if you're using your own server.

Once in an app finding the extra menu to adjust settings is sometimes hard to find because you have to be in a certain screen to get the "?" to apear to get the drop up from bottom menu.

Not much to do with OS but it's the way the app was written. Complain to developer, most of them will appreciate feedback. On android, you could have different options in the menu on each screen as well I think.

The Phone System Settings are not sorted/catagorized in any type of logical way, sometimes you just have to hunt for what you looking for an it may just not be where you think. For example don?t goto the Display settings area to adjust screen brightness, you wont find it there its in the Brightness menu, which is no where near the Display option in the menu.

I completely agree, settings are terrible. However, most likely to be used are closer to the top. Brigthness, wifi, BT, sounds... are very close to the top. Nokia specific stuff is at the bottom. The rest is somewhere. I don't know who designed that, it's terrible.

Text Message Notification has no privacy option to be able to adjust what is seen in the notification area. So it shows the Persons name and the text in the notification area. Having said this, you no longer have to use the Default SMS app, but as of right now there are no other apps in the Microsoft Store to handle SMS right now.

I assume you're on 8.1? If I understand correctly, you can disable banners and only keep the sound and icon. Settings -> notifications+actions -> Messaging -> untick 'show notification banners' or 'show in action center', whichever one (if any) solves your problem.

I hope any of these help

 

[Jazmac]

"The apps list is not sortable and forces you to view apps alphabitally
Lack of some Popular Apps."

Its not alphabetical when you first start downloading apps but once you reach the magic number of 20 (I think). apps sort. WP doesn't have a few of the popular titles.

"No "true" VPN support there are a couple apps out ther to help, but they are just not fine tuned yet. Wifi will not connect unless it sees an internet connection. Causing most VPN apps to fail for Corperate Wifi's"

You have a point about this OS and VPN. Its building from the ground up and more is being added as we go. Not real sure what you mean about wifi not connecting unless it sees an internet connection. No device I know of can connect to a wifi signal that isn't there.

"Spam.. Spam.. Spam.. Windows phones handle Spam about as well as a windows computer does.. Not very well. Between Pop ups and fake apps trying to install you have to be carefull if you goto some websites, and installing apps".

If you are seeing spam, I always think this has more to do you personal interests than a problem with a browser or in this case Cortana. I don't see spam but if you are, its not the fault of Cortana. I can promise you that.


"Alarm, even though the alarm works fine, I don?t like that you cannot adjust the volume of a wake up alarm. What ever sound you set it will gradually increase the volume till you snooze or dismiss the alarm."

Nope. you can't. But as it is, it works if you need an alarm.

"Once in an app finding the extra menu to adjust settings is sometimes hard to find because you have to be in a certain screen to get the "?" to apear to get the drop up from bottom menu."

Not all app developers should have this title true enough but I don't know where you go to find an app that won't get a update that is just bug fixes. For me, this one I would toss out the door.

"The Phone System Settings are not sorted/catagorized in any type of logical way, sometimes you just have to hunt for what you looking for an it may just not be where you think. For example don?t goto the Display settings area to adjust screen brightness, you wont find it there its in the Brightness menu, which is no where near the Display option in the menu."

True. The settings are about as random as the ones in Windows OS control panel. This is something I hope gets addressed at some point but I don't think MS will break with its random traditions. They simply don't mean that much to em.

"Text Message Notification has no privacy option to be able to adjust what is seen in the notification area. So it shows the Persons name and the text in the notification area. Having said this, you no longer have to use the Default SMS app, but as of right now there are no other apps in the Microsoft Store to handle SMS right now."

Never knew a privacy option was necessary but if you have a girl you're creeping on, that might come in handy.

 

[anon(7901790)]

Have you tried setting up VPN via settings? WP has built in VPN support. You don't (or shouldn't) need a third party app.

Settings> VPN

From there you add the VPN you're connecting to. You'll probably need to get the VPN from you company's IT depth.

 

[sammyboy405]

Ive only ran into spam in a couple of places.. I know its app based.. Pop up inside of apps that end up taking you to a webpage. Only had a couple apps do it.

As far as VPN.. In order for me to use the Wifi at work for Internet access I have to use Juno's Pulse But there is no internet unless the app can establish a connection to authenticate my access. So when you connect to the Wifi Windows Phone throws it out because it cant see the internet. Android had this same problem in ICS, but Fixed it when JB came out.

Text messages - Yea I turned off the banners.. But in the drop down, Id rather it just show maybe who texted vs. showing the name and text message itself.

Settings -- I can live with it, just gonna take some getting used to.

App List. I hope they do something a little different. I doubt they do seeing how Windows 8 Desktop is the same way other than you do have a few other sorting options.


Also Im having issues with Remote installing apps from the Windows Store page. Says It cant find my phone to install it and emails me a link. Most pages ive found addressing this say to use the find your phone feature and then the remote install will work.. Well it can find my phone with that just fine, just not to install.. Not a huge deal.

Oh And one more thing.. Says it saves a low quality and a High Quality Picture.. Where the High Quality ones stored at?

 

[anon(7901790)]

Oh And one more thing.. Says it saves a low quality and a High Quality Picture.. Where the High Quality ones stored at?

Ha! Finally one I can answer. It saves both in the same folder (Pictures/Camera Roll), though only one is displayed in the Photos app. To see it you need a third party file manager such as Pocket File Manager, or connect via USB to a PC and access via Windows Explorer (or the Mac version if you have a Mac). This works for both JPG and DNG (RAW) files.

Also, if you set it to upload the highres to OneDrive via Wi-Fi, only the highres is uploaded to OneDrive (WP8.1 only); in WP8.0, the only the lowres is uploaded. If you are shooting DNG (RAW), only the lowres JPG is uploaded the highres DNG is not uploaded automatically. If you delete the photo from the Photos app, both versions are deleted (works both JPG only capture and JPG + DNG capture).

 

[Jazmac]

At my job, we don't allow VPN to connect from within the property. Its a major security risk to allow it. If you are on property, you can connect via guest wifi but VPN won't happen until you are offsite. Its why its created.

 

[sammyboy405]

Ha! Finally one I can answer. It saves both in the same folder (Pictures/Camera Roll), though only one is displayed in the Photos app. To see it you need a third party file manager such as Pocket File Manager, or connect via USB to a PC and access via Windows Explorer (or the Mac version if you have a Mac). This works for both JPG and DNG (RAW) files.

Also, if you set it to upload the highres to OneDrive via Wi-Fi, only the highres is uploaded to OneDrive (WP8.1 only); in WP8.0, the only the lowres is uploaded. If you are shooting DNG (RAW), only the lowres JPG is uploaded the highres DNG is not uploaded automatically. If you delete the photo from the Photos app, both versions are deleted (works both JPG only capture and JPG + DNG capture).

Thanks!!

At my job, we don't allow VPN to connect from within the property. Its a major security risk to allow it. If you are on property, you can connect via guest wifi but VPN won't happen until you are offsite. Its why its created.

Dunno Man.. Im not a Networking Pro.. I Know the Basics. But where I work if you want the internet via WIFI you have to use the Junos Pulse App and sign in using your credentials. And when I do it says Authentication Not Complete.

We use the same System to Connect to the VPN from home, and when we are at work we can use the same App and such to connect to the WIfi.. Dunno why.. Its just how they designed it.

 

[anon(7901790)]

Dunno Man.. Im not a Networking Pro.. I Know the Basics. But where I work if you want the internet via WIFI you have to use the Junos Pulse App and sign in using your credentials. And when I do it says Authentication Not Complete.

We use the same System to Connect to the VPN from home, and when we are at work we can use the same App and such to connect to the WIfi.. Dunno why.. Its just how they designed it.

Did you try setting it up at home with it connected to the internet from your Wi-Fi? Also, you said that you had no internet connection via Wi-Fi, is your phone set to use cellular data if your Wi-Fi is not connected? I checked out Junos Pulse in the WP store, and it seems there are several people having similar problems. So, it seems your VPN problem is app related and not necessarily directly related to the OS. Your best bet would be to contact Juniper Networks.

 

[Tepid]

If I were you, I would talk to your IT.
The feature for VPN that you are referring to is slightly similar to that of Hotels.

At hotels, you connect to WiFi, then to get internet, you have to go to proxy page and accept the agreement, or log in to accept.
If the page will not load or you are not redirected, once connected to WiFi, the process is broken at that hotel, not on the phone or PC, laptop, whatever.

Something is not redirecting you properly once you connect to WiFi
Keep in mind, that there is no way you are going to authenticate to VPN till you have Internet, and no possible way you are not going to get internet till you can Authenticate to WiFi. There is no in between. You can not Authenticate WiFi through Internet, it is literally impossible.

So,, in this order,,, always, and there is no other way, it's the way it works for everyone on the planet, no one else will be different, ever.....

WiFi > Internet > VPN

Something in that chain is broken, and I doubt it has anything to do with the phone itself.
Your IT needs to make sure the process works, period.

 

[James8561]

you can sort the App List by touching a letter, then the whole alphabet shows up, and then you can tap the first letter of your app name to go to that section.

Try opening IE and go to a webpage right after you connect to wifi to see if any welcome/login screen shows up in browser.

 

[sammyboy405]

Did you try setting it up at home with it connected to the internet from your Wi-Fi? Also, you said that you had no internet connection via Wi-Fi, is your phone set to use cellular data if your Wi-Fi is not connected? I checked out Junos Pulse in the WP store, and it seems there are several people having similar problems. So, it seems your VPN problem is app related and not necessarily directly related to the OS. Your best bet would be to contact Juniper Networks.

I Fully understand that its not the phone/OS Fault for Junos Pulse for Not working. Never said once it was the phones fault.. To contact Junipers support it cost money. and BYOD is not supported by our IT department at work. They only support Work Issued Devices. So if i wanna get it to work im on my own.. But thats Ok Im sure it will work itself out in the next few months It usually does. When i was with Android it took nearly a year before Juno's Pulse even worked

 

[sammyboy405]

you can sort the App List by touching a letter, then the whole alphabet shows up, and then you can tap the first letter of your app name to go to that section.

Try opening IE and go to a webpage right after you connect to wifi to see if any welcome/login screen shows up in browser.

Selecting the letter I knew about.. Thanks for the Heads up though.. But thats really not app Sorting. But Like I think we have all agreed on before I doubt MS will ever change the sort method, as it keeps in line with the Desktop Version.

Thanks everyone for all the input so far.. Good Conversation.

 

[Reebs Reebs]

Also Im having issues with Remote installing apps from the Windows Store page. Says It cant find my phone to install it and emails me a link.

I had this issue when I'm at work behind the network firewall. Store never finds my phone. Worth checking it out on another network.

 

[Reebs Reebs]

Selecting the letter I knew about.. Thanks for the Heads up though.. But thats really not app Sorting. But Like I think we have all agreed on before I doubt MS will ever change the sort method, as it keeps in line with the Desktop Version.

Thanks everyone for all the input so far.. Good Conversation.

I agree with you. I find there's room for sorting improvement in the apps (by install date instead of just labeling it "new" before the first use) and by category. I think this will be solved soon as the similarity between Windows 8.1 and WP 8.1 blur further. The apps sorting is great there.

I also would like to see a search capability for the settings menu. I cannot find what I want easily either.

 

[sammyboy405]

I had this issue when I'm at work behind the network firewall. Store never finds my phone. Worth checking it out on another network.

I figured out my issue. If ya goto the find my phone setting make sure PUSH is enabled. Mine was not, and once I did remote installs work like a champ.

 

[Shawn Magm]

Regarding Cloudmuzik, it works great on my Lumia 820 WP8.1. My music library is on Google Play. When I first started using WP last August, I tried both Goroovster and Cloudmuzik. Both were unstable and crashed. A few days ago, just for the hell of it, I tried Cloudmuzik, and it's been rock solid stable. I was streaming music on wifi for 6-8 hours without a crash. I was very happy. The developers must have improved it significantly since I last tried it.

The Motorola Droid Maxx/Ultra, Moto X are probably the most hand free phones now because of the always listening feature of the X8 chipset. You don't need to wake the phone for it to listen.