Hey, all,
I've been a dedicated webOS fan for quite a while now. I supported the "little OS that could" since that day in 2009 when Palm unveiled the original Prē at CES. However, it wasn't until about two years ago that I finally purchased my first webOS device; the TouchPad. Shortly thereafter I picked up a Veer, and before I knew it I'd become a webOS fanatic, with both of the devices being customized just to my liking, and both dual booting webOS and Android.
However, when I saw how affordable some of the newer entry level WPs could be, I decided to switch out my Veer for something else. I originally had my heart set on a $150 Lumia 520 from Koodo, but with no official release date and only moderate specs, I passed on it and instead grabbed a $150 8s from Virgin. After taxes, a new microSD, and a new micro SIM, I ended up paying ~$190, a pretty good deal if you ask me
Anyways, so I've been using WP regularly for about a day now, and honestly I've come away pretty impressed. For the most part, it's everything that I need in a phone, and it does all of it well. However, there are still. Few things that whilst I don't need them, I'd like to have them.
The Good:
Fast. Responsive. Smooth. These are all words that describe how I feel about navigating throughout WP8. MS's done an excellent job optimizing the software for the hardware, and fluidity for a phone of this spec level is top-notch. This is something that you wouldn't see on Android any day of the week. Even compared to something like the HTC One, I still see my 8s lag less often. And on top of that, apps are fast to open, with no jitteryness at all when you use them. Kudos to MS for that, it's a huge selling feature for me.
Intuitiveness is a strong point here. One of my gripes with Android is that sometimes buttons or icons just aren't where they should be; there'll be a menu button where there's a search button in every other app, or the back button does something totally different than a different back button in the app itself. With WP everything seems consistent, from layout to overall design and colour scheme. Unlike on Android where you get some holo and some non-holo apps, everything here is metro (which is a good thing), not to mention that everything just works well without ever hanging up or crashing, which brings me to my next point..
Great stability. Sure, every bit of software can be buggy, I've experienced it with every OS I've ever used. That includes desktop OSes like Windows, OSX or Linux variants, and mobile OSes like iOS, Android, BB10, MeeGo, Symbian, webOS, and yes, Windows Phone. But WP's been good to me, so far I've only had one crash, and when I reopened the app it worked perfectly fine again. It wasn't even a crash, more so just a small bug. With webOS and Android especially, there were so many bugs and rough edges that apps would hang and cause the phone to simply restart. WebOS 2.2.4 was so buggy that I had to warn callers that my phone "may or may not restart during the call", and that was just too much. WP's just been so refined and functional in comparison, easily on par or if not better than iOS.
Apps are good. For a fairly distant 3rd place platform having over 135 000 is more than I could ask for. Besides, I knew what I was buying into before, and I'm satisfied. However, I wouldn't mind getting a few of those games or news readers that they're enjoying over on the Android/iOS side..
It just looks good. Metro is an attractive interface, having all the flipping live tiles on my start screen makes it always look like something's going on. That can also be a hindrance though, now I feel obligated to balance my tiles just so to make sure that my start screen looks organized and in order every time I turn on my phone.
Now let's move on to the not-so-good..
The Bad
Mediocre app switching and multitasking. WebOS' gestures and task switching were fantastic, and even Android's were to an extent. I dislike how WP "suspends" an app when you leave it, like iOS. There's also no ability to close apps (dumb move on MS' part IMO), and tabbed browsing is a nightmare. This needs to be fixed.
Storage issues. Perhaps this is more a gripe about the 8s' tiny 4GB internal storage, but I'm already running out of room for apps. I'd love to have the ability to store applications to an SD card, something that can be done to Android if rooted.
No universal search is another big disappointment for me. I want to be able to type anything and have it search my phone, the web, or perform any sort of command/function such as updating a Facebook or Twitter status. JustType on webOS was brilliant, WP needs a similar feature.
Finally, my biggest gripe is that customization and "hackability" is still leaps and bounds behind Android. I loved being able to change backgrounds, add new features through rooting, and just playing around making the phone mine. I simply can't do that on WP, for better or for worse. Sure, it guarantees a more stable and lag free experience, but at what cost? You have live tiles and a plethora of colours, but I still long for more customizability and that great experience you have when you hack and modify a phone exactly to your liking.
In conclusion, what do I think of WP? It's a great OS, and does everything that I need it to, but I'd still like to see more customization features implemented. Your move, Microsoft.
BTW, does anybody know of any good unlocking services? The 8s is still locked to Virgin and I'm with Koodo ATM.
And apologies in advance for any spelling/grammar errors or awkward sentence phrasing. I'm on my tablet and writing anything longer than a tweet isn't exactly what I'd call ideal.
I've been a dedicated webOS fan for quite a while now. I supported the "little OS that could" since that day in 2009 when Palm unveiled the original Prē at CES. However, it wasn't until about two years ago that I finally purchased my first webOS device; the TouchPad. Shortly thereafter I picked up a Veer, and before I knew it I'd become a webOS fanatic, with both of the devices being customized just to my liking, and both dual booting webOS and Android.
However, when I saw how affordable some of the newer entry level WPs could be, I decided to switch out my Veer for something else. I originally had my heart set on a $150 Lumia 520 from Koodo, but with no official release date and only moderate specs, I passed on it and instead grabbed a $150 8s from Virgin. After taxes, a new microSD, and a new micro SIM, I ended up paying ~$190, a pretty good deal if you ask me
Anyways, so I've been using WP regularly for about a day now, and honestly I've come away pretty impressed. For the most part, it's everything that I need in a phone, and it does all of it well. However, there are still. Few things that whilst I don't need them, I'd like to have them.
The Good:
Fast. Responsive. Smooth. These are all words that describe how I feel about navigating throughout WP8. MS's done an excellent job optimizing the software for the hardware, and fluidity for a phone of this spec level is top-notch. This is something that you wouldn't see on Android any day of the week. Even compared to something like the HTC One, I still see my 8s lag less often. And on top of that, apps are fast to open, with no jitteryness at all when you use them. Kudos to MS for that, it's a huge selling feature for me.
Intuitiveness is a strong point here. One of my gripes with Android is that sometimes buttons or icons just aren't where they should be; there'll be a menu button where there's a search button in every other app, or the back button does something totally different than a different back button in the app itself. With WP everything seems consistent, from layout to overall design and colour scheme. Unlike on Android where you get some holo and some non-holo apps, everything here is metro (which is a good thing), not to mention that everything just works well without ever hanging up or crashing, which brings me to my next point..
Great stability. Sure, every bit of software can be buggy, I've experienced it with every OS I've ever used. That includes desktop OSes like Windows, OSX or Linux variants, and mobile OSes like iOS, Android, BB10, MeeGo, Symbian, webOS, and yes, Windows Phone. But WP's been good to me, so far I've only had one crash, and when I reopened the app it worked perfectly fine again. It wasn't even a crash, more so just a small bug. With webOS and Android especially, there were so many bugs and rough edges that apps would hang and cause the phone to simply restart. WebOS 2.2.4 was so buggy that I had to warn callers that my phone "may or may not restart during the call", and that was just too much. WP's just been so refined and functional in comparison, easily on par or if not better than iOS.
Apps are good. For a fairly distant 3rd place platform having over 135 000 is more than I could ask for. Besides, I knew what I was buying into before, and I'm satisfied. However, I wouldn't mind getting a few of those games or news readers that they're enjoying over on the Android/iOS side..
It just looks good. Metro is an attractive interface, having all the flipping live tiles on my start screen makes it always look like something's going on. That can also be a hindrance though, now I feel obligated to balance my tiles just so to make sure that my start screen looks organized and in order every time I turn on my phone.
Now let's move on to the not-so-good..
The Bad
Mediocre app switching and multitasking. WebOS' gestures and task switching were fantastic, and even Android's were to an extent. I dislike how WP "suspends" an app when you leave it, like iOS. There's also no ability to close apps (dumb move on MS' part IMO), and tabbed browsing is a nightmare. This needs to be fixed.
Storage issues. Perhaps this is more a gripe about the 8s' tiny 4GB internal storage, but I'm already running out of room for apps. I'd love to have the ability to store applications to an SD card, something that can be done to Android if rooted.
No universal search is another big disappointment for me. I want to be able to type anything and have it search my phone, the web, or perform any sort of command/function such as updating a Facebook or Twitter status. JustType on webOS was brilliant, WP needs a similar feature.
Finally, my biggest gripe is that customization and "hackability" is still leaps and bounds behind Android. I loved being able to change backgrounds, add new features through rooting, and just playing around making the phone mine. I simply can't do that on WP, for better or for worse. Sure, it guarantees a more stable and lag free experience, but at what cost? You have live tiles and a plethora of colours, but I still long for more customizability and that great experience you have when you hack and modify a phone exactly to your liking.
In conclusion, what do I think of WP? It's a great OS, and does everything that I need it to, but I'd still like to see more customization features implemented. Your move, Microsoft.
BTW, does anybody know of any good unlocking services? The 8s is still locked to Virgin and I'm with Koodo ATM.
And apologies in advance for any spelling/grammar errors or awkward sentence phrasing. I'm on my tablet and writing anything longer than a tweet isn't exactly what I'd call ideal.