I have to admit I am having a lot of fun with this phone. Physically it is VERY well made and feels light but still solid - no flimsiness. The screen is simply outstanding. The SLCD HTC uses is in my opinion better than Super AMOLED. I came to the 8X off of a Rezound and this display beats the Rezound (which isn't easy as the Rezound is noted for one of the best displays on a smartphone - period). I would say it is VERY similar to the One X display but the color mix seems a bit more accurate. Sound is excellent - crisp, clear and loud. Camera is also a killer.
As to the OS, the more I use it the more I like the ideas underlying it. I've concluded that Facebook, Twitter and Instagram apps are unnecessary. The social functions in the People hub cover all needed items except Instagram, which is covered in the camera itself - just share pictures with FB. If I want to doctor them the Photo Enhancer does a lot of nice things. In fact, one you get used to the way WP "thinks" a lot of formerly complex things get simple. To put it briefly - in the WP world you look for the person first and what you want to do with that person next. In iOS and Android it is the other way around.
Email is really powerful in this OS and the Calendar app and Live Tile work very well. So does the Messaging app/Tile. In Email I have Office 365, Live.com and Gmail all playing together with no issues.
Music I would up (after experimentation) using MusicBee (/http://getmusicbee.com/). It worked like a dream and was surprisingly fast and easy.
The only area where I still have a quibble is the lack of text reflow in IE and no PDF reader with reflow. Thus far I have simply mass converted my PDFs to docx format, which works beautifully because Word Mobile DOES have reflow.
Now I admit I came into 8 with prior WP experience (I had a Trophy for a bit so used WP7). I recommend all new users go here:
Windows Phone 8 | Windows Phone How-to (United States)
Watch all the videos (yes there are a fair number) - they're pretty good and will give you a general background on the way things work in WP and how to do a lot of things.
As to the OS, the more I use it the more I like the ideas underlying it. I've concluded that Facebook, Twitter and Instagram apps are unnecessary. The social functions in the People hub cover all needed items except Instagram, which is covered in the camera itself - just share pictures with FB. If I want to doctor them the Photo Enhancer does a lot of nice things. In fact, one you get used to the way WP "thinks" a lot of formerly complex things get simple. To put it briefly - in the WP world you look for the person first and what you want to do with that person next. In iOS and Android it is the other way around.
Email is really powerful in this OS and the Calendar app and Live Tile work very well. So does the Messaging app/Tile. In Email I have Office 365, Live.com and Gmail all playing together with no issues.
Music I would up (after experimentation) using MusicBee (/http://getmusicbee.com/). It worked like a dream and was surprisingly fast and easy.
The only area where I still have a quibble is the lack of text reflow in IE and no PDF reader with reflow. Thus far I have simply mass converted my PDFs to docx format, which works beautifully because Word Mobile DOES have reflow.
Now I admit I came into 8 with prior WP experience (I had a Trophy for a bit so used WP7). I recommend all new users go here:
Windows Phone 8 | Windows Phone How-to (United States)
Watch all the videos (yes there are a fair number) - they're pretty good and will give you a general background on the way things work in WP and how to do a lot of things.
hours yesterday while at Disneyland), and the phone is super smooth and great. Love it.
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