Lumia 820 on WP8 only

[Dan TheMan86]

Hi, I just bought a used Lumia 820 for the sole purpose of being a media player in my car. It will never see a data connection but will occasionally see wifi for installing some apps. It will never see use other than playing music over bluetooth. The phone had been factory reset and is currently running 8.0.10517.150
I LOVE the original media player in windows 8, but would like some of the other updates before it changed over to 8.1. Is there any way to update this phone without it automatically installing WP8.1? Fingers crossed...

 

[xandros9]

Re: Lumia 820 on WP8 ony

updates should be one-after-the-other, so you probably can update and stop when you're happy.

However, you can upgrade to WP8.1 and use the app "Music Hub Tile" which uncovers the now-hidden music part of the Music+videos hub which is still in the OS. I've used it for a long time before switching to ModernMusic.

 

[Dan TheMan86]

Re: Lumia 820 on WP8 ony

As in the album art will show up on the tile and in the background of the music app?

 

[Dan TheMan86]

I just tried an experiment. I did the first update which took me to 8.0.10532.166. I factory reset the phone and this version stayed the same. So FYI anybody, you can't just reset the phone and go back to the original OS version that was installed on it. is there a way to do this with Nokia Software Recovery tool in the future?

 

[xandros9]

Re: Lumia 820 on WP8 ony

As in the album art will show up on the tile and in the background of the music app?

MPATool does not work in WP 8.1 if you use that tool.

If artwork is already embedded in the music, it should display properly.

I can't speak for artist art though.
Will it connect to Xbox music and will art work? I can't give an answer as I just don't know.

 

[Dan TheMan86]

So how do you get the album art and artist art on a WP8.1 phone? How do you do it manually?

and btw, this is turning out to be a great media player so far. Left it in airplane mode with bluetooth on (how I intend to use the phone) and it burned 0.49% batter per hour and has an estimated standby time of 7 days!! Perfect for leaving it in the Mustang all week since I usually only drive it on weekends.

 

[xandros9]

I got fed up with relying on things like MPATool (if you're familiar with it) or iTunes that lose the album art and whatnot if you switch services or erase the phone.

I spent a day finding album art pictures online and adding them into the individual (or groups of) music files using this tool called mp3tag. Can't say about artist art though.
It was kinda tedious but I sold the endeavor to myself by knowing that I would only have to do it for new music.

And album art looks nice too.

That's pretty impressive too considering the 820 isn't known for longevity.

 

[Dan TheMan86]

That's pretty impressive too considering the 820 isn't known for longevity.

That's just in standby with bluetooth on and not connected or playing music. My plan is to leave the phone plugged into the USB port in the car, connect to Ford SYNC for bluetooth audio and steering wheel controls, leave the phone on and turn off the car and leave the phone in the car for 4-5 days at a time. The USB stops charging when the car is turned off, so I'm only hoping the battery lasts until the next time I turn the car on. Then when I turn the car on, the battery will start charging and bluetooth will already be on and I won't have to do too much fumbling.

 

[Dan TheMan86]

BTW....the 820 has been working pretty flawlessly so far as a media player. I haven't been able to drive the car for about a week now due to the weather and I just checked the battery level the other day...only drained to 80% in airplane mode with bluetooth left on. WP8 was so great with the old music hub and artist backgrounds, I'll make sure to never update this thing! Only annoying thing is the "there is an update available for download" message that pops up every time I unlock the screen after a few days.

 

[intransitmatt]

I flash my 920 to 8.0 and 8.1 back and forth every few months and when I'm on 8.0 that nagging update notification is one of the reasons I cant stick with wp8.0 anymore.