I haven't been around much for a while as I've been unwell with mild pneumonia (I know, woe is me!), but also because my power-schizophrenic Lumia 800 was off for battery testing. And the result? Apparently, it was fine.
Which unfortunately means, it isn't fine for me. For whatever reason (software, hardware, a combination of the two) it was still behaving erratically with regards to battery life, and by testing it myself using data on/off and airplane mode on/off I've pretty much nailed the cause to be the Orange/T-mobile network sharing we have here in the UK, and the fact that my house is in a borderline area that means in some rooms I lose Orange signal and drop to the T-mob network.
I've had people suggest charging every night as a solution but I'm afraid that's not an acceptable solution. I have a top-end smartphone that allegedly has a 2+ day battery life (loads more apparently with the latest battery update, which mine had) - therefore I should get that, not 1 day somedays, 2 days somedays, three quarters of a day some days, and I should be able to use all of its features and not have to shut some of them off "just in case". When I have to start making excuses for my phone and babying it along, something's not right.
And there's the other issue - the fact that while my 800 was off being peered at by Nokia, a friend lent me their spare iPhone 4 they were looking to sell anyway. Not a 4S, just an iPhone 4 (and an 8Gb one at that). It was my first proper go with an iPhone using iOS5, and it was an eye-opener.
Basically, I can't now go back to the live tile set up as is, because I've seen the alternative and it now looks plain inadequate. WP needs a notification centre equivalent so badly it's unreal, because right now, if you want a phone that lets you get in, check the things that matter to you (and know that those things are 100% bang up to date and that you haven't missed anything), and get out as quickly as possible, WP is *not* the phone for you. The simple options to let you customise how apps notify you, what apps notify you, where those notifications are and so on makes iOS5 *so* much more useful it's like a whole new OS. And push barely seems to have any battery life impact - I have been getting 2+ days solid, every time, with moderate use. Exactly what I would expect.
Compared to disappearing toasts (a scenario that now seems a flat out ludicrous design decision), lockscreen access for 1st party apps only, hubs that only have a subset of the functionality of full apps so can't replace them whatever anyone says and live tiles that are limited in what they show and can be 1/2 an hour out of date, and it's a no brainer. Mango had the edge over the iPhone when it was just in-your-face alerts and badges for sure, but the tables have turned 180 again.
It's also been lovely to not have to fight the awful WP Connector for Mac software, enjoy wi-fi sync and seamless iCloud backup (truly brilliant - it's so flawless, you almost want to wipe your phone and restore it to show it off!), and to be able to play decent games again - something that right from day 1 of my use of Windows Phone people have said have been coming but they *still* aren't here (The Verge review of the 900 points out that some top sellers in the games marketplace have been there since launch - that's truly astounding, and not in a good way). And after jailbreaking, I can even customise what I want without paying a huge fee to do so (SBSettings is still a work of genius).
Am I totally done with WP? I really hope not, but it depends. I think MS have got a lot to address in Apollo - a lot more than I realised until I went back and tried the alternatives again - but if they can do it without having to leave too many current users for dead they still have as good a chance as ever, and I'm perfectly happy to look again when the new Apollo handsets come along. And I'm also sorely tempted to pick up a Lumia 610 when second-hand ones start popping up. Partly as I always have a second phone for work, partly so I can keep my hand in and keep access to the generally excellent Nokia apps.
But for now the 800 has gone to join its many brothers and sisters on eBay to pay for my "new" phone, which I can't deny I'm absolutely delighted with - I needed something I could absolutely rely on that was also powerful *and* fun to use. I nearly had that with the Nokia, but in the end there were just too many little niggles (and one very big one) to ignore. But I definitely have it now.
Ta for all the help with issues and the like, and I will genuinely miss this community, which is pretty splendid.
Cheers!
Which unfortunately means, it isn't fine for me. For whatever reason (software, hardware, a combination of the two) it was still behaving erratically with regards to battery life, and by testing it myself using data on/off and airplane mode on/off I've pretty much nailed the cause to be the Orange/T-mobile network sharing we have here in the UK, and the fact that my house is in a borderline area that means in some rooms I lose Orange signal and drop to the T-mob network.
I've had people suggest charging every night as a solution but I'm afraid that's not an acceptable solution. I have a top-end smartphone that allegedly has a 2+ day battery life (loads more apparently with the latest battery update, which mine had) - therefore I should get that, not 1 day somedays, 2 days somedays, three quarters of a day some days, and I should be able to use all of its features and not have to shut some of them off "just in case". When I have to start making excuses for my phone and babying it along, something's not right.
And there's the other issue - the fact that while my 800 was off being peered at by Nokia, a friend lent me their spare iPhone 4 they were looking to sell anyway. Not a 4S, just an iPhone 4 (and an 8Gb one at that). It was my first proper go with an iPhone using iOS5, and it was an eye-opener.
Basically, I can't now go back to the live tile set up as is, because I've seen the alternative and it now looks plain inadequate. WP needs a notification centre equivalent so badly it's unreal, because right now, if you want a phone that lets you get in, check the things that matter to you (and know that those things are 100% bang up to date and that you haven't missed anything), and get out as quickly as possible, WP is *not* the phone for you. The simple options to let you customise how apps notify you, what apps notify you, where those notifications are and so on makes iOS5 *so* much more useful it's like a whole new OS. And push barely seems to have any battery life impact - I have been getting 2+ days solid, every time, with moderate use. Exactly what I would expect.
Compared to disappearing toasts (a scenario that now seems a flat out ludicrous design decision), lockscreen access for 1st party apps only, hubs that only have a subset of the functionality of full apps so can't replace them whatever anyone says and live tiles that are limited in what they show and can be 1/2 an hour out of date, and it's a no brainer. Mango had the edge over the iPhone when it was just in-your-face alerts and badges for sure, but the tables have turned 180 again.
It's also been lovely to not have to fight the awful WP Connector for Mac software, enjoy wi-fi sync and seamless iCloud backup (truly brilliant - it's so flawless, you almost want to wipe your phone and restore it to show it off!), and to be able to play decent games again - something that right from day 1 of my use of Windows Phone people have said have been coming but they *still* aren't here (The Verge review of the 900 points out that some top sellers in the games marketplace have been there since launch - that's truly astounding, and not in a good way). And after jailbreaking, I can even customise what I want without paying a huge fee to do so (SBSettings is still a work of genius).
Am I totally done with WP? I really hope not, but it depends. I think MS have got a lot to address in Apollo - a lot more than I realised until I went back and tried the alternatives again - but if they can do it without having to leave too many current users for dead they still have as good a chance as ever, and I'm perfectly happy to look again when the new Apollo handsets come along. And I'm also sorely tempted to pick up a Lumia 610 when second-hand ones start popping up. Partly as I always have a second phone for work, partly so I can keep my hand in and keep access to the generally excellent Nokia apps.
But for now the 800 has gone to join its many brothers and sisters on eBay to pay for my "new" phone, which I can't deny I'm absolutely delighted with - I needed something I could absolutely rely on that was also powerful *and* fun to use. I nearly had that with the Nokia, but in the end there were just too many little niggles (and one very big one) to ignore. But I definitely have it now.
Ta for all the help with issues and the like, and I will genuinely miss this community, which is pretty splendid.
Cheers!
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