First a little background:
I'm a big Microsoft guy. I always have been, even when I didn't know it. My first MP3 player was the Halo 3 Zune, back when they were like big cool bricks and the Zune Software was brown rather than... pink. And I loved it, and it saved me from going down the Apple orchard that my father initially tried to lead me down. I got a Zune HD a couple years later, and loved it as well.
Then, two years after that, I got my first Windows Phone: the HTC Trophy. And it was essentially a Zune Phone, and everything I could ask for. It was simple, useful, and unobtrusive with its functions. This was back with Windows Phone 7, so the platform wasn't as pronounced as it is now, but the new selection of apps and games made the whole experience a great leap from Zune HD. When new phones were announced, I couldn't wait to get ahold of better hardware to further improve my experience.
What I got last year was a Nokia Lumia 928. Being on Verizon, there was no Lumia selection prior. Well, there might have been something called the 822, but it wasn't nearly as prominent as this, being a spinoff of the popular 920, and it ran on Windows Phone 8, the new OS, with access to all new games and apps!
But this was the start of a downward trend. Not immediately, at first I enjoyed it greatly, and still do to an extent. But further down the line there were too many problems for me to bear with.
First and foremost, the music app. Back then, it wasn't an app, just part of the OS, as we all know. But this was the first time that the app decided to play surgeon with my metadata. I'd always arranged songs and albums to my own preferences, putting single songs from different artists together into large albums. This was never a problem with my Zune and Trophy, as the Zune Software allowed for easy editing of metadata and easy merging of albums. But now Zune Software was orphaned, and in its place was an atrocious Windows Phone App that only allows you to add files without giving proper context, and so it decides to fill in the blanks itself and change stuff around, ripping songs out of albums and putting them into a new one, or duplicating songs to achieve that same goal, and all manner of just disorganizing and cluttering my work.
Even when there are no blanks to fill, it screws things up. My Halo soundtracks, which were handed down by my original Zune 30 GB, had whole albums get lost in translation, and some had album art changed to totally irrelevant pieces. At first I thought it'd get better with time, but it consistently gets worse with every update, which seems to find more ways to screw things up. I once even managed to put it all back together by deleting all the music off my phone and adding it again, but then an update came along and chopped everything up again. Even my Amazing Spider-Man 2 soundtrack was chopped up into like six or seven different albums, with five or six out of that six or seven containing only one song by a different artist, causing the entire problem.
That's my main beef. There are other small issues I have with the app, like how it seems that when playing with headphones/earphones, sound is quieter coming out of the left than the right. I don't know what causes it, but it's super bothering.
Another main problem is the optimization of the OS. With each update, it seems battery performance gets worse, especially with IE11, which seems to take up more power than any other app fathomable. I initially believed that this was due to the common "leave the battery charging at 100% too much and you'll ruin the battery life," but I was told that there was something in the software or hardware that cut off charge once it was full. I'd buy another battery to make sure, but the batteries on Lumia phones aren't removable, so it's out of the question. I can't even go through a day with moderate use before getting below 50% on a phone that's supposed to have over 2000 minutes of usage time.
The final major issue is carrier support. I'm on Verizon, and the Windows Phone selection is incredibly slim. AT&T seems to have its leash on all the flagship models, with the 920 and 1020. T-Mobile has a wide selection, too. The HTC Trophy was, for a good while, the only Windows Phone on Verizon. Now there's five, and the only upgrades are a Lumia Icon, which is just a somewhat beefier version of what I have now, and the new HTC One M8, which isn't really special beyond the dot-case gimmick. And none of them offer the color variety seen with the 920, coming only in dull black or white. This lack of support makes accessory selection incredibly sparse, which has also been an issue.
Then there's a bunch of minor issues, such as the lack of good app support, lack of customization, and all the other anchors plaguing the platform that, up to now, I was willing to put up with. The app selection in particular bothers me because apparently the store is very restrictive, much like with the App Store on the iPhone and unlike Windows and its desktop programs, but I've gathered that nearly anything can be done on Android. That liberty is particularly enticing.
But don't get me wrong, there's been a lot of improvements. The notification center is great, and the small improvements to customization were welcome, but there's just not a lot there for me. I'm not a photographer, so all the focus on photo apps and such isn't appealing to me. Cortana, while a very intriguing program, isn't of use, because I don't need a digital assistant.
There are things that make me want to stay with the program. I'll miss all the Microsoft cross-functionality. Like I said, I'm a big Microsoft guy. I use OneNote, Office, and OneDrive a lot. I'm a big Xbox gamer, too. So the ability to seamlessly work with that using my phone has been a major plus for me. However, it's not quite enough to stake a whole purchase on, especially as Microsoft applies these programs to other platforms.
And I know Windows 10 is coming and I'm excited to see it on my desktop. However, I haven't much hope for it on a phone, because if they couldn't do it before, I'm not 100% sure how they'll do it now. And that won't fix the music app and lack of Verizon support.
So I'm heavily considering getting an Android phone, particularly a Droid MAXX. But I'm not going to be rash and headstrong with this. I like Microsoft, I don't really like Apple, but I HATE Google. Every single service I've used (or been forced to use) from them has always caused me trouble, particularly because they have no customer support when I need it, as opposed to Microsoft, which has the most excellent customer support I've seen next to Elder Scrolls Online. But, to my knowledge, Google has little control over the OS, so it shouldn't be an issue. I hope.
I was just wondering if there's any solid reason I should wait, or if there's some answer to my prayers that I'm unaware of. I've been with this OS for over seven years, and I don't plan to abandon it so easily. I'll come back if Windows 10 turns out to be the messiah we've been waiting for, but after utter disappointment of Destiny, my hype is being kept well in check.
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