Switching platforms? | Thinking of leaving?...comment here!

[carlson03]

Re: I give up...

All of the apps I need are on there, there are somethings I miss from Android, but I like the 920 too much to get rid of it...perfect amount of power for what I paid for it new in July...good luck to you OP!

 

[eds817]

Re: I give up...

there are somethings I miss from Android

What do you miss from Android?

 

[pwrof3]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

I thought I'd share my story, since it seems it will help a lot of people on this thread.
I just completed a two year Smartphone journey.
I spent one year on Windows Phone 7.5/8, six months on iPhone, and six months on Android (htc one m7 w/ kitkat). I took this journey because I didn't want to be a blind ******; something I proudly label myself as when it comes to Microsoft.
Here are my impressions of each OS, and at the end I will tell you which one I stuck with.

Windows Phone:
Live tiles are incredibly useful, and the ability to resize and place them anywhere on my screen is the greatest feature of any mobile OS.
The OS is "fast and fluid" and incredibly stable.
Integration with Xbox is a plus for gamers. I love being able to earn achievements on my phone!
The biggest downside is the app selection. Everything from my bank to my grocery store and my favorite mobile game (Simpsons Tapped Out) are missing. However, I found myself less tied to my phone while using Windows Phone, and relying on an app to go grocery shopping isn't as exciting or useful as you might think. I found myself using OneNote for most list based tasks.
The camera app is the slowest to load of all three OSs.
Overall, the live tiles make this OS stand out, as well as the Xbox integration.

iPhone:
Live tiles are what I immediately missed when I switched to iPhone. Having to launch an app just to see the weather seemed tedious.
iOS 7 is what I used and found it to be solid and free from too many bugs.
The killer reason to own an iPhone is the App Store. They get everything first and they get constant updates and exclusives.
It should also be noted that the camera is by far the best of any of the OSs I tried, but not in terms of picture quality, in terms of speed and ease of use. It launches immediately and takes the picture instantaneously as I push the button.
The one thing I still dislike is the complete lack of innovation on the home screen. No widgets, no live tiles, no interactivity whatsoever. Just a grid of icons that you have to push to see anything useful.
Overall, the App Store and camera win out and make iPhone the cream of the crop.

Android:
I used Android for all of five minutes before I missed iOS. It was immediately buggy, slow and horribly confusing to navigate.
The widgets help give the OS a Windows Phone-like feel, but with a much better app store.
The Play Store is great and well stocked with all the apps and games you'll need, with the exception of a few iOS exclusives. However, the apps seem to run a bit slow and buggy, and I was using a high end phone (HTC One m7).
I loved the customization of the home screen, but it still paled in comparison with Windows Phone.

As a side note, I did not use Sri, Ok, Google or Cortana in any meaningful way, so I left them out of the equation.

So who am I sticking with? Now that my two year experiment is done, I am going back to Windows Phone. As much as I love iPhone's camera and app selection, the live tiles of Windows Phone make it the most useful mobile OS I used. I'm looking forward to glancing at my screen to see my emails, the weather, news, etc. The app situation will actually help my smartphone addiction

Anyways, I hope this was useful for someone. Thank you for reading and feel free to ask any questions.

 

[pseudoware]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

Well, I'm leaving the platform for the third time. Just sold my Lumia 1020, a bittersweet time. I just really need to pare down, quit being such a device wh0re, and be more financially responsible, in general, for the new year. Yeah, another device platform won out, but I'll always have a Windows hybrid and am very excited about Windows 10. I've come back to what's currently known as "Windows Phone" in the past, and will likely do so again, although probably not as soon as before, again due mostly to financial reasons.

I'll continue to lurk and will always keep up w/any developments with the platform.

 

[Ahy Nonimous]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

Quicken, Discover Bank, Vanguard. Three glaring omissions that annoy the hell out of me. Sorry to say that there are no third party apps for these.

 

[RevoMikey101]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

That's me done. HTC m8 on android and couldn't be happier. I hope you all see the light and ditch this miserable os too so it can die. Take care everyone.

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

[Jean Sagarese]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

I currently have a Lumia 1020, I loved the phone, told everyone to try a Windows Phone, some went and looked and said oh I don't see my apps I use all the time. I was a iPhone user from the 2nd one up until the 5 only reason I left was the screen size. It is looking like I will be headed back to Apple, I have exactly one credit card and it was in the Apple Pay system immediately. I am running Win 10 on a lap top to help with the testing. I have 8.1 on my desktop and I own a MacBook Pro with Yosemite. One thing I will miss big time on my phone is Cortana, everyone I show is impressed I didn't like Siri but I will be glad to have Cortana on my laptop. I probably just use my Lumia 2520 until I see if I need a iPad to go with the iPhone 6 Plus. Going to run the desktop into the ground and probably replace with a iMac that way everything will talk to each other once the 2520 bites the dust. If it didn't mean losing my unlimited data I would have the iPhone tomorrow. One other thing I will miss is my wireless charging just walking into my office and putting it on the charging pad should be available for every platform never minded the extra piece on the back

 

[eds817]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

That's me done. HTC m8 on android and couldn't be happier. I hope you all see the light and ditch this miserable os too so it can die. Take care everyone.

Sent from my HTC One_M8

I'm currently on Android and contemplating Windows. What makes it so bad? Please be specific. You can PM me if you prefer.

 

[Legoboyii]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

I'm currently on Android and contemplating Windows. What makes it so bad? Please be specific. You can PM me if you prefer.

I honestly don't know what crawled up his rear end.
I've been with windows phone for over 6 months and I absolutely love it.
With Windows 10 on the way it can only get better. People should simply try it, ask questions if necessary, and learn the OS. If you like it, stick around, if no then don't complain and bash it. You may not personally like it but others might. To each their own.

 

[eds817]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

I honestly don't know what crawled up his rear end.
I've been with windows phone for over 6 months and I absolutely love it.
With Windows 10 on the way it can only get better. People should simply try it, ask questions if necessary, and learn the OS. If you like it, stick around, if no then don't complain and bash it. You may not personally like it but others might. To each their own.

I can appreciate that not everyone will like a particular OS, but they should give more details other than it stinks.

 

[emiel1976]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

The reason people don't like it are sometimes very strange reasons.
I heard that one person left wp because candy crush was not there and only for that app was wp noting for her. She did not even try other games that look like candy crush. After 2 weeks on Android she stopped playing Candy crush and stil does she ned help with here phone were with wp she was doing everything her self.
An other person for Instagram and he sold his wp and was not happy when I showed him 6tag and what it can do.
But most complain because they don't understand the system. For android and ios they look on the internet about how it works but for wp they don't. They even complain about things that are missing wile it is on the phone but because they were not reading or looking for it, it was not there and the phone was bad.
But until now there are more people that switched to wp happy with it and don't want to go back. Still the biggest reason for people not to switch to wp is the amount of apps and in my opinion that is also no good reason. There is no phone that has so much space that you can install all the apps on it. Also when you look to what apps most people use on there phone, than you don't need an android or ios phone.

 

[Jean Sagarese]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

wait just a bit longer than 6 months and wait till it is your phone that doesn't get supported anymore, wait till the apps you want are not there and no sign of them showing up and the apps you do you don't get updates regularly like you see on other platforms. Then ask that? And I have seen it on every forum, the only reason I came to this platform was that the iPhone I had in my hand was straining my eyes. Now that they have everything I want I am headed back in fact I am counting the days I don't see Windows 10 fixing the problem if they don't get the damn apps updated frequently

 

[pwrof3]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

Something to consider when blasting Windows Phone app selection. Go take a look at your iPhone or Android device. Take a look at every single app and try to remember the last time you used it.
There are perhaps three or four that most people use on a daily basis. The rest get used a few times a year. On my iPhone I downloaded tons of apps that I thought I would use (mostly restaurants and fast food) and never even used them.
What apps did I use every day? Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Outlook, Swarm, Foursquare, Yelp. All available on WP (although not as frequently updated).
Apps like my bank and grocery store are handy to have, but I can just as easily load up the mobile site on the phone's web browser for an almost identical experience.
I think the app gap is mostly in our heads that we need to have the latest and amazing app so it can sit on our phone and never be used.
One thing I will concede is that WP lags behind in the game department.

 

[pwrof3]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

To throw in my two cents, I found Android to be the most buggy and slow of all of the phone OSs. Lots of games and apps were just slow as molasses when compared to iPhone and WP. Swarm, Tapped Out, Yelp, Email, camera, photo gallery, Facebook, Twitter ... to name a few

 

[Legoboyii]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

wait just a bit longer than 6 months and wait till it is your phone that doesn't get supported anymore, wait till the apps you want are not there and no sign of them showing up and the apps you do you don't get updates regularly like you see on other platforms. Then ask that? And I have seen it on every forum, the only reason I came to this platform was that the iPhone I had in my hand was straining my eyes. Now that they have everything I want I am headed back in fact I am counting the days I don't see Windows 10 fixing the problem if they don't get the damn apps updated frequently

Its a Lumia 521, wont hurt to just buy a newer phone
In fact I plan to use purchase a Lumia 1520.3 in the coming months.
If you think I will eventually stop liking it you're just oblivious to how I feel about windows phone. I love it and I enjoy the ecosystem, it had its kinks. But there is such a thing as patience, and I have plenty to spare.

 

[WreckITRalph]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

The app gap is killing this phone for me. Banking app.. nope.. Strava app (or any decent fitness tracking site).. nope.. Snapchat.. nope.. decent weather, facebook, podcast app... nope.. everything I want to do (except for news and redit/twitter) is lacking in the app department... Surprisingly thanks to metroTube the only thing I have over my friends with android is a better YouTube experience..

I'll wait it out ill Windows 10.. but if companies don't start taking WP seriously this year and start developing for it then I'll have to go back to android..

 

[Mirakle]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

I don't really mind the apps gap. All apps I need is are there and perform well. Even though they lack in the department of functionalities and are not updated regularly (i.e. I like the official Twitter app lockscreen :t I cannot choose which feed to display and the application cannot display the whole post on the lockscreen).
The worst experience for me on WP8: Here Maps. It sometimes give results that are irrelevant at best.

What bothers me is being in an OS that has somewhat the specifications of a feature phone (ok that's harsh)
- Being among the non-US ATIV S users, we've been left out of the Cortana business (even from preview now), it's nice to have a somewhat "smarter" phone.
- No wareable
- Not a lot of accessories (HR belts, etc.)
- You cannot plug a keyboard (would help a lot to take note in meetings instead of having the need of a laptop)
- When sitting at a computer, from my location, outlook. com is sometimes slow as hell when compared to Google services, and it somewhat is a problem for the whole WP8 experience.

For the moment, I'm not in a hurry, I won't switch and I'm only considering hardware stuff:
I want a Full HD 5' phone with a nice screen, great sound, capable camera, and that has some smart ideas to assist me during the day (hand free usage, smart reminders, compatibility, etc.)
I would have switched before if it weren't for the whole UI and live tiles things...

 

[RevoMikey101]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

I had to nip back and check the follow up to my post. For those wanting more info feel free to trawl through the whole thread. I have given many reasons including random battery draining, poor apps, limited apps and just the os in general.

Sent from my HTC One_M8

 

[tgp]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Outlook, Swarm, Foursquare, Yelp. All available on WP (although not as frequently updated).

They might be there, but they're (mostly) garbage.

 

[chezm]

re: Switching platforms|Thinking of leaving...comment here!

Left for Android in August, WP by any means is not a bad OS but after updating my Lumia 1020 to 8.1 i encountered a ton of issues that forced me to leave WP for a while, consider coming back when W10 is out and tested.

• Battery draining excessive
• A lot of freezing issues, even on start screen with no apps running.
• Many black screens only showing status at top, required reboot
• IE 8.1 not rendering pages properly (may be specific to web devs but nonetheless a problem for me)
• laggy movement (the once fluid super slick navigation of WP8 gone)
• notifications not working 50% of the time
• Tons of missing Apps, or the apps WP has just dont work well

What i miss most about WP is MixRadio, camera and unique design...however using Android for the last many months, i dont miss the tiles as much as i thought i would.