A little background here...
I have always been a huge fan of windows phone, and have been excited about the platform ever since engadget released their very first preview of WP7 years ago. I owned the Samsung Focus, then the Focus S, and now currently the Nokia 920. I've literally never owned an iphone. Before windows phone I had one of the old windows mobile devices.
Unfortunately, I am now in an interesting situation. Even though the 920 is a tank, a have dropped my phone possibly hundreds of times. I've finally managed to do some permanent damage to my phone, as it now randomly will not receive group texts. Literally, for every ten group texts I get, it doesn't receive 3 or 4. And this is a major problem for me considering a majority of the texting I do is through group (MMS). I have an upgrade available and need to get a new phone within the next month or so-I can't wait for a new round of devices or software updates to get a replacement. This leaves me with two real choices: The Nokia 925 or the new iPhone 5S.
Now a year ago, I never would had even considered getting an iphone over my beloved windows phone. However, some of the big advantages that windows phone once had (in my eyes, of course) now seem to be nonexistent. To explain, I always stuck with windows phone when I used upgrades for three main reasons:
1. Xbox Music: I had the Zune HD, and loved the music subscription service. I was always aware of Spotify, but the fact that you couldn't download music for offline play was a deal breaker.
2. Big screen: I loved that windows phone had screens that were 4 inches and larger. I could never imagine going back to the iphone's tiny 3.7" screen.
3. Camera: The camera on my 920 has been amazing. The phone always took ridiculously better photos in the dark than any of my friends' iphones, and anytime I showed someone a video I recorded I would get a comment on how amazing the picture quality was.
Now I feel that those 3 things that I once viewed as exclusive to windows phone are now available on iphone too. Spotify has playlists available for download, granted it isn't a native app. Apple has bumped their screen up to 4 inches and has the beautiful retina display. And the recent WPcentral camera comparison article seems to put the 925 and 5S on equal footing.
As I try and decide which phone I'm going to get, I can't help but think about the everyday conveniences I take for granted on my windows phone that I'll miss. I'm going to go ahead and mention a few that come to mind, and I encourage anyone else to contribute to the little things on windows phone that we may take for granted that make our lives a little easier.
Integration
The integration on windows phone is beautiful. A perfect example is pressing the bing button and using it to look up the name of the song that's currently playing. Then with the press of a single button, you can immediately download that song on xbox music. Sure, iphone has apps that accomplish that too, like spotify and shazam, but that little piece of native integration just makes things a little easier and quicker.
Office on a phone
The convenience of being able to receive attached word/excel documents in an email, download and edit them, and then save to skydrive truly makes my life a whole lot easier. To my knowledge, it isn't possible to open and edit office documents on the iOS7, and this is something that I will truly miss. It may even be a deal breaker for me.
Instant Search
Although bing is sometimes spotty on results, it is super convenient to quickly make a web search just by tapping a physical button.
Nokia Apps
Granted, this only applies to Nokia phones, but I am going to greatly miss Nokia Maps. I'm not aware of how functional the maps on ios are now, but it was so easy to google a local business, and quickly open up the awesome Nokia drive app with one press.
Microsoft Services
After using windows phone for something like 3 years now, several of microsof's services are ingrained into my everyday life. Skydrive, xbox music, xbox games, and onenote are all services I use on a daily basis, and their integration onto windows computers is simple and intuitive, although microsoft has recently started to provide some of these services like skydrive as apps on other platforms. I actually feel strongly that this was a major mistake by microsoft. These services are what make the windows phone experience really unique and so much better. To share them with other platforms destroys the advantage.
That's just my 2 cents. Feel free to comment, disagree, and contribute.
I have always been a huge fan of windows phone, and have been excited about the platform ever since engadget released their very first preview of WP7 years ago. I owned the Samsung Focus, then the Focus S, and now currently the Nokia 920. I've literally never owned an iphone. Before windows phone I had one of the old windows mobile devices.
Unfortunately, I am now in an interesting situation. Even though the 920 is a tank, a have dropped my phone possibly hundreds of times. I've finally managed to do some permanent damage to my phone, as it now randomly will not receive group texts. Literally, for every ten group texts I get, it doesn't receive 3 or 4. And this is a major problem for me considering a majority of the texting I do is through group (MMS). I have an upgrade available and need to get a new phone within the next month or so-I can't wait for a new round of devices or software updates to get a replacement. This leaves me with two real choices: The Nokia 925 or the new iPhone 5S.
Now a year ago, I never would had even considered getting an iphone over my beloved windows phone. However, some of the big advantages that windows phone once had (in my eyes, of course) now seem to be nonexistent. To explain, I always stuck with windows phone when I used upgrades for three main reasons:
1. Xbox Music: I had the Zune HD, and loved the music subscription service. I was always aware of Spotify, but the fact that you couldn't download music for offline play was a deal breaker.
2. Big screen: I loved that windows phone had screens that were 4 inches and larger. I could never imagine going back to the iphone's tiny 3.7" screen.
3. Camera: The camera on my 920 has been amazing. The phone always took ridiculously better photos in the dark than any of my friends' iphones, and anytime I showed someone a video I recorded I would get a comment on how amazing the picture quality was.
Now I feel that those 3 things that I once viewed as exclusive to windows phone are now available on iphone too. Spotify has playlists available for download, granted it isn't a native app. Apple has bumped their screen up to 4 inches and has the beautiful retina display. And the recent WPcentral camera comparison article seems to put the 925 and 5S on equal footing.
As I try and decide which phone I'm going to get, I can't help but think about the everyday conveniences I take for granted on my windows phone that I'll miss. I'm going to go ahead and mention a few that come to mind, and I encourage anyone else to contribute to the little things on windows phone that we may take for granted that make our lives a little easier.
Integration
The integration on windows phone is beautiful. A perfect example is pressing the bing button and using it to look up the name of the song that's currently playing. Then with the press of a single button, you can immediately download that song on xbox music. Sure, iphone has apps that accomplish that too, like spotify and shazam, but that little piece of native integration just makes things a little easier and quicker.
Office on a phone
The convenience of being able to receive attached word/excel documents in an email, download and edit them, and then save to skydrive truly makes my life a whole lot easier. To my knowledge, it isn't possible to open and edit office documents on the iOS7, and this is something that I will truly miss. It may even be a deal breaker for me.
Instant Search
Although bing is sometimes spotty on results, it is super convenient to quickly make a web search just by tapping a physical button.
Nokia Apps
Granted, this only applies to Nokia phones, but I am going to greatly miss Nokia Maps. I'm not aware of how functional the maps on ios are now, but it was so easy to google a local business, and quickly open up the awesome Nokia drive app with one press.
Microsoft Services
After using windows phone for something like 3 years now, several of microsof's services are ingrained into my everyday life. Skydrive, xbox music, xbox games, and onenote are all services I use on a daily basis, and their integration onto windows computers is simple and intuitive, although microsoft has recently started to provide some of these services like skydrive as apps on other platforms. I actually feel strongly that this was a major mistake by microsoft. These services are what make the windows phone experience really unique and so much better. To share them with other platforms destroys the advantage.
That's just my 2 cents. Feel free to comment, disagree, and contribute.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram