Isn't the HTC 8X the best WP8 device afterall?

[DungMasterFang]

Ha yeah in your tiny mind it might be.

Exactly that was my opinion straight from my "tiny mind". People weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the cameras differently. The audio quality of those videos are facts, they aren't up for debate. Unless you have some weird fetish for metallic unnatural sounds. If you do, I can respect that.

 

[vlad0]

Just read the GSMarena review.. very nice as usual.

I thought the 8X recorded sound in stereo since it has two mics, but I guess its the same as the 920.. mono, despite that both phones have the sufficient hardware to record in stereo. I guess its a Windows Phone 8 limitation..for now.

 

[baseballbert]

How about this, should work:
Buy a 920 if it helps you get the max experience out WP8.

Buy the HTC 8X if it helps you get the max experience out of WP8.

Super simple really.

Oh man, I can only imagine what the 940 and 9X (or whatever they call them) vs Surface phone posts will be like next year!

HONESTLY YOU KNUCKLEHEADS, WP8 is about to punch iOS and Android in the face for the first time. Not a knockout blow by any stretch, but enough to leave a bruise they won't forget.

GET EXCITED ABOUT THAT!

Or, continue to drill into each other and make the wpcentral forums iSheep-Esque and dumb. Your call!

 

[MaulerX]

To me, both phones are great in their own right. If I could, I would be a pimp and buy both.

But I'm going for the 920 (seriously, that AT&T price will make a ton feel like a feather). People might think of wireless charging as a gimmick, but fact is that it works. My main reason for wanting this feature is to cut on wear and tear of the USB port. My original Focus and my wife's Focus S both had the USB port stop working. Couldn't sync anything to PC. So for me wireless charging is a real feature that I can't wait to have.

And the 920's camera if phenomenal. It's proven to be the best at low light shots and at taking video. Whatever issues there might be with day time shots can be corrected manually in settings (as Engadget said in their review) and Nokia already promised to fix that issue with an update. So I'm thrilled to have this camera.

Also, I work outside where it can get real cold in the winter. Being able to use with gloves is a welcome plus and the added weight is actually a positive when using gloves. You want to feel like the phone is there.

I also want to point out that this "bickering" amongst WP users is actually a positive sign for the success of WP. It means that WP is all grown up and now we can get phones to each of our likings based on what we think is best for each of us.

 

[Smg-Uk]

HONESTLY YOU KNUCKLEHEADS

Thank you for calling me a knucklehead i will admit i have been one but no more from now on.

 

[hcoreyh]

Has anyone seen photos from the 8x? It washes out colours horribly and sucks. I don't agree that the iphone 5 has a better camera. It over saturates colours. It also has an overly red hue especially in low light. The 920 in lowlight is slightly green and it sucks with pink in good lighting. If they fix their pink issue I'll be happy with it and I don't think anyone could claim it isn't the best hands down. Unless you like unrealistically colourful over saturated photos.

 

[Winterfang]

Oh man, I can only imagine what the 940 and 9X (or whatever they call them) vs Surface phone posts will be like next year!

If Nokia is even around next year, sure.

 

[berty6294]

I find it hard to believe the number 1 phone manufacturer in the world is gonna die in a year

 

[Reflexx]

I find it hard to believe the number 1 phone manufacturer in the world is gonna die in a year

It's easy if you stop being rational.

It's fun!

 

[zephyrwala]

Lumia 920 FTW

 

[ajua]

Having read all this thread made think about many of the posts arguing about the best. Let me tell you something, the best for one guy doesn't mean it should be the best for another.

Let's try and keep the comparisons and arguments about features honest, not attempts at what we think it's best.

Everyone, choose the one you like the most, and stick with it. Let's compare the 8X and 920 but please, stop the nonsense.

BTW, I choose the 8X because of the size and ergonomics. The Lumia 920 is still a great phone and the end of the day, but wasn't for me I guess. Just my two cents.

 

[cckgz4]

Price point: Nokia

Long term app support: Nokia

Customer support: Nokia

So I'll wait and see what Nokia brings for the next gen

 

[Duvi]

The phone you choose is the best!

For me... it'll probably be the 920. My reasons go behind Nokia being Nokia. It's about how HTC continues to disappoint and fail me. And I continue to give them a shot and time after time, HTC lets me down. The hardware has always looked good, but didn't perform well. Even when I was a tech, we had replacement parts after replacement parts for HTC devices. Camera, speakers, earpieces, LCD screen, etc.!

The Titan failed me. The EVO LTE failed me. The EVO 3D failed me.

On the other side... The screen will be a big plus in the winter. The camera as I party a lot and love taking pictures/videos when there isn't the best lighting. All the app exclusives.

 

[TaliZorah]

Don't need nav.
Don't need a camera that is marginally better in low-light but just as good as every other phone outdoors.
I am on Verizon.
<3 WP8 so far.

HTC 8X here I come!

 

[shinygerbil]

I went with the 8X and I'm loving it so far.

I was dead set on getting a Lumia 920 ever since they were announced - and especially after hearing about all the awesome features (wireless charging, sensitive screen etc) that were seemingly only available on the 920. I couldn't wait to get a nice, stylish, hot red phone that would blow every other smartphone out of the water.

Then the launch came around. EE exclusive? Well I guess 4G would be unnecessary but nice. Oh, but it's a bit on the pricey side. Can't really afford it, but I'll make the stretch. Popped into my local EE stores and received excuses from staff that it was coming "tomorrow" (they used that excuse for almost a whole week.) Popped into Phones4U, where they tried to sell me a Galaxy S3 instead (lol) and I just happened to spy an 8X on display. My jaw dropped just a little, especially after having seen a plastic dummy 920. Very nice, I thought. Really looks stylish. I can see why the guys at Microsoft don't want it to feel left out compared to the flagship 920.

BUT...does it have all those cool features? No. I'll pass and wait for the 920. That blue looks hot though.

Fast forward a few days and I was doing some thinking. Am I really missing out by not getting a 920? Sure, I'll have to keep using fingerless gloves. Sure, I can't spend 15 minutes trying to educate iPhone users about camera specs which they won't understand, using boring technical terms, then take a photo which is marginally better than theirs although not much. Sure I won't get Words with Friends on release date. But I *could* get the WP8 ecosystem. I *could* get an equally stylish phone. I *could* get a phone with a reasonable price tag. I *could* get a phone which was actually released on its announced release date.

My main beef with the 8X (which persists to this day) is the aspect ratio. Sure, 16:9 is closer to that film-style aspect ratio we all know and love, but it looks a little too skinny. Maybe this is nearly 2 years of HD7 usage talking, but I really thought the WP7 aspect ratio was perfect; films had black borders, yes, but I use my phone for displaying other types of information *much* more often than I watch films. And the films will still not look perfect. (Trust me, as a cinema projectionist for the last 5 years, it's 1.85:1, 2.39:1 or nothing. )

I also simply don't like to see this kind of fragmentation, however minor. You can just tell that someone somewhere is going to be losing out when apps or games take better advantage of one ratio or another. It's a pointless difference.

Still slightly hung up on the 920, I went round the EE stores one more time. They'd magically changed their tune from "tomorrow, maybe even THIS AFTERNOON" to "within the next few weeks." One guy said, "yeah, it's actually out, but no stores have received any deliveries and we don't know when we will."

So I walked into my local o2 shop and said, "Hey, I'm due for an upgrade..."

 

[tristan.rice]

I certainly agree with your last sentence, but I find your rationalization of the 8X choice to be curious.

I go to the gym and use treadmills and such as well. I previously had an HTC Arrive which was the EXACT same weight of the Lumia 920. Having it "bounce around" wasn't a problem because I either wore baggy shorts with thick, loose pockets OR I simply put it in one of the exercise machine shelves/cupholders/whatever have you to sit while I worked out. I wouldn't put ANY phone in my shorts if I were wearing tighter, form-fitting ones.

Plenty of people at my gym use iPhones or iPods in Otterbox or other "heavy" cases. It's never been a problem from what I can see.

I don't get the 'built-in amp" being an advantage either. The effective range on any modern smartphone's audio is more than enough for pretty much any decent pair of headphones. Making it louder doesn't make the music "sound better", but the high-frequency fatigue your ears will experience will most certainly be worse. You're just asking for the onset of tinnitus however many months down the road. Once you get it, there's no getting rid of that low frequency ringing.

This isn't to big up the Lumia 920 and to belittle the 8X. There are certainly use case scenarios where each excels. I just happened to find these two "reasons" a little odd id all.

Hopefully I can clarify my rationalisation for you.

The weight issue at the gym is really only a concern for when I am running on the treadmill. I usually wear shorts which are spacious enough that the phone can bounce around at higher speeds. So if I'm pacing below 10kmph it isn't an issue, but 12-15kmph speeds the phone bounces around a lot. With a heavier device this isn't very comfortable at all. With a 920 I expect that it could be an issue even at 10kmph, although that is mostly speculation on my part at this time.

I don't like leaving my phone external on the machines. You never know what can happen if you stumble or such (never happened to me but I've seen it, and I've been injury prone the last 6 months so it could happen). The cupholders in my gym are also holed at the bottom so the phone would probably slip through.

So my first point is one of personal comfort and convenience. It's largely subjective and something that applies on a person by person basis. My experience won't be everyones.


The amp however is an objective advantage I believe the 8X has over the Lumia 920. You're very correct in saying that the effective range of most modern smartphone audio chips are good enough for most headphones. Amps however are not about range. To quote someone from Head-fi:

"An amp doesn't amplify the sound waves. It provides current and voltage to the driver.

A headphone driver has a voicecoil attached to a cone. (I'll just go into dynamic drivers here.) The voicecoil is a coil of thin copper wire. There's also a magnet behind the voicecoil. When you pass the signal through the voicecoil, you have to have sufficient power for the voicecoil to move the cone back and forth against the magnet.

If you don't have enough power, the cone's movement is weak or sloppy. Think about trying to go up a big hill on a bicycle compared to going up the hill on a car. The more power you have, the faster you can get to the top."

It doesn't relate to the volume that you listen to either. Amps can still help increase audio clarity for headphones at any volume range. Using amps doesn't directly increase your chances of tinnitus. Listening at high volume on bad headphones for too long, will.

More on headphone impedence: Headphone Impedance - Head-Fi.org Community

Anyway, I appreciate your response. Hopefully I've been able to clarify my reasoning.

 

[Reeves]

Much appreciated. Enjoy the 8X, my friend.

 

[socialcarpet]

If Nokia is even around next year, sure.

If Nokia is not around then the future of Windows Phone is in jeopardy. Relying only on OEMs who are 99% invested in Android is an untenable position. They will never put in the 1/10 effort to innovate or promote the Windows Phone brand that Nokia does. Without Nokia's designs to imitate, all we'll get are more boring gray and black Android retreads like we have always gotten.

If you want to see Windows Phone thrive, you'd better hope Nokia sticks around, even if you don't like their phones.

 

[tristan.rice]

Much appreciated. Enjoy the 8X, my friend.

Thank you!

It just arrived about an hour ago. Charging it now. Though now I have an unbearable wait until Friday. I'm on a business trip until tomorrow evening, and so I have to wait before moving the sim and updating my live email to an outlook email...

I definitely see what people were saying though. It feels fantastic! :happy:

 

[Reeves]

If Nokia is not around then the future of Windows Phone is in jeopardy. Relying only on OEMs who are 99% invested in Android is an untenable position. They will never put in the 1/10 effort to innovate or promote the Windows Phone brand that Nokia does. Without Nokia's designs to imitate, all we'll get are more boring gray and black Android retreads like we have always gotten.

If you want to see Windows Phone thrive, you'd better hope Nokia sticks around, even if you don't like their phones.

True, true, true. The 8X and 8S were directly inspired by Nokia's Lumia range.

Nokia is also the only OEM trying to innovate with hardware. For the most part, the 8X and the Ativ S are - as expected - rehashes of the hardware they launched in their Android flagships six months ago. In terms of "differentiated apps" we appear to have an HTC Clock/Weather hub and Call blocking on the Ativ S.

If Nokia fails, and the two major manufacturers are just churning out 6-month old Android rebrands with no major customization, this platform is finished.

I look forward to Microsoft and a Surface phone, but I doubt they'll make huge inroads with wide availability across US carriers.