Weird 8X vs. HD7 Observations

[Dakow#WP]

I recently upgraded from an HD7 on T-Mobile to an 8X on Verizon. I'm pretty happy. The speed is fantastic and the phone looks and feels great. That said, there are some weird characteristics from in going from WP7.5 to WP8.

1. Cannot play .WAV files? We use Cisco Unity connection for our corporate VM system. On my HD7 I could listen to VMs on my device without a problem. Now I get a pop up saying "Sorry we cannot play this file on your phone." Did they remove support for that codec?

2. The volume levels seem to be all over the place for various applications / system sounds. When I plug in earbuds to listen to music I have to keep the phone near 3/30 or 4/30 to avoid listening to music too loud. (This was 10-15/30 on the HD7) But typing on the keyboard and getting the nice auditory feedback I need the phone around 15/30. (This was about 10/30 on the HD7). And even worse, when connected to Bluetooth in my car, the text message prompts are almost inaudible regardless of volume. On the HD7 this was always a bit low, but it was always useable. Is anyone else having an issue with terribly inconsistent audio levels? Is there anything I can do?

3. It's nice that the Facebook App 'fast resumes' from the Start Screen, but it doesn't then autorefresh. I find the notifications and updates are always off and require a manual refresh.

4. There will be an 'audio pop' sometimes when I unlock my phone. Its just strange, but not a problem.

 

[Dakow#WP]

Also, the keyboard autocorrect feels significantly slower in WP8 than WP7.5. I often type a word, know I misspelled it and am waiting for the bar to populate.

 

[steve_w_7]

I recently upgraded from an HD7 on T-Mobile to an 8X on Verizon. I'm pretty happy. The speed is fantastic and the phone looks and feels great. That said, there are some weird characteristics from in going from WP7.5 to WP8.

Sorry this is off topic, but I have a question for you if you don't mind:

I've currently got the HD7 on T-mobile. My contract is up on Dec 15th and I've been going back and forth on whether I should upgrade to the L810 or the 8X.

I've held both in my hand and I like everything about the 8X except for the aspect ratio of the screen. As you know, even though it's the same (4.3 inches) diagonally, It's much narrower than the HD7 screen. I feel like it would be harder to type and things just look smaller to me.

Did you have a problem with that when you switched? Did it take a while to get used to the smaller screen or was that much of an issue for you at all? I would be curious to hear from someone who came from the HD7.

Thanks!

 

[Dakow#WP]

Steve, no worries at all. I think other than looking a bit weird, it only took a bit of getting used to. I cannot say enough great things about the screen resolution and quality. I've not seen an L810 in person, but to me, after having the HD screen, the old screen res is just totally a non starter. You get a lot more on a screen, the text is significantly crisper, and I find the overall quality to be great.

On the keyboard itself, I had found on the HD7 I was constantly hitting the space instead of an n. I don't do that anymore, but I do occasionally hit the emoticon button, which I never used to do. Honestly, I've not found a big adjustment at all and highly recommend the upgrade.

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

if im not mistaken what you are witnessing is preemptive text....the phone is learning how you text...what words you use....you can cut that off

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

yea I was too.....the x aspect is 16:9....the hd7 was not....so that makes it narrower....haven't u noticed most video that u play doesn't require u too expand like it did on ur hd7?

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

1. yes they did
2. windows phone 8 has separate volumes, but there isn't a way to manually change it without being in those situations where you changed the volume level (listening to headphone or not)
3. This is facebooks end...they are having problems with their servers? when it comes to wp8...yea right
4. I get that too with mine...Microsoft has said to include in a future update to fix some audio issues

 

[jwballing]

I am also a HD7 to 8X Convert. I love the phone. At first it took me a little bit to get use to typing on it. But I feel that would be with any new phone. Somethings I was caught off guard about were no FM radio, Bing maps does not have voice turn by turn, and the new sync system.

 

[mikejets89]

Went from hd7 to 920 hd7 went threw **** and never broke in those 2 years span

 

[shinygerbil]

Autocorrect now takes longer to populate because it is looking for words based on the previous two words you've typed. If you look, after you tap a word in the bar you'll see a list of suggestions for the next word. This list changes as you type - but because it's doing a lot more work it takes a while. Once you get used to it it's awesome.

I don't have any issues with volume - pretty much exactly the same levels as my HD7.

 

[LinT]

I also went from the HD7 to 8x. I notice the same volume inconsistencies, especially with it reading text messages in the car. I love the phone and dont even notice the funky aspect ratio.

 

[hipporama]

The volume getting louder when ear phones are plugged in is probably because of the dedicated amp for the headphone jack. I maybe wrong though.
Sent from my {Lumia 800} using Board Express

 

[juanitoriv]

Steve, no worries at all. I think other than looking a bit weird, it only took a bit of getting used to. I cannot say enough great things about the screen resolution and quality. I've not seen an L810 in person, but to me, after having the HD screen, the old screen res is just totally a non starter. You get a lot more on a screen, the text is significantly crisper, and I find the overall quality to be great.On the keyboard itself, I had found on the HD7 I was constantly hitting the space instead of an n. I don't do that anymore, but I do occasionally hit the emoticon button, which I never used to do. Honestly, I've not found a big adjustment at all and highly recommend the upgrade.

The 810 comes nowhere near the 8X in my opinion. Saw one Sunday. Whereas the 8X is Wowee!! The 810 seems just run of the mill.

 

[Cern McAtee]

I'm also an HD7 to 8X convert. I love the new phone, but the narrower form factor did take some getting used to. I have small hands, but even with the HD7 I was always hitting space instead of N, as someone else mentioned. I'm still doing it on the 8X, but it may just be I'm too lazy to adjust my typing style. *shrug* Overall, I love the phone, and things like lack of turn-based navigation and radio are just minor annoyances for me, not deal breakers.

 

[JAMES JIRON]

I upgraded from the HD7 and my biggest complaint about the 8X has more to do with XBOX Music. Zune with the HD7 was a breeze and XBOX Music needs serious upgrading for ease of use/syncing.

 

[Marcos Hidalgo]

I too upgraded from an HD7. Phone felt weird at first but nothing bad, have had it for about a week, now the HD7 feels and looks weird to me. I do not like that there's no turn by turn navigation now. My by far I do not like how syncing is now. I really enjoyed Zune, and it was easy to add and remove things from the phone, now things just get messy. Also my data speeds haven't changed using T-Mobile, Wi-Fi it's a big difference.