Currently have iPhone 5 32GB, but thinking of switching

[AlexanderMatthews]

So I currently have an iPhone 5 32gb and really don't care for iOS 7. Was thinking about switching back to win8OS. Really love the simplicity of win8OS and when I had carried the Arrive before Sprint got the iphone I really loved how smooth it ran, most of the apps, games, people hub, etc. I'm wanting to get others opinions. I mainly use my iPhone for texting, web, social networking, and most importantly taking pictures. I love taking pictures with it and find it easy to whip it out and snap a photo when I'm not carrying my DSLR. The iPhone 5 camera is fantastic. Was curious if people could post some camera samples from the 8XT? Plus I was watching reviews on the 8XT and people were shocked to see the 8XT lag and stutter when music was playing and the call quality was poor. I'd really love your honest opinions. Also, I don't know why HTC gave sprint a blue phone and nothing else. I'm not particularly sold. I enjoy flat black phones. In my opinion it's just a more classic approach. Thank you all!

 

[alv3st3r]

No offence but its WP8. Don't call it Win8OS. I'd suggest you to try Nokia Lumia WP8 phones. There's a huge difference between HTC and Nokia WP8 phones especially in imaging department. Nokia owns 90% of the WP marketshare. You'll be missing out too much if you go for HTC like Nokia exclusive apps. Just my 2 cents.

 

[jonathanrn]

I think you're in quite a predicament with your requirements and being on Sprint. They only have two phones right now, the 8XT and the Samsung Ativ. The 8XT is a low-end phone. You're not going to find a camera that even comes close to the camera on the iPhone 5. The Samsung phone is better all around (performance, screen size/resolution, memory, etc), but it's camera is still not DSLR quality. You may have to wait until the next round of devices come out on the Sprint network... Anyone else want to chime in?

 

[unstoppablekem]

I'm sorry to say, but the WP8 selections on sprint aren't so good. I mean, the ativ s neo is the best one, but it is just an s3 with windows phone on it. If you really want to get a windows phone that will last you a long time, I suggest switching to another carrier to get a Lumia. The s neo is not bad, just could be better.

 

[jonathanrn]

Sprint doesn't have any Lumia devices at the moment.

 

[alv3st3r]

You're not going to find a camera that even comes close to the camera on the iPhone 5.

You're so wrong here.

 

[ag1986]

You're so wrong here.

I think he meant that the HTC and Ativ, viz. the only WP8 devices on Sprint, don't have a camera that comes close to the iPhone 5.

 

[dorelse]

You're so wrong here.

Since he's looking at an HTC 8XT...its safe to assume he's on Sprint. Which means, the Ativ S Neo, or 8XT...the camera is adequate on both...if you're looking for 8XT photos specifically, I can post some tonight.

I love the phone...the size & functionality is great, its well built.

 

[AlexanderMatthews]

No offence but its WP8. Don't call it Win8OS. I'd suggest you to try Nokia Lumia WP8 phones. There's a huge difference between HTC and Nokia WP8 phones especially in imaging department. Nokia owns 90% of the WP marketshare. You'll be missing out too much if you go for HTC like Nokia exclusive apps. Just my 2 cents.

Haha usually when someone says, "No offense" it's never a good thing. Trust me...I actually would LOVE a Lumia, but AT&T's prices are ridiculously expensive. I don't even want to bother with the Samsung Ativ Neo due to being made of plastic and just feeling cheap. I loathe Samsung products for that reason. Really love the overall build quality of the HTC, but it seems everyone's vote is to stay away due to both being low-end type phones.

 

[dorelse]

Haha usually when someone says, "No offense" it's never a good thing. Trust me...I actually would LOVE a Lumia, but AT&T's prices are ridiculously expensive. I don't even want to bother with the Samsung Ativ Neo due to being made of plastic and just feeling cheap. I loathe Samsung products for that reason. Really love the overall build quality of the HTC, but it seems everyone's vote is to stay away due to both being low-end type phones.

Its a definite mid-ranger.

I came from an HTC One and haven't had one instance of this phone needing more resources to make it run smoothly. The build quality is top notch, and I got the phone for $0.00 as my upgrade, so while it is a mid-ranger, I paid mid-range pricing. In all honesty, if you're a guy who has to have a Top Tier device (and that's cool) then the 8XT isn't it.

That said, we're supposed to get upgrades to 8.1, etc, so I guess time will tell if it was a good decision or not. If you're still curious, pick up a used one on ebay and try it...you could likely resell with very little out of pocket money spent overall.

 

[AlexanderMatthews]

I did find one on Craigslist in my area that they are selling it for 250 OBO....maybe I'll try and do that. That way I can keep my iPhone and be able to switch back if I really wanted to.

 

[alv3st3r]

Haha usually when someone says, "No offense" it's never a good thing.

Had to say "No offense" so that you don't feel like I'm being condescending. I didn't want you to feel bad bout it. Liked your comment for loving Lumia and loathing Samsung for cheap products.

 

[unstoppablekem]

Sprint doesn't have any Lumia devices at the moment.

I meant for him to try and switch carriers to get a lumia.

 

[AlexanderMatthews]

Had to say "No offense" so that you don't feel like I'm being condescending. I didn't want you to feel bad bout it. Liked your comment for loving Lumia and loathing Samsung for cheap products.

Of course! The amount of quality put into Nokia's Lumia line is absolutely amazing where as Samsung just takes plastic pieces and slaps them together. That's one reason why I always loved the iPhone is that it was built with quality and it's OS ran smooth. It just worked. Their update to iOS 7 changed so much that I'm just not digging it.

 

[MFmonster]

You could hop over to Verizon. They have Nokia devices and probably will continue to carry them. Sprint probably not. The four sprint stores in my area don't even carry the WP8 devices in the stores. The local stores have never embraced WP and to this day spread opinion mixed with inaccuracies about the OS and devices.

I understand your feeling about the OS. I own a phone or two on each OS and WP8 is my favorite.

I think the suggestion to buy a device of CL is a good idea since it is affordable and no contract.

 

[ratsttam]

So I currently have an iPhone 5 32gb and really don't care for iOS 7. Was thinking about switching back to win8OS. Really love the simplicity of win8OS and when I had carried the Arrive before Sprint got the iphone I really loved how smooth it ran, most of the apps, games, people hub, etc. I'm wanting to get others opinions. I mainly use my iPhone for texting, web, social networking, and most importantly taking pictures. I love taking pictures with it and find it easy to whip it out and snap a photo when I'm not carrying my DSLR. The iPhone 5 camera is fantastic. Was curious if people could post some camera samples from the 8XT? Plus I was watching reviews on the 8XT and people were shocked to see the 8XT lag and stutter when music was playing and the call quality was poor. I'd really love your honest opinions. Also, I don't know why HTC gave sprint a blue phone and nothing else. I'm not particularly sold. I enjoy flat black phones. In my opinion it's just a more classic approach. Thank you all!

I also prefer just plain black slabs (I have a Galaxy Nexus also). The camera on the 8xt is OK for most purposes. That is a picture of my new daughter taken with my 8XT.
Sprint just (on 10/23) pushed out the GDR3 update, which includes many little bugfixes as well as the new features advertised by Microsoft. Among the fixes is much less lag, and the audio distortion seams to be gone completely (mostly went away with the gdr3 preview, and the official included the htc bug fixes on top of that). Call quality is more the network than the phone, so if you're on sprint, and OK with that, then you'll be OK with the 8xt. My only gripe is the 8gb internal memory. It fills up pretty fast as you add applications (especially if you install "here drive" and download any maps for navigation.) You CAN install an SD card where your phone will keep music and pictures, so that helps a little.

 

[stephenjxn]

I mainly use my iPhone for texting, web, social networking, and most importantly taking pictures...

The 8XT will serve you well in this respect. However the camera is below the standards of the iPhone, it serves as a good basic "snapshot" camera. You already have a DSLR for taking those "great" high quality shots. People want their cell phone nowadays to do much more than their standalone counterparts. I remember when all they really did was make phone calls. The clarity was excellent. Now "call clarity" seems to have taken a back seat to everything else. I suggest that you get what YOU will be comfortable with using. I agree that some phones have a bigger this...a faster that...better apps...better specs. However you should never use a cell phone to have "bragging rights" to a d**k swinging contest. Is the phone capable of doing what you want it to do? Yes, most phone will. Will it save mankind and totally change your life for the better? (meh...) Probably not.

 

[dorelse]

Here are some of the better ones...when it gets is right, its pretty good...but I usually end up taking a few to get a really good one.

 

[grizzlyaddams]

Went from my iPhone 4 to the HTC 8XT, more out of wanting to try Windows Phone 8 and being a gadget enthusiast than actually being dissatisfied with my iPhone. Camera quality seems like your average smartphone shooter to me, but I take issue with the speed of the camera, especially when saving new photos directly to the SD card. Makes it very difficult to get timely photos of my less-than-cooperative children.

With that said, I love my Windows Phone, and even though I used to be down with iOS because of all the high-profile game releases it got, that novelty wore off and I mostly use my smartphone for text, email, web etc. I can put up with WP8 quirks on my device because I am a techie (voicemail notifications DO NOT work, contact syncing for facebook broke recently, among other things) but if you want something more reliable or high-end, the selection on Sprint for WP8 is not great.