Want to Switch from Iphone

[Summer_Moon]

Right now apps on phones are like programs on a computer. Sure every phone comes with a web browser, personal assistant, camera, calculator, etc, but apps do add to what you can do. Like I decided that I want to try to learn how to solve the rubik's cube really fast (speed cubing--look it up, it is awesome). There are surely a lot of websites and youtube videos available to learn the algorithms, but there are apps that will let you take a picture of the rubik's cube, and it will tell you what moves to make to solve it most quickly...let's you see what you were going to do wrong so you can learn from your mistake. In short, I think it is wrong to discount apps. Apps have come a long way from TalkingTomCat and the light saber/gun apps. Those were toys. Apps are pretty awesome now.

Regarding your last paragraph, I look at it more like what is the overall best decision for me to make in supporting any purchase I make. I mean it can work both ways. If there are apps that make a person's life easier on only one brand of phone, that is strong incentive to switch to that brand. Likewise if there are a lot of apps that are slightly better on another brand, that is also incentive to use that particular brand of phone. For whatever reason, the phone with the most support from developers is iPhone, followed in close second by Android, and in distant third by Windows. Like you said, if you never used any of these apps, you never know what you are missing and can be content. Happiness is all relative anyway. People were just as happy before smart phones made our lives easier.

LOL, you enjoy the speed cubing as well Although I just looked up youtube videos mostly and websites. I actually didn't know there was an app that could do what you described. I may have to steal my friends phone to try it out (I assume it's not on Windows Mobile).

You are absolutely correct, happiness is all relative. You use what you enjoy and I have no problem with that. Show me something cool your phone can do and I'm all ears. I enjoy tech and how far we have come in making our lives easier. Apps certainly should not be discounted at this stage, but at some point it may no longer matter. How long that will be, idk but I do know that I am excited to see what the future will bring.

For anyone looking into a Windows Phone, do the research first! Understand what you are getting into. I advocate this very heavily. You will miss out on some things. You have to decide whether it is worth it to you. You can gather all the data and opinions in the world, but once it comes down to it, you make the decision. No one else.

 

[cracgor]

LOL, you enjoy the speed cubing as well Although I just looked up youtube videos mostly and websites. I actually didn't know there was an app that could do what you described. I may have to steal my friends phone to try it out (I assume it's not on Windows Mobile).

You are absolutely correct, happiness is all relative. You use what you enjoy and I have no problem with that. Show me something cool your phone can do and I'm all ears. I enjoy tech and how far we have come in making our lives easier. Apps certainly should not be discounted at this stage, but at some point it may no longer matter. How long that will be, idk but I do know that I am excited to see what the future will bring.

For anyone looking into a Windows Phone, do the research first! Understand what you are getting into. I advocate this very heavily. You will miss out on some things. You have to decide whether it is worth it to you. You can gather all the data and opinions in the world, but once it comes down to it, you make the decision. No one else.

Also good is that Microsoft store (and others) will let you return devices up to a month later. So if you want to just try it out, then buy it and return it. I'm interested to see if anyone can do this for a year or two with the same device. Buy L950, Buy second L950, return second phone on the first receipt...repeat this over and over, and you don't even have to reset your phone. Then in a year or two when another phone you want comes out, buy it and return your first phone. You are always out your original purchase cost, but you can also earn back money if the price goes down or they have a two for one sale.

 

[Jason Rosenthal]

The big feature for Windows 10 and the 950XL is continuum. If you don't care about that then go for a richer looking phone like the Icon/930. The advantage there is that you can try out Windows Phone 8.1 and later switch to Windows 10 mobile minus continuum it you want. Windows phone 8.1 has the most unique experience and what I consider Microsoft's best effort. Where 10 is an effort to make it more familiar to android users and make a push for their Office 365 and other cloud services.

For me, the best feature is the people hub combined with live tiles in 8.1 but not 10. I don't check my phone every minute. But when I do, I can configure it to filter out and prioritize incoming e-mails and messages at the start screen. For I example, I pin my wife's contact to the start screen and at a glance I can see if she her last Facebook post, her last text, any missed calls, etc. on the live tile. I don't have to open any app to see if something important has come in. You could also group people into live tile and see what going on with them as well. The other platforms including 10 group notifications by type, rather than by person. You can see that you have texts or e-mails, but you can't tell if they came from someone important. It is just not as efficient for getting stuff done.

I've tried to switch to iPhone, but was too frustrated with the keyboard's auto replace feature and the lack of back button. I wasn't able connect Siri to my car's uconnect system to send and receive texts. Windows adds Cortana to your contacts list, so you just use your cars system to call Cortana first to perform voice commands. Chances are there will be so much change going on from iPhone to Windows that it is not going to be an easy switch. If you liked using FaceTime, then that's your first hurdle.

In a way, it might be good not to know what you may be missing. If you get too use to the word flow keyboard, you may throw your iPhone in rage going back. I wonder if you can use word flow to cheat at hangman type games?

 

[Witness]

Let me start by saying that I have had almost every phone out there. It is a hobby and I love them all for one reason or another. My Daily Driver is an Iphone 6S+ and I have no problem with it. I want to make the switch to the 950XL. I want it for a few reasons, one being it is not the same freaking phone as everyone else in the world. It seem that everyone has an iPhone or a Galaxy.

I am looking for inspiration to make the move. Give me some reasons to switch. What is better about the 950XL over the Iphone 6s+???

Thanks

Want something different? This will be different. You like playing with stuff like I do. I love WM, but you'll need to know that the availability of apps may frustrate you. The interface is fantastic as is the live tiles. You'll have to think about how best to utilize Continuum in your situation and you may find it quite helpful. All in all, I can pretty much run my entire day with the 950XL. I am missing some of the apps from iOS such as DJI's app, Simpsons Tapped, couple financial apps, iMovie and a couple others. The quality of apps on iOS is better than Android and significantly better than WM such as Facebook and Yelp. You'll get by. Be forewarned, when you end up going back to the other OS as we all like to move around, iOS/Android interface is going to look and feel like garbage.

 

[RobertP1]

I have decided to take a test run with the Alcatel Fierce with Windows 10. It was short money and it will give me time to see how I like it. I will keep my expectations low, I know it isn't a Flagship. I am starting to think that I don't need a Flagship. I make calls, text,email, snap some pictures and do a little basic web browsing, GPS navigation... Nothing overly heavy.. Most smartphones can handle all of that. I am trying to not be so App dependant. This will be a good test.

 

[Summer_Moon]

I have decided to take a test run with the Alcatel Fierce with Windows 10. It was short money and it will give me time to see how I like it. I will keep my expectations low, I know it isn't a Flagship. I am starting to think that I don't need a Flagship. I make calls, text,email, snap some pictures and do a little basic web browsing, GPS navigation... Nothing overly heavy.. Most smartphones can handle all of that. I am trying to not be so App dependant. This will be a good test.

Let us know how it goes, I am curious what your opinion will be after doing your test run.

 

[rockstarzzz]

I think one compelling enough reason for you should be - you are Windows 10 and Surface User. That is the audience that Microsoft has made 950 XL for. Hardware wise it brings nothing extraordinary that an iPhone or Galaxy doesn't have. Software wise it is on par with other OSs, better at some, worse at other tasks. App wise, we know the story.

Why would anyone buy it? Because Windows 10.

 

[TK2011]

950XL will get you:
- Probably the best phone camera you can buy at the moment. Definitely better than iPhones, IMO.
- Best home screen UI. Clean and functional with live tiles.
- Something different from iOS and Android!
- Good integration with Windows/Office/OneDrive

You will lose:
- App selections
- W10M is still a work in progress. While it's gotten good enough for daily use lately, many users still run into various small bugs.

 

[FearL0rd]

Let me start by saying that I have had almost every phone out there. It is a hobby and I love them all for one reason or another. My Daily Driver is an Iphone 6S+ and I have no problem with it. I want to make the switch to the 950XL. I want it for a few reasons, one being it is not the same freaking phone as everyone else in the world. It seem that everyone has an iPhone or a Galaxy.

I am looking for inspiration to make the move. Give me some reasons to switch. What is better about the 950XL over the Iphone 6s+???

Thanks

it you like to use 1st party apps. I don't recommend move right now

 

[cracgor]

950XL will get you:
- Probably the best phone camera you can buy at the moment. Definitely better than iPhones, IMO.
- Best home screen UI. Clean and functional with live tiles.
- Something different from iOS and Android!
- Good integration with Windows/Office/OneDrive

You will lose:
- App selections
- W10M is still a work in progress. While it's gotten good enough for daily use lately, many users still run into various small bugs.

I think about it more like this (1 = Best, 2 = Middle, 3 = Worst):

iPhone Android Windows
Simplest Home Screen 1 2 2
Easiest to Use 1 3 3 (just because no one know it well enough)
Most Info on Home 3 1 2
Notification Center 2 1 2
Personal Assistant 3 1 1
Apps Available 1 2 3
App Quality 1 1.5 3
Stability 1 2 3 (used to be 1, but not since 10)
Security 1 3* 1?
*Nexus probably has a 1 or 2 for security, and security may be better if you have security software on your phone.

Camera: Depends on model. iPhone is more than useable, but others have better cameras. The 950 does not necessarily have the best camera available. It is one of the best cameras.

Unique: All are unique in their own ways. Apple gets a lot of crap for this, but the only reason it is not unique is because it is so successfull. If Windows Phone was the number one OS, iOS would be unique. Android may get a lot of flack for being a clone of iOS, but it invented a lot of common features like notification center/fingerprint scanners, and has unique hardware features like IR blasters or custom video controls because of hardware competition.

Integration with other software like office, onedrive, skype, etc is the same on Android at least. If anything Windows Phone has the least integration with nonMS software. Its just n

 

[PGrey]

A couple more potential losses (on my carrier, or any US carrier anyway), are:
- WiFi calling
- VoLTE

Currently, no US carrier, at least that I can find, supports these on unbranded phones, except those with iOS.
TMobile supports a few unbranded Android phones, but nix on the Windows phones, and their coverage is terrible in my state anyway.
I gripe regularly on the AT&T forums, as do others, about this issue.
As long as you keep your iPhone though, you can always just switch SIMS if you need to make a WiFi call (I don't view VoLTE as quite the deal-breaker, although I get why they're "married").

 

[Blacklizted]

Not sure with the Alcatel. I know they have good bundles but the camera on the 950XL is superb.

 

[PGrey]

Not sure with the Alcatel. I know they have good bundles but the camera on the 950XL is superb.

Yeah, not to mention the screen on the 950/XL, it's almost double the density of the Alcatel...

 

[RobertP1]

Let us know how it goes, I am curious what your opinion will be after doing your test run.

I have the phone and it seems well built. The screen is nice and the size is perfect. Set-up was a breeze. To early to comment on battery and camera. The App situation is comical. I don't want to be overly dependent on Apps, but this is ridiculous.. I am going to spend some time today searching deeper into finding alternatives.

Call quality seems very good. It is a nice piece of hardware and the live tiles are beautiful. It is a good phone. Let me see if I can overcome the app gap.

 

[cracgor]

I have the phone and it seems well built. The screen is nice and the size is perfect. Set-up was a breeze. To early to comment on battery and camera. The App situation is comical. I don't want to be overly dependent on Apps, but this is ridiculous.. I am going to spend some time today searching deeper into finding alternatives.

Call quality seems very good. It is a nice piece of hardware and the live tiles are beautiful. It is a good phone. Let me see if I can overcome the app gap.

The app gap is annoying. Like if you install the Moes app on your phone you get a free burrito (happened to see this while waiting in line with a group). Everyone just installed the app, scanned the code, and got a burrito. Problem is it doesn't exist on Windows Phone. Big missing apps always get the focus, but its these little things I find most annoying.

 

[Summer_Moon]

The App situation is comical. I don't want to be overly dependent on Apps, but this is ridiculous.. I am going to spend some time today searching deeper into finding alternatives.

This is very true, especially if you are used to being able to find any app you want. Most times I tend not to really worry about it too much, but it does get annoying. The app gap is real and for some people it can be a deal breaker, but at least you are giving it a shot! Out of curiosity which apps are you trying to find?

 

[RobertP1]

This is very true, especially if you are used to being able to find any app you want. Most times I tend not to really worry about it too much, but it does get annoying. The app gap is real and for some people it can be a deal breaker, but at least you are giving it a shot! Out of curiosity which apps are you trying to find?

For starters.. Bank of America (Back on now), Solar City, Starbucks(I heard that it is on the way). YouTube, Dunkin Donuts, Dispatch Track, Sirius Radio, Amazon Music

 

[real0395]

For starters.. Bank of America (Back on now), Solar City, Starbucks(I heard that it is on the way). YouTube, Dunkin Donuts, Dispatch Track, Sirius Radio, Amazon Music

For youtube: my top 3 choices are mytube (and mytube beta is shaping up nicely), tubecast pro, metrotube
For sirius radio is this the same thing?: https://forums.windowscentral.com/e...k%3Focid%3Dbadge%23app-details&token=WFDAAwiW
Don't know about dunkin donuts and amazon music, but don't think there are any 3rd party alternative there

Edit: oh I think the sirius app is only windows 10 version, not sure if they have it out for W10M yet

 

[hardywang]

For I example, I pin my wife's contact to the start screen and at a glance I can see if she her last Facebook post, her last text, any missed calls, etc. on the live tile. I don't have to open any app to see if something important has come in.

Hmmm, never know this feature though. How to configure a contact on glance screen?

 

[peter leung 10586]

I have an iPhone se and a lumia 950xl. 950xl, having 3gb of ram, can open at most 15 apps in background (see the app switcher). iPhone se, having 2gb of ram, can open up to 40 apps in background. why?