There May Be Hope For WP8 After All

[Karthik Naik]

Faith in WindowsPhonity restored!! )

 

[tgp]

I was doing Nokia WP promotion in Berlin O2 Shops lately, and the thing is this: You not only have to convice customers of bying/using WPs, but you have to literally talk them into considering one. Popular media might be to blame, but people mostly don't care about tiles, UI/UX, offline maps, integrated navigation, OCR, song recognition, and different approaches to doing something.

Thanks, my point exactly! Who cares?

 

[fatclue_98]

Thanks, my point exactly! Who cares?

So what do they care about with Android or iOS? Please don't say apps because only people like us care about apps.

 

[tgp]

So what do they care about with Android or iOS? Please don't say apps because only people like us care about apps.

What they care about with Android or iOS is not the point. What matters is that most DON'T care about WP's advantages, such as the ones that gerzhwin listed above (tiles, UI/UX, offline maps, integrated navigation, OCR, song recognition, and different approaches to doing something). Even though they are advantages, they're not important advantages, at least not important enough to switch. Sure, you and I can sit here and say: "Windows Phone has offline maps, built in Office, live tiles..., how can users who don't choose WP be so ignorant?" But the truth is that most users do not care about those features. It's not a selling point to them.

 

[EwingMCSE]

I have to agree with the technique required to sell to most users. The feature sets aren't going to matter to most people.

I've had more success talking some friends and relatives onto the platform with such items as:
Look how pretty it is!
See how easy it is to use compared to Android?
See how customizable it is compared to iPhone?
See how I can take a good picture in here and nobody else (iPhone/Android) can?
See how the Nokia phone is (especially the 920s) made out of adamantine and I can use it to hammer nails, block bullets and make phone calls?

My wife loves hers and doesn't get techno-frustrated on WP 8.0 like she did on Android.

 

[gkrew]

There may be hope if Microsoft does not re-write the kernel from the ground up again. I was really looking forward to keeping my device and getting WP8 on it

 

[CrossedFaith]

If a buyer is new to Windows Phone, and the sales rep is pitching it to them, he/she should let the customer know up front that there is no WhatsApp or Candy Crush. Honestly though, there hasn't been a single carrier store I've ever been where sales rep even mention a WP device to customers. 2 weeks ago when I went to my local T-Mobile store, I only heard them pitching the Galaxy S5 to customers.

You'd think they'd pitch the 521...That's what I have, and lord do I love this phone. I was originally going for a 925, but the lack of SD Card support kind of nerfed me on that.

But yes, definitely mention the lack of candy crush. It was a deal breaker for someone I know. They actually returned their 1020 because of that reason.

On a positive note, I'm seeing more Lumia's in the wild lately. Today, I went shopping for a light fixture for my kitchen. Since the one I have is dead. Anyway...Forgot my phone in the car, and the guy was nice enough to look up prices of hanging brackets for lights on home depot and stuff for me. moral of the story? it was on a lumia.

Also went to get new tires for my car the other day, and bam. there was a girl with a lumia.


We're growing!

 

[Karthik Naik]

why was candy crush pulled from the store anyway?

 

[fatclue_98]

You'd think they'd pitch the 521...That's what I have, and lord do I love this phone. I was originally going for a 925, but the lack of SD Card support kind of nerfed me on that.

But yes, definitely mention the lack of candy crush. It was a deal breaker for someone I know. They actually returned their 1020 because of that reason.

On a positive note, I'm seeing more Lumia's in the wild lately. Today, I went shopping for a light fixture for my kitchen. Since the one I have is dead. Anyway...Forgot my phone in the car, and the guy was nice enough to look up prices of hanging brackets for lights on home depot and stuff for me. moral of the story? it was on a lumia.

Also went to get new tires for my car the other day, and bam. there was a girl with a lumia.


We're growing!

I'm not a gamer so I don't get the fuss, but can you honestly agree with someone returning a phone (a 1020 no less) because it doesn't have access to a game? I can certainly understand if there are other niggling issues and that is the straw that breaks the camel's back but seriously? If that game is so important wouldn't they have checked first to see if it was even available?

 

[colinkiama]

I'm not a gamer so I don't get the fuss, but can you honestly agree with someone returning a phone (a 1020 no less) because it doesn't have access to a game? I can certainly understand if there are other niggling issues and that is the straw that breaks the camel's back but seriously? If that game is so important wouldn't they have checked first to see if it was even available?

It's because that game is the latest trend.

 

[mech1164]

There is a lot to like about WP8, Microsoft has done a great job with it. Yes apps rule and there is a lack of them from the major creators (candy crush being one of them). The bigger problem a person coming from android is the lack of Google support. I'm tied into Google voice too much to just drop it for 8. If Google would stop dking around with MS there might be better adoption. Though that might be the reason why they are doing this in the first place. I'm probably going to get a 521 to play around with and program for. One niggling thing I have is SD support in Xbox music. Like I said before I'm big time into Google. So much that I have Google music and all my music on their servers and on my laptop. I recently got a Dell venue 8 pro and it has SD support. I thought great I transfer my collection of songs to the card and have xbm play them. Well not so much, yes it read the card but all the music is streamed to the tablet instead of front the card. I know that MS wants you to use their service but it leaves a bad taste in one's mouth in how they implement it. Now maybe I'm missing something but the need or use for an SD card is quite diminished by this kind of action. Personally I think WP8 has a lot of promise. Still though needs some work.

 

[CrossedFaith]

I'm not a gamer so I don't get the fuss, but can you honestly agree with someone returning a phone (a 1020 no less) because it doesn't have access to a game? I can certainly understand if there are other niggling issues and that is the straw that breaks the camel's back but seriously? If that game is so important wouldn't they have checked first to see if it was even available?

You'd think that, but most people don't research things. They just go OH PRETTY! and buy it. But yes, with how big candy crush is(was?) its surprisingly a reason for people to not keep a 1020.

Don't get me wrong. I played it on my note for a bit. Bought my 521, saw it didn't have it, and said oh well, no big loss.

To each their own I suppose





Sent from my RM-917_nam_usa_100 using Tapatalk

 

[carlos12001]

I'm not a gamer so I don't get the fuss, but can you honestly agree with someone returning a phone (a 1020 no less) because it doesn't have access to a game? I can certainly understand if there are other niggling issues and that is the straw that breaks the camel's back but seriously? If that game is so important wouldn't they have checked first to see if it was even available?

I'm with you on that one, that's one of the most ridiculous things i've ever heard regarding this subject.

 

[Pierre Blackwell]

There's an awesome article about how WP8.1 is one of the most smartphones out there as far as ecosystems go. MDM, S/MIME. To allow you to connect you your IT departments exchange for work. Encrypted emails with digital signatures. This sets WP apart.

 

[tgp]

So it would be fair to say that these sales reps should mention that Office 365 is only available through subscription but free and built in on WP.

Do you mean that an Office 365 subscription is necessary to use the official Office app on iOS & Android? I actually thought this was true until a few minutes ago. I had read awhile ago that Microsoft updated the Android app (iOS too I believe) to remove the Office 365 requirement. However, I have an Office 365 account so I couldn't tell the difference.

I have a 2nd Android device at the moment, a Moto G. I reset Microsoft's official Office app so it was "new". I verified that I was not logged in with my Office 365 account. I wasn't logged in at all, not with any Microsoft account. I then opened an .xls file in my Google Drive account. It opened fine with the Office app. I could read it, but I couldn't edit it due to it being an .xls. I then opened a .docx, and once again Microsoft's Office app was one of the options to open it. It opened, and I could edit the document. I was not logged in!

Evidently the login is now only necessary to give you direct access to OneDrive & SharePoint. There's not much else you can do in the app. You cannot browse for local files. But if you browse to a local file outside of the app, you can open it with the app. Android is a lot like Windows in that if you do not have defaults set for certain actions, a popup will appear asking which app you want to use. It will also ask if you want it for this time only, or always.

Office 365 is no longer necessary to use Microsoft's Office app for Android. So now even that advantage for WP is gone.

 

[Pierre Blackwell]

Not if you're wanting to utilize your work office account with your personal account. Merge to your work exchange. Most IT departments wouldn't trust Android to have that type of integration with their corporate networks on a server level.

 

[fatclue_98]

Do you mean that an Office 365 subscription is necessary to use the official Office app on iOS & Android? I actually thought this was true until a few minutes ago. I had read awhile ago that Microsoft updated the Android app (iOS too I believe) to remove the Office 365 requirement. However, I have an Office 365 account so I couldn't tell the difference.

I have a 2nd Android device at the moment, a Moto G. I reset Microsoft's official Office app so it was "new". I verified that I was not logged in with my Office 365 account. I wasn't logged in at all, not with any Microsoft account. I then opened an .xls file in my Google Drive account. It opened fine with the Office app. I could read it, but I couldn't edit it due to it being an .xls. I then opened a .docx, and once again Microsoft's Office app was one of the options to open it. It opened, and I could edit the document. I was not logged in!

Evidently the login is now only necessary to give you direct access to OneDrive & SharePoint. There's not much else you can do in the app. You cannot browse for local files. But if you browse to a local file outside of the app, you can open it with the app. Android is a lot like Windows in that if you do not have defaults set for certain actions, a popup will appear asking which app you want to use. It will also ask if you want it for this time only, or always.

Office 365 is no longer necessary to use Microsoft's Office app for Android. So now even that advantage for WP is gone.

I appreciate the feedback from an actual user. I made my statement based on what I had read, as most of us do. I'm guessing that whatever files you create or edit aren't auto-saved to OneDrive. Once again, I don't know how it works with Android. I do know that on my company iPhone, unless I open it in OneDrive, it won't save to that location. Not that it matters any, my Neo is in a case on the other side of my waist to bail it out (can't let it get to close to an iPhone).

 

[tgp]

I'm guessing that whatever files you create or edit aren't auto-saved to OneDrive. Once again, I don't know how it works with Android. I do know that on my company iPhone, unless I open it in OneDrive, it won't save to that location.

I believe it's the same on Android. I'll check to see if there's an option for auto backup to OneDrive. But I don't recall seeing one.

EDIT: I just checked. If you create a new file and save it, it will by default go to OneDrive. Is that what you mean? Obviously any edited file will stay in its same location.