Bought one as a media player, during the Amazon $40 sale.
Just great.
+ It's a larger-screen Zune HD, with the equivalent of the Zune Software but without the PC. (I paid ~$200 for my Zune HD.)
+ It's a stand-alone offline lifetime-maps GPS with removable/replaceable battery (forget about attaching a power cord and just swap batteries at rest stops). (I paid ~$100 for my lifetime-maps refurb Gamin.)
+ It's a wi-fi radio with Nokia Mix (Pandora style for free) and an FM radio.
+ It's an iPod Touch or Galaxy Player, at less than half the price.
+ It's got a great UI (I haven't read any user guide and just got it), which should be great for beginners and experienced alike.
+ It doesn't make me feel constrained by less apps; rather I feel somewhat liberated.
Nibbles so far (a few days of use, not activated), which I shouldn't mention at this price point (especially not at my cost):
- 512 GB RAM makes some videos stutter. To be expected at this price point and RAM.
- Has no Google Now or Siri equivalent. But so what? Has voice recognition a tap away.
Big omission (IMO) that will stop me from moving to Windows Phone (or iPhone) from Android:
- no keyboard substitutions. I have big hands, and rarely and poorly tap type. I use various swiping keyboards on Android (Swype, SwiftKey, Google Keyboard) and MessagEase (a big-key keyboard originally from Palm days). I don't get it. Does Microsoft keystroke log or something, so need to restrict us to their own keyboard? User entry seems so personal, and can be a point of user frustration because it's the area where we can potentially make the most mistakes. At least the voice recognition input seemed good in my one test.
Overall: At $40, all joy. Even at $100 and never used as a phone, it's a great buy for my usage.
(Caveat: I've only used this for a few days, so don't know much at all. Like will it accumulate cruft and slow down? Are there tricks or maintenance required? etc.)
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram