Coming from Blackberry 10 a few questions

[wcrandall]

Hey Everyone,
I have been a long time Blackberry and Android use.Right now I am using a Blackberry Z10. Windows Phones always intrigued me but I never made the leap to try one out I am really looking into picking up a Lumia 920 on AT&T. I use my phone for work and personal and get alot of email daily, I am currently using outlook.com and Microsoft Exchange for work. I also need something with a pretty good camera for my job. I just want to know if any of you have compared using a Blackberry Z10 with the 920 and what the pros and cons are. I have a read a ton of info and I am really curious to try out a 920. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

 

[Narse77]

I use the Nokia Lumia 920 for work and personal also. The email client to me is fantastic. I have not used a Z10 so I really can't help with the differences. The big ones I know of are lack of notification center for WP8 and the app store is lacking compared to android. As long as the apps and services you need are supported I think you will be very happy with WP8.

Do you mind letting us know what apps and services are important to you? That way we can give you advice on what to expect.

 

[dkp23]

I used a 920 for work as well and have access to my email, i receive anywhere between 50-100 emails a day and had no issues with it.

I never used a z10 for work, i did attend one of their forums back in February and the camera wasn't that good at all. I think they updated the phone already, so maybe they improved, but probably not by much.

I manage my companies wireless account, we still sketchy about BBs future so we are holding off on using it for work.

 

[pmich]

I currently came over from blackberry after 5 years. There's a lot of stuff that the l920 excels at which are social media and the me tile which is a great way to post to various networks. I also really enjoy the email layout as well as the integration with SkyDrive and one note. Where it truly fails is the lack of notifications and how it puts communication not at the forefront. In all honesty, because of this, I may end up going back to blackberry in the fall. I really hate missing communication and feel disconnected all the time. I need that red light again.

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

I currently came over from blackberry after 5 years. There's a lot of stuff that the l920 excels at which are social media and the me tile which is a great way to post to various networks. I also really enjoy the email layout as well as the integration with SkyDrive and one note. Where it truly fails is the lack of notifications and how it puts communication not at the forefront. In all honesty, because of this, I may end up going back to blackberry in the fall. I really hate missing communication and feel disconnected all the time. I need that red light again.

How does WP fail at communication? Isn't social networks like Linkedin a form of communication? wp8 may be lacking but its not a fail.

 

[wcrandall]

I use the Nokia Lumia 920 for work and personal also. The email client to me is fantastic. I have not used a Z10 so I really can't help with the differences. The big ones I know of are lack of notification center for WP8 and the app store is lacking compared to android. As long as the apps and services you need are supported I think you will be very happy with WP8.

Do you mind letting us know what apps and services are important to you? That way we can give you advice on what to expect.

I mostly use my phone for communication. I get 50-100 emails a day, and about as many text messages. I also need a good camera for my job that takes good stills and shoots good video. I do not play games on my phone. I'm kind of concerned there is no notification when messages come in ( I think thats what someone said ) So when the phone is in sleep mode I take it theres no way to tell theres a message until you check your phone? Is that correct? I also use facebook to keep in touch with family and friends. I use navigation often. I also need good calendars for personal and business that both sync with work and home.

 

[pmich]

There's notifications in the sense that if your phone is asleep, a toast (banner) will wake up and display the message. Personally I hate this since its an intrusion for all to see. Also i keep my phone on silent so if I'm out of the room and I get a message, I never know until I turn on the device to see. Hence, the missing of a light notification is a huge fail. If you don't have a live tile near the top of your screen, you will also not see any notifications until you scroll over to that tile. Why they don't have a unified notification centre is mind boggling. But i know it will be coming soon so that's a relief.

 

[adesonic]

I mostly use my phone for communication. I get 50-100 emails a day, and about as many text messages. I also need a good camera for my job that takes good stills and shoots good video. I do not play games on my phone. I'm kind of concerned there is no notification when messages come in ( I think thats what someone said ) So when the phone is in sleep mode I take it theres no way to tell theres a message until you check your phone? Is that correct? I also use facebook to keep in touch with family and friends. I use navigation often. I also need good calendars for personal and business that both sync with work and home.

I have the 920, The phone is great for email, sms and other forms of online messaging (e.g. facebook chat).You get a toast notification when a text comes in, the live tiles display the number of unread texts/ emails you have and the lock screen also shows number of unread texts/ emails/ missed calls (if you wish), the tiles also show the first line or 2 of the most recent item (if you wish). Also, the phone can make a notification sound when a text email etc. comes in (in sleep mode) I have mine set to make a noise for texts but not emails (it would be bleeping all the time!) I am a keen amateur photographer and have taken hundreds of pictures and videos with my 920 and am very pleased with the result. "Here Drive" is a more than adequate Navigation app and is free, Navigon is awesome (IMHO) but you have to pay for that. The calendar function is fine and syncs with my work calendar no problem (we use outlook and exchange). I use the "Family Room" feature to manage personal events and keep in sync with my wife! I have never tried BB but have used several Android phones and IMHO WP* is much easier to use it shows me what I need to know at a glance, I recommend it!

 

[Paul May]

Even though WP8 does not have a blinking light to tell you that you have messages it does have all that info on the lock screen, you can set it to show how many emails, calls, voicemails, text messages or even Skype calls you have missed or are waiting for you. Its just a simple matter of hitting the power button and glancing at the lock screen to see if you have communication. I have never owned a BB phone, I have only checked out a friends for a few minutes at a time I have never been disappointed with my L920. I keep a hectic schedule, I run a restaurant and work 50+ hers a week, I also go to school 30hrs a week and I have a wife and 4 kids. I used the calendar a lot to help keep me on track, one note is fantastic for school notes, and the ability to sync my calendar with my wife's through our private room so that I know when there are Dr. Apt. Or a school event. We also use one note in our room for grocery lists and such when going to the store, if there is something we forgot we can just add it while the other is at the store. My wife and I both use L920's we have never had one fail, it is a solidly built device. The camera is fantastic, we just got back from Florida on vacation and we used our phones the whole time to capture our families memories.
Overall the L920 is the best phone I have ever owned, what the others say are true about the store not having as many apps, but I have never found that to be a problem for me. The two phones we have, have never locked up, shut down or acted weird in any way, we used Nokia drive to go from Ohio to Florida and to navigate across Florida with no issues.

Edit: I am currently having a small issue with Skype, but not sure if it is the phone or the app.

 

[pmich]

How does WP fail at communication? Isn't social networks like Linkedin a form of communication? wp8 may be lacking but its not a fail.

There's not enough room on the homescreen to get all notifications. You get a maximum of 6 specifically chosen ones you want which is ridiculous considering there's often corporate and personal email accounts (separated icons), calls, skype, facebook, twitter, linkedin, text messages, whatsapp.. .the list goes on and to not to able to see all the notifications instantly is a fail. Sure there's the live tiles but unless you place them near the top where you can read them, they can easily get lost as well. Secondly, if you don't have a live tile, you would never know about the notification (if it wasn't placed on the lock screen). The home screen shouldn't be set as 6 specific chosen icons..it should just have any notification that come in. At the end of the day it still works, but like i mentioned before, wp8 does not put communication first. I frequently miss messages for hours.

But i will say, the email panes with "unread, tagged, urgent" is an incredible feature that i commend wp8 for implementing. Their integration with Skydrive backing up photos and videos is amazing. I also am impressed with One Note integration like the poster above. I constantly make lists and notes on my computer (as well as the One Note web app in skydrive) and it perfectly syncs with One Note on the phone. Great feature! I've ditched DropBox as a result.

 

[Paul May]

Pmich I have 3 email accounts, my phone icon, Skype, kik messenger and the text icon plus my people hub and my me tile as well as my wife's tile and my family group tile and a battery life tile all at a glance on my start screen. I could link my inboxes to create more space if I wanted but I feel that is sufficient. You can certainly add more than 6 things at a glance. Like this....

 

[pmich]

I was referring to the Lock screen, not the home screen..my mistake! I definitely agree you can put all your notifications at the top of your homescreen if i wanted. I don't use Skype all that often, so i don't bother placing it near the top of my screen. If i do get a message though, it would be sometimes hours before i notice it. I guess that's my own fault obviously. I just think that there should be a central location for all notifications. I would say the lock screen would have been the best if there was unlimited number of notifications on it. (or least not restricted to the 6 i've chosen to be notified on). It just be all of them. I know that they're working on a better solution in the next update so i'm sure i'll be satisfied by whatever they do. I really wished they made use of the windows button on the bottom and turned it into a notification light. That would be ideal. On my blackberry i had customized colour notification lights for certain apps and as well as even certain individuals. The customization on notifications was amazing since i didn't even need to look at the phone and i would know exactly who it was or what app it was. I guess it's a small trade off for the things that microsoft/nokia have been able to do.

 

[remmo]

Oh, I was thinking about moving from BB10 to WP8, but now that you mention the lack of led notification on the Lumia 920, I think I will wait a little longer.
That is real deal-breaker for me.

 

[Ertonimus]

Hey Everyone,
I have been a long time Blackberry and Android use.Right now I am using a Blackberry Z10. Windows Phones always intrigued me but I never made the leap to try one out I am really looking into picking up a Lumia 920 on AT&T. I use my phone for work and personal and get alot of email daily, I am currently using outlook.com and Microsoft Exchange for work. I also need something with a pretty good camera for my job. I just want to know if any of you have compared using a Blackberry Z10 with the 920 and what the pros and cons are. I have a read a ton of info and I am really curious to try out a 920. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

I went from an iPhone 4s to a Z10 and now to a Lumia 521 as I wait for the 925 to come out. Although the notification light can be handy on a Z10 don't think of the Z10 as one of the old reliable Blackberry's. I found using the Z10 as my primary device impossible because of software/hardware glitches and incredibly poor battery life. The phone was constantly freezing or "unable to connect to the server" for calls, downloads, internet access(This is a BB issue not carrier). I was told by Blackberry that the remedy for these issues was to pop the battery in and out. This worked but I was having to do this 10+ times a day. Apps on the device are incredibly poor. Blackberry touts over 100,000 apps but thats only because they ported all the Playbook apps to BB10 regardless of functionality/compatibility so many of these apps don't work, they had an incentive program where they paid people $10,000 if their app didn't generate that much income in a specific timeframe so many of the apps are completely useless as they were made by people trying to cash in on the $10,000. I really like the Z10 in theory but in practice it needs alot of work before I could recommend it to anyone.

On the other hand WP8 is so refreshing and usable I'm having a blast with my incredibly low end Lumia 521... If you're okay with learning a new type of interface I'd definitely recommend going with a Windows Phone. Just now that when you go try one of the phones out that the home screen you're looking at is 100% customizable to your needs. It's always sort of confusing looking at someone else WP8 device or a demo one in a store if you don't realize that you can change everything about the homescreen.

 

[jfa1]

There's notifications in the sense that if your phone is asleep, a toast (banner) will wake up and display the message. Personally I hate this since its an intrusion for all to see. Also i keep my phone on silent so if I'm out of the room and I get a message, I never know until I turn on the device to see. Hence, the missing of a light notification is a huge fail. If you don't have a live tile near the top of your screen, you will also not see any notifications until you scroll over to that tile. Why they don't have a unified notification centre is mind boggling. But i know it will be coming soon so that's a relief.

Well having had a cell phone and smartphone for many many years I keep my phone on me while I am awake so I don't leave the room without my phone and even in court its on vibrate so I am always getting tactile notifications. If I cant respond then I know I have gotten a message. I don't need a blinking light to tell me I've missed something. I have had HTC phones such as the tilt 2 and Treo's with the blinking light notification but for me the buzz of a vibrate notification is preferable. There is a possibility that they may be able to use the windows button as a blinker notification in Blue. .

 

[wcrandall]

Thanks everyone for all your replies it really helps alot. Especially if you have used a Z10 before. I might be able to handle not having instant notifiactions because I get enough email or messages that I would be constantly looking at the phone anyway. The flashing light is a plus but not a deal breaker for me. My last question, how stable is the OS? Rigth now alot of Z10 users are having issues with random reboots, the phone getting very hot, and battery draining very quickly. I have personally had a few reboots, and I have had my phone heat up for no reason and drain the battery, it doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I read a few posts here that some users are experencing random reboots on their 920 and overheating issues. How widespread is this on the WP8 platform?
thanks

 

[Ertonimus]

Thanks everyone for all your replies it really helps alot. Especially if you have used a Z10 before. I might be able to handle not having instant notifiactions because I get enough email or messages that I would be constantly looking at the phone anyway. The flashing light is a plus but not a deal breaker for me. My last question, how stable is the OS? Rigth now alot of Z10 users are having issues with random reboots, the phone getting very hot, and battery draining very quickly. I have personally had a few reboots, and I have had my phone heat up for no reason and drain the battery, it doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I read a few posts here that some users are experencing random reboots on their 920 and overheating issues. How widespread is this on the WP8 platform?
thanks

I can only speak to the Lumia 521 but I have not had a single reboot or crash in the week or two that I've had it. I would consider myself a pretty heavy user too. If you get a 920 be sure to buy it new. I'm pretty sure they made some component changes in April to address some early issues(I'm sure someone on here can correct me if Im wrong or elaborate on this)

 

[adesonic]

Thanks everyone for all your replies it really helps alot. Especially if you have used a Z10 before. I might be able to handle not having instant notifiactions because I get enough email or messages that I would be constantly looking at the phone anyway. The flashing light is a plus but not a deal breaker for me. My last question, how stable is the OS? Rigth now alot of Z10 users are having issues with random reboots, the phone getting very hot, and battery draining very quickly. I have personally had a few reboots, and I have had my phone heat up for no reason and drain the battery, it doesn't happen often, but it does happen. I read a few posts here that some users are experencing random reboots on their 920 and overheating issues. How widespread is this on the WP8 platform?
thanks

I have had my 920 for a couple of months, it has been rock solid stable, never had a reboot or a lock up!

 

[pmich]

Gotta agree with everyone. This phone is is rock solid without any major issues. Unfortunately I do suffer from overheating and my battery does run out fast. I'm hoping that a future update with fix some of the issues. Could just be this device. Anyways, the OS is incredibly stable. I rarely have a lag or error.

 

[Paul May]

I have had my 920 since launch day and it has never locked up or rebooted on me. There was one minor issue with a reboot I had with my wifes 920 when trying to transfer a picture via NFC from mine to hers. But otherwise we have had no issues with freezing or reboots. The phone can get a little warm during game playing but otherwise I have not noticed it getting warm.