So, I turned down my trusty Lumia 520 for some more horsepower. Found a cheap, relatively good condition 920 (100EUR for the phone and charger, phone is a bit scratched on the back, but screen, camera, and important parts are intact).
I've noticed some differences out of the box. First of all, it's beautiful, the screen has really rich colours, and I could go on. BUT.
1. Upgraded to 8.1. After installing a few apps, battery life drops to its half. I'm not using many apps, basically Facebook, my two banks apps, Spotify, Facebook Messenger, Rudy Huyn's Instagram, Snapchat and Vine apps, and the HERE collection. Before installing anything, just setting up my accounts, it can last for approx. 3 days (with the same amount of fiddling). But with these apps installed, and some games (Angry Birds Epic, Asphalt 8, none of which would run in the background), the standby time drops to a measly 1 day 4 hours. Is this right? I've even disabled Glance, so that it wouldn't bring the screen on when I pick the phone up.
2. The phone can also heat up badly. Especially during Asphalt 8, but I guess it makes the GPU work (graphics are beautiful). But even during regular usage (phone calls, taking photos, browsing), it can get uncomfortably warm on the top.
3. The screen. It is not a problem, but I noticed something *weird*. If hit by direct sunlight, the screen gets a bit of a burnt effect around high-contrast areas (black on white and vice versa). It looks pretty much like e-ink. Is this the ClearBlack technology's sunlight readability enhancement? If yes, it's awesome! (although going from sunlight to shade, the screen suddenly gets a pattern artifact, aligned to a grid. Pretty much small diamond/square shaped darker spots. not annoying, but weird, want to know if it's normal or not).
Overall, I'm really happy with this phone. Switching from Android, I don't understand people who say the platform is bad (and I'm a platform developer for Android!), and they can't find their apps. Yes, some of them are quite niche (e.g. a friend of mine switched from a L920 to a Samsung because a very specific health app wasn't available for WP), but all the major social platforms that are used today have official and great third party apps on Windows Phone, unlike on Android or iOS. In my opinion, many of the official apps are better on WP than on any of the other two platforms, better integrated, less awkward, and easier to use.
I've noticed some differences out of the box. First of all, it's beautiful, the screen has really rich colours, and I could go on. BUT.
1. Upgraded to 8.1. After installing a few apps, battery life drops to its half. I'm not using many apps, basically Facebook, my two banks apps, Spotify, Facebook Messenger, Rudy Huyn's Instagram, Snapchat and Vine apps, and the HERE collection. Before installing anything, just setting up my accounts, it can last for approx. 3 days (with the same amount of fiddling). But with these apps installed, and some games (Angry Birds Epic, Asphalt 8, none of which would run in the background), the standby time drops to a measly 1 day 4 hours. Is this right? I've even disabled Glance, so that it wouldn't bring the screen on when I pick the phone up.
2. The phone can also heat up badly. Especially during Asphalt 8, but I guess it makes the GPU work (graphics are beautiful). But even during regular usage (phone calls, taking photos, browsing), it can get uncomfortably warm on the top.
3. The screen. It is not a problem, but I noticed something *weird*. If hit by direct sunlight, the screen gets a bit of a burnt effect around high-contrast areas (black on white and vice versa). It looks pretty much like e-ink. Is this the ClearBlack technology's sunlight readability enhancement? If yes, it's awesome! (although going from sunlight to shade, the screen suddenly gets a pattern artifact, aligned to a grid. Pretty much small diamond/square shaped darker spots. not annoying, but weird, want to know if it's normal or not).
Overall, I'm really happy with this phone. Switching from Android, I don't understand people who say the platform is bad (and I'm a platform developer for Android!), and they can't find their apps. Yes, some of them are quite niche (e.g. a friend of mine switched from a L920 to a Samsung because a very specific health app wasn't available for WP), but all the major social platforms that are used today have official and great third party apps on Windows Phone, unlike on Android or iOS. In my opinion, many of the official apps are better on WP than on any of the other two platforms, better integrated, less awkward, and easier to use.
He says he regrets it, as it's slower, and lesser, but that app is so important to him...
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