From Jelly Bean to Amber. My leap into WP8 and the 925

[a5cent]

Okay, that second write up convinced me that your first wasn't just a fluke. You can put me down as a fan as well. :wink:

Very entertaining, informative and you even managed to add some great Crackberry related satire. I see we visit that site for the same reasons. lol.

You can get the WPC app for free. It's an unlimited trial and a must have app for WP. Forget the mobile website. Payment just shuts off the advertising, although some would argue not to do so.

 

[Chris2183]

Okay, that second write up convinced me that the first wasn't just a fluke. You can put me down as a fan as well. :wink:

Very entertaining and great Crackberry related satire. I see we visit that site for the same reasons. lol.

lol thank you

 

[Siah1214]

I have done this several times over the course of the weekend. I plan on doing it tomorrow as well.

Pretty much lost it here.

 

[cuzincurly]

Try calibrating your battery first for about 3 days by draining it to 0 then charging it to 100%. My lumia 920 first had a really bad battery problem, but after the calibration, it can last up to 1 and a half days with minor usage (beats the iphone 5 by a mile).

 

[Asrialys]

Glad you're enjoying your Lumia Chris!

Just a quick heads up incase you missed it. You can link your contacts, so if you have the same "Steve" from gmail and facebook just tap one of them and then the link icon. That way they will merge in your contact list. And even if you filter out for instance your facebook contacts you can still link them to other accounts so their info turns up!

And if you can't get contacts to link (happens rarely), I believe you can force it on People.live.com.

 

[FinancialP]

I'm loving the write up. Keep them coming.

 

[Chris2183]

Try calibrating your battery first for about 3 days by draining it to 0 then charging it to 100%. My lumia 920 first had a really bad battery problem, but after the calibration, it can last up to 1 and a half days with minor usage (beats the iphone 5 by a mile).

I am tough on batteries at work due to the lack of charging options. I can run a 3500mAh battery down to 30% in 8.5 hours. My Astro3e fits in my back pocket and I can charge on the go. After I get done breaking in this battery my weekend usage should easily get me through the day.

 

[despertador]

LMAO! I love your write-ups, as another one of your newest fans, keep them coming!

And yep, Rudy Hyun is a god!

 

[nasellok]

Great read......Im stuck on Verizon Galaxy Nexus for another few months - I am hoping that the 1020 ATT exclusive is only 4 months, and I will be the proud owner of whatever version of the 1020 (1028?) Verizon picks up.

Did you flash ROM's, and Kernals to your Nexus to customize, etc? I was slightly obsessed with doing it for a while, now I am just annoyed that I have to jump through hoops to get the damn phone to do what I want it to. To top it off, It is slow, laggy, and crashes at least 2x's a day. Ive played with the 928, and was impressed, but saw the leaks of the 1020, and decided to wait it out (Ill have to pay full price anyways cause I have unlimited data).

Not sure where your located, but Im in NYC - and I could count on 2 hands how many people ive seen with Windows Phones walking around. Not a single co-worker, or consultant, or anyone I know has one, and I am actually kind of excited to get one because of this. I was originally a Blackberry fan, then the Storm did me in....I quickly switched to Android, have had the Droid x, and the Galaxy Nexus, and just cannot stand the Lagginess. My good friend has the GS4 - I played with it for 10 mins the other day, it seemed pretty smooth, but lagged a bit on certain things, especially opening the camera app, and going back and forth between apps. I give it 6 months before the thing is crashtastic just like the rest.

I just really hope that MS gets their $hit together for this 8.1 update, and brings more Windows 8 features to the WP OS, I LOVE my surface tablet, and really think they should unify the experience between phone and tablet/pc - swipe down to close, folders / groups, notification center, 1080P, swipe from left app switching. Oh yea, make WP apps openable on tablets - let me control my phone from my tablet/PC, etc.

 

[Jason Wilder]

I went from a Droid 2 to the HTC Trophy. Now I'm thinking of going back to Android, to a Samsung Galaxy S4...somebody talk me off the ledge!

 

[Chris2183]

Great read......Im stuck on Verizon Galaxy Nexus for another few months - I am hoping that the 1020 ATT exclusive is only 4 months, and I will be the proud owner of whatever version of the 1020 (1028?) Verizon picks up.

Did you flash ROM's, and Kernals to your Nexus to customize, etc? I was slightly obsessed with doing it for a while, now I am just annoyed that I have to jump through hoops to get the damn phone to do what I want it to. To top it off, It is slow, laggy, and crashes at least 2x's a day. Ive played with the 928, and was impressed, but saw the leaks of the 1020, and decided to wait it out (Ill have to pay full price anyways cause I have unlimited data).

I did not flash ROMs or kernels to my Nexus. I had flashed several phones in the past and have no desire to do it anymore. I chose the Nexus because I wanted a phone with zero bloat from the carrier, prompt updates straight from Google, and the pure vanilla Android experience. I still enjoy my Nexus a great deal.

Not sure where your located, but Im in NYC - and I could count on 2 hands how many people ive seen with Windows Phones walking around. Not a single co-worker, or consultant, or anyone I know has one, and I am actually kind of excited to get one because of this. I was originally a Blackberry fan, then the Storm did me in....I quickly switched to Android, have had the Droid x, and the Galaxy Nexus, and just cannot stand the Lagginess. My good friend has the GS4 - I played with it for 10 mins the other day, it seemed pretty smooth, but lagged a bit on certain things, especially opening the camera app, and going back and forth between apps. I give it 6 months before the thing is crashtastic just like the rest.

I just really hope that MS gets their $hit together for this 8.1 update, and brings more Windows 8 features to the WP OS, I LOVE my surface tablet, and really think they should unify the experience between phone and tablet/pc - swipe down to close, folders / groups, notification center, 1080P, swipe from left app switching. Oh yea, make WP apps openable on tablets - let me control my phone from my tablet/PC, etc.

Im in Ga and I am the only one around here with a Windows phone. All Android devices have some lag. Touchwiz, while being a very good looking UI, is very heavy and makes the lag a bit more noticeable. I reboot my phones every morning before work, I find that a lot of little crashes and hiccups go away when I do it.

 

[Chris2183]

I went from a Droid 2 to the HTC Trophy. Now I'm thinking of going back to Android, to a Samsung Galaxy S4...somebody talk me off the ledge!

Im the last person here that could be able to talk you off the ledge lol. But do yourself a favor and look at the HTC One as well as the GS4

 

[tgp]

I went from a Droid 2 to the HTC Trophy. Now I'm thinking of going back to Android, to a Samsung Galaxy S4...somebody talk me off the ledge!

What's the reason you're considering returning to Android? I'm with Chris2183 in that I'm not the person to talk you out of it, but I am curious what you're experiencing.

 

[Chris2183]

Episode 4- A New Hope

Up and at em. Its time for work, I remember my Astro this morning.

Spotify and I bear with each other on the ride into work. Music quality is fine but this app still lags faaaaaaaaaaaaar behind its Android and iOS versions. Seriously I hope the guy who wrote this app stubs his pinky toe on the coffee table.

I turned off LTE. Nobody sends me webpages at 21Mbps so I see no need to have it on draining my battery needlessly. I already have a 21Mbps screenshot saved from the last Speedtest I ran to show off in the next speed epeen contest.

With WiFi and Bluetooth toggled off , I clock in and we are off and running.

A few texts and emails later, I sit down for a few minutes.
First up is My Fitness Pal. I use this to keep track of food. The app is laid out in a straight forward manner and I try out the barcode scanner to add a snack to my diary. It immediately scans and locks up (this is starting to become a recurring theme :eck. I restart the app and try again. It goes through and I finish adding my stuff.

Next up time to catch up on the morning news at WP Central. I open UC Browser and head to m.wpcentral.com. I dont know stole this guys lunch money but the WP Central site runs like *** on this browser. All other Talk Mobile sites run just fine as well as a few other sites I browsed. I have returned to using Internet explorer because of this. My Nexus is currently not speaking to me because of this decision Time to go back to work.

Lunchtime is funtime

First up I edit a pic for Instagram using Hodor errr I mean Fotor :smile:. This was an editor's choice app here on the WPC site a few days ago. This app is sexy I like it almost as much as Snapseed.. It has plenty of filters, several effects, and a nice auto touch up feature that gives you three levels of correction. It linked to my Skydrive to let me pull my pic straight from Skydrive to edit. Its a keeper.

Pic edited and uploaded through Instance. This is getting easy:smile:

Next up Netflix. Another straight forward app thats easy to navigate. I search for the intellectual classic "Little Monsters" , no dice. How can this not be on Netflix, oh well I settle on The Wonder Years instead. I am immediately remind of how envious I was of Kevin Arnold for getting to nail Winnie Cooper.
Lunch is over, back to the grind


Afternoon breaktime
I catch up on AC, grab a laugh at Crackberry, Like some Instagram pics and try out Youtube.
I try YoutubeHD. Because watching cats do hilarious **** in standard definition is for savages.
I start my video (https://www.youtube.com/results?sea...0j3.13.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.sMyx0KvLlQk)

and flip the screen sideways for fullsceen. The overlay doesnt disappear and I have no indication on how to remove it. I finally touch the screen and the overlay goes away. This app tries to do a lot of things I dont need. I need to find a simple viewer that has an HD option. I dont need to download kitty videos, I can save them to my Youtube account.

After work

MAYDAY MAYDAY We are going down.

After unlinking Facebook and Google from my Outlook I messed up my address book with duplicates. No biggie, I'll just reset the phone. One piping hot reset later and while setting up the phone I discover that the super sweet "Peek" option for Glance is now missing:shocked:. My local T-Mo is stumped by this and swap the phone. The new phone is also missing the feature. My Google-Fu fails, there is nothing about this as far as I could find. I get desperate and call Nokia support.

The following is not funny and Im feeling pretty damn sour about it at the moment.

I call Nokia and I am quickly connected to support. After trying to explain that the "peek" option is missing the rep asks me what am I trying to do. She doesnt understand and ultimately I figure out she does not know what Glance is. I dont have a good feeling about this.

Im placed on hold

She comes back and tells me that she is holding a 925 and the only options for Glance are "off" , "timed" and "always on".

I tell her that I had this option yesterday on my phone. She tells me Im wrong that this does not exist.

Im still calm and explain that it is currently on display at my local T-Mo as well as all over the web.

She insists I dont know what Im talking about

After several rounds of this I unfortunately lose my cool. I pretty much tell her that I will be more than happy to return this device, go back to my Android, and never buy another Nokia product again if this is the lackluster support I can expect for this phone.

Im being called a liar and I am not liking it

She finally relents and elevates my ticket. I will receive a call in 2-4 business days

Conclusion
I have noticed a pattern in most of the apps appearance. It creates a very uniform look throughout the apps and phone. Some of these are almost indistinguishable from the native OS. I like this
I am finally hitting the lockscreen key to wake the phone more than I am hitting the camera button
Kevin Arnold was a lucky ******* :angry:
Netflix needs Little Monsters. I bet they dont have The Sandlot either
Nokia support blows ***

Has Nokia support undone all the hard work the 925 has done to win me over, or will find bliss again. Only day 5 knows

 

[a5cent]

Again:
Forget m.wpcentral.com. Use the WP central app instead. It is free to use with advertisements.

YouTube:
IMHO MetroTube is still the best YouTube client on WP. Anybody with a WP device needs to have least tried it.

Nokia Support:
It might help to have this WPC article on hand. The article's main image presents all four options on the L925.

 

[karmamule]

Thanks for the fun journal!

Quick side note: rdio does have a radio feature. If you go to an artist's page you should see the round radio button at the bottom center. If you see a button that looks like two 'greater than' symbols, tap that to see all the artist's albums and then that button will become the radio button.

Unfortunately both rdio and Spotify on wp8 are way behind their android equivalents. I'd use rdio more but it doesn't have track scrubbing or decent playlist management.

In any case good luck with your future adventures!

 

[Chris2183]

Again:
Forget m.wpcentral.com. Use the WP central app instead. It is free to use with advertisements.

YouTube:
IMHO MetroTube is still the best YouTube client on WP. Anybody with a WP device needs to have least tried it.

Nokia Support:
It might help to have this WPC article on hand. The article's main image presents all four options on the L925.

Ive only seen the paid WP Central app where can I find the free version.

I'll give Metro Tube a go

I actually used that pic in a second conversation with the live chat. I was then told that the Glance peek option was in beta and I would get it in a later update. The rep on the phone swore it doesnt exist, live chat rep says its beta and unreleased. Either way, Im left in the dark until I get a call from tier 2 in 2-4 business days. Hopefully someone here has the solution.

 

[a5cent]

Ive only seen the paid WP Central app where can I find the free version.

Almost every WP app is available in a trial version. The WPC app is an unlimited/unrestricted trial. You can download the trial for free. There is no difference to the paid version except for the in-app advertisements. For the purchasing price of $1 you are given the option to remove the advertisements, and the good feeling knowing you are doing the right thing and supporting the developer. ;-)

 

[hary536]

Have you made sure that your Display+touch app is updated to v1.6 after reset? That WPC article refers that you need Display+touch updated to 1.6 for the new glance screen to work.
You may want to check that. Also, I assume that after reset you still have amber update or did it roll back? Since both amber update and display+touch update are required for glance screen.

Btw, I am not surprised that Nokia support doesn't know all the details of glance screen yet. Glance screen is very new and can take time to trickle down to all the support folks.
Just for comparison, based on first hand experience even Apple support folks don't know everything. (referred Apple here since they are known for good support).

Ive only seen the paid WP Central app where can I find the free version.

I'll give Metro Tube a go

I actually used that pic in a second conversation with the live chat. I was then told that the Glance peek option was in beta and I would get it in a later update. The rep on the phone swore it doesnt exist, live chat rep says its beta and unreleased. Either way, Im left in the dark until I get a call from tier 2 in 2-4 business days. Hopefully someone here has the solution.

 

[despertador]

Although myTube is a paid app, it is one of the best YouTube apps out there. I love the interface, while not very intuitive it is still very well thought out and pretty useful!