Why should I buy a Windows 8 phone?

[Lastnv]

Being the owner of an og Samsung Focus I have been around since the start of Windows Phone 7. With it being my first smartphone and having used it for over a year and a half I can't say I'm impressed.
It is an extremely light OS, not much to customize or just simply do or enjoy on the phone!
Being an avid Facebook user the Facebook integration that is suppose to be a huge feature for WP is lacking. It shows me my news feed, I can't even see how many likes or comments without tapping the post, it also doesn't show the posters thumbnail pic. I can't check inbox messages. The only thing that is okay is the chat embedded in the phone. Oh and the app in the marketplace sucks its laggy and lacks key features. And with the mobile site on Internet explorer its not even using the touch mobile site like iPhone or Android...again disappointed.
Also Skype was majorly hyped and that app is a joke as well.

Almost no customizability at all, anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves. All I can do is change the lock screen wallpaper and the default color for my tiles. If I could at least change the wallpaper on the home screen I would've been a little more lenient but no I can't even do that.

Weak developer support. Still missing apps like pandora, soundcloud, and just the plethora and variety of apps on android and iPhone. The big Windows 8 OS release across PC and WP is suppose to gain big time developer support says Microsoft. I'll believe that when I see it. Oh and why cant I sync my apps to Zune? That's like a no-brainer yet here we are 2 years into windows phone 7 and we have no easy way to reinstall all of our apps in case we needed to reset our phone or for whatever other reason there may be.

And just small things that the other big two OS's have like screen orientation lock, screenshotting, and other small things of that nature.

The OS is more closed off than iOS, if I had an iPhone I know I would easily be able to jailbreak it.

Despite all these complaints I do have a few nice things to say. The bing maps and turn by turn navigation has proven to be reliable and has helped me out countless times on the road. The Zune music management is great, the Zune app on the phone is okay but not great, I don't like how I have to press music in the frickin app that is meant for music to view my songs/artists/albums, an unnecessary menu IMO. As well as the speed and optimization of the OS, the phone has simply worked with little to no complication but it's just not fulfilling everything I want in a phone.

Microsoft said Mango was suppose to bring Windows Phone to prominence as a full fledged OS. Yet we still don't have a ton of key apps, when I talk to people about why they don't get a WP is because we don't have jack squat for apps. And the apps we DO have are extremely light and lacking features in comparison to the same apps on android or iOS. And again those small features that we STILL don't have and we STILL haven't seen any hint of in Windows 8! This is 2012 Microsoft and we can't even lock the screen orientation?
I don't plan on moving off Windows 7 on my PC, the Xbox integration on my phone is..useless like really why do I need to see my friends list on my phone?
The apps still aren't there, key small features still aren't there, I don't see how Windows 8 will catch on to the mainstream...I just don't see it.

Maybe I've been on the wrong OS this whole time. At this time prior to the WP8 release, is there anything someone can say that will convince me to stick with Windows Phone? I am still open minded about this, but I am obviously disappointed in my last 2 years with using the OS daily.

 

[SnailUK]

I'd say best move to another OS.

Sounds like you are disatisfied with WP7, and WP8 is an evolution of that, rather than revolution. You want customisation, and more apps, and that isn't coming in the near future with WP8.

Me, i'm surrounded by Android and iPhone users, and mess with the missus' iphone all the time. Customisation is great, but Android is too customisable, too open. Nobody ever seems happy, theres always something else, or a new ROM to play with. That doesn't appeal to me. I want a phone that just works.

The iPhone just works, and has a brilliant app selection, but doesn't seem much different to the iphone i had 2 years ago. Its quicker, and has some fun games, but its like a journey back in time.

There isn't a perfect Phone OS, and its fun to test the alternatives, but its always a case of the grass is greener on the other side. Luckily all the stuff i do constantly is just as fast on my 2 year old WP7 device, as on the missus' iphone. So WP8 can only improve my day to day life.

 

[Lastnv]

I'd say best move to another OS.

Sounds like you are disatisfied with WP7, and WP8 is an evolution of that, rather than revolution. You want customisation, and more apps, and that isn't coming in the near future with WP8.

Me, i'm surrounded by Android and iPhone users, and mess with the missus' iphone all the time. Customisation is great, but Android is too customisable, too open. Nobody ever seems happy, theres always something else, or a new ROM to play with. That doesn't appeal to me. I want a phone that just works.

The iPhone just works, and has a brilliant app selection, but doesn't seem much different to the iphone i had 2 years ago. Its quicker, and has some fun games, but its like a journey back in time.

There isn't a perfect Phone OS, and its fun to test the alternatives, but its always a case of the grass is greener on the other side. Luckily all the stuff i do constantly is just as fast on my 2 year old WP7 device, as on the missus' iphone. So WP8 can only improve my day to day life.

That's why I'm stuck. Windows Phone works great as a phone and I can't deny it that, it's reliable. But the lack of customization and apps really hurts. I will absolutely not go to iPhone and I'm afraid to jump onto Android in fear of the lack of device support. Those terrible stories of phones not getting updates after a year or not at all is something I don't want. As well as the rapid release of Android phones, it's like every month the same phone gets released with a spec bump, which would make me feel like crap after just spending a couple hundred dollars on a phone only months previously.

 

[rockstarzzz]

That's why I'm stuck. Windows Phone works great as a phone and I can't deny it that, it's reliable. But the lack of customization and apps really hurts. I will absolutely not go to iPhone and I'm afraid to jump onto Android in fear of the lack of device support. Those terrible stories of phones not getting updates after a year or not at all is something I don't want. As well as the rapid release of Android phones, it's like every month the same phone gets released with a spec bump, which would make me feel like crap after just spending a couple hundred dollars on a phone only months previously.

True but the kind of OS you are expecting isn't what WP philosophy looks like. Not at least with WP8. Pretty thumbnails with posts etc, they are not in their design language. Yes apps might eventually be at good enough numbers esp with efforts where over 500,000 Android apps are ready to port away to Windows 8 etc. But that will take time. I know you've already waited long enough, so why not give iOS or Android a shot for a year or two and revisit with WP9 or WP9.5? I think, you need hands-on comparison with phones. You've had over 1 year of experience with WP, buy another Samsung (S2) may be on Android and compare your experience? If you enjoy it, go big!

 

[SnailUK]

I will absolutely not go to iPhone and I'm afraid to jump onto Android in fear of the lack of device support.

Whats up with the iPhone?

With Android, go for a big name phone, and updates are no problem. Something like the Galaxy S3 is well specced, well priced and popular enough to guarantee good update support.

 

[12Danny123]

well there have been improvements on wp8. also you get more colurs and better live tile support. also you can like make the tiles bigger or smaller. but most stuff have been under the hood on wp8. and very dramatic improvements. For the app problem. I think there will be apps released. since Wp8 supports Native coding and also port apps from Windows 8 to Windows phone 8 or 7. so I think the app selection will increase quite fast. so like if a developer releases a IOS and Android. they will most likely release a Windows phone version anyway

also if you like
Socialising
Taking photos
Colourful phones
into the MS ecosystem like Wp, Xbox and Windows 8 etc.

then a Windows phone is naturally for you

 

[Heron_Kusanagi]

It does seem you are not happy with the OS due to your usage model. Then why not leave it? You will be happier.

Having used WP7, I agree that there's nothing much to customize. But precisely because I don't need to, I am using more time to actually use the phone for reading news, having my social needs fulfilled and doing more things outside of my phone. That's what I like about WP.

I will also add my personal belief that apps will come with W8 and WP8. Unless W8 fails at any sort of adoption rate, which I don't see it happening, I believe app makers can't and wouldn't ignore W8 and Metro apps, which with some simple tweaks can be run on WP8.

The caveat is, as usual, if W8 actually gets adoption rates high enough to justify the app developers making stuff for W8.

 

[theefman]

Get the next nexus phone, no problem with updates as they come direct from google, will have the latest specs and meets all your other criteria.

 

[Old_Cus]

I'm sorry but I'm calling BS to your post. You claim to have used a Focus for a year and a half and you're just joining this forum? Your Focus is your first smartphone yet you know all about the features of Android and you seem to know how to jailbreak?

You spend 3/4 of your post condeming the OS and spend the other 1/4 on it's good qualities so you can claim that you were balanced....I don't buy it.

I wouldn't waste my time trying to convince you to try WP8. If you spent half the time researching it as you seem to have with android you would know that many things you have complained about such as screenshots is addressed.

Call it what you want but to me you're doing nothing but trolling using old complaints. Forget window phone and run to android. You two are a match made in heaven.

 

[Lastnv]

I'm sorry but I'm calling BS to your post. You claim to have used a Focus for a year and a half and you're just joining this forum? Your Focus is your first smartphone yet you know all about the features of Android and you seem to know how to jailbreak?

You spend 3/4 of your post condeming the OS and spend the other 1/4 on it's good qualities so you can claim that you were balanced....I don't buy it.

I wouldn't waste my time trying to convince you to try WP8. If you spent half the time researching it as you seem to have with android you would know that many things you have complained about such as screenshots is addressed.

Call it what you want but to me you're doing nothing but trolling using old complaints. Forget window phone and run to android. You two are a match made in heaven.

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware when I got my phone that I was obligated to join this forum. I've always come to wpcentral for WP news and I wasn't even aware of the forums til recently.

I've actually done a lot of research on Android and iOS considering I have a ton of friends with Androids and my dad and sister have iPhones. I wanted to try something different and went with the Focus. I'm just ranting on WP7 because I would've thought by now they would have got all these things they're still missing today. I understood 2 years ago it was a brand new OS and wouldn't have everything but here we are 2 years later and still missing big features.

I'm just making sure with my thread that there isn't something I'm missing on WP8 that would make it worth staying with. My upgrade isn't til February so I still have plenty of time to speculate after WP8 officially releases.

 

[gsquared]

I'm sorry but I'm calling BS to your post. You claim to have used a Focus for a year and a half and you're just joining this forum? Your Focus is your first smartphone yet you know all about the features of Android and you seem to know how to jailbreak?

You spend 3/4 of your post condeming the OS and spend the other 1/4 on it's good qualities so you can claim that you were balanced....I don't buy it.

I wouldn't waste my time trying to convince you to try WP8. If you spent half the time researching it as you seem to have with android you would know that many things you have complained about such as screenshots is addressed.

Call it what you want but to me you're doing nothing but trolling using old complaints. Forget window phone and run to android. You two are a match made in heaven.

I'm also calling BS. The fact you expect us to sell you on WP8 is crazy. Do your own homework and get off the dam fence!!!

 

[power5]

ios6 gets another row of icons for 15 total on home screen, unless you count folders (I don't as thats another layer cant access the apps in that folder without entering the folder). WP8 can get up to 48 tiles on the start screen. That right there makes it 3 times better.

As for orientation lock, if its implemented I hope its in the selected app and not OS wide. I will keep it off after the first few times of having to back out of an app to unlock it again or lock it.

Music app not going straight to your playlist? Really? Its all your media not a music app. Mine specifically says music+videos on my tile. Does yours not?

Wallpaper? What would you see of it? 1/16" of an inch between tiles? Not sure of the point unless you want to purposefully leave out some icons to get a glimpse of the wallpaper.

Not sure how you think JB is any easier than unlocking a WP.

Get what you want. You get 1 life, so I would definitely go try something else for a while. If not, all you have in life is regret.

 

[lancguy]

I'll bite on the bait. What has drawn me to WP8 is the tight integration between 4 distinct platforms -cel phones, Desktop, Tablets, Laptops, and xBox. Each platform is now going to share the same code base so apps can port from one platform to the other with minimal work. So I don't think that the app problem is going to be a problem for much longer. With desktops, laptops, tablets and phones developers will be able to reach a much larger audience. Also, the only wallpaper I need is on my lock screen. I love bing images on my desktop background, and if I can get that on my phone lock screen I'll be happy as a fly on well you know...And how much customization do you really need? On my android it's all the same, I can't change window colors, or anything like that. And iPhone's are even worst. And speaking of aps, why is it that my icons keep disappearing on my android phone every time an ap updates? An open eco-system has allowed for all sorts of nasty aps that you don't know are bad for your phone until you download them. And apple has such a tight grip on iTunes you have to jump through hoops and pay a fortune to sell your app. I am perfectly happy with going with the 920 when it hits, all my apps will be available on all my devices and should work flawless. I will be able to work on my office docs on my phone, tablet, notebook and desktop. I'm really excited for it. Is it going to be perfect? Doubtful, but like some else said, the iPhone 5 feels like the same iPhone 2 they had years ago.

 

[jayrum76]

Being the owner of an og Samsung Focus I have been around since the start of Windows Phone 7. With it being my first smartphone and having used it for over a year and a half I can't say I'm impressed.
It is an extremely light OS, not much to customize or just simply do or enjoy on the phone!
Being an avid Facebook user the Facebook integration that is suppose to be a huge feature for WP is lacking. It shows me my news feed, I can't even see how many likes or comments without tapping the post, it also doesn't show the posters thumbnail pic. I can't check inbox messages. The only thing that is okay is the chat embedded in the phone. Oh and the app in the marketplace sucks its laggy and lacks key features. And with the mobile site on Internet explorer its not even using the touch mobile site like iPhone or Android...again disappointed.
Also Skype was majorly hyped and that app is a joke as well.

Almost no customizability at all, anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves. All I can do is change the lock screen wallpaper and the default color for my tiles. If I could at least change the wallpaper on the home screen I would've been a little more lenient but no I can't even do that.

Weak developer support. Still missing apps like pandora, soundcloud, and just the plethora and variety of apps on android and iPhone. The big Windows 8 OS release across PC and WP is suppose to gain big time developer support says Microsoft. I'll believe that when I see it. Oh and why cant I sync my apps to Zune? That's like a no-brainer yet here we are 2 years into windows phone 7 and we have no easy way to reinstall all of our apps in case we needed to reset our phone or for whatever other reason there may be.

And just small things that the other big two OS's have like screen orientation lock, screenshotting, and other small things of that nature.

The OS is more closed off than iOS, if I had an iPhone I know I would easily be able to jailbreak it.

Despite all these complaints I do have a few nice things to say. The bing maps and turn by turn navigation has proven to be reliable and has helped me out countless times on the road. The Zune music management is great, the Zune app on the phone is okay but not great, I don't like how I have to press music in the frickin app that is meant for music to view my songs/artists/albums, an unnecessary menu IMO. As well as the speed and optimization of the OS, the phone has simply worked with little to no complication but it's just not fulfilling everything I want in a phone.

Microsoft said Mango was suppose to bring Windows Phone to prominence as a full fledged OS. Yet we still don't have a ton of key apps, when I talk to people about why they don't get a WP is because we don't have jack squat for apps. And the apps we DO have are extremely light and lacking features in comparison to the same apps on android or iOS. And again those small features that we STILL don't have and we STILL haven't seen any hint of in Windows 8! This is 2012 Microsoft and we can't even lock the screen orientation?
I don't plan on moving off Windows 7 on my PC, the Xbox integration on my phone is..useless like really why do I need to see my friends list on my phone?
The apps still aren't there, key small features still aren't there, I don't see how Windows 8 will catch on to the mainstream...I just don't see it.

Maybe I've been on the wrong OS this whole time. At this time prior to the WP8 release, is there anything someone can say that will convince me to stick with Windows Phone? I am still open minded about this, but I am obviously disappointed in my last 2 years with using the OS daily.

I'm new to this forum also after being an early adopter to WP7 with the Samsung Focus. I had the phone for roughly a year before switching to a Galaxy II Skyrocket last fall. At roughly the same time I got a Ipad. I switch not necessarily because the WP7 was a bad OS but I felt I was missing out on the customization, flexibility and the higher end specs (LTE, micro-SD, side-loading apps, etc) that "droids" had to offer. My wife had an Iphone, that aside from app store had nothing to offer over the my Focus with WP7.5. The Skyrocket was my first android and I was initially excited about all the potential it had. After a few months I started to sorely miss the smoothness of wp7. The Android OS is somethings you truly have to experience hands on everyday basis to appreciate its strengths and shortcomings. For me the shortcomings that had me craving my wp7 was:
1) The email app (native and Play store alternative) layout and loading wasn't as crisp and smooth as the wp7 native app. Also I prefer the live tile notification as opposed to the notification bar popup. I don't believe there is any current email app for android that shows current unread emails in the widget unlike Apple and WP7 live tiles.

2) The calendar app, just as personal preference, didn't have the ease of use or layout i got accustomed to with wp7 or even IOS

3) Malware exposure. Its very annoying to try to hunt down the source of these when you get infected. It results in either persistent popup ads in the notification bar or when you open your browser. This is the downside a very open OS.

3) The lack of the dedicated camera button to activate the camera immediately even when the phone is asleep and lock

4) The text to voice feature. WP7.5 Mango update has this amazing very underrated feature. There are ways to accomplish the same thing to a certain extent with apps on "Droids" but still no where close to how its implemented on WP7.5. Its a great safety feature when your driving as you can customize it to work either via bluetooth, wired headset or on all the time. It reads the incoming text accurately 95% oft the time and give prompts to reply/ignore/call. Really great feature but like everything with Microsoft windows phone, it hasn't been marketed well. Gotta tip my hat to Apple, they make the silliest upgrade to their phones look as if its the greatest feature on earth.

5) Sporadic freezing or sluggishness of apps. This obviously can happen to any OS but in the limited time I had the Skyrocket it froze three times as much or more than my Focus over a year period.

6) Extremely poor battery management. Maybe it was the Skyrocket but to optimize your battery life with the droids you have to fussle with killing active programs manually or getting apps that do it automatically. Its a shame because both WP7 and IOS do this behind the curtains very well without user/secondary apps intervention

I had the Skyrocket for a total of 7 months before selling it on ebay and getting the HTC Titan. I didnt get the current LTE WP7 phones because Im waiting for the WP8. Overall the Android experience was underwhelming despite all the bells and whistles. The microsd was a feature I do miss but the upcoming WP8 phones will have that capability. From my perspective the WP8 seem to offer the key features I craved from droids (high end specs, microsd, customization albeit limited to home screen in wp8) without the sloppiness of the Driod OS. Alot remains to be seen as no one has really had the full wp8 Os on hand to evaluate. Like an earlier user mentioned (SnailUK) your best bet is to try an alternative (IOS or Andriod) and see what you think. No one can tell you what is the best smartphone for you is except you. All the OSes have there low and high points, so go with what suits your needs. There is enough overlap that you wont be missing much just minor creature features. I think its absurd that some users here are trying to discredit you observations on WP7. I love the WP7 and probably more after exploring the alternatives to see the grass wasn't as green as I thought it was. I'm going to buy the Samsung ATIV S the minute its available for preorder. It seems to be the only intial WP8 with a built in microSD card slot. I cant wait!

 

[brmiller1976]

It's simple. You should try out what you're considering buying, contrast it with what you use today, and decide whether the tradeoffs of changes around what you're "used to" are worth the benefits that you receive.

Obviously, no one ecosystem is going to have everything you're looking for, so you have to prioritize what's most important to you.

If having "family app accounts" is most important to you, then WP8 isn't going to be your thing.

 

[Heron_Kusanagi]

I'm just making sure with my thread that there isn't something I'm missing on WP8 that would make it worth staying with. My upgrade isn't til February so I still have plenty of time to speculate after WP8 officially releases.

More power to you then. I will suggest waiting for all reviews to come before you commit to a phone.

The market have quite a number of good phones now, and even upcoming ones in the holiday season.

Unbeatable battery life? Get a Droid Razr Maxx HD
An Android best seller with accessories support nearly equal to the iPhone? S3's your best bet.
Love accessories and want the biggest screen you can find that still calls itself a phone? Note II perhaps.
Want a great screen and Sense is your cup of tea? HTC One X+
Want to finally get to know how it feels like being an Apple user but with a bigger screen? iPhone 5.
Google's vision of what the latest phone should be? LG Nexus
A great camera with a touchscreen that's usable with gloves on, and perhaps tiles are still your thing? Nokia L920
A taste of what MS calls the signature WP phone? HTC 8X
Maybe you want a S3 in WP8? ATIV S

It's the choices that define us. Let's see the reviews come holiday season, and in February, you may commit. Or who knows? In MWC2013 the S4 may tempt you.

Or we will all be dead by Dec 21, 2012. So that's not a big issue. XD

 

[rockstarzzz]

I'm new to this forum also after being an early adopter to WP7 with the Samsung Focus. I had the phone for roughly a year before switching to a Galaxy II Skyrocket last fall. At roughly the same time I got a Ipad. I switch not necessarily because the WP7 was a bad OS but I felt I was missing out on the customization, flexibility and the higher end specs (LTE, micro-SD, side-loading apps, etc) that "droids" had to offer. My wife had an Iphone, that aside from app store had nothing to offer over the my Focus with WP7.5. The Skyrocket was my first android and I was initially excited about all the potential it had. After a few months I started to sorely miss the smoothness of wp7. The Android OS is somethings you truly have to experience hands on everyday basis to appreciate its strengths and shortcomings. For me the shortcomings that had me craving my wp7 was:
1) The email app (native and Play store alternative) layout and loading wasn't as crisp and smooth as the wp7 native app. Also I prefer the live tile notification as opposed to the notification bar popup. I don't believe there is any current email app for android that shows current unread emails in the widget unlike Apple and WP7 live tiles.

2) The calendar app, just as personal preference, didn't have the ease of use or layout i got accustomed to with wp7 or even IOS

3) Malware exposure. Its very annoying to try to hunt down the source of these when you get infected. It results in either persistent popup ads in the notification bar or when you open your browser. This is the downside a very open OS.

3) The lack of the dedicated camera button to activate the camera immediately even when the phone is asleep and lock

4) The text to voice feature. WP7.5 Mango update has this amazing very underrated feature. There are ways to accomplish the same thing to a certain extent with apps on "Droids" but still no where close to how its implemented on WP7.5. Its a great safety feature when your driving as you can customize it to work either via bluetooth, wired headset or on all the time. It reads the incoming text accurately 95% oft the time and give prompts to reply/ignore/call. Really great feature but like everything with Microsoft windows phone, it hasn't been marketed well. Gotta tip my hat to Apple, they make the silliest upgrade to their phones look as if its the greatest feature on earth.

5) Sporadic freezing or sluggishness of apps. This obviously can happen to any OS but in the limited time I had the Skyrocket it froze three times as much or more than my Focus over a year period.

6) Extremely poor battery management. Maybe it was the Skyrocket but to optimize your battery life with the droids you have to fussle with killing active programs manually or getting apps that do it automatically. Its a shame because both WP7 and IOS do this behind the curtains very well without user/secondary apps intervention

I had the Skyrocket for a total of 7 months before selling it on ebay and getting the HTC Titan. I didnt get the current LTE WP7 phones because Im waiting for the WP8. Overall the Android experience was underwhelming despite all the bells and whistles. The microsd was a feature I do miss but the upcoming WP8 phones will have that capability. From my perspective the WP8 seem to offer the key features I craved from droids (high end specs, microsd, customization albeit limited to home screen in wp8) without the sloppiness of the Driod OS. Alot remains to be seen as no one has really had the full wp8 Os on hand to evaluate. Like an earlier user mentioned (SnailUK) your best bet is to try an alternative (IOS or Andriod) and see what you think. No one can tell you what is the best smartphone for you is except you. All the OSes have there low and high points, so go with what suits your needs. There is enough overlap that you wont be missing much just minor creature features. I think its absurd that some users here are trying to discredit you observations on WP7. I love the WP7 and probably more after exploring the alternatives to see the grass wasn't as green as I thought it was. I'm going to buy the Samsung ATIV S the minute its available for preorder. It seems to be the only intial WP8 with a built in microSD card slot. I cant wait!

Excellent first post (?)

 

[pspbricker]

From my point of view, I'm totally confused.
I had 4 Android devices going back to the HTC Hero. All of them had flaws/shortcomings in the OS version I was using - even when I started using custom ROMS. I convinced myself that the next device (And subsequent hardware and software upgrade) would satisfy my needs. When my SGS2 had serious GPS problems - I looked for alternatives.
I had an ipod, and that let me play any games/listen to music just fine, so I didn't see the point in going for an iPhone, and picked up a WP LG 900 on the cheap.
This was pre-Mango and although I liked the UI, there were serious shortcomings. I use navigation a lot, and Bing Maps is basically hopeless as such so when Nokia launched the 800, I snapped one up on launch day. Love the build, aesthetics, navigation, email client, Nokia Music and photo integration, but there are still things that I am hoping will be improved with WP8.
Thing is, I'm worried that my issues won't be addressed. The Lumia 920 gives me all I want hardware wise, but if WP8 doesn't impress me on the 29th (?), I might look back at an Android device again.
Specifically, these are deal breakers for me;
I want the ability to receive IMs/notifications when not charging. I get irritated by powering on my 800, and then getting a FB message that was sent 25 mins ago. Same with emails. If WP8 doesn't push notifications more effectively, I won't wait for an update.
I want Nokia's Maps to include a "compass view" feature. Right now, using Bing - or Nokia Maps - means that it shows you the route, but when you pivot to find which direction to start walking, the display doesn't rotate, which means I could walk about 100m, before finding out that Maps tells me that I was walking the wrong way... irritating.
I want (Pretty sure I'm covered on this one) all my IM and VOIP apps to run in the background. Whatsapp, Skype, IM, FB chat etc. No need to tell you how hopeless things are now. I know that WP8 allows 8 apps to be multitasked, but I do not want Skype closing down if it becomes the 9th (If you get what I mean).
Finally, I want MS to get their finger out and support their own OS. It's just not good enough that half the features are not supported in all but a handful of countries. Right now, I'm in Prague. Searching for "Eat and Drink" nearby with Bing is not supported here, nor most of the countries in Europe. Same with Bing Maps - searching for McDonalds whilst in Prague produces a result for McD's in Oklahoma! Hopeless.
If anybody can reassure me about any of the above, I'll be a much happier bunny.

 

[power5]

Not sure why you do not get IMs when not charging. I get Text, email, fb message, and any other form of communication no matter where I am or what I am doing as long as I at least have cell signal. Do you have battery saver on? Not sure if that deactivates when it is plugged in, but otherwise, you should always be getting data downloads. That is unless you have cellular data turned off or something.

Not completely sure of your maps issue. Are you saying you need to know what direction N is on the map? Or you do not know which way to turn? Unless you are in the middle of the desert, I would imagine you can find a landmark on the map that you can look around to identify. A curve in the road, the next intersecting road, a coffee shop listed in the map. I have never had a problem with knowing which way to go using maps. But I do not know your situation.


Yes, I agree that after 2 years in the wild, WP should have all features working in all countries and places that devices are sold.

 

[bear_lx]

I'm sorry but I'm calling BS to your post. You claim to have used a Focus for a year and a half and you're just joining this forum? Your Focus is your first smartphone yet you know all about the features of Android and you seem to know how to jailbreak?"

"I'm also calling BS. The fact you expect us to sell you on WP8 is crazy. Do your own homework and get off the dam fence!!! "----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

a little harsh aren't we? calm down and give him a reason to stick with the OS. i would personally rather read this thread than the countless other pointless threads about "what color phone will you get?" or "this phone is off my list" or "are you excited about MS ecosystem?' by all the teenie boppers that flood this forum now. no offense to those who wrote them... but come on...make this a techinically informative thread about reasons to migrate or stick with the OS.

so to the OP, read this 10 Reasons to Buy a Windows Phone 8