(Official) What WP needs to succeed

[wamsille]

Re: I am done with windows phone.

You buy a phone for what it is, not what it will be. Apps can only do so much for a device. They can't fix the limited storage on the Nexus 4, for example. The Lumia is a great phone, can't speak for the 8X. You will be back in some capacity, even if you don't admit it now.

 

[jhguth]

Re: I am done with windows phone.

bye

 

[c0wb0ycliche]

Re: I am done with windows phone.

Obviously you are going to get a lot of the same "Bye" and "Good riddance" sort of posts, but I do think you have some valid points.

I have also been a fan since day one, and had every generation of device, but some of this stuff is like what are they thinking.

Apps like Instagram and Vine (which don't get me wrong, I think are pretty dumb, but literally everyone I know uses them) need to be on Windows Phone. With Microsoft's resources this should be a matter of "here is some money, here is our app, make it work." Same things applies to some of the media apps - especially ones that are already on Windows 8 or Xbox - like HBOGo, Hulu, etc. It just doesn't make sense.

I'm not ready to jump ship yet, but I gotta say, it gets tough as more time goes by.

 

[Mr. MacPhisto]

Re: I am done with windows phone.

Enjoy Android's fragmented system and Apple's totalitarianism. Android will die once Samsung leaves and Google gets sued to Kingdom Come, so enjoy it for it's last two years.

 

[Jaskys]

Re: I am done with windows phone.

Thank you fan boys

Best excuse for anything in the world.

 

[Ultimateone]

Re: I am done with windows phone.

Why do people make these threads?

 

[denniski]

Re: I am done with windows phone.

I might join you, might go android with s4 or htc one or sony xperia z, if my problem is not fixed. i currently have a lumia 920 but beginning a few weeks back all of the third party live tiles doesn't update anymore especially weather apps (i bought weather flow and have 4 others just to see), all the battery apps doesn't refresh too, engadget app, rapid news, weave, cnn, even nokia's own nokia trailers. so far no response from nokia, app makers couldn't help too, tried everything i read from forums, reinstall, background tasks, etc. not sure if it started when i did the update trick coz now i'm running .1002. if anyone can help me, i would really appreciate it.

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

Re: I am done with windows phone.

Just leave....

 

[tk-093]

Re: I am done with windows phone.

What's the point of these posts? There is a thread for things you don't like, post it there. Nobody cares that some random dude is leaving. I switch devices all the time I don't leave goodbye posts, and neither should you.

 

[TJWINS]

Re: I am done with windows phone.

I am also regretting moving to Windows Phone. Major apps are non existent. Very frustrating! The only reason I'm still here is because im afraid to embarrass myself in front of my friends after defending WP8 for so long. But I must admit Windows Phone sucks from a an apps and or social media perspective. Crossing my fingers that this changes soon.

 

[willied]

Re: I am done with windows phone.

Nokia Drive speaks the street names, you just have to download the voice that does that.

 

[stmav]

Re: I am done with windows phone.

This is going nowhere fast. If you wish to tell why you are leaving WP, please post it in the thread linked below. Closing thread.

http://forums.windowscentral.com/wi...nt-like-wp8-part-2-what-wp-needs-succeed.html

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

Re: I am done with windows phone.

There's already a thread for that. Will pull up the link when I get home. Thread locked.

Edit: Already covered.

 

[TheDarKnight]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

Ok I am posting in this thread after posting in the wrong place, my apologizes to the moderators. anyways. but boy I will tell you a lot of people attacked me for this post, I don't mean to insult anyone or hurt anyone, I am just contributing and sharing my experience...

its over, I gave the phone and the OS too many chances and defended it, I bought the phone from the first generation (HTC HD7) till the latest (HTC 8x), I also have a Nokia 900, I loved my windows phone when I first got it, and when WP8 came out I recommended it to a lot of people and most of them actually switched, I convinced my wife to get an HTC HD7 then a Lumia 900, now she wants an iPhone (because of the apps), all my 3 brothers made the switch to WP (but now 2 of them already switching back to android), 2 uncles and a bunch of my coworkers switched, and when I meet them or talk to them they tell me about their bad experiences with some apps that just won’t start, or the lack of apps and hardware issues (specially Nokia) , but to be fair almost everyone liked how smooth and fast the UI is). but enough about that, I am just going to talk about my own bad experience, so anyways I do feel that it’s a dead end with windows phone and it’s not getting enough attention from Microsoft or developers of big name apps, I also have more reasons why I am considering to leave wp:

1. Microsoft promised a strong big ecosystem, well it’s not that strong, some of its aspects are pretty good like SkyDrive, but things like xbox music and video don’t offer similar experiences across all platforms specially with purchases, also I always thought that the xbox and windows phone will be really close to windows 8 interface (they showed that in some commercials and ads) but they are pretty different, and each one of them is “operated” differently and look different. Also the apps are not common, from what I understand part of the ecosystem is where you can buy an app in one device and run/use it on your tablet/phone/pc or the ability to play a video and broadcast from your phone to your tv (don’t tell me to use play to, it’s made by nokia, so what about other devices? Microsoft should take care of that, plus play it has limited functionality).I am a PS3 guy and I invested in an xbox 360 and Kinect last year just because of the hype about the new UI that will have similar experience like windows 8, now I never use my xbox, just sometimes because I have xfinity and the xbox app is kinda cool with searching and finding TV Shows and stuff (and Kinect voice commands are awesome)
2. The lack of apps and the lack of support from the devs, and I am talking here about major apps that I personally use (viber, tango, CNN, some ESPN apps, facebook, linkedIn, pageonce and much more official apps) most of them are buggy and never work (tried them on many wp devices) and they just never get updated, or they don’t even have enough features like the ones on IOs and Android.
3. Games, I mean come one it’s the xbox, the most popular gaming platform in the world or whatever, even though I am a PS3 gamer I would love to play big names on wp and surface RT tablet, or play multiplayer games (not online pool and strategy games), and I hate the fact that we had to wait a year or so until angry birds or temple run came out.
4. The disappointment as a WP 7.8 user, we only got the new UI and bing wallpaper from WP8, really? Couldn’t they improved Bing search like wp8? Or lock screen icons? also that data high usage bug really ended things for me, and the long wait for it to be fixed, it looks like Microsoft is just ignoring the WP 7.8 users, I got the device a year ago and I expect some level of support, what really bothered me that after a couple of months of buying the phone they announced the wp8 and they said wp7 device are only getting the UI from wp8, couldn’t they plan this better?
5. Bing Vs Google, I use Bing and only Bing, but look what is Google offering for its users, they have an impressive maps and gps system, an amazing voice search capabilities, I got really impressed with how Google voice search works on my brothers tablet, Bing search and maps on the phone is kinda horrible, same with the gps, I mean for my wp 7.8 devices I have to tap the screen to hear the next step, and the map is so tiny on the gps, also nokia gps doesn’t say the street names, it just tells you go right or left, give Google gps a try and you will see what we are missing.
6. Lack of accessories and cool gadgets, not much to say here, just look at all kind of gadgets and tools and things you can hookup to your iPhone for example.
7. I originally also decided to get a wp7 phone because of the features that I thought they are unique for wp7 users only, like SkyDrive, xbox, smart glass, etc... , but now since they are on all different competitors’ devices, I have no enough strong reason to stay with wp.

I am not looking for anyone to tell me oh, Microsoft is working hard on it or there is technical difficulties and challenges, or they are better than Google or apple or anyone else, I don’t really care, by the end of the day I am a user and a customer and I am looking for the better experience and advantage for myself not the company, if any other device offers that better experience for me or provide what I am looking for then I will switch.

I gave wp lots of chances even with bad experiences I had Nokia Lumia 900 Issues , I was patient and really expected that one day wp will redeem itself. But I am done and tired of waiting while there is other really good alternatives available.
And just keep in mind, I am not a supporter or a fan boy of a specific company, I love my surface RT, and I use outlook (Hotmail) and Bing, I use IE but I hate it sometime and I use Firefox instead, I love my PS3 and I sometimes enjoy my xbox (movies and media stuff not gaming), so I don’t really care if it’s from Microsoft or anyone else, what really matters for me by the end of the day is what works for me and does the job for me and what I need, maybe wp9 or 10 or 20 will have improvements and more apps? Or the better ecosystem? Well until that days comes, I might consider getting back to wp.

 

[Muessig]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

Ok I am posting in this thread after posting in the wrong place, my apologizes to the moderators. anyways. but boy I will tell you a lot of people attacked me for this post, I don't mean to insult anyone or hurt anyone, I am just contributing and sharing my experience...

its over, I gave the phone and the OS too many chances and defended it, I bought the phone from the first generation (HTC HD7) till the latest (HTC 8x), I also have a Nokia 900, I loved my windows phone when I first got it, and when WP8 came out I recommended it to a lot of people and most of them actually switched, I convinced my wife to get an HTC HD7 then a Lumia 900, now she wants an iPhone (because of the apps), all my 3 brothers made the switch to WP (but now 2 of them already switching back to android), 2 uncles and a bunch of my coworkers switched, and when I meet them or talk to them they tell me about their bad experiences with some apps that just won’t start, or the lack of apps and hardware issues (specially Nokia) , but to be fair almost everyone liked how smooth and fast the UI is). but enough about that, I am just going to talk about my own bad experience, so anyways I do feel that it’s a dead end with windows phone and it’s not getting enough attention from Microsoft or developers of big name apps, I also have more reasons why I am considering to leave wp:

1. Microsoft promised a strong big ecosystem, well it’s not that strong, some of its aspects are pretty good like SkyDrive, but things like xbox music and video don’t offer similar experiences across all platforms specially with purchases, also I always thought that the xbox and windows phone will be really close to windows 8 interface (they showed that in some commercials and ads) but they are pretty different, and each one of them is “operated” differently and look different. Also the apps are not common, from what I understand part of the ecosystem is where you can buy an app in one device and run/use it on your tablet/phone/pc or the ability to play a video and broadcast from your phone to your tv (don’t tell me to use play to, it’s made by nokia, so what about other devices? Microsoft should take care of that, plus play it has limited functionality).I am a PS3 guy and I invested in an xbox 360 and Kinect last year just because of the hype about the new UI that will have similar experience like windows 8, now I never use my xbox, just sometimes because I have xfinity and the xbox app is kinda cool with searching and finding TV Shows and stuff (and Kinect voice commands are awesome)
2. The lack of apps and the lack of support from the devs, and I am talking here about major apps that I personally use (viber, tango, CNN, some ESPN apps, facebook, linkedIn, pageonce and much more official apps) most of them are buggy and never work (tried them on many wp devices) and they just never get updated, or they don’t even have enough features like the ones on IOs and Android.
3. Games, I mean come one it’s the xbox, the most popular gaming platform in the world or whatever, even though I am a PS3 gamer I would love to play big names on wp and surface RT tablet, or play multiplayer games (not online pool and strategy games), and I hate the fact that we had to wait a year or so until angry birds or temple run came out.
4. The disappointment as a WP 7.8 user, we only got the new UI and bing wallpaper from WP8, really? Couldn’t they improved Bing search like wp8? Or lock screen icons? also that data high usage bug really ended things for me, and the long wait for it to be fixed, it looks like Microsoft is just ignoring the WP 7.8 users, I got the device a year ago and I expect some level of support, what really bothered me that after a couple of months of buying the phone they announced the wp8 and they said wp7 device are only getting the UI from wp8, couldn’t they plan this better?
5. Bing Vs Google, I use Bing and only Bing, but look what is Google offering for its users, they have an impressive maps and gps system, an amazing voice search capabilities, I got really impressed with how Google voice search works on my brothers tablet, Bing search and maps on the phone is kinda horrible, same with the gps, I mean for my wp 7.8 devices I have to tap the screen to hear the next step, and the map is so tiny on the gps, also nokia gps doesn’t say the street names, it just tells you go right or left, give Google gps a try and you will see what we are missing.
6. Lack of accessories and cool gadgets, not much to say here, just look at all kind of gadgets and tools and things you can hookup to your iPhone for example.
7. I originally also decided to get a wp7 phone because of the features that I thought they are unique for wp7 users only, like SkyDrive, xbox, smart glass, etc... , but now since they are on all different competitors’ devices, I have no enough strong reason to stay with wp.

I am not looking for anyone to tell me oh, Microsoft is working hard on it or there is technical difficulties and challenges, or they are better than Google or apple or anyone else, I don’t really care, by the end of the day I am a user and a customer and I am looking for the better experience and advantage for myself not the company, if any other device offers that better experience for me or provide what I am looking for then I will switch.

I gave wp lots of chances even with bad experiences I had Nokia Lumia 900 Issues , I was patient and really expected that one day wp will redeem itself. But I am done and tired of waiting while there is other really good alternatives available.
And just keep in mind, I am not a supporter or a fan boy of a specific company, I love my surface RT, and I use outlook (Hotmail) and Bing, I use IE but I hate it sometime and I use Firefox instead, I love my PS3 and I sometimes enjoy my xbox (movies and media stuff not gaming), so I don’t really care if it’s from Microsoft or anyone else, what really matters for me by the end of the day is what works for me and does the job for me and what I need, maybe wp9 or 10 or 20 will have improvements and more apps? Or the better ecosystem? Well until that days comes, I might consider getting back to wp.

I understand that this post was written in frustration and that the chances of you reading any replies to the thread itself are slim... which begs the question why you posted a laundry list of perceived defects in the first place, but nevertheless I'll try my best to offer some of my own experiences or advice.

I'm sorry to hear that the people you have helped to go to Windows Phone in the past are seeking other phones elsewhere now partly due to frustration like yourself or bad experiences with hardware or software. It seems you are mostly Windows Phone 7 users, so why you posted in the Windows Phone 8 forum perplexes me but I'll go with it. Sometimes you get a phone and you enjoy it but it only suits your needs for a time. This definitely happened to me and my last android phone, the HTC G2 Touch. I had it 4 years but by the end of that time I was sick of android and the way you had to constantly tinker with custom ROM's and so on in the never-ending search for the perfect balance between speed and functionality.

1. Ecosystem - not as strong as you wanted? Shame. Core aspects of the Windows ecosystem as admittedly a bit lacking at the moment - we've seen threads about Xbox Music and how we wish it was at least as good as Zune was for Windows Phone 7 and how it misses some basic functionality especially regarding syncing and podcasts. I'm confident that these features will be plugged back in over time and that Xbox Music will surpass Zune at some point but I can understand how it would frustrate people now. Microsoft have recently adopted a 'Shut up and Ship' approach, so we're bound to see improvements to the platform this year, one aspect of this will be with '8.1' or 'Blue' which is rumoured to give different parts of the ecosystem unity where there isn't some today - for example you talk of having to purchase videos, music or apps more than once across platforms in the Windows ecosystem - the 'blue' update should get rid of this and unify everything, but time will tell. I'm not sure it's completely justified to be complacent about Windows Phone because you bought an Xbox and end up not using it? I can't think of another ecosystem where the UI is basically a consistent experience as we have currently with Windows Phone, Xbox Metro and Windows 8... It seems to me you bought into hype instead of practically evaluating whether certain devices actually met your needs at the time?

2. Apps - The recent traction that Windows Phone 8 has gained with new apps being released to the market and even today with Dan Rubino teasing a new Instagraph (Instagram) app along with a new Viber app last week and so on it's a very exciting time to be a part of the Windows Phone ecosystem. Granted it might be a bit frustrating being on Windows Phone 7 hardware as these new apps don't seem to be released on that platform or updated as much anymore - I suspect this is where most of your frustration comes from. The fact is that on the Windows Phone 8 platform new apps are coming all the time and becoming less and less of an excuse for people to dump the platform.

3. Games - I can understand your frustration here, so can WP Central as a whole, who have in the last couple of months written a brilliant series of articles that sum up your concerns quite nicely but after that lull in releases at the beginning of the year Xbox Games are starting to be released at an alarming rate on the Windows Phone platform. Asphalt 7, Temple Run and so on... they might be a little later than we'd hoped but they ARE here and continued work with the Unity engine will mean that going forward Windows Phone is in a prime position.

4. Windows Phone 7.8 - sure it may not have had performance improvements but it DID have the new start screen that Microsoft promised and the functionality that brings. It's been said before and it'll be said again... the reason that Windows Phone 7 hardware couldn't get the Windows Phone 8 operating system is because of a fundamental kernel change. It's a hardware thing. You DID, however, get arguably one of the best things about Windows Phone 8 on your Windows Phone 7 hardware - the new start screen. Microsoft have pledged to support the Windows Phone 7 operating system for a while yet and there's even rumours of a 7.9 update.

5. Bing and Google - the TellMe system on Windows Phone 8 is quite responsive at least to my voice and I've not experienced a more accurate voice search or input system when dictating notes or texts on my 920. Windows Phone 8 can support app launching, in-app voice commands and other such things natively but it's more up to the developers to support and code these things within their apps. As far as Google Maps or navigation goes Nokia's Here service is available to everyone on the Windows Phone 8 platform, not just people on Lumia handsets anymore. You can even download voices that say the street names. Like I say, I had Google Maps on my android phone for 4 years and while I loved the service I've never wanted to go back to it using Nokia's systems.

6. Accessories - really? I'm not sure if you're joking here or living in a broom cupboard or something but Nokia especially stand out from the rest of the platforms when it comes to making accessories designed to go with your hardware. From stereo's that both charge your phone wirelessly, support NFC and stream music from your phone with a tap to in-car chargers perfect for charging your devices while using the navigation software to some of the finest cases and headphones available for phones. Sure these aren't accessories you can find in every cornershop or supermarket you come across but that's because we're talking about quality accessories that actually extend your enjoyment of the phone system instead of cheap accessories that are designed to last for 5 minutes. Sorry but I really don't think you have a point here at all.

7. Shared functionality - Some of the same games, smart glass apps and Sky Drive etc appearing on all platforms. Yeah this can be frustrating but there's also another way to look at it. If you show someone on an iPhone, Nexus 4 etc premium apps like Sky Drive and Smart Glass that work really well on your own platform the idea is that they're gonna want to experience those apps and more on the platform they are designed for in the first place - Windows. MS are doing a lot to screw this ethos up by putting versions of these apps that work just as well if not better on the other platforms but given time I'm hoping that the experiences of these apps will be levelled. Besides... most people would want to use these apps on all platforms anyway - for a big company like Microsoft it's just common sense to offer these apps to other platforms.

I think the core issue here is that you seem to value your device by the apps that are on it. This is typically not a mindset for Windows Phone, who's design philosophy is to get your head OUT of your phone and do what you need it to do quickly and efficiently so you can 'be in the room' so to speak. Windows Phones are fabled for being devices that just work. They are fast, stable, built to be efficient with regards to battery and give great performance. I've found that most of what I want my phone to do, it does it. Where there are gaps in functionality this is where the apps come in. I don't buy a device to run apps I don't care about - I buy a device to fulfil my needs and where it doesn't do that I can try to find an app to plug that gap. Hopefully the operating system meets most of those needs right now, but there are going to be people for whom that just isn't true. To those people I encourage you to go and try to find another platform that'll meet your needs better and hopefully see you back here when Windows Phone is a viable platform for you.

 

[TheDarKnight]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

Thanks for your reply, wish more people could have a decent discussion like yours, instead of attacking.

so anyways:

1. Ecosystem: about the xbox part, I didn’t just buy the xbox for the windows phone, I bought it because I thought with the ecosystem I will enjoy using all my purchased apps from wp or w8 on my 46” tv screen using hand gestures with Kinect. I don’t regret buying an xbox I still love the Kinect, and I enjoy the xbox online capacities (I think they beat the ps3 online ones), but ps3 is my choice for gaming and trophies collection.
2. My Main device is lumia 900, however I borrowed my brother’s htc 8x for a while and it still lack some apps, I know there is a lot coming soon, but what is also frustrating the support after releasing the apps, some just don’t work or they are have limited functionality and never get updated.
3. Games: I am a heavy video gamer, having super graphic games and big titles and multiplayer is a big plus for me.
4. WP7.8: never knew wp7.9 is rumored, also I know wp8 have major changes that won’t work on wp7, but like the new Bing, would that be a bid deal and require hardware changes to have the new media search results and the other features? Or the lock screen thing. I know the UI thing is a big thing to have, but I would expect more for an update, like the mango update, it was huge and included a lot of changes.
5. Bing and Google: if you give the Google voice command a try you will find out it works better, try it on your windows 8 if you have one, I still use Bing thought as a search engine, it gives better results and better visual results than Google
6. Accessories: ThinkGeek :: Find Stuff , from the helicopter/ RC cars controllers, and credit card scanners, not to mention everything else you see everywhere in electronic stores, (audio/video accessories), heck everything in the world now connects to an iphone, just like anything in the world plugs in to your windows machine and OS.
7. Shared functionality: I just was hoping that my wp will have those exclusive features and apps,

I used to own an android and it sucked, but the new android phone are promising.

I know that wp is still a young device and it would take time to catch up with the popular iphone and droid devices, but that's not my problem to solve or wait for it to be solved, I am not obligated to stay with wp and wait like most people feel and advice me to do, I will just go with what I need and enjoy more, one day if wp have the features I am looking for and when it provides and offers those things I mentioned, I will come back for sure.

 

[dainla]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

I agree with a lot of what you said, TheDarKnight.

People got pissy over in the other thread but there's some serious problems with WP8. I bought my 810 outright, so I might sell it and move on. Trouble is I don't like iOS or Android.

I don't ask for much from my phones. I use it for very little. I use it to stream podcasts, mlb, listen to music, the occasional game, photos, video and email, text.

1) Music - total, shocking disaster on WP8. No excuse. It's gone on too long. I would never recommend WP8 to anyone because of this mess alone.

2) Apps. Fine, I expected fewer apps and I can ride that out. I'll be gone if there's no MLB 13 app. It's more than strange to see it one every single platform except WP8. This is one of those things that adds on. Alone, would just be annoying.

3) Photos and video - well, since every month I have to reformat my sd card to eliminate all the duplicate songs, I have to dump all my photos and videos as well. It's annoying, unnecessary and shows how one problem on a phone has implications elsewhere.

4) The lack of editing of emails is a real problem for me due to the business I work in.

5) I finally settled on using the native podcast app but I went through months of dealing with all the terrible podcasting apps. They are terrible, just don't work with wp8

Mostly what I use smartphones for - this one doesn't do well. It's a shame because I like a lot about it. But to be this far in and still have the music problem is not a good sign for the future, IMO

 

[th0mas96]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

the only thing that really bugs me too is music. I tested it, it's not my card, it's just the phone that locks up for 2 minutes when I try to shuffle all songs while having a really big music collection. this needs to be fixed.
What really wonders me, why does Nokia always advertise "gimmicks" like NFC that not too much people will actually use everyday but never the really awesome, systemwide equalizer? It's something that only Android has (with mods), on iOS there are several apps, but even with jailbreak nothing systemwide, and I don't think Blackberry has an EQ. Am I the only one who uses it everyday?

 

[Oliver Newell]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

Ok I am posting in this thread after posting in the wrong place, my apologizes to the moderators. anyways. but boy I will tell you a lot of people attacked me for this post, I don't mean to insult anyone or hurt anyone, I am just contributing and sharing my experience...

its over, I gave the phone and the OS too many chances and defended it, I bought the phone from the first generation (HTC HD7) till the latest (HTC 8x), I also have a Nokia 900, I loved my windows phone when I first got it, and when WP8 came out I recommended it to a lot of people and most of them actually switched, I convinced my wife to get an HTC HD7 then a Lumia 900, now she wants an iPhone (because of the apps), all my 3 brothers made the switch to WP (but now 2 of them already switching back to android), 2 uncles and a bunch of my coworkers switched, and when I meet them or talk to them they tell me about their bad experiences with some apps that just won’t start, or the lack of apps and hardware issues (specially Nokia) , but to be fair almost everyone liked how smooth and fast the UI is). but enough about that, I am just going to talk about my own bad experience, so anyways I do feel that it’s a dead end with windows phone and it’s not getting enough attention from Microsoft or developers of big name apps, I also have more reasons why I am considering to leave wp:

1. Microsoft promised a strong big ecosystem, well it’s not that strong, some of its aspects are pretty good like SkyDrive, but things like xbox music and video don’t offer similar experiences across all platforms specially with purchases, also I always thought that the xbox and windows phone will be really close to windows 8 interface (they showed that in some commercials and ads) but they are pretty different, and each one of them is “operated” differently and look different. Also the apps are not common, from what I understand part of the ecosystem is where you can buy an app in one device and run/use it on your tablet/phone/pc or the ability to play a video and broadcast from your phone to your tv (don’t tell me to use play to, it’s made by nokia, so what about other devices? Microsoft should take care of that, plus play it has limited functionality).I am a PS3 guy and I invested in an xbox 360 and Kinect last year just because of the hype about the new UI that will have similar experience like windows 8, now I never use my xbox, just sometimes because I have xfinity and the xbox app is kinda cool with searching and finding TV Shows and stuff (and Kinect voice commands are awesome)
2. The lack of apps and the lack of support from the devs, and I am talking here about major apps that I personally use (viber, tango, CNN, some ESPN apps, facebook, linkedIn, pageonce and much more official apps) most of them are buggy and never work (tried them on many wp devices) and they just never get updated, or they don’t even have enough features like the ones on IOs and Android.
3. Games, I mean come one it’s the xbox, the most popular gaming platform in the world or whatever, even though I am a PS3 gamer I would love to play big names on wp and surface RT tablet, or play multiplayer games (not online pool and strategy games), and I hate the fact that we had to wait a year or so until angry birds or temple run came out.
4. The disappointment as a WP 7.8 user, we only got the new UI and bing wallpaper from WP8, really? Couldn’t they improved Bing search like wp8? Or lock screen icons? also that data high usage bug really ended things for me, and the long wait for it to be fixed, it looks like Microsoft is just ignoring the WP 7.8 users, I got the device a year ago and I expect some level of support, what really bothered me that after a couple of months of buying the phone they announced the wp8 and they said wp7 device are only getting the UI from wp8, couldn’t they plan this better?
5. Bing Vs Google, I use Bing and only Bing, but look what is Google offering for its users, they have an impressive maps and gps system, an amazing voice search capabilities, I got really impressed with how Google voice search works on my brothers tablet, Bing search and maps on the phone is kinda horrible, same with the gps, I mean for my wp 7.8 devices I have to tap the screen to hear the next step, and the map is so tiny on the gps, also nokia gps doesn’t say the street names, it just tells you go right or left, give Google gps a try and you will see what we are missing.
6. Lack of accessories and cool gadgets, not much to say here, just look at all kind of gadgets and tools and things you can hookup to your iPhone for example.
7. I originally also decided to get a wp7 phone because of the features that I thought they are unique for wp7 users only, like SkyDrive, xbox, smart glass, etc... , but now since they are on all different competitors’ devices, I have no enough strong reason to stay with wp.

I am not looking for anyone to tell me oh, Microsoft is working hard on it or there is technical difficulties and challenges, or they are better than Google or apple or anyone else, I don’t really care, by the end of the day I am a user and a customer and I am looking for the better experience and advantage for myself not the company, if any other device offers that better experience for me or provide what I am looking for then I will switch.

I gave wp lots of chances even with bad experiences I had Nokia Lumia 900 Issues , I was patient and really expected that one day wp will redeem itself. But I am done and tired of waiting while there is other really good alternatives available.
And just keep in mind, I am not a supporter or a fan boy of a specific company, I love my surface RT, and I use outlook (Hotmail) and Bing, I use IE but I hate it sometime and I use Firefox instead, I love my PS3 and I sometimes enjoy my xbox (movies and media stuff not gaming), so I don’t really care if it’s from Microsoft or anyone else, what really matters for me by the end of the day is what works for me and does the job for me and what I need, maybe wp9 or 10 or 20 will have improvements and more apps? Or the better ecosystem? Well until that days comes, I might consider getting back to wp.

Well good bye. Hope you don't pull all of your hair out when you switch to android due to the clumsiness and lagging of what is a terrible OS, or you getting wound up and frustrated that you bought the latest iPhone X months ago and they have already officially released information on the next iPhone which is slimmer, faster and better in everyway.

I don't like to sound sarcastic (even though it is quite fun) but I am sure Bill gates and Steve Ballmer are going to have sleepless nights on your account now.

 

[conanheath]

Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)

I can't understand why people defend wp8. Its an unfinished mess that is mediocre at best in almost all common uses for a phone. First, Android doesn't lag anymore with current ram and processor speeds. Wp8 is smooth because it has half the functionality of iPhone and Android. In couple years when MS finally gets the functions everybody else already have, it will have the same issues Android had with lag. Wp8 is fast because it doesn't do anything and What functions it has can't be used because they suck the battery dry. I can't name one aspect wp8 does better than everybody else. 6 months later and its just as bad as day one.