Lifehacker Article - Can WP8 replace my iPhone or Android?

[Zokudu]

Saw this article on Lifehacker yesterday. It's an alright article I think he's wrong on a few points but heres the cliffs

• He loves the start screen
• Thinks the "Metro" design standards are pretty but not practical
• Missing Notification Center
• Loves it's multitasking
• Thinks the Email client feels a bit dated
• Calendar is boring, month view sucks, couldn't get his google calendar to sync.
• Liked the idea behind People Hub but found it tough to use it as an address book
• Navigation and Maps work. Seems ambivalent.
• Overall likes IE, wishes some of the drawer options were faster to access.
• Does not like app selection, focuses on it not always having a great option in every app category and obviously lack of third party support so far
• Bashes the phone a bit in the conclusion

I was ~70% with this article until the conclusion. I was a little offput that he has good things to say about most of the platform and than equates it to no more than a feature phone. What do you all think of the article and his take on Windows Phone?

 

[martinmc78]

Clickbait

 

[rockstarzzz]

Clickbait

+1

 

[Narse77]

Clickbait

+2

 

[gsquared]

Clickbait

+3

 

[anon(5725119)]

Clickbait

+4

 

[omniusovermind]

there's no such thing as criticism. All criticism is clickbait.

 

[ohgood]

there's no such thing as criticism. All criticism is clickbait.

point.

its cool that someone tried wp instead of just saying "eww I hazza iphone".

 

[Chris_Kez]

Seems like the most common issue is that nearly all of these tech bloggers are heavy google users. Over and over you read about problems related to Gmail and Google calendar. Dropbox is another tech darling. I wish there were more writers that were coming from the real world and not their insular tech-blog bubble.

 

[theefman]

Seems like the most common issue is that nearly all of these tech bloggers are heavy google users. Over and over you read about problems related to Gmail and Google calendar. Dropbox is another tech darling. I wish there were more writers that were coming from the real world and not their insular tech-blog bubble.

Microsoft should be doing more to promote services like SkyDrive and Outlook.com in comparison to those services. I can't imagine why any WP/Windows user would desire dropbox so much when SkyDrive offers the same if not more features and will be even better in Windows Blue and maybe WP Blue as well. That will negate all these bs points, at least for the regular non-biased user.

 

[tgp]

Saw this article on Lifehacker yesterday. It's an alright article I think he's wrong on a few points but heres the cliffs

• He loves the start screen
• Thinks the "Metro" design standards are pretty but not practical
• Missing Notification Center
• Loves it's multitasking
• Thinks the Email client feels a bit dated
• Calendar is boring, month view sucks, couldn't get his google calendar to sync.
• Liked the idea behind People Hub but found it tough to use it as an address book
• Navigation and Maps work. Seems ambivalent.
• Overall likes IE, wishes some of the drawer options were faster to access.
• Does not like app selection, focuses on it not always having a great option in every app category and obviously lack of third party support so far
• Bashes the phone a bit in the conclusion

I was ~70% with this article until the conclusion. I was a little offput that he has good things to say about most of the platform and than equates it to no more than a feature phone. What do you all think of the article and his take on Windows Phone?

I carry 2 phones: a Nexus 4 and a Lumia 920. The Nexus 4 is my daily driver due to missing apps on WP, but I am quite familiar with WP8. Some of these points don't apply to me, but I'll comment on the ones that do.

• He loves the start screen

I do too.

• Thinks the "Metro" design standards are pretty but not practical

I pretty much agree here. At first I thought Metro was pretty AND practical, but I discovered that when more apps are added and more live tiles pinned, the amount of scrolling required is too much. For me, the apps drawer column IS practical on WP because I have less apps, due to a lot of the apps I would use not being available. If I had the amount of apps on my WP that I do on my Android, the list would be way too long.

• Missing Notification Center

Agree. The live tiles are OK, but if a user has too many live tiles with notifications on the home screen, some will not be visible without scrolling down. The toasts are more or less a joke in my opinion.

• Loves it's multitasking

It's good, but I haven't found an advantage over Android in this regard.

• Calendar is boring, month view sucks, couldn't get his google calendar to sync.

I don't use the calendar much, but a colleague of mine who is a WP fan confirms one point here. He always complained about the WP calendar's month view.

• Navigation and Maps work.

I heartily agree here. I don't use navigation much on my phones, but other than POI selection I would say that navigation is as good or better on WP than Android. At least it is with Nokia's maps.

• Does not like app selection, focuses on it not always having a great option in every app category and obviously lack of third party support so far

This is the main reason my 920 is not my daily driver.

My 2?...

 

[Sanjay Chandra]

I want notification center for the apps which are not pinned to start.

Notification center pretty much kills the concept of live tiles but NC is the most practical way but atleast adding NC for non-start-screen apps would be nice....


I have all apps I need on my WP.Only app I need is Pulse that's all.

iPad always stays as another primary device for me.

 

[wamsille]

For most people Windows Phone could replace their Android or iPhone. Why it doesn't do it consistently is because adoption rates of developers to the platform have been far from overwhelming. Either your device inherently performs the same functions of today's best applications or developers are already on board. Microsoft has some compelling apps and services. They don't advertise. SkyDrive is better than Dropbox and Google Drive. Xbox Music could be something great but it is broken. Nokia Music helps but isn't a full replacement. If Instagram or a similar mainstream app launched people would flock to Windows, right? What about Pandora? The knockout punch to bring about mass adoption for Windows Phone has to come from MS. Nokia is fine but they didn't design Windows Phone OS. They are to WP as Samsung is to Google.

 

[stevethenerd]

The metro UI is quite functional when you get used to it.

Notifications centre would be nice, but there are some after market alternatives in the works. And MS is rumored to be working on one.
My experience with Gmail (and calendar sync) have been good. The recent lack if support is more google fault for discontinued support for EAS(a superior solution than cardav and caldav), just not a free one. This will be fixed in the OS update.


The Nokia maps is amazing and better the google maps (at least the limited WP support) - I currently avoid google when ever possible, even on the desktop.

I have been disappointed with the calendar... But as this my only phone and all my main email accounts are exchange it works adequately. I would love a week view.

As to the app problem, I quite like the Facebook app on WP although the features of fb I use are supplied mostly by the phone. Having never used instagram, I have no idea what I'm missing. Alot of other mainstream apps have adequate alternatives or superior MS equivalents. Because android and ios does provided integrated os features equivalent to services like dropbox or a viable productivity app most users become depend on what's available. SkyDrive and Office mobile are an amazing. Open, edit, save just like the desktop.
Some mainstream app support would be better. Convince the android and ios developers to support and second/third platform (and now a forth BB10)

I equate android with windows 98. The just rammed extra features in to try make it functional. With absolutely no regard for security or privacy. (why do I need an antivirus on my phone?) IOS at least gets this part right.


Yes I absolutely love WP and know it will only get better!