WP8 questions from an Android user

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anony_mouse

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Hi!
I want to buy a cheap smartphone. I had a look at what is on offer at my local shop today. I'm currently an Android user and I will continue to use an Android phone for my work SIM, so my first idea was to buy another Android handset. However, for <200 euros most of the phones look pretty bad. I'm tempted by the Nokia Lumia 520, which has decent specs for the price and seems quite well made. I played with it in the shop. I haven't used WP8 before and I have a few questions - can anyone here help?

1. Text reflow in IE. Does this really not work? Is there a setting somewhere to switch it on? (*)
2. IE speed. In the shop, IE was much slower loading pages than comparable Android phones that I tried. Is this normal? Or just e.g. a dodgy wifi connection in the shop?
3. Notification/status bar. How do I see signal strength, battery charge, etc?
4. Syncing contacts with Google. Can WP8 continuously sync contacts with Google - i.e. if I enter a new contact in WP8, will it automatically appear in Google contacts, and vice versa? (*)
5. Nokia maps. I understand that with the Lumia 520 you only get offline maps free for one country. How much do additional countries cost? Is it possible to use Google maps and Google navigation in WP8?
6. Can I use other cloud services (especially Google Drive and Dropbox) with WP8? (*)
7. Apps. Is there a way to browse the WP8 app store from a web browser? I would like to confirm the availability of some key apps such as Spotify before I buy the phone. I also want to see the user reviews, as I have heard some quite bad stories about WP apps. (*)
8. Colour - can I get the Lumia 520 in a sensible colour, i.e. black? (*)
9. Software updates - am I likely to get an update to WP 8.1? How about 8.2, etc?
10. I use Linux on my home PC. Will I have any problems connecting a WP8 phone to my Linux desktop to copy pictures, music, documents, etc? (*)
11. Does the Lumia 520 have any other serious limitations that I should be aware of, compared to the more expensive WP8 phones?

Items marked (*) are potential showstoppers for me. In general, it's important that the phone can work well with my PC, my other Android phone, and (to a lesser extent) my iPad.
Many thanks for your help!
 

rockstarzzz

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1. Text reflow in IE. Does this really not work? Is there a setting somewhere to switch it on? (*)
NO

2. IE speed. In the shop, IE was much slower loading pages than comparable Android phones that I tried. Is this normal? Or just e.g. a dodgy wifi connection in the shop?
Subjective. There is one alternative - UC Browser.

3. Notification/status bar. How do I see signal strength, battery charge, etc?
Tap on top edge of screen.

4. Syncing contacts with Google. Can WP8 continuously sync contacts with Google - i.e. if I enter a new contact in WP8, will it automatically appear in Google contacts, and vice versa? (*)
It does with Outlook - should do with Google.

5. Nokia maps. I understand that with the Lumia 520 you only get offline maps free for one country. How much do additional countries cost? Is it possible to use Google maps and Google navigation in WP8?
On my phone I get all countries offline, as many as I can store.

6. Can I use other cloud services (especially Google Drive and Dropbox) with WP8? (*)
Google Drive - No.
Dropbox - via IE or Webapp.
Skydrive - yes
Box - yes

7. Apps. Is there a way to browse the WP8 app store from a web browser? I would like to confirm the availability of some key apps such as Spotify before I buy the phone. I also want to see the user reviews, as I have heard some quite bad stories about WP apps. (*)
The Smartphone Reinvented Around You | Windows Phone (United States)

8. Colour - can I get the Lumia 520 in a sensible colour, i.e. black? (*)
Region dependent I presume.

9. Software updates - am I likely to get an update to WP 8.1? How about 8.2, etc?
Yes at least 8.1 and one major update as long as hardware isn't a limiting factor.

10. I use Linux on my home PC. Will I have any problems connecting a WP8 phone to my Linux desktop to copy pictures, music, documents, etc? (*)
Most likely no. It works as plug and play on PC, not sure about Linux.

11. Does the Lumia 520 have any other serious limitations that I should be aware of, compared to the more expensive WP8 phones?
I'll let others talk on this, I don't see any. RAM may be one - so high spec apps and games may not work.
 

trickym81

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I'll answer the questions that I can and leave the rest for others:

3. Notification/status bar. How do I see signal strength, battery charge, etc?
Slide down from the top of the screen.

4. Syncing contacts with Google. Can WP8 continuously sync contacts with Google - i.e. if I enter a new contact in WP8, will it automatically appear in Google contacts, and vice versa? (*)
Right now it can via Exchange, but that will stop working at the end of December. The next WP update includes CalDAV and CardDAV that will sync your contacts and calendar.
Read this: Google again extends ActiveSync support for its services on Windows Phone until December 31st | Windows Phone Central for more.

7. Apps. Is there a way to browse the WP8 app store from a web browser? I would like to confirm the availability of some key apps such as Spotify before I buy the phone. I also want to see the user reviews, as I have heard some quite bad stories about WP apps. (*)
Yes. Visit Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

8. Colour - can I get the Lumia 520 in a sensible colour, i.e. black? (*)
Yes: Nokia Lumia 520 - Nokia - USA

11. Does the Lumia 520 have any other serious limitations that I should be aware of, compared to the more expensive WP8 phones?
512MB of RAM means you can't run some apps. See this:
Have a Windows Phone with 512MB RAM? Report shows you can enjoy 99% of apps and games | Windows Phone Central
 

anony_mouse

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Many thanks for such quick and informative answers! A few comments...
1. IE text reflow. This is really a shame. The web browser is probably the single most important thing in a smart phone for me, and this seems like a very serious limitation. How good are the alternative browsers, e.g. UC browser? Are they a full replacement for IE?

4. Seems that syncing contacts with Google will probably work - that's good. One of my favourite Android features is that I can add a contact on one phone, and it appears on my other Android phone and in Gmail web service within seconds.

6. Regarding Google Drive - most important thing for me is to be able to view Google Docs. Does this work in IE? I can live with it being basic and clunky, but I need it to work at least adequately.
Regarding Dropbox - so I can't automatically upload photos to Dropbox?

7. That's useful to be able to browse the WP8 app store. It looks like most of the apps I use regularly are available. I see some quite bad comments about Spotify unfortunately - the inability to store offline playlists on the SD Card is pity. And Kindle isn't available, as far as I can see. :-( But probably no absolute showstoppers.

10. Using the phone with a Linux PC. Does a WP8 phone appear as a mass storage device when connected to Windows? If so, then I assume I can just copy files on and off the phone and phone will automatically make them available to me in a sensible way, as with Android.

11. I think 512MB RAM should not be a problem - I don't generally play games on my phones.

A couple of additional questions!

12. My work laptop runs Windows XP (upgrades to Windows 7 are happening very slowly). Any issues using WP8 with it?

13. Does WP8 rely on any special software on the PC? I seriously hate having to use iTunes with my iPad, so much that I have given up copying photos and music to it. I much prefer the Android approach of just copying files to the device. I have to use my work laptop for iTunes and the whole process is extremely user unfriendly and unreliable.

14. Any issues syncing contacts with Google, but calendar with Exchange?

15. I understand WP8 integrates contacts from different sources, e.g. Facebook, Exchange, Gmail, etc. I assume it does this only on the phone? I do not want, for example, my Gmail contacts uploaded to Facebook.
Also, can WP8 display different e-mail accounts (+ FB message, SMS's, etc) separately, not in a unified inbox? My old HTC Desire from early 2010 could do the unified, "people centric" approach, and I quickly disabled it as I preferred to keep the different communication channels separate.

Thanks again!
 

manicottiK

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1. IE text reflow. This is really a shame...Are they a full replacement for IE?
The only on-phone browser rendering engine is Trident, which is the heart of IE. There is no webkit-based app for WP.

6...so I can't automatically upload photos to Dropbox?
There's built-in support to upload to Skydrive, part of Microsoft's cloud ecosystem.

7...Kindle isn't available, as far as I can see.
It is. I use it all of the time. Maybe it's not in your country store?

10. Does a WP8 phone appear as a mass storage device when connected? 13. Does WP8 rely on any special software on the PC?
WP8 supports MTP rather than UMS. It doesn't need anything else.

14. Any issues syncing contacts with Google, but calendar with Exchange?
That will be fine.

15...can WP8 display different e-mail accounts (+ FB message, SMS's, etc) separately, not in a unified inbox?
Yes, that's the default. If you want, you can "link" multiple accounts so see there inboxes mixed together. Even linked, you can switch folder views to see just one inbox.
 

emagius

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1. UC Browser and the other browsers in the app store are pretty much just skins for IE. UC does have a nice interface, though.

6. Google's websites don't play well with WP8's IE (or any of the skinned versions). It's pretty much like using a featurephone/dumbphone. Is that adequate?

10/12/13. The WP8 device appears as a Media Transport Protocol device. Shouldn't be a problem on GNU/Linux or Windows XP or whatever. Note that podcast support on WP8 is terrible, so you may want to use PC software to handle it (Microsoft actually recommends using iTunes for this).

11. 512 MB of RAM is really tight. Background apps will constantly be shut down and need to be rehydrated when switching back. Numerous apps will crash when used intensively. But it's no worse than what you'd run into on Android on a 512 MB device.

14. WP8 devices can sync with multiple accounts, so that shouldn't be a problem.

15. There's no cross-contamination -- it's all on the phone. Unified inboxes are optional.
 

Al_2

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6. Regarding Google Drive - most important thing for me is to be able to view Google Docs. Does this work in IE? I can live with it being basic and clunky, but I need it to work at least adequately.
Regarding Dropbox - so I can't automatically upload photos to Dropbox?

The 'gDocs' app works quite nicely for viewing Google Drive docs. I use it quite often.

GDocs | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United Kingdom)
 

anony_mouse

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I fear IE is a killer for me - I just don't think I can't live it. Text reflow is simply essential in a mobile device. Anyone know why Microsoft haven't implemented such a standard feature yet?
I must admit I also find the WP8 UI quite ugly (probably not a popular opinion around here :) ), although perhaps I could get used to it over time if the price was right.
Anyway, thanks again for your replies. I will have another try in the shop tomorrow and I'll let you know if I do opt for WP8!
 

Fade_z

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I fear IE is a killer for me - I just don't think I can't live it. Text reflow is simply essential in a mobile device. Anyone know why Microsoft haven't implemented such a standard feature yet?
I must admit I also find the WP8 UI quite ugly (probably not a popular opinion around here :) ), although perhaps I could get used to it over time if the price was right.
Anyway, thanks again for your replies. I will have another try in the shop tomorrow and I'll let you know if I do opt for WP8!

I'm not really familiar with text reflow (as iOS and wp8 don't have it)
But I never had any real trouble with it, all the text is easily readable, and just double tap on it to focus.

I love the UI, main reason I gave wp8 a chance (and I don't like apple anymore, greedy bastards).

The UI is simple though, live tiles are original and lovely to see.
Furthermore you get 36 months support, and even better: No viruses, almost no laggy moments(on high end it's like 0.1% of the time)
And ofc beautiful design of the phone if you choose Nokia
 

Ali Assaedi

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if ur looking for a 200 euro phone, i recommend the lumia 720

-camera's are worlds apart, (vid recording lags in 520 too)
-screen is bigger, therefore text reflow will be less of an issue(altho i agree, it should be enabled :S)
-the main point, and game changer would be battery life, i think the 520's aint that great, while the 720's is the best battery life in wp platform
-design looks alot better obviously(the 520 screen is just ugly :) )
-better wide angle front facing camera(if u would ever video call, i mean, skype :p)
-you will still remain stuck with the one country gps issue(but u can alwayz change that country following a hardreset, painful solution, but works)
-NFC i think?
-optional wireless charging cover
-probably better speakers and ear phones

i got bored of black phones, i owned too many black ones.. HOWEVER, the black 720 is for some reason , amazing? http://blog.phoneslimited.co.uk/files/2013/03/Nokia-Lumia-720-Black.jpg (looks better in videos)
there are more points, but i cant remember for now :)
if u got 200 euros laying around, go for the 720, no question about it.. but if its less, then sure,maybe the 520 or 620 ... gl :)
 

anony_mouse

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Personally I find the Nokias quite ugly (and WP8 ugly too), but the <€200 Android phones look cheap - so it's cheap v. ugly. :) BTW, has Nokia's build quality improved in recent years? All the Nokia phones I owned (not smartphones) were scratched and damaged very easily. Reviews say it's good, but they also said Apple Maps was good so it's hard to trust them.
Single country navigation is a big negative. I live an hour's cycle ride from Belgium and a 40 minute train or car journey from Germany. Only having one country makes navigation rather pointless - might be OK in north America but not viable in much of mainland Europe.

I don't see the Lumia 720 for €200 (I need it SIM free and unlocked). Seems to be around €280 everywhere I check. Do you know where I can get it (and other phones) cheaper?
 

a5cent

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Single country navigation is a big negative. I live an hour's cycle ride from Belgium and a 40 minute train or car journey from Germany. Only having one country makes navigation rather pointless - might be OK in north America but not viable in much of mainland Europe.

The L520 and L720 come with HERE Drive, which include a maps license for a single country (The SIM determines what license you get). All other Nokia devices come with HERE Drive+, which includes a maps license for the entire world. You can upgrade a single country license to a world wide license for around $20.
 

freestaterocker

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I've never missed text reflow on my WP8 or my previous WP7. Double-tap the body of text you're reading and it zooms to fill the screen.

WP8 devices will appear as a mass storage drive on PC. However, WP doesn't have a file explorer, so only files that you have an app on your phone for will be accessible from the device. Microsoft's focus is on cloud services. For example, instead of drag & dropping that word document onto your phone which may still work-I've never tried it) they want you to use office 365 to put it on your SkyDrive account, where it will automatically sync to office on your phone. Remember the big outcry over their initial online-only policy with the Xbox One? It was a continuation of the all-cloud vision. They want to get to the point where the only thing your console actually does is receive inputs from the controller/kinect and the actual games/content all runs on their servers, similar to Steam for PC.
 

freestaterocker

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Personally I find the Nokias quite ugly (and WP8 ugly too), but the <?200 Android phones look cheap - so it's cheap v. ugly. :) BTW, has Nokia's build quality improved in recent years? All the Nokia phones I owned (not smartphones) were scratched and damaged very easily. Reviews say it's good, but they also said Apple Maps was good so it's hard to trust them.
Single country navigation is a big negative. I live an hour's cycle ride from Belgium and a 40 minute train or car journey from Germany. Only having one country makes navigation rather pointless - might be OK in north America but not viable in much of mainland Europe.

I don't see the Lumia 720 for ?200 (I need it SIM free and unlocked). Seems to be around ?280 everywhere I check. Do you know where I can get it (and other phones) cheaper?

the Nokia Lumia 620 should only be a few ? more than the 520, and will come with HERE Maps + which will give you free offline navigation of as many countries as you have space for the maps of.
 

N_LaRUE

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Personally I find the Nokias quite ugly (and WP8 ugly too), but the <€200 Android phones look cheap - so it's cheap v. ugly. :) BTW, has Nokia's build quality improved in recent years? All the Nokia phones I owned (not smartphones) were scratched and damaged very easily. Reviews say it's good, but they also said Apple Maps was good so it's hard to trust them.

I'm not certain of the lower end models but the Lumias in general are pretty tough. I dropped my 920 screen down onto pavement, didn't even scratch it. I'm pretty sure if I had anything else it would have shattered. The build quality is pretty solid. As for 'ugly' well that's just opinion. I kind of like the Lumia.

Single country navigation is a big negative. I live an hour's cycle ride from Belgium and a 40 minute train or car journey from Germany. Only having one country makes navigation rather pointless - might be OK in north America but not viable in much of mainland Europe.

Here's the best information for you regarding the navigation. Nokia to update and release HERE apps for all Windows Phone 8 smartphones | Windows Phone Central

There's a table about mid way through the article that lists the details. As with anything, lower end phones get the short end of the stick, that includes Android.

I don't see the Lumia 720 for €200 (I need it SIM free and unlocked). Seems to be around €280 everywhere I check. Do you know where I can get it (and other phones) cheaper?

Personally I would go for a higher end WP8 if you can find it cheap. Check eBay.

Personal opinion regarding all your questions.

If you're a hard core Android/Google user you may find WP8 frustrating to use. I personally believe in using it fully as a MS product. Google does not really like to support anything MS and has no plans to make things easy for WP8 unless WP8 starts gaining more market share, which doesn't appear to be happening too quickly going by the latest numbers.

Yes there are all kinds of 3rd party apps for Google services but like anything 3rd party you have the possibility of it not working one day. Google maps works on IE on WP8. As well you can do all the other usual Google things. Not sure about Google Docs though you can use MS Docs (docs.com). There's also MS cloud services. Again personal preference.

Last thing of note. You asked if WP8 can be attached to a computer. Answer is simply that it shows as a portable device in Wxp, W7 and probably Linux though I'd expect you need to install some sort of driver. Now with your being an Android user I have some bad news for you that you may not have thought about. There's no file explorer on WP8. There's no zip files, there's no using files that WP8 is not familiar with that you may want to access. So there's limits that you may have not considered. There's the added annoyance of not being able to attach documents to reply emails, you have to create a new email in Office Hub to do that.

On the whole I like WP8, however I know it's drawbacks and it's limitations, especially as a 'work' device. To some those limits mentioned above are not big deal but it all comes down to what you do at work and what you need to be able to do. I personally think WP8 has a way to go to be a good 'work' device, others may disagree with me but as I stated, this is my opinion.
 
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anony_mouse

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Thanks for the further replies. I'm very impressed with this forum!
It seems there are some things to think about... Main issues seem to be:
- Web browsing. I will try the browser again in the shop tomorrow. I always assumed text reflow was the only viable way to read full size webpages on a mobile device, but perhaps I'm wrong.
- Google Docs - I don't use this often on my phone, but at least being able to read something simple like a TODO list and maybe add something to it is very useful. I appreciate I could use Office 365 or something in Skydrive but that might cause problems with my other devices (Linux and Windows PC, iPad, another Android phone).
- Copying files to/from the device. I usually do this via the cloud using Dropbox for small files such as PDFs (Skydrive would be much less convenient with Linux - MS also don't support platforms they don't like :) ). I assume I can easily open these on WP8? Large files such as images or music I copy directly from a PC; Windows or Linux depending which I have in front of me and where the files are located. I'm fairly confident this will work.

I will investigate the cheap Android options a little more. For me it may make sense to stick with Android rather than adding another platform into the mix. Or I might simply bite the bullet and buy a high end phone again (the HTC One is *very* nice), but I'm a bit reluctant to spend so much money. €500 is a lot considering I don't use the phone that much these days - when I bought my last phone I was spending 90 minutes a day commuting by train. Now it takes five minutes by bike. :)
 

Ali Assaedi

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I don't see the Lumia 720 for €200 (I need it SIM free and unlocked). Seems to be around €280 everywhere I check. Do you know where I can get it (and other phones) cheaper?
you are right, im sorry, .. in the US and other countries with lower traffis its alot cheaper, around $300 mark, which translates to 200-210 euros..
but in europe its around 250+, due to vac i guess :(

Web browsing. I will try the browser again in the shop tomorrow. I always assumed text reflow was the only viable way to read full size webpages on a mobile device, but perhaps I'm wrong.
with two hands, reading is no problem, with one hand however its a bit more tricky, u get to learn how to pinch to zoom using the thumb and index fingers, while still holding the phone with the same hand :) soon enough

- Google Docs - I don't use this often on my phone, but at least being able to read something simple like a TODO list and maybe add something to it is very useful. I appreciate I could use Office 365 or something in Skydrive but that might cause problems with my other devices (Linux and Windows PC, iPad, another Android phone).
i doubt it will cause issues, ... also, forgive my ignorance, but i think office has been released recently(within the past few days) in Android and IOS, i dont know about its price tho :)

I will investigate the cheap Android options a little more.
hmm, i wouldnt buy two devices of the same OS,.. yes having different OSes is a PAIN sometimes, but u still get to love them each differently :)..
i had a 920 and a 620, for a while, the 620 was practically useless , because everything was just faster on the 920... the 620 was a loudspeaker/gps , in short, anything that consumes battery, it was basically an extra battery :)
 

LastBattle

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Nokia Lumia 620 Beats Samsung Galaxy S III In SunSpider And BrowserMark 2 Tests | WMPoweruser

Check this out, even the low end Lumia 620 with 1ghz dual core processor is faster than S3 with quad core.
IE is not as slow as you expect. Its one of the fastest mobile browser so far, even the iPhone 5 is slower than Lumia 920 in terms of sunspider benchmark by a couple of points.

Not to mention, even the octa core Galaxy s4 (chrome or stock) is unable to beat a 1 year old Lumia 920 with just dual core processor.
 

trickym81

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There's the added annoyance of not being able to attach documents to reply emails, you have to create a new email in Office Hub to do that.

This is one of my biggest issues with WP and why it's hard to use as a work device. Yes, in some companies, people edit documents on the cloud and you don't need to email documents back and forth. Yes, I know that this is the view that Microsoft has taken. However, many people still email documents to each other and it's ridiculous that you can't easily do this on WP. As far as I know, you can't attach more than one document to an email and you have to create a new email to do so. That's a big limitation.
 
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