The simple flaws of WP8 lost a user

[F60Outrunn]

Hi, recently i managed to convince my work colleague to get the Nokia Lumia 620 after seeing me with my Lumia 920, he was after a phone which was able to take good pictures and did the basics - at first he was quite happy with it.
i showed him how to add custom ringtones (with the Nokia ringtone maker app) as he had all his ringtones as songs - so far so good.

Then it was all downhill from there sadly.
He wanted to create a custom music playlist - so he asked me for help - after extensive searching i found out how to do it, long story short it is a pain in the backside to say the least - but i showed him how. Then he wanted to add custom text sounds like he had for ringtones - sadly i told him that you couldnt until the next update - GDR3 (GDR2 was already on his phone), he was now annoyed. He then asked if we could share ringtones with each other - not exactly a demanding task since we both had WP8 phones - Lumia's at that, but we couldnt do that either due to WP8 not supporting it!!

Finally he asked how to create a custom photo album - again not natively possible - i suggested he download Skydrive as you can create folders in that then the photo app recognises it as a picture folder, but since this is still not ideal he said he had enough and has gone back to his 5 year old crappy (Samsung something or other - very basic) phone, but the alarming fact is that this basic phone can do all these features. My colleague is a 40 something year old man, so he isnt tech savvy at all - he just expects the device he paid hard money for to work. I admit i am disappointed he stoped using his 620 - but i have to say i dont blame him at all. Its not like he was asking it to play Asassins Creed or Crysis or something - he just wanted simple things to work. i truly hope all these get fixed with either GDR3 or 8.1 - but im not holding my breath sadly

WP8 still has a long way to go.:unhappy:

 

[gwinegarden]

Some people believe that, if they can think of it, then the device should be able to do it.

 

[Brandon Keenan]

Thats unfortunate but I agree these are relatively simple things to put wp as a viable competitor to the likes of android and apple. Too bad AT&T still hasn't released GDR2/Amber to their 920 which is kind of pathetic considering its been ready for months. That being said, GDR3 will probably not come to the older devices until AT&T is satisfied with the profit they make on the newer devices.

 

[Microsoftjunkie]

He could have used the "favorites" part of the gallery for his personal picture hub, considering you can pin it.

 

[a5cent]

Yeah, I was a strong public supporter of WP7, but I have not recommended a WP device to many people since WP8 was released. It's just too risky, as many peoples expectations have been shaped by Android and iOS, and unfortunately, WP8 struggles to keep up with many of their little features. It's not that WP8 is without its own advantages, but coming from other devices, people usually miss what they are accustomed to, before they start appreciating what WP has to offer.

At this point, potential WP adopters either need to be open minded and tech savvy enough to discover WP's advantages on their own, in which case recommendations are entirely unnecessary, or they need to approach WP without any particular expectations about how a smartphone should work or what it should be able to do. Otherwise things often get thorny.

Recommending WP to anyone with particular smartphone expectations requires that you do a very thorough analysis of a users requirements and preferences to determine if WP is a good match.

At the end of the day, our conceptions of what constitutes "the basics" of smartphone functionality will be our own. None of the things your friend wanted are important to me, but I have a long list of different requirements, not all of which are met by WP.

 

[adam220891]

I'm new to WP8.

I like the speed and the appearance. But it's just silly the stuff that you cannot do, like what was stated by the OP. I've become annoyed with the music issue, myself.

I mean, you only have three settings for brightness. Was it really that much to consider a more flexible scale? I don't see it, though it may exist, but in Android I could set my alarm to be very loud, my ringtone to be another level, and my media volume at it's own level. There's a plethora of basic tasks that you cannot natively do. Sometimes there's half-assed workarounds, sometimes there's nothing at all.

Can't ask WP8 to be Android, but basic tasks that other OS's have had for half a decade isn't much to ask for. Microsoft is a huge company, and could very well gain significant marketshare, but not with poor oversights like these.... Wanna give me a job M$? I have not only common sense, but soon an IT degree to boot!

 

[Ed Boland]

Just for the record, the 40+ year olds are the tech savvyest of all...

 

[Laura Knotek]

http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-8/210477-official-what-wp-needs-succeed.html