Sell me on upgrading to a WP8 device

[sd4f]

I think WP8 is a great OS in terms of use, but it still needs loads of work, as it's still quite rough around the edges.

The foundation is good, but it needs specific functionality to bring it up to par with the competition. I'm not too sure whether MS is working on some of those things though, such as file downloads/manager; I care not much for a file manager, but not being able to download files, especially ones like mp3's or videos, rather only letting you stream them, is woefully inadequate. The browser should be able to download any file! Even if the phone can't use that file.

The email client is also very dodgy in one regard, in that only photos can be attached, meanwhile, if you want to attach office files or pdf's, that has to be done from those respective apps. Any other file, can not be attached. Also, woefully inadequate.

Haven't been hearing on WPC or anywhere else that MS is about to do anything with that.

With that said, I have no plans on going back to android. My android experience was a buggy mess, and I just don't want to go back there, but what it did right was that your phone was a smart phone, it effectively functioned as a computer. It's just unfortunate that my SGS i9000 was a buggy mess, and received no updates to address that.

I just hope that MS does make the WP8 experience the best by taking the positives of iOS and android, and there has been some promise in the recent updates, but admittedly they've been fixated on trying to build market share by allowing more varied devices in terms of hardware, rather than fixing the OS to allow more functionality. Hardware, in my opinion isn't the problem, WP8 still needs work.

Regarding your specific concerns;

-Live tiles appear to work ok. I haven't really been too bothered by them since I like having the small ones. Many apps don't have a meaningful live tile, so just having a small tile to open it is sufficient.
-Notifications on lock screen are good. With the coming glance screen update, you won't even need to get to the lock screen.
-I haven't had any specific voice problems with WP8, but I don't use voice that much at all. Seems to be able to do most thing that you would want it to do. YMMV with this one though.
-WP8 keyboard, in my opinion works fine. It's quite quick, and the autocorrect and word prediction is very good for writing with correct spelling and grammar. I think it's only problem is that it takes a bit too much screen real estate, especially in landscape orientation.

 

[anon(123856)]

Another thing to consider is lack of bloatware. You don't need to reflash a WP8 phone because there aren't any apps on the phone you can't uninstall (obviously you can't uninstall system components). My L822 had one or two apps on it that I knew I didn't want so all I had to do was long press on them and select uninstall. Poof! Gone. I do miss the functionality of widgets. Being able to turn Bluetooth and WiFi on and off with one press is convenient.

 

[Novaone]

I think WP8 is a great OS in terms of use, but it still needs loads of work, as it's still quite rough around the edges.

The foundation is good, but it needs specific functionality to bring it up to par with the competition. I'm not too sure whether MS is working on some of those things though, such as file downloads/manager; I care not much for a file manager, but not being able to download files, especially ones like mp3's or videos, rather only letting you stream them, is woefully inadequate. The browser should be able to download any file! Even if the phone can't use that file.

The email client is also very dodgy in one regard, in that only photos can be attached, meanwhile, if you want to attach office files or pdf's, that has to be done from those respective apps. Any other file, can not be attached. Also, woefully inadequate.

Haven't been hearing on WPC or anywhere else that MS is about to do anything with that.

With that said, I have no plans on going back to android. My android experience was a buggy mess, and I just don't want to go back there, but what it did right was that your phone was a smart phone, it effectively functioned as a computer. It's just unfortunate that my SGS i9000 was a buggy mess, and received no updates to address that.

I just hope that MS does make the WP8 experience the best by taking the positives of iOS and android, and there has been some promise in the recent updates, but admittedly they've been fixated on trying to build market share by allowing more varied devices in terms of hardware, rather than fixing the OS to allow more functionality. Hardware, in my opinion isn't the problem, WP8 still needs work.

Regarding your specific concerns;

-Live tiles appear to work ok. I haven't really been too bothered by them since I like having the small ones. Many apps don't have a meaningful live tile, so just having a small tile to open it is sufficient.
-Notifications on lock screen are good. With the coming glance screen update, you won't even need to get to the lock screen.
-I haven't had any specific voice problems with WP8, but I don't use voice that much at all. Seems to be able to do most thing that you would want it to do. YMMV with this one though.
-WP8 keyboard, in my opinion works fine. It's quite quick, and the autocorrect and word prediction is very good for writing with correct spelling and grammar. I think it's only problem is that it takes a bit too much screen real estate, especially in landscape orientation.

HEY..! in WP8 the browser still can't download any file type, mp3 for my case. And WP8 email is still limited like that? what is taking them so long?

ok new question, when you enter an app, like maps from a pinned address, can you proceed to use the rest of maps- ie.do a new search instead? same with weather?

 

[Paul May]

Being able to turn Bluetooth and WiFi on and off with one press is convenient.

I use connectivity shortcuts app for this. It takes 2 taps to toggle off/on once you pin WiFi or BT to the start menu.

 

[freestaterocker]

I doubt there's any live tile functionality you can't duplicate with a widget, but widgets will never match the battery life offered with live tiles because of the differences in how they poll for updated information. WP basically gets 1 poll for all live tiles, whereas each widget polls on its independently. This is a really simplified explanation, and there are other contributing factors to the battery drain.

Also, as a side note, I'm running the GDR3 dev preview on my Ativ S, and it closes the functionality gap in almost every way I perceived it. The only thing from my checklist that's still missing is sound profiles. Side bar: after over 2 years with a Microsoft mobile device I FINALLY have the Xbox Live achievement sound for my messaging tone! FTW!!

 

[anon(123856)]

I use connectivity shortcuts app for this. It takes 2 taps to toggle off/on once you pin WiFi or BT to the start menu.

Yeah, I use this myself. It's better than digging into the menu every time you want to turn on Bluetooth.

 

[EasyOn]

Well, I have UC Browser here, and I can download mp3 files and all the video codecs supported by WP8, and, they all show up in the music and video hubs. Also, with the GDR3 update, you can add PDF files directly to an email.

 

[Nabkawe5]

Okay, so I've got a Nokia Lumia 900, which I mostly like, but it's starting to have physical problems, so it's about time to get a new phone.

Tell me why I should get a new WP device rather than a high-end Android.

My concerns are as follows. Bear in mind that I mostly like the interface, so this isn't an "I hate Windows" rant.

- The main selling point of WP is the Live Tile aspect of the metro/modern interface, but on my Lumia, the Live Tiles mostly aren't so live. My weather apps mostly only update the tile when I open the app (rather than the every hour I have told it to update in the app settings), my news apps (fox and al jazeera) frequently show the same headline for days on end.
Is there anything in live tiles that I can't replicate (or improve upon) with an Android widget? I do like the ability to pin a tile for my wife on the home screen to see when I have specific messages from her, and I'm not sure if that's something that Android does.

- There's no notification light to let me know what I've got without turning on the screen. Admittedly, I hear that the notifications are much better on a lockscreen with 8/8.1 than with the v7.8 that I have, so that's something. But it seems based on the 8.1 release (and the initial devices announced recently) that nobody has a notification light, and a notification center is still at least an update away from reality.

- Android's voice command capability is a lot better. Cortana may (or may not) close this gap, but at this point, it's vaporware.

- Android has a strong selection of keyboard options (many of which are much faster and have autocorrect/word suggestion features that work better than the default/only WP option)

Nokia's camera advantage is a factor with me, and I am willing to overlook some lack of apps and capability to have a high quality camera. So Windows Phone does at least have a significant edge in that regard (until Samsung starts pushing out phones with better cameras, which I suspect they will in the next year).

Basically, tell me what I can do with a Windows Phone that I can't do with an Android device. I recognize that Google is evil, so I'm willing to lean towards Microsoft in the event of a tie.

You can replicate lots of things on Android, only in a very bad way of lets say superficial, Live tiles are not widgets, they are informative shortcuts while widgets are APPS minimal apps!
You can get almost any WP app to give you live tiles specific to your needs, same thing can't be said about Android.
Widgets are interactive while live tiles are painfully stale.

I have both the LG G2 and Lumia 920, I think Android is a great second device but as soon I want to take a photo the choice immediately goes to my Lumia 920, no question about it.

 

[lippidp]

That Google is evil is all the reason I need to not even consider Android phones. Apple are pretentious beyond belief and Blackberrys are dead. That leaves WP as the only viable option for me. One thing I miss from WP7 is the built-in navigation in WP8 no longer accounts for traffic conditions. Not even Nokia Drive+. This is the only thing I sorely miss from WP7.8.

 

[montsa007]

I'll sum it up,

With windows phones you won't have to worry about lags or crashes, else you'll have them once in a while every day.
With windows phones you will have amazing battery life else your phone suffers from loose motions, if you know what I mean
With windows phones you may fall in love with it else you may learn some new curse everyday
With windows phones you are guaranteed to get updates unless you buy something like Huawei or carrier based else you may wait for atleast 4-5 months before the old update is made available to you at the manufacturers mercy after it is heavily bloated and deemed unfit for use making sure your phone is useless and you buy the new flagship

I hope these 4 points sum everything up.

 

[jiayit]

Because only WP has phones that are awesome!! Try finding another OS that has phones that have vibrant-colour phones.
Blue, Yellow and Red Lumias.

Purplish-blue and Limelight Yellow HTC 8X. (seriously Google for that if you've never seen a neon phone before)

 

[montsa007]

Because only WP has phones that are awesome!! Try finding another OS that has phones that have vibrant-colour phones.
Blue, Yellow and Red Lumias.

Purplish-blue and Limelight Yellow HTC 8X. (seriously Google for that if you've never seen a neon phone before)

I really don't like that color combo (Grey Lemon) or even Lemon for that matter, I prefer the HTC 8S black on white, it looks extremely classic and killer.
THe only dealbreaker is its specs, pfff horrible.

 

[guillams]

Another thing to consider is lack of bloatware. You don't need to reflash a WP8 phone because there aren't any apps on the phone you can't uninstall (obviously you can't uninstall system components). My L822 had one or two apps on it that I knew I didn't want so all I had to do was long press on them and select uninstall. Poof! Gone. I do miss the functionality of widgets. Being able to turn Bluetooth and WiFi on and off with one press is convenient.

there are easy access apps that you can pin to the main screen!

 

[Keith Wallace]

Unless the Lumia 1520 interests you, the current Windows Phone hardware isn't impressive. It all runs the Galaxy S III's SoC, so it lacks the gaming power of the competing flagships. I personally wouldn't get ANYTHING right now, because I simply don't enjoy Android or iOS, but I also don't want to sign a 2-year contract for a mid-range phone by 2013 standards.

That said, the OS is more in-play for this discussion. It depends a lot on your preferences. The main selling points are the free Office (if you use it a lot; I don't), Xbox LIVE gaming (if you have an account; I do), and the smooth tile interface. If you like those things, great. If you feel like some missing apps or games are a big deal to you, it's hard to tell you that you are wrong on your preferences.

 

[baseballbert]

I've had android, ios (iPhone 5 for business) and WP. From a pure OS perspective, WP hands down.

Hardware perspective, also WP.

Android didn't match up with my preference for what I like on a phone.



Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Tapatalk

 

[baseballbert]

I've had android, ios (iPhone 5 for business) and WP. From a pure OS perspective, WP hands down.

Hardware perspective, also WP.

Android didn't match up with my preference for what I like on a phone.

Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Tapatalk

 

[CSJr1]

1. Any app in Windows Phone has the capability to access the native voice recognition system.
2. All WP have dedicated camera 2 stage (focus/snap) camera button.
3. WP have full suite of Office at no charge.
4. WP(8) has Skype native.
5. Find my phone is Native in WP.
6. High End WP have better camera optics than any other phone.

 

[Keith Wallace]

Hardware perspective, also WP.

You'll DEFINITELY have to elaborate here. Design is a preference, so it's not really a debate (even if I prefer the Lumias to the competition). Android devices carry stronger hardware (Snapdragon 600/800) than the Windows Phones (Snapdragon MSM8960 from early-2012, except for the yet-to-release 6-inch devices). Android devices often carry microSD, which only the sub-900 series devices do on Windows Phone (until the 1320 and 1520 launch), meaning more storage is possible.

I'm not at-all a fan of Android, but their plethora of OEMs leads to a more-flexible set of options for consumers.

 

[baseballbert]

You'll DEFINITELY have to elaborate here. Design is a preference, so it's not really a debate (even if I prefer the Lumias to the competition). Android devices carry stronger hardware (Snapdragon 600/800) than the Windows Phones (Snapdragon MSM8960 from early-2012, except for the yet-to-release 6-inch devices). Android devices often carry microSD, which only the sub-900 series devices do on Windows Phone (until the 1320 and 1520 launch), meaning more storage is possible.

I'm not at-all a fan of Android, but their plethora of OEMs leads to a more-flexible set of options for consumers.

Nokia has the best designs of any cell phone IMO. Everything seems stale by comparison.

 

[montsa007]

You'll DEFINITELY have to elaborate here. Design is a preference, so it's not really a debate (even if I prefer the Lumias to the competition). Android devices carry stronger hardware (Snapdragon 600/800) than the Windows Phones (Snapdragon MSM8960 from early-2012, except for the yet-to-release 6-inch devices). Android devices often carry microSD, which only the sub-900 series devices do on Windows Phone (until the 1320 and 1520 launch), meaning more storage is possible.

I'm not at-all a fan of Android, but their plethora of OEMs leads to a more-flexible set of options for consumers.

Does Android have power packed hardware - Yes, because its OS is not completely refined, no matter how much power you put in that baby it'll go south with time. Please don't quote this post and start a war over this, this thread is about 'sell me a wp8' and not 'show me how android vs wp8 is' That said the discussion ends here.

Nokia has the best designs of any cell phone IMO. Everything seems stale by comparison.

I am not sure if you have seen these devices,
-HTC One (Extremely beautiful construction)
-HTC 8s (Black & white, looks impressive, classy and makes a statement, crappy hardware is a bad marriage)

I own a 720 btw, if you accuse me of being biased. Its not that I don't like the 720 design, but imagine the 720 hardware inside an 8S, it'd be bum blazing!