Wanna switch to WP from Bugdroid. But some queries beforehand

[ithehappy]

Hello guys, just got registered. I am an Android user, for past 4 years (maybe it's more), and not for a single day I liked that OS. I just used it because honestly none better was available.
Anyway, I have three questions which I would like to know, a- Can the 'tile' view be disabled? Actually the idea is good, but I would like to see a wallpaper in full screen, with no icons, tiles, nothing and then move on to something else. Can that be done?
b- I guess this is a stupid query. I don't use Hotmail at all, it's slow as hell for me. So there is a Gmail app with push support available in the WP store right?
c- Is there a good music player available on WP Store? Something like PowerAMP for Android?

Other than these three queries, if you guys can shoot me with some device idea that'd be awesome too. I mean which one to buy. Actually have no idea. Seen a lot of Lumia's and all. An AMOLED display is a must, and around 5" screen, the display quality should be top notch. Budget: no factor. I am currently a S4 (i9500) user, and my past 5 phones were, Note 2, S2, Galaxy S, hTC Desire and Omnia HD, if that helps you guys in anything.

Regards,
Saurav.

PS: English is my third lang, so pardon me for all the mistakes I have made.

 

[Boris Lozac]

a) well, you can make a wallpaper out of tiles, if you get me, you can put a picture or more pictures, to cover up the whole screen, but it's divided as the tiles are divided, something like this:

But you can make it in just three parts, with those three wide tiles, and you don't have to have these icons on the picture. And then all your apps and tiles can be below that picture.

b) They complicated the Gmail Push thing, you can have push now by forwarding your gmail onto Outlook. Not ideal but it works.

c) not too sure about music players.

As for recomendation, my brother bought a L925 the other day, fantastic phone and maybe the best looking one on the market right now. It's 4.5" amoled..

 

[xandros9]

Hello guys, just got registered. I am an Android user, for past 4 years (maybe it's more), and not for a single day I liked that OS. I just used it because honestly none better was available.
Anyway, I have three questions which I would like to know, a- Can the 'tile' view be disabled? Actually the idea is good, but I would like to see a wallpaper in full screen, with no icons, tiles, nothing and then move on to something else. Can that be done?
Well, I guess the closest would be the lockscreen, you cannot have wallpaper on the homescreen (you can have white or black though), and if you were to remove all of the tiles, the phone would default to the vertical list of apps.
b- I guess this is a stupid query. I don't use Hotmail at all, it's slow as hell for me. So there is a Gmail app with push support available in the WP store right?
I'm not sure about push, but there might be one (Gmail is no longer overly important to me, so push isnt a priority for me)
But the built in email is pretty decent when handling Gmail.

c- Is there a good music player available on WP Store? Something like PowerAMP for Android?
Well I guess that depends. The built in one is OK, Nokia MixRadio is good too.
Some are streamers like Pandora
But if it's bells-and-whistles, I don't have firsthand experience because I never went looking.

Other than these three queries, if you guys can shoot me with some device idea that'd be awesome too. I mean which one to buy. Actually have no idea. Seen a lot of Lumia's and all. An AMOLED display is a must, and around 5" screen, the display quality should be top notch. Budget: no factor. I am currently a S4 (i9500) user, and my past 5 phones were, Note 2, S2, Galaxy S, hTC Desire and Omnia HD, if that helps you guys in anything.
Personally, a lot of us would recommend Lumia's because Nokia is the one that seems to care the most and adds the most features and value.

But anyways, that narrows the device list down to... (AMOLED only, size taken into account, all displays are good/great since all are high enders (or at least were))
All of the listed Lumia's have 4.5" AMOLED displays.
Nokia Lumia 925 - metal, mid-range hardware, still a good device
(928 if you're Verizon or can get you hands on it since its unlocked. US only though)
1020 - this is the one with the insane camera, as you may have heard of before. Similar specs, but more RAM, plastic housing, and THE camera.
(there are rumblings of a US Verizon exclusive at 5", but its not official yet, nor do we know if it will be international.)

(there are smaller Lumia's, but the 820 is the only AMOLED device below those. Also clocks in at 4.3")

Samsung ATIV S
ATIV S Neo
4.8" AMOLED displays, Samsung doesn't support their devices as terrifically as Nokia, but the hardware is still very solid.
microSD support

this is by no means exhaustive, but the idea is there.

Regards,
Saurav.

PS: English is my third lang, so pardon me for all the mistakes I have made.
You're doing quite well.

My input in bold above.

 

[ithehappy]

Thanks for the fast responses guys, appreciate it.
So to get it straight,
a- I can't have a wallpaper on home screen without any tiles, I mean I can but then it will switch to vertical app list. Okay, at least LS wallpaper can be without anything else, so no biggy.
b- Now this is kinda important. I can't just switch over to Hotmail, I mean I have tried, but it seemed slow always than Gmail. Hmm, lets see.
c- The built in music player is there, as well as that Mix, okay, that's checked too.
About device, well I just done reading the GSMArena review of 1020, it's quite a phone indeed. I don't really care for the camera as I only use my m4/3, but having it is not bad. No SD card support is kinda a bummer Display seems good. Size is okay with me, little heavy, but alright. And the thing I really need, build quality, I mean I am done with baby sitting my S4, I just can't pamper this phone anymore by always having this think what'll happen it it falls!! So that's a huge plus there.
One more query if that doesn't bother, how is the vibration intensity on the Lumia 1020 if anyone knows? I mean I don't know but since switching to these high end Androids I feel like the vibration on all these phones are really weak, and believe when you live in a country of 130 billion people ringtone, however loud it is, just doesn't matter, so I always have to depend on the vibration.

Saurav.

 

[mariusfilip]

Hi,could you please tell me what app are you using like you suggested in point 'a)'? Thx:smile:

 

[Boris Lozac]

So to get it straight,
a- I can't have a wallpaper on home screen without any tiles, I mean I can but then it will switch to vertical app list. Okay, at least LS wallpaper can be without anything else, so no biggy.

That was a wierd answer, i told you how you can do it WIth Skinery Themes, you can have photo but divided of three parts at least. And then under that you can have other Live tiles and stuff.

You don't have to switch to Hotmail, yes you open default mail app and hotmail (outlook to be more precise) but every mail you recieve on your gmail account is forwarded to that outlook inbox, and when you respond to someone it looks like you've responded from Gmail account to them.

 

[TechAbstract]

There are a few apps that let you customize the homescreen as you can see from the link below. Fortunately the "lockscreen" on WP8 is where it lets you change the wallpaper to your liking, not homescreen.
How to create awesomely artistic Windows Phone Start screens - Nokia Conversations

Not sure where you get "Hotmail is slow" from. Hotmail/outlook.com/live emails have push on WP8. They come in instantly. You can also forward your gmail emails to Hotmail/Outlook.com. For example, I check my other 5 emails account from just one outlook.com email account. I don't remember what is the interval time, but I believe it pulls emails from other providers every 15 minutes.

 

[apoelin]

You can get full Gmail support with this app: MetroMail | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

It is in my (biased) opinion at least as good as the official iOS app. You can (and should) try it out yourself of course, and then decide.

p.s. I'm the developer.

 

[androidtoWM]

You can get full Gmail support with this app: MetroMail | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

It is in my (biased) opinion at least as good as the official iOS app. You can (and should) try it out yourself of course, and then decide.

p.s. I'm the developer.

this guy is not lying Metromail is awesome. been using it since the beta.


hoping to see an update to the app as soon as wp8.1 is out with a file picker for email attachments:smile:

 

[manicottiK]

Hotmail is gone -- its replacement is Outlook.com, which has full push email support. The Lumia ICON is coming soon to Verizon Wireless. Folks hope that an international version of the same will come out soon after, but there are no details yet. The ICON is like the Lumia 1520 with a 5" OLED screen (instead of 6" IPS LCD).

 

[AndrewL920]

Get the Lumia 929/ICON . It is the best windows phone right now.

 

[xandros9]

Get the Lumia 929/ICON . It is the best windows phone right now.

that isn't available (I think), and is currently US only, on one carrier (ok fine its probably unlocked)

 

[Boris Lozac]

You can get full Gmail support with this app: MetroMail | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

It is in my (biased) opinion at least as good as the official iOS app. You can (and should) try it out yourself of course, and then decide.

p.s. I'm the developer.

How does it work exactly, before i buy, since i have set up my gmail via Active sync (while it worked) and i'm getting the push notifications in the native mail app. So i put that account to "manually" check for emails and use only your app? How does it become the default client?

 

[apoelin]

How does it work exactly, before i buy, since i have set up my gmail via Active sync (while it worked) and i'm getting the push notifications in the native mail app. So i put that account to "manually" check for emails and use only your app? How does it become the default client?

What you do with the configuration of email accounts on your device is irrelevant. You can remove them, or leave them there; it's up to you. As long as your account supports IMAP, you will have instant notifications when you install MetroMail. Some times they are faster than the ones retrieved by the native email client, rarely are slower (but within 10-15secs), and they do sync properly when you read something in your Gmail account from a different device. Plus you get access to all the Gmail features that the native email client does not support.

The only big downside is that you cannot set it as the default email account for your device, as that's not supported by WP8. There is a small workaround for sharing links from the IE URL address bar, it is possible to share photos from the native menus of the OS, and the app itself integrates with SkyDrive and let's you attach arbitrary files from there.