A Week With Windows Phone 8.1 - an Android User's Experience

[Mmazeo]

Gotta ask....what's the attraction of Hangouts? Why isn't using the phones regular text good enough?

 

[anon(8730639)]

Gotta ask....what's the attraction of Hangouts? Why isn't using the phones regular text good enough?

For me it was group chats. However, once I actually got Hangouts, I found that it was terrible. "Call ending" stays in my notifications until I reboot the device, pictures I send get stored on Google Plus, people don't get the messages until days after I send them, video chatting is no where near as good as Skype or FaceTime (its like watching a downloaded video from 1999), and making it the default texting app on Android means that it's very hard to get away from it. Skype and FaceTime/iMessage are far better.

 

[mmcpher]

I will follow this thread with interest. I've done something similar, comparing my long-time use of Blackberry devices with my use of the 1520. Given Blackberry's perceived app problems, which are similar, if not worse than WP's I didn't focus as much on the app side of the equation. One of BB's comparative strengths over WP is the ability to directly install and run Android apps on BB10 devices.

I use Newsblur on my desktops and have found Nextgen Reader as the best WP newsreader app IMHO, and for my particular needs. I have a lot of feeds and am mostly interested in text so I haven't found the more image and video friendly apps as useful.

I recently updated to the 8.1 Developers Preview, and some of this may be attributable to that, but OneDrive is much more integrated than previously, as you can set it as the default saving destination for a number of file types.

I can certainly see the appeal of the neat and clean Moto X homescreen. But I've come to really like and depend upon live tiles to see what's going on at a glance, so that I can see where emails are coming from, where there is breaking news, etc, at at a pull-down even greater depth of summary information. If the WP home-screen is busy, it is packed with updating information. Now when I go back to my Blackberry Z30 it looks stuck in the comparative information doldrums. Sure, apps and folders have asterisks to indicate recent activity, and Blackberry toast notifications have come a long, long way. But its great to see more at an initial glance. You can also maximize your WP tiles and unpin most tiles from the Home-screen, to get a simpler, cleaner design. Don't know if you could easily replicate the clean aesthetics of your Moto X, though.

 

[Reebs Reebs]

Sorry last question...I've set it up but can't find where to GPS locate someone. Is there somewhere I can find out how to do that?

I also love the Chat Room. Now my wife got a WP too and we use it all the time. You'll like it. Just press the button in the middle on the chat view. (square with a plus on it)

 

[Draganta]

Didn't read it. Too biased (you were a WP user for a long time) and too much religion being forced on to me (I don't want to offend you, it is just my opinion).

 

[Mmazeo]

Didn't read it. Too biased (you were a WP user for a long time) and too much religion being forced on to me (I don't want to offend you, it is just my opinion).

Religion what???

 

[Miska Hietala]

Nokia religion

Sent from my Nokia Lumia 1020 using Tapatalk for wp

 

[pdawg17]

I also love the Chat Room. Now my wife got a WP too and we use it all the time. You'll like it. Just press the button in the middle on the chat view. (square with a plus on it)

So the GPS part is I am sending my location to everyone else? Is there a way to see someone else's location on my own?

 

[Noahma]

It's the Rooms feature in the people hub, I have it set up on my phone but I need to convert my family over to Windows Phone to get the best use out of it.

Its an amazing thing. My wife and I have a "room" just for ourselves, we have a shared calendar, notes, pictures etc. Wish I could get more family members involved in it, it would be even more powerful.

So the GPS part is I am sending my location to everyone else? Is there a way to see someone else's location on my own?

The only way I know is to text the location through the message hub. There may be an app in the store kind of like google latitude. I have not needed this feature so I have not looked that close into it.

 

[V-007]

***EDIT*** I think the title would be more appropriate as A Week With Windows Phone 8.1 - an Android User's APP Experience ***/EDIT***

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a newcomer to Windows Phone. I've been using WP since the WP7 days. My first WP was a Dell Venue Pro (what a keyboard!). I've also had a Lumia 822 and I've had an HTC 8X for the last eight months or so. These were always secondary devices. The 8X has been active and quietly collecting my corporate email for that period but I have never really been 'all in' on it. I don't use it for much other than email. My main SIM has been in a Moto X or, previously, a Droid DNA. I'm a heavy user of Android. Every device I've had has been rooted and tailored to meet my requirements and preferences.

The recent release of the DP for WP 8.1 has encouraged me to shake some of the dust off my HTC 8X and give it a real test. I plan to use it almost exclusively for the next week and see where it succeeds and fails as an Android replacement. I'm encouraged to do this by a few things: the notification center, start page wallpaper, distinct volume controls, and Cortana. I'm really interested to see if I can comfortably use WP full time and whether I should invest in a Lumia Icon as my next phone.

I've detailed below the apps and functions I frequently use on Android and I will eventually report back on the equivalents I found on WP and how I got on with them. I am not looking for free alternatives, necessarily. In many cases I would prefer to purchase an app and support development.

• NewsBlur - this is my news feed aggregator. I've tried some NewsBlur clients on WP before and wasn't too impressed. Hopefully things will be better now.
• Google Hangouts - I use this for "text" and group messaging every day. I have gotten my entire family and extended family on Hangouts. Finding a replacement for this is a must and I cannot ask everyone to change to a different messaging platform.
• Life360 - this is a family location sharing app. Use it to keep track of my kids and other family members. I go into this knowing there is no WP app. Not sue how I will get around this one.
• Bible (YouVersion) - use this daily for devotion time with my wife and then weekly at Bible study and church services. Also use a home screen widget for the verse of the day.
• Pocket Casts - I have a long commute and my job lends itself to podcast consumption. This is the best podcast app I've found. It's reliable and supports variable speed playback on a per show basis. I must find a good podcast aggregator.
• OneDrive - I store all my photos and documents on OneDrive.
• Trigger - Trigger is a great automation program. It automatically changes volumes, sound profiles, radio states, etc based on time/location/network status/etc for me.
• Timely - my alarm clock. Extremely flexible and syncs my alarms with the cloud and between multiple devices.
• Google Play Music - I am an All Access subscriber. This is where all of my music comes from.
• White Noise - really slick sleep sounds app. Has dozens of sounds to choose from and a very nice UI.
• Out of Milk - grocery list app. My wife and I use this to keep track of what we need from the store.
• My Disney Experience - as Disney World annual passholders and DVC members this is a really nice app to have. We use it to check hours, wait times, make reservations, etc.
• Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest

I'm also including screenshots of my Moto X homescreens. I'll use those to compare how I am able to setup the 8X start screen and how it impacts my usage.

View attachment 65730 View attachment 65731

thanks for making a genuine effort to do this
my concerns would be to point out -
1. 8.1 is an unofficial release - as such its got very little app support and basic apps facebook / whats app etc are not itching to have apps updated for the unofficial release
2. the unofficial release - are you planning to compare it to official releases of iOS / android - not exactly a good idea
3. youre not using a hero device - nokia 1020, icon, 1520 etc MotoG was done by Google as their signature product (sure not galaxy) but meant to be google built. the htc is more of a rehash / low spec after thought for windows phone than a genuine this is an all in windows device

I think youre review should factor in / be done with a few grains of salt.

 

[darkoman4]

Stop spying on your family, jeez! That's just pure creepy.

Really none of your business.

 

[Markham Ranja]

3. youre not using a hero device - nokia 1020, icon, 1520 etc MotoG was done by Google as their signature product (sure not galaxy) but meant to be google built. the htc is more of a rehash / low spec after thought for windows phone than a genuine this is an all in windows device

I think youre review should factor in / be done with a few grains of salt.

I always thought one of the advantages of WP was that it doesn't need high-end hardware to run well.

 

[anon(7901790)]

When is this happening again?
Microsoft could bring Android app support to Windows, Windows Phone | Android Central

Some time after a certain place freezes over I would think.

 

[vish2801]

Hmmm....I can understand why WP is not popular in US and is in other countries. US people have very different needs and WP is definitely lacks in those areas. I live in India, I can tell what Indian users want and they can easily get almost all apps on WP. And now WP 8.1 is gonna have official file manager and VLC free(moli player does a good job), it's almost complete for most of us. Nokia already brought equalizer and we don't have Xbox music here, we have to download songs(streaming is not an option for many as we don't have cheap fast Mobile data connection) or copy/sync it from pc. Xbox music lacks a lot of good functions which music players on Android have e.g. Poweramp. I hope like moliplayer is possible on wp, poweramp is also gonna be developed for WP. Btw, who wants MXplayer ?? People here like to watch whole movies on the phone and so people like big screen phones, resolution doesn't matter. And that's why Galaxy Grand, Micromax, Xolo,etc have firm dominance. Nokia has a dedicated userbase here, it lost many but due to phones like Lumia 525, it might gain momentum here and with WP 8.1 having great additions like installing apps or moving apps on SD Card is actually very big feature. I hope WP would gain traction here day by day.

 

[prasath1234]

Ya wp need bigger screen especially in india min 5 inches at price of 15000 or so .

Sent from my C2305 using WPCentral Forums mobile app

 

[maflynn]

[*]Bible (YouVersion) - use this daily for devotion time with my wife and then weekly at Bible study and church services. Also use a home screen widget for the verse of the day.
...
[*]My Disney Experience - as Disney World annual passholders and DVC members this is a really nice app to have. We use it to check hours, wait times, make reservations, etc.
[*]Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest
[/LIST]

The biggest omissions I'm finding coming from an iPhone is a solid Bible app with a good translation and the Disney experience. I'm planning a trip to DW (which I frequently do) and that app is indispensable. Disney has other WP apps in the app store so I'm surprised we don't see that.

Overall I'm happy with the platform, the UI and the available apps with the noted exceptions.

 

[tgp]

The biggest omissions I'm finding coming from an iPhone is a solid Bible app with a good translation and the Disney experience. I'm planning a trip to DW (which I frequently do) and that app is indispensable.

OK, you had me a bit there! I was trying to figure out where you found a Bible app with the Disney experience, even on iPhone! I can't help much with a Bible app on WP. I mostly use it on my tablets. I like Cadrebible, but as usual, it's only available for these:

 

[V-007]

I always thought one of the advantages of WP was that it doesn't need high-end hardware to run well.

That's very true.

If you look at the companies in play in WP, they have their own ecosystem of sorts right. Look at all the apps the Nokia brings to the table, even Samsung. HTC hasn't don't much at all. The OP mentioned having an app folder - nokia / Samsung built those (and updated even some other apps). HTC has done little in terms of the platform recently.

 

[iamtim]

any music bought from iTunes is basically gone

No it's not... you just have to put some effort into getting it out of iTunes.

 

[Doohickie]

For a shopping list app, I really like Easy Shopping which was developed by a WPC member.

My WP8 HTC 8X is my first ever smart phone; I've had it almost a year. I love the interface, a little frustrated by the lack of apps. I even started a thread about it. About a year from now I'll be in the market for a new phone and I'll re-evaluate app availability; I may try Android if the app environment for WP still hasn't fleshed out better.