I love WP 8.1, but it's hard not to look at other platforms these days.

[tgp]

If anyone has any suggestions for an Android device that's both relatively inexpensive - used is fine - and has a camera that matches or betters what's in the 920, please do let me know...

Not many Android devices can match the 920's camera even after 2 years on the market, but I would recommend the OnePlus One. The problem is that it's hard to get ahold of. But if you're persistent enough, there are invites available. And most buyers would agree that it's worth the bother! I just gave away 3 invites, or I'd offer you one.

 

[archkron]

but I would recommend the OnePlus One. The problem is that it's hard to get ahold of. But if you're persistent enough, there are invites available. And most buyers would agree that it's worth the bother! I just gave away 3 invites, or I'd offer you one.

The 1+1 is available on Amazon UK for roughly ?260, and I'd be willing to pay the small markup of ?20 to avoid the faff of the invite system. I can also get a two week-old, barely used 5s for ?250. I like the Z3C but hate the UI (and the build quality might be an issue if XDA's anything to go by) and from what I understand unlocking the bootloader is an iffy process with regards to getting the camera to work to its full potential. A refurb'd Z1C was going via O2 refresh for silly money earlier today - something sub-?130 - but I got to it too slowly, else it'd be mine.

Not many Android devices can match the 920's camera even after 2 years on the market, but I would recommend the OnePlus One.

I don't personally have a dedicated camera so camera perf is quite important to me. A lot of the photos I take are in crap lighting/night so I'm very reluctant to give up OIS. The 1+1 sounds good in most regards (even if the screen's a little large for my taste) apart from the camera. I don't know if newer firmware has improved that though.

The difficulty of the situation is that I don't plan to be keeping whatever device I have for too long; I hope to be back on Windows, with the 1020's successor and a Snapchat app, within a year or so. So I want a device with a good camera that's cheap, and that seems to be like a set of goals that are totally at odds with each other.

I haven't used Android since the Gingerbread days. How is Chrome of late? Is it still stutter-y? If so, are there any truly smooth browsers on Android? I seem to remember Opera Mobile being quite good in that regard, and I remember Samsung's stock browser on the GS2 being smooth. Lag is something that drives me mad and is one of the driving reasons why I haven't just purchased an LG G3, since it otherwise checks the reasonable camera/OIS/build quality boxes.

 

[raycpl]

Not many Android devices can match the 920's camera even after 2 years on the market, but I would recommend the OnePlus One. The problem is that it's hard to get ahold of. But if you're persistent enough, there are invites available. And most buyers would agree that it's worth the bother! I just gave away 3 invites, or I'd offer you one.

OPO is decent and very good value, but as you say, getting it is not easy.
The camera will give decent picture, but unlike the 920 (or any Lumia) it lacks manual controls.

 

[Stormdrunk]

I went through the same dark period last week. I got really frustrated after reading some articles online about windows phone and gave serious thought about getting a HTC Android phone. Then I thought back to my last Android experience and thought it would be foolish to go back to an OS I didn't like when Windows 10 will be showcased later next month. I still have a year with my Lumia 920 ( one of those 3 year contracts) and I hope by the time my contract is up that there will be a new flagship phone available with windows 10. Anyways I hope you are happy with your Android phone. If not you can always sell it online and get something else!

 

[blushrts717]

After the fiasco of the Icon not getting updated, I'm moving on to either a Nexus or Motorola device so I get updates. And it wont be on Verizon either.

 

[steve_w_7]

After the fiasco of the Icon not getting updated, I'm moving on to either a Nexus or Motorola device so I get updates. And it wont be on Verizon either.

The updates aren't a windows phone thing - its all on Verizon. You don't need to switch both platforms and carriers. If you like Windows Phone, simply moving to another carrier will solve the problem.

 

[Simon Tupper]

After the fiasco of the Icon not getting updated, I'm moving on to either a Nexus or Motorola device so I get updates. And it wont be on Verizon either.

You get the Dev. Preview app. Problem solved (I think)

 

[raycpl]

I keep laughing with the blame game between US carriers and MSFT.... while in Malaysia (and the region), I think percentage of WP users is very much lower (dont have actual figures, just my observation), hardly any of the carriers promote WP phones. We usually buy WP phones unlocked. In all probability, we'll get Denim earlier....

 

[DMCarver]

I have been on both iOS and Android. The iOS devices are too rigid as far as software/customization and being locked down. I did jailbreak one at one point and that was a pretty nice experience. Best of app availability with jailbreak customization... but alas the BYOD rules at my work didn't allow for jailbroken devices... so I went over to Android.

Again, highly customizable... but every Android device I have owned has become laggy at some point after installing 3rd party software on it. Not at first but after a while. Plus the battery was always getting drained by power sucking widgets. I was always looking to see which app was sucking the life out of the battery and uninstalling it.

I sum it up this way for people...

* If you are tech challenged ... then an iPhone is probably for you.... boring and simple but it just works.
* If you are highly technical and want to be dallying with your phone constantly, tweaking it, etc. then go with an Android.
* But if you want an elegant, balanced experience and a great camera phone (thinking Lumia line here) - then go with Windows Phone.

Great integration with Office, OneDrive, Exchange, etc. The app gap is closing a bit and with the universal coding platform coming for Win10 (code once for phone/tablet/PC) then we should see the apps library grow.

This is why I would stay with a Windows Phone. Plus - it is different that the rest of the crowds... when I show my phone to people who ask, I can tell they are impressed with it.

Who wouldn't want a screen you can customize like this? (pics below)
Everything you need on the one screen! No multiple pages to lag around through... No boring icons.

These are just a few of the home screens I have used recently.

 

[nohra]

Who wouldn't want a screen you can customize like this? (pics below)
Everything you need on the one screen! No multiple pages to lag around through... No boring icons.

Looks like Live Folders for certain people? Cool idea for creating a quick access list of contacts!

 

[DMCarver]

Looks like Live Folders for certain people? Cool idea for creating a quick access list of contacts!

Yeah - I pinned friends and family to the start page, then put them in one folder. Then you have a quick contacts folder.

 

[nohra]

Yeah - I pinned friends and family to the start page, then put them in one folder. Then you have a quick contacts folder.

Great idea! Did that to mine now - I had always wanted a better way to have fast access to a list of contacts. The "Groups" feature in People Hub was ok, but it had two limitations for me: 1) there was a limit to the number of people per group, and 2) It was kind of a pain to add a lot of users to a group.

 

[raycpl]

I prefer live folders for contacts, IE shortcuts and grouping apps... and together with Header tiles it makes my start screen more organized and compact!!

 

[nohra]

I prefer live folders for contacts, IE shortcuts and grouping apps... and together with Header tiles it makes my start screen more organized and compact!!

Yup! I am very happy that you can add pinned webpages to Live Folders! That cleaned up my start screen A TON! I still use Nokia Folders for some things (like image editing apps so I get a neat list with the app names to the side) but not being able to add pinned items to the Nokia Folders was a downside.

I'm not sure, but adding a lot of things to the start and then to Live Folders has seemed to cause a LOT of lag in moving around the Start screen on my 920. Not enough to make me abandon use, but is this common for WP8 phones trying to handle the 8.1 update features? Do the more recent phones like the 830 suffer from the same lag or are the more fluid since they were made with the 8.1 features in mind?

All in all, though, my 920 still feels like a fresh phone with the fact that we get the updates!

 

[captainshiner]

Going back towards the first post, I know what you mean. I was ready to upgrade from my Lumia 1520 (just too dang big) and I did take a quick glance back at Android. Within minutes of playing with some new phones I remembered exactly why I left. Lack of consistency and stability. Options vary from device (basic ones such as quiet times, menu item locations, etc etc.) I left Android because it was buggy, and just too dang segregated across the devices. I need something stable, period. Windows has thrown dozens of new features at us over the last year, and improved their app catalog at an amazing clip. It has everything I need.

• Calling / Contacts / Family Room
• Texting (hands free while driving too)
• Swye Keyboard
• Internet with IE
• Skype
• One Drive w/ Integration
• Twitter / LinkedIn /Facebook / etc etc
• Media - Xbox Music, Pandora, Youtube, Netflix, Hulu , etc etc
• Podcasts
• Banking
• NFC Pay
• Calendar (amazing one at that)
• NextGen reader
• Games (a large library now)
• Remote Desktop
• Shop (Amazon, Ebay, Groupon, etc)
• Password Management
• GPS (Here Maps is great)

I really have a hard time finding something WP8.1 CAN'T do. And if there isn't an app, I usually find a perfectly acceptable work around.
The phone is rock solid, the OS is rock solid, and it continues to do so as time goes on. I can't say that about any of my Android phones . I keep looking back at the competition, but can't afford to go back.

 

[raycpl]

Do the more recent phones like the 830 suffer from the same lag or are the more fluid since they were made with the 8.1 features in mind?

All in all, though, my 920 still feels like a fresh phone with the fact that we get the updates!

True about my 920.. not able find a suitable upgrade, so I'm holding out to see how it will run under W10. Will it be like a new phone all over again? I suspect a lot of users are in the same situation. Nothing to do with contract or changing phones just because new device on W8.1 or W10 are out.

BTW, I also use a 720, it has taken quite a substantial hit on speed and battery performance after updating to 8.1 PfD

 

[adkrish22290]

No, I don't feel like that at all. I love WP 8.1 and I don't think any other mobile OS can stop me from liking WP 8.1. Android is overrated rubbish, laggy, insecure and user-unfriendly. The UI also looks so bad that I feel like vomiting on seeing an Android UI. Also, I hate Google on principle for interfering with our privacy for their own selfish gain. Cyanogen-mod is just an unstable and even more insecure version of Android. Though I use iTunes (since WP has no other alternative to download legal music in my country), I dislike Apple and its fanboys for their anti-competitive and elitist approach, so I will never buy iPhones or Apple's other hardware products on principle. Blackberrys were OK until Android infiltrated it with its apps. Firefox OS and other open-source mobile OSs are just pathetic and even with massive improvement, they cannot dream to compete with the Big 3 (Android, WP, iOS).

 

[emiel1976]

I love my wp 8.1 a lot. I am not going back to Android that changed a lot sins I have had one but it didn't get any better in the past few years.
ios is for me also no option and in Apple his own words about windows, it's a screen with icons. Hard to find the apps back as you have a lot of them and a very closed platform.
As you have seen one iPhone 6, you have seen them all. With Windows phone you can give it your own touch. Also the live tiles are great. The thing that Apple decides what app is allowed and what you may do on your ios device is something I don't like. I want to decide self what I want on my phone and not what someone ells tells me. Maybe because I am Dutch.

 

[tuxedo323]

I've considered. I feel like this platform is in perpetual beta test mode. The two most used applications I use are the music player and the web browser. Both seem to be half-baked. It seems as though Microsoft has an idea then they abandon it because either they have a newer idea, more money, or the original developers are no longer with the company or working on the project. This is the mentality of a mega corporation... If it isn't wildly successful like it's competitors, scrap the idea and start new, and since Microsoft's pockets are deep, they do this alot. Staff and project churn are the norm. Look at Zune... Abandoned, Hubs....abandoned.... What the corporate suits in Redmond don't realize, is Apple may get attacked for having a boring OS that's never changed but they've remained consistent and never alienated it's users with drastic changes.

 

[mikegtr]

I have a problem with my wp8.1 (Nokia Lumia 530) , i saw on a friends phone (also a wp Nokia no sure witch one) after they tap on a contact in call history or in contacts it displays a contact profile asking if the user wants to call or send a message but on this phone it calls right away can that be disable (i often accidentally call people while swiping) if anybody knows please let me know i searched a lot but couldn't find it anywhere
I am sorry if i shouldn't ask this here but i don't have the energy anymore to look for posts just want to know that if its not possible then i should get an android phone