Are there any glaring differences between the Lumina modles that a novice would not be aware of?

[eseerc]

Switching from iPhone and iOS to Windows Phone...

Hi everyone,

I've been using iOS/iphones for the past 4 years. Lately with the Apple products, I have been quite underwhelmed (overall) and have been considering a switch to Windows Phones. I am a loyal OneDrive user (I think its the best consumer cloud service) and have recently switched my email/calendar/contacts to outlook.com.

Without starting any "anti-apple" rants, I am curious as to what I would be getting into with a switch to Windows Phone, specifically something in the Lumina line.

Are the OS & phones on a similar one year cycle as I have come accustomed to with Apple?

Are there any glaring differences between the Lumina models that a novice would not be aware of?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Darthbobcat]

Re: Switching from iPhone and iOS to Windows Phone...

There are a few candidates that jump out at me based on that. You might have to wait on a couple of months for some of these in the US, but I think the to-be-released ones are promising.

1) Lumia Icon/Lumia 930. 5 Inch Screen, all of the bells and whistles except for Glance, top of the line everything. Awesome camera, with a focus on taking video because of its multiple microphones. Might be slightly too big if you're hungering for an iPhone 5s sized device.

2) Lumia 830. Same sized screen as the 930/Icon, but slimmer. Has the new Nokia Denim firmware, so it should, by all accounts, having a very fast camera. It has a lesser chip than the 930/Icon, so that might affect things like gaming, but with 1 Gig of RAM, it can run everything in the app store.

3) Lumia 735. Chosen mainly for having similar performance to the 830, but smaller. Also, the front camera is supposed to be mind blowing, while the back camera is okay, but not mind blowing, the way that the 930 in particular is.

 

[iamtim]

Re: Switching from iPhone and iOS to Windows Phone...

My final question..... can I get some phone recommendations?

Here's where I jump out of this conversation because - while I still have my Lumia 820 and think it's a fine phone - I switched TO an iPhone 5s a couple of months back and WP is not my daily driver.

 

[eseerc]

Re: Switching from iPhone and iOS to Windows Phone...

Here's where I jump out of this conversation because - while I still have my Lumia 820 and think it's a fine phone - I switched TO an iPhone 5s a couple of months back and WP is not my daily driver.

iamtim: If I may ask, what made you switch from a WP to an iPhone?

 

[iamtim]

Re: Switching from iPhone and iOS to Windows Phone...

iamtim: If I may ask, what made you switch from a WP to an iPhone?

A number of factors, really. Before I get into this, though, let me state that I am not an Apple "******", nor am I an "iSheep". I think it is entirely possible to recognize benefits in multiple platforms and, further, to acknowledge when one platform excels over another, whether that's your favorite platform or not. You should use what works for you in any given situation, and brand loyalty be damned.

That said, I work with and use Microsoft Windows on a daily basis. I maintain and develop on many Windows Servers, and all of my workstations are powered by Windows 8.1 (which is, for my usage patterns, a more efficient OS than OS X and any Linux). My tablet is a Surface RT; I do not like iPads, nor will I use one (I don't think iOS scales up to the iPad size very well).

Before I purchased my first WP, I had used an iPhone 4, an iPhone 3Gs, an iPhone 3, a Samsung Captivate (AT&T's Galaxy S) and a T-Mobile G1 (rebranded HTC Dream). In my early days I had used a Palm Centro and a Verizon XV6900 (rebranded HTC Touch). So I'm not a newcomer to smartphones.

On to the crux of your question: I've owned two Lumia 920s, one HTC 8x, and two Lumia 820s. All of them - except for my current 820 - have had problems. Overheating, random network disconnects, faulty buttons, loose batteries, a whole slew of issues which should have never hit consumer's hands. Professionally, I'm one of three employees in the IT department of a global company with offices in the US, the UK, Singapore, and China. Personally, my GF is in nursing school and I'm helping to raise her two kids, both in elementary school. I *need* reliable hardware. With all the other phones I've had, I can honestly say I've never had one single hardware problem like my Windows Phones had.

Now, all that said, my current Lumia 820 is a workhorse. It's not had a single hardware problem of any sort, and were it my daily driver I would have confidence in it.

I've now gone through three WP updates, each which was supposed to have brought with it features that I, personally, needed. Each time, the feature set has been just slightly shy of what I need. Not so shy that I couldn't find a work-around, but shy enough that it didn't just work. For instance, I really need VPN connectivity on my phone for quick remote fixes; Black/GDR2 (I think) was supposed to bring VPN connectivity, but it didn't bring the type I needed. And then we upgraded to a VPN which uses the Cisco AnyConnect client, which isn't available on WP. We also use PhoneFactor multi-factor authentication on several of our outward-facing servers, and I've NEVER gotten that to work on WP.

Suffice to say, the iPhone 4s and 5s hardware that I've been using since getting off WP as my daily driver has been solid like a rock, and everything I need just works: our pre-AnyConnect VPN was not a problem for iOS, the AnyConnect client is available on iOS, and PhoneFactor works without a hitch.

Like I said, though, I'm using an iPhone 5s because it works for me in my situation. I'd love to have a WP that did the same, but there just isn't one.