BlackBerry to WP8

[araskin]

Greetings from the Crackberry nation. I am a long time BlackBerry user and a mobile app developer. So while I wait for my new Limited Edition Blackberry Z10 to arrive (a gift from BlackBerry for having a BB10 app at launch) I dug through my drawer of phones and stumbled upon a new Lumia 810 which was collecting dust. Anyway I am now on day 3 and overall I am impressed. The OS is very snappy. The Nokia apps are fantast ic in particular Nokia Drive. The app selection isn't amazing but as a BB user I am used to that. Definitely nice to have Skype which is something we are still waiting for on the new BB10 platform (its been announced, just not yet released). Spotify too is missing on BB10 and it's great to have it on WP8. As a heavy email/calendar user I am not enamored with the email and calendar implementation but it's certainly adequate.

I do have a question though and it relates to the Back button. It doesn't seem to behave the way I expect it to. For example, in the browser the back button will take me to the previous Page but sometimes it will take me out to the home screen. Am I doing something wrong? Likewise in Spotify, I will navigate to a playlist and hit a song to play. Once the song I'd playing how do I get back to the playlist. I am sure it's just my inexperience with the platform.

Anyway, I am glad to be a WP user even though it's only for a short while.
Alon

 

[scottcraft]

Welcome to WPCentral! Glad to heasr you're enjoying your WP. The back button isn't consistent in operation, but after some use you will get the hang of what it does in most situations.

 

[inside man 55]

Greetings...if you navigate multiple times back will take you to the previous page. If it is the first page it will take you out to the home screen.

Can't speak about Spotify. Glad you are enjoying wp7.

And take a look at Chronos Calendar, huge upgrade on stock app.

 

[araskin]

Greetings...if you navigate multiple times back will take you to the previous page. If it is the first page it will take you out to the home screen.

Can't speak about Spotify. Glad you are enjoying wp7.

And take a look at Chronos Calendar, huge upgrade on stock app.

thanks for pointing out Chronos. My understanding is that it does not support Exchange which is the only calendar I use.

 

[inside man 55]

No problem, not sure I follow, I am linked to a live.com account now inside the Chrono app, and live.com should be setup to allow exchange ActiveSync. I must be missing something.

 

[TechAbstract]

Glad you are enjoying wp8

 

[fiveodano]

Welcome to Windows Phone, I can understand your love for BB10, it reminds me a lot of WebOS

I may pick up a Q10 as a business phone, I would live to have a keyboard again. The keyboard/touchscreen combo was really nice on WebOS

However, I have an HTC 8X as my primary phone and I love the integration with Office 365/SkyDrive/WP8

Have you noticed that if you hold the back button down it opens the app switcher?

 

[araskin]

thanks for the app switcher tip! I was actually trying to work that out.

 

[araskin]

does the app switcher allow me to "kill" a running app?

 

[scottcraft]

does the app switcher allow me to "kill" a running app?

No, no app killing.

 

[freestaterocker]

does the app switcher allow me to "kill" a running app?

Switching to the app in question and then backing out of it with the hw back button will "kill" the app. To kill everything, just spam the back button until the start screen is all that's left.

 

[Blkacesvf41]

That's one of the beauties of the OS, no need to "kill" those apps that are suspended. They will not drain any resources. Depending on the app you can have up to about 6-7 suspended apps. After that when you open say #8, the oldest one will be removed from the suspended apps area.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Hi and welcome to WPCentral. I'm also an ex-BlackBerry user.

 

[Blkacesvf41]

@araskin
One of the nice features that I miss from the BB browser is that press & hold the back button giving you the option to completely close the browser. On WP8's browser, I find it easier to tap menu (3 dots on lower right) go to "tabs", close tabs and then press back button to start screen. Works out better than pressing back button a hundred times.

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

Welcome aboard. My fellow WPCentralites have already given you all the tips I have to share regarding this, so I won't post any more than this.