Coming back to windows phone.... questions

[sandmanfvr]

Well I had wp7 on sprint and then had to do the iPhone thing well that ended. Lol I am dropping sprint for at&t and been thinking on the blackberry 10 but seeing it has issues I am wondering if I should come "home" to wp. I know gmail is a pain with Google being a holes but I looked into going to outlook as I have hotmail for the xbox 360 anyway. Questions:

1 On gmail how can I do this? Setup in phone or switch to outlook.com?
2. Apps how they come along now?
3 Any word if wp8 will last and not be overshadowed with wp9? Aka wp9 come out to soon and not go on current phones.
4 How big jump is wp8 over 7?
5 How is the Nokia 920?

Thanks

 

[rockstarzzz]

Switch to outlook.com
Apps - Overview | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States) regional thing, see what you want is there or not.
No words yet, it may be dead with WP9, it may not.
At core WP8 is a decade ahead of WP7, but in functionality, not so much.
Lumia 920 is the beast and is the beauty.

 

[jleebiker]

I have numerous Gmail accounts on my WP7 phone. Ive never had any problems with any of them.

Why are you coming back? Im actually thinking of leaving WP.

 

[jdhooghe]

Well I had wp7 on sprint and then had to do the iPhone thing well that ended. Lol I am dropping sprint for at&t and been thinking on the blackberry 10 but seeing it has issues I am wondering if I should come "home" to wp. I know gmail is a pain with Google being a holes but I looked into going to outlook as I have hotmail for the xbox 360 anyway. Questions:

1 On gmail how can I do this? Setup in phone or switch to outlook.com?
2. Apps how they come along now?
3 Any word if wp8 will last and not be overshadowed with wp9? Aka wp9 come out to soon and not go on current phones.
4 How big jump is wp8 over 7?
5 How is the Nokia 920?

Thanks

1) Google has extended the protocol a little while longer so GMail will still work but I recommend switching to outlook.(It is painless forwarding gmail to outlook)
2) Plenty of great twitter clients, a host of mediocre facebook applications and the one from microsoft which does everything. WhatsApp is here and they just updated it. Works great.
3) Don't know anything about WP9
4) Can't comment
5) In my opinion, the best WP8 phone. Ton of features. Nokia is doing all within their power to release apps that increase your experience. They are truly pouring their heart into this platform. HTC is not releasing any software for its handsets and making 8X owners angry but they're blaming and getting angry at Nokia. Look at both phones though and choose the one that fits you best.

 

[Dave Blake]

Well I had wp7 on sprint and then had to do the iPhone thing well that ended. Lol I am dropping sprint for at&t and been thinking on the blackberry 10 but seeing it has issues I am wondering if I should come "home" to wp. I know gmail is a pain with Google being a holes but I looked into going to outlook as I have hotmail for the xbox 360 anyway. Questions:

1 On gmail how can I do this? Setup in phone or switch to outlook.com?
2. Apps how they come along now?
3 Any word if wp8 will last and not be overshadowed with wp9? Aka wp9 come out to soon and not go on current phones.
4 How big jump is wp8 over 7?
5 How is the Nokia 920?

Thanks

Nice avatar... BTW
1) Switch to outlook I like it better than Gmail
2) Check out this link: Apps | Windows Phone Central
3) No definitive word yet.
4) Its a big change lots of new stuff and all the good old stuff.
5) MHO the L920 is the best WP I have owned.

 

[sandmanfvr]

How does Facebook work? It once had people hub could do all in facebook that still work?

Thanks on the avatar ghostbusters rule. I think i csn switch to outlook should be to much of a pain.

 

[rockstarzzz]

Outlook switch is VERY simple! There are step by step wizards available for the switch too. That's what I had used.

People hub is EXACTLY the way your left it. Nothing has changed. Can't do everything still, but does let your view feeds, like and comment. In twitter, now it's more detailed when someone mentions you. Otherwise, more reliable notifications than WP7.5 days.

 

[sandmanfvr]

I have numerous Gmail accounts on my WP7 phone. Ive never had any problems with any of them.

Why are you coming back? Im actually thinking of leaving WP.

Why you leaving?

 

[a5cent]

3)
Nothing official. However, Microsoft has promised to provide updates to WP8 for at least 18 months. Many interpret that to mean WP8 devices will be getting WP9 updates, but I do not.

IMHO not getting WP9 on WP8 devices isn't a problem at all though. The whole nerd-rage freak-out about WP7 becoming obsolete within days of WP8's release also turned out to have been massively overblown. My Lumia 800 (WP7.8) still gets regular major updates all the time. Furthermore, most of the apps released today also run fine on WP7, including games like Skulls of the Shugun. I don't feel at all that WP7.x users have been left behind. That will be no different for WP8 after WP9's release, whether you can update to WP9 or not.

Important is only that WP8 isn't instantly dropped, in terms of apps and OS updates. That hasn't happened for WP7.x. It won't happen for WP8 either.

4)
WP8 does have some advantages over WP7, but it isn't anything that is really "in your face". Features like backup support for example. Many people don't dig around their smartphones enough to notice all the differences, so for many people, WP8 seems pretty much like WP7 with better hardware.

5)
I love the 920. It is the first smartphone that got me using the camera. You might also want to wait... see what is announced am MWC which is right around the corner.

 

[rob45]

I have had a IPhone 4s and Samsung Galaxy 2 and now HTC8x Windows Phone all on Verizon. Here's my take. IPhone is too controlled. Android isn't controlled at all and is a jungle for teens. Windows Phone seems to be a happy medium. I like it.

 

[sandmanfvr]

My white nokia 920 is ordered. Love amazon got it for $50.

 

[Phone Guy 4567]

You will love the phone but IMO will be surprised at how little has changed since 7.x. WP is beautiful but annoying at the same time. As far as the 920 I've had it hang on me a few times with a blank screen & the only way to recover is to force a soft reset. Since the last firmware update I also experience the light sensor bug when set to auto brightness. Last but not least do yourself a favour and get a screen protector if you don't want noticeable scratches on your screen.

 

[sandmanfvr]

I know not alot changed but new additions are fine and make wp8 cool. I moved from wp7 as I just had do the iphone thing (slaps self) and regret it. I keep my phones in belt cases with Velcro latches and never scratch them. I am paranoid about phones. Hopefully wont see to many lock ups.

 

[bear_lx]

I am also waiting on my white 920... cant wait

 

[KorJax]

You shouldn't have to be too worried about scratches, since its using gorrilla glass. For reference, not even sharpened stainless steel can scratch normal glass, let alone gorrilla glass, which has an even higher hardness rating.

Mohs scale of mineral hardness - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Glass, being derived from sand/quartz, sits around 5.7-6 on the hardness scale, with gorilla glass being slightly around 7. This means only things above that hardness level can scratch it. Steel is about 5.0-5.5 on the hardness scale, for reference. That said, quartz (and as such, actual sand particles) are capable of scratching the screen if enough force is applied to it (such as a particularly big grain of sand rubbing hard against the screen while the phone sits tight in your pocket). IMO a screen protector isn't nessicary at all, unelss I'm working or being around areas where I'll frequently be in contact with stuff that has a lot of "hard" minerals around it.

As for WP8 its a pretty big improvement over 7.5 but a lot of the stuff is new only in the backend. Multitaksing, better app support, performance, support for expandable memory, etc. All of these things are pretty major/important features but the UI itself isn't that much different from 7.8, which makes the UI look/work a lot like WP8. Just think of WP8 like the difference between Vista and Windows 7. Windows 7 was pretty much Vista perfected with all the little irrating things ironed out and things polished more. Not a huge increase as far as "user experience" goes, but it just overall runs smoother, more in-control, and feels a lot less like a "first experiement" and more like an actual mature product.

 

[a5cent]

You shouldn't have to be too worried about scratches, since its using gorrilla glass.

...but it just overall runs smoother, more in-control, and feels a lot less like a "first experiment" and more like an actual mature product.

Sorry KorJax, going to disagree with you here.

1) Dozens of threads at WPC demonstrate that gorilla glass screens are anything but scratch proof. Anybody that worries about scratches should get a screen protector.

2) At this point WP8 is decisively less mature than WP7.5 was. Much is still half baked (Xbox music, Skype) and slightly less stable, but WP8 will get there.

 

[rockstarzzz]

Sorry KorJax, going to disagree with you here.

1) Dozens of threads at WPC demonstrate that gorilla glass screens are anything but scratch proof. Anybody that worries about scratches should get a screen protector.

2) At this point WP8 is decisively less mature than WP7.5 was. Much is still half baked (Xbox music, Skype) and slightly less stable, but WP8 will get there.

Most of those users can't differentiate between scratching the oleophobic layer v/s scratching actual glass. Why do we keep forgetting there is that layer on top that is easy to scratch?

 

[a5cent]

Most of those users can't differentiate between scratching the oleophobic layer v/s scratching actual glass. Why do we keep forgetting there is that layer on top that is easy to scratch?

Yes, agree. I also thought about stating exactly the same thing, but figured to most people, a scratch is a scratch no mater what layer it is in, so why explain. Just put on a screen protector.

;-)

 

[Duvi]

I will be attempting to switch to Outlook as well.

I enjoy Gmail's ease of use, but I do enjoy Microsoft and their ecosystem a lot more.

 

[Phone Guy 4567]

Yes, agree. I also thought about stating exactly the same thing, but figured to most people, a scratch is a scratch no mater what layer it is in, so why explain. Just put on a screen protector.

;-)

And it's not like me as a user is able to remove the layer and put a new one on.