From Jelly Bean to Amber. My leap into WP8 and the 925

[Chris2183]

TLR- Long time Android user gets a Windows phone. Culture shock and high seas mayhem ensue

After asking about what I thought were my most used apps and getting positive responses, I made the jump and got a Lumia 925 Friday Night. My first 48 hours with it have been a whirlwind of highs and lows. Here is my story.

Friday Im anxious and excited. Armed with the assurance from the forums that almost everything I want to do on WP8 is possible, I head to my local T-Mo store. While waiting I compare the 521 to the 925, ultimately I decide I cant go back to a 4 inch screen and settle on the 925 as I love 4.5-4.7 inch screens they are the sweet spot for me. We pay, swap sim cards and out the door we go. Nexus in my pocket and Lumia in my hands Im king of the world.

The instructions are in the box. We dont need no stinking instructions

Turn it on OMG the screen is gorgeous, the tiles are cool. How do I move them? Long press tap the thumbtack to unstick it so I can move it. WTF did I just delete:shocked:? I still dont know what I deleted. Ok long press and dont touch thumbtack. Sweet I can move it. What does this arrow do, sweet it changes the size if the tile. Im moving and changing tiles now so far so good. Its so sexy and shiny, and man I sure do love shiny things

Time to check out apps. Where is the app drawer button? I hope it was that random tile I deleted. Lets try that Windows button, nope, hmm lets swipe left or right. Woot I found it! Now its time for search and destroy. T-Mo TV, long press, uninstall. Wash rinse repeat for the rest of the T-Mo bloat. Nice try T-Mo but I aint falling for it. The rest of my evening is spent exploring, pinning and deleting.

Saturday
Its a big day today. Im going out with the wife to some antique shops, do some Instagramming, enjoy a nice lunch, and do some rollerskating Its time for the Lumia to shine.

First up we hit the Local Scout tile and search "Anitque stores near me" Apparently I am 1087 miles from the nearest antique store in Maine. Son I am disappoint :unhappy:. Screw it Ill figure it out while we are at an antique store that we know the location of. I spend the next 30 minutes checking and double checking location services to make sure they are all on. They are and Im stumped as to why it gave me stores in Maine until it dawned on me, that me is Maine. Aha. I try again "Antique stores" this time and viola I have a ton of locations at my fingertips. I am learning :grin:

A few taps later and Here Drive is guiding us on our way. The layout is nice, directions are clear, and local speed limits are posted which is nice for unfamiliar areas. We get to our next destination with no hiccups Drive rocks.

I find a few cool things to snap pics of here and there. The camera is awesome, pics look great. I love having a dedicated camera button except when I am trying to turn the screen on or off as I keep hitting it instead of the lock screen button. I have done this several times over the course of the weekend. I plan on doing it tomorrow as well.

Next destination is decided and Drive guides the way and all is right with the world.

Why is my battery draining so fast? I have had it plugged in to the charger while in the car everywhere we went. Why have I lost 66% battery in 5 hours even while plugged in and charging several times in that 5 hours? These questions must be answered. I go to bing search and type in google.com. The third result is Google. Bing does its job:grin:

I search and after several forum threads and some reviews I unsync almost everything, block background tasks and do some tweaking. Fingers crossed we have stopped the massive drain Sunday will give me a better idea if I got it under control or not.

Time for some tunes while driving. I fire up Rdio, it crashes :eck: One more try. I can pick artists and songs but no radio option. Well at least I got Spotify. I launch Spotify and I dont know who in their right mind over at Spotify though it would be a good idea to not include the radio feature that is available on both Android and iOS but I seriously hope he is last picked at the companys next dodge ball match. I am a sad panda. Drive guides me home as I pout.

Sunday

After I Google how to turn on hot spot, I tether my tablet to the Lumia. It connects easily. I later connect my trucks bluetooth and place a call. The call is loud and clear I love bluetooth 4.0 as it always seems to play well with my truck. My Nexus has struggled with my truck. A2DP streaming is great but call quality is horrible, this is one of the few things I heavily favor the 925 over my Nexus on.

I link Google and Facebook. My address book updates and links duplicate profiles. My calender now shows duplicate appointments and I now have Facebook feeds in my phonebook. I am now the proud owner of an Outlook 2 option in my apps also. I think I am going to reset the phone and start over since I have learned a few things. While the Facebook link added details to my contacts I dont use it enough to care about the feeds littering my inbox. I would also like to redo some things to my liking.

Conclusion
UCbrowser > Internet Explorer
While the apps fell short in several places the phone is fast, sleek and sexy. The OS itself feels very polished and lag free.
Im trying to adapt to the lack of notification bar and LED notifications. the tiles at the top feeding me info on missed messages and emails help. Its not a big deal just a different way of doing things.
Glance is cool
City Lens is a neat gimmick
The camera is awesome
I like Local Scout more than the new Google Local
Here Drive is great

Is the OS and hardware enough to keep me onboard or will the app frustrations send me back into the loving arms of my Nexus 4 we still have 12 days to find out:grin:

 

[metalchick719]

You don't need an app drawer button on WP8. You can easily pin any apps you use frequently to your home screen. Also, when you pressed and held on a tile on the home screen, you probably accidentally unpinned it.

The battery drain is fairly normal when the phone is new. Let it drain and calibrate it with regular charging overnight or whatnot - but don't let it drain down to zero! After a few weeks, your battery should improve. Also, turn off things like NFC and don't let apps run in the background. Always press the back button (the arrow at the bottom left below the screen) to close out of apps.

Hope my few tips help somewhat. :smile:

 

[Chris2183]

You don't need an app drawer button on WP8. You can easily pin any apps you use frequently to your home screen. Also, when you pressed and held on a tile on the home screen, you probably accidentally unpinned it.

The battery drain is fairly normal when the phone is new. Let it drain and calibrate it with regular charging overnight or whatnot - but don't let it drain down to zero! After a few weeks, your battery should improve. Also, turn off things like NFC and don't let apps run in the background. Always press the back button (the arrow at the bottom left below the screen) to close out of apps.

Hope my few tips help somewhat. :smile:

I learned swiping to the left opened the app drawer fairly quickly. I initially thought tapping the pin would allow me to move the tile, when I did it the first time and the tile disappeared there was a brief holy crap moment of what did I just do. as I played with the phone more I learned what the pin and the arrows do. I still dont know what app I unpinned lol

This was not normal battery drain that all new phones have. I have a fairly extensive history with smartphones starting in 07 with Blackberry and I switched to Android in 09. There was something running in the background and after blocking all background task the drain has stopped. I suspect that I wasnt properly backing out of Here Drive when not in use. I have had the phone off charge for 13 hours today and have been playing with it throughout the the day and I still have 43% battery left

BT, WiFi, and NFC are all off even though NFC consumes very little power on my Android a lot of people here suggest turning it off. I dont know if its placebo or if windows just handles NFC differently but either way its currently off

I learned the back arrow to close late Saturday afternoon

Your tips are good and would have helped Friday afternoon :smile: This was more of a lighthearted look at my first weekend with a new phone than any sort of real gripe or issue

 

[a5cent]

In regard to the battery drain while hooked up to the car charger, this might be of interest:

http://forums.windowscentral.com/no...ble-car-charger-cant-keep-up-phone-usage.html

 

[JohnnyFEZ]

First up we hit the Local Scout tile and search "Anitque stores near me" Apparently I am 1087 miles from the nearest antique store in Maine. Son I am disappoint :unhappy:.

This made me LOL. Great write-up. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Chris2183]

In regard to the battery drain while hooked up to the car charger, this might be of interest:

http://forums.windowscentral.com/no...ble-car-charger-cant-keep-up-phone-usage.html

Interesting read I found this in the thread

What you guys need is a USB charging cable. A standard USB cable will only allow 500mA.

My wife's charger messed up a few weeks ago and I was using a regular usb cable plug into the extra port on the charger. So charging at half the output I thought I was charging at and me hammering on a new phone like we all do would explain it. Thanks

This made me LOL. Great write-up. Thanks for sharing.

It was a definite wtf moment when it happened. I was using the voice command, and if you do this in the Google Now app it will locate you via gps and show you everything around you that you asked for. If you say " find X near city name" it tends to screw up the city name so the "near me" search works better. Once I figured out how to ask for what I wanted it was easy.

Im glad you enjoyed my write-up.

 

[sdc1]

I enjoyed reading that. I think that all of us that have switched from Android/iOS can identify with some of your issues. Stick with it though, it's worth it

 

[Muessig]

Hey Chris, great to see you here at WPCentral. Really interesting read! It'd be great if you could keep sharing your experiences day by day in this thread, I'm sure you'd get a lot of people really interested.

Also, a great thread you might want to look over: http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-8/204483-wp8-newbie-tips.html

 

[jp1024]

I too swapped my android phone, an aged Froyo one, for a 925, so far so good too.

Managed to import my contacts via bluetooth, but did get a little annoyed that it offered to import SMS messages but kept quitting. If it cant actually do it, why offer? or at least why not say it cant instead of just quitting.

Now just to prune and edit my contact names to remove or identify Skype vs phone contacts.

Other than that, most of my time was spent swearing and cursing because it kept losing the network. Dunno why it seems so much worse in the 925 than the android phone.

 

[robert_in_la]

Make sure to block Drive from running in the background as it will eat your battery;

>Settings
>Applications
>Background Task

See whats running and block stuff you don't need - the only thing I leave running is my weather and battery app and I am getting around 8 hours of hard use and way most 12-14 hours with moderate use.

 

[Westiemom]

Great thread OP! I hope you keep posting about your experiences Chris as you explain it all very well. I have the HTC 8X - I've had it since the first week of January - and I'm contemplating getting the 928 (I'm on Verizon) in October when I can upgrade. I'm still not sure if I'll make the switch because I love my 8X but I'm thinking on it and information like your's is very helpful!

 

[ricbon]

also dont forget pandora no ads till the end of the year for WP8 users

 

[Chris2183]

Hey Chris, great to see you here at WPCentral. Really interesting read! It'd be great if you could keep sharing your experiences day by day in this thread, I'm sure you'd get a lot of people really interested.

Also, a great thread you might want to look over: http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-8/204483-wp8-newbie-tips.html

Thanks for the welcome and the noob tips. I can gladly update some more of my experiences.

 

[Chris2183]

I enjoyed reading that. I think that all of us that have switched from Android/iOS can identify with some of your issues. Stick with it though, it's worth it

Great thread OP! I hope you keep posting about your experiences Chris as you explain it all very well. I have the HTC 8X - I've had it since the first week of January - and I'm contemplating getting the 928 (I'm on Verizon) in October when I can upgrade. I'm still not sure if I'll make the switch because I love my 8X but I'm thinking on it and information like your's is very helpful!

Thank you guys

 

[Chris2183]

I too swapped my android phone, an aged Froyo one, for a 925, so far so good too.

Managed to import my contacts via bluetooth, but did get a little annoyed that it offered to import SMS messages but kept quitting. If it cant actually do it, why offer? or at least why not say it cant instead of just quitting.

Now just to prune and edit my contact names to remove or identify Skype vs phone contacts.

Other than that, most of my time was spent swearing and cursing because it kept losing the network. Dunno why it seems so much worse in the 925 than the android phone.

Im noticing that the 925 has lost the signal in a few spots where my wife's Nexus 4 still had a signal. Its happened on certain stretches of road and a few buildings

Make sure to block Drive from running in the background as it will eat your battery;

>Settings
>Applications
>Background Task

See whats running and block stuff you don't need - the only thing I leave running is my weather and battery app and I am getting around 8 hours of hard use and way most 12-14 hours with moderate use.

I did this Saturday along with several other things that I deemed unnecessary to me.

also dont forget pandora no ads till the end of the year for WP8 users

I will give it a go thanks.

 

[Cindy_H]

I'm on Verizon so I have the 928, but FWIW, I'd thought I'd mention I experienced some network connectivity issues, too, the first week or so. They seemed to have worked themselves out recently, though. I even got IHeartRadio to connect...huzzah! Which reminds me I need to go update my review of the app...you might want to check it out, too, since Rdio and Spotify let you down.

Your write up made me smile :smile:

 

[josemon]

Great writing style...lol

 

[SeeVuPlay]

great read!

I recommend you also buy the Surface now that you have a windows phone. For what reason you ask? none, except that I will be looking forward to another "LMAO" write up...it made my day haha.

 

[slobydamn]

Glad you're enjoying your Lumia Chris!

Just a quick heads up incase you missed it. You can link your contacts, so if you have the same "Steve" from gmail and facebook just tap one of them and then the link icon. That way they will merge in your contact list. And even if you filter out for instance your facebook contacts you can still link them to other accounts so their info turns up!

 

[Chris2183]

Monday Day 3

Its the first day of the work week and I am leaving the Nexus home (hold me Im scared). I have yet to have a phone with a stock battery last an entire day at my job, so I have my trusty Astro 3e to get me through the day (Amazon.com: Anker? Astro3E 10000mAh High Capacity Power Bank Pack Portable External Battery Charger for iPhone 5, 4S, 4, iPad 4, 3, 2, Mini, iPods (Lightning adapter not included); Samsung Galaxy S4, S3, S2, Note 2; HTC One, EVO, Thunderbolt, Incredi) 10,000 mAh 3A output of portable charging goodness. So of course I run right out the door this morning forgetting it on the table.

Time to test the Battery Saver feature. Will it save the day or will it fail harder than MySpace after Facebook opened the doors for everyone. Stay tuned folks.

I turn the Battery Saver on and we immediately disagree. It doesnt recommend me turning it on all the time, I recommend it shut the hell up and do it anyway. I win this round :devil:

On the floor it gets a few oohs and ahhs from coworkers, most of whom have never seen a Windows phone. I bask in the envy, Its a good day

Some mild web browsing and a few texts later and Im down to 93% battery. Ive lost 7% in 90 minutes nothing too bad since I have had it on several times. The next 2 hours are uneventful.

Lunchtime AKA Time to make the phone scream for mercy (muahahaha)
I start off by editing a photo with Creative Studio. My editing skills with Photoshop fall somewhere between Ansel Adams in a coma and Van Goh 3 days deep into an absinthe trip. Creative studio at least lets me make something my mom wouldnt be ashamed to put up on the fridge. Seventeen filters later I upload to Instagram using Instance. I added three extra filters in Instance for good luck.

I browse Instagram for a bit using Instance. I dont dislike Instance but I do prefer the native Instagram app on my Nexus. Instance is straight forward and easy to use though.

I browse Google plus via the UC Browser since there is no app for it. The mobile version of G+ is adequate. Catch up on the news over at Android Central, and WP Central. I think somebody is making the mobile site for WP Central run slow in order to get me to part with a dollar, but I could be paranoid from the glue I was sniffing earlier. I then head over to Crackberry to read about the latest conspiracy against Blackberry phones, and watch anyone who mentions the word "App" get called an iOS/Android ******. Its my equivalent to bad reality tv. Occasionally you get a real gem of a thread like the one today about how BB should buy Waze:smile:

A few pages of Baconit later and its time to go. Baconit is a fine Reddit app, but if you have ever used Alien Blue on iOS it does not appear as polished. Then again every Reddit app Ive ever tried pales in comparison to Alien Blue.

Im down to <70% battery. I laugh as I realize Im using an app that drains battery to show me battery drain (Yo dawg I heard you like watching battery drain) its been 4.5 hours now.

I leave work early to go to the dentist. Its been 6 hours and I managed to drain the phone the 51% LTE was off, Bluetooth off, WiFi off, NFC off, Battery Saver forced on. I charge it as I head to the dentist.

90 minutes of nitrous later I have a shiny new filling and feel like Tom Cruise in Vanilla Sky (pic for reference https://lh3.ggpht.com/--By334Mp1IA/...FxK0PH2Wg/s1600/tom+cruise+Vanilla+Sky+00.jpg) This has nothing to do with the phone .

I head home to reset the phone, unlink my Google and Facebook accounts, forward Gmail to outlook and set up my contacts to outlook instead of Google. I reset the phone and use Nokia's Transfer My Data option to transfer my contacts straight from my Nexus into the 925 via bluetooth. The process is smooth and takes only a couple of minutes. This should be in all phones, its a damn good feature. The only thing that would make it better is if it brought over my contact pictures as well

Conclusion for the day
Facebook still sucks
Transfer My Data rocks
Losing contact pics in the transfer was disappointing
Moes Monday $5 burritos rock
Flashlight XT is the best flashlight app I found
According to WPCentral Rudy Huyn is a god


Day 3 is down 11 to go :grin: