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

[bryantest]

Chris2183

Speaking of Instance..

First look: Full featured Instagram client, InstaPic, headed to Windows 8 devices | Windows Phone Central

 

[Asrialys]

I bit sudden, but thanks for giving it a go. I've never really given Android a good run except from playing around with my mom's Galaxy S3, but it does hold many conveniences in the way of settings that I'd like to see on Windows Phone. lol Basically just settings and notifications.

When I got a text on the 925 I got a little snippet at the top but tapping it didnt take me straight to the text box to return the text. I had to exit what I was doing and then go into messages, I hope the ability to jump from that notification to the appropriate spot gets implemented

You had to select the Messages tile? I was always able to tap the notification and go straight to the message thread in Windows Phone 7.x and Windows Phone 8...

 

[guscall]

For writing a punctuation or number, you should simply tap and hold the '123' option, slide your finger to the desired number or punctuation, and release and you go back to abcd option.

 

[cckgz4]

Glad you had a blast and enjoyed the experience enough to buy the phone that Crackberry claims to be ruining the market. Sock it to them

 

[Sizuke]

Hey man nice read.
Sorry to hijack your thread but how to you or other users of this phone find the storage on it.
I'm in the same position of wanting to come to windows phone after a few generations of Android phones and this phone is what i had in mind to do it but here in UK only Vodafone on contract holds the 32GB version and i don't buy phones on contract i like to buy my phones factory unlocked which means i can only get the 16GB version.
I currently have a Galaxy S3 16GB with a 32GB microSD but in fairness i hardly use the space on the microSD, still im a bit concerned that if a put some music and pictures etc that will fill up quick! How do you guys find it?
Also i use Windows 8 at home so it only makes sense to try Windows Phone and see how well integrates with my Rig OS, plus i'm a bit bored of Android to be perfectly honest, great OS but i fancy trying something new

 

[munchk]

Really enjoyed reading this. I myself am tempted to do a similar post but from iOS 7 to 925. I don't have the writing skills of Chris here, but the pros and cons are really interesting. There are clearly some things that windows phone does so much better, and other things about iOS I miss.

Currently I have an iPhone 5 and the 925....

 

[Chris2183]

Chris2183

Speaking of Instance..

First look: Full featured Instagram client, InstaPic, headed to Windows 8 devices | Windows Phone Central

Will a tablet app work on the phone? If so that is looking like a really nice alternative. 6tagram is also looking to be very nice as well

I bit sudden, but thanks for giving it a go. I've never really given Android a good run except from playing around with my mom's Galaxy S3, but it does hold many conveniences in the way of settings that I'd like to see on Windows Phone. lol Basically just settings and notifications.


You had to select the Messages tile? I was always able to tap the notification and go straight to the message thread in Windows Phone 7.x and Windows Phone 8...

I was at an impasse, I was starting to look at hot spotting my Nexus to regain the ability to use a few apps and functions that just dont exist on WP yet, as well as a rare opportunity to return the phone without paying the restocking fee. It was a way to save 50 bucks and since I wasnt ready to give up on WP8 I put it towards the 521. It was the best outcome all around for me.

I really like Androids notification bar, being able to do things like pause/play and skip tracks as well as toggle settings like bluetooth WiFi etc quickly from anywhere in the phone is nice. I really hope they implement something similar in WP.

I initially thought I could drag it down to read it. When it didnt drag down, I tapped it. Maybe it didnt register my taps or I drug it slightly without realizing it, but when i didnt respond I shrugged it off as something the phone simply didnt do.

For writing a punctuation or number, you should simply tap and hold the '123' option, slide your finger to the desired number or punctuation, and release and you go back to abcd option.

That is an awesome tip.

Glad you had a blast and enjoyed the experience enough to buy the phone that Crackberry claims to be ruining the market. Sock it to them

Glad I can be part of the problem :grin: Whats funny is if Blackberry had a $150 smartphone dominating its segment in the world market they would hail it as the second coming of Christ

Hey man nice read.
Sorry to hijack your thread but how to you or other users of this phone find the storage on it.
I'm in the same position of wanting to come to windows phone after a few generations of Android phones and this phone is what i had in mind to do it but here in UK only Vodafone on contract holds the 32GB version and i don't buy phones on contract i like to buy my phones factory unlocked which means i can only get the 16GB version.
I currently have a Galaxy S3 16GB with a 32GB microSD but in fairness i hardly use the space on the microSD, still im a bit concerned that if a put some music and pictures etc that will fill up quick! How do you guys find it?
Also i use Windows 8 at home so it only makes sense to try Windows Phone and see how well integrates with my Rig OS, plus i'm a bit bored of Android to be perfectly honest, great OS but i fancy trying something new

Having moved to a Nexus which doesnt have an SD slot I have become dependent on cloud storage and streaming. I have a data plan that can accommodate it so it works well for me. The jump to the 925 had no effect on me other than I had to change cloud service and streaming service (Copy and Google Music All Access are not compatible with WP8).

If data is an obstacle for you there is always, the option of making playlists for your music instead of taking your whole library. And syncing your pics daily to your PC.

Really enjoyed reading this. I myself am tempted to do a similar post but from iOS 7 to 925. I don't have the writing skills of Chris here, but the pros and cons are really interesting. There are clearly some things that windows phone does so much better, and other things about iOS I miss.

Currently I have an iPhone 5 and the 925....

Doooooo eeeeet:grin::grin::grin: I had a blast writing about it.

 

[Asrialys]

I really like Androids notification bar, being able to do things like pause/play and skip tracks

While music is playing, you can pause, play, and skip through the current playlist from anywhere just by pushing up or down on the volume rocker once. Simple pptions should come up for music and podcasts.

 

[oj330i]

I'm going to jump back into Windows Phone after owning Androids for the last two years. I tried the HD7 for a few months and didn't really like it that much. But that was WP7 and 2 years ago. I'm hoping to have a lot better experience this time around.

 

[Cindy_H]

I have not tried this myself, but there is an app in the Store called "Hey DJ" that gives you more voice control over your music player. The reviews are pretty good, in case you want to give it a go on the 521.

I hope you keep us updated on your further adventures with your new phone .

 

[Chris2183]

While music is playing, you can pause, play, and skip through the current playlist from anywhere just by pushing up or down on the volume rocker once. Simple pptions should come up for music and podcasts.

Awesome. I will keep that in mind for my 521

I'm going to jump back into Windows Phone after owning Androids for the last two years. I tried the HD7 for a few months and didn't really like it that much. But that was WP7 and 2 years ago. I'm hoping to have a lot better experience this time around.

I have no prior Windows Phone experience so I have no way to compare WP8 with earlier versions. When I went in I thought that I had found a work around for everything I needed to do. Some were very easy solutions like moving cloud storage to Skydrive others proved to be a tremendous pain like streaming radio. Pandora was the best solution but their lack of content vs Spotify is why I don't use it much

I have not tried this myself, but there is an app in the Store called "Hey DJ" that gives you more voice control over your music player. The reviews are pretty good, in case you want to give it a go on the 521.

I hope you keep us updated on your further adventures with your new phone .

I will check it out.

I can post more adventures, hopefully they won't make me move next door to the 521/520 forum just yet

 

[vitorrloureiro]

Did you had any notification issue?

 

[Chris2183]

Did you had any notification issue?

You question is kind of vague but I didnt have any issues with the notifications I used/use.

Before forwarding my Gmail to Outlook, Gmail would pull and notify every 2 hours.
Outlook would notify everytime I got an email and update the live tile
Text messages arrived and updated the live tile

The only problem I had was on occasion I would turn the volume down to watch a video or listen to music, and forget to turn it back up, so I didnt always hear the notification.

 

[munchk]

based on the goog's announcement I have setup my google accounts as exchange. Server search, proper calendar and contact support is back, exactly as it is on my iphone.

MUCH BETTER.

 

[Tateo]

thanks! this helped!

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.

 

[Abhishek Upadhyay]

A really entertaining read.
I'm surprised the OP has not been offered a job at WPC already!

 

[AbsoluteZerow]

Charlie Sheen as a score rating... lol!

 

[Chris2183]

Im glad my foray into WP8 could make a few more people laugh

Charlie Sheen as a score rating... lol!

Speaking of Charlie Sheen. Nokia has now called twice and left a message while I was at work. They are able to replicate the issue but still cannot figure out how to fix it. They assure me they are working diligently on finding a solution. How they are unaware of the Lumia Pusher app is beyond me and I wouldnt mind sharing it with them except they never leave a number to call them back.

On a side note Xfinity offers a transcription option to have voicemail turned into text and emailed to you. Here is a snippet Nokia's voicemail transcribed by Xfinity for your reading pleasure.

"Hi this is Roy from Boca. I'm calling at pharmacy *my last name*. Okay honey this is Lori and how the moment. I am here in farmington-that(?) we are still waiting for further updates in regards to the lost peak-auction(?) on their-glands(?) on your device. I asked her to reset and I am waiting for any updates regarding this from our product specifically for this in this particular field to help us out there and be able to give us answers why this particular thing happened because on our side here (snip)

Thank God they attach a wav file with the actual message.

After spending a couple of weeks away from the 925 and steering the 7 seas with my 521, I can say I do miss the 925.

The 521 comes with a regional license for Here Drive instead of a global license. I was fine with this until I tried to use the phone without a SIM and Here Drive refuses to work. Instead of letting my use offline maps for the region I picked and the maps I had downloaded prior to removing the SIM, I am prompted to upgrade to a global license for $19.99. Slightly confusing at first as I was under the impression all Nokias had offline GPS out of the box, but a little Google Fu later, I discovered this was not the case. The global license, from what I gather, unlocks the true offline use. So currently I am sans Here Drive until I pony up 20 bucks. Not a big deal I dont have a trip planned until Labor Day when I absolutely need offline GPS so I will pay for it before I leave.

I am also experiencing shutter lag when I take pictures, moving picture storage from the SD card cleared this up for a little while but it has crept back up. Im hunting a more permanent solution.

I do believe that the 521 is a lot of phone for the money though even with these setbacks, but I do miss the awesomeness that is the 925.