Help Me Move To Windows Phone

[A895]

After careful consideration I am seriously thinking of moving to Windows Phone. The Windows Phone 8.1 update sealed a lot of problems I had but I am still a bit weary and was wondering if you guys can help put my mind at ease.

I took a look at the Windows Phone Store and few of my apps I use are missing so I was wondering if there is some suggestions for alternatives:

1.) Pocket - I noticed their is an app called Poki, is that the best Pocket client or is there better?

2.)CloudMagic - Does the email app built in provide a single view for all email addresses? I use an .edu through exchange, an outlook, and a gmail account, so will there be a combined view for all of them or is there an app for that?

3.)Feedly - Any suggestions for Feedly?

4.)Google Keep - Is there an app that is cross platform that I can use on android now? Or do I have to move my notes over and be forced to use OneNote?

5.)HP ePrint - Is there an app that I can print to my HP wireless printer?

6.)Battery Defender - What is the best comparable app to extend battery life? Or is the Battery Sense app good enough? Is there any apps for data toggle?

7.) Google Maps - I now my way pretty well around Atlanta, but for the times I need to navigate is Bing Maps good enough or is Here Maps better? Is Here Maos available on non Nokia devices?

8.)Mobile Nations Forums - Tapatalk is on WP correct? Or is there a better app to visit forums?

Finally, what phone should I get? The Lumia Icon or the ATIV SE? I feel the ATIV would be better because it has a microsd card to take advantage of app to sd functions and I have microsd card already in my Razr M. But what do guys think? Any help is really appreciated.

 

[Laura Knotek]

For #3, I use Nextgen Reader. There is also a Windows 8.1 version of this app, which syncs with the Windows Phone version.

For #8, yes there is a free Tapatalk app for Windows Phone.

 

[Highdefjunkie]

Here is great and One Note is king. If you want to try WP buy a Nokia 520 for 50 bucks unlocked and try it out.

 

[A895]

For #3, I use Nextgen Reader. There is also a Windows 8.1 version of this app, which syncs with the Windows Phone version.

For #8, yes there is a free Tapatalk app for Windows Phone.

How does Nextgen Reader compare to Phonly?

Posted via the WPC App for Android!

 

[Laura Knotek]

How does Nextgen Reader compare to Phonly?

Posted via the WPC App for Android!

I don't know. I've never had an Android device.

 

[Nokia1020]

OP, the battery app that I use is called battery+ and it works fairly well. Tells you the voltage of your battery, how many charges you have on your battery, and other useful stuff.

As said by others, OneNote is best for notes.



You'll be glad you switched to a Windows Phone...as a former android user, I am happy with my switch







Sent from my Nokia Lumia 1020 via Tapatalk

 

[hemanlive]

Finally, what phone should I get? The Lumia Icon or the ATIV SE? I feel the ATIV would be better because it has a microsd card to take advantage of app to sd functions and I have microsd card already in my Razr M. But what do guys think? Any help is really appreciated.

Go for the Lumia icon if you are on Verizon. Ativ may show up as having better spec sheet, but I don't think it can match Nokia in terms of build quality and performance.
Secondly: I might be wrong, but I don't think the HERE suite of apps will work on Ativ. If they don't there is no fun in windows phones.

 

[A895]

Go for the Lumia icon if you are on Verizon. Ativ may show up as having better spec sheet, but I don't think it can match Nokia in terms of build quality and performance.
Secondly: I might be wrong, but I don't think the HERE suite of apps will work on Ativ. If they don't there is no fun in windows phones.

Aren't the specs similar? What's would cause a disparity in performance?

Posted via the WPC App for Android!

 

[A895]

Do non Nokia phones come with Bing Maps? Is there a difference between Bing maps and Nokia maps?

Posted via the WPC App for Android!

 

[Cleavitt76]

Nokia HERE maps and Nokia HERE drive are available for non-Nokia Windows Phones, but I think you may have to pay for it.

Nokia releases HERE Transit and HERE Maps for non-Lumia Windows Phones | Windows Phone Central

Bing maps and Nokia maps/drive use the same data (Nokia's HERE data), but the UI is different. Bing maps is fairly simple and minimalist, but still works quite well in my opinion. I travel a lot and it never failed me. Nokia maps is a little more advanced, but it's main feature is that it integrates directly with Nokia Drive ("garmin/tomtom style" 3D driving software). You can plan a route in Nokia maps and then click "start navigation" to open that route in Nokia Drive.

Both Bing and Nokia maps work well for me in Florida. It comes down to whether you prefer the minimalist or full featured approach for navigation app.

As for some of your original questions...

#2 Yes, Windows Phone has a unified inbox option. I have never used it personally, but it's there and you can link multiple inboxes into one view if you wish.

#3 I use Weave as my "news aggregator" app. It is available on both Windows 8 and WP. There are other good ones though too.

#4 Evernote and OneNote are both cross platform note taking apps. The advantage to Evernote is that it's independent. The advantage of OneNote is integration and consistency with MS Office. I prefer OneNote, but both are good.

#5 Probably no to the printing question. Wireless printing wasn't supported in WP8. WP8.1 might be able to do it (it supports WiFi Direct now), but I'm not sure and currently I don't see any apps for wireless printing.

#6 Battery Sense and Battery Saver (both built into the OS) are probably all you need. Battery Sense displays battery usage by individual app and breaks it down further into how much was used while the app was being used directly or running in the background. I have had less than 24 hours to play with it, but it seems to be very useful so far in tracking down what might be causing a battery drain situation. Battery Saver has various options that can kick in to disable background tasks when the battery gets low to help keep the phone alive longer.

#7 In my experience, Bing/Nokia maps does just as good a job as Google maps in making sense of the spaghetti interstates in Atlanta. That is to say that the map data is accurate, but good luck figuring out which of the 9 exits in a quarter mile stretch is the right one while you are driving along at 70 MPH. Seriously, I hate driving in Atlanta.

#8 TapaTalk is exclusive to WP last I heard. WPCentral has a good app too. Not sure about Mobile Nations in general though.

 

[A895]

Nokia HERE maps and Nokia HERE drive are available for non-Nokia Windows Phones, but I think you may have to pay for it.

Nokia releases HERE Transit and HERE Maps for non-Lumia Windows Phones | Windows Phone Central

Bing maps and Nokia maps/drive use the same data (Nokia's HERE data), but the UI is different. Bing maps is fairly simple and minimalist, but still works quite well in my opinion. I travel a lot and it never failed me. Nokia maps is a little more advanced, but it's main feature is that it integrates directly with Nokia Drive ("garmin/tomtom style" 3D driving software). You can plan a route in Nokia maps and then click "start navigation" to open that route in Nokia Drive.

Both Bing and Nokia maps work well for me in Florida. It comes down to whether you prefer the minimalist or full featured approach for navigation app.

According to Windows Store:

HERE Maps, Transit, and Drive is free and available to all Windows Phones in the U.S.

That might tip me towards the Ativ then because I honestly really only cared about the navigation which I thought was more Nokia exclusive.

Posted via the WPC App for Android!

 

[A895]

Nokia HERE maps and Nokia HERE drive are available for non-Nokia Windows Phones, but I think you may have to pay for it.

Nokia releases HERE Transit and HERE Maps for non-Lumia Windows Phones | Windows Phone Central

Bing maps and Nokia maps/drive use the same data (Nokia's HERE data), but the UI is different. Bing maps is fairly simple and minimalist, but still works quite well in my opinion. I travel a lot and it never failed me. Nokia maps is a little more advanced, but it's main feature is that it integrates directly with Nokia Drive ("garmin/tomtom style" 3D driving software). You can plan a route in Nokia maps and then click "start navigation" to open that route in Nokia Drive.

Both Bing and Nokia maps work well for me in Florida. It comes down to whether you prefer the minimalist or full featured approach for navigation app.

As for some of your original questions...

#2 Yes, Windows Phone has a unified inbox option. I have never used it personally, but it's there and you can link multiple inboxes into one view if you wish.

#3 I use Weave as my "news aggregator" app. It is available on both Windows 8 and WP. There are other good ones though too.

#4 Evernote and OneNote are both cross platform note taking apps. The advantage to Evernote is that it's independent. The advantage of OneNote is integration and consistency with MS Office. I prefer OneNote, but both are good.

#5 Probably no to the printing question. Wireless printing wasn't supported in WP8. WP8.1 might be able to do it (it supports WiFi Direct now), but I'm not sure and currently I don't see any apps for wireless printing.

#6 Battery Sense and Battery Saver (both built into the OS) are probably all you need. Battery Sense displays battery usage by individual app and breaks it down further into how much was used while the app was being used directly or running in the background. I have had less than 24 hours to play with it, but it seems to be very useful so far in tracking down what might be causing a battery drain situation. Battery Saver has various options that can kick in to disable background tasks when the battery gets low to help keep the phone alive longer.

#7 In my experience, Bing/Nokia maps does just as good a job as Google maps in making sense of the spaghetti interstates in Atlanta. That is to say that the map data is accurate, but good luck figuring out which of the 9 exits in a quarter mile stretch is the right one while you are driving along at 70 MPH. Seriously, I hate driving in Atlanta.

#8 TapaTalk is exclusive to WP last I heard. WPCentral has a good app too. Not sure about Mobile Nations in general though.

Thanks a lot! I hate driving in Atlanta too. What phone do you suggest? The SE or Icon? I would get a 1520 but it's on AT&T and I'm on Verizon.

Posted via the WPC App for Android!

 

[RavenSword]

Pouch is a good pocket alternative app.

 

[RavenSword]

I think I'm about where you are at as well. What finely pushed you over the edge? 81 mostly?

 

[A895]

I think I'm about where you are at as well. What finely pushed you over the edge? 81 mostly?

Windows Phone 8.1 and the fact that I am on Verizon and Verizon has the two out of 3 high WP devices in the states. I have choice of the ATIV SE or Lumia Icon. I`m leaning towards the SE because it has better dimensions and size, and has the nice design (IMO). I want to jump finally, I wanted to jump back when the HTC Trophy was available but the store I went back in February 2012 didn`t have it so I got the Droid Incredible 2. I`m really read now, WP has most of the stuff I need (browser, bookmark sync finally, good naviagtion app, unified inbox, and a good notes app).

 

[RavenSword]

I keep swapping my sim between the 920 and my 5S. Really, I probably need to just leave the sim in the 920 and just use that for a month.

 

[Taylor White1]

I'm using the icon and totally adore it. Has great build quality and is comfortable to hold. But I can see the allure of the Samsung handset if your coming from android. A familiar device with unfamiliar OS could make the switch seem less dramatic.

 

[A895]

I'm using the icon and totally adore it. Has great build quality and is comfortable to hold. But I can see the allure of the Samsung handset if your coming from android. A familiar device with unfamiliar OS could make the switch seem less dramatic.

I'm more of a person who appreciated size of a device and the Icon while not bad looking is not as one hand friendly as the Ativ SE.

Posted via the WPC App for Android!

 

[txkimmers]

3.)Feedly - Any suggestions for Feedly?
** Yes, Phonly is wonderful! Great app.

4.)Google Keep - Is there an app that is cross platform that I can use on android now? Or do I have to move my notes over and be forced to use OneNote?
** I have an Evernote account and also use OneNote extensively, both are great. Evernote on WP is really awesome, but I use OneNote a ton as well.

5.)HP ePrint - Is there an app that I can print to my HP wireless printer?
** When I set up wireless printing on my HP printer, I was given an email address at hpeprint.com. Basically to print from my phone I have to send the document as an attachment to that email address that I set up and then in a few minutes it prints from the printer. Not awesome, but it's better than nothing. I was really hoping for wireless printing with 8.1, but c'est la vie.
I don't know of any worthwhile apps either for this.

7.) Google Maps - I now my way pretty well around Atlanta, but for the times I need to navigate is Bing Maps good enough or is Here Maps better? Is Here Maos available on non Nokia devices?
**I got a Nokia device after first buying an HTC 8X specifically because of the great apps Nokia has developed for Windows Phone and the Here apps are no exception.

Good luck if you decide to go for it! I switched from Android about 18 months ago and it's just gotten better and better all the time.

 

[emyxsoft]

2) Yes you can link your inboxes together.
3) There is a very good app called Nextgen reader on the store.
4) OneNote is awesome.
5) You won't need any third party apps to manage your battery life. Battery life is already good on its own but be sure to disable any apps you dont want to run in background via the Battery Saver app in 8.1. You can toggle your data on and off in the settings page.
7) Nokia updated HERE Drive for non-Lumia phones to HERE Drive+. It's also free. HERE is a great mapping service. You can download maps locally to your phone so that you don't have to use data pulling map data.