A tale of a recent WP convert...
I'm a long-time wireless veteran, having worked in the industry since the birth of PCS and early CDMA/TDMA handsets - I jumped into smartphones with the Qualcomm QCP-800 and the Kyocera 6135. I've played around with Palm Treos, HTC Windows Mobile OEM's, a slew of BlackBerrys (from the old monochrome "2-way pagers" up to the 3G Bolds), rocked a couple of Nokia Symbians (and Maemo - loved my N900!), several Androids and a few iDevices... so I think I'm not the typical over-the-hill technology neophyte. :grin:
My last "flagship" device was a Nexus 4 - although I was hip-deep in the Google ecosystem, it never really felt "right"... Android 4.2 made up for a wealth of shortcomings in my prior device (an LG Optimus-series, running 2.3), but even with its "Project Butter" tunings and lauded-by-top-geeks "stock" experience, it wasn't comfortable. Not all of the phone's features were apparent - there were quite a few "Oh, so that's how you do that" moments, and I felt like there was more of a learning curve than what should be in the "world's most popular OS". By contrast, I've administered iPads as part of a former job - iOS walks you by the hand through everything... which is nice, but the iPhone hardware doesn't appeal to me. It's expensive for what it is, and there's little difference in the models being offered.
I've held a grudge against Nokia and Microsoft for a while - cutting Symbian's legs off just as it was starting to come back, and killing off MeeGo even before it had a chance. My new touch-enabled laptop gave me a new appreciation for Windows 8; you really do have to use the Modern UI on a touch device to see how well it actually works! Given this, I decided to give Windows Phone a shot... I tested the waters with a sub-$100 Lumia 521 just a few weeks ago. To say I was impressed is an understatement - a cheap-o "prepaid" phone, sold on a peghook in a clamshell box like so many other throwaway feature-phones, performed about as good as my Nexus! The interface was fluid (more-so at times than my Nexus on 4.4.2 KitKat), the touchscreen was hyper-responsive, and the phone just felt good in the hand. The speaker was louder at mid-setting than my Nexus at full blast! The camera, with no flash and less MP, outperformed the Nexus handily - better color and better focus, even on auto settings (to be fair, these would be daylight shots, but even indoor low-lights were better sans flash on both).
Of course, there's the elephant in the room - apps, and the Windows Store. After poking around, I noticed that most of the apps on my Nexus were either games, or basic utilities (like QuickOffice and Adobe Reader). Since I really don't have time for hardcore games anymore, I've found that most of those games on the Nexus were just taking up space. QuickOffice was never very powerful, and had a habit of screwing up my formatting on my documents that I would have to fix later in Office on my PC. Office on Windows Phone, as I quickly discovered, works much better than QuickOffice... and SkyDrive...err, OneDrive... integration is far better that what I got with Google Drive/QuickOffice. So, those quick in-the-field edits that I need to make are done better with Office. Yes, Virginia, there's no Candy Crush Saga, or Clash of Clans... but I'm quite happy with Frozen and Carcassone for my occasional gaming fixes. Most of my other lifestyle apps are either already on WP, coming to WP, or have an equivalent.
So... I'm happy with Windows Phone. I'm happy with Nokia (again). I've already placed an order on ShopHQ for a Lumia 925, so I can get the Glance screen that I've been missing since I sold my N8 (sold for a profit - couldn't pass that up!). I'm also very happy to show off my little cheap-o 521 - people are impressed that such an inexpensive phone can do so much.
I'm a long-time wireless veteran, having worked in the industry since the birth of PCS and early CDMA/TDMA handsets - I jumped into smartphones with the Qualcomm QCP-800 and the Kyocera 6135. I've played around with Palm Treos, HTC Windows Mobile OEM's, a slew of BlackBerrys (from the old monochrome "2-way pagers" up to the 3G Bolds), rocked a couple of Nokia Symbians (and Maemo - loved my N900!), several Androids and a few iDevices... so I think I'm not the typical over-the-hill technology neophyte. :grin:
My last "flagship" device was a Nexus 4 - although I was hip-deep in the Google ecosystem, it never really felt "right"... Android 4.2 made up for a wealth of shortcomings in my prior device (an LG Optimus-series, running 2.3), but even with its "Project Butter" tunings and lauded-by-top-geeks "stock" experience, it wasn't comfortable. Not all of the phone's features were apparent - there were quite a few "Oh, so that's how you do that" moments, and I felt like there was more of a learning curve than what should be in the "world's most popular OS". By contrast, I've administered iPads as part of a former job - iOS walks you by the hand through everything... which is nice, but the iPhone hardware doesn't appeal to me. It's expensive for what it is, and there's little difference in the models being offered.
I've held a grudge against Nokia and Microsoft for a while - cutting Symbian's legs off just as it was starting to come back, and killing off MeeGo even before it had a chance. My new touch-enabled laptop gave me a new appreciation for Windows 8; you really do have to use the Modern UI on a touch device to see how well it actually works! Given this, I decided to give Windows Phone a shot... I tested the waters with a sub-$100 Lumia 521 just a few weeks ago. To say I was impressed is an understatement - a cheap-o "prepaid" phone, sold on a peghook in a clamshell box like so many other throwaway feature-phones, performed about as good as my Nexus! The interface was fluid (more-so at times than my Nexus on 4.4.2 KitKat), the touchscreen was hyper-responsive, and the phone just felt good in the hand. The speaker was louder at mid-setting than my Nexus at full blast! The camera, with no flash and less MP, outperformed the Nexus handily - better color and better focus, even on auto settings (to be fair, these would be daylight shots, but even indoor low-lights were better sans flash on both).
Of course, there's the elephant in the room - apps, and the Windows Store. After poking around, I noticed that most of the apps on my Nexus were either games, or basic utilities (like QuickOffice and Adobe Reader). Since I really don't have time for hardcore games anymore, I've found that most of those games on the Nexus were just taking up space. QuickOffice was never very powerful, and had a habit of screwing up my formatting on my documents that I would have to fix later in Office on my PC. Office on Windows Phone, as I quickly discovered, works much better than QuickOffice... and SkyDrive...err, OneDrive... integration is far better that what I got with Google Drive/QuickOffice. So, those quick in-the-field edits that I need to make are done better with Office. Yes, Virginia, there's no Candy Crush Saga, or Clash of Clans... but I'm quite happy with Frozen and Carcassone for my occasional gaming fixes. Most of my other lifestyle apps are either already on WP, coming to WP, or have an equivalent.
So... I'm happy with Windows Phone. I'm happy with Nokia (again). I've already placed an order on ShopHQ for a Lumia 925, so I can get the Glance screen that I've been missing since I sold my N8 (sold for a profit - couldn't pass that up!). I'm also very happy to show off my little cheap-o 521 - people are impressed that such an inexpensive phone can do so much.
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