I hate goodbyes....

[tweedie]

I thought the z3 suppose to have a decentish camera (but never expected 1020) and certainly not expected it to be "dreadful". Perhaps some settings somewhere you need to adjust? Any chance of a photo of comparision if you still got your 1020 in the same lightening conditions as Z3?

Quite surprise garmin doesn't work - after all - shouldn't the compatiability problem just boils down the bluetooth support/version?

You'll have to come back to this forum and let us know what the battery life is like compared to 1020!

 

[Nick_1020]

I thought the z3 suppose to have a decentish camera (but never expected 1020) and certainly not expected it to be "dreadful". Perhaps some settings somewhere you need to adjust? Any chance of a photo of comparision if you still got your 1020 in the same lightening conditions as Z3?

Quite surprise garmin doesn't work - after all - shouldn't the compatiability problem just boils down the bluetooth support/version?

You'll have to come back to this forum and let us know what the battery life is like compared to 1020!

I'll sort some comparisons out later. I tried manual settings as well as the superior mode. Manual was better but the reds were way off. I would've accepted (a little begrudgingly) the trade off in quality compared to the 1020 and there is a bit difference in that respect alone but the colour issue is something else.

Battery life seems absolutely excellent! Was about 51% charged out of the box and hours of use have barely affected it.

Call quality is absolutely crystal too.

 

[fdalbor]

Sorry to hear your changover experience is not a good as you expected. You know the old saying the grass is not always greener. I decided a few months ago that I I could live quite well using both WP and Android. So instead of buying a new flagship windows phone I kept my old (but very good 820) and got a Moto G lte. I also picked up one of those 39$ 635's as my backup phone. I still intend to get a upgrade to my 820 sometimes next year; but I will continue to use my Moto G lte. I like both systems; but I prefer the WP system as my main phone. My 820 has been great. In the two years I have had it, it has never locked up even once under constance daily use. No goodbyes for me, for WP or for Android. Sorry Apple, just not my cup of tea.

 

[sanjeet_deshwal]

This guy made me cry

Not 'cause he is leaving but he forced me to read his complete biographic article
Bye Nick Bye we'll miss you
*kiddin****You*

 

[detsaoT]

What it boils down to is that the next version of Windows Phone 8.1 slowed down your last-year's-model. Which is like running ICS on a Gingerbread phone. Perhaps the 1020 successor, if there is one, will suit your needs like WP8/1020 did.

Sluggishness is not the only cause - the user interface in Windows Phone 8.1 is categorically "worse" than 8.0, with many of the core apps far more cluttered than the "Metro" design paradigm originally called for. The Xbox Music app is a great example of this - it's difficult to navigate, cluttered, and bug ridden.

But yes, obviously nobody expects a "next generation" operating system to be 100% perfect on "older" model phones -- but the ".1" in "8.1" would imply that it's merely an incremental update rather than a full next gen release, would it not?

 

[Jeremynelson1987]

I'm on the fence right now too. I have been with Windows Phone for four years now, and they're the only smartphones I have ever used. I love my 1520, but the lack of official apps (and the scarce updates for others) is getting to me. I could even do with mobile sites in some cases, but some are rendered weirdly and work better on iOS (seriously, what's the point of having an iOS optimized site AND app?!?!).

I really want to hold out until early 2015 to see what Microsoft's next-gen plans are for Windows (Phone) 10, but it'll be hard for me to stay on board past that if things don't look promising. Should I switch to Android, I'll be still rooting for WP and checking in here frequently.

 

[Nick_1020]

This guy made me cry

Not 'cause he is leaving but he forced me to read his complete biographic article
Bye Nick Bye we'll miss you
*kiddin****You*

No-one forced you to read anything you daft ****.

 

[tapehead]

Sluggishness is not the only cause - the user interface in Windows Phone 8.1 is categorically "worse" than 8.0, with many of the core apps far more cluttered than the "Metro" design paradigm originally called for. The Xbox Music app is a great example of this - it's difficult to navigate, cluttered, and bug ridden.

But yes, obviously nobody expects a "next generation" operating system to be 100% perfect on "older" model phones -- but the ".1" in "8.1" would imply that it's merely an incremental update rather than a full next gen release, would it not?

You could say that, but I think 8.1 is only a ".1" in name considering how much of the basic functionality was changed. I will agree with you the 8.1 feels quite off in comparison to 8. Whether you didn't like 8 or not, I think the one thing you could say about it was that it felt complete. 8.1 feels like WP is stuck in a transitional phase between wanting to conform to this iOS/Android design rather than remain true to their Metro design-- this directly in contrast to most of its user base and hardcore developers who refuse to let it fall by the waste side. What you get is an odd collection of both.

In regards to the Xbox Garbage App, I just ignore its existence and use the Music Backstop, which ironically is better than the original Music + Videos Hub AND Xbox Music. Xbox Music 8.1 was the entire reason I left Windows Phone briefly in the first place, so I 100% get where you're coming from. It's an embarrassing joke that Microsoft should be ashamed of. I will never understand how app enthusiasts who are not professionals can crank out half-decent music apps in a week and the largest computer company in the world can't do it in months.

 

[Ricardo Dawkins]

bahahahaha...that is android for you.... Some devices work other do not. The compatibility with apps and games from the Playstore is a terrible mess. it's a nightmare..a jungle.

 

[realwarder]

Sorry to hear your changover experience is not a good as you expected. You know the old saying the grass is not always greener. I decided a few months ago that I I could live quite well using both WP and Android. So instead of buying a new flagship windows phone I kept my old (but very good 820) and got a Moto G lte. I also picked up one of those 39$ 635's as my backup phone. I still intend to get a upgrade to my 820 sometimes next year; but I will continue to use my Moto G lte. I like both systems; but I prefer the WP system as my main phone. My 820 has been great. In the two years I have had it, it has never locked up even once under constance daily use. No goodbyes for me, for WP or for Android. Sorry Apple, just not my cup of tea.

A friend picked up a Moto G - I actually recommended it to him as there are no comparable Lumia's for the price. Amazingly he found the thing way to buggy. Motorola have a really nasty memory bug where the phone kills apps all the time. Load Pandora, start music playing, go to the web and it shuts Pandora. He ended up getting a 635 and is loving it other than the cheap camera. I told him the 735 is probably really what he wants, but sadly the US market is very poor for Windows Phone these days.

 

[Giddora]

Good luck!

I know you'll come back once the honeymoon with Android is over and you start getting sick and tired of all the things that should work according to everything and everyone, but never works as expected.

 

[luismfarelo]

Good luck with the Z3. In my case, I'll be staying with WP as all the Androids I have used have had serious bugs/crashing issues, and for me WP has all the apps I need

 

[cbreze]

Good Luck OP. I'm leaving also, but nothing says we can't come back as this OS matures more. Nice to have choices and its fun to try new stuff or go back to old/new stuff. I never thought the lack of apps would bother me as I use so few, but alas, it finally got to me. Then I realized it wasn't the OS I liked as much as the phones. My first being the ICON which was awesome in itself. Then the M8 which was even better in my opinion. Then I realized I was sticking around for the phones more than the OS itself. LOL!
http://forums.windowscentral.com/ma...-m8-verizon-lnib-cond-$350-shipped-price.html

 

[detsaoT]

You could say that, but I think 8.1 is only a ".1" in name considering how much of the basic functionality was changed. I will agree with you the 8.1 feels quite off in comparison to 8. Whether you didn't like 8 or not, I think the one thing you could say about it was that it felt complete. 8.1 feels like WP is stuck in a transitional phase between wanting to conform to this iOS/Android design rather than remain true to their Metro design-- this directly in contrast to most of its user base and hardcore developers who refuse to let it fall by the waste side. What you get is an odd collection of both.

In regards to the Xbox Garbage App, I just ignore its existence and use the Music Backstop, which ironically is better than the original Music + Videos Hub AND Xbox Music. Xbox Music 8.1 was the entire reason I left Windows Phone briefly in the first place, so I 100% get where you're coming from. It's an embarrassing joke that Microsoft should be ashamed of. I will never understand how app enthusiasts who are not professionals can crank out half-decent music apps in a week and the largest computer company in the world can't do it in months.

Agreed completely. Will definitely keep up with the WP world, and if and when the software is fixed, I may switch my SIM card back over to the 1020. Or procure a "1030" when those are released. Just depends on how competent the management at Microsoft decides to be, I reckon.

 

[BobLobIaw]

Maybe an LG G3, if it syncs with the Garmin app? That phone seems to have one of the better-reviewed cameras for an Android phone.

 

[Nick_1020]

Maybe an LG G3, if it syncs with the Garmin app? That phone seems to have one of the better-reviewed cameras for an Android phone.

The G3 isn't on the compatible apps list for the Garmin Connect Mobile app but it ticks the other requirement boxes with Android version and Bluetooth 4.0 but then again, so does the Z3.

Anyway, I've been having second thoughts about my second thoughts. I really like the Z3..it's a very good phone apart from the compatibility with the Garmin app which is something that should be fixed with a future app update and besides, as it's winter I won't be doing as much road cycling as normal so it may not be so bad waiting whilst I'm doing my miles on an exercise bike.

 

[Nick_1020]

Good Luck OP. I'm leaving also, but nothing says we can't come back as this OS matures more. Nice to have choices and its fun to try new stuff or go back to old/new stuff. I never thought the lack of apps would bother me as I use so few, but alas, it finally got to me. Then I realized it wasn't the OS I liked as much as the phones. My first being the ICON which was awesome in itself. Then the M8 which was even better in my opinion. Then I realized I was sticking around for the phones more than the OS itself. LOL!
http://forums.windowscentral.com/ma...-m8-verizon-lnib-cond-$350-shipped-price.html

I really like the look of some of the new WP devices. Very pleasing on the eye and decent specs too. If there wasn't an app issue, in particular with the ones I need, I'd stay on WP without a thought.

 

[tgp]

Maybe the Moto X 2014 would work for you.

 

[Nick_1020]

I have done the same and moved to a Xperia Z3 and not looked back.
As great as the camera was on the 1020, I grew increasing frustrated with the limitations of the ageing hardware and how slow it was to load up, take a photo and save. Most of my ios/android owning friends would have taken 4-5 pics by the time I had taken 1.
Whatsapp was slow to load up and going back and forth to it would really be sluggish and sometimes I wouldn't get the message until a few hours later.
I kept getting missed calls from Viber even though the phone didn't ring and it also took an age to load.
Over time I felt that apps seemed to take longer to load and this really frustrated me.
I of course miss the quality of pics taken with the 1020 and the wireless charging but other than that as a phone overall the xperia Z3 is much better in everyday use compared to the 1020.

Of course if the rumours are true about the 1020 successor, providing MS can provide high end specs like SD805/810 with the rumoured 50mp camera I would seriously consider coming back due to the strength of the camera.
Until then I am more than happy with the Xperia Z3.

I accepted the limitations from the 1020 camera as the end result was outstanding. My mates used to show off about shot time but my one shot would beat all of theirs hands down.

A few apps were sluggish from time to time and then there was the 'resuming' screen which used to occur frequently. WP certainly isn't without its faults but I could've lived with all the frustrations if I just felt my day to day needs in terms of apps were being met.

I may well return to WP one day. I really like the phones and the OS...I just really hope things start to take off app wise. If there was a level playing field, the competition between WP, Android and iOS would be immense.

 

[Greywolf1967]

To the OP

All that can be asked is you give a fair shot to Windows Phone. You gave it a fair shake and found it does not fit in the box you have.
The Z3 has it's up's and downs, but I would hope more of the ups match your needs and it will do the job for you.

Maybe a future release will pull you back, but no matter what enjoy all you do !!