I'm almost going to purchase two WP8 handsets - and apps is not what's holding me back!

[jomarr]

1. I personally do not know as I am a Windows user since day one
2. Yes you can. All you have to do is sync your calendar to your Outlook account.
3. No, you can't transfer messages but you can ask your carrier as they "may" have backup
4. Yes. I believe the Windows Phone App does this

But if I were you, since you're basically in the Apple Ecosystem, stick with the iPhone. If you're ready to lose your messages then there's nothing I can say but to switch to a Lumia. It was hard for me at first but it was all worth it for me.

 

[dawindbag]

Hi guys

My first post here. I really need your help! I've already bought a Lumia 625 for my girlfriend for Christmas (not opened yet, of course, still boxed) and ordered a 1520 for myself. But should I cancel both? App quantity/quality is not the biggest problem. Here is a list of what's potentially holding me back:

1) We both have Macs. How (well) does WP8/Lumia sync with Macs? Calendar events for instance? Photos? Music?
2) Can we share calendars like on the iPhone and Macs and have, say, a "family calendar" for common use as well as separate ones - that sync with our Macs?
3) Can we transfer the rather big amount of messages (sms) from our iPhones to the Lumia via Transfer My Data app? I'm confused as to whether the latest app version does this.
4) Does WP8 have the option to make complete backups of the phone to to Mac/PC when connected via USB? (Like the iPhone)

And of course, the missing and low quality apps is a problem - but it's not the main problem. I really, really like the look and feel of WP8 and the Lumias. So, I REALLY want to invest in this WP8/Nokia ecosystem. But you know, I will not buy something that my girlfriend is going to be underwhelmed by, so to speak. After all, she will be moving away from her iPhone.

Looking VERY MUCH forward to reading your responses!

All best and merry Christmas
Think77

I think you've oversimplified some concepts.

1) Less relevant than you'd think. Most phones, WP8 devices included, don't really sync to PC/Macs anymore. Everything syncs over the cloud. This isn't entirely a good thing, but it is true here. WP8 has a limited syncing experience with both Windows and Macs. You can sync your iTunes libraries from either which is great (or drag and drop), but MS wants you to shift to Xbox Music and sync across all your devices directly from the cloud like Apple's iCloud service does. Unfortunately Xbox music isn't very good right now when it comes to matching content sourced from non-Xbox sources. iTunes is only somewhat better in this, but if you've previously built your music collection from iTunes you're going to feel a bit of pain here. That said, if you plan to adopt Xbox Music Pass you'll be SUPER happy with it and won't care about your iTunes collection much anymore.

2) Calendars, like music, is synced through the cloud. As for how those shared calendars work, it will depend on what service you use currently. If you're planning to shift to (or are already using) Outlook (or Hotmail/Live) then WP8 has everything you want and more. It's one of the best aspects of Outlook. The Calendar app in WP8 is not awesome, but there are 3rd party ones that improve on this. The calendar app on iOS kinda sucks too, so no big loss there. If you're using Gmail/Google calendars or Yahoo the answer is probably a little different and I can't speak to it.

3) Don't know about transferring SMS, but I'm guessing it's a big old no. Does any phone platform do this? Unless you're using a cloud based chat service (iMessage, WhatsApp, Kik etc.) this is probably lost no matter where you transfer from or to. If you upgrade a iPhone I don't even think this is possible. Ultimately, this strikes me as a "why do you care?" type request, do you really look back a messages older than a wee very often? Older than a month? It's a short term problem, if a problem at all.

4) Not really. But again, because everything is cloud based this is becoming moot. Your songs (assuming xBox Music), apps, contacts, files and everything else will sync across devices (including restored devices) assuming you're using web services of some kind. Results will be better with MS properties, but it's essentially true even if you're using Spotify and Gmail as an example. This is a legacy iPhone problem that modern devices are moving away from, for better or worse.

Hope that helps. Chances are you should really think about why you care about these things.

 

[Think77]

@Bacchus1976 and others

Thanks a lot for your thorough responses and suggestions.

Last week, after having done some relatively extensive online research on these matters, I came across this post, claiming that Nokia as of November this year supports transferring messages from iOS/Android devices:
Nokia's Transfer my Data app now supports text message transfer from iOS and Android

But it doesn't seem that people are aware of this? Or does it just not work?

 

[jbjtkbw007]

Go back through her icloud account and remove the iPhone from that. Also go to the IPhone and turn off Imessage, when people send her texts with their iphones that have previously sent text to her they should press and hold on the message area and select "send as text" after a while it will remember and do that only.

THANK YOU!!! Shows how much I know about iOS crap. That ecosystem is so proprietary. I'm glad I found this thread as it helps overcome the switching obstacle. So much information contained within. Thanks everyone.

 

[Noahma]

THANK YOU!!! Shows how much I know about iOS crap. That ecosystem is so proprietary. I'm glad I found this thread as it helps overcome the switching obstacle. So much information contained within. Thanks everyone.

Your welcome. I know Apple can be a pain. The ecosystem is not bad, but VERY proprietary. I am glad this helped