New here and possibly becoming a new WP8 user

[Rudiepoo1]

Hey everyone, I'm a long time Android user and I'm considering making the switch to a WP8 device. I'm actually considering making two jumps, jumping ship from T-Mobile to AT&T and currently looking at the Nokia Lumia 920. I've done alot of reading up on the device as well as watching videos on youtube and reading all the popular reviews but I'm still a little leary.

For users like myself who have made a similar move could you let me know your experiences with WP8 and how you like/dislike compared to Android. I did play around with the Nokia yesterday and have to say it's a pretty sweet device.

Thanks,
Dennis

 

[aubreyq]

Welcoome to WPCentral, Dennis. Hope you like the community. I don't have WP8 yet so I can't answer your questions but I wanted to say hello.

 

[Laura Knotek]

Hi and welcome to WPCentral. I've never owned an Android device, so I cannot offer comparison. There are a lot of folks here who have used Android, so I'm sure you'll be able to get help with comparisons.

 

[Reflexx]

What is it that you normally do on your Android device? There are so many things that smartphones are capable of, but each user normally has just a handful of things that they personally use on a regular basis.

 

[Edwincnelson]

Hi! I currently have a Nokia 822 and was using the Trophy before that. I have also used Android and I still have a Nexus 7 tablet that I use daily. What I can tell from my personal use is that the transition will either be super smooth or a little rough depending on what kind of user you are. If you are a fairly casual smartphone user (take pictures, use basic apps, social sites, listen to music ect) the transition will be seamless and really enjoyable. For most of what WP8 does things just work without having to dig into settings to adjust them and many of the things that most smartphone users do are rooted into the OS. On the other hand if you are a power Android user who intimately knows and uses every option available you may be a bit disappointed at how many of the aspects of the OS are hidden or unavailable. That's not good or bad just different. The lack of options make for a more cohesive and stable operating system and environment. The app catalog is the one obvious difference where Android clearly offers more options. On the other hand, if you have an Xbox and like games (I do both) this is the overwhelming favorite. Personally I love my phone now and if Microsoft ever drops the price of the Surface and improves the selection of the app catalog I'd probably put my Nexus in drawer.

 

[Rudiepoo1]

Hi! I currently have a Nokia 822 and was using the Trophy before that. I have also used Android and I still have a Nexus 7 tablet that I use daily. What I can tell from my personal use is that the transition will either be super smooth or a little rough depending on what kind of user you are. If you are a fairly casual smartphone user (take pictures, use basic apps, social sites, listen to music ect) the transition will be seamless and really enjoyable. For most of what WP8 does things just work without having to dig into settings to adjust them and many of the things that most smartphone users do are rooted into the OS. On the other hand if you are a power Android user who intimately knows and uses every option available you may be a bit disappointed at how many of the aspects of the OS are hidden or unavailable. That's not good or bad just different. The lack of options make for a more cohesive and stable operating system and environment. The app catalog is the one obvious difference where Android clearly offers more options. On the other hand, if you have an Xbox and like games (I do both) this is the overwhelming favorite. Personally I love my phone now and if Microsoft ever drops the price of the Surface and improves the selection of the app catalog I'd probably put my Nexus in drawer.

Thanks for the feedback. I would consider myself more of a power user or tweaker. I've owned three Android devices and have rooted and ran custom ROM's on all of them. But as far as apps I use probably the norm. For business I use my work email (Microsoft Exchange) and hotmail, document's to go, dropbox, and sync my Outlook and Gmail calendars. For social I'm a very moderate facebook person and that's pretty much it. From there I'm really into music and like to use my phone as my primary camera because of the convienience factor. From what I've read the camera is very good on the 920 and the speaker capabilities are no slouch either (watched a video on youtube) using a music track and it compared the sound quality between a Galaxy Nexus and then a 920 - it was like night and day.

I'm really liking the fact that there obvsiouly seems to be better integration with Office and email on the 920. I think I may initially miss the in depth tweaking that I've been used to but I'm really ready to try this new WP8 OS, hey change is good right. To think I was looking at getting the Nexus 4 but now I'm more leaning toward jumping ship with Android, and least on my phone and trying something fresh......and new to me anyway. I happened to visit a AT&T store today during my lunch break today and talked to one of the rep's there for a bit, the guy I talked to presented me with a pretty sweet offer and think I may be heading back there after work to pick up a Lumia 920 for myself and the wife possibly


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[Kebero]

Other than trying to assist my in laws with their HTC Android phones and one Nexus 7, I haven't much experience with Android. The lack of support and excessive fragmentation has made me averse to properly evaluating the platform. For the most part, I've vacillated between BlackBerry and Windows Mobile (now Windows Phone).

As a business user, you will love Windows Phone 8. Having Office, including OneNote, integrated will be a major plus. So will email. Conversely, as a tweaker, you may find that WP8, like iOS, is a bit frustrating. Microsoft placed some strict guidelines on the hardware and software, just as Apple has. Unlike Apple, Microsoft has opened up many of the APIs for 3rd parties to enhance the functionality if the OS and apps.

 

[Edwincnelson]

The other question is whether Android users use ROMs and tweak everything because out of the box it doesn't seem right. For me that was the issue. I was sideloading and rooting because I really wasn't all that happy with the experience. I will say that I'm much happier with Jelly Bean than I have been. However, WP 8 always felt great without the effort so that's why I stuck with it.