Re: (Official) Why I don't like WP8 Part 2 (What WP needs to succeed)
I've actually put this in a post regarding the Lumia 920 specifically, but I've amended it to remove the Nokia specific stuff here:
1. The photos are soft and lack sharpness or clarity (across all WP8 handsets - seems the camera software is at fault). Stupid things like not being able to enable / disable location tagging from within the actual camera app also makes me realise that they just don’t know what they’re doing.
2. The fact that it freezes monumentally, frequently and in different ways. So far the hardware buttons at the bottom have frozen, but the screen is usable or vice versa! Either way you have to press volume down and power for ages and then it finally resets itself as you can do nothing else.
3. No ability to lock the orientation of the phone. As I often like to read articles in bed this is an absolute nightmare for me.
4. The browser is so bad that it actually makes me want to punch the handset in the face. I can’t even be bothered to go into the various reasons that make it bad, but it is awful. No back or forward buttons, terrible rendering, incompatibility with EVERYTHING … I could go on.
5. Often when using a WiFi connection at a hotel there is a requirement to log in using their custom web login page. Of the 3 hotels that I have had the handset, it has only worked with one.
6. No fixed status bar if you would like it to be fixed. Battery indicator is woefully inadequate and third-party apps that address this do not update reliably.
7. Terrible integration of external services. Can’t push to G+ for most apps and often can’t even push to email and only get the facebook option.
8. No unified notification area. I cant even ask for a different tone for WhatsApp which makes it all the worse.
9. Outlook.com account doesn’t allow you to import your addresses from your address book! WTF!? Also the mail client looks awful and I find it totally unusable. I’ve barely checked my email on the move since owning this phone as it’s so bad.
10. Cant turn off ringtone and vibrate from the main menu. You can obviously turn one of the other off from the volume menu … but who cares if you want to turn both off it’s a boring 7 presses, touches or swipes!
11. When in a call, if you try and switch to another app (to find a contact, etc ...) it throws you back into the call screen without any warning. Infuriating.
12. Calendar is relatively primitive, with month view showing just a few letters rather than highlighting events.
13. Sharing a contact via SMS fails. I only tried this twice, but both times the message would not send and I had full signal.
14. Windows Store appears to be down with relative frequency. If it happens regularly with Google Play or the AppStore it's not something that I have previously witnessed, but have done on numerous occasions within the short time I've had the Lumia (I appreciate that this is not a Nokia issue, but it's continues to detract from the overall package).
15. Native media players are awful. No ability to drag the progress bar to fast forward videos or songs, although this is inconsistent. You can drag the progress bar of locally saved videos, but not streaming videos. Completely unable to do so on XBox Music or Nokia Music though; whether local content or streaming.
16. XBox music has a really attractive interface but it's almost unusable. It doesn't display track listings, you cant navigate around quickly, etc.
17. Lack of volume control within Apps and for notifications / ringtones. It's almost unworkable if you use your phone as a true multimedia device.
18. No indication of which Apps you have purchased on the Windows store. If you buy lots of Apps (as I do), you forget which ones you have bought / downloaded.
19. No ability to kill apps. I don't care how clever the OS thinks it is, if I want something killed - let me do it! Even if it's just removed from the running list as it's a core App or service.
20. White or Black solid backgrounds are too limiting. I struggle to read white on black, but the black on white just makes the interface look atrocious. That means I have to choose between either usability or my friends ruining me for having a phone that looks ridiculous!