- Unit Converter
- Battery Tracker
- And please please MS add a T9 keyboard!!!
Unit converter and battery tracker are in the app store. You'll not find either of these on iOS or Android without going to the app store. Both iOS and Android have the same as WP8...a battery icon. In fact, the app I use, "Battery", gives me more relevant and useful information moreso than any Android app I had. Not to mention the live tile. Plus, the app has quick toggles to wifi, gps, etc.
And seriously? T9? Who still uses T9? Use your T9 and I'll text circles around you with either the touch screen keyboard included or the talk to text dictation.
Not trying to blast you, but the few things you mentioned are the same as any other OS. Neither iOS nor Android have T9 (maybe Android if you get one with a physical keyboard). Now a keyboard like Swype or Swiftkey or Androids swiping built-in keyboard would be useful.
For me, I gave it an 8.
I keep my opinion free of the app market. I don't look at phones solely based on the app market. Besides, of the 1,000,000 apps on iOS, a) you'll never use a finger nail size of them, and b) how many farting apps do you need? Point being, a lot are poorly written, useless, copies of others, or riddled with malware (I'm talking to you Google Play Store). However, I would expect that WP could at least get the official native apps. Conversely, a lot of the native apps on other OS's aren't even that great. Third party companies often make better apps than their owner!
So my 8-scale is based on the fact that WP8 has some great innovation.
- I actually prefer the Live Tiles over widgets. Widgets eat a lot of battery. Live Tiles are simple and don't drain the battery.
- The apps are nicely stored. In iOS you must side scroll through pages of apps until you remember where you put that one app (or search). In Android, tap the app button and then scroll to your app until you find it. In WP, side scroll to the list, tap a letter of the app you want, voila! I've owned Android and iPhone and WP, to me, has the quickest app search.
- I also find this simpler to use than iOS or Android. Big tiles (or small if you prefer) with an endless seam of whatever you put on your homescreen. Even besides giving you the number or unread, the icons themselves (live tiles) give additional information. In Android, you need the icon AND a widget. In WP, your icon IS your widget. Good luck getting any of this in iOS besides unread count.
- AWESOME for integration with MS. I have Exchange email at work with Office products. This was a no-brainer here for me.
- What's wrong with the lockscreen? You get images of your choice as the background (photos, Bing, Weather, etc) and your pertinent information such as unread email, text, calendar, etc. You don't get that in iOS and in Android you have to get a third party app. In WP, it's native. And, for me, I don't need orientation on the lock screen. I have a L928. The screen is big enough and my eyes are smart enough to see something turned 90^...or, how about if I just hold my phone vertically?
- People hub. This. Is. Genius. I LOVE the history feature. I also love that I don't even need to open a FB app to see what my friends are doing on FB! Not to mention that if I pin a contact to the homescreen, the live tile gives their newest posting and any "NEW MESSAGE" that might be waiting.
So for me (notice I keep referencing my OWN opinion) it has features that pulled me away from Android and iOS. Sure, it could use some work:
- web integration with OneNote. Why we can't save an IE webpage directly to OneNote FROM IE is beyond me.
- attach things OTHER THAN photos and NOT having to go into Office to do it.
- text wrapping in IE (try pinch-to-zoom and you have to move the screen to see the rest of the text)
- ability to speak punctuation. Try saying, "I need milk comma eggs comma and bread" and that's exactly what you get. iOS and Android at least could recognize punctuation during dictation.
Also, while I miss Google Now and Siri in being able to command my phone "wake me up in a half hour" (etc), I've found Maluuba is a great alternative. I used Maluuba on Android and loved it. It was great that WP has this app. You can even select your TV service (DirecTV here) and then ask it what's on HBO tonight. I just thought WP would implement something like this.
ALSO, I really researched this phone (L928) BEFORE I bought it. I read articles. Watched videos. I knew what I was getting into and it's limitations. So, before any of you jump ship, I would encourage you to research your potential new phone-home. Watch videos. YouTube has thousands of comparison videos. Read articles. GO INTO THE STORE! I played around with this phone in Verizon several days before I decided on it. And if you're in fact on Verizon, take advantage of their 14-day return policy.
Sorry for the long post, but it just seems a lot of people blindly accept things or are quick to judge the entire system all because WhatsApp isn't available yet.
Just my humble opinion.
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