Seriously want to dip my toes but need input

[uktivo]

Hi.
I've used Windows phone Lumia 920 in the past. Loved the phone but had massive misfortune by having 3 units (I think, May have been two) fail on me within a few days.
So. The 1020, looks stunning and I'm surely tempted to jump back in the pool but I have a few questions I could do with help on please.

Let me start by telling you how I use my current phone on a day to day basis. (HTC one) I really don't have a lot of apps that I use on a day to day basis. I use my phone for business so really it has to perform for that requirement.

Primary uses of my phone and these I really couldn't live without.

1. Email. I have five didn't accounts, exchange email, outlook email x 2, gmail x1 and icloud x1.
Q. Can wp 8 handle all these without issue?

2. Drop box.
Q. I upload and download a lot from my drop box account. Can this be done?

3. rSAP connection
Q. I really need a phone with rSAP ability to connect to my car. I'm sure WP8 doesn't support this, neither did my HTC one until I rooted and made it do it.. do you think it will ever be or even now possible to root wp8 to do the same?

4. Notifications
Q. I read a lot about wp8 not being great at notifications. It's really key in business to have reliable notifications. Just what level of notifications could I expect to get and what limitations on them are there?

5. Whatsapp
Q. I use this a lot. Is it on wp8, does it work well?

6. Movies
Q. On aircraft and hotels etc I use my phone for movies etc. Any limitations with the phone's capabilities with movies? Any major codecs missing?

7. Forums
Q. I use tapatalk mostly and I seriously miss wpcentral app.. I take it both if these are still covered?

8. Facebook
Q. Last time I used wp 8 Facebook integration was not the best.. pictures didn't show etc. Has this changed for the better now?

That's basically it.. any help welcome thanks.


Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

 

[gsquared]

If you have previously used WP then you should already know the answers to these questions or know where to get the answers. Calling this as troll bait.

 

[tgr42]

1. Email. I have five didn't accounts, exchange email, outlook email x 2, gmail x1 and icloud x1.
Q. Can wp 8 handle all these without issue?

Exchange/Outlook yes, Gmail sort of, iCloud ... the Windows Phone web site says it just works, but I don't know.

2. Drop box.
Q. I upload and download a lot from my drop box account. Can this be done?

There's a DropBox app in the store. But given that Windows Phone doesn't expose a filesystem to users, you may or may not be pleased with the results.

3. rSAP connection
Q. I really need a phone with rSAP ability to connect to my car. I'm sure WP8 doesn't support this, neither did my HTC one until I rooted and made it do it.. do you think it will ever be or even now possible to root wp8 to do the same?

Doubtful.

4. Notifications
Q. I read a lot about wp8 not being great at notifications. It's really key in business to have reliable notifications. Just what level of notifications could I expect to get and what limitations on them are there?

If you used a Windows Phone already you should know how this works. But basically the notifications show up one at a time briefly at the top - they have an app icon + notification text and you can tap on them to open the app. After a few seconds this will disappear, and from then on you only have a number of pending notifications overlaid on top of an app's live tile to go on.

5. Whatsapp
Q. I use this a lot. Is it on wp8, does it work well?

It's in the store. Don't know if it works well.

6. Movies
Q. On aircraft and hotels etc I use my phone for movies etc. Any limitations with the phone's capabilities with movies? Any major codecs missing?

It pretty much only supports H.264 (.mp4/m4v containers only) and WMV. If you want to watch something else you'll need to transcode first. In theory someone could write an actual media player for WP8 now, and there was a Kickstarter for VLC to do a port but it's not finished yet. Maybe there is some other app out there than can do it now but I haven't heard of one.

7. Forums
Q. I use tapatalk mostly and I seriously miss wpcentral app.. I take it both if these are still covered?

Tapatalk is in the store. And yes, WPCentral app is still around.

8. Facebook
Q. Last time I used wp 8 Facebook integration was not the best.. pictures didn't show etc. Has this changed for the better now?

I don't know. I used it on WP7 and pictures showed fine. I haven't bothered with it since moving to WP8.

 

[Doohickie]

8. Facebook
Q. Last time I used wp 8 Facebook integration was not the best.. pictures didn't show etc. Has this changed for the better now?

It's improved significantly in the two months I've had my WP, and it seems like new updates are trickling out all the time. The People Hub has limited FB integration; you can read, see pictures, comment, but you can't like and stuff like that, but I really like it as a reader. The three FB apps I've used is the Facebook app, the Facebook Beta app, and the JDB Facebook app. The FB Beta seems to be the best at this point, but like I said, they're all evolving. (There's a whole thread on Facebook on WP8 so I won't go into too much more than that.)

 

[uktivo]

If you have previously used WP then you should already know the answers to these questions or know where to get the answers. Calling this as troll bait.

Honestly, grow up..you really need to take your head out of your backside and open up to the possibility there are real people with real questions. You know nothing about me do how you can come to that conclusion is a joke.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

 

[uktivo]

Exchange/Outlook yes, Gmail sort of, iCloud ... the Windows Phone web site says it just works, but I don't know.


There's a DropBox app in the store. But given that Windows Phone doesn't expose a filesystem to users, you may or may not be pleased with the results.


Doubtful.


If you used a Windows Phone already you should know how this works. But basically the notifications show up one at a time briefly at the top - they have an app icon + notification text and you can tap on them to open the app. After a few seconds this will disappear, and from then on you only have a number of pending notifications overlaid on top of an app's live tile to go on.


It's in the store. Don't know if it works well.


It pretty much only supports H.264 (.mp4/m4v containers only) and WMV. If you want to watch something else you'll need to transcode first. In theory someone could write an actual media player for WP8 now, and there was a Kickstarter for VLC to do a port but it's not finished yet. Maybe there is some other app out there than can do it now but I haven't heard of one.


Tapatalk is in the store. And yes, WPCentral app is still around.


I don't know. I used it on WP7 and pictures showed fine. I haven't bothered with it since moving to WP8.

Thanks..good info.
Ref the notifications.. I am correct in thinking they will stay on the tile with the number showing until you physically go into the tile.. then they clear down..? If so then that's all I really need..

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

 

[Doohickie]

It depends on the app, actually. If you look around you see people complaining about issues with live tiles. I expect it to get sorted out, but live tiles can be buggy.

 

[tgr42]

Ref the notifications.. I am correct in thinking they will stay on the tile with the number showing until you physically go into the tile.. then they clear down..? If so then that's all I really need..

Not exactly. It seems to be up to apps to decide when to clear the notification count from the live tile. For example, with Skype, just launching Skype and immediately exiting out is enough to clear the notification from the live tile - even if I don't dig into every conversation and clear the separate notification indicator within Skype itself. But with Words by Post and Ruzzle, for example, their live tiles keep showing the number of pending games until I actually take my turns even if I launch the app and then exit out. I think it's a decision by the app developer.

 

[uktivo]

Not exactly. It seems to be up to apps to decide when to clear the notification count from the live tile. For example, with Skype, just launching Skype and immediately exiting out is enough to clear the notification from the live tile - even if I don't dig into every conversation and clear the separate notification indicator within Skype itself. But with Words by Post and Ruzzle, for example, their live tiles keep showing the number of pending games until I actually take my turns even if I launch the app and then exit out. I think it's a decision by the app developer.

I think I'm more concerned with email and texts.. those are the important ones for me..

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

 

[hcrick]

Then you should have no issues.

 

[Ultimateone]

Only notifications issues I ever have is Facebook, everything else has been golden

 

[uktivo]

Can I ask one one question about aesthetics please?

For those of you with the phone, what is the screen like.. now I know this is very subjective so I don't want to drill down to the final degree of pitch etc.
But, how does it compare to say my current daily phone the htc one?
I've used Samsung's in the past, in fact I have a s3 as well at the moment and I really don't like that screen..the colors look too artificial for me. I always tend to see a green mask on the screen. The HTC one is really good..so where would the 1020 screen fit within those two?

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

 

[tgr42]

I haven't seen the HTC One but I think the 1020's screen is outstanding. One of the best features of the phone IMO. It's not ridiculously high res like the HTC One but it's high enough. Nokia gives you some basic ability to tweak the color saturation and temperature, which is nice. It's AMOLED, so there are pros and cons to that. Colors are vivid and blacks are truly black. The brightness range is excellent - it can go nice and low so it's not blindingly bright in a completely dark room, but also high enough to be easily readable in full sunlight. Stuff dims or fuzzes a little bit in the middle of scrolling, which bothers some people but not me. And there is likely the possibility for burn-in, as can happen with any AMOLED screen, but it should be rare enough to not be an issue.

You should really go to a shop that has the 1020 on display and compare it directly with your phone. Make sure you go into "settings, display and touch, color profile" and tweak it to your liking. Do some browsing. Compare small text. Photos. And especially scrolling. I know it's hard to do a proper comparison in a shop but at least you can quickly determine most of the essence of the screen.

 

[daviddcmd]

Curious, what don't you like about your One?

 

[thaddyusmaximus]

Curious, what don't you like about your One?

It isn't the ONE :winktongue:

 

[uktivo]

Curious, what don't you like about your One?

If you mean me.. then nothing I really like it.. just like to change now and again. I will probably keep the htc one.. just in case..lol.

At the moment I've not seen a 1020 in the flesh.. I normally buy SIM free but they aren't out yet in the UK as far as I'm aware. I've not looked at on contract sections they may be there.. so will spend some time this weekend looking and comparing.

Thanks all for the constructive comments..that's one thing I noticed last time I had the 920.. the community seemed more level headed and more open to admit short comings. Less face it. All platforms have them..

Thanks again.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

 

[Chris Sandiford]

I normally buy SIM free but they aren't out yet in the UK as far as I'm aware.

It was supposed to be yesterday via Expansys but their holding page has no price yet.
Nokia Lumia 1020 (Yellow) - Expansys.com UK

 

[WinFan1]

Das Alotta Nokias you have owned there bud

 

[LiveTilesRus]

Display is nice

I have an HTC One (AT&T model).

While overall color balance is better on the One I love the screen on the 1020. Also, Nokia give you the option in settings to adjust color temperature as well as saturation so you will be able to avoid cartoony saturation if you desire and avoid overly cool/bluish whites. You have looked at the variables. Take display off the list.

I've never been a huge fan of AMOLED screens but their advantage of powering individual pixels enabling features like "glance" along with the darkest blacks, surely make them the go to option I think for mobile in the future. Oh, outdoor visibility on the 1020 is phenomenal.(!) The smoothness of the gorilla glass 3 and sensitivity of the touch seal the deal.

Now after all that love for the 1020 display, time for some tough love. It's a pentile matrix design (boooo!) which I loathe. What? You loathe pentile and yet you just wrote glowingly about the display? Yes. If you landed on earth and never heard of pentile and just started using the phone you wouldn't notice that it's pentile due to the resolution/pixel density of the screen. It's not an issue. Now, if you know what pentile is and WANT to find it, can you find it? Yes. Does it affect the beauty of the display and it's use? No. Do I still wish it were not pentile? Yes.

Can I ask one one question about aesthetics please?

For those of you with the phone, what is the screen like.. now I know this is very subjective so I don't want to drill down to the final degree of pitch etc.
But, how does it compare to say my current daily phone the htc one?
I've used Samsung's in the past, in fact I have a s3 as well at the moment and I really don't like that screen..the colors look too artificial for me. I always tend to see a green mask on the screen. The HTC one is really good..so where would the 1020 screen fit within those two?

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

 

[uktivo]

Working in the electronic component industry I do understand your frustrations with pentile displays.. Thanks for the insight on the screen in general.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4