Should I adopt WP for my work phone?

[Bert McGaughey]

Hello everyone,

I come to your forum with several questions regarding my work phone, which is due an upgrade in a few weeks, and I'm hoping I have found a community as friendly and keen to answer questions as those of Blackberry and Android!

So, a little background...I adopted Android from it's release and am savvy to smartphones and their operating systems. Nonetheless I have always used a Blackberry for work purposes, due mainly to exceedingly good battery life and call quality.

I would appreciate your feedback on WP and it's handsets specifically.

e.g.

Is the call quality on WP generally very good, or does it depend upon the handset?
If I were to adopt WP, is Lumia the way to go?
What is the difference between a Lumia 920, 925 and 1020? (They seem very similar!)
Does WP offer apps which equate to:
-Google Maps
-Google Search
-Chrome
-LinkedIn

The company uses Office 365 which I know integrates excellently with WP, hence the interest. So I doubt there would be any issues with contacts, mail, calendar or reading/editing Office documents?

Can WP handle zips and PDFs too?
What other apps are great for business use on WP?
Most important of all, how is the keyboard? My Blackberry Curve 9320 is exceptional for e-mails, and likewise Android with SwiftKey is brilliant.
Can you install another keyboard?

I'm sure I have more questions...but I'll leave it there.

I appreciate any and all help from the community.m

 

[xandros9]

Hello everyone,

I come to your forum with several questions regarding my work phone, which is due an upgrade in a few weeks, and I'm hoping I have found a community as friendly and keen to answer questions as those of Blackberry and Android!

So, a little background...I adopted Android from it's release and am savvy to smartphones and their operating systems. Nonetheless I have always used a Blackberry for work purposes, due mainly to exceedingly good battery life and call quality.

I would appreciate your feedback on WP and it's handsets specifically.

e.g.

Is the call quality on WP generally very good, or does it depend upon the handset? I'd say it really depends on the hardware, call quality can potentially vary between the value-based Lumia 520 to a higher-end HTC 8X. Needless to say, I highly doubt any of them resemble the stereotypical staticky military radio.
If I were to adopt WP, is Lumia the way to go? In general yes, Nokia is very good with support, they have extra features courtesy of Nokia (read: Amber feature addon), and the exclusives are nice as well. But sometimes you don't have the option. (read: Sprint)
What is the difference between a Lumia 920, 925 and 1020? (They seem very similar!)
The 920 is the original polycarbonate beast. (It and the 1020 are plastic and come in different colors)
The 925 is similar, but is built out of metal, is slimmer, has half the storage memory (16 GB, down from the 920's 32), and does not have Qi wireless charging built in. (an addon "shell" is needed for that functionality. A bit upgraded camera too I believe. Color is limited to different shades of grey on the plastic back (I MAY BE WRONG)
The 1020 is the top-of-the-line camera beast of 41 MP fame. Camera is the best here, out of any camera in a phone practically. You have a bulge on the back for the camera module. It has a bit higher end specs. (more RAM)
I think there might be some comparisons online.

The 920 is an oddball device in that its the only high-end device using an LCD display. The rest use AMOLED. In AMOLED, individual pixels are lit up, meaning that black pixels won't be emitting light. (off) That means blacks are very deep, and using light themes is not recommended in that it uses more power. In LCD's it light/dark doesn't matter, but I don't know about 1-on-1 power consumption between the two different display techs though.
Does WP offer apps which equate to:
-Google Maps Nokia has HERE Maps and HERE Drive, well made maps and navigation apps respectively.
-Google Search There is a Google Search app, but Bing is more integrated (of course, its Microsoft!) and if you're willing to give it a chance, Bing is a workable alternative for normal use.
-Chrome There's a couple other browsers, but IE is generally the main one. No syncing with Chrome (Google doesn't like WP of course), but the browser itself is good, not like the stereotypical IE of old. I don't think there's any browsers that hook into Chrome yet either.
-LinkedIn I believe there's a LinkedIn app and WP can integrate with LinkedIn too. (You can add it as an account in settings.)

The company uses Office 365 which I know integrates excellently with WP, hence the interest. So I doubt there would be any issues with contacts, mail, calendar or reading/editing Office documents? Doubt it will have issues.
I may be wrong, but the old .doc, .ppt, .xls formats may not be editable.

Can WP handle zips and PDFs too? You will have to download Adobe Reader to read PDFs, no big deal. However, zip support is more iffy. You will probably need a 3rd-party app, I think I have one called Archiver. The apps description has its limitations.
What other apps are great for business use on WP? Can't really say since I'm a student not a businessperson.
Most important of all, how is the keyboard? My Blackberry Curve 9320 is exceptional for e-mails, and likewise Android with SwiftKey is brilliant. YMMV, I generally like it, but the next guy may not. I'd give it a go in-person.
Can you install another keyboard? Negative.

I'm sure I have more questions...but I'll leave it there.

I appreciate any and all help from the community.m

my input in bold above in your quote.

 

[Poney]

LinkedIn is awesome app in WP.
The calendar integrate very well with private, facebook, and work.
Email also integrate well for both privet and work. The coolest thing is you can pin to desktop your inbox of work and inbox for privet. So you get alert for each one separately.
The worst thing in email is you cannot attached files when you replying or forward. Same an cannot edit forward email...

 

[Bert McGaughey]

Thanks both for the quick and detailed replies!

It looks like WP is a wise choice. Are there any good leather book flip cases for the 920/925?

 

[xandros9]

Thanks both for the quick and detailed replies!

It looks like WP is a wise choice. Are there any good leather book flip cases for the 920/925?

While I don't know from personal experience, I'm pretty sure Nokia has something up that alley. If not, a quick browse through Amazon and the store on this site should give a good idea what's around.

 

[ag1986]

Thanks both for the quick and detailed replies!

It looks like WP is a wise choice. Are there any good leather book flip cases for the 920/925?

If you're used to the power of email on BB, be advised that email on WP has a few shortcomings. The biggest, as mentioned above, is the lack of ability to attach arbitrary files (i.e. you cannot store a random file, say a ZIP/RAR, and attach it by email. Only certain file types (images, docs, etc) can be sent, and for many they are actually uploaded to Skydrive and a link to Skydrive is sent instead of a proper attachment.

Chrome: No, and if tab syncing across devices is important this is a problem.

Re Maps, this again depends on where you are and where you go frequently. Outside the USA, the maps are not as good (in terms of POI data) as Google's are.

 

[Noahma]

If you're used to the power of email on BB, be advised that email on WP has a few shortcomings. The biggest, as mentioned above, is the lack of ability to attach arbitrary files (i.e. you cannot store a random file, say a ZIP/RAR, and attach it by email. Only certain file types (images, docs, etc) can be sent, and for many they are actually uploaded to Skydrive and a link to Skydrive is sent instead of a proper attachment.

Chrome: No, and if tab syncing across devices is important this is a problem.

Re Maps, this again depends on where you are and where you go frequently. Outside the USA, the maps are not as good (in terms of POI data) as Google's are.

for now. GDR3 apparently gives the users the option to attach files easily to emails. I could be wrong though.

 

[tgp]

for now. GDR3 apparently gives the users the option to attach files easily to emails. I could be wrong though.

GDR3 changed nothing in this area. Attaching files to emails is exactly the same as it was. Only photos can be attached from the email, and documents in Office can be attached, but only from Office, and only 1 file per email. Forwarded emails cannot be edited, except you can add text to them.

 

[amitnahar]

GDR3 changed nothing in this area. Attaching files to emails is exactly the same as it was. Only photos can be attached from the email, and documents in Office can be attached, but only from Office, and only 1 file per email. Forwarded emails cannot be edited, except you can add text to them.

GDR3 has not been released officially yet. Its only a preview version so this might change. Sam sabri said that we will be able to attach multiple files in GDR3. So I think he might have some insider knowledge. I can be wrong though.

 

[jorgemariom]

I used to have both the android for games and a blackberry for work now I changed both for a windows phone, and I'm so happy good decision with some missing things of course.

What I miss?
-notification led
-battery a lot better than android but not as good as blackberry
-the keyboard shortcuts
-the integrated messages
-the universal internal search
-an application for data usage



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[Microsoftjunkie]

-an application for data usage

]
You can't get Data Sense?

 

[lukeap69]

Productivity - i would choose Android. LG G2 battery lasts a day for me and I am a heavy user. Nokia lumia 925 is my other phone. It is smooth and nice but I find it lacking in terms of productivity. My 2 cents.

Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk

 

[inffy]

How is the Lumia lacking?

 

[lukeap69]

Excel lacks cut/copy and paste. File management on WP is pretty useless. Email attachments issue. No dropbox. On Android I can just open the file from dropbox and save it when done, then it will be automatically be saved on db. Etc., etc., etc.

Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk

 

[inffy]

You Can use skydrive so You point is invalid.

 

[jorgemariom]

-an application for data usage


]


You can't get Data Sense?

no because my phone it is a unlocked at&t Lumia 820 , they deleted data sense from the amber update because at&t have his own app but only works with a user code o something like that.





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[broar94]

Make sure you try a WP before getting into it . WP is not good enough for productivity IMO

 

[lukeap69]

You Can use skydrive so You point is invalid.

Excuse me please. I can also use skydrive and many more on Android. My point is perfectly valid. I use Lumia 925 and LG G2 on a daily basis so I know what I am talking about. Do you?

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[N_LaRUE]

Is the call quality on WP generally very good, or does it depend upon the handset?
Depends on handset.

If I were to adopt WP, is Lumia the way to go?
If you want Nokia apps, yes otherwise I hear HTC is pretty good.

What is the difference between a Lumia 920, 925 and 1020? (They seem very similar!)
There's very little difference other than minute spec changes and in the case of 1020, the camera.

Does WP offer apps which equate to:
-Google Maps - Bing Maps or Nokia HERE, there is also third party GMaps
-Google Search - Can be set as default in IE or there's an app
-Chrome - Nope IE. There are other browsers but you can only have IE as default.-LinkedIn - Yes, great app.

The company uses Office 365 which I know integrates excellently with WP, hence the interest. So I doubt there would be any issues with contacts, mail, calendar or reading/editing Office documents?

The integration with everything MS is great. I've personally have had no issues but there are other who have. The standard calendar on WP is terrible but syncs well. Reading and editing Office docs is possible but there are limitations of course. They're not full versions of the actual software.

Can WP handle zips and PDFs too?
PDF, there are several apps. Depends if you want Skydrive integration or not. You can view PDFs but you can't easily save them to the phone in a 'folder' from email or cloud. Zip is to me a no go. There might be apps but I couldn't get them to work properly, other people may have different opinions.

What other apps are great for business use on WP?
Depends what you do for a business and what you need. All the Nokia location apps are great. Skydrive is great if you need cloud. The integration side of WP makes it a convenient tool to start with anyway. Check out The Smartphone Reinvented Around You | Windows Phone (United States) for business apps.

Most important of all, how is the keyboard? My Blackberry Curve 9320 is exceptional for e-mails, and likewise Android with SwiftKey is brilliant.
You can only have the default keyboard. It's good enough. You cannot add a BT keyboard currently.

Can you install another keyboard? Nope.

To me the two biggest downfalls for WP as a business phone is with email. You can't simply reply with a document attached so if you send docs back and forth a lot you will find this painful. You can use Skydrive to get around this but that means the other person needs access to Skydrive which is not always possible. The second is the zip file thing. Again their solution is Skydrive but the same goes again. It doesn't suit every situation.

The file management side of the phone is probably different than what you're used to. It doesn't work for everyone as far as I'm concerned. I have had a few frustrations with it personally and there's a heavy reliance on Skydrive.

I get that this is your personal phone? If it is then on the whole WP should be ok. If you're using enterprise, there may be some issues if you're company has heavy restrictions.

 

[Psycmeistr]

Excel lacks cut/copy and paste. File management on WP is pretty useless. Email attachments issue. No dropbox. On Android I can just open the file from dropbox and save it when done, then it will be automatically be saved on db. Etc., etc., etc.

Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk

There are a couple of good Dropbox apps available in the Marketplace.