Still worth it?

[trandz]

I have a SGSII right now and want to jump to WP7. Focus S isn't doing it as I do not want the same form factor as my current phone. The flash would be great if it had 16 gigs of storage instead of 8, and the Titan is to damn expensive right now. I know the Focus runs Mango without any problems, but what about the future. I want to be able to get Apollo and have it run well. I'm just afraid I'll get the Focus and then it would be completely left behind in a couple of months and I'd have to get a newer WP anyway.

Please help with suggestions ! Thanks

 

[bigkevbosky]

I have a SGSII right now and want to jump to WP7. Focus S isn't doing it as I do not want the same form factor as my current phone. The flash would be great if it had 16 gigs of storage instead of 8, and the Titan is to damn expensive right now. I know the Focus runs Mango without any problems, but what about the future. I want to be able to get Apollo and have it run well. I'm just afraid I'll get the Focus and then it would be completely left behind in a couple of months and I'd have to get a newer WP anyway.

Please help with suggestions ! Thanks

Well one advantage is the Focus is so easy to unlock that if it were left out of an upgrade the XDA developers would probably figure out a way to force update it.

I'm not too worried about it. I think the Focus will get Apollo and that'll be it.

 

[hbananas]

Have you had a chance to play with a WP7 device extensively? If not, I'd recommend you to do so.

I bought one off Craig's list and kept my iPhone while I made the Focus my daily phone just to try WP7 OS. It was great and I loved it but after a month or so, I went back to my iPhone. There were just things I missed like some convenience apps like for banking etc, notifications area, and other things I can't think of now.

I've recently got a Nexus S with android 4.0 ans enjoying it more than the previous phones.

The galaxy s 2 will have another year at least. Perhaps 2 because of the stellar hardware. The only drawback I see with it is the lower screen resolution and how much longer that'll be supported. Other than that, the hardware can handle Android for a while.

So maybe getting a used focus while keeping your S2 is the best way to find out if it really suits you. You may just be feeling the urge to try something new which is what I felt thus I kept my iPhone. I just wanted to give wp a shot.

Good luck

 

[jdunn]

I have a SGSII right now and want to jump to WP7. Focus S isn't doing it as I do not want the same form factor as my current phone. The flash would be great if it had 16 gigs of storage instead of 8, and the Titan is to damn expensive right now. I know the Focus runs Mango without any problems, but what about the future. I want to be able to get Apollo and have it run well. I'm just afraid I'll get the Focus and then it would be completely left behind in a couple of months and I'd have to get a newer WP anyway.

Please help with suggestions ! Thanks

I would wait until the next wave of phones comes out. The Nokia offerings are looking really good, and HTC has a new one announced as well. My daily driver is the Focus though, and it will at least get Apollo, unless Microsoft wants to risk alienating almost their entire initial user base.

 

[Elven6]

Out of curiosity, any reason why older devices would be left out completely for newer updates if there are minimum specifications that hardware manufacturers need to adhere too?

 

[bigkevbosky]

I'm interested in this convo too.

I had a Focus last summer then sold it for the Nexus S. Now I had my fill playing in Androidland and I'll still have it with my Galaxy Tab 7.7.

I've been missing WP7 and the simplicity (well except for getting the updates! -__- guess that hasn't changed) , and I'm thinking of selling the Nexus S for the Focus. Kind of reluctant to do so. Should I go for it? I was waiting around for the Nokia ones to see what they'd come up with since they're still THE phone brand for me, but except for the Lumia 900 which I can't afford ATM, none of them are working for me. Also the fact they don't have expandable memory like the Focus does. Is it still worth it?

:blush:

Ok well, let's go over some facts about the Focus and see if its worth it to you...

The screen is the same size as your Nexus S and is gorgeous. You can add 32 GB memory (preferably a Sandisk as that's the brand I have and it works fine), which is better than the Nexus. If I remember correctly, the Nexus has no option for an SD card. They're both 3G, and you can unlock HSUPA on the Focus for faster uploads - download speeds should be comparable.

Now, the Focus is going to be a little lighter, and size wise they're pretty much identical. Battery wise, if you plan on using a case, you can shove an 1800 mah Samsung OEM battery in the Focus for a few extra hours. See this thread :

http://forums.windowscentral.com/focus/186034.htm

It also helps that the Focus, of ALL the Windows phones, is by far the easiest to unlock and seems to be the "phone of choice" for many of the homebrew apps. You can't flash any custom roms on it yet, like you can on some of HTC's phones, but you can do pretty much everything else. And since the Chevron program is shut down, unless you plan on spending $99, using WindowBreak on the Focus is about the only way you're going to get it developer and interop unlocked. No Nokia phones that I know of are able to be unlocked at all.

I got my Focus in 8/10 condition for under $100 shipped - I've seen brand new units go for $125 - $150 shipped.

I sold an HTC Inspire to go with the Focus - I haven't missed it once. Windows Phone is a better mobile OS than Android (IMO) and the Focus is the best of the first gen Windows phones (IMO). Get the Focus now, enjoy it, save up for the Nokia 900 or whatever next gen LTE Windows Phone you want, and let them work out the bugs. Just don't "waste" an upgrade on the Focus.

 

[bigkevbosky]

Thank you. You are awesome

I just offered for a like new carrier unlocked Focus on eBay for $155. It includes a 32 GB Sandisk SD Card. I think the only thing the Focus doesn't have over the Nexus S is the NFC chip. Which I don't use that often anyway. It doesn't look like NFC is going to be implemented any time soon, right? Haha. The Lumia 900 is the only WP7 with NFC so far that I've seen...maybe except for the Fujitsu (that would be another sweet phone)

"Just don't "waste" an upgrade on the Focus."
What do you mean by this?

I'm kind of confused which unlock "unlock" means around here. Is it carrier unlocked or dev/interop unlocked? Would that be like rooted?

No problem.

I haven't seen much news about NFC with Windows Phone, but its widely assumed it'll be implemented in the next big update, "Apollo". I would also assume Nokia would be the first vendor to put an NFC chip in their phone, but who knows. I live in a major city and still haven't seen anyone using an NFC function of their phone. I think we're at least a solid year away from it being more standard.

By "don't waste an upgrade" I mean, don't lock yourself into a 2 year contract with AT&T over the Focus. It'd be smarter, if you were planning to wait 2 years, to buy an Iphone 4S with the "upgrade" and sell it on Ebay and pocket the extra cash. You know what I mean? When you are able to buy off contract phones like the Focus for $155, there's no reason to lock yourself into a 2 year contract to get it - just pony up the cash, and wait to use the upgrade on something you really want, or use the upgrade on a top of the line phone that you can sell on Ebay for $500 +.

Unlock to me would mean developer and interop unlock - but you can also unlock the Focus from AT&T if you want to use it on like, T-Mobile or something. The Focus is VERY easy to developer and interop unlock and will let you EASILY do things with your phone that many Windows Phone users crave - things like change the theme color to any color you want instead of the 10 or so it comes standard with and create folders on your device. The homebrew community has also added a lot of functionality to the Focus that doesn't come standard with Windows Phone, such as full backups of your phone and free tethering.