jdhooghe
New member
Re: All Those Switching from a Windows Phone to another device (including Windows Phones), Post Here
Sometimes it is good to share one's experiences so here goes:
I was there on launch day and got the very first 920 in my town. Red. The only real problem I had with it was that the camera didn't want to launch, took it back to the AT&T store and the rep there was kind enough to show me how to soft reset. Everything was great until my trip to France where the phone really started wigging out. It kept restarting and freezing. The very day I got off the 10 hour flight and then the train in my town, I marched to the AT&T store with all my bags and had them give me a new one. This one worked flawlessly, at least hardware wise, except for the power button becoming flush to the phone at which point I opened the phone up, dabbed a little super glue to the inside of the button and all was well. The button was now firm.
I started out hopeful and bright eyed. I thought I was on the verge of fanboyism on here and to most of the people that had androids or iOS. That quickly stopped as I realized what was happening but THE OS WAS JUST SO GOOD. I thought the 920 had amazing hardware! How couldn't I be excited?
But I never used the super touch sensitive screen(I live in California so that is a given). I wanted to BELIEVE the camera was good. I kept seeing pictures with rose-tinted glasses until I just couldn't do it anymore. I used ProShot, I used the screen focus method, I used the button focus method. Everything I tried always resulted in multiple pictures with only a couple mediocre pictures. All of those pictures that I was proud of(See the picture thread) hurt my eyes and was out of focus. This was the tipping point. I had the world's leading camera and I wasn't seeing it(even after the latest update). This started my journey toward dissatisfaction.
Software-wise, was another issue. I was one of the ones who shot down new people because they were dissatisfied with the lack of games and apps. I never cared about the games and only really wanted a couple of apps. I still hold to the premise that people rely too much on ridiculous apps like Starbucks and the like but apps like Flipboard, Instagram and Pinterest I loved(I now have them on my Z10). I was a photographer with not a lot of money and I love showing off my photos(unfiltered) for people to see. I was disheartened that these were not on my phone but they weren't deal breakers. I had them on my Nexus 7.
Now for my dissatisfaction on the software front. There are glaring problems with the OS. I cannot share attachments the normal way. I am in an academic setting and if I send a link to someone, they're going to be suspicious. In fact, most of the people that I shared a SkyDrive link with asked me in person if my email was hacked. The second dealbreaker was the lack of even the most basic PDF functions after 6 months. Great, the platform had office but not anything for PDFs? The third was the embarrassment of Skype that found itself onto WP8. It took up until recently for it to not suck but at this point, I was already gone. This was a HUGE oversight for Microsoft. The "Other storage" issue was a problem. I had to keep reformatting to be rid of it. This has been fixed but at the cost of that ****storm of an update that bricked my phone. The next problem was that the live tiles never updated. No, I do not mean instantly as I know about the 15min delay but ever. Most of the so called "live tiles" never flipped to display the dynamic quality that is so alluring about WP8. This included facebook notifications, twitter notifications (Don't even get me started on the ****storm that is the WhatsApp audio codec issue) and software notifications. I use these programs to text people who otherwise have no texting or limited plans. The next issue I had was the import of music. Most of the album artwork never made it to my phone. The next was the lack of SMS notification options on the phone. Seriously, it may seem trivial to most of you but going six months with having only one tone on your phone is annoying and it starts grating on your nerves. It's like a song that they never stop playing on the radio; you may like it at first but then it gets progressively more annoying. I liked one of the tones, the rest was instantly annoying to me. Another issue, although not annoying to me but certainly embarrassing when I wanted to show the phone off, was the Me tile photo resolution. I've gotten blasted more than once in saying that there is no option to increase the resolution. Another issue was the photos tile never stopped showing the same photos over and over again no matter what photos I put in my galleries. I found internet explorer extremely slow no matter if I was on LTE. Lastly, although there is probably more that I am not remembering, is ONE SOUND PROFILE. I listen to music all the time and having to juggle volumes is, for ME, inconvenient and frankly, dissapointing that this phone cannot do it.
Perhaps the biggest blow to me, after showing all that trust being a first adopter, was that Microsoft never seemed and never did anything about ANY of those core OS issues while I was using this phone. This one thing was the nail in the coffin. Actions speaks louder than words. It doesn't take using a competitor's device like Belifiore did, to see the issues that WP8 STILL has after all this time. Issues that SHOULD be solved by this time. SHOULD have been solved in the Portico update. WP8 has ENORMOUS promise yet Microsoft CANNOT or WILL NOT take the platform seriously.
This is my experience, in a thread created for experiences. You can blast me all you want but I tried and tried working with the platform. Doing EVERYTHING to make it work and yet it did not FOR ME. There are some great strengths like Nokia's awesome software support but in the end, it was Microsoft dragging its feet that got to me. I am happy that you are happy with your device and I am finally happy that my Z10 does everything my 920 did(except for exceptional low light and dolby music) and MORE. This post is meant for those on the fence of getting a 920 not for those happy with their 920 because honestly, in my experience, all those that are happy with their devices put down the people who are not. BlackBerry is like Nokia but who is also in control of the OS. It is a first generation OS like WP8 is and there will be some rough points in the journey back but the main difference between BlackBerry and Microsoft is that it is 4 months in and BlackBerry is already blasting away the initial simple bugs. Maybe it is because it has a fire underneath instead of a mountain of money that Microsoft has. I miss Nokia, I do not miss Microsoft. This is my experience.
And a big request: Remember what it was like when WP8 first entered the scene and all the ridiculous "arguments" against the OS from Android and iOS users. Do not be like them in talking about BlackBerry because you will sound just as ridiculous and just as ignorant as they did. Be informed and be respectful towards others.
Sometimes it is good to share one's experiences so here goes:
I was there on launch day and got the very first 920 in my town. Red. The only real problem I had with it was that the camera didn't want to launch, took it back to the AT&T store and the rep there was kind enough to show me how to soft reset. Everything was great until my trip to France where the phone really started wigging out. It kept restarting and freezing. The very day I got off the 10 hour flight and then the train in my town, I marched to the AT&T store with all my bags and had them give me a new one. This one worked flawlessly, at least hardware wise, except for the power button becoming flush to the phone at which point I opened the phone up, dabbed a little super glue to the inside of the button and all was well. The button was now firm.
I started out hopeful and bright eyed. I thought I was on the verge of fanboyism on here and to most of the people that had androids or iOS. That quickly stopped as I realized what was happening but THE OS WAS JUST SO GOOD. I thought the 920 had amazing hardware! How couldn't I be excited?
But I never used the super touch sensitive screen(I live in California so that is a given). I wanted to BELIEVE the camera was good. I kept seeing pictures with rose-tinted glasses until I just couldn't do it anymore. I used ProShot, I used the screen focus method, I used the button focus method. Everything I tried always resulted in multiple pictures with only a couple mediocre pictures. All of those pictures that I was proud of(See the picture thread) hurt my eyes and was out of focus. This was the tipping point. I had the world's leading camera and I wasn't seeing it(even after the latest update). This started my journey toward dissatisfaction.
Software-wise, was another issue. I was one of the ones who shot down new people because they were dissatisfied with the lack of games and apps. I never cared about the games and only really wanted a couple of apps. I still hold to the premise that people rely too much on ridiculous apps like Starbucks and the like but apps like Flipboard, Instagram and Pinterest I loved(I now have them on my Z10). I was a photographer with not a lot of money and I love showing off my photos(unfiltered) for people to see. I was disheartened that these were not on my phone but they weren't deal breakers. I had them on my Nexus 7.
Now for my dissatisfaction on the software front. There are glaring problems with the OS. I cannot share attachments the normal way. I am in an academic setting and if I send a link to someone, they're going to be suspicious. In fact, most of the people that I shared a SkyDrive link with asked me in person if my email was hacked. The second dealbreaker was the lack of even the most basic PDF functions after 6 months. Great, the platform had office but not anything for PDFs? The third was the embarrassment of Skype that found itself onto WP8. It took up until recently for it to not suck but at this point, I was already gone. This was a HUGE oversight for Microsoft. The "Other storage" issue was a problem. I had to keep reformatting to be rid of it. This has been fixed but at the cost of that ****storm of an update that bricked my phone. The next problem was that the live tiles never updated. No, I do not mean instantly as I know about the 15min delay but ever. Most of the so called "live tiles" never flipped to display the dynamic quality that is so alluring about WP8. This included facebook notifications, twitter notifications (Don't even get me started on the ****storm that is the WhatsApp audio codec issue) and software notifications. I use these programs to text people who otherwise have no texting or limited plans. The next issue I had was the import of music. Most of the album artwork never made it to my phone. The next was the lack of SMS notification options on the phone. Seriously, it may seem trivial to most of you but going six months with having only one tone on your phone is annoying and it starts grating on your nerves. It's like a song that they never stop playing on the radio; you may like it at first but then it gets progressively more annoying. I liked one of the tones, the rest was instantly annoying to me. Another issue, although not annoying to me but certainly embarrassing when I wanted to show the phone off, was the Me tile photo resolution. I've gotten blasted more than once in saying that there is no option to increase the resolution. Another issue was the photos tile never stopped showing the same photos over and over again no matter what photos I put in my galleries. I found internet explorer extremely slow no matter if I was on LTE. Lastly, although there is probably more that I am not remembering, is ONE SOUND PROFILE. I listen to music all the time and having to juggle volumes is, for ME, inconvenient and frankly, dissapointing that this phone cannot do it.
Perhaps the biggest blow to me, after showing all that trust being a first adopter, was that Microsoft never seemed and never did anything about ANY of those core OS issues while I was using this phone. This one thing was the nail in the coffin. Actions speaks louder than words. It doesn't take using a competitor's device like Belifiore did, to see the issues that WP8 STILL has after all this time. Issues that SHOULD be solved by this time. SHOULD have been solved in the Portico update. WP8 has ENORMOUS promise yet Microsoft CANNOT or WILL NOT take the platform seriously.
This is my experience, in a thread created for experiences. You can blast me all you want but I tried and tried working with the platform. Doing EVERYTHING to make it work and yet it did not FOR ME. There are some great strengths like Nokia's awesome software support but in the end, it was Microsoft dragging its feet that got to me. I am happy that you are happy with your device and I am finally happy that my Z10 does everything my 920 did(except for exceptional low light and dolby music) and MORE. This post is meant for those on the fence of getting a 920 not for those happy with their 920 because honestly, in my experience, all those that are happy with their devices put down the people who are not. BlackBerry is like Nokia but who is also in control of the OS. It is a first generation OS like WP8 is and there will be some rough points in the journey back but the main difference between BlackBerry and Microsoft is that it is 4 months in and BlackBerry is already blasting away the initial simple bugs. Maybe it is because it has a fire underneath instead of a mountain of money that Microsoft has. I miss Nokia, I do not miss Microsoft. This is my experience.
And a big request: Remember what it was like when WP8 first entered the scene and all the ridiculous "arguments" against the OS from Android and iOS users. Do not be like them in talking about BlackBerry because you will sound just as ridiculous and just as ignorant as they did. Be informed and be respectful towards others.
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Just hoping the FB beta app gets a bit more polish than what it was now (leaps better than the old one).
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