Switching platforms? | Thinking of leaving?...comment here!

[fatclue_98]

Additionally, there are weirdos like me who change devices and have text messages between all of them. I like that GroupMe allows that to be consistent. Certain things, like confirmation if we are meeting somewhere or something very soon, we do over MMS though.

There's nothing better than cordial discussion. You make a strong case against MMS regarding picture quality and that goes back to the days of flip phones and limited voice/text plans. Maybe now that unlimited voice/text is the rule and not the exception, we'll see changes. As for GroupMe and others who back up your chat history, you forgot to mention that Windows 10, and 8 for that matter, keeps messages backed up for people like us who switch all the time.

 

[libra89]

It's total black bar city. The image is still big enough so I'm not too bothered by it.

This is a random quotation, but I'll like to know how are things going with using the BB Passport if you still are? Final impressions?

@Fatclue_98: You are correct about having messages backed up, I should have said platform switchers rather than switching between devices. It seems like Verizon users have some magical thing that allows for messages to automatically download onto the new phone. If there's a way this can happen with T-Mobile, please let me know.

 

[HeyCori]

This is a random quotation, but I'll like to know how are things going with using the BB Passport if you still are? Final impressions?

Thankfully, my opinion of the device has not changed since getting it. That's due, in part, because I have no expectations for the platform. I bought the phone knowing there's only about 300k apps with many of them being poor or abandoned.

I think many diehard BB fans are disappointed because they paid $700 for a device that was supposed to be the future. Instead they watched it die a slow, painful death. I had a "what you see is what you get" mindset, and I have not been disappointed.

In day to day use, I keep it pretty simple. Email, text, web browsing, music, etc. For GPS, I have a Lumia 520 which I keep in my car. What I really like about the Passport is that the hardware buttons double as multimedia buttons. They even work while watching Youtube. I can pull up a Youtube video (which I use almost exclusively for news), and on walks I can toss on my headphones, power off the screen, and leave the phone in my pocket. I can use the hardware buttons to pause the video if I need to. And with music, I can pause the music or change tracks without having to turn on the screen.

On the software end, BB10 has been rock solid. I rarely have to reset the device. And while I have the option to force close apps, I almost never have to. Occasionally, the Amazon App Store needs to be force closed, but it's not often and I rarely use the app. And the keyboard has not disappointed. What people say about hardware keyboards is mostly true, slower but more accurate.

Overall, I have no complaints about the device and I'm glad I bought it. Hopefully, when I finally decide to switch to another device, it will be as unique as the Passport.

 

[Nabiscuit]

Put a Fork In Me... I'm Done. Hello Android.

I have been one of Microsoft's biggest fans in the mobile space ever since they debuted Windows Phone 7.

I remember waiting in line at the Mission Viejo Microsoft Store on Day 1 for the launch. I picked up the Dell Venue Pro and quickly fell in love with the interface, the Live Tiles, and the stability and speed of the system. The design was fresh and intuitive. Loved the hubs. Loved the one-handed design. It was a beauty to behold.

Since that fateful phone, I have been a true Windows Phone evangelist - always representing Microsoft no matter where Apple or Google fan-boys/girls would stand and proclaim their greatness. My daily driver history is as follows (and I've tried tons of Windows Phones in-between all these):

Dell Venue Pro -> HTC Radar -> Nokia Lumia 920 -> Nokia Lumia 1020 -> Nokia Lumia 1520 -> Microsoft Lumia 950

It's amazing how quickly Windows Phone fell into disarray.

Rich Woods over at Neowin talked about this quite aptly and hit the nail on the head: It wasn't that Windows Phone was truly faster and more stable than Android and iOS... Windows Phone seemed faster and more stable due to the platform being less feature-rich.

This was very evident after the Windows Phone 8.1 upgrade. My Lumia 1020 was fast as all get out. Never saw a "Loading..." screen once. Sure, the apps sometimes would crash, but NEVER the built-in, integrated apps. Mail never crashed. People never crashed. Search never crashed. All the built-in services were rock solid and they always opened super quickly and were very reliable. But once the feature-rich Windows Phone 8.1 came down to the phone... TROUBLE.

Hit the Windows Key - Loading... on the Start Screen. Sometimes it'd take over 15 seconds to come up. Built-in apps started becoming more unreliable (especially once they were removed from the OS and re-positioned as "apps" that could be updated in the Windows Store). I understand they were in a hard place when it came to Carrier Updates, and this was their strategy of circumventing that... but they pretty much killed Windows Phone in the process.

After waiting almost two years for a new flagship, we get the Lumia 950 and 950XL and Windows 10 Mobile. This has been, without a doubt, the most buggy and unreliable phone I have ever owned. It's now almost a year since I bought it and it's STILL buggy as hell and just as unreliable. I went through three devices hoping to get one that didn't garble video, mess up pictures, take forever to load apps, have the store crash constantly, constant resets, swipe keyboard stalling, and Windows Hello never working and sucking up the battery every time I get a text and so on... I could really go on. They are charging $600 for this phone. It's insanity.

I wanted to give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt... I really did. But with them taking their sweet time fixing everything that's wrong with this operating system - integral third-party applications have been running away from Microsoft like the plague.

This is a very sad moment for me, but now that I'm constantly using my phone for business and have started a family, I need my phone to work. And Windows 10 Mobile does not work. As much as I love Continuum and where Microsoft is trying to take the platform, sitting here, in app purgatory, along the way is not worth it for this second-rate sub-par experience.

Android looks gross and unrefined as it did three years ago - but least Microsoft has a bunch of their services on the platform (with many of the apps being better than they are on Windows Phone) so I can try to make do. When Paul and Mary Jo jumped ship, I didn't listen. I put my head in the sand and hoped Microsoft would somehow pull this off.

But when Nokia declared that the Smartphone Beta Test was over - I had no idea that Microsoft would resurrect that test with their own Flagship Smartphones four years later.

I'll circle back again when Microsoft gets their act together.

As for now, time to start personalizing this thing to get it as Microsoft-y as possible.

See ya later Windows Phone. It was a hell of a ride.

 

[thron]

Re: Put a Fork In Me... I'm Done. Hello Android.

With all these people leaving Windows for Pokemon Go and for whatever else reason, I hope everybody lists their devices on ebay & drives the price down.
I'd love to get my hands on a 950 for cheap!

 

[Nabiscuit]

Re: Put a Fork In Me... I'm Done. Hello Android.

With all these people leaving Windows for Pokemon Go and for whatever else reason, I hope everybody lists their devices on ebay & drives the price down.
I'd love to get my hands on a 950 for cheap!

Giving my phone back to the carrier to get new ones. My mother was sooooo happy that I decided to swap out these phones. She's also been with Windows Phone since 7. She had and loved her HTC HD7 -> Nokia Lumia 920 -> and Nokia Lumia 1520. But once she upgraded to the Microsoft Lumia 950 - nothing but problems. Now she goes to answer calls and her screen freezes to the point where she misses every call that comes in. She has to turn off the screen, turn it back on (after the call), and then call the person back.

I think she hates the Lumia 950 more than I do.

 

[EspHack]

Re: Put a Fork In Me... I'm Done. Hello Android.

With all these people leaving Windows for Pokemon Go and for whatever else reason, I hope everybody lists their devices on ebay & drives the price down.
I'd love to get my hands on a 950 for cheap!

lol they are down to 300$ on ebay already, brand new and dial sim, no att crap

and really i would love to have something that just WORKED, exactly like wp8 did, it was such a software heaven to use every day, i enjoyed my 928 for 2 years like it was the best thing ever, but even as bad as things are today and that wp is essentially dead and now we have some mini windows 10 os thats almost good for nothing, i still hate linux and apple solutions even more

so yea i will get a 950 after it gets below 200$ so i dont hate myself for expending anything on such a potential daily headache, and if that fails too im getting used to having an actual "pocket pc" with me instead of my phone nowadays, an asus 8" atom tablet(yeaa it fits my pockets), if it had cellular i probably would stop carrying my phone

 

[StevoPhilo]

Re: Put a Fork In Me... I'm Done. Hello Android.

Well I think I'm switching to Android for good now since the One+3 is affordable and gives me practically the same specs as the 950XL, but at a much affordable rate.

I've been with WP shortly after the release of the 920. Prior to this I did use android the mytouch and the mytouch4g and man did those phones slow down as all hell. I had enough so I looked at how WP of all the OS was the smoothest and most fluid. So I remember seeing a girl with the 920 and asked to hold it and try it out. I had to get it. Not only was it smooth as butter, but it made me switch over with all the features (camera,durability,hubs). So I loved my 920. It was at the time the best phone available and it still had it's quirks that made it a viable option over other phones.
Then the 1020 came out and the camera was amazing so I bought one off of ebay. The 1020 lasted me for so long and that's when the 950XL was announced.

I honestly can say it's one of the biggest disappointments I've made. The phone itself feels decent, but the camera glass was so fragile that it easily cracked and it wasn't exactly easy to replace. The camera glitches and takes fine pictures, but decides to overexpose in it's own post processing. Then it decides to take 2 minutes to do that before I can even share them or even seen them in my gallery. The gallery looks like a hot mess compared to before. The swipe gestures are gone and I'm greeted with hamburger menus on a LARGER phone. Genius! The lock screen decides it wants to stay locked for about 10 seconds before windows hello or my pin number can be entered. The OS is buggy as all hell and it's only getting closer to an Android system anyways. So I ask myself and everyone what's the point? The hardware and software features aren't better and in fact are worse in most scenarios.

TL;DR - Been with WP for years. but the 950XL ruined it with it's buggy mess and "premium price". WM10 isn't like WP from the past and is getting closer to Android so why bother? 1+3 here I come!

 

[daimv]

Re: Put a Fork In Me... I'm Done. Hello Android.

Giving my phone back to the carrier to get new ones. My mother was sooooo happy that I decided to swap out these phones. She's also been with Windows Phone since 7. She had and loved her HTC HD7 -> Nokia Lumia 920 -> and Nokia Lumia 1520. But once she upgraded to the Microsoft Lumia 950 - nothing but problems. Now she goes to answer calls and her screen freezes to the point where she misses every call that comes in. She has to turn off the screen, turn it back on (after the call), and then call the person back.

I think she hates the Lumia 950 more than I do.

.

Well my calls are working fine in my Lumia 950 :/ Maybe I got it at a good time with most updates already out there.

Well I think I'm switching to Android for good now since the One+3 is affordable and gives me practically the same specs as the 950XL, but at a much affordable rate.

I've been with WP shortly after the release of the 920. Prior to this I did use android the mytouch and the mytouch4g and man did those phones slow down as all hell. I had enough so I looked at how WP of all the OS was the smoothest and most fluid. So I remember seeing a girl with the 920 and asked to hold it and try it out. I had to get it. Not only was it smooth as butter, but it made me switch over with all the features (camera,durability,hubs). So I loved my 920. It was at the time the best phone available and it still had it's quirks that made it a viable option over other phones.
Then the 1020 came out and the camera was amazing so I bought one off of ebay. The 1020 lasted me for so long and that's when the 950XL was announced.

I honestly can say it's one of the biggest disappointments I've made. The phone itself feels decent, but the camera glass was so fragile that it easily cracked and it wasn't exactly easy to replace. The camera glitches and takes fine pictures, but decides to overexpose in it's own post processing. Then it decides to take 2 minutes to do that before I can even share them or even seen them in my gallery. The gallery looks like a hot mess compared to before. The swipe gestures are gone and I'm greeted with hamburger menus on a LARGER phone. Genius! The lock screen decides it wants to stay locked for about 10 seconds before windows hello or my pin number can be entered. The OS is buggy as all hell and it's only getting closer to an Android system anyways. So I ask myself and everyone what's the point? The hardware and software features aren't better and in fact are worse in most scenarios.

TL;DR - Been with WP for years. but the 950XL ruined it with it's buggy mess and "premium price". WM10 isn't like WP from the past and is getting closer to Android so why bother? 1+3 here I come!

So far I'm having a good time with 950! The bugs that were annoying me were fixed already and mine isn't lagging like that horrible things you describe so I'm cool.

Also I'm kind of used to being the outcast among friends with Android/IOS. N8 -> 808 -> L640 -> L950 I like phones with good cameras, (640 doesn't count) and so far so good .

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Reading some of the posts here makes me kind of depressed and I have to wonder - did I realy have no issues on my 1020 when I had it? Or are horrible experiences an extreme for a very small segment of windows mobile users?

 

[a5cent]

^ WP8.1 and W10M are two very different beasts. Having a good experience with one doesn't mean you'll have a good experience with the other. I loved WP7.5. It was great for its time. I liked WP8.1, but admitted improvements were necessary. I have no enthusiasm for W10M.

 

[thron]

Reading some of the posts here makes me kind of depressed and I have to wonder - did I realy have no issues on my 1020 when I had it? Or are horrible experiences an extreme for a very small segment of windows mobile users?

I've had 3 Windows Phones (520, 830, 640)

The only true *problem* I had was while being on Insider; I didn't fully understand at the time that 'Slow Ring' wasn't a safe/production build.
I am running Release build of Windows 10 on my 640 and so far, 0 issues.

I miss my 830 (was also on Windows 10; no issues, aside from Slow Ring until I downgraded to Release) and I hold hope that it can be restored at some point. It has fallen for unknown reasons at the time of writing. Just shy of 2 years old (my longest lasting phone, not counting the 520; which I sold as soon as I got the 830).

 

[Guytronic]

Re: Put a Fork In Me... I'm Done. Hello Android.

Android looks gross and unrefined as it did three years ago

Depends on the Android users preferences in my opinion.
I pretty much have my Androids limited to one screen, no widgets with a few most often used icons up.
My dock is hidden until called upon to rise up with a tap on the home button.
Other than that I select apps solely from the app drawer.

Android doesn't have to be junky or confusing for the user with some tweaking.



I actually had my WM10 homescreen very similar to the above...

 

[libra89]

Re: Put a Fork In Me... I'm Done. Hello Android.

I know I have an issue when I am thinking about switching to another phone and it's only been 2 weeks. I don't get why this feels so hard for me. Still liking the Robin, but the size, not so much. I miss the smallness of the SE. I liked the size of the 550. The size of the 640 is nice too, but not the same. I just want to have everything I ever wanted. Maybe I'm too idealistic.:grincry:

Sony should do better, was rooting for the new XA.

@Guytronic: Really liking that home screen. I like how it is one page. I only have one page too (and an app drawer, yay for Nova Launcher lol).

 

[weiser159]

Just bought a battery for my S3 because my L640 is driving me nuts with each new OS build. As of now with the most recent build this phone has never performed worse. I understand it's not the case for the majority of users but that's how it has been with me so I'll go back to Android as a primary and wait for a Surface phone. Even then I'll watch from the sidelines for a while. Nearly 4 years solid of WM and this being the result speaks for itself in regards to frustration.

 

[libra89]

Yeah you can always watch from the sidelines, less of a risk imo.

I realized that part of my phone itch is probably because of the size of the Robin. It's a bit bigger than I would prefer so I caved and went hunting again. I came up with the HTC One A9. I found a nice deal on the color I wanted (having Lumias over the years really made me want to have a color on my phones) so now I'm waiting for it. I hope that I would like it because after it, I will have really tried everything (that isn't super low end or just too big for my preference). >.<

I know, I know. I lasted 15 days...that was the longest so far I went without switching back my SIM instantly like I have been doing every time I get annoyed. :grincry:

At this point, I like how iOS works but I don't know if I'm ready to go back to the walled garden of it, even in this waiting period.

 

[dellaster]

The Lumia Icon is nice. I'll keep it updated as backup and to see how W10M progresses, but I couldn't pass up a $300-off deal from Verizon on an iPhone 6s+ 64GB. Everything is so smooth and polished, my gosh...

 

[libra89]

The Lumia Icon is nice. I'll keep it updated as backup and to see how W10M progresses, but I couldn't pass up a $300-off deal from Verizon on an iPhone 6s+ 64GB. Everything is so smooth and polished, my gosh...

Nice choice! Yeah, the difference between the two is amazing. lol. iOS is great for a solid, reliable, experience. I like it for those things, just missing the customization so much.

 

[StevoPhilo]

Reading some of the posts here makes me kind of depressed and I have to wonder - did I realy have no issues on my 1020 when I had it? Or are horrible experiences an extreme for a very small segment of windows mobile users?

I cannot say I didnt have any issues with the 1020. The camera was slow as heck so it was annoying there, but for every drawback there was to the phone or WP8 as an OS I could counteract with well I have this feature. I knew the trade offs to WP, but I liked what I was getting, I honestly cant say the same for WM10 except for 2 features. Continuum which I think is kind of gimmicky anyways, but some people have put it to good use. The camera which never worked for me 100 percent plus I shoot with a Sony a6000 that I almost always have.
It is better for me to have an android that does 95% of the image quality of the Lumia 950XL and allows me the app to transfer images with my Sony a6000.

I think W10M has potential, but the 950 phones should not have been released with that software. It wasnt ready. When it is I will be looking from the outside. Not sure if I will come back since most of the issues I had with Android are gone.

 

[Guytronic]

The camera was slow as heck so it was annoying there

The Lumia 1020 certainly was the camera to beat!
I did enjoy the 1020 for the short time I put up with it in the last days.

Moving to Android with the LG G4 in my mind has absolved Android in the camera department.
The tech keeps moving forward...