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

[a5cent]

Re: Long-time WP user....*extremely* disappointed with WP8, Lumia 920, etc.

As for OEM-specific apps, well....I "get it", and I understand their need to differentiate. Although it helps those OEMs (I guess), it doesn't help the eco-system. If I find a cool app that my co-worker cannot get on his HTC 8X, he doesn't say "geez... I guess I should've ordered a Nokia phone", he says "what the f#&k is that about?". Know what I mean?

Personally, I'd loved to see OEMs keep their own specific apps, but allow other users the ability to pay for them. In other words, "Creative Studio" would be free for Nokia phone users, but HTC users might have to pay $4.99 to get that app -- or whatever. It still makes the Nokia phones a value, but it doesn't hurt the eco-system so much. Just my $.02

I get that too, yet considering that this is true of the entire smartphone industry, not just WP devices, I'd say it isn't really admissible as an argument against WP. That is what I was trying to point out.

I've seen that same reaction, but in contrast to you, I feel that the consumer is the only one at fault here. After all, I don't know anyone that expects to install TouchWiz on their HTC device. I would argue that consumers have simply come to understand the differences between a HTC and a Samsung Android device. That outrage stems simply from the fact that consumers have not yet come to understand the differences between a Nokia and, say, a HTC WP device. IMHO this is just an expectations game, and the average WP consumer still lacks the experience to know what to expect. That will come in time.

 

[arkavat]

Re: Long-time WP user....*extremely* disappointed with WP8, Lumia 920, etc.

This is a reply to Yipcanjo's first post.

I know exactly how you feel. I am in the same boat as you. My first phone was a Nokia, and so were my 2nd, 3rd and 4th. All Symbian S60. Then I jumped on to WinMo 6.1 then 6.5. iPhone ever attracted me, but the capacitive touch and touch centric UI did attract me. I decided to give Android a try and used 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3. I also gave ICS a try on my aging Nexus One. However, android lacked polish and I was stuck in a perpetual loop of flashing ROMS. I was eagerly waiting for WP7 and tried it as soon as it came out. HD7 was my driver for an year. But the news of Nokia going for WP was the best thing I could hope for. I am a Nokia fan too! I was planning on Lumia 900, but didnt want to jump on to At&T. But with 920, I decided to jump! As much as I like the hardware, it is a compromise. OS is the same.. I like it but it is a compromise. Only thing is I just learned to Suck it up and live with it. I didnt find myself satying up late night flashing ROMs on my Nexus One

MS has disappointed me. WP7 turned out to be an alhpa. Plans for WP8 were there, but MS decided to use MS fanboys as a stop gap measure. I feel cheated! That's my personal opinion about how I feel. No one else gets to counter that and no one gets to counter how you feel. Don't defend your feelings to others.

As a long time Nokia user, I will tell you this. Nokia is same as MS. They will launch products and keep mum about product they will launch 3 months after you get their phone. It has happened a lot with S60 phones and it will happen with WP. Lumia 920/925/928 is a good example. Samsung stuck with GS3 for an year. Apple does the same.

At this point. I feel torn. I like the concept of WP but I am probably too old to have enough patience to go with experiments and betas. I did it with WinMo, then Android and then WP7/8. Android 4.2 looks like it has matured and I am tempeted to jump over. I will not abondon WP, but it think I need a hiatus and let WP evolve on its own. I just can't be a part of it.

I bid you good luck and I am very hopeful that we both will return to WP. Probably WP9 or 10, but not WP8.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

Re: Long-time WP user....*extremely* disappointed with WP8, Lumia 920, etc.

I have tried going back to android shortly after windows phone 8 came out back when instagram wasn't unofficially out and the apps were so so. I got the top of the line galaxy s3 and Droid dna. It was decent at first but I miss the fluidity of windows phone.

There us fragmentation on windows phone but nowhere near the level you will find on android. I can buy a top of the mine non-galaxy android phone and it is already behind in software even if the phone is brand new(HTC one) and missing features that another phone has. That alone makes wp8 better for me.

I do wish you luck though.

 

[FinancialP]

Re: Long-time WP user....*extremely* disappointed with WP8, Lumia 920, etc.

I hate my Lumia with a passion but something keeps pulling me back.

OP I know exactly how you feel.

Especially with the app fragmentation, its beyond ridiculous on Windows Phone for the little apps we actually have.

 

[tgp]

Re: Long-time WP user....*extremely* disappointed with WP8, Lumia 920, etc.

At this point. I feel torn. I like the concept of WP but I am probably too old to have enough patience to go with experiments and betas. I did it with WinMo, then Android and then WP7/8. Android 4.2 looks like it has matured and I am tempeted to jump over. I will not abondon WP, but it think I need a hiatus and let WP evolve on its own. I just can't be a part of it.

I bid you good luck and I am very hopeful that we both will return to WP. Probably WP9 or 10, but not WP8.

I'm with you 100% here! I said basically the same thing in another post. While I want to see WP suceed, I'm not willing to put up with it in the meantime, when 2 much more mature OS's are available. I'll watch, and when WP get there, I'll try again. I keep a WP as a 2nd device, but for now it won't be my daily driver.

 

[cckgz4]

Re: All Those Switching from a Windows Phone to another device (including Windows Phones), Post Here

I am back on Android and I am happy with my experience. I think my inner smartphone user really wants the complete experience with a Nokia-Windows Phone, but I'm biding my time until it can offer me the experience I get from Apple/Google

 

[Dileu]

Re: All Those Switching from a Windows Phone to another device (including Windows Phones), Post Here

Unfornatley I am stuck in a world where mobile phone makers insist on only putting their decent camera modules in their high end devices, and also insist on putting huge screens in those same phones. Am I really the only person who wants a compact device like my former Lumia 620 AND have a decent camera module?

So, once again, I have had to go back into the small well-built comfort of an iPhone. But for me, 4" is still a bit big for one hand.

 

[willied]

Re: All Those Switching from a Windows Phone to another device (including Windows Phones), Post Here

Unfornatley I am stuck in a world where mobile phone makers insist on only putting their decent camera modules in their high end devices, and also insist on putting huge screens in those same phones. Am I really the only person who wants a compact device like my former Lumia 620 AND have a decent camera module?

So, once again, I have had to go back into the small well-built comfort of an iPhone. But for me, 4" is still a bit big for one hand.

I want the same bloody thing. It's incredibly frustrating that no one will do it. I'm sure they'll sell just as well as the bigger phones.

 

[Jnbs]

Re: All Those Switching from a Windows Phone to another device (including Windows Phones), Post Here

Switching to an N8!!! Some of you might think that I am downgrading, but I feel that its the right decision.. I waste too much time checking my phone in the WP platform.. I want to stop my addiction to the mobile arena so I am getting an OLD OS to do that.. However, the N8 is a SWEET phone that camera is amazing!! Well.. I'll be back when the EOS hits!

 

[Par_T]

Re: All Those Switching from a Windows Phone to another device (including Windows Phones), Post Here

Unfornatley I am stuck in a world where mobile phone makers insist on only putting their decent camera modules in their high end devices, and also insist on putting huge screens in those same phones. Am I really the only person who wants a compact device like my former Lumia 620 AND have a decent camera module?

So, once again, I have had to go back into the small well-built comfort of an iPhone. But for me, 4" is still a bit big for one hand.

Ditto

 

[triumvirant]

My WIndows Phone Experience

First, a little backstory...

I started my foray into the world of smartphones with an iPhone 3GS. When I first got that phone, I thought it was the best thing that had ever been invented. An always-on connection to the outside world, instant information, and an interface that was...boring. I quickly lost interest in the platform that was locked down and started to feel a bit of resentment at the "elitism" that followed the iCrowd. I wanted something else...

Sor, for the past few years, I have been an avid fan of the Android OS. I got started on Android during the Gingerbread era with a Motorola Atrix 4g, and continued on through Jellybean with a Samsung Galaxy Note (the first). I loved everything about the OS, from the ability to customize almost every aspect of the interface to the live updates on the widgets that iPhone never had. I thought that it was perfect.

Well, a funny thing happened. I had a child. I no longer had the time and effort required to continue to "tweak" my phone, and I wanted something that would "just work" and there was no way in hell I was going back to an iPhone...Enter Windows Phone 8.

Right around the time my kid was born, Nokia was pushing the Lumia 920 pretty hard on ATT. It was the brand new phone with the awesome camera, and I thought "hey, I probably am going to want to take some pictures of this new family member...and this phone is supposed to be pretty good at that. Coincidence? No way!" So, I used my upgrade and landed a bright, shiny red phone with an OS that seemed to be everything I was looking for.

For the first few hours, I had that feeling of child-like discovery that accompanies any new technological endeavor (for me, at least). I was learning a new OS. I was getting a feel for it and I loved it! The seamless integration with Twitter and Facebook. The Rooms I could create and pin to the start screen for instant updates on my family and friends. The camera...Oh, the camera! I had never seen such beatiful low-light shots from a cell phone camera! I was in love with this phone. I told everyone who would listen about how wonderful it was, how they should immediately get on board becuase this was something special...something new and exciting.

The lack of apps didn't bother me. I had everything I needed. I don't play games, I don't instagram. I call/text/email and surf the web. I update my twitter feed and facebook page to keep in touch with family and friends. And I take pictures and notes. This phone was perfect. This phone was pre-Portico....

Random reboots and runaway battery drain. Perfect or not, it HAS TO WORK. And unfortunately, it...did...not... And so, with a heavy heart of what could have been, I returned the most beloved phone I had ever had to the ATT store...and exchanged it for a Galaxy Note 2.

This could have been the end of the story (and some of you probably think it should be ). But I was restless. I felt remorse. I felt like I hadn't been patient enough and they would HAVE to iron out those bugs that were causing me issues. So, I scoured the message boards looking for information. I found out about the portico update and how it was supposed to fix the reboots and improve image quality on the pictures. I found myself getting excited about the platform again, and knew what I had to do.

I listed my GNote2 on ebay and purchased a new Lumia 920 outright. I updated it with Portico. The reboots were gone! The pictures were clearer! The battery...still discharged at an alarming rate...sometimes...randomly. I didn't know what to make of it. Again, I scoured the internet. I disabled Nokia Drive, I turned off XBox sync, I disabled location and bluetooth and wifi and 4g. And it worked...sometimes...randomly. I resigned myself to the fact that I was just going to have to monitor the battery and reset it as it started it's journey to 0%.

But then, the screen went defective. I had a blue line running down the screen and no amount of resetting or pixel fixing would change it. I was told I had to send it for repair/exchange for a refurbished unit. I protested...this phone was less than 30 days old and I had PAID FULL PRICE. No way was I accepting a "refurbished replacement." After much back and forth, I was eventually able to receive a brand new phone by doing an early upgrade with the activation waived. So I had a new one coming, and still got to keep the old one! Life seemed good.

When the replacement arrived, it was behaving just like the old one. I had to constantly baby the phone, turning things off and on and off again just to try to get a full day. Sometimes, it would last 2 or 3 days without charging. Others, 3-4 hours for a full discharge and this thing GOT HOT! Well, because it was a "new contract" I still had a return period. So I took it back to ATT and paid the restocking fee and difference in price and got ANOTHER GNote 2. I thought for sure that THIS WAS THE END. But alas...it was not to be...

I again grew remorseful. The camera just wasn't as good. The UI of android was old and stale and boring. I really, really, really wanted to keep using WP8...i just needed it to work. So I (again) listed my GNote 2 on ebay and I sent off my old, defective 920 (the one with a bad screen) to Nokia for repair. They replaced it and sent it back. The replacement had an issue with the speaker (buzzing), so I sent it off again. They replaced it again, and everything seemed fine. A few days later, I noticed that I couldn't take pictures of anything from 2-3.5 feet away (the camera wouldn't focus). By this time, ATT had 920's at the device replacement center so I took it there.

I went through 3! 920s before I found one that would take pictures of the ground. Three supposedly b-stock or refurbished phones...all with the same problem.

So back to this week, and my continuing struggle to monitor the battery on this phone. I've been late to work twice because the phone has died overnight (with 80%+ battery when I went to sleep) and my alarm didn't go off. I've tried everything that I could find to help. I've factory reset more times that I care to remember. I have uninstalled EVERY APP that I could. I have turned off and kept off things that I need just to see if it helps...and it DOESN'T. This phone is just broken. Maybe the other Lumias...the other models from other manufacturers don't have this problem. I don't know...I don't care anymore. My phone has to work, and this one just...doesn't...work. You shouldn't have to turn off or disable core functions of a phone to try to achieve normal battery life. That's just ridiculous.

So, after 8 (for real, eight DIFFERENT 920s...all with battery overheating/discharging rapidly) samples of this phone, I'm done. I will miss you lumia...I will miss you WP8...it could have been special.

TL;DR - After 8 defective Lumia 920s, I quit WP8.

 

[Vijay Bhargav]

Re: An honest Lumia 920 review: Why I'm returning to an iPhone 5

Yes. the awasome features and unique experiences that the WP8 offers can be easily overshadowed by glaring bugs and poor performing applications.

thnks
Vj

 

[HaibaneReki]

Re: All Those Switching from a Windows Phone to another device (including Windows Phones), Post Here

Triumvirant, it hurts to see You had to open an account here just to leave the goodbye note, we'll welcome You back once the EOS is out

 

[WizeGuyDezignz]

Re: All Those Switching from a Windows Phone to another device (including Windows Phones), Post Here

Well guys and gals, after 6 exchanges, an email to Stephen Elop, Nokia currently still working on my case and currently on my 7th 928, I am throwing in the towel. Today is the last day to return my 928 to Verizon and I am going to do so. I was able to pick up a brand new in box Galaxy S4 for $440, so I will be ahead nearly $100 ($499 for my 928 plus CA sales tax came to $531 and some change).

I just can't deal with these defects anymore and I don't want to spend anymore time trying to get a defect free device and be happy. I know most of you probably don't care, and I'm not starting this thread to bash WP or say my experience was all bad. To be honest, I believe that WP is a better built OS than Android. I really enjoyed most parts of it, but the experience on the S4 is just more enhanced and is more built for me at the moment.

If/when Nokia cleans up these issues and when the 8.1 WP update comes out which hopefully will include a notification center and better multitasking, I will be back. There is no doubt that my brief time with WP was enjoyable and the OS and UI are very impressive to me. So I'm seeing the S4 as a transitional device for me to get back to WP by the end of the year or so. I really think Microsoft has a good thing going here. It's such a smooth and unified OS.

I just want to thank everyone in this great community that has given me solid advice, read all of my posts, etc. A special thank you to hopmedic who was such a great person and helpful throughout my ownership of this device.

Well, I'm off to the other side but I will be back soon enough. Thanks again and enjoy your devices guys!

 

[thed]

Re: All Those Switching from a Windows Phone to another device (including Windows Phones), Post Here

I'm not sure who still checks in on this thread but I thought I'd say my piece here. I had used my Trophy faithfully for almost 2 years when I decided to switch from Verizon to Net10 because of the cost. To be honest I probably would have stuck with my Trophy for a while longer if it had been capable of 3G service on Net10's (AT&T) network. But unfortunately it isn't so I had to upgrade. I thought about going with a WP8 phone, but I didn't for a few reasons.

WP8 isn't really where I'd like it to be yet. I know that updating the kernel and everything else is a lot of work but I feel like MS just didn't add a lot of compelling new features to WP8. I was fine with where the OS was back in the WP7 days because you could see the OS growing, especially when Mango (WP7.5) came around. But lately it seems like MS has no sense of urgency when it comes to WP. They still can't seem to get their services updated for WP at the same as the other platforms. And the fact that the Other Storage problem still exists is evidence of how much MS seems to care. In my opinion they could really benefit by taking some time to just fix bugs and address all the little feature gaps that WP currently has rather than adding big new features.

So I decided to give the Nexus 4 a try. It's still one of the best phones out there for the price (important if you're contract free like me). I'm liking it so far. I currently do pretty much everything I did with my Trophy as far as background processes go - 3 push emails, sports widgets/notifications, weather, reddit, etc. The battery easily gets me through the day and I honestly haven't noticed lag of any kind. I also don't run task killers or anything like that. It makes me wonder what people are talking about when they complain about the performance of Android. It is my first Android, though, and it's also stock Android, so I don't know what things were like before 4.2 and with OEM software.

I do miss some things about WP. IMO it has the best design out of any mobile OS. I miss how unified everything looks, especially the live tiles. I especially loved the baseball live tile for Pro Sports Scores/Baseball Scores and Alerts. I can't find anything else like that live tile, either on WP or Android. But finally having MLB At Bat takes the sting out of losing that tile. At Bat is huge for a baseball fan like me.

Well this post is too long already so I'll just say that I hope to come back to WP, and I definitely will if MS gets their act together. It all depends on what happens with the next updates. But for now I think I made the right decision for me.

 

[FinancialP]

Re: All Those Switching from a Windows Phone to another device (including Windows Phones), Post Here

Thed just use espn score center or Bleacher Report apps. Choose your sports, teams and what kind of notifications you want.

Also you can skip the apps and opt in to Google Now. Do a search of the team you want to keep up with and Google Now will keep you updated.

I have a iPhone btw, my daily driver. I used to use my Lumia on the weekends only but it's just been collecting dusts lately. I use my Nexus as a hotspot.

 

[Coolknight1968]

I am moving on... But I keep two WP8 devices.

Hi all, I have put in a lot of effort over the time to try to help people with WP8 devices. But right now, while I am keeping my daughters HTC 8X and my Samsung Ativ S, I decided to use my two HTC Androids for all my calls, a OneX+ and a One. I am not leaving, will still be around but right now, until we get GDR 2, I have too many issues with WP8. Just so you know... Yes I am disappointed and I think I am not the only one.

 

[raacut]

Re: I am moving on... But I keep two WP8 devices.

No you are not ..... as it stands WP8 is the least feature rich and least customizable platform. I didnt think that was possible with the Iphone around......

 

[Dave Blake]

Re: I am moving on... But I keep two WP8 devices.

Its a good idea to hang on to those WP8 devices. I am not saying it will happen to you but many people leaving WP soon come back. Why? Because nothing Android or iPhone can do is worth giving up what Windows Phone does better.

 

[poken1151]

Re: I am moving on... But I keep two WP8 devices.

I don't disagree with you at all Coolknight. I'm in a similar spot right now. I'm gonna keep using and playing with my 920 until GDR2. If that update really does little... I may switch back to an android. Purely for productivity, but I'll still keep an eye on WP8.

The other day I got an MMS with a video for an apartment I want, I wanted to share it with my girlfriend. Only to find out all I can do is forward the text; no saving, no emailing no other options for doing anything useful with the video.
Then, I was trying to complete some internet tasks, upload some docs for conversion on a site then forward them via email... Needless to say this storage thing on the phone means though I've downloade a file from my email, it's nowhere to be seen by the browser. And suddenly my smartphone aint so smart.

And it just reminded me that those are things I could have done in ease back on my droid. But yea tho I want it here because it is WP8, it's not much I can do. I want​ to love you, so I'll keep trying...