Thinking of buying a Lumia... What now?

[athosbr99]

Hi there.

First, my english is a little weird. Sorry about that.

I'm a owner of a old and tired Android (LG P500, 2.3 w/ CyanogenMod) and in a month or two I'm thinking of buying a new smartphone.

I like Microsoft products a little bit and I'm in love with Windows Phone since 7.0, but I lost some faith with the 7.8 bomb. However, I need to buy a new phone and I was wondering if I should stick to Android or try something new (iPhone is impossible on my condictions, and I can't wait too long to something fresh [Firefox OS or Ubuntu Phone] appear).

Checking out some reviews, I was thinking of a Lumia 820 or 720. But I'm worried about Windows Phone itself... Some questions:

1. How does it works (or if works) with Gmail and Google Services?
2. How the maps are? Its better than Google Maps or not?
3. I noticed some little love from Last.fm... It's impossible to use (scrobble) or there is some workaround?
4. I'm from Brazil and the Marketplace on my country is very... weird. Can I use the US marketplace normally?
5. Recommendations to free apps to have a little fun? I know that WP suffers from "low apps", but some directions would be nice

I hope this forum will help me to decide my next phone.

And last, hello. :smile:

 

[eric12341]

Welcome to WPCentral and

1. With services like Gmail you should be able to send/receive emails just fine using the built in client, all your contacts will also sync just fine (be sure to create a Microsoft account for the primary login for best performance). YouTube videos open just fine through IE or an app like metrotube. Maps and chat are supported in 3rd party apps such as gMaps and IM+ but I'm not sure how they work.

2. The built in maps use Nokia maps data. Nokia via NAVTEQ have been in the mapping business longer than Google so maps should be on par if not slightly better or worse depending on location.
3. Last.fm plays songs based on what you listen to and makes recommendations, the native Xbox music will do the same via smartDJ.

4. Yes you can if you have your region set to united states (English)

5. What exactly are you interested in? Due to incompatibility some apps have with 512mb devices I would recommend going for a 1GB ram device (820,920,8X,ATIV) if you can afford it, otherwise about 1% of apps will be incompatible and you'll have to wait till the dev adds support.

 

[athosbr99]

Welcome to WPCentral and

1. With services like Gmail you should be able to send/receive emails just fine using the built in client, all your contacts will also sync just fine (be sure to create a Microsoft account for the primary login for best performance). YouTube videos open just fine through IE or an app like metrotube. Maps and chat are supported in 3rd party apps such as gMaps and IM+ but I'm not sure how they work.

2. The built in maps use Nokia maps data. Nokia via NAVTEQ have been in the mapping business longer than Google so maps should be on par if not slightly better or worse depending on location.
3. Last.fm plays songs based on what you listen to and makes recommendations, the native Xbox music will do the same via smartDJ.

4. Yes you can if you have your region set to united states (English)

5. What exactly are you interested in? Due to incompatibility some apps have with 512mb devices I would recommend going for a 1GB ram device (820,920,8X,ATIV) if you can afford it, otherwise about 1% of apps will be incompatible and you'll have to wait till the dev adds support.

For last.fm I was talking about the scrobbling (I don't know if you know it). I saw that its impossible to scrobble a music on last.fm. Is this true? It isn't a major issue to me, but would be nice to had.

And I would accept recommendations of apps on anything you guys think its nice to have. It can't be paid, since the method that its used to pay (credit card) its unavailable to me. HTC doesn't exist on Brazil and Samsung doesn't care about WP here, so its only Lumias I can really buy... 820 and 720 are with the same price here, what's the best deal?

 

[athosbr99]

nothing? bummer

 

[hohohohanfan]

nothing? bummer

if 820 is same price as 720, obviously 820 will be better since it's 1gb ram whereas 720 is 512mb.

 

[hohohohanfan]

For last.fm I was talking about the scrobbling (I don't know if you know it). I saw that its impossible to scrobble a music on last.fm. Is this true? It isn't a major issue to me, but would be nice to had.

And I would accept recommendations of apps on anything you guys think its nice to have. It can't be paid, since the method that its used to pay (credit card) its unavailable to me. HTC doesn't exist on Brazil and Samsung doesn't care about WP here, so its only Lumias I can really buy... 820 and 720 are with the same price here, what's the best deal?

there's many threads on apps on wp8 here in wpcentral, check them out!

 

[LMZR]

If you want some free good games, i can recommend Jetpack Joyride, Wordament and Shuffle Party.

 

[athosbr99]

if 820 is same price as 720, obviously 820 will be better since it's 1gb ram whereas 720 is 512mb.

GSMArena says that the 820 doesn't have gorilla glass and 720 does... is that relevant or not?

 

[athosbr99]

If you want some free good games, i can recommend Jetpack Joyride, Wordament and Shuffle Party.

i'm know jetpack joyride, played on windows 8, the others I will try out. thanks

 

[DBDev]

Welcome to WPCentral! :smile: