I am Android user (HTC Desire, now HTC One X for 2 years) and my wife on WP 8.1 with her Lumia 1520. Her phone is really good, especially camera (on scenes with good lightning) & Windows phone 8.1 looks fresh & promising, but two things, as for me, ruins all impession: there are no normal (natural) access to filesystem (internal storage / sdcard) &, as far as I understood, one app couldn't run another one.
For example, if I want to read some fb2 book with FbReader, I have to add this book into FbReader library from CloudDrive or another source. In Android I could simply open fb2 file from sdcard. Another, more general result of the problems, stated above: if I have a folder with various kinds of documents, I have to run corresponding app & open file in this app instead of tap (long or double) on this file's icon in file manager. Run one app for one file, another app for another file... imho, looks a bit silly.
As a result, the new & official Ms file manager, "Files", couldn't be compared with practically any file manager app on Android. "Files" opens doc & xls files in Ms Office (at least it seemed to me so), but it opens images, audio & video with its internal viewers which have very limited functionality comparing with standalone apps. For example, mkv video playing with "Files" internal viewer, couldn't be repositioned (i.e. I couldn't tap on progress gauge to change playing position from 1 min to 4 min).
As for me, these two problems are real Ms's omission & without them I would buy WP phone with a pleasure.
So, question: what are the reasons of such Ms approach & are there any chances that these shortages will be removed in the next WP releases?
Little video illustrating user experience with TotalCommader on Android:
1) Copying files between folder, opened in two panes
2) Opening files using default apps (NB - standalone external apps)
3) Opening files by selecting the app
4) Copying files to PC.
For example, if I want to read some fb2 book with FbReader, I have to add this book into FbReader library from CloudDrive or another source. In Android I could simply open fb2 file from sdcard. Another, more general result of the problems, stated above: if I have a folder with various kinds of documents, I have to run corresponding app & open file in this app instead of tap (long or double) on this file's icon in file manager. Run one app for one file, another app for another file... imho, looks a bit silly.
As a result, the new & official Ms file manager, "Files", couldn't be compared with practically any file manager app on Android. "Files" opens doc & xls files in Ms Office (at least it seemed to me so), but it opens images, audio & video with its internal viewers which have very limited functionality comparing with standalone apps. For example, mkv video playing with "Files" internal viewer, couldn't be repositioned (i.e. I couldn't tap on progress gauge to change playing position from 1 min to 4 min).
As for me, these two problems are real Ms's omission & without them I would buy WP phone with a pleasure.
So, question: what are the reasons of such Ms approach & are there any chances that these shortages will be removed in the next WP releases?
Little video illustrating user experience with TotalCommader on Android:
1) Copying files between folder, opened in two panes
2) Opening files using default apps (NB - standalone external apps)
3) Opening files by selecting the app
4) Copying files to PC.