What apps would I be missing by going Windows Phone?

[sym1a1a]

" For Android you can get apps that let you download YouTube videos, play YouTube music videos in background "

there are several apps on WP that can do download and play music vids from youtube

 

[txkimmers]

I have heard that Windows Phone internet browser does not store passwords?

Is this still true? This really sucks since my I had that for granted on my Opera Mini symbian browser.

Also Windows Phone does not have swype keyboard app available on Symbian, how does the windows phone compare to the Swype keyboard?

I was not happy to lose Swype at first, but quickly found that WP has a predictive text feature that is extremely good, really really good (ok, in English). I stopped missing Swype very quickly.

 

[AV2RY]

I don't miss it much but I would like to have Opera browser on my L928 and the ability to send/save video files in whatsapp from my phone..
But so far UC Browser is great app so not having Opera doesn't disappointed me much. Just hoping on Update 3 MS will open access to video/audio library

 

[AV2RY]

" For Android you can get apps that let you download YouTube videos, play YouTube music videos in background "

there are several apps on WP that can do download and play music vids from youtube

To download videos from YT you don't eve need app just add SS in front of youtube and hit enter. You can choose format and quality you prefer
ex. www.SSyoutube.com/watch...

 

[Kevin Rush]

I have heard that Windows Phone internet browser does not store passwords ?

I'm don't know about IE Mobile saving passwords. I use LastPass on my WP8 Lumia 822, on all my computers and it is accessible from any web connected computer using a browser. It encrypts and syncs my passwords between all my devices. It autologson to my websites. It generates safe passwords. It remembers old/past passwords. It is secure and most of all it is easy to use. Far better than keeping passwords in IE, I think. (I have 28 password protected web sites, each with a different password.)
Just FYI.

 

[peacock93]

For Android you can get apps that let you download YouTube videos, play YouTube music videos in background, add animations to videos etc...

You can do these things with MetroTube.

 

[skstrials]

Yeah, you hit the nail really.

It's not that I was originally interested in Windows Phones, it's more than I have always been a Nokia user, so I just feel more comfortable getting Nokia products.

Apps wise, looks like I won't have to worry about them.

What is up with these messenger and chat apps popping up these days? snapchat? bbm?, etc.
I have always used text messages and never felt the need for any of those apps.

 

[willied]

There's an alternative browser called Maxthon that can store your passwords, however you can't set anything other than IE as your default, which is quite lame. Hopefully Microsoft adds the ability to store passwords on IE in the future (Possibly coming in WP 8.1?).

 

[Jazmac]

Apps you will never see in Windows Phone (not even equivalent):

WatchESPN
TWCTV
DishHopper
Redbox Direct
Any Google Related (G+, etc)
BBM

Interesting. These never have to show up, ever.

 

[Optiplex330]

Everyone talks about how Windows Phones do not have enough apps available, so what difference does it really make in real life?

I am coming from Nokia N8 with Symbian Anna, so I am not a heavy app user myself, but has anyone who experienced either Android or IOS could not find any replacement Windows apps when they switched to Windows Phone?

I do not game, or use social media sites (facebook, instagram, twitter, etc), and I also do not watch videos on my phone.

My usage includes email, music, camera, and web surfing (for news websites or forums with texts), so where do apps come in?

What do Android and IOS users do with their phones that require apps?

I am considering a Windows phone since I like the simplicity, but many people talk about the lack of apps without really telling me what exactly is missing.

I upgraded from a N8 Belle to Window last month. I don't play games nor music nor video and this is my take.

1. Email and Web surfing. Lighting speed compared to old N8 and better organized as well.
2. Camera. My Samsung ATIV S which is supposedly as good as Samsung S3, IMO, significantly inferior to N8's.

My No.1 problem with WP8 is the inability to drag and drop many of my office documents (Words, Excels, PDF) directly into my WP8 for offline usage. Everything is supposed to go through the cloud but I did find a way around this limitation. Overall, for the N8, doing such things is a piece of cake.

 

[Dave Blake]

I upgraded from a N8 Belle to Window last month. I don't play games nor music nor video and this is my take.

1. Email and Web surfing. Lighting speed compared to old N8 and better organized as well.
2. Camera. My Samsung ATIV S which is supposedly as good as Samsung S3, IMO, significantly inferior to N8's.

My No.1 problem with WP8 is the inability to drag and drop many of my office documents (Words, Excels, PDF) directly into my WP8 for offline usage. Everything is supposed to go through the cloud but I did find a way around this limitation. Overall, for the N8, doing such things is a piece of cake.

Why can't you drag and drop documents onto your WP? I do that all the time on my Lumia. Just plug the device into the USB then use file explorer to move the document onto the device. The document will then show in the office hub.

 

[ag1986]

What apps I use? Well here is a sampling - note that I haven't checked if these are available on WP yet - some are, some aren't:

Tripit Pro for general trip data storage.

Airline apps for boarding passes: British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, United and AA mainly.

Various TripAdvisor apps. A whole lot of city-specific subway and bus apps.

BaconReader for Reddit

Amazon for shopping and tracking orders

BookMyShow - app for movie ticket booking in India, which I do for my family back there.

Google Authenticator

Citibank app for mobile banking.

Concur app for company expense reporting

Flipboard

Hailo, Uber and a few other taxi/car service apps.

Pebble, and a few other apps for my smartwatch

SeriesGuide to track my TV show watching and alert me when the next episode of a show I follow is due to air.

Swiftkey Keyboard

Vignette photo app

WhatsApp and BBM.


That's it. Honestly, OP, with your usage pattern you could pretty much stick with that N8.

 

[Optiplex330]

Why can't you drag and drop documents onto your WP? I do that all the time on my Lumia. Just plug the device into the USB then use file explorer to move the document onto the device. The document will then show in the office hub.

Yes, you can but there a problem. You can't use Office to open/edit those document if those document are placed in subfolder. In fact, you can't even find them. And when you have so many documents, you need to sort place them in different subfolder.

But if you only have s tiny handful of document, it's ok.

 

[skstrials]

That's it. Honestly, OP, with your usage pattern you could pretty much stick with that N8.

Main reason I want to replace my N8 is that the email does not update properly. I have tried all the factory formatting and resets, but I just can't get the email to work properly on my N8 like it once did.

Having said that, I still did not want to give up on the features I already had on my N8 either, but I just really need the email to work properly.

 

[cw1988]

More and more popular mainstream apps are being added weekly but bear in mind how much longer ios had been out in comparison to the wp8 phones in terms of current app quality.

If you can stay committed it will be a good move Imo

 

[Optiplex330]

Main reason I want to replace my N8 is that the email does not update properly. I have tried all the factory formatting and resets, but I just can't get the email to work properly on my N8 like it once did.

Having said that, I still did not want to give up on the features I already had on my N8 either, but I just really need the email to work properly.

I have never been happy with my N8's email since Day 1. Coming to WP8, it's email handling is a revelation to me.

 

[Greywolf1967]

I've been a long time user of Windows Phones going all the way back to Windows Mobile 2003 SE. Now iPhone has only been out since 2007 and yes they have the lion share of apps. However Windows Store has made up ground to cover the distance both ios and droid had. I would say with the exception of an official Pinterest and Official Youtube ( However that is the fault of Google blocking any MS attempt at an app, dirty pool in my books!!! ), and maybe 1 or 2 apps I neither care about or use, Windows has your major's covered with either an official or 3rd party app.

It chaps my arse to sit and listen to so called Tech Experts drone on and on how the Windows Phone ecosystem "Lacks App support"!!!
It is pure lazy on the part of a reviewer to still report such BS!! Or just blind stupidity on the part of iphone/droid users to rehash that same BS.

*NEWS FLASH* Windows Phone now has the major apps, weather by official, or 3rd party, or option 3 ie and the apps web interface.
I'll use facebook as an example, can't upload pictures to facebook via the app ( used to be so ), no worries they can be sent via email to an address linked to your facebook...the subject line of the mail goes as the pictures description.

It's why I try to avoid talking to iphone/droid users about my phone, because it always ends with them saying......"Oh I would never get a Windows Phone because it doesn't have......( enter flavor of the month).

I will say, my last line of defense to shut them up is to open xbox games and demo the live avitar, with a few phone shakes the avatar falls and pulls the screen across......that most times shuts them up and sends them away sad. :smile:

 

[johnz87369]

More and more popular mainstream apps are being added weekly but bear in mind how much longer ios had been out in comparison to the wp8 phones in terms of current app quality.

If you can stay committed it will be a good move Imo

people keep bringing that argumant up and i dont agree, it has nothing to do with how long wp8 has been here as a platform. Its all about userbase, if in 10 years wp8 still doesnt have more then 10% userbase then the app selection will still trail behind that of IOS. The reason apps arent being created as fast as for IOS is because companys dont find it worth there time.

To be fair, its getting better and i have most apps i really need(local banking app yay!). The real problem is quality, support and new (trending) apps. Quality because although some apps are made they still suck in features compared to there android and IOS counterparts(look at imdb, cant even add movies to my watchlist). Support as in a app is made but hardly updated like the flicker app(correct me if im wrong i never use it). and new apps that are flavour of the month **** like Tinder, no wp8 version.

Im not sure why i typped all this, lol. but i feel like if wp8 gets a greater userbase it will be taken more seriously. apps will be made and supported the same way as android and IOS.

 

[neitin]

For me I really miss Dayone Journal ios app I use Journalizer but it is no match



Sent from my RM-892_im_india_216 using Tapatalk

 

[N_LaRUE]

Windows phone are said not supportive with most of the apps practically. Well there might be alternatives for every here and there. Recently I too changed from android to Windows. Manageably I got all the possible apps that I was using in android, but the one tool that I missed out here is the cloud based Replicon's expense reporting software ( Web Expense Reports | Online Expense Reports Management | Cloud Based Expense Reporting | Replicon ) that was working pretty well with the android as well as the iOS devices. Is there any best alternative to the same with the same features?

Without knowing more about what this service does and I'm personally not going to read all the information, you can just put Expense into the search function at The Smartphone Reinvented Around You | Windows Phone (United States) to see if there are apps that may cover your situation. I did find one that looked similar but have no idea if it's exactly the same.

Xpense Tracker | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United Kingdom)