What makes WP8 better than iOS and Android? What makes it worse?

[P O]

Killer. Buggy apps. Found out yest skydrive stopped auto uploads on my 928 Aug 10. Wont let me manual upload missing photos either; goes through upload process fine but photos do not show up on skydrive afterwards. cant chance hard reset and wiping out photos I couldn't save to skydrive. Battery usage app not accurate depending on when servers last updated. Twice in last week battery usage app gave me 30% + left reading when both times soft reset showed only 20%, not very handy when using here drive on highway. And those are just highlights. The few Nokia apps are great but those 3rd party windows stores apps are buggy regardless of what the 5 star reviews say.

 

[cckgz4]

I love mycolorscreen but since they only use one or two devices, they cannot account for ALL the other android devices out there with different resolutions. I can't tell you how long and frustrated it took for me to get my homescreen mostly right on my Homescreen. I never want to take that long doing a homescreen....ever.

 

[TechAbstract]

Most people I have seen on their phones leave at default home screen. Not much customization at all. Even on desktop PC. They only move icons around and change wallpaper. That's about it. Customization is very overrated.

 

[chmun77]

Something which I realized being user of both OS, I cannot expect to have a clean start / home screens on Windows Phone, as compared to Android. Because of the lack of centralized notification screen, I need to depend on "live" tiles to inform me that something happened. And they are limited to maximum of 30mins interval if I'm not mistaken. Toast messages come and go too fast. Limited number of notification placeholders on lock screen.

So, imo tiles are making the phone looking more cluttered. Yes, icons are static but Android does not need any "live" icons because it already has an excellent notification center. Should one need easy access to information, widgets come into play.

I wouldn't say Windows Phone 8 is bad. But it is another choice to different group of user who prefer something other than iOS or Android. WP8 is fluid, so is my HTC One and Nexus 7. And apps experiences are different on both platforms. On Windows Phone, animations always happen regardless of opening the app or chats within the app. But on Android, apps and chat opened in an instance upon tapping. Some may like to see the animations, while not others. And there is no way to turn them off on Windows Phone.

So, to each of its own. Both platforms has their pros and cons. The only matters is the user preferences.

 

[Jack Larson1]

Teens use WP too! Its a "cool" OS too that even non WP teens know about now.

 

[stalemate1]

Well Androids reliability has always been questioned but its unmatched when it comes to customizability. live tiles, widgets...same thing really

the only place that Windows 8 falls is the number of apps available (not quality...its brilliant...comparability is excellent-you don't experience bugs per app that is device specific)

in all honesty...there are apps I'd really like to see...take opera browser for example, its available for Windows mobile 6.5 standard (2008) and yet you cant get it for windows phone 8...SERIOUSLY!!! (Both opera mini AND opera mobile are available for the OLD Windows mobile 6.5 os and not one for the new/modern Windows phone 8)


As for ios...not tested but looks good.

 

[chezm]

Windows
- simplicity and original UI design, super fast functionality and built in social functions but lacks apps

iOS
- Clean, fast and best apps but boring UI

Android
- customization to the nigh, a mobile PC with a lot of apps....at the cost of security and laggy

 

[tapehead]

Pros:
The UI's speed and fluidity is unmatched. Android gets shockingly bogged down after running one or two apps and, in my opinion, requires some fairly robust specs just for the simplest of tasks. The design is also the classiest of the three. Android feels cheap in most flavors and iOS is just hideous. The things I can do with a Lumia 820 are the same you can do on a 720, 920, 1020, or 620. Hell, most I can still do with my Windows Phone 7.5 phone.

Integration of Facebook, Twitter and Email is better than on any other platform. The "Me" tile was a great idea, although I do wish it would include group notifications.

Nokia. Amazing build quality.

Cons:

Poor developer support. That said, there are a lot more useful apps than the media would have you believe. I can't say I miss a whole lot from the 1,000,000 app selection from iOS or Android. I only use about a handful, and most of them I have found alternatives to for WP8. But it's hard to overcome a bad reputation.

This update fiasco is telling that WP8 is going to be more like Google/Android than Apple/iOS.

Abysmal Mac support. The transfer app sucks. It's easier using this device with Ubuntu-- and that's sad.

 

[Guytronic]

...apologies for dredging up a 2 month old posting...

2 month WP8 user here coming off an andread device.

Pros for me are:
Smoothness for less $$ (L521)
No screwing with the OS resulting in non-function or bricking.
Actually found many relevant apps that meet my personal wants.
Quality well written paid apps in the store (based on reviews and trials)
The WP store can be a weekly adventure (seem to find new stuff quite often)
Browser goes for as long as the user wants (never had this with andread)
Unbelievable daylight camera on a $99.00 device.

Really don't enjoy stomping on the other two OS's...
Andread made me angry with some mysterious glitch on a daily basis.
I know it works fine for billions and I respect that.

 

[jiggaman135]

The os fluidity ,functionality and overall look and feel are what have me hooked on wp!