Re: Windows Phone first impressions (compared to Android).
I just bought and started using my first WP device - Lumia 630. I have always been a loyal Android fan (and probably will stay), however, I decided to upgrade my old Nokia 500, which ran on the already dead Symbian and have the Lumia as my secondary phone. Now, I will share my impressions on Windows Phone in a few words.
The design looks great, but only on the home menu. Everywhere else, it looks a bit like a mess. All features and menus looks like a disordered mixture of small and large icons. However, what really bothered me is that I had to make a reset of the phone, which made the "touch" option in settings to disappear, furthermore causing the vibration on the navigation icons not being able to be switched off. Fortunately, the kind people here helped me and told me to download an app (SysAppPusher) which restores some of the system settings. To me, this is very annoying, as Android never deletes important system settings, even when making a hard reset of the phone.
The lack of apps on the store is also disappointing. The Playstore on Android is rich of all kind of apps, and here there are just some ones, half of which have average reviews. The lack of a Youtube app also bothered me (I don't count the many modified Youtube apps on the store, as they don't provide the smoothness of the normal Android Youtube app). There is also an overall feeling that you just..can't do much with the OS
The only thing that I really liked, was how smooth and fast WP is. As far as I like the speed and smoothness of high-end Android devices, I can't deny how good WP runs on Lumia 630, considering that the phone runs only on 512 mb ram. This however, is not enough for me to start liking the OS.
I know that I probably sound like a hater and will raise many negative answers, but I wanted to share my first experience of using WP. It is only my first day, using the Lumia, and I won't stop trying to learn more about the OS and to maybe like it.
Please share your thoughts and experiences of when you first encountered Windows Phone. It would make in interesting discussion. Thank you.
I speak as a former Android user, who when tested a Windows Phone, jumped at the opportunity to move.
You mention a Hard Reset doesn't remove settings, on that you are incorrect. On any device (apple, android, windows) doing a Hard Reset, resets the whole device back to factory settings, what you are talking about regarding the settings still being there when you reload is that Google backup the settings, which Windows Phone does to, you just need to select to firstly backup the settings (some people might not wish for this), and two, during the setup process (after Hard Reset) you can opt to install from backup (OneDrive). I've personally never had an issue with settings not being backed-up.
You mention about YouTube app, MS did produce a YouTube app, however Google requested this to be removed, which MS complied. This forces users to use third-party apps only. Blame Google for that one.
With regards OS customisation, I see it from this point of view:
If you want a secure phone operating system, that you can do a lot of things with (within reason), but give up a lot of the customisation, then choose either WinPhone or Apple.
If you want customisation at the loss of security, then you need to choose Android.
Apple & WinPhone use a sandbox mode, which means better security, but little customisation, Android it's vice versa. It's whichever option you really want.
Granted, apps are not as plentiful as on Apple or Android store, however it's mostly there for the main ones, with a few exceptions including SnapChat. I'm personally believing in the fact that Win10 will change the developer landscape. I don't go by numbers, as there are so many third-party and useless apps. I would rather have 500k quality apps from all major sites/businesses, then 1m+ from all and sundry.
Me personally would never (especially if Google's involved) use Android. My choice would only be WinPhone or Apple, personally.
Just my input on the matter, in the end a phone has options, it's just want you need.
G.