Wich is better: Official WP 8.1 or Preview For Developers WP 8.1?

[anon(9226130)]

I'm updated my phone to official WP 8.1 and I don't know wich update is better. Official or Developer Preview?

 

[noobchief]

The developer preview of course, we have more features than the current official 8.1

 

[RumoredNow]

"I've read the rules."

I'm going to go against the trend that will develop here. Everyone is going to rush to tell you get on the Preview for Developers program.

It is NOT designed to be a shortcut to updates and features. If that is your reason to do it, then you should not.

If you want to see more of the opposite advice from what this thread is guaranteed to attract, please see my post here (which is purely my opinion and not an official position of Windows Central, Microsoft or Lumia): http://forums.windowscentral.com/windows-phone-8-1-preview-developers/271799-15.htm#post2867589

​If you do proceed, for your own sake read the official documentation, follow official instructions and learn the risks before hand.

 

[matt john2]

The Developers Preview has more features and in some cases it is more powerful than the official one you also get the latest update direct from Microsoft. BUT BEWARE, you may run in some problems and issues more often than the official version and remember its a DEV preview its not really meant for us. Also worth checking @RumoredNow's post. cheers

 

[freestaterocker]

If we're talking apples to apples here--by which I mean the same software build number--the official update will pretty much universally be superior to the preview version solely due to the fact that you get the OEM firmware update with it. The software itself will be identical from build to build.

For those of us who are developers, the preview program is a great way to get a head start incorporating upcoming OS features into the apps you're writing for the platform. (getting them to work with "Hey Cortana", for example)

For those of us who, like me, are not developers, it's a great way to get access to those exciting upcoming features-providing you're willing to take the risk of the update hurting your device's performance somehow. I ran the preview software on my previous phone, the Samsung Ativ S, without any serious problems. It was a great experience, and my Samsung has a more recent OS build than my new Lumia 830. Even though my old phone is still going strong on the developer preview, I've thus far opted *not* to DP my Lumia. This is partly because the most recent feature additions are things I didn't particularly care for, like the battery percentage on the battery saver live tile. If I need to see the percentage, it's in the action center. The other part is that even with a battery that has 100mAh smaller capacity than my Ativ, my Lumia lasts about 30-40% longer under similar usage, which I suspect has a lot to do with already having the updated (Lumia Denim) firmware to correspond with the software. Everything is properly optimized, and the phone runs so smoothly that I don't really want to mess with it. If the next Developer Preview build contains a feature that I really want, like a version of "Hey Cortana" that works on the Snapdragon 400, I may reconsider.

 

[link68759]

Problems that arise with the preview for developers are common issues in the update process. You can just as easily suffer misfortune from an official update as you can a "preview" update.
The preview updates a lot more often though, and thus you have more of a chance to get a botched update. That said, I have 6 different WP devices on the preview and have had no issues myself. Any issues you might encounter are easily fixed with a flash, and you can revert to the stock ROM at any time.
Objective, reproduce-able bugs in a healthy install of the preview are incredibly rare, and always insignificant. This is because the preview is heavily vetted before being sent out to us (and is more or less ready for prime time by the time we get it), which makes it more like a release candidate than a "preview", and it's certainly not beta. Very often the preview IS RTM, since devices are released with "official" updates that are the same as what's on the developer preview.

Tl;dr preview updates are already good for release. For every person with a botched preview update, there are 10 people with botched normal updates... Most issues people have are generally unrelated to the preview. That said, "don't fix what ain't broke"- you can join the preview whenever you want, and if there's no feature in the preview you're particularly interested in, why bother? The risk is small, but you shouldn't enable the preview unless your are willing to troubleshoot and give constructive, non-whiney feedback.