Windows Phone is defined as much by what it is NOT as by what it is

[vedichymn]

Windows Phone is NOT your old iPhone. It doesn't have static grids of icons, an "app" that covers every functional requirement (rather than integrated features), a user model built around syncing with a desktop PC for most upgrades/media, and a legacy Mosaic-style browser. If you must have those things -- and it's more important than having a streamlined, modern UI with a focus on important data instead of sorting through dozens of extraneous notifications -- WP might not be for you.

Windows Phone is NOT your old Android. If rooting your device, having 17 browsers with customizable kernels and sixteen-layer-deep dropdown menus, replaceable kernels, a bunch of big ugly widgets on the home screen, and 300,000 apps that all look and function completely differently from app to app are more important to you than a stable, streamlined, efficient and malware-free experience -- WP might not be for you.

Incidentally, both the iOS and Android user models are WRONG for a majority of users. That's why Windows Phone even exists, and why it has opportunity.

Trying to make your new WP into your old iOS or Android device is the wrong approach. If you bought it for what it is, you should be learning how to migrate from the 1980s-style "icon/desktop" form factor to the Modern UI form factor. No more need for a "Facebook Messenger App" -- it's built-in. No more need for clicking the "back arrow" 16 times to get to the page you want in the browser -- just tap "recent pages" and then tap on the page you want. And so on.

If you aren't willing to do this, you're embarking on an exercise in frustration, just like a Mac guy who buys a Dell and then complains that it's not the same as his MacBook, or the iOS guy who wonders what happened to iTunes on his new BlackBerry Bold 9900.

This honestly just seems like an attempt to gloss over the current shortfalls in WP8.

I've been a Windows Phone user since day one, and WP8 is a step back even from the initial 7.0 release in a lot of ways. It has a lot of promise, but honestly a lot of the new stuff just seems half-baked or doesn't work at all.

For example, saying it doesn't have "a user model built around syncing with a desktop PC for most upgrades/media" is a nice way of saying "the sync software is super buggy, and doesn't support most of the features that the Zune software did". If there was an alternative that DID offer those features, I'd be all for it, but the reality is that doesn't exist.

I love the new hardware, and am a huge windows phone fan, but honestly this has been a pretty disappointing debut.

 

[gsquared]

So much is broken in wp8. Sickening.

Name three things that a majority of WP users would agree are broken...

 

[brmiller1976]

This honestly just seems like an attempt to gloss over the current shortfalls in WP8.

I've been a Windows Phone user since day one, and WP8 is a step back even from the initial 7.0 release in a lot of ways. It has a lot of promise, but honestly a lot of the new stuff just seems half-baked or doesn't work at all.

For example, saying it doesn't have "a user model built around syncing with a desktop PC for most upgrades/media" is a nice way of saying "the sync software is super buggy, and doesn't support most of the features that the Zune software did".

I disagree.
Desktop sync is legacy tech that should be abandoned. The future is in the cloud and smart glass. I wish Microsoft had removed the option to "desktop sync" altogether. They should delete it and tell users to deploy via Skydrive ams streaming media.

Desktop syncing is a concept from Atari days in the early 80s.

 

[fardream]

I disagree.
Desktop sync is legacy tech that should be abandoned. The future is in the cloud and smart glass. I wish Microsoft had removed the option to "desktop sync" altogether. They should delete it and tell users to deploy via Skydrive ams streaming media.

Desktop syncing is a concept from Atari days in the early 80s.

but cloud sync doesn't work. It doesn't sync playlists created on the phone (at least for me), and not to mention managing the playlists with the phone is very difficult.
Legacy or not, we need a working solution

 

[iamtim]

Desktop sync is legacy tech that should be abandoned.

I was with you on your original post, but you're going a little far for me here. I want my "stuff" stored locally and I want to move it back and forth amongst all my devices at my behest, regardless of whether I have connectivity or not.

 

[independentvolume]

Name three things that a majority of WP users would agree are broken...

Gmail syncing sucks, can't deny it. Xbox music is flat out embarrassing (check main page for an article on that), and the marketplace double charges people. Read better. You can't deny any of this. The OEMs and customers (us) deserve better than this half baked OS that's wp8. #Thebetatestisfarfromover. Also, #techapologistsarelame

 

[vedichymn]

I disagree.
Desktop sync is legacy tech that should be abandoned. The future is in the cloud and smart glass. I wish Microsoft had removed the option to "desktop sync" altogether. They should delete it and tell users to deploy via Skydrive ams streaming media.

Desktop syncing is a concept from Atari days in the early 80s.

Really? You were syncing your smartphone up to your Atari ST?

I'd be on board with a cloud based syncing setup if Microsoft had actually created one, unfortunately they didn't.

 

[iamtim]

Gmail syncing sucks, can't deny it. Xbox music is flat out embarrassing (check main page for an article on that), and the marketplace double charges people.

Hmm. I don't sync Gmail, I don't use Xbox music, and I've never been double-charged in the Marketplace. I'm not trying to be pedantic, but he did say "that a majority of WP users would agree". Oh, and #hashtagsdontworkhere.

 

[socialcarpet]

Gmail syncing sucks, can't deny it. Xbox music is flat out embarrassing (check main page for an article on that), and the marketplace double charges people. Read better. You can't deny any of this. The OEMs and customers (us) deserve better than this half baked OS that's wp8. #Thebetatestisfarfromover. Also, #techapologistsarelame

I don't have any problem with Gmail. What am I missing? I haven't used Xbox music yet, can't comment on that.

 

[independentvolume]

Hmm. I don't sync Gmail, I don't use Xbox music, and I've never been double-charged in the Marketplace. I'm not trying to be pedantic, but he did say "that a majority of WP users would agree". Oh, and #hashtagsdontworkhere.

So because it's services you don't use that makes it not a problem. Out of site out of mind I guess. The whole point of wp8 is to be streamlined and effortless. When it's not even compatible with other Microsoft services that's a problem ******.

 

[brmiller1976]

It doesn't sync playlists created on the phone (at least for me), and not to mention managing the playlists with the phone is very difficult.
Legacy or not, we need a working solution

Sounds like a bug. But Microsoft should be removing legacy technology and chucking it.

No desktop sync. No physical connections of devices to transfer information.

Desktop sync and physical connections are as obsolete as floppy drives. Microsoft should be the company to remove it, just as Apple killed the floppy and Zip drives in the PC world, and bring forward the cloud revolution. That's what makes WP special.

 

[MojoHand69]

Well I am new to WP8, coming from my Thunderbolt Android phone. I find that I am using WP8 app on my PC to sync photos and music files. I do find this archaic. But I am new to WP8 and it may just be a learning curve.

Also creating a Playlist should be easy as well as being able to view mb usage on app by app basis.

 

[brmiller1976]

Really? You were syncing your smartphone up to your Atari ST?

I synced an Atari Portfolio PDA to my Atari ST back in high school in the early 1990s for data, applications, and files. Same exact process as "iTunes" today -- it even ran on a serial bus (precursor to USB).

 

[independentvolume]

You guys should change this to the official Microsoft apologist thread.

 

[brmiller1976]

Right. You're deeply immersed in the frustrations of Microsoft Windows Phone 8, even though you've never owned one.

Now, watch as I slam the dreadful Apple MacBook Retina experience, having never owned one.

Incidentally, I use XBox Music, and it's brilliant. My effort to sync an old Gmail account was fine for the hour or so that I used it. And I haven't been double-charged in the marketplace. Nor has my Lumia done spontaneous reboots, freezes, crashes, or burst into rendition of Hank Williams Junior's "You Never Even Call Me By My Name," despite all of the "shocking reports" at iJustine and on MG Seigler's column at TechCrunch.

 

[iamtim]

So because it's services you don't use that makes it not a problem.

No, that just means I can't comment on whether it's broken or not... which means I can't fall in the "majority of users agree" category. I mean, unless you want me to take your word for it... the guy who can't tell WPCentral from Twitter.

******? You're funny. I remember when I had my first beer.

 

[brmiller1976]

The majority of Windows Phone users who deploy Dogpile as their default search engine, Lycos as their standard e-mail provider, and who want to be able to run Palm OS Garnet apps on their Lumias are FURIOUS with Microsoft's inability to deliver on the experience. I read it on Macworld.com.

 

[vedichymn]

I synced an Atari Portfolio PDA to my Atari ST back in high school in the early 1990s for data, applications, and files. Same exact process as "iTunes" today -- it even ran on a serial bus (precursor to USB).

Sure, I had PDAs that predated the smart phone by quite a bit, but the cloud based syncing setup you're talking about just doesn't actually exist at the moment.

 

[brmiller1976]

Sure it does. Copy your music files or other files over to SkyDrive, and you're done.

You can even move them onto your device, physically, if you desire.

 

[independentvolume]

Right. You're deeply immersed in the frustrations of Microsoft Windows Phone 8, even though you've never owned one.

Now, watch as I slam the dreadful Apple MacBook Retina experience, having never owned one.


Incidentally, I use XBox Music, and it's brilliant. My effort to sync an old Gmail account was fine for the hour or so that I used it. And I haven't been double-charged in the marketplace. Nor has my Lumia done spontaneous reboots, freezes, crashes, or burst into rendition of Hank Williams Junior's "You Never Even Call Me By My Name," despite all of the "shocking reports" at iJustine and on MG Seigler's column at TechCrunch.

You missed the part where I told you I had an 822 I guess. It is what it is I guess. Like I said, "official Microsoft apologist thread"