What is the best non-lumia Windows Phone?

[Deepak]

No doubt it's the HP Elite X3. Best WM till date.

 

[GMC262]

Another vote for the HTC M8 For Windows. There were rumors that the upcoming "10" would have a Windows variant but HTC hasn't revealed any plans for a Windows device; at least for the time being.

 

[LondonLumia]

Another vote for the HTC M8 For Windows. There were rumors that the upcoming "10" would have a Windows variant but HTC hasn't revealed any plans for a Windows device; at least for the time being.

Gotta hope.

'HTC 10 - with Windows 10' is a marketing gift and is too coincidental to waste.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

We get it, Micah, you do not like the M8, Some of us really do. The camera is the only downside and if you don't Zoom or use the Micro you will be more than happy with it, it is by far the best looking Windows phone, has great stereo speakers, fast processor, took to Windows 10 like a duck to water. If you want a top of the line Windows phone and not pay an arm and a leg the M8 is the way to go.

Most of us don't hence why hardly anyone brought it when it was the only flagship the camera is it's only downside and if you wish for use of the Lumia apps at the time it was inferior, looks are subjective, the 1520/930/icon also all take windows 10 just fine, far better battery life with the 1520, Lumia fully extends the OS with perks like super sensitive touch, color profiles and of course amazing software that further improves the camera where you didn't have to make compromises.

The HTC m8 is a very good phone unfortunately made by an oem who hardly supported it (also something to keep on mind, you'll be stuck waiting for insider updates with m8) but when you have the 1520/icon who overall offer a fuller package and the fact the m8 is a phone that it's only major benefits are front facing speakers(which while useful are not something the majority of Lumia owners cared about) and a marginally faster processor used to trump about how fast it is for an OS we always bragged didn't need top specs (irony).

The only true benefit of the m8 over a Lumia has nothing to do with the phone itself. It just has a far larger third party support for accessories but even that isn't so much it being better. That's just what happens when OEMs are lazy and release android rehashes

Op, check out the acer jade primo.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

That would explain it ha ha!



The BLU Win HD seems to stick out here. Plus it looks like HTC which look great. That's the one I'm looking at right now.



Yeah I'm not about to buy it anyway, not before Microsoft adds the ability to write and reply with another email than our outlook.com email on their mail client. I put all my personnal and pro emails in my email service (currently Gmail) and if I'm to move to MS I want to have that functionnality so I can answer clients from my phone. I'll see what's coming in the next few months but the BLU Win HD is pretty interesting.

Can't you put Gmail on the outlook mail app on windows 10?

When i set up my 1520, it said on the tile you can use gmail and yahoo so.im confused why you can't write and reply.with something else other than outlook?

I got my little bro the hd LTE. They are actually cute phones and I think the design is better than HTC. That said I wish blu would release it's other android phones as windows phones tbh.

 

[GMC262]

"I got my little bro the hd LTE. They are actually cute phones and I think the design is better than HTC. That said I wish blu would release it's other android phones as windows phones tbh."

But earlier you said;

"That's just what happens when OEMs are lazy and release android rehashes "

 

[dlalonde]

I could put Gmail but it's the Outlook Mail App that's missing the feature not outlook.com. You could do it in Windows Phone 8.1 but the new app doesn't do it anymore nor does it on desktop which is a shame.

The thing that bugs me about the BLU is that it's already 1 year old and there's been no new phone announced. So going back into the Windows Mobile world would have to happen eventually but not right now I think.

 

[GMC262]

Gotta hope.

'HTC 10 - with Windows 10' is a marketing gift and is too coincidental to waste.

Agreed. But the physical buttons on the images leaked thus far would seem to indicate this will be android only. Then again, they are just leaks until the phone is officially announced.

 

[Nick Metro]

Loved my HTC M8

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

"I got my little bro the hd LTE. They are actually cute phones and I think the design is better than HTC. That said I wish blu would release it's other android phones as windows phones tbh."

But earlier you said;

"That's just what happens when OEMs are lazy and release android rehashes "

And I still stand by it. These android OEMs are lazy and what not and blu doing the same thing, they would be lazy as well. That being sais I do like blu android design so of we have to get lazy rehashes then maybe they should bring those

Personally I prefer uniquely windows phone designs. Hence why Nokia/microsoft phones are my preferred brand. It's annoying when people mistook my m8 when I briefly had it as android. Thankfully I wised up and got rid of it.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

I could put Gmail but it's the Outlook Mail App that's missing the feature not outlook.com. You could do it in Windows Phone 8.1 but the new app doesn't do it anymore nor does it on desktop which is a shame.

The thing that bugs me about the BLU is that it's already 1 year old and there's been no new phone announced. So going back into the Windows Mobile world would have to happen eventually but not right now I think.

Oh I see. I use outlook mail because I choose to not support google which makes my choice of phone difficult.

But that sucks you have no way to do that. Aren't there any mail apps on the store that can work work work Gmail?

 

[Cruachan 11]

I very much like the look of the VAIO Phone Biz, shame that it's (for the moment at least) Japan only.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

I very much like the look of the VAIO Phone Biz, shame that it's (for the moment at least) Japan only.

It does look nice. It looks reminiscent of a mix of HTC 8x with the Lumia 1520 from the back side and even HTC radar

 

[dlalonde]

Oh I see. I use outlook mail because I choose to not support google which makes my choice of phone difficult.

But that sucks you have no way to do that. Aren't there any mail apps on the store that can work work work Gmail?

But see that's the thing, if I go back on Windows Phone I want to use MS products not Gmail

If the apps supported it, I would move to outlook and use the app on my PC and on my Android phone and eventually on my Windows Phone.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

But see that's the thing, if I go back on Windows Phone I want to use MS products not Gmail

If the apps supported it, I would move to outlook and use the app on my PC and on my Android phone and eventually on my Windows Phone.

Can't you forward the Gmail to your outlook address?

 

[dlalonde]

Ha ha, I think I'm not clear

See here's the problem: in my Gmail I use @gmail.com but also @domain.com, @otherdomain.com and @lastdomain.com (yeah I have like 5-6 email addresses). Except for my Gmail, all the other are professionnal email addresses and I use Gmail as my email client. I used to do that with outlook.com too.

So say a client sends an email to @domain.com. I get it in my Gmail and when I hit reply, it sends the email from @domain.com not @gmail.com.

Using the outlook app on Windows 10 Mobile or PC, when I hit reply, it sends from @gmail.com. But I don't want my clients to have my @gmail.com address. But with the Windows 10 Mobile or PC apps, that's no longer possible but it was possible before on Windows Phone 8.1.

 

[Tien-Lin Chang]

The only improvement the m8 had was an 801 processor which is largely irrelevant as it more or less performed sometimes better and sometimes worse or sometimes just as good as the Lumia 1520/icon/930.

We really should stop this myth that the m8 was a top specced phone when it wasn't much different from a Lumia.

Also on the picture quality if we have to say things like "the camera is okay for everyday use or for social network as long as you don't crop or zoom" then that is not a good camera. I know HTC has its fans but we really need to stop downplaying it's shortcomings and overhyping its pros.

The OP had said that he don't like his current Lumia choice and looking for the best non-lumia device, it's pointless to bias bashing some non-lumia device with lumia device. All points you have against HTC W8 (besides pixel number) are all well suited to Alcatel, BLU....whatever OEM. But the fact is MSFT are releasing those exclusive apps to all windows phone and after w10m upgrade MSFT will taking cared of the further support so after w10m the OEM phone should be no different in terms of software experience compared to lumia devices and it's a coming future.

So back to the topic, the best non-lumia phone available now will be either HTC W8 or NuAns NEO from japan. The HTC has better FHD screen and NuAns NEO has default W10M loaded and continuum support. However the band support of NuAns NEO might be a problem and OP can check here Spec | NuAns see if it fits your local telecom system.

As for BLU, besides for it's poor hardware SPEC, HTC clone looking.
BLU Win HD LTE Review: a solid and affordable Windows Phone smartphone - Mobile Geeks
BLU Win HD LTE Review: Bold, high definition, and now LTE | Pocketnow
BLU Win HD LTE review: A gorgeous Windows Phone device at a decent price
BLU Win HD (Unlocked) Review & Rating | PCMag.com
Four reviews mentioned the subpar camera performance in common. I'm not sure what's the point to crop and zoom into some poor source image even it got higher pixel counts? Just a simple tip, you only need 2mp to achieve point-to-point display in FHD screen. Under this condition, 4mp camera makes loseless zoom to 140% while 8mp make it to 200%, that's the only difference. So in real life, one or two steps forward will compensate the pixel number difference while I'm not sure how to compensate the image quality difference.

 

[dlalonde]

The OP had said that he don't like his current Lumia choice and looking for the best non-lumia device, it's pointless to bias bashing some non-lumia device with lumia device. All points you have against HTC W8 (besides pixel number) are all well suited to Alcatel, BLU....whatever OEM. But the fact is MSFT are releasing those exclusive apps to all windows phone and after w10m upgrade MSFT will taking cared of the further support so after w10m the OEM phone should be no different in terms of software experience compared to lumia devices and it's a coming future.

So back to the topic, the best non-lumia phone available now will be either HTC W8 or NuAns NEO from japan. The HTC has better FHD screen and NuAns NEO has default W10M loaded and continuum support. However the band support of NuAns NEO might be a problem and OP can check here Spec | NuAns see if it fits your local telecom system.

As for BLU, besides for it's poor hardware SPEC, HTC clone looking.
BLU Win HD LTE Review: a solid and affordable Windows Phone smartphone - Mobile Geeks
BLU Win HD LTE Review: Bold, high definition, and now LTE | Pocketnow
BLU Win HD LTE review: A gorgeous Windows Phone device at a decent price
BLU Win HD (Unlocked) Review & Rating | PCMag.com
Four reviews mentioned the subpar camera performance in common. I'm not sure what's the point to crop and zoom into some poor source image even it got higher pixel counts? Just a simple tip, you only need 2mp to achieve point-to-point display in FHD screen. Under this condition, 4mp camera makes loseless zoom to 140% while 8mp make it to 200%, that's the only difference. So in real life, one or two steps forward will compensate the pixel number difference while I'm not sure how to compensate the image quality difference.

Wow that's an in depth answer! Thanks I'll look at those links!

 

[RJ Priest]

The ATIV S is a near perfect Windows Phone 8 device as long as you don't value the camera as a primary feature. The camera isn't bad, but the Lumia 920's camera was significantly better.

All around, I loved my ATIV S (from Bell in Canada in 2013) even though I really wanted a Lumia 920 (but it was exclusive to Rogers), but I was fortunate to find a Lumia 1520 in Toronto on Kijiji last summer. I absolutely love my Lumia 1520.

If you are looking for an all around excellent used Windows Phone in Canada and you don't care that much about photography, the ATIV S is an excellent device. Easily replaceable battery too, which can help to give the phone new life.

 

[gordonfink]

The HTC One M8 is a pretty significant upgrade from a Blu Win HD. I've used both - the HTC has no resuming screens or such.

Something you haven't said is your budget. The Blu is cheaper than the HTC.

For gmail, you can use the outlook app. I have about 8 accounts in my outlook app - one is an exchange, one is a gmail, and the rest are Hotmail or live.com. The gmail account updates the calendar app on my phone, and everything is seamless.