Survey: are you satisfied with WP8.1 so far, or is it not what you expected?

[k0de]

I'm indifferent. The stuff that works, works well - notification center (of which I really like the settings shortcuts most), new background...but the stuff that's ****ty is still ****ty - Xbox Music app. I'm hopeful it will become more refined - I won't use my Z Ultra as a daily driver unless MSFT does something completely boneheaded to the Nth degree. Still, i like the overall direction MSFT is headed in, so I'll ride it out. Can I get back to you in a year's time?

Good one mate. But music? Pandora and Nokia Mix Radio do the trick for me for now until Xbox music gets it together.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

Good one mate. But music? Pandora and Nokia Mix Radio do the trick for me for now until Xbox music gets it together.

I spend 3 hours daily commuting by public transit - rail and bus combined. Steaming music isn't convenient for me with almost half my commute being underground. The old Zune player on WP7 was one of the big things that made me jump on the platform. It is still the best music player IMO in the mobile space for my needs. So how I survive now is I own because a 8X and 925. I use my 8X as my music centric device (even though I keep a few songs on my 925). That'll remain on 8.0 until the Music app is seriously updated. I can tolerate it on my 925, but not on both devices.

So yes, music.

 

[k0de]

I spend 3 hours daily commuting by public transit - rail and bus combined. Steaming music isn't convenient for me with almost half my commute being underground. The old Zune player on WP7 was one of the big things that made me jump on the platform. It is still the best music player IMO in the mobile space for my needs. So how I survive now is I own because a 8X and 925. I use my 8X as my music centric device (even though I keep a few songs on my 925). That'll remain on 8.0 until the Music app is seriously updated. I can tolerate it on my 925, but not on both devices.

So yes, music.

Understood. But you can do offline mixes with Pandora and Nokia Mix Radio also. .

 

[MSFTisMIA]

Understood. But you can do offline mixes with Pandora and Nokia Mix Radio also. .

Understood. But I'm like many people who are pounding MSFT about this sham of an stock music app - you took away the good stuff to reinvent the wheel to move us forward. So I'm waiting patiently before updating my 8X. Otherwise, 8.1 runs great on my 925 and overall, I like where MSFT is going.

 

[k0de]

Understood. But I'm like many people who are pounding MSFT about this sham of an stock music app - you took away the good stuff to reinvent the wheel to move us forward. So I'm waiting patiently before updating my 8X. Otherwise, 8.1 runs great on my 925 and overall, I like where MSFT is going.

Easy there MSFT will get it together. Be patient. I believe I could be wrong. That MSFT steps aside not to take all the credit and allow way for other devs to breakthrough with their imagination. Is only right. My two cents. But I could be mistaken.

 

[b23h]

Absolutely hate a lot of the UI/UX changes, they kill it for me. WP8.1 feels like a second rate Android clone at this point to me. Will probably switch to iPhone for the first time in the fall. :/

what an absurd idea... go ahead switch to the iPhone, but the addition of a notification center, cortana and a few other changes does not make WP 8.1 an Android clone.

If I had respect for your opinion, it is now forfeit.

 

[anon(8150199)]

I want chatting in the messaging app back.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

Easy there MSFT will get it together. Be patient. I believe I could be wrong. That MSFT steps aside not to take all the credit and allow way for other devs to breakthrough with their imagination. Is only right. My two cents. But I could be mistaken.

Slow down there Charlie. I know this is the internet but I'm not getting testy here. My first device was a Dell Axim X50; first MSFT based smartphone was the HTC Touch. So I've been around long enough to know MSFT will get there but they take their own circuitous route.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

what an absurd idea... go ahead switch to the iPhone, but the addition of a notification center, cortana and a few other changes does not make WP 8.1 an Android clone.

If I had respect for your opinion, it is now forfeit.

b23h, what's new? You still rocking that AT&T 920? Good to see you haven't lost that sharp wit.

Personally, I think MSFT made intelligent compromises as they added some features people wanted from other OSes to 8.1 while retaining their own individual design and OS principles. Hard to be the #3 OS, especially when you're trying to straddle the line of choice between the unstoppable force (Android) and the immovable object (iSheep, sorry, iOS).

 

[Jack Janik]

..I love IE11 and how you can modify the reading mode..

Yes, but how do I even use reading mode?!

 

[xandros9]

Yes, but how do I even use reading mode?!

In websites, an open book icon appears next to the refresh button.

 

[jomarr]

I've been onboard since 2011 when I started with my Trophy, came from an OG Droid. Have the DP on a Lumia 520, use a Lumia 928 as my main phone.

Glad I kept the 928 on WP8. Absolutely hate a lot of the UI/UX changes, they kill it for me. WP8.1 feels like a second rate Android clone at this point to me. Will probably switch to iPhone for the first time in the fall. :/

I don't know, man. The dev preview on my 920 is pretty awesome although I had problems with the battery dying in the middle of the day during my first week with the preview. Now it's a little bit better than 8. My only problem with the preview is the music app.. Honestly it sucks.

The new music app, when I shuffle playlists it starts with the very first song in the playlist. It's probably just me but I don't like starting my playlists the same way every single time I shuffle it. The lack of alternative music apps makes me disappointed as well.

Another thing is that Spotify doesn't have last.fm support which makes it unusable for my liking. Music on WP8/8.1 is a big disappointment since I'm a huge music fan. That's the only thing I hate.

Like you, I am eyeing on a phone outside Windows Phone particularly the Note 4. iPhone 5 is the very first touch smart phone I owned (The first was a BB Curve 8900) and it works really well but I got bored with it and it's really expensive for what it does. I couldn't afford the anything other than the base unit only with 16GB of storage.

My contract isn't up for another 9 months so there's still time for me to decide if I'd get a Note 4 or a new Windows Phone. Right now I'm leaning on keeping my 920 since it does well for my needs. 920 is a solid phone and I'd say it's much better than my iPhone 5.

Microsoft, if you're listening there's only 2 things I want coming within the next updates:

1. Last.fm support for Spotify (Please?)
2. A BETTER Music app (Live tile support AND GAPLESS PLAYBACK)

​That's all Microsoft!

 

[JamesPTao]

I have been very happy with the Dev preview of wp8.1 on my WP. I define you think they could improve the music app, but honestly I've been frustrated with their shift from Zune to Xbox music since wp8. Zune was a much better program. Xbox music is prettier but that's it. Zune had way more functionality. It'll co.e with time, I think they are focusing on everything else right now and once they hammer out the big stuff we will suddenly see big improvements.

 

[JamesPTao]

I've been onboard since 2011 when I started with my Trophy, came from an OG Droid. Have the DP on a Lumia 520, use a Lumia 928 as my main phone.

Glad I kept the 928 on WP8. Absolutely hate a lot of the UI/UX changes, they kill it for me. WP8.1 feels like a second rate Android clone at this point to me. Will probably switch to iPhone for the first time in the fall. :/

Really! Wow! Have fun. Statistics showed last year that 74% of iPhone owners had cracked screens. With their next one using saphire that will go up much higher. Have fun! Enjoy overpaying for what you get!

 

[abhiiceman]

its good, but still they have left out some minor things which would have resulted in ever better experience..
1)like setting sorting/categorized
2)same goes for app drawer
3)they should have removed that black borders on the edges of the screen in the start menu, dont know why they didnt get rid of that even in 8.1, the edges just make phone look small.whats the use of the screen when dont utilize it properly.
4)wp is known for its uniqueness. so in order to keep this tag, they should have placed the action center to the left or right edge i.e swipe from left or right for action center instead of the current one from top. this swipe from left r right would have helped in handling large screen deviced in one hand, also then no one can say its a clone of android, instead it would have increased the uniqueness of wp

 

[Jazmac]

No. I'm not satisfied with Windows Phone. Love it, but I'm not satisfied with the scatter brained methods employed with how this phone lays out. No synchronicity in how apps perform or their appearance and its gotten so bad this OS feels more like a hobby than something planned to have staying power. It needs oversight. Someone who can crack a whip and kick folks out the door when they build in a control panel looks like short cuts in a folder than a carefully organized tool belt. I love WP but it is in need of a notorious, take no prisoners designer who can set a standard of slick transitions, swipes and menus and stick to it. Until they can get there, I won't be happy. Its gotta look more professional than it does, even if it means creating a switch that enables "chrome" for a more dynamic appearance. Its a cartoon at this point. and I'm not happy.

 

[oseansaditya]

this is huge step for microsoft to move on and build something new, for now #3 OS in my opinion..

 

[Chregu]

Personally I'm very satisfied. Many of the issues mentioned in this thread I've just gotten used to during the many years I use Windows Phone. The notification is incredibly useful, the situation before was just a joke. The same goes for the calendar, before 8.1 it was a very bad joke.

Of course part of my satisfaction comes from not using the Music app, so I don't care about its bad state.

So now everything is fine for me on the OS side. Sadly the app situation is still pretty bad, but also okay for me, at least as soon as they fix Whatsapp.

I'm still thinking of trying out iOS with my next phone, mostly out of curiosity and because I really like iOS on the iPad. Maybe it's time for something new after using Windows Phone since the release of the Omnia 7 in 2010.

Really! Wow! Have fun. Statistics showed last year that 74% of iPhone owners had cracked screens. With their next one using saphire that will go up much higher. Have fun! Enjoy overpaying for what you get!

Relax, and don't talk about statistics without providing a source. Statistics show that 97.4 % of all forum users think that makes you look silly.

 

[anon(123856)]

I'd say my only real issue is the music app, as many others have said. I really want something that plays only music on my phone. All the music apps, including the one bundled in 8.1 overreach, trying to do way too much. The app has gotten a bit better, but still needs improvement. On my 822 a hard reset and the 8.1 update have cured any minor issues I've had. There's still room to improve, but I'm happy overall

 

[dennisfang1]

What do you mean it's absurd, it's a perfectly reasonable comment to make if I'm honest. Something that really sold WP7 to me back in the day way undoubtably the design and the general UI. Metro was utterly stunning, so simple pure and clean, with its sold blocks of colour, tasteful use of white space, beautifully huge titles, gorgeous transparency in the hubs, and the animation of the xbox tile and the beautifully slow transitions sold it for me. It was a UI that put style beyond anything, but with every update, I feel the essence that made me love windows phone is slowly diminishing. I tolerated the move to wp7.8 with the loss of the gorgeous white space in the home screen for I could now resize tiles, but the new tree across layout with the images in the background is an atrocity. The beautiffly simple info bar at the top that would hide away is gone, making it look very fussy now, the transitions are far to fast, the carousal when you flick through photos quickly, i remember very fondly is gone too. The peoples hub is a shadow of what it was, even design wise with the new ugly title, ams with the marketplace. We used to have a decent people hub, music hub, a working games hub, a photo hub and they're all gone now.
One great thing about wp was that it didn't need apps to work, it introduced a concept of a os having all the functionality you need, and what you get in return is an experience that cannot be matched with apps. That is clearly seen in the xbox/ music hubs, where they used to open instantly, even in wp7, they now take an eternity. We tolerated the silly long list of apps, because we had hubs to sort them with, but now that's gone, and even the games show up there, making it stupidly unusable. WP was never about apps, and just because we have them now doesn't mean that we should loose our once beloved os features.
The new notification centre is also undermining the notion of live tiles, i mean, once you got your social updates very reliably through the me tile, but since we now have a notification centre, ms went, what's the point? and got rid of it. In this case, why have live tiles at all since we now have the "action centre."
Basicially, windows phone is slowly becoming android. The OS is now extremely buggy (l know it's a beta but still), slow, extremely ugly and is reliant on substandard apps to deliver a substandard experience. Sound similar.
The removal of the nokia name is the last nail in the coffin as far as i'm concerned, and unless they can bring a 1020 competitor with a one inch sensor, dedicated imaging chip and a more powerful xenon flash, I'm buying the iPhone 6 when it comes out, which ironically, with it's clean beautiful ui, gorgeous transitions, combined messaging experience, represents metro far better than what 8.1 does.

Yours sincerely, dennis