What does wp8.1 have that iOS and android do not ?

[Adriaan NL]

yes its true. But widgets were not very unique. Vista had them in 2006, an year before iOS and 2 years before android. Then, they are a HUGE memory hog, and have a huge role in making android the lagdroid it is. Also, they're much much much bigger battery hogs than live tiles.
But relevant is the fact that widgets weren't a revolution by google.

Good point! Though their roots go back to Xerox Park again... But you're right indeed, it's not an Android thing. Yet, I do think they popularized it. I don't think many people really used the "gadgets" of Vista - they were more than horrible, as they were making Vista slow and laggy as well. These tiles are indeed unique in the sense it offers info, without any lag.

 

[Saksham Sharma]

Good point! Though their roots go back to Xerox Park again... But you're right indeed, it's not an Android thing. Yet, I do think they popularized it. I don't think many people really used the "gadgets" of Vista - they were more than horrible, as they were making Vista slow and laggy as well. These tiles are indeed unique in the sense it offers info, without any lag.

everyone i knew (including me) used widgets even though they knew they made vista slow. Still, we dont even remember Vista had them (which is apparent if you ask some people about the origin of widgets, almost everyone would say android came first), so it is true indeed that android popularized them.
Lol, but all that doesn't make widgets better than live tiles, live tiles are the most practical and efficient innovation. Cheers !

 

[davesannie]

A beautifull Nokia 930 :smile:

 

[mozman68]

I thought I used web based widgets via Yahoo before they were available on Windows?

Widget timeline

 

[A895]

A map. Yes it has integrated bing map and here map but both of them suck. My last search was mcdonald but they showed me a place where there is no mcdonald. Maybe there was one in a year ago. It hasnt happaned just once. They really need to improve their maps. I wish gmap will come to wp soon.

The one app that would make switching to WP painless for me.

 

[A895]

ManicottiK that was very true ! I'd like to add, live tiles are unique ! By unique i mean, they haven't been seen anywhere else before wp7.
In case of iOS, their home screen was basically the menu screen of all java phones of that era. Android just copied iOS, and gave some freedom to devs who made various designs of the home screen/app drawer. But all that wasn't revolutionary. Live tiles is the only revolutionary idea in the phone OS market.

How did android copy iOS?

 

[sejgiul]

Seen this before somewhere, totally awesome and I wish more developers would provide such functionality...

Tiles are semi-unique. There's no "pre-launch display panel" idea on iOS. Android has widgets, but the uptake of widgets appears to be less than the use of live tiles. (I'm not one who believes that live tiles are an alternative for a notification center. However, tiles can convey key information instantly, saving users from having to jump in an out of apps.)

The concept of secondary tiles, that is, additional icons that can take a user directly to a particular part of an app. They are effectively app bookmarks and they aren't available in iOS or Android. (Yes, one could write lots of widgets for Android to achieve this, but few apps do.) Our app really exploits this, providing users links to any part of the app. In the image below, we show the main tile and secondary tiles to take students directly to their grades, course list, schedule, bus schedule, campus map, announcements, and even a specific class.
View attachment 61878

 

[Saksham Sharma]

How did android copy iOS?

android was designed to be a big copy of iOS only. Only that it was open source and allowed major freedoms to developers and manufacturers. Android copied iOS by picking up the standard old phone model (a home screen with a wallpaper+app drawer), had nothing revolutionary.

 

[svenhassel]

I like both iOS and WP. I would say that even though Apple and ms are no saints, their devices aren't so focused in getting information about the user as in android. Android is a big excuse for google and app developers to get the information of the user.

Both iOS and WP are more stable and less fragmented than android. I don't like android aesthetic, it looks poorly polished.

I prefer WP over iOS because you can get similar performance for a better price. Some ms services that I use work better on WP, like OneNote. And nokia has glance, offline here maps and here drive

The only thing I really miss from iOS is goodreader, an amazing PDF app that allows you to sync an entire folder of your cloud service of choice, and a proper reminder / task manager app.

 

[jmshub]

That's unfair to the concept of widgets: they are unique as well. They offer a way of interacting with an app without actually opening it. That's pretty nifty too. However, the approach of tiles is different. Tiles are basically re-invented icons, as they are still "shortcuts" to apps, but their way of referring to the apps is different. In a way, they are "windows" to apps as they offer a way to see what is going on in the app, without actually opening it.

Widgets provide contextual information, but live tiles provide a lot more information. The whole premise of Windows Phone is that nearly every app has live tile access. That is a big differentiator.

 

[prasath1234]

How did android copy iOS?

Yes whole world knows android copied ios.you should admit this.

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[anon(8055491)]

you can pin files on the start screen. documents. music albums. emulator games. photos. etc etc. timers.. notes

 

[phirefly]

The one app that would make switching to WP painless for me.

Have you tried gMaps Pro? gMaps Pro | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

And also in 8.1 Universal apps if enabled by the dev can be purchased once and used on your phone/tablet/pc and in the future Xbox One. No competitor does this. Heck Apple wants you to buy different versions for the iPhone and iPad.

 

[AadarshGreat]

let me think......
hmmmm........

WP have apps that cost you only in WP and you can get it free on Android like Moli Player etc...
So,
If you have lots of unused money and you are dying to spend that money then here is the WP for you.
and the other one is
WP is more secure OS than the two OS you mention. Forget the devs even the hackers aren't interest in WP for now.

Hey if you say that how about this if you kept important information in your phone and hacker hacked them so you loose all those necessary which worth much more than money .





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[prasath1234]

Only when it garners market share hackers will be interested same is the case with bb10

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[A895]

Have you tried gMaps Pro? gMaps Pro | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

And also in 8.1 Universal apps if enabled by the dev can be purchased once and used on your phone/tablet/pc and in the future Xbox One. No competitor does this. Heck Apple wants you to buy different versions for the iPhone and iPad.

Does not provide turn by turn directions through Google Maps.

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[Kellzea]

Windows phone has me, ios and android don't.

 

[Mercule]

The big reason I moved from my iPhone was better "cloud" openness. The iOS platform is nice, so long as you're Apple-first or Apple-only. Since I use OneDrive as my primary file storage, it was always a hassle to get at my stuff. Even using DropBox or Box didn't help. Where Windows Phone lags is in apps to read that easier to access cloud storage (besides Office). The iPad implementation of Office is nice enough that I would consider going back, though.

Android, on the other hand, is a steaming pile that convinced me to buy my first Apple product, ever. For the life of me, I can't see how anyone can stand to use it. The widgets and customization are nice, in theory. In practice, I found them to be really slick ways of making a flaky system even worse. I literally can't think of anything positive to say about Android beyond "nice in theory".

 

[A895]

The big reason I moved from my iPhone was better "cloud" openness. The iOS platform is nice, so long as you're Apple-first or Apple-only. Since I use OneDrive as my primary file storage, it was always a hassle to get at my stuff. Even using DropBox or Box didn't help. Where Windows Phone lags is in apps to read that easier to access cloud storage (besides Office). The iPad implementation of Office is nice enough that I would consider going back, though.

Android, on the other hand, is a steaming pile that convinced me to buy my first Apple product, ever. For the life of me, I can't see how anyone can stand to use it. The widgets and customization are nice, in theory. In practice, I found them to be really slick ways of making a flaky system even worse. I literally can't think of anything positive to say about Android beyond "nice in theory".

Wow. So the recent iterations of android did not make any differences?

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[Soulstream]

For the large majority of users every OS offers the basic same features. What you choose is a matter of preference (what feels best for you), peer pressure and ecosystem lock (I know people who won't change platforms because they bought lots of apps).