Is windows phone worth it if you don't live in a country ms cares about?

[Sin Ogaris]

Local available in
US
Australia
Canada
India
China
UK
Germany
France
Spain
Italy

So in only 10 countries from the about 195 in the world.
About the half of the European's can use Cortana in their home-country but they only live in the "big" countries.

It's probably worth mentioning that although Cortana is in Australia, it's only marginally better than the old search function, spoken or otherwise.

 

[Harrie-S]

It's probably worth mentioning that although Cortana is in Australia, it's only marginally better than the old search function, spoken or otherwise.

Thanks for the feedback and indeed even if you have it that does not mean it's "useful" or "flawless" and continues updates/improvements are needed.
And to further complete my list,
US, Canada, Australia and China have the Beta version. ("most" advanced)
Spain, UK, India, France, Germany and Italy have the Alfa version. ("least" advanced)
Rest of the world has nothing or they have to change the region to get a version with all the additional cons.

 

[hotphil]

Local available in
US
Australia
Canada
India
China
UK
Germany
France
Spain
Italy

So in only 10 countries from the about 195 in the world.
About the half of the European's can use Cortana in their home-country but they only live in the "big" countries.

That list gets a lot shorter if you exclude Alphas and Betas?
MS is a US-centric company. Always has been, always will be. They like glitzy launches in their own saturated market. They are too big and slow to do anything else.
The competition capitalised on that by being able to localize product, quickly.
So no, the OP shouldn't stick with WP if he wants a full feature set the same time as it's released elsewhere. Apple's a better bet.

 

[CGA111]

Ms could at least begin with making speech recognition available in more languages than the big ones, that would restore some confidence in their seriousness.

 

[a5cent]

And to further complete my list,
US, Canada, Australia and China have the Beta version. ("most" advanced)
Spain, UK, India, France, Germany and Italy have the Alfa version. ("least" advanced)
Rest of the world has nothing or they have to change the region to get a version with all the additional cons.

What's really bugged me is that MS hasn't even considered it worth their time to tell us what the differences between alpha and beta Cortana are.

As a result, anyone reading a blog about Cortana outside the U.S. has no idea if that information applies to them or not. Finding out is all trial and error.

Just as bad, it's very hard to get excited over going from alpha to beta Cortana, because nobody knows what the differences are.

People outside the U.S. are thinking either they'll never get Cortana, or they've realized it doesn't do half the things for them they've read about online. Few can imagine why other than "they don't care about us". That impression sticks!

It's a shame that one of MS' favorite services, and one they are rightfully proud of, is being paraded only in front of U.S. audiences. From everyone else's point of view, Cortana is publicly being dragged through the mud.

What a great way to waste a marketing tool/opportunity.

 

[neo158]

Thanks for the feedback and indeed even if you have it that does not mean it's "useful" or "flawless" and continues updates/improvements are needed.
And to further complete my list,
US, Canada, Australia and China have the Beta version. ("most" advanced)
Spain, UK, India, France, Germany and Italy have the Alfa version. ("least" advanced)
Rest of the world has nothing or they have to change the region to get a version with all the additional cons.

Why do people insist that the UK has the Alpha version of Cortana, we don't.

The US, UK and China have the beta and Canada, Spain, Australia, India, France, Germany and Italy have the Alpha version, the latter three I'm not too sure about.

 

[neo158]

That list gets a lot shorter if you exclude Alphas and Betas?
MS is a US-centric company. Always has been, always will be. They like glitzy launches in their own saturated market. They are too big and slow to do anything else.
The competition capitalised on that by being able to localize product, quickly.
So no, the OP shouldn't stick with WP if he wants a full feature set the same time as it's released elsewhere. Apple's a better bet.

Exclude the Alpha and Beta versions and that list doesn't exist!!!

 

[Harrie-S]

Why do people insist that the UK has the Alpha version of Cortana, we don't.

The US, UK, Canada and China have the beta and Spain, Australia, India, France, Germany and Italy have the Alpha version, the latter three I'm not too sure about.

INSIST is a to big word I just copied Wikipedia Microsoft Cortana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and your info must then come from another source (which is more reliable then Wikipedia I guess).
Whatever it underlines the point of a5cent "what is the difference between alfa and beta".


Update 20:13

I found on the Microsoft page the Cortana versions.
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/how-to/wp8/basics/feature-and-service-availability
Cortana

Cortana is available in the following countries/regions: Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, United States. For info about how to get an early preview version of Cortana in your locale, see Cortana alpha.

Cortana alpha

With the release of Windows Phone 8.1 Update, an alpha version (or early preview) of Cortana will be available in:
• Australia
• Canada (English)
• France
• Germany
• India (English)
• Italy
• Spain
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/how-to/wp8/cortana/cortana-alpha

 

[neo158]

INSIST is a to big word I just copied Wikipedia Microsoft Cortana - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia and your info must then come from another source (which is more reliable then Wikipedia I guess).
Whatever it underlines the point of a5cent "what is the difference between alfa and beta".

I never quote from Wikipedia. The info is from Microsoft Cortana alpha for Windows Phone 8.1 | Windows Phone How-to (United States) and from my own usage here in the UK.

Features differ in each region though most of the differences are in the amount of interests available.

 

[Harrie-S]

Just also found it and updated my previous post.

 

[neo158]

Just also found it and updated my previous post.

No problem, I did try looking for a list of features for the Alpha and Beta versions but couldn't find anything. I did check the Wikipedia page and it certainly does list the UK version as an Alpha.

 

[a5cent]

^ let us know if you ever find that list! I've given up looking

 

[neo158]

^ let us know if you ever find that list! I've given up looking ��

I think that the only thing to do is create our own list on here.

 

[ajayden]

After searching on the net, I think I can safely say that the only feature list is on the wikpedia page. Below is the link
Features in Cortana - Wiki

 

[paulsalter]

I have never known any of the big US companies not favour the US

MS, Google & Apple do it, so no difference between the 3, MS has just joined the party late so their features are in less countries at the moment

 

[Peter Andersson]

FYI word flow is more then a keyboard and a dictionary.
Microsoft's new Word Flow keyboard is the best smartphone text entry system | ZDNet
That said I totally understand that you want it.

I still don't understand what more they need that they don't already have? (what more is it, yes it can predict the next word but so can my non word flow keyboard)...

 

[Peter Andersson]

Does any one know if the Calendar Format issue still persists in WP 8.2 and WP 10? (if that is fixed i can just tell WP that i live in the US when i get a new phone and all will be fine as thats the only problem iv had so far..)

 

[a5cent]

I have never known any of the big US companies not favour the US

You misunderstand. Nobody has an issue with a US company releasing in the US first.
The difference is that both Google and Apple are far quicker to roll out their services world wide, particularly to smaller countries.

 

[Desynthesis]

That is a good question--honestly, I think only if you can alleviate those region-specific issues.

For the same reason I wouldn't recommend anyone (even if you're one of the >1% of the computer using population who owns a Mac PC) get an iPhone in Taiwan. Apple's Taiwanese support outside of "that one guy who runs the authorized Apple retailer" is hilariously abysmal. I don't think we have a single official Apple store either (to be fair, there are only 23 million people in Taiwan, and we're only one of the most wired populations on the planet). It's hilarious when you think of how many of Apple's primary subcontractors are Taiwanese and how much money Apple pays them for their work. And forget about Siri (though that's not uncommon in many parts of the world).

WP is comparatively lax about letting you use other region's and language settings, so try that out and see if that helps. If not, no one could fault you for trying a better option.

 

[neo158]

After searching on the net, I think I can safely say that the only feature list is on the wikpedia page. Below is the link
Features in Cortana - Wiki

That list doesn't compare the features of the Alpha and Beta versions though.