So, I bought my dad a GS3...

[cp2_4eva]

I tried to convince him to buy a WP device, but he is on Sprint, so we know how that story goes...no go. So I was trying to get him to buy an HTC Evo 4G LTE. I like the build and it's thin and a coworker of mine has one and I liked using it. But no....he didn't want it either. He was so hard pressed to get that because he saw so many commercials and he liked the features. SO I played with it for an extended amount of time. I like everything except for the build quality. That's objective though. So after this, a few thoughts came to mind:

- Why are the OEMs that make WP devices pushing the ads like Samsung pushes their ads? Pure situation examples of what their phones can do. And not only that...they have these TV ads on ALL THE TIME! So of course my dad wants a GS3.

- The lady at the sprint store further convinced him to get the GS3 because HTC doesn't update as quick as Samsung....which is sadly true. SO, will Samsung be quick on the WP8 side of things as well? Will HTC still slack? Will Nokia be the only one fighting for their lives? (well, they technically are)

- I haven't used an android in since april. Man I miss their notification center. Microsoft, I swear this notification center thing better be on WP8 or else I could see them losing a few or a lot of customers. Not just because of this one thing, but because it's just ANOTHER thing they don't have

- Is the WP8 device release date good timing? With the GS3, HTC One Series, and the new blah iphone 5, is releasing WP8 devices last a good time or bad time? I know it's at the beginning of the Nov, but do you think a couple months if time enough for enough people to want it for Christmas?

- The general looks of WP apps are the same, but different in little ways. Apps on Android for the most part look different than one another. Is this good or bad for WP? Some people like the look, others don't.

I'm going to be honest, with some of the news we've had lately about the 7.8 deal and the lack of details on WP8, I was almost tempted to say F it and buy an HTC One X right then and there. But I chilled and told my self to hold on At least until October to see is WP will release more details. Because technically, none of us really knows what the **** we are going to get. Kinda sucks chasing a Loch Ness Monster when I don't truly know if it exists. But, I'm still holding on.

 

[dkp23]

I tried to convince him to buy a WP device, but he is on Sprint, so we know how that story goes...no go. So I was trying to get him to buy an HTC Evo 4G LTE. I like the build and it's thin and a coworker of mine has one and I liked using it. But no....he didn't want it either. He was so hard pressed to get that because he saw so many commercials and he liked the features. SO I played with it for an extended amount of time. I like everything except for the build quality. That's objective though. So after this, a few thoughts came to mind:

- Why are the OEMs that make WP devices pushing the ads like Samsung pushes their ads? Pure situation examples of what their phones can do. And not only that...they have these TV ads on ALL THE TIME! So of course my dad wants a GS3.

- The lady at the sprint store further convinced him to get the GS3 because HTC doesn't update as quick as Samsung....which is sadly true. SO, will Samsung be quick on the WP8 side of things as well? Will HTC still slack? Will Nokia be the only one fighting for their lives? (well, they technically are)

- I haven't used an android in since april. Man I miss their notification center. Microsoft, I swear this notification center thing better be on WP8 or else I could see them losing a few or a lot of customers. Not just because of this one thing, but because it's just ANOTHER thing they don't have

- Is the WP8 device release date good timing? With the GS3, HTC One Series, and the new blah iphone 5, is releasing WP8 devices last a good time or bad time? I know it's at the beginning of the Nov, but do you think a couple months if time enough for enough people to want it for Christmas?

- The general looks of WP apps are the same, but different in little ways. Apps on Android for the most part look different than one another. Is this good or bad for WP? Some people like the look, others don't.

I'm going to be honest, with some of the news we've had lately about the 7.8 deal and the lack of details on WP8, I was almost tempted to say F it and buy an HTC One X right then and there. But I chilled and told my self to hold on At least until October to see is WP will release more details. Because technically, none of us really knows what the **** we are going to get. Kinda sucks chasing a Loch Ness Monster when I don't truly know if it exists. But, I'm still holding on.

As far as HTC and Samsung updating speeds for Android phones, from my understanding, they both are super slow in updating to a new OS. Whatever OS they have, i think jelly bean, odds are, that will be the latest OS you will have for quite some time. The OS releases for android devices are deathly slow that is why new operating systems have a very low adoption percentage.

I think i read 80% of icecream sandwich phones are still on icecream sandwich. No certainty that carriers will push out the updates unless the user flashes the rom on it.

Saying HTC is faster than Samsung is like saying a turtle is faster than that tortoise. Doesnt mean much.

The phone rep saying HTC is faster than Samsung is just them trying to sell you a specific phone. In reality,they both suck at updating. IMO, id go samsung if i had to choose htc or samsung.

As far as updating for wp8, nobody knows, it is done wirelessly now from what MS said, but no word if carriers still have control.

 

[cckgz4]

I understand the frustration with waiting, especially seeing exciting tech thats already out (man the note 2 looks awesome), but I wouldn't do something like that on implies because I know many times before I've returned the same thing I was going gaga over

 

[GoodThings2Life]

I've changed my mind about notification center this week. I used to think it would be a nice addition, HOWEVER, I'm beginning to see that it's already there.

When I think back to my time with Android, I remember having a constant barrage of notifications in the notification tray, and all I ever did was swipe down, tap a notice to launch the app, then back to home; rinse and repeat until they were gone... or worse, I just cleared all the notifications, in which case the whole thing was pointless.

On Windows Phone, I turn it on and see all of my notification counts on the lock screen... exactly the same kind of information I saw on Android. The only thing I lose is the ability to launch directly into an app. But you know how I solve that? I put the live tile on my home screen for those apps I care about, and I tap into the app.

In other words, I really don't lose anything, and in fact, I save myself the time of having to go into a notification center and clear them. I see the notices and unlock, and everything I'm about to see is right there in front of me.

On top of that, once I upgrade to WP8, I can better arrange the start screen to feature more of my apps that might trigger notifications. Additionally, I can pick the 5 apps that I genuinely care about seeing.

I think if any improvement is to be made, it would be having more than 5 on the lock screen or being able to open directly to the app of choice.

 

[cp2_4eva]

I've changed my mind about notification center this week. I used to think it would be a nice addition, HOWEVER, I'm beginning to see that it's already there.

When I think back to my time with Android, I remember having a constant barrage of notifications in the notification tray, and all I ever did was swipe down, tap a notice to launch the app, then back to home; rinse and repeat until they were gone... or worse, I just cleared all the notifications, in which case the whole thing was pointless.

On Windows Phone, I turn it on and see all of my notification counts on the lock screen... exactly the same kind of information I saw on Android. The only thing I lose is the ability to launch directly into an app. But you know how I solve that? I put the live tile on my home screen for those apps I care about, and I tap into the app.

In other words, I really don't lose anything, and in fact, I save myself the time of having to go into a notification center and clear them. I see the notices and unlock, and everything I'm about to see is right there in front of me.

On top of that, once I upgrade to WP8, I can better arrange the start screen to feature more of my apps that might trigger notifications. Additionally, I can pick the 5 apps that I genuinely care about seeing.

I think if any improvement is to be made, it would be having more than 5 on the lock screen or being able to open directly to the app of choice.

I totally dig what you are saying, but the problem with that is that when you are in a program and you don't get that toast notification, then you wont really know if the score of that game has changed or if Molly sent you a message on FB. Things like that would be nice to know. Maybe just a status bar on top to let me know I got something, then I could easily go to my homescreen and look at where the notification came from. That same bar that has the wifi, time, and signal can be used for plenty of notification icons as well, or maybe even the bottom can. But notifications can be a little better. Maybe not the same as Android, but less annoying and just as informative.

 

[GoodThings2Life]

I totally dig what you are saying, but the problem with that is that when you are in a program and you don't get that toast notification, then you wont really know if the score of that game has changed or if Molly sent you a message on FB. Things like that would be nice to know. Maybe just a status bar on top to let me know I got something, then I could easily go to my homescreen and look at where the notification came from. That same bar that has the wifi, time, and signal can be used for plenty of notification icons as well, or maybe even the bottom can. But notifications can be a little better. Maybe not the same as Android, but less annoying and just as informative.

Yes, you're absolutely right, and I agree with you on the point. But, I blame that on developers that aren't implementing toast notifications for their apps yet. I honestly believe that would be a nicer way to address the matter.

This is precisely why I have the Facebook app installed even though I otherwise NEVER use it. Of course, another way to do it is to enable Facebook Chat on your messaging hub. Then all your FB messages come in as "text messages". (I go back and forth on which I prefer.)

I don't know the weather forecast either, but if my app could trigger a toast for any update conditions, it would be the same as if you'd pinned a sports game and it toasted you the score... Have you ever recommended that to your sports app developers?

 

[cp2_4eva]

Yes, you're absolutely right, and I agree with you on the point. But, I blame that on developers that aren't implementing toast notifications for their apps yet. I honestly believe that would be a nicer way to address the matter.

This is precisely why I have the Facebook app installed even though I otherwise NEVER use it. Of course, another way to do it is to enable Facebook Chat on your messaging hub. Then all your FB messages come in as "text messages". (I go back and forth on which I prefer.)

I don't know the weather forecast either, but if my app could trigger a toast for any update conditions, it would be the same as if you'd pinned a sports game and it toasted you the score... Have you ever recommended that to your sports app developers?

Haha, no I haven't. But I really should start doing suggestions to the developers. I always assumed that they would look at the reviews and follow those suggestions. Even still, I always thought they takes those with a grain of salt because there are some tremendously horrible apps out that with horrible ratings and reviews, yet they rarely get improvements.But you are right, I should write to them about more notifications. Also, our phones should have he LED notification system as well. This could totally be useful and we wouldn't really need a pull down notification center or anything.