Issues to address before I'll buy

[omniusovermind]

I had (possibly unseasonably ) high hopes for this launch. I wanted them to hit the ball out of the park because more competition = better for consumers. I'm planning on upgrading in the spring. This should provide enough time for 4 different OS's to strut their finest stuff. But right now there's some deal breakers for me on wp8.

First, yes, the navigation. I know it's not nearly as solid as Google navigation and maps right now. I use navigation extensively so this must be addressed before I will consider anything other than an android right now.
The next I'm unsure about. Am I correct that you can't place wp apps into folders to categorize them the way you want? If so, how do you quickly find apps once you have a ton of them installed? Pin them all to homescreen?
The current barebones handling of notifications is also something I'm not impressed with.
I've also heard wifi is turning off when the screen times out, is that true?
Integration - on an android, if I click a plain text address in my browser, not even a hyperlink, it will launch it in Google maps app. Same goes for phone numbers and the dialer app. Can you do that kind of stuff with WP? I'm not referring to those little buttons that appear in Google search results, I'm referring to to regular plain text on webpages.

 

[lordofthereef]

In terms of Navigation, I would be increidibly shocked if we had something as robust as google navigation on WP8 by spring, unless of course we get google navigation on the platform, which I suppose isn't out of the question. Right now, there is gmaps, which is good, and gives you live directions, just no spoken turn by turn.

As far as apps are concerned, they are alphabetized. A swipe to the right brings you to your apps list. Everything you have installed is here, minus games, which are all under the games app. You can tap on any alphabet quick link and it will take you to the letters of the alphabet a-z. Tap the letter that your app starts with and it takes you to all apps starting with that letter. It's kind of like a rolodex, if that makes sense. At first I felt like I needed folders too, but now I don't really miss them.

Notifications is lackluster. I have seen third party development that looked very promising. I have also heard that MS is working on something too.

Wifi does turn off when the screen is off. Apparently this is intended, but MS stated they realized it was an issue to many, so they are patching a "fix" next update.

You can click plain text and phone numbers within webpages and it will launch them appropriately. Where Android shines is you can set which apps are used to launch these. In WP8, much like iOS, default is defined by the manufacturer. I can not, for example, set Skype to start dialing the phone number from the web page. May be a deal breaker to some, but I don't mind too bad, though I wish I could mess with which maps app opens when I tap an address.

 

[PG2G]

I had (possibly unseasonably ) high hopes for this launch. I wanted them to hit the ball out of the park because more competition = better for consumers. I'm planning on upgrading in the spring. This should provide enough time for 4 different OS's to strut their finest stuff. But right now there's some deal breakers for me on wp8.

First, yes, the navigation. I know it's not nearly as solid as Google navigation and maps right now. I use navigation extensively so this must be addressed before I will consider anything other than an android right now.
The next I'm unsure about. Am I correct that you can't place wp apps into folders to categorize them the way you want? If so, how do you quickly find apps once you have a ton of them installed? Pin them all to homescreen?
The current barebones handling of notifications is also something I'm not impressed with.
I've also heard wifi is turning off when the screen times out, is that true?
Integration - on an android, if I click a plain text address in my browser, not even a hyperlink, it will launch it in Google maps app. Same goes for phone numbers and the dialer app. Can you do that kind of stuff with WP? I'm not referring to those little buttons that appear in Google search results, I'm referring to to regular plain text on webpages.

1. Navigation - Nokia Drive is actually pretty good. Its POI database isn't too good, and the traffic info could use some work. But as a pure GPS, I dont see how it is any worse than Google.
2. Folders - There are no folders. When you install a lot of apps, what they call a jumplist is enabled. Apps are grouped by first letter of the name, if you click the one of the header letters you can select to jump to any other letter. It is actually really fast, you just need to know the names of your apps. You can also launch them via voice
3. WiFi - It is true, and they said it'll be addressed soon.
4. Integration - The OS does a pretty good job of recognizing addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in text and acting accordingly when you click them. Off hand, I know this happens in both the mail and browser apps

 

[Bryan_J]

I've never used Google navigation so I can't respond to that.

I don't find I have any difficulty finding apps even though I have a ton of them. When you get over a certain number of them (and its not that many), the app list divides itself alphabetically and if you tap any of the letter headers (the letter 'a' in a box over the list of all the apps beginning with 'a'), it shows you a single screen list of all the letters in the alphabet. So if you have an app beginning with 'q', the 'q' will be a solid color (letters with no apps are greyed out), you tap 'q' and there you are. If you want to categorize them differently, I think you'd have to download some sort of folder app (I thought I saw one but not positive). I generally find most everything I use regularly is in the top half of my start screen and I use the alphabetical jump list maybe once a day.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by barebones notifications so can't speak to it.

If I search for a business, or someone sends me a text, etc., the results come back with the address (provided it looks like an address obviously) and phone number highlighted in your theme color (or as a link if in text) and you can click on them to either map or launch a call. Is that what you mean?

 

[Kebero]

When the phone goes into "standby," either from timing out or by having the power button pressed, the WiFi will often disconnect. I've never noticed it if it was in use by a music app.

Nokia Drive has been a great navigation solution in my experience, and its good to have offline maps.

 

[philxor]

I was used to iOS and having a ton of apps and folders, etc. To be honest it's way faster the way WP8 does it by just having your start screen with commonly used apps and then having an alphabetized list of apps you can jump to by letter. The only issue I've run into is remembering the name of some new apps I've downloaded but you quickly learn to use it.

I usually tell people if they really need navigation that badly either pick up a Garmin unit or an old Android phone with just wifi and tether it off of the WP. There are other navigation options out there like Navigon but they aren't free. I guess I'm spoiled since all my cars have decent satnav built in.

The Wifi thing will get fixed.

Integration is very good in my experience.

 

[Kebero]

I should mention that the easiest way to launch an app is with Tell Me.