Appalled at how shockingly bad Windows Phone and or its apps are.

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Metrosexual

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Aug 23, 2013
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Ok, this is not a spiteful rant about how good this or that is compared to Windows Phone etc. It's
just my own hands-on experience with Windows Phone after using it for 48 hours as my main phone.

I am an ASP.NET dev and was looking forward to finally using a Windows Phone device as my
daily driver, maybe even start developing apps for it etc. Since c# and .NET meta-wise like frameworks are my cup of tea.
I figured the platform must have matured by now to the point where all the basics/primaries
are refined and working without glitches.

Putting aside the fact that the Nokia (Welcome to Windows Phone) migration wizard failed miserably,
my first few hours with a Windows Phone taught me a painful experience immediately, I just wanted to setup some
basic stuff on the start screen like a clock and weather tile. I did this and installed some app which
displayed a large time and date tile as well as weather. Shortly after setting up the basics I arrived to a meeting 20 minutes late because
I found out the damn live tile either does not update at all, or updates every once in a blue moon. So I thought maybe the install botched up
or it was a bad app, to my horror after installing a different app with a similar function/tile I found it suffers from the same problem/limitation.
Before this I could not even comprehend the possibility of there being a clock tile/widget etc. that does not update by the second as any normal clock should.
Are all clock apps and their respective tiles like this ? Is the API behind the tile UI object so primitive that it only allows such castrated functionality, to the point that not even
a clock can work properly ? Overall I found the tile update consistency to be atrocious, at first you expect accurate and relevant updates, but then you realize the whole thing is
a bad gimmick as apps don't update immediately (take 10 min +) and sometimes don't at all it seems, like in case of some messaging/voip apps I tried.

On a Lumia 720 I find that 2 out of 3 apps I have played around with had either very severe flaws, limitations or were just really poorly made.
Often apps just forced quit, bringing me back to the tile screen.

After this experience I am really worried about Microsoft's future in mobile going forward. To say it was sub-par would be an understatement.
The whole thing felt incredibly unrefined, limited, unstable, unreliable/gimmicky in respect to live tiles and just plain poorly made, as if I were using a Symbian phone
in 2010 with its emergency app line up. Not good, I had to go back to an Android. I hope for Microsoft's sake their next 8.1 blue update is nothing short of a miracle,
because that's what they'll need to catch up at this point.
 
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martinmc78

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My advice - Do some research.

You've found the forum to have your complaint and you have got some valid points as someone new to the OS - I would suggest using this site to look at reviews for apps a lot of which are very detailed and will inform you which ones are set to the 30 minute update API or ones that constantly update.

Alternatively you can ask the community on here - were all a pretty helpful bunch.
 

Boggy79

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I think the issue is you have an android way of thinking; got to install an app to do something basic.

Firstly there's a clock on the lock screen, or a quick tap of the top of the screen will show the time. If you synced your calender (assuming your meeting was on it) then you'd have got a reminder in advance of the start time.

Hardly seems to point to a shockingly bad OS.

As for games I've only had Words with Friends crash on me (since deleted) but that doesn't mean it's the only one with a problem. I wouldn't have said there was an epidemic as you have made it seem.
 

johninsj

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Hi,

Tiles are not widgets. WP isn't Android.

If you get those basics, you'll find it's a fine OS. Just not iOS, or Android.
 
Nov 7, 2012
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I don't think you are in ANY position to be giving advice or analyzing Windows Phone. You have proven that you are not capable of doing research and you have jumped to conclusions based on your own user-created problems.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
 

gedzum

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Wait what? Please explain how you miss the time on the lock screen? Even if somehow you miss the time on the lockscreen, the time shows up immediately after unlocking at the top right corner, albeit in smaller text size. You sure you set the right time.

Not sure what apps you've been downloading, but I have not had an experience close to what you've described.
 

Edward Woodward1

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IMO, this just sounds like someone who has done no research and doesn't understand how WP8 works and has blamed his own user made problems on the Operating System.
I came from Android after 3 years to WP8 and have been using it for nearly 3 weeks now and have had no issues like this at all, infact, i find that wp8 works better than Android (imo)
 

Boris Lozac

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Huge overreaction but i get you on the clock tiles. It's just unnaceptable that tiles for clock and battery aren't real time, everything else should have that forced half an hour refresh time.
 

Indistinguishable

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Nov 16, 2012
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1.) What a strange name you've selected.

2.) You're kidding, right? I actually expected some sort of reasonable qualm with the OS after I read your interest in development. Instead I read troll trash.

Live tiles don't update instantly because a.) it's unnecessary & b.) it'd waste battery. As others have said, the time is displayed on your lock screen, your glance screen (since your rocking a Nokia), at the top right of your start screen.

Wp8 is arguably the most intuitive OS out there. But that doesn't mean you can act like your brain dead.
 
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