Considering Windows Phone 8, Lumia 925

tpapictures

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I'm considering a move from another OS to a Lumia 925, I won't say which one because I tend to find that people have preconceived notions of what iPhone and Android people are looking for and whether they'll be able to deal with the way Windows does it.
Just some questions...
1. I'm entirely in the Windows world for productivity (Word, Excel, Outlook, SkyDrive) so I imagine that will be seamless?
2. How does file management work? I'm referring to copying files, music, pictures to and from the phone.
3. Can one save email attachments, attach anything one wants to an email, open any kind of file (pdf, office, images, audio, video, etc)
4. Can I use my own music files and set them as ringtones and notifications?
5. Will the email app allow for an IMAP account from my own email server and let me see all of its folder and subfolder structure?
6. If my wife and I both have Windows Phones and I assume we each will have our own accounts on our phones, how can we each connect to our PC at home? Will it mean having to have two different profiles of Windows on the tower?

If anyone can help with these things, I'd really appreciate it. Unfortunately, mobile phone customer service reps in stores simply don't know these things well enough to give any kind of help and these are the kinds of things that really matter to me, not how many apps there are in the market or whether a phone's camera has a certain number of megapixels.

Thanks!
 

migueli2

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1. Don't understand what you mean.
2. Work with Windows App to manage videos, music, etc. Or with Windows file explorer.
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. Yes
6. No need to. You'll set different profiles at Windows App
 

tpapictures

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- What I meant was.. although Office is on the actual phone, is there anything that is actually not doable when operating documents, spreadsheets, etc? I just want to make sure it's not like with Google Drive/QuickOffice where you technically CAN open and work on docs but there are always formatting issues and tiny bugs that crop up from time to time.
- Didn't really understand your last reply.

Add on question: Is there a way to know which phones will receive 8.1 when it's released? Want to make sure the Lumia 925 will.
 

MDak280

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I'm considering a move from another OS to a Lumia 925, I won't say which one because I tend to find that people have preconceived notions of what iPhone and Android people are looking for and whether they'll be able to deal with the way Windows does it.
Just some questions...
1. I'm entirely in the Windows world for productivity (Word, Excel, Outlook, SkyDrive) so I imagine that will be seamless?
2. How does file management work? I'm referring to copying files, music, pictures to and from the phone.
3. Can one save email attachments, attach anything one wants to an email, open any kind of file (pdf, office, images, audio, video, etc)
4. Can I use my own music files and set them as ringtones and notifications?
5. Will the email app allow for an IMAP account from my own email server and let me see all of its folder and subfolder structure?
6. If my wife and I both have Windows Phones and I assume we each will have our own accounts on our phones, how can we each connect to our PC at home? Will it mean having to have two different profiles of Windows on the tower?

If anyone can help with these things, I'd really appreciate it. Unfortunately, mobile phone customer service reps in stores simply don't know these things well enough to give any kind of help and these are the kinds of things that really matter to me, not how many apps there are in the market or whether a phone's camera has a certain number of megapixels.

Thanks!

1. Windows Phones come with free access to the Office mobile apps. They are not fully featured, but they have basic functionality for quick editing on the go. They also sync with SkyDrive which is very convenient. Outlook on WP is a great experience in my opinion, but I haven't really tried email on other platforms to compare. All of your outlook contacts, calendars, etc. will sync onto your phone once you get it set up, so that's nice!

2. There is a Windows Phone app that you can install on your computer (I think it automatically installs when you connect your phone to your PC via USB). I'm not sure how it is on other OSs, but on Windows 7 it basically just syncs content from your laptop to your phone. You can choose which files/folders to sync. I don't really like it to be honest, what I do is I just drag and drop files onto my phone storage. I find that easier.

3. Yes, most things open/save easily! I'm not sure about email attachments because I hardly ever attach things to my emails, but I do know that you can easily open attachments that you receive from someone else. Actually I just checked and apparently you can only attach pictures to an email... somebody please correct me if I'm wrong! I checked on the stock email app, there might be another email app that can attach.

4. You can set your own ringtones, yes. However, using your music files for notifications and other things only works on the latest version of the OS, aka GDR3, which is not out for the public yet. I'm not sure when it will be available, BUT there is a very easy way to download the developer preview version that allows this feature and some others. I will link you to a guide if you would like.

5. I have no idea, sorry haha.

6. I'm not exactly sure what you mean here. Yes, you will have two separate accounts. When you want to use outlook/skydrive on your PC, you can log into your account on the PC. If your wife needs to use hers, she can log into her account.

I'm a very basic smartphone user but I hope that I helped at least a little :p

Edit: I am pretty sure that all Windows Phone 8 devices will be upgradable to 8.1. Iirc that was confirmed by Microsoft, I will try to find a source.

As for waiting for the next gen. WPs, it's up to you. I actually bought my Lumia 925 from T-Mobile last week because I know that T-Mobile probably will not receive a new Lumia anytime soon. But if you can wait it might be worth it. Not sure how, unless you really want a 1080p screen :p
 

Rising Mos

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You can attach office documents into an email by holding the documents and choosing share. This is a new feature in GDR3 which should land shortly (few weeks) on phone. You can't attach 2 or more documents at once though. As people mentioned, you can upgrade to GDR3 today but you will lose the warranty.
 

Microsoftjunkie

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#1 Office is pretty seamless. Picks up email attachments, and integrates with Skydrive. You can only create Word/Excel. You can't create PP but can view and edit. Editing docs is pretty limited but if you need more functionality, you can always go to SkyDrive.com and edit in a richer Office. No formatting issues should be present as long as its docs from Office 2010-. Anything before has some formatting errors.

#2 File management is different, whereas you need to be in whatever "hub" or app to manage that file (type). Music/music hub, Documents/Office (can ONLY attach documents from within Office or a file (cloud/skydrive management app). Pdf/Pdf,Adobe Reader. Etc.

#3 All of this is yes, but with some quirks. If someone sends a video, it gets saved in your photo hub, instead of video. Documents can only be attached thru Office, and the others with their corresponding hubs/apps.

#4 yes you can.

#5 yes

#6 the app allows for different devices.
 

Chris_Kez

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I'm considering a move from another OS to a Lumia 925, I won't say which one because I tend to find that people have preconceived notions of what iPhone and Android people are looking for and whether they'll be able to deal with the way Windows does it.

You're better off sharing that information. Letting people know which OS and which device(s) you use is helpful. People here have a lot of varied experiences and many will have made similar transitions. Think of these as "real world experiences" rather than "preconceived notions". You might also want to provide more details about each of your questions/needs/use cases. There are a LOT of specifics to be covered.
 

tpapictures

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Hey Chris,
Thanks for the advice. I didn't mean anything bad by that comment, but as I've surfed around on Windows Phone forums for the first time I see a wide sweep of people saying, "oh, you're coming from Android? You'll hate WP8. You can't customise ANYthing." or "You're coming from Apple? You'll hate the WP8 design." The device people are coming from seems to peg them as a certain kind of user and I didn't want any misguided advice. I am on several forums for a multitude of topics and all of them are no stranger to people not reading questions clearly and wanting to give their opinion anyway. Anyway, hope you can understand.

I'm coming from 3 years on Android after 3 years on Windows Mobile. I've rooted every phone I've ever had, principally to be able to flash a different ROM to the stock version on the phone. There are any number of features you can play with on a custom ROM but my only concern was to get rid of Touchwiz, HTC Sense, and other ROMs I hated in favour of a more pure Android experience. So, no I wasn't rooting my phone for access to millions of "hack-y" applications.

I'm concerned about burdening people with a long post but I'll try to expand on my questions.
1. Office - Aside from the obvious limitations of not being able to put an ENTIRE version of the Office programs into app form on a phone (cause you'd need a computer) do all the Office apps offer view, edit, create, email, save to phone/cloud, share to other apps.
2. Files - Basically, can I take (non-DRM) an ebook file, music, video, document, pdf, photo on and off the phone by using a USB cable and Windows File Explorer on my PC/laptop.
3. Email attach - Can I get an email with any doc, pdf, photo, image and open/save it. Can I attach any file from my phone into an email? Even if it means doing it from within the adjoining app. A PDF by sharing through a PDF viewer, a photo(s) through the WP gallery app or other camera/photo apps, an Office document through Word.
4. Ringtones - I think I got the answer I wanted but I have several ringtone mp3s I've used for years for specific people, SMS, Email, Whatsapp that I'd like to keep using by copying to the phone. Yes? No?
5. Email - I have a private email server on bluehost. I have found very often that some email clients that are too basic will let me add these accounts with IMAP but won't let me define the IMAP Path Prefix for folders and subfolders to appear correctly. If you've done this and you have slightly nerdy email organisation, you know what I'm talking about. It comes down to all the email folders appearing as they do on your Windows email programs/clients as opposed to appearing as though all those folders are floating within the phone's inbox. It looks like hell and creates a very messy email experience.
6. Accounts - This is something that comes from being an Android user that never sat well with me for various reasons. For those that don't know, the entire Android experience is based on your phone being constantly connected to one gmail account at a time which is tied to your all apps and basically all other user info on the phone. Logout, everything is gone. The question is... at home we like using Windows without having to keep two different profiles/accounts/etc. except for in Outlook. Android doesn't really play well directly with the Windows productivity world (one of the reasons we don't want Android anymore). But now that Office and other elements of Skydrive will sync for us beautifully, we want the link to be easy as possible. So, to that end, does Windows Phone have the same concept of signing into your phone to operate it and how does that affect BOTH of us having instant access to all of Windows on our PC and Laptop? Will we each have to sign in to Word when we're sitting here? Will only the profile logged into in Windows see their files? Will we be constantly logging into and out of Windows? If I'm logged in will my wife not see her files? Hope that makes it clear?

Additional things...
- I'm going to the Lumia 925 from the Galaxy S3. I was on a Google AOSP ROM so there is nothing TouchWiz that I'll be missing. I don't even know what was on there to be honest. It was flashed pretty quickly. Anyway, if there are any opinions about the 925, limitations, problems.
- Most important, crucial must-haves for us on a phone are: strong camera quality, photo apps, phone call quality, good maps app, email and web browsing. Pretty much nothing else.
- My use is about 95% camera, ebook reading, web browsing, Twitter, light gaming, Whatsapp, SMS, note taking, recipe saving and working on documents. I never use mobile phones for any kind of music or video playing. I don't watch video on anything smaller than a TV, and I only listen to music on a dedicated audio media player that plays specific file formats.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, if you do. I appreciate it.
 

ag1986

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I'll address points 2, 3 &5:

2: Files - First, know that WP has no concept of shared namespace either on phone storage or on SD card. This means that if you have say an epub or .cbr reader, you cannot install an app and expect it to see the files you've copied to your phone via USB, because the app will only see it's own sandboxed storage. The alternative is Skydrive. This goes for all types of apps - they can read and write ONLY from their sandboxed storage or from Skydrive. However, this is not applicable for music, photos and other common filetypes. You cannot, for example, copy an MKV to the phone and expect to get an app like VLC to see and play it. If you use something out of the ordinary, you're SOL.

In general, the whole concept of file management known on Android does not exist. You are restricted to easily using docs, images and music. There is no folder/subfolder organisation possible with docs. Anything else will require convoluted workarounds or be impractical/impossible.

3. You can attach an image from the email app. For docs, the only supported formats are doc, xls and ppt and the x versions: docx etc. For these, you need to go in the Office Hub and Share to email. Only one doc per email. If you reply to an email, it is not possible to attach a file to that reply. Docs are attached as Skydrive links, not as actual attachments.

5. I don't think Mail on WP supports the IMAP Path prefix and I don't have mine on me to try. Based on a quick google, the answer is no: IMAP Mail does not work :: need to be able to specify a - Microsoft Community

On 6, I'm not entirely sure what you need, but here's the basics: WP needs an account to operate. To download apps, you must be linked to an MS account. To sync Skydrive, that SAME account. You cannot switch; e.g use one Skydrive account while using a different App store account. It is actually slightly tighter than on Android, which allows you to choose which app uses which account to work on. So you can't expect your Skydrive files to sync into someone else's account and use them there. To switch accounts you need to hard-reset (i.e. wipe)

I do agree that better sync with Word and Excel would be nice, which is why I use the Skydrive app on my Android daily-use phone. I don't think I'm missing anything.

Hope you enjoy whatever it is that you get!
 

tpapictures

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Thanks ag1986.
-- IMAP path prefix setting confirmed by MS support --
On email again, the lack of attachment on a reply is bizarre and illogical from a company that tried to provide Office on a phone. Stranger is the idea that I won't be able to send a document without it being a link to skydrive. So ANY time I need to send someone a doc, they'll instead get a link they have to launch to access the file? So if they're on a phone/mobile device without a file reader, they can get to the link but not download the file and read it? Am I missing something?
On accounts.. My wife and I will BOTH have a Skydrive account then? So there will be two to check on the computer? Are they not syncable/sharable?
 
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Chris_Kez

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If the email thing is confirmed, and is a deal-breaker, save yourself the head-ache of puzzling over why WP "works" the way it does ;)
For laughs, though, you could look into using multiple SkyDrive accounts on one computer.
 

Panathas

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If the camera is so much important to you ,you should perhaps consider to buy a Lumia 1020. Nokia has a ringtone generator app, you can use every mp3 on your device as a ringtone. Windows 8 connects with your account, so it also connects SkyDrive, contacts and so on whith your (one) account. I think you can't use two accounts. But when you plug your phone on the PC you can manage every phone separately.



Sent from my RM-875_eu_euro2_242 using Tapatalk
 

manicottiK

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I'm considering a move from another OS...I won't say which one because I tend to find that people have preconceived notions of what iPhone and Android people are looking for...
2. ...file management...
3. ...open any kind of file...
4. ...my own music files...
5. ...all of its folder and subfolder...
I appreciate your attempt at getting information without letting platform bias slip in. (More folks should do that.) The answers you got and the response that you provided them were all in that spirit.

For what it's worth, the regulars here probably had you pegged as an Android user by question 3. That's because pretty much every Android user seems to ask lots of questions about file management, as you did in 4 of your 6 questions. Windows Phone is much more like iOS than Android in that it is more an OS for managing an appliance than one for a computing device. (That's overstated a bit, but the point is there.)

I used to be a WM6 ROM flasher. The move to WP7 was difficult at first because I had to stop checking to see when new ROMs were produced. But it also let me stop worrying about every little detail of my phone. Last year, I described my role with WP as that of "user" rather than "system administrator." If you're willing to give up some control for some freedom* give WP a try. If not, it's may not be right for you at this time.

I'm not trying to chase you away, just set some expectations. I initially used WP7 because I had to, but I kept moving my SIM back to my HD2. I did notice that I left it in the Focus a bit longer each time until it just stayed there. Yes, the Focus only had eight tiles visible (vs 34 touch-targets on the HD2 with the Cookie Monster version of Sense), but there are something elegant about it just working and looking consistent. In my app development, I've stayed close to the MS guidelines because I recognize that the consistency is a good thing for the user--it makes the platform as a whole feel cohesive.

* As I wrote that, I felt pretty Orwellian in a Newspeak kind of way. I meant it as a freedom from having to adjust/manage/flash things as opposed to being allowed to. Obviously, on WP and iOS, things aren't as free as on Android, but they also demand less of my time as a user.
 

ag1986

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Thanks ag1986.
-- IMAP path prefix setting confirmed by MS support --
On email again, the lack of attachment on a reply is bizarre and illogical from a company that tried to provide Office on a phone. Stranger is the idea that I won't be able to send a document without it being a link to skydrive. So ANY time I need to send someone a doc, they'll instead get a link they have to launch to access the file? So if they're on a phone/mobile device without a file reader, they can get to the link but not download the file and read it? Am I missing something?
On accounts.. My wife and I will BOTH have a Skydrive account then? So there will be two to check on the computer? Are they not syncable/sharable?

No, sadly you are not missing anything. That's the way it is. Anyone you email will get a Skydrive link. They click on the link and get taken to a Skydrive site where they can download the file.

At my company and many other firms we deal with, all such sites - Google Drive, Dropbox, Skydrive, even Megaupload-type sites are blocked for security purposes. It was completely useless in my scenario. See http://forums.windowscentral.com/nokia-lumia-625/247806-ppt-word-document-attachments-email.html for example, for problems other users have had with this email model.

About Skydrive - the new Windows 8 login model is a lot like the phone's - you sign in with an account and you see only your stuff. The idea of local profiles on one computer is going away. So yes,, two individual accounts, that as far as I know cannot be synced.
 

ag1986

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GDR3 allows you to attach the document itself to the email, not just a link.

That's an improvement. Still, only one attachment per email, still cannot attach docs to a reply-email. Also GDR3 is not quite public yet (yes, I know, you can get it by making yourself a 'developer' which may void my warranty, so I haven't done it).
 

tpapictures

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Well, soon is better than never for the attachment file thing. It's not a dealbreaker just an inconvenience. If necessary, I can always email the person the document(s) when I get home or to a computer. And for myself, that works fine or I just use Skydrive as I do now. Is this also the case though with photos? If I want to send two or three photos.. A) I can't send more than one and B) it'll send a link? Really?

This profiles thing in Windows is something I've never understood... So the idea is that if one person is logged in, they see a different computer set up than the other person? So they can't even see each other's files? Well, my wife and I arent employees of a company. We WANT access to each other's content online. It's not even about 'each other's content' it's about it being OUR computer! Which prpfile do we keep logged in then? We have to pick one? Isnt that insane to manage two different "versions" of Windows? I have to be able to see the whole computer ALL the time.

I just don't get the profiles thing in Windows and it's never been explained to me in a way I understand.
 
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ag1986

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Well, soon is better than never for the attachment file thing. It's not a dealbreaker just an inconvenience. If necessary, I can always email the person the document(s) when I get home or to a computer. And for myself, that works fine or I just use Skydrive as I do now. Is this also the case though with photos? If I want to send two or three photos.. A) I can't send more than one and B) it'll send a link? Really?

This profiles thing in Windows is something I've never understood... So the idea is that if one person is logged in, they see a different computer set up than the other person? So they can't even see each other's files? Well, my wife and I arent employees of a company. We WANT access to each other's content online. It's not even about 'each other's content' it's about it being OUR computer! Which prpfile do we keep logged in then? We have to pick one? Isnt that insane to manage two different "versions" of Windows? I have to be able to see the whole computer ALL the time.

I just don't get the profiles thing in Windows and it's never been explained to me in a way I understand.

I should have been clearer. You can log into your Windows 8 computer with a local profile, BUT that does not mean things like the Windows app store (not WP app store, that's different) or the Skydrive app for Windows can use that local profile. You still need to sign into those apps with an MS account, and that will be one account only.

About the photos thing, it sends the pics as a proper attachment but does not give you the capability to send more than one.
 

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