Is a Nokia with Windows worth a punt?
Discussion
8.1 got a healthy vote of confidence from Ars: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/04/windows-pho... and a glowing concluding paragraph, "We might still wish that there were a few more apps, and that developers spoke of the platform in the same breath as iOS and Android, but even in spite of this, Windows Phone 8.1 is a polished, fun, clever, and personal smartphone platform that's just about everyone can enjoy. It's a magnificent smartphone platform."
Edited by Tonsko on Thursday 24th April 11:23
I moved about 6 months ago. Nokia Lumia 1020 with WP8 and Office 365.
I previously had a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 with Android. I liked it, but come upgrade time, I felt that the construction quality of the newer Samsungs was not very good and also Android was starting to feel a bit gimmicky and inconsistent.
Very happy so far. No faults. In fact I have my eye on a Lumia 1520 once the price drops a bit.
WP8.1 just got announced and adds several missing features (e.g. notification bar), it will probably be available for existing phones later this year.
If you are not in a rush I would hold off for 3 months or so. Once WP8.1 is released I suspect that some Android phone manufacturers will start offering WP8.1 on the same phones, since WP8.1 is more flexible with hardware requirements - this was a deliberate MS decision, to make it easier for manufacturers to offer WP phones.
Biggest thing IMHO is to check that the apps you need are available on WP8 and are decent quality.
I previously had a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 with Android. I liked it, but come upgrade time, I felt that the construction quality of the newer Samsungs was not very good and also Android was starting to feel a bit gimmicky and inconsistent.
Very happy so far. No faults. In fact I have my eye on a Lumia 1520 once the price drops a bit.
WP8.1 just got announced and adds several missing features (e.g. notification bar), it will probably be available for existing phones later this year.
If you are not in a rush I would hold off for 3 months or so. Once WP8.1 is released I suspect that some Android phone manufacturers will start offering WP8.1 on the same phones, since WP8.1 is more flexible with hardware requirements - this was a deliberate MS decision, to make it easier for manufacturers to offer WP phones.
Biggest thing IMHO is to check that the apps you need are available on WP8 and are decent quality.
Yep it is definitely worth a go; I started my smartphone life with an iPhone 3G, moved on to an HTC Desire HD running Android and when I came to upgrade in Feb 2013 it was a toss up between going back to iOS with an iPhone 5 or a Lumia 920 running Windows, I wasn't even going to entertain Android, I chose the Lumia and I've not looked back since.
It's slick, different and just works; much like iOS, come upgrade time I will either stick with the 920 and go sim only or I'll upgrade to whatever is the equivalent at the time.
I found Android such a phaff and just don't really get why everyone raves about it really, the wife has an S4 and apart from the phone being made of cheese I just hate the OS.
Sure there are a few niggles, such as IE is a bit on the s
t side however I believe many of its shortcomings are going to be rectified with 8.1 and there are a few other idiosyncrasies, but no phone OS is perfect, give WP a shot, you won't be disappointed.
It's slick, different and just works; much like iOS, come upgrade time I will either stick with the 920 and go sim only or I'll upgrade to whatever is the equivalent at the time.
I found Android such a phaff and just don't really get why everyone raves about it really, the wife has an S4 and apart from the phone being made of cheese I just hate the OS.
Sure there are a few niggles, such as IE is a bit on the s
t side however I believe many of its shortcomings are going to be rectified with 8.1 and there are a few other idiosyncrasies, but no phone OS is perfect, give WP a shot, you won't be disappointed. 
will definitely be sticking with it come upgrade time just might change the phone for a newer model.And another from me.
Don't be scared of 'low powered' phones either, WP8 is really really good on low spec phones (unlike Andriod in particular). WP8.1 is supposedly better still.
I'm on a 925, but had a 620. Both brilliant phones, the 925's Camera is really really good if that's your thing.
Don't be scared of 'low powered' phones either, WP8 is really really good on low spec phones (unlike Andriod in particular). WP8.1 is supposedly better still.
I'm on a 925, but had a 620. Both brilliant phones, the 925's Camera is really really good if that's your thing.
Thanks chaps that's very helpful.
I was thinking about getting a Nokia 625 to give it a go, I don't want to spend a load on a phone and have an aversion to phone contracts.
I use myfitnesspal and apparently its not very good on windows phone, as it crashes, does anyone use it or an alternative?
I was thinking about getting a Nokia 625 to give it a go, I don't want to spend a load on a phone and have an aversion to phone contracts.
I use myfitnesspal and apparently its not very good on windows phone, as it crashes, does anyone use it or an alternative?
Nowadays, Nokia is only really associated with WP. Well, their flagships are anyway.
Funny this should come up. I was reading GSM Arena's review and they favoured it too. Have a read:
http://gsmarena.com/windows_phone_81-review-1068.p...
I'm considering a cheaper handset that can be updated to the 8.1 just so that I can playa round with it.
Funny this should come up. I was reading GSM Arena's review and they favoured it too. Have a read:
http://gsmarena.com/windows_phone_81-review-1068.p...
I'm considering a cheaper handset that can be updated to the 8.1 just so that I can playa round with it.
NuisanceFactor said:
grumbledoak said:
It took Microsoft long enough, but Windows Phone 8 is very good.
I believe that even 8.1 doesn't have gapless playback 
Thing is, at the moment I don't think WP8 nor the coming 8.1 is good enough (I know its a preview, but the dev preview of 8.1 is full of bugs). Android and iOS are still better. What adds to this is the fact that native microsoft products like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote are all better on the new iOS/Android apps than they are on WP. OneNote on the iPad is really very good and the app on WP is complete garbage. Difficult to navigate and has stupid s
t like when you use OfficeLens to make a note of a receipt or a white board, the data isn't passed internally to OneNote, its uploaded to your OneDrive and then re-downloaded into OneNote. If thats not retarded enough, pictures captured with OfficeLens come out so large, you can't zoom out enough to actually see what it is in OneNote.Word is scarcely any better than the native document preview in iOS (granted iOS can't natively edit doc files), both seem to strip formatting from a document but at least on iOS you can read the document without having to scroll L/R and Up/Down. I just don't get why they shaft their own platform in this regard. Suffers the same dumb email attachment stuff you get on iOS though (i.e. you can attach pictures from within the email client and thats it). You can attach documents from the Office Hub but only one at a time. IMO more flexibility here would really help WP8. There is no native document preview or quick view (like in iOS where you can preview a doc file or pdf from within any app) you have to load up a pdf document viewer and all of the ones I have tried are pretty poor (including MS's own and Adobes attempt.... PDF files always appear really fuzzy until you zoom right in).
Many popular apps are available on WP8 and they are gradually being updated more regularly and brought inline with what many people expect having already been exposed to Android and iOS. But on the whole I'd still say the apps are below par and updated less frequently. Many of the best apps are made by one man bands and indie developers, so it is possible to have nice things on WP, the big guns just need to pull their fingers out. However, I think the Metro UI doesn't really lend itself to producing nice to use apps. It seems to work really well on an OS level, but I find in apps, it leads to quite inefficient use of space and I don't know what it is, but many apps just look almost "hobbyist". I don't know why, I can't put my finger on it, may its the font used but they just don't look professional. Certainly on the 1520 with its 6 inch 1080p screen, a lot of apps just seem to waste space.... Autotrader being a particularly bad example. Fans of MyFitnessPal will be disappointed too, their app suffers the same bad use of screen space but on top of that the app is fundamentally broken (only usable if you want to reinstall the app daily) and has been for over 6 months with not a peep heard from the developers.
MS are trying hard though, WP8.1 does bring many features that have been present on other platforms for ages now and they are getting their act together with developers to give them the help they need and to speed up development and get good quality apps out there. They are playing catch up and I think will be for at least the next year. I am not sure what they are doing so far is enough to keep me on the platform, I am eyeing a move to android and the HTC One M8. One thing I definitely don't like is the way many apps close when you leave them. It means for most apps you can't just come back and pick up where you left off. I am sure there is way round it, I think you have to navigate about using the multi-tasking interface, but for me its just not an intuitive way to work. I always hit the windows key to go to another app which closes the app instead of suspending it.
The phones are nice pieces of hardware though, thats for sure. Though I did have to return my first phone due to borked backlight and now have a problem with the charging on my second Lumia 1520. However, I think its actually the charger they supplied as it seems to charge just fine from a myriad of other chargers (both lesser and more powerful chargers).
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Thursday 24th April 15:25
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