From android to windows phone?

Forums › Legacy mobile platforms (Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Web OS, Symbian, Meego, Blackberry) › From android to windows phone?

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1556 posts

Uber Geek

#919157 21-Oct-2013 13:08

I also tried Windows Phone. Bothe the Nokia Lumia 720 and 820. Have sold the 720 but kept the 820.

My main gripes lack of apps. Not fault of Microsoft. Canon refuse to support (i emailed and asked them). Now have HP Printer and Printhand works mostly but not perfect. Westpac dont support it.
Maps I didnt like as on both of them it was just a green blob. Found an alternative in the store which uses google maps although just after that goolge appeared again in the store. Havent looked to see if still there.
For some reason WHS phone connector just would not work. So used 4u2stream which works well

As I couldnt find 32GB versions here the micoSD slot was a must for me.

So yeah would have been good if more business supported it with apps.
Was pleased AA supported it before android.

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nakedmolerat

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#919161 21-Oct-2013 13:13

Hi Nathan. Thanks for that. I don't think I'm planning to go back to Windows Phone for sometime (Google has to really screw up android for me to do that). However, I will keep that in mind.

myndlyz

472 posts

Ultimate Geek

#919176 21-Oct-2013 13:31

nathan: But Windows Phone OS is different from the PC OS, its fast and it stays fast forever

maybe because microsoft abandoned windows phone 7 and thats the reason why its forever fast? ie, no updates to the OS.......?

Wade

2225 posts

Uber Geek

#919219 21-Oct-2013 14:30

I went from Android (S3) to WP8 (L920) and subsequently back to Android (HTC One)

WP8 is still in it's infancy but has already proven to have a superior update model to Android. Where WP8 falls a bit flat is there is not enough customization like custom notifications etc but as far as an OS goes it feels slick and cohesive in comparison to AOS and even iOS IMHO. I found the platform stable and well behaved and generally got good battery life etc.

I only went back to Android because an opportunity presented that i could not pass up, if i was on the market for a new phone right now i can assure you the Lumia 1020 & upcoming 1520 would be at the pointy end of a very short list

In the 6 months i used the L920 other than instagram i found decent apps that covered pretty much all of my demands so the app situation for me was not even close to being a problem.

I would suggest going to a telecom or vodafone store and having a play with a few phones, you will note the entry level WP8 phones feel nearly as good as the top spec phones where as an entry level android seems rather inferior to a top spec android, not important if you are looking at the top end of the market but if you want a low to mid priced handset the WP8 has a better upgrade path and doesn't feel like such a poor cousin to its upper spec peers.

NZtechfreak

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#919221 21-Oct-2013 14:43

Wade: I went from Android (S3) to WP8 (L920) and subsequently back to Android (HTC One)

WP8 is still in it's infancy but has already proven to have a superior update model to Android.

Debatable point.

The OS update cycle is rather glacial on WP, and even the latest update still leaves a massive swath of deficiencies. Sure most current phones may get the update and get it relatively quickly, but that isn't all there is to value in OS updates.

To mention nothing of the OS update that left a bunch of owners stranded on outdated versions...

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

mckenndk

911 posts

Ultimate Geek

#919224 21-Oct-2013 14:48

I was hoping Microsoft would employ a model like Apple and Google Nexus where the updates avoid the network provider, I would say its just as bad as Android OS updates via Samsung etc.

The fact the likes of Telecom can block you using 4G as well is annoying, what if you wanted to roam somewhere that had 4G that the phone supported.

Rant over

NZtechfreak:
Wade: I went from Android (S3) to WP8 (L920) and subsequently back to Android (HTC One)

WP8 is still in it's infancy but has already proven to have a superior update model to Android.

Debatable point.

The OS update cycle is rather glacial on WP, and even the latest update still leaves a massive swath of deficiencies. Sure most current phones may get the update and get it relatively quickly, but that isn't all there is to value in OS updates.

To mention nothing of the OS update that left a bunch of owners stranded on outdated versions...

Wade

2225 posts

Uber Geek

#919248 21-Oct-2013 15:38

NZtechfreak:

To mention nothing of the OS update that left a bunch of owners stranded on outdated versions...

Pardon the ignorance but what was this about?

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Kopkiwi

2617 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#919277 21-Oct-2013 16:45

I really want to give WP a try, especially with the upcoming Nokia 1520, for which the specs are mouth watering.

The ONE thing stopping me is Google Music, I have the all access pass and hit "add to library" on about 10 new bands a day. I don't want to lose that :-(

NZCrusader

646 posts

Ultimate Geek

#919292 21-Oct-2013 17:19

NZtechfreak:

To mention nothing of the OS update that left a bunch of owners stranded on outdated versions...

Clearly you are uninformed.

Microsoft CANNOT port all features to an older OS which does not have the hardware to support them.

Microsoft ported several things from WP8 to WP7.8.

In fact if you have a play with the visual studio tools you will find you can either make apps which support WP7 & WP8 (with less features) or increased features with WP8.

This again is just because WP8 has software and hardware features that WP7 just does not have.

Also it is the same for any development cycle, new features are incorporated into new software versions to compel people to upgrade.
- Android OEMs do it.
- Apple does it (yearly).

Why does MSFT have to be bashed?
They supported WP7 with decent updates for two years.

Besides, an OS only requires updates when new features CAN be added, OR patching of bugs is required.

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Wade

2225 posts

Uber Geek

#919294 21-Oct-2013 17:38

Ahh I thought we were discussing wp8 not wp in general :P

Stan

929 posts

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#919343 21-Oct-2013 19:28

Thanks everyone it is good to get user experience.

NZtechfreak

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#919390 21-Oct-2013 20:38

NZCrusader:
NZtechfreak:

To mention nothing of the OS update that left a bunch of owners stranded on outdated versions...

Clearly you are uninformed.

Microsoft CANNOT port all features to an older OS which does not have the hardware to support them.

Microsoft ported several things from WP8 to WP7.8.

The context of my comment was in response to was the statement that WP has a superior OS update to Android, which I think you can debate. Sure, not everything can be ported, and sure, they ported some, nevertheless a bunch of users got burnt here. If MS hadn't set the hardware bar so low on WP7 this would have been avoidable.

As to your perception that poor old MS is getting bashed here - the thread is about MS so why should discussion skirt about problems? It's not as if we don't all spend time criticising competitor OS as well.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

NZtechfreak

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#919403 21-Oct-2013 21:01

Stan: Thanks everyone it is good to get user experience.

Well my user experience with WP8 was like this:

For a good number of my app requirements there was at least (and often only) one good app available. For lots of stuff I could get by on WP, and I think the app situation on WP is a little overblown in some quarters.

Where it fell down utterly was entertainment - music players, video playback, games, streaming services (even some basics like really good UPnP apps), entertainment related connectivity options (mirroring options wired and unwired, gamepads, Apt-X, BT LE, USB OTG). They just aren't there yet on WP. I'm sure for a lot of users it will do enough, but for me it was completely unsuited to my use and vastly inferior to either Android or iOS.

The WP marketplace is horrible. Note, I'm not talking about the availability of apps, I'm talking about the store itself. App discovery is terrible, stuff like the app description pages much less informative than competitors and uneccesarily cumbersome to navigate to get information about the app (largely because of WP wasteful formatting and needing to scroll multiple screens to see screenshots and check user reviews and so forth). The desktop version of the marketplace is really no better either.

People will carry on about how fluid the OS, but in reality it is no more fluid than current high-end Androids (I think WP does fare reasonably well in the smoothness stakes in comparison when you're looking at older/lower spec'd Androids). One thing all the "the OS is so fluid" people never mention is how often you're confronted by loading screens and animations in WP.

Notifications are an utter shambles. I'd love to hear what the apologists have to say here, because the stark reality is that for notifications WP OS is dead last in this area and by a very large margin. In my daily use great notifications make a very large difference to my productivity and experience.

Areas where Nokia made big contributions like maps and camera stuff do well and very well, no complaints there.

Browsing was fairly lacklustre.

Keyboard was not bad as a standard keyboard, but not up to the standard of the best Android ones.

Hopefully some of this stuff gets dealt to with the new hardware spec for WP, and future OS updates will no doubt shore up some of the deficiencies too (although OS updates in WP are fairly glacial in pace, so I wouldn't be holding my breath there). As it stands right now I really can't recommend WP to many people.

EDIT: Should make a couple of points about Android phones and slowdowns. First, don't take anything from the S3 and generalise it to the OS. There was a significant failure in the EMMC for that handset which lead within about six months to terrible performance hits. This is quite separate to OS level issues, although it is often erroneously generalised to the OS. That said, there was definitely an element of Android at the OS level that led to a more gradual decline in I/O performance, this has now been addressed in 4.3 with TRIM.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

nathan

5695 posts

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Inactive user

#919433 21-Oct-2013 21:31

NZtechfreak:
NZCrusader:
NZtechfreak:

To mention nothing of the OS update that left a bunch of owners stranded on outdated versions...

Clearly you are uninformed.

Microsoft CANNOT port all features to an older OS which does not have the hardware to support them.

Microsoft ported several things from WP8 to WP7.8.

The context of my comment was in response to was the statement that WP has a superior OS update to Android, which I think you can debate. Sure, not everything can be ported, and sure, they ported some, nevertheless a bunch of users got burnt here. If MS hadn't set the hardware bar so low on WP7 this would have been avoidable.

As to your perception that poor old MS is getting bashed here - the thread is about MS so why should discussion skirt about problems? It's not as if we don't all spend time criticising competitor OS as well.

I would liken it to all those Android users that are stuck on 2.x while new handsets come with 4.x

There phones still work, but they're not on the new version

All WP8 will upgrade to WP8.1. This .1 upgrade is going to be quite significant, way more than just a point release,

nathan

5695 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#919434 21-Oct-2013 21:34

mckenndk: I was hoping Microsoft would employ a model like Apple and Google Nexus where the updates avoid the network provider, I would say its just as bad as Android OS updates via Samsung etc.

The fact the likes of Telecom can block you using 4G as well is annoying, what if you wanted to roam somewhere that had 4G that the phone supported.

Rant over

NZtechfreak:
Wade: I went from Android (S3) to WP8 (L920) and subsequently back to Android (HTC One)

WP8 is still in it's infancy but has already proven to have a superior update model to Android.

Debatable point.

The OS update cycle is rather glacial on WP, and even the latest update still leaves a massive swath of deficiencies. Sure most current phones may get the update and get it relatively quickly, but that isn't all there is to value in OS updates.

To mention nothing of the OS update that left a bunch of owners stranded on outdated versions...

You can now bypass the carriers and get updates direct as of Windows Phone Update 3

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