Just curious, is there anyone using a Windows Phone? I am a proud Lumia 920 user here (also had a Lumia 710 and 900 before). I always feel that Windows Phone user is a minority group, and I haven't met someone who uses a WP in real life.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Any Windows Phone user here?
- Thread starter aaronchow
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Yeah had a HTC Trophy and a Lumia 800 in the past, and recently had a HTC 8X which because of hardware and software frustration I got rid of.
When Windows phone 7 came out I was really impressed with it.
With Windows Phone 8 I can see the improvements but as an OS I'm less impressed by it anymore.
If its new o you, fair enough - but as a previous user it loses its mark. The fact that by the time you have added a load of Apps from the marketplace, pinned them to start, you have a horrible vast sprawling jungle of app icons that even when reducing to 1/4 size are quite clunky/messy on the eye.
Still no notification centre of any description, and your app draw itself needs a overhaul when you have 50+ apps its just a scrolling mess.
Messaging is great, but email is still a pain. Why no unified mailbox? Why does every account need a new tile meaning I end up with three or 4 mail tiles that I have to check individually....
Music hub on the 8X rarely ever worked with Smart DJ or downloaded cover artwork so I had to use MPA tool, which then adds an erroneous audio file to every album meaning you have to maniacally go into the phone afterwards to erase those files or otherwise be plagued by them in audio player.
With the new front end gui design aesthetics now centred rather than shifted to one side, why do legacy apps like music player still put their controls to one side, rather than be centre them or make them more aesthetically pleasing.. It's like the design teams are at odds with each other...
Windows phone has promise, but still some way from Android and IOS.
When Windows phone 7 came out I was really impressed with it.
With Windows Phone 8 I can see the improvements but as an OS I'm less impressed by it anymore.
If its new o you, fair enough - but as a previous user it loses its mark. The fact that by the time you have added a load of Apps from the marketplace, pinned them to start, you have a horrible vast sprawling jungle of app icons that even when reducing to 1/4 size are quite clunky/messy on the eye.
Still no notification centre of any description, and your app draw itself needs a overhaul when you have 50+ apps its just a scrolling mess.
Messaging is great, but email is still a pain. Why no unified mailbox? Why does every account need a new tile meaning I end up with three or 4 mail tiles that I have to check individually....
Music hub on the 8X rarely ever worked with Smart DJ or downloaded cover artwork so I had to use MPA tool, which then adds an erroneous audio file to every album meaning you have to maniacally go into the phone afterwards to erase those files or otherwise be plagued by them in audio player.
With the new front end gui design aesthetics now centred rather than shifted to one side, why do legacy apps like music player still put their controls to one side, rather than be centre them or make them more aesthetically pleasing.. It's like the design teams are at odds with each other...
Windows phone has promise, but still some way from Android and IOS.
Last edited:
Me! raises hand
I've been using it since WP7 came out - literally day 0 adapter - and love it. I have a Focus, 2 Lumia 800's (thanks Microsoft!) and an 820. I'll probably pick up a 620 in lime green when they're available too.
Unlike MacRumorUser, I don't see a reason to have a notification center as there's only a few apps I really care about getting notified from, and they all go onto my start screen.
----------
In switching from the WinCE architecture to the NT kernel, they actually re-wrote a lot of the programs, which is why all of the Zune integration is gone
I've been using it since WP7 came out - literally day 0 adapter - and love it. I have a Focus, 2 Lumia 800's (thanks Microsoft!) and an 820. I'll probably pick up a 620 in lime green when they're available too.
Unlike MacRumorUser, I don't see a reason to have a notification center as there's only a few apps I really care about getting notified from, and they all go onto my start screen.
----------
I have a unified inbox... I have 2 work emails and they go to the same inbox. I have a 3rd account with its own inbox. Just link them under "Linked Inboxes".
That's a part of the metro design language. If you look just below the icons, you'll see they line up perfectly with the album art square.
In switching from the WinCE architecture to the NT kernel, they actually re-wrote a lot of the programs, which is why all of the Zune integration is gone
Me! raises hand
I've been using it since WP7 came out - literally day 0 adapter - and love it. I have a Focus, 2 Lumia 800's (thanks Microsoft!) and an 820. I'll probably pick up a 620 in lime green when they're available too.
Unlike MacRumorUser, I don't see a reason to have a notification center as there's only a few apps I really care about getting notified from, and they all go onto my start screen.
----------
I have a unified inbox... I have 2 work emails and they go to the same inbox. I have a 3rd account with its own inbox. Just link them under "Linked Inboxes".
That's a part of the metro design language. If you look just below the icons, you'll see they line up perfectly with the album art square.
In switching from the WinCE architecture to the NT kernel, they actually re-wrote a lot of the programs, which is why all of the Zune integration is gone
Why didn't you get the 920?
But the 820 is still an impressive windows phone, it's even better than the newly-announced 720.
Yeah. I use an 8X. Needs some work in a few areas and a few more important apps, but overall its nice.
Sent from my HTC6990LVW using Board Express
Sent from my HTC6990LVW using Board Express
Why didn't you get the 920?
But the 820 is still an impressive windows phone, it's even better than the newly-announced 720.
I didn't like how large it was, and since I don't really care about the camera, I felt like an SD card was a good trade for a hi-def screen. Otherwise they were about identical.
Im listening to What The Tech and Paul Thurrot just brought up that the 920 was botched because there was no SD vs the 820 as I opened this thread and saw your reply. Guess he was at least somewhat right.
In switching from the WinCE architecture to the NT kernel, they actually re-wrote a lot of the programs, which is why all of the Zune integration is gone
Interesting...how do you sync like podcasts to it? I thought Zune Desktop was unfortunately incompetent for podcasts, but maybe whatever system they use now works better?
Ugh, podcast support is what keeps me tethered to iOS more than anything else lol
I was at an AT&T store the other day checking out Android phones, and honestly the windows phones impressed me more. The 920 felt pretty heavy, but it seemed to be the best phone over all. I'm really wanting to pick one up to mess around with and try something else out besides iOS.
You can go to the app store, select podcasts, and download them right to your phone. There's probably more than that, I don't know if I've listened to 2 podcasts in my life so I'm really not sure. Someone else could answer better.
8x owner on Verizon
Awesome UI but you're pretty much watching the ecosystem grow
If you're on AT&T I'd get the 920. If you're on Verizon I'd wait for the Nokia Laser
Nokia is like Blackberry - they can't afford to lose on their respective platform. For Nokia that means they're going all in on WP8 and a lot of cool apps, from Xbox Live exclusives to killer Nokia apps are not available on my 8x
Awesome UI but you're pretty much watching the ecosystem grow
If you're on AT&T I'd get the 920. If you're on Verizon I'd wait for the Nokia Laser
Nokia is like Blackberry - they can't afford to lose on their respective platform. For Nokia that means they're going all in on WP8 and a lot of cool apps, from Xbox Live exclusives to killer Nokia apps are not available on my 8x
Just subscribe from your phone for podcasts.
Music can be drag and dropped via explorer or synced using the Windows 8 app.
Last edited:
I'm using a 920 as well. So many great features both with the hardware as well as software.
My main complaints;
No notification center. Unless you have the app pinned, you won't get a notification unless you are looking at the screen. If you happen to be playing a game, that toast notification is going to interrupt you like crazy and there is no way to dismiss it, you just have to wait. Anything pinned gets great notifications, otherwise the whole system is very annoying and intrusive.
The volume control is universal. If I'm on 10 for my ringer, then when I take a call or listen to a voicemail it's going to be on 10 (which isn't loud enough for me). So I have to constantly fiddle with the volume depending on what I am about to do, or if I just want to leave it in my pocket and have a ring that isn't deafening.
No toggles. There are some apps that make the process a little less intrusive, but it still is kind of a pain to switch your wifi and bluetooth on or off- on the plus side my battery life is so great I don't really need to turn these things off unless I'm really trying to make it last a long time.
That's pretty much my biggest gripes. In general I really like WP8 a lot more than the two alternatives. If the app selection continues to get better (which it has a lot in the past two months) then I can see WP8 appealing to more people.
My main complaints;
No notification center. Unless you have the app pinned, you won't get a notification unless you are looking at the screen. If you happen to be playing a game, that toast notification is going to interrupt you like crazy and there is no way to dismiss it, you just have to wait. Anything pinned gets great notifications, otherwise the whole system is very annoying and intrusive.
The volume control is universal. If I'm on 10 for my ringer, then when I take a call or listen to a voicemail it's going to be on 10 (which isn't loud enough for me). So I have to constantly fiddle with the volume depending on what I am about to do, or if I just want to leave it in my pocket and have a ring that isn't deafening.
No toggles. There are some apps that make the process a little less intrusive, but it still is kind of a pain to switch your wifi and bluetooth on or off- on the plus side my battery life is so great I don't really need to turn these things off unless I'm really trying to make it last a long time.
That's pretty much my biggest gripes. In general I really like WP8 a lot more than the two alternatives. If the app selection continues to get better (which it has a lot in the past two months) then I can see WP8 appealing to more people.
I had an HTC Trophy and got a Lumia 822 on launch day with Verizon. Since then Verizon moved me to an 8X due to problems with two 822's. I really like the 8X. There are things that could be better and I'd like to see a notification center, but overall I'm satisfied with the phone and can't wait to see what the future has in store for WP.
Thanks, just doesn't work for me. I need something that functions like iTunes + the Music program on iOS :-/
Would end up having to manually copy stuff to my device, manage which one's I've listened to to keep them in sync, etc. Like pre-2005 style.
Curious how that functions. I dont/never used iTunes for Podcasts. Do you subscribe and it syncs the played/last position of the podcast between your iTunes and iPhone/iPad?
Windows Phone works well for me since I pretty much just listen to podcasts through my phone/bluetooth speaker and if Im on my computer Im streaming the show live with video. So it leaves me just using m phone to keep track of podcasts.
BEGIN NOTIFICATION RANT
You know what else is kind of annoying? When you are on your home screen's natural state, like you just pressed your home button... there is a huge gap between your top row of tiles and the actual top of the screen. This space is left open in anticipation of any possible notifications. It seems like a waste to me.
Toast is intrusive by design, yet they put this little buffer up there to accommodate it at all times from the home screen. Chances are if you're holding your phone and looking at the screen (the only time a toast notification will do you any good since you can't go back and check them later) you are probably not just staring at your home screen. You are probably using an app or playing a game. So that huge gap on the home screen really doesn't serve any purpose to me.
Again, anything pinned gets great notifications. Otherwise you would never know unless you were looking at your phone. Often at work I will feel my phone vibrate and hear a chirp and then when I go to look at it later I can't even find what that alert was for.
Also, much like iOS, the status bar up top is totally wasted. Android is the only platform that utilizes notifications on the status bar properly, in my opinion. And this isn't some new concept, it was around way before smartphones. I like that in WP8 the status is usually "hidden" and that you can do a quick tap to check your reception and all that, but why not use some of that vacant space up there for little icons to let me know about any missed notifications?
END NOTIFICATION RANT.
You know what else is kind of annoying? When you are on your home screen's natural state, like you just pressed your home button... there is a huge gap between your top row of tiles and the actual top of the screen. This space is left open in anticipation of any possible notifications. It seems like a waste to me.
Toast is intrusive by design, yet they put this little buffer up there to accommodate it at all times from the home screen. Chances are if you're holding your phone and looking at the screen (the only time a toast notification will do you any good since you can't go back and check them later) you are probably not just staring at your home screen. You are probably using an app or playing a game. So that huge gap on the home screen really doesn't serve any purpose to me.
Again, anything pinned gets great notifications. Otherwise you would never know unless you were looking at your phone. Often at work I will feel my phone vibrate and hear a chirp and then when I go to look at it later I can't even find what that alert was for.
Also, much like iOS, the status bar up top is totally wasted. Android is the only platform that utilizes notifications on the status bar properly, in my opinion. And this isn't some new concept, it was around way before smartphones. I like that in WP8 the status is usually "hidden" and that you can do a quick tap to check your reception and all that, but why not use some of that vacant space up there for little icons to let me know about any missed notifications?
END NOTIFICATION RANT.
Windows platform dominates PC sales, Apple devices dominate mobile phone sales. Go figure It blows me away how so many millions will buy iPhones and iPads/iPods but buy Windows computers. Has to be price.
It blows me away how so many millions will buy iPhones and iPads/iPods but buy Windows computers. Has to be price.