DS Forums

 
 

Think I've changed my mind about Windows Phone


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 29-11-2014, 10:33
drabble
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 613

So I booked my Nexus 5 in for repair again at CPW yesterday and was about to leave when I noticed they were doing the Lumia 530 on PAYG upgrade from £14.99, so I thought why not as I had my various PAYG backup SIM cards on me.

Anyway I've hated WP since forever and swore that I would never buy another Nokia after my N8.

But I have to say it is not bad at all and certainly better than WP7, it was easy to get my Google account to sync, my main apps are there although some are less developed than the Android and iOS versions, there was very little learning curve really.

The permissions are a little scary though as Microsoft seems to want to know everything but at least there seems to be more overall control of what you can share.

The hardware seems pretty solid though I hear it is a bit of a downgrade from the 520 and I am happy to see a user replaceable battery and SD storage that you can store everything on.

Would I of paid the £40 to £60+ these usually go for, I have to say probably not but the Android devices down in this price range are pretty dreadful and this is surprisingly good.

I was planning on passing it on to a family member when I get my Nexus back but I think I will keep it and use it as my primary backup phone.
drabble is offline   Reply With Quote
Please sign in or register to remove this advertisement.
Old 29-11-2014, 18:33
IvanIV
Forum Member
 
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 25,199
WP is known for running very well on a low specced hardware. It came a long way from WP7. I think the problem with WP acceptance also is that it goes a minimalistic way as for UI and not everybody likes that. People often want their phone OS to be pretty pretty pretty, with flashy effects and WP is not that.
IvanIV is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29-11-2014, 18:48
Gigabit
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,876
The issue with WP is that it doesn't have any reason to exist. That's the blunt truth.
Gigabit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29-11-2014, 19:30
1saintly
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 3,663
So I booked my Nexus 5 in for repair again at CPW yesterday and was about to leave when I noticed they were doing the Lumia 530 on PAYG upgrade from £14.99, so I thought why not as I had my various PAYG backup SIM cards on me.

Anyway I've hated WP since forever and swore that I would never buy another Nokia after my N8.

But I have to say it is not bad at all and certainly better than WP7, it was easy to get my Google account to sync, my main apps are there although some are less developed than the Android and iOS versions, there was very little learning curve really.

The permissions are a little scary though as Microsoft seems to want to know everything but at least there seems to be more overall control of what you can share.

The hardware seems pretty solid though I hear it is a bit of a downgrade from the 520 and I am happy to see a user replaceable battery and SD storage that you can store everything on.

Would I of paid the £40 to £60+ these usually go for, I have to say probably not but the Android devices down in this price range are pretty dreadful and this is surprisingly good.

I was planning on passing it on to a family member when I get my Nexus back but I think I will keep it and use it as my primary backup phone.
For £15 its not the worlds greatst phone but a great price to see if you like windows or not.
Better than spending £60 or hundreds just to find out you dont like it.
1saintly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29-11-2014, 19:35
gomezz
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Buckingham
Posts: 28,544
The issue with WP is that it doesn't have any reason to exist. That's the blunt truth.
It does if you are someone who would not touch an iPhone or Android phone with a barge pole.
gomezz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29-11-2014, 19:41
Gigabit
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,876
It does if you are someone who would not touch an iPhone or Android phone with a barge pole.
What does it offer that iOS and Android don't?
Gigabit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29-11-2014, 19:43
gomezz
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Buckingham
Posts: 28,544
Isolation from the sticky-fingered.
gomezz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 29-11-2014, 19:43
Gigabit
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 2,876
Isolation from the sticky-fingered.
Please, elaborate.
Gigabit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-11-2014, 11:17
dearmrman
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Utopia
Posts: 10,166
What does it offer that iOS and Android don't?
Another choice and the big thing is that the cheap (IOS doesn't do cheap) Nokia WP's run smoothly, even with the latest update, not something that can be said with Android phones, maybe the odd exception like the Moto G, but that tends to be more expensive than a WP.
dearmrman is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-11-2014, 11:56
gomezz
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Buckingham
Posts: 28,544
Please, elaborate.
Why do you need to know?
gomezz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-11-2014, 13:13
drabble
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 613
WP is known for running very well on a low specced hardware. It came a long way from WP7. I think the problem with WP acceptance also is that it goes a minimalistic way as for UI and not everybody likes that. People often want their phone OS to be pretty pretty pretty, with flashy effects and WP is not that.
It certainly feels like it has come a long a way since WP7. I prefer minimalism and stuff to just work without jumping threw hoops. It does feel well optimised for the low spec.

The issue with WP is that it doesn't have any reason to exist. That's the blunt truth.
I can't say I disagree, I thought it was totally the wrong direction as a long time Nokia user, but the more I use it the more I seem to be liking it even with the slightly odd task switching.

For £15 its not the worlds greatst phone but a great price to see if you like windows or not.
Better than spending £60 or hundreds just to find out you dont like it.
No it is not but even after a couple of days I am growing fond of it so much so I am considering buying the Lumia 635 that is also on offer at CPW at the moment as I have another eligible PAYG SIM and passing on the 530.
drabble is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-11-2014, 13:18
1saintly
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 3,663
No it is not but even after a couple of days I am growing fond of it so much so I am considering buying the Lumia 635 that is also on offer at CPW at the moment as I have another eligible PAYG SIM and passing on the 530.
dam O2
was going to get one (530)

But robbing sods at o2 want £30
http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/pho...ourCode=YELLOW
and thats what im on, only wanted it to have a play around with Windows.
1saintly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-11-2014, 13:26
drabble
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 613
dam O2
was going to get one (530)

But robbing sods at o2 want £30
http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/pho...ourCode=YELLOW
and thats what im on, only wanted it to have a play around with Windows.
Even at that price I would say it is more than worth it.
drabble is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-11-2014, 13:32
1saintly
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 3,663
Even at that price I would say it is more than worth it.
Yep youre right...
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...er/2928276.htm
http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-mo...y/581-3700.prd

Ok back to shop, they said they can cut my old big sim card down, so it will fit new phone, so just stick it in and go
Still robbing sods at o2
1saintly is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30-11-2014, 13:35
drabble
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 613
Yep youre right...
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...er/2928276.htm
http://www.tesco.com/direct/tesco-mo...y/581-3700.prd

Ok back to shop, they said they can cut my old big sim card down, so it will fit new phone, so just stick it in and go
Still robbing sods at o2
They should swap your SIM or give you a new combi SIM pack so you can swap it yourself, if not just walk into an 02 shop after and ask them to do it.

Also make sure you get and use a micro SD card for storage as there is very little space for more apps as the 4GB internal memory is pretty much used. Storage Sense states 2.58GB used and 1.11 GB free from new.
drabble is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 08:47
noise747
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Herefordshire
Posts: 22,797
WP is known for running very well on a low specced hardware. It came a long way from WP7. I think the problem with WP acceptance also is that it goes a minimalistic way as for UI and not everybody likes that. People often want their phone OS to be pretty pretty pretty, with flashy effects and WP is not that.
Not really customisable, sure you can move the tiles and make them smaller, but that is it. Also only one screen for all the icons/tiles, so you have to scroll down to find anything, If you have a lot of apps, it seems more of a pain then just sliding to a different screen.

Not about being pretty at all.

But yes, it does run well with low specced hardware.
noise747 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 08:53
jonmorris
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: a land filled with trolls
Posts: 12,014
Adding folders has helped a little, but I do think Microsoft needs to 'up its game' and consider more freedom to customise the home screen, launcher and other aspects of the UI.

It may well go against what Microsoft is trying to do, especially by dropping 'Phone' and just calling it Windows - but I think it's necessary.

You can't customise ordinary Windows that much by default, but there's plenty of third party software to do it. On a phone, Microsoft could do what even Apple has now begun to do - and allow users to select a different home screen, email client, browser, keyboard etc.

Microsoft could still retain Cortana for searching and use Bing for results, but I do think it needs to open up a bit more. Otherwise I really do think that it will just trundle along without ever gaining the traction it needs to become successful. And gaining a not too shabby marketshare from the sale of low-end models like the Lumia 5nn range isn't the way to get developers all lining up to develop for the platform, which in turn helps encourage existing iOS and Android users to change.

Maybe the new management will already be thinking this though, as it's been some time since WP launched and it's really gone nowhere, despite some excellent devices and large improvements to the OS in the last six months or so.
jonmorris is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 09:55
clonmult
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: UK
Posts: 3,291
WP is known for running very well on a low specced hardware. It came a long way from WP7. I think the problem with WP acceptance also is that it goes a minimalistic way as for UI and not everybody likes that. People often want their phone OS to be pretty pretty pretty, with flashy effects and WP is not that.
Then how do you explain the success of the iPhone? There are no flashy effects on iOS (at least no more than there are on WP). Heck, iOS has considerably less options for customisation than WP, no fancy transitions, no fancy anything really ....

To be honest, Android doesn't have any more flashy effects than WP either.

But the perception is that WP isn't as flashy - which is what counts. Reality counts for nothing these days, its peoples perception.

I've always found that WP sits somewhere between iOS and Android in the interface flexibility, and arguably gets the compromise better than either. I hate to say it, but MS have got WP right. What MS haven't got right is the marketing. But then neither MS or Nokia before them had any competence in marketing - never have, never will.
clonmult is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 09:58
gomezz
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Buckingham
Posts: 28,544
Not really customisable, sure you can move the tiles and make them smaller, but that is it. Also only one screen for all the icons/tiles, so you have to scroll down to find anything, If you have a lot of apps, it seems more of a pain then just sliding to a different screen
Or you can use folders to group similar apps together. For example, I have separate folders for Media, Travel, and People. And I find it easier to find lesser used apps by sliding over to the full alphabetical list than I would hunting through a jumble of icons spread over many screens.
gomezz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 10:09
WelshBluebird
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 720
Tbh my only problem with WP is still the apps.
Things like iPlayer not allowing downloads etc.
If that (and a few more things) got sorted, then I'd be happy to get one.
WelshBluebird is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 10:10
jonmorris
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: a land filled with trolls
Posts: 12,014
Windows Phone is 'very nearly there'. It's been like that for some time, but it needs that final few tweaks and touches to stand a chance of ever being successful, and perhaps taking advantage of people getting frustrated with iOS or Android, or even just bored and fancying a change.

One thing that annoys me is the inability to change the keyboard, and also to upload photos automatically to Dropbox. There's no official Dropbox app for one, and even though WP now allows you to upload to other services besides OneDrive, it doesn't do it as efficiently or reliably. That is possibly down to the lack of the official app from Dropbox, but it doesn't matter the reason. It's a real shame because there are many Lumia devices with excellent cameras.

There are other annoyances too (lack of apps, or the more cut down nature of many of them), which mean that I can't see myself switching to WP on a day to day basis anytime soon, and boy have I tried over the years. I've certainly got no shortage of devices!
jonmorris is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 10:13
gomezz
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Buckingham
Posts: 28,544
Things like iPlayer not allowing downloads etc.
That and access to BT Sport is why I also have a small inexpensive Android tablet I can put in my bag to complement my Windows phone if I know there may be some time to kill while out and about.
gomezz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 13:06
finbaar
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 3,921
Those wishing to knock WP should use get themselves a device and live with it for a bit. I used an Ativ S from January to August. WP8 was pretty dire but the very wonderful developer preview programme I put WP8.1 on it as soon as I could. By the time I got shot the phone was running very well with good battery life.

I can’t say I particularly enjoyed my time with WP but I didn’t hate it. It was a lot easier to use than iOS though. It does certain things very well – the ability to use a SD card for all storage was great, even though the Ativ came with 16gb I used a 32gb card. The waste of screen space in apps, lack of a file manager, lack of complexity and the fact I have never had a particular love for Nokia were my main gripes. The day I went full time back to Android was a happy one. I to have just got a £15 530 to give (to give to my daughter rather than use myself) and I may well pick up another device next year to see how it is getting on - the 830 looks good. I wouldn’t want to do it full time again though, it’s just not really me.
finbaar is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 13:45
jonmorris
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: a land filled with trolls
Posts: 12,014
Pretty much my opinion. Lord knows I've tried enough handsets, since being given an HTC device on launch day back in, what, 2011?
jonmorris is offline Follow this poster on Twitter   Reply With Quote
Old 01-12-2014, 13:48
Dan 8t1
Forum Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Leicester
Posts: 897
Also only one screen for all the icons/tiles, so you have to scroll down to find anything, If you have a lot of apps, it seems more of a pain then just sliding to a different screen.
As gomezz alludes to, the idea is that you put your most frequently used apps on the Start screen (just as you might have icons for your most frequently used PC applications on the Desktop), and swipe across to the A-Z app list for others (where, incidentally, it's very fast to get to the app you want by tapping any of the letter headings followed by the letter the app begins with).
Dan 8t1 is offline   Reply With Quote
 
Reply




 
Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 13:09.