Living with Windows Phone 8

I have been using an Android phone since the Samsung Galaxy S was launched in the UK. It has grown from an OS which was only slightly better than Symbian and perhaps a little worse than iOS to the best selling OS in the world and with 4.4.1 arguably more polished, functional and usable than any other OS.

However, I have been curious about Windows Phone for a while. In terms of a mobile phone my requirements go in the following order

1. Phone calls
2. Camera
3. Web browser
4. Deezer
5. Email
6. Whatsapp
7. PDF reading
8. BBC iplayer
9. Youtube

Now Nokia has been releasing phones which are perhaps the best in terms of the first 2 criteria. With IE11 Microsoft have arguably one of the best browsers available so I was hopeful the browser would be good enough quality. Also due to the lack of popularity of WP the prices drop very quickly.

I picked up a Lumia 1020 and here is what I can report:

1. Phone call quality - definitely better than my last Samsung phone, probably the best I have ever experienced. I have not yet had a phone conversion where I have not understood what the other person has been saying nor has anyone on the other end complained about not being able to hear me.

2. Camera - well I do wish it was faster but the quality of the photos is the best I have seen in a phone. Great for capturing a moment.

3. Web browser - My favourite browser is still Chrome on android, but you need to have a top spec phone or it is no where near as smooth as IE on WP or Safari on iOS. That being said IE on WP is fast, fluid and works for every website I have tried so far.

4. Deezer - The sound from the headphones is much better than my previous Galaxy Note and Nexus 7, the application works well, although the recent update on Android has a slightly better interface, but not significantly.

5. EMail - Well I use Gmail and it integrates much better on Android than it does on WP.

6. Whatsapp - This works, but WP is missing the ability to compress videos which is a bit of a shame, otherwise I have not noticed an obvious difference.

7. Adobe - Available on both WP and Android it works well, although the ability to easily copy files on Android means that it is a big winner in this department.

8. BBC iPlayer - BBC iPlayer seems to never function well with the latest Android then after the release has been out 6 months and BBC iPLayer has finally fixed its bugs a new version is released and it falls apart again. WP the interface is basically the same but the app has not messed up on me yet so WP wins this one.

9. Youtube - This is a great big hole in WP. Basically you just use the web browser, it lacks all the nice stuff that is now available on iOS and Android.

Things I miss

1. Swype, the WP keyboard is good, better than iOS from my perspective, but Swype is better than both, allegedly WP8.1 brings gesture typing and I for one cannot wait.

2. Notification bar - With Android I was one swipe away from reading emails and SMSs. With the Lumia 1020 I am notified that I have emails and SMSs to read on the glance screen, but then I have to go into the main screen and click in and out of the two different apps.

3. Google+ photos

4. Quick voice reminders

Things I like more

1. Glance screen is very nice.

2. The animations are better on WP than any other device, I enjoy the squeeze effect on reaching the end of the screen, the way different sections animate in at different speeds and generally how stuff moves about on the screen is pretty and fluid.

3. Phone switches in and out of Wifi very quickly.

4. Hardware is quality throughout, from buttons which require just enough pressure to never trigger accidentally to a battery which lasts 2 days, great sound and reception quality.

5. Voice recognition is the best I have experienced so far, while all vendors have stepped up over the last 2 years Microsoft so far has recognised every word I have tried...I haven't tested extensively but it has already beaten Google and Apple in contacts recognition so I have confidence that it is the best. The next real test is place names...

What will be my next phone?

Hmm difficult choice, I doubt it will be an iPhone, but a lot depends on Windows Phone 8.1. If a notification centre and voice reminders are not forthcoming I suspect I will be looking at Android again, otherwise I could be getting the next pureview model released.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

IE9 Intranet compatibility mode in Intranet websites

So you have written an HTML5 site on your local intranet with some lovely CCS3 and run it up in Firefox and you feel smug, all your HTML and CSS are perfectly formed, but you run it up in IE9 and all the CSS3 goodness has gone away leaving your lack luster IE7 version of your site.   Why is IE9 running in IE7 compatibility mode? IE9 has a hidden setting that forces it to run in compatibility mode when it encounters any intranet websites. Microsoft have detailed this behaviour in a Blog about what they call Smart compatibility mode . You can easily switch off the compatibility mode for specific machines using the internet tools mentioned in the article above, but most of the time developers do not have the luxury of applying corporate wide settings of this nature. Avoiding Smart compatibility with X-UA-Compatible Luckily there is a single line of HTML you can that you can use to override this behaviour: <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge,c
Read more

User Interface Usability Checklist Part 2

So you made it through part 1 of the usability check list, how about part 2? 21. Poor Label Alignment If you have been through design 101 you have probably heard of the wonderful acronym for the basic principles of design, C.R.A.P. This of course stands for Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity. Proximity is very important when identifying which label belongs to which input. Each different form of alignment has its advantages and disadvantages. Left Alignment The label appearing on the left of a box is a common practice. This often helps with vertical space and keeping all of the elements of a form on a single page, which can be beneficial in aiding the user in form completion and making them aware of all of the possible options they can, or made need to provide information for. It does however have a few disadvantages. Long labels cause short label's input boxes to be far away from the end of the label, this damages that basic principle of proximity. In extreme
Read more

Procedural VS Object Oriented

What is the correct way to write code? If you have worked with PHP long enough you may well have come across the website  PHP The Right Way . This website is dedicated to helping developers learn the industry best practices. Interestingly another site appeared afterwards called  PHP The Wrong Way . In essence this website is a rebuttal to the many of the recommendations made in PHP The Right Way. With any sphere of learning it is important to keep an open mind, to listen and critically evaluate the received wisdom and determine if it is indeed wisdom or opinion built on shaky ground. There is one part of the argument I would like to focus on and this is the argument for and against " Always use object-oriented Programming ". While PHP The Right Way does not appear to explicitly state that you should always use an object oriented approach it is implicit from the examples and the recommendations to use design patterns. While there are programming approaches available othe
Read more