Forced to use WP8 Lumia 520


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Hey guys and girls,

 

I had purchased Lumia 520 as a back up phone on Launch day as I was fascinated by WP8 and the price was perfect. Rs. 9500 (~$150) sim free.  

 

5 days ago, an unexpected thing happened. My Galaxy Note 2 died. Took it to local service center and they said that it's logic board has fried. So replacement of that part will take 15 days. I miss Apple service where they replace the phone on the spot. Anyway, I have stopped using iPhone due to small screen.

 

Till now, I ignored the 520 because it gets horribly overshadowed by Galaxy Note 2. But being forced to use 520, I can have a direct comparison with iOS and Android. Unfortunately I have some negative things to say. WP8 just doesn't hit the right notes with me.

 

The positives:

1. Smooth animations. (Wow they are great. But they do slightly get in my way at times.)

2. The tiles are great to look at. I prefer them over the battery hogging widgets of Android.

3. Ringtones and Notification and sounds throughout are very nicely done and are soothing but at the same time perky. Better than iOS.

4. The UI is very easy on eyes due to dark theme and I can choose white one too.

 

Now the negatives: (They completely overshadow all the above positives.) Please suggest me some workarounds wherever possible.

1. No scroll bar in default music player. I hate pressing back and forward buttons to scroll to desired position. No album art in lockscreen?

2. Huge one: Earphone sound is linked to external speaker sound. I had ringtone sound level at full 30/30 and for the first time I plugged in my earphones and played a tune. The earphones were running at same 30/30 volume to my horror. I thank my stars that the tune I played was slow at start otherwise I may have had a serious ear problem. Android and iOS have separate volumes for earphones and ringtones. Microsoft needs to fix this. I have to remember to reduce the volume every ime I play music. Sucks

3. Whenever I click on notifications, it takes me into the app and spends good 5 seconds showing me that it's resuming that app. Very annoying. Maybe processor in 520 is causing it.

4. Nokia maps for Mumbai, suck. I have not found a way to install or use default bing maps. (can anyone help me here?) Even bing maps suck as India is not a priority.

5. The settings page is one big mess with entries chucked. They neither follow any arrangement logic nor they are arranged alphabetically. Categories like Android or iOS should have been better.

 

So overall I see hints of an arrogant attitude by the makers of this OS. The exact same attitude is flowing through Windows 8. I honestly don't know what to say. But I am sure I cannot get accustomed to the OS because of the reasons mentioned.

 

I thank you for taking the time to read.

 

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Hey guys and girls,

 

I had purchased Lumia 520 as a back up phone on Launch day as I was fascinated by WP8 and the price was perfect. Rs. 9500 (~$150) sim free.  

 

5 days ago, an unexpected thing happened. My Galaxy Note 2 died. Took it to local service center and they said that it's logic board has fried. So replacement of that part will take 15 days. I miss Apple service where they replace the phone on the spot. Anyway, I have stopped using iPhone due to small screen.

 

Till now, I ignored the 520 because it gets horribly overshadowed by Galaxy Note 2. But being forced to use 520, I can have a direct comparison with iOS and Android. Unfortunately I have some negative things to say. WP8 just doesn't hit the right notes with me.

 

The positives:

1. Smooth animations. (Wow they are great. But they do slightly get in my way at times.)

2. The tiles are great to look at. I prefer them over the battery hogging widgets of Android.

3. Ringtones and Notification and sounds throughout are very nicely done and are soothing but at the same time perky. Better than iOS.

4. The UI is very easy on eyes due to dark theme and I can choose white one too.

 

Now the negatives: (They completely overshadow all the above positives.) Please suggest me some workarounds wherever possible.

1. No scroll bar in default music player. I hate pressing back and forward buttons to scroll to desired position. No album art in lockscreen?

2. Huge one: Earphone sound is linked to external speaker sound. I had ringtone sound level at full 30/30 and for the first time I plugged in my earphones and played a tune. The earphones were running at same 30/30 volume to my horror. I thank my stars that the tune I played was slow at start otherwise I may have had a serious ear problem. Android and iOS have separate volumes for earphones and ringtones. Microsoft needs to fix this. I have to remember to reduce the volume every ime I play music. Sucks

3. Whenever I click on notifications, it takes me into the app and spends good 5 seconds showing me that it's resuming that app. Very annoying. Maybe processor in 520 is causing it.

4. Nokia maps for Mumbai, suck. I have not found a way to install or use default bing maps. (can anyone help me here?) Even bing maps suck as India is not a priority.

5. The settings page is one big mess with entries chucked. They neither follow any arrangement logic nor they are arranged alphabetically. Categories like Android or iOS should have been better.

 

So overall I see hints of an arrogant attitude by the makers of this OS. The exact same attitude is flowing through Windows 8. I honestly don't know what to say. But I am sure I cannot get accustomed to the OS because of the reasons mentioned.

 

I thank you for taking the time to read.

 

Part of the problem is the screen-size difference between the two devices - the Note 2 is larger screenwise than your Lumia.

Next, you are basically swapping a tablet for a smartphone - the screensize disparity WILL rear its head.

 

The other part of it is the Lumia is indeed running a phone OS - it's not running RT.  There are differences between WP apps and even the SAME apps on RT, let alone ModernUI.

 

You got (undestandably) spoiled by the Note 2 - however, you would be in the same pickle had you an RT tablet - swapping a larger-screen device for a smaller one is plenty of headache, leaving aside OS differences.

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I will address #1,3,4

 

#1, I do have the scroll bar. I don't know why it doesn't show up on yours.

#3, Nokia Lumia 520 has less RAM so it doesn't like to keep apps running in the background

#4, Nokia choose to hide Bing Maps by default. Install "Maps" app from the Windows Phone Store to launch Bing Maps.

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Honestly, while I dont have it anymore, the 520 is one of the best phones I've ever used, considering the price.

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Part of the problem is the screen-size difference between the two devices - the Note 2 is larger screenwise than your Lumia.

Next, you are basically swapping a tablet for a smartphone - the screensize disparity WILL rear its head.

The other part of it is the Lumia is indeed running a phone OS - it's not running RT. There are differences between WP apps and even the SAME apps on RT, let alone ModernUI.

You got (undestandably) spoiled by the Note 2 - however, you would be in the same pickle had you an RT tablet - swapping a larger-screen device for a smaller one is plenty of headache, leaving aside OS differences.

Did you notice that none of my complaints were related to screen size but rather based on functionality? I am not exactly missing my Note 2 but just discovering these niggles the more I use the 520. The problems I mentioned except the 3rd one will be exactly same on all WP8 based devices.

Honestly, while I dont have it anymore, the 520 is one of the best phones I've ever used, considering the price.

Why don't you have it anymore?
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I agree with issue #2.

 

Last week I switched from Windows Mobile 6 (Yes, really) to Windows Phone 8 and I was surprised that there's only one volume level.  On Windows Mobile you can have one level for apps and another level for ringtones / alarms.

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I agree about the volume control.  Volume for Apps needs independant control.  Hopefully fixed at some point. 

personally, I like the universal volume. no more getting surprise what the volume here and there is.  On my android phone now I have no idea what the volume is in all the different places. 

 

arguably headphones should perhaps have a separate volume. 

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Everything you said, is basically the summation of complaints from everyone, ever. Xbox music sucks balls on a good day, and the volume controls are 1 and the same (bluetooth, however, uses a different volume control). The settings are all over the place, and there isn't a notification center.

 

The slow resuming is related to the low-end price, I'll give WP that. On a high end 820/920+, resuming is almost instantaneous.

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Hey guys and girls,

 

I had purchased Lumia 520 as a back up phone on Launch day as I was fascinated by WP8 and the price was perfect. Rs. 9500 (~$150) sim free.  

 

5 days ago, an unexpected thing happened. My Galaxy Note 2 died. Took it to local service center and they said that it's logic board has fried. So replacement of that part will take 15 days. I miss Apple service where they replace the phone on the spot. Anyway, I have stopped using iPhone due to small screen.

 

Till now, I ignored the 520 because it gets horribly overshadowed by Galaxy Note 2. But being forced to use 520, I can have a direct comparison with iOS and Android. Unfortunately I have some negative things to say. WP8 just doesn't hit the right notes with me.

 

The positives:

1. Smooth animations. (Wow they are great. But they do slightly get in my way at times.)

2. The tiles are great to look at. I prefer them over the battery hogging widgets of Android.

3. Ringtones and Notification and sounds throughout are very nicely done and are soothing but at the same time perky. Better than iOS.

4. The UI is very easy on eyes due to dark theme and I can choose white one too.

 

Now the negatives: (They completely overshadow all the above positives.) Please suggest me some workarounds wherever possible.

1. No scroll bar in default music player. I hate pressing back and forward buttons to scroll to desired position. No album art in lockscreen?

2. Huge one: Earphone sound is linked to external speaker sound. I had ringtone sound level at full 30/30 and for the first time I plugged in my earphones and played a tune. The earphones were running at same 30/30 volume to my horror. I thank my stars that the tune I played was slow at start otherwise I may have had a serious ear problem. Android and iOS have separate volumes for earphones and ringtones. Microsoft needs to fix this. I have to remember to reduce the volume every ime I play music. Sucks

3. Whenever I click on notifications, it takes me into the app and spends good 5 seconds showing me that it's resuming that app. Very annoying. Maybe processor in 520 is causing it.

4. Nokia maps for Mumbai, suck. I have not found a way to install or use default bing maps. (can anyone help me here?) Even bing maps suck as India is not a priority.

5. The settings page is one big mess with entries chucked. They neither follow any arrangement logic nor they are arranged alphabetically. Categories like Android or iOS should have been better.

 

So overall I see hints of an arrogant attitude by the makers of this OS. The exact same attitude is flowing through Windows 8. I honestly don't know what to say. But I am sure I cannot get accustomed to the OS because of the reasons mentioned.

 

I thank you for taking the time to read.

Logic board on my galaxy note fried earlier this year too, but i switched to a Lumia 920 & it was a blessing in disguise - WP8 is so much better than android...IMO

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1) Scroll bar?  What positions are you changing?

2) I love the universal volume

3) Depends on the app.  Which ones?  As noted, the 520 is lean on memory.

5) Really?  Android is a complete cluster**** and Apple's simplistic categories hardly makes theirs easier to navigate.  The list isn't that long.

 

Not a single one of those warrants your thread title or the ramblings about arrogance however.

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1) Scroll bar?  What positions are you changing?

2) Don't turn up your ringtone so high.  Its rude, and now there is a penalty for it.  I love the universal volume.

3) Depends on the app.  Which ones?

4) Mumbai sucks, move.

5) Really?  Android is a complete non-standard cluster**** and Apple's simplistic categories hardly makes theirs easier to navigate.  The list isn't that long.

 

Not a single one of those warrants your thread title or the ramblings about arrogance however.

Just wow!

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Honestly, while I dont have it anymore, the 520 is one of the best phones I've ever used, considering the price.

Off topic, what? what happened?

 

 

Off topic to the OP, any idea what happened to your note for the board to fry?

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Off topic, what? what happened?

 

 

Off topic to the OP, any idea what happened to your note for the board to fry?

 

My mother destroyed her phone so I gave mine to her since my phone company was offering me a galaxy mini for free.

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My mother destroyed her phone so I gave mine to her since my phone company was offering me a galaxy mini for free.

I think we shall continue this conversation in your thread so as to not thread hack :P

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