Why i'm abandoning Windows Phone

[thechronic]

I have to say first that the platform itself is fantastic. It's stable, it's well designed in my opinion but i feel i must abandon ship and switch back to Android.

Windows Phone 7.8 of course has been replaced by Windows Phone 8. My Lumia 800 device is missing out on certain releases that are only available for Windows Phone 8 for example the new Facebook beta and Temple Run.

The device should be capable of running such apps so why am i being left out? I've only had it since the beginning of last year!

Windows Phone 8 has more apps but it doesn't seem that there are many major releases to choose from there either.

I'm sad to leave Windows Phone. I hope that in 12 months time when i'm due to upgrade again that the situation has changed. I just can't be doing with this anymore.

Anyone else abandoned ship or perhaps just switched to Windows Phone?

[typu]

yeh i did same. switched back to android as I felt lacking too much on windows phone. im on the nexus 4 and the phone together with android gives me just everything i want. android has a strong ecosystem in the meanwhile. ill give windows phone another try in a year or so.

[LUTZIFER]

yeh i did same. switched back to android as I felt lacking too much on windows phone. im on the nexus 4 and the phone together with android gives me just everything i want. android has a strong ecosystem in the meanwhile. ill give windows phone another try in a year or so.

Yeah the Nexus 4 is quite awesome. Does everything, and does it very well. Like a little supercomputer that thing is.

Only thing I'll be upgrading to in the future, would be the Nexus 5, if that's what it'll be called.

[adrynalyne]

I love me some Nexus devices, but they really need to be more generous on storage or add an expansion slot.

[LUTZIFER]

I love me some Nexus devices, but they really need to be more generous on storage or add an expansion slot.

More storage means more money, lots more money.

But yeah, the options to buy 32 and 64 gig models would be a bonus.

I think the general idea was to get a powerful phone out and keep the price low, and mission accomplished.

[typu]

Yeah the Nexus 4 is quite awesome. Does everything, and does it very well. Like a little supercomputer that thing is.

Only thing I'll be upgrading to in the future, would be the Nexus 5, if that's what it'll be called.

i like your comment of a little supercomputer

e.g. I was streaming a movie from my PC to my TV in the living room. the movie was in english. my mate asked for subtitles so i fired up my nexus 4. downloaded the .srt as a .zip file. dezipped the file and copied the .srt file from my nexus into the movie folder of my pc. all that with my phone. my mate was like WTF...

thats the sort of things a phone does not need to do at all. but mine can do it. thats what i love about the android ecosystem. you always find a solution at little to no costs with little to no efforts. as long as windows phone is not there i would just miss too many things occassionally.

you have to ask yourself what you need out of your phone. i for my part want the maximum possible. so im sticking with android and the nexus line.

[adrynalyne]

More storage means more money, lots more money.

But yeah, the options to buy 32 and 64 gig models would be a bonus.

I think the general idea was to get a powerful phone out and keep the price low, and mission accomplished.

It doesn't have to equate to a lot more money. The 32GB Nexus 7 is a good example of that.

[soldier1st]

I have a feeling that money is the issue as to why WP7 users are being abandoned. MS wants to sell more Windows phones but feel the cost of upping WP7 users to WP8 would be too much, though i could be wrong. Anyways, When i was first interested in smartphones, i only wanted an android phone since i heard the name. The others didn't appeal to me.

[Matthew_Thepc]

you have to ask yourself what you need out of your phone. i for my part want the maximum possible. so im sticking with android and the nexus line.

exactly my feelings; I prefer Windows Phone because I'm fine doing stuff like that on my PC if it means (IMO) a nicer experience, but if I were looking for a phone to do it all I would definitely go with Android

[123456789A]

I'm sticking with Windows Phone because I don't want to switch over to Google services besides Youtube.

[typu]

I'm sticking with Windows Phone because I don't want to switch over to Google services besides Youtube.

i never understood that privacy concern users have.

there are thousands of companies worldwide that collect and analyze data. even if they dont belong to google, im pretty sure that google has a stake in many of them.

so why bother, you have no control over it anyways.

[LUTZIFER]

It doesn't have to equate to a lot more money. The 32GB Nexus 7 is a good example of that.

No doubt. I never really thought of that. Was thinking more in the line of how much Apple charges for their devices depending on how much storage they have.

A 32GB Nexus would be perfect. For me anyways. I don't actually like mem cards, they never truly work properly.

I'm doing quite fine with my 16GB, got lots of apps, most of them useful, some I don't really need, but apps are small.

Got lots of big games and I don't really need them on it all at once, but do. And got more music than I actually need at one time.

Also have pictures and stuff, but anyways, I still have 2 gigs left

Oh, I also was kinda leary on forking out lots of money for a phone as I've been threw many, even had a Galaxy S1 which I thought was a piece o junk and expensive for what ya get. But after using my Nexus 4, which I bought cuz it was cheap and the specs were so fantastic, I'd definitely fork out top dollar for one with more storage space now. I'll definitely be buying a Nexus 5 even if it's way more expensive with more storage.

[mrmomoman]

As with all newer eco-systems it will have its share of hiccups and adoption. When you have the two 800 lbs gorillas sitting in the same room as the chimp who do you think will get the bananas first?

I have used all sorts of flagship phones including the Lumia 920 and before it was even big the Lumia 900 and the Lumia 800. I also have the Samsung Focus which was a decent phone.

I moved to Apple due to the Eco-System and since then moved towards Android HTC ONE after not really enjoying the Nexus 4 or the SIII. I have settled down with the HTC ONE and will test run the Lumia 928 on Verizon.

I hope the FB and potential Instagram apps will have people move towards the WP Eco-System a little faster. It deserves a shot at it because the OS is really that good. I know more people would move over if the eco-system was in place with the apps they really love were on the WP platform.

As many have mentioned 20K great apps is better than 800K okay apps. Because in the end that number can be 2 Million for both iOS and Android and it won't make a difference since no matter what country you live in you will only use so many go to apps. You just hope those apps are polished. All things being equal with Apps that were as polished on each Platform I think that WP would be a solid 2nd place if not first. iOS has a better polish currently. WP needs to add better toast notifications, have apps developer use less of the Standards MS set and create outside of the box. Once they can show that Apps designed this way can be successful then others will follow.

I love my Surface Pro and people ask me about it all the time. They think it has its own "APPS" per se and I have to explain it to them that its Windows 8 in a tablet. I do believe the RT did hurt MS some in the understanding of the difference. They were horrible post install to show people how to access things. Short cuts needs to be explained and a manual needs to be forced open upon completion of the install to show people how to navigate. Get them to understand the basics and they will want to learn more. Confuse or failure to communicate to them the design ideas and they will just get lost and frustrated.

MS has admitted to a harder learning curve and that is on them. They messed up and didn't think about giving more instructions post setup to help people get along. The MS stores are not as helpful at setting up lessons or making sure people get free lessons upon purchases. They should have hourly courses with an "intro" to Surface or WIN 8.

Just small things and it can make hugh impacts.

My HTC ONE looks like WP8 with Launcher 8 and many people ask me why and I tell them that I find the interface of the WP8 phones the best interface and when they check out my Launcher they agree.

Come on MS and other developers make this eco-system stronger by at least matching and then exceeding our expectations on your next apps. FB will be a hit I know and Instagram has better potential. Look at Evernote. They know how to make apps and update to make them better!!

[LUTZIFER]

i never understood that privacy concern users have.

there are thousands of companies worldwide that collect and analyze data. even if they dont belong to google, im pretty sure that google has a stake in many of them.

so why bother, you have no control over it anyways.

I never understood privacy concerns either.

What is Google finding out exactly? As far as I'm concerned, no one online is finding out private info about me.

Nothing that can't be found in real life anyways. They ain't finding out how much times I get laid, or don't, or how many times a day I jerk off.

Other than that, what is classified as Private?

I'm also not a paranoid type, so it could just be me. I have 3 cameras pointed in my direction which never ever has bothered me, no matter what I'm doing.

Bothers other people though, but I don't care. If they don't like it, beat it!!

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

I am planning on selling my Galaxy S 3 here in a week or so and picking up the Lumia 928.

[LUTZIFER]

I am planning on selling my Galaxy S 3 here in a week or so and picking up the Lumia 928.

Good for you, but neither of them have very good specs, and I bet the price is steep for it too, although it'd be a jump from an Galaxy S3.

[jakem1]

Good for you, but neither of them have very good specs, and I bet the price is steep for it too, although it'd be a jump from an Galaxy S3.

Specs are irrelevant when it comes to WP.

[thechronic]

yeh i did same. switched back to android as I felt lacking too much on windows phone. im on the nexus 4 and the phone together with android gives me just everything i want. android has a strong ecosystem in the meanwhile. ill give windows phone another try in a year or so.

Pretty much my thoughts. See if Windows Phone gets the main apps and if so i'll switch back.

I have a feeling that money is the issue as to why WP7 users are being abandoned. MS wants to sell more Windows phones but feel the cost of upping WP7 users to WP8 would be too much

Very valid point and probably accurate because upgrading old handsets means selling less new ones but i feel it was a terrible move as loyal customers with handsets JUST a year old are missing out!

thats the sort of things a phone does not need to do at all. but mine can do it. thats what i love about the android ecosystem. you always find a solution at little to no costs with little to no efforts. as long as windows phone is not there i would just miss too many things occassionally.

This. Since leaving Android for Windows Phone there have been little tiny Apps that i took for granted before that i can no longer gain access to! Partly why i switched back.

I hope the FB and potential Instagram apps will have people move towards the WP Eco-System a little faster. It deserves a shot at it because the OS is really that good. I know more people would move over if the eco-system was in place with the apps they really love were on the WP platform.

Definitely!

I am planning on selling my Galaxy S 3 here in a week or so and picking up the Lumia 928.

i hope you enjoy it and get what you want from it!

Specs are irrelevant when it comes to WP.

I'd say thats a fairly accurate statement but i still think the lack of decent apps contributes toward this. There is nothing really to test the power of a Lumia 920 for example.

[StandingInAlley]

The only reason I would be concerned with specs of the phone is to ensure that OS/Apps/Games run smoothly and don't lag. I can ensure you that WP8 doesn't suffer from these problems. I have been using Lumia 920 for last two months ( Switched from Galaxy S3 ) and I have not looked back. There are lack of apps and games too. A lot of times these don't come to WP8 and even if they do, they might not be free compared to other OS but this whole idea of using another phone which has better specs is pointless especially since at the end of the day both WP8 and Android/iOS users want that their usage shouldn't suffer.

On Android, there are very few apps and games that actually use the quad core or have been optimized for it tbh.

[rfirth]

Very valid point and probably accurate because upgrading old handsets means selling less new ones but i feel it was a terrible move as loyal customers with handsets JUST a year old are missing out!

Well, WP7 is CE-based and WP8 is NT-based. One of the biggest problems with upgrading all WP7 device to WP8 would be re-writing all the drivers for all the phones. That would have been a huge project and could risk bricking many phones. Huge expense and huge risk with very little reward.

Although somewhat disappointing, there are some very good reasons behind their decisions.

[ctrl_alt_delete]

i like your comment of a little supercomputer

e.g. I was streaming a movie from my PC to my TV in the living room. the movie was in english. my mate asked for subtitles so i fired up my nexus 4. downloaded the .srt as a .zip file. dezipped the file and copied the .srt file from my nexus into the movie folder of my pc. all that with my phone. my mate was like WTF...

thats the sort of things a phone does not need to do at all. but mine can do it. thats what i love about the android ecosystem. you always find a solution at little to no costs with little to no efforts. as long as windows phone is not there i would just miss too many things occassionally.

you have to ask yourself what you need out of your phone. i for my part want the maximum possible. so im sticking with android and the nexus line.

weird....if you were streaming from your PC then why not use the PC to do all that? I'm a bit curious though about the process. it seems a bit far fetched.

the part that's stomping me is that part about copying the file to the movie folder on the computer. are you saying you used your phone to copy the file to your computer? if so then do tell how because android doesn't support natively.

[Growled Member]

Apps are super important, probably more important than the phone itself. I'm still puzzled as to why WP is still struggling getting apps after all this time. Blackberry even has more quality apps.

[typu]

weird....if you were streaming from your PC then why not use the PC to do all that? I'm a bit curious though about the process. it seems a bit far fetched.

the part that's stomping me is that part about copying the file to the movie folder on the computer. are you saying you used your phone to copy the file to your computer? if so then do tell how because android doesn't support natively.

first of all, i didnt want to leave the couch watching the movie because the PC streaming it is in another part of the flat. i was simply too lazy to walk there.

but regarding the process, it works like that:

1. browse to subscene.com and download the .srt file desired (comes as .zip)

2. use the free app ES Datei Explorer, navigate into your download folder and dezip the file. copy it. rename if necessary.

3. use again ES Datei Explorer to connect to your shared movie folder on the PC (the app can connect and browse network folders, even stream from them to your phone in any chosen movie player)

4. paste the copied .srt file into the movie folder you just connected to

5. tell your mediaplayer that you want to use subtitles (my WD Digital Live device does that with pushing the button subtitles on the remote)

thats actually it. not really far fetched and done within a minute. sure, i could walk to the pc. but then i am a tech enthusiast. why not just using my phone for it...

[jakem1]

Apps are super important, probably more important than the phone itself. I'm still puzzled as to why WP is still struggling getting apps after all this time. Blackberry even has more quality apps.

The situation's not as bad as it's often made out to be and has actually been improving a lot over the last few months. Here's an analysis that WMPowerUser did recently comparing the top 25 free and paid apps in the App Store to the WP Marketplace:

80% of the apps are available (90% if you just focus on the top 10) either as first party apps or credible alternatives. Furthermore, the missing apps are generally games or non-essential gimmicks like Google Earth.

Your comparison with BB is complicated. Traditionally, app support for BB has been very good because the platform used to have a decent share of the market. As a result, lots of older popular apps are available for that platform. However, I'm not sure that that will continue given the fact that the platform is effectively dead and BB10 is flopping. I'd say that BB even suspect that they'll have trouble attracting developers which explains why they've decided to add support for Android apps.

As for quality, I'd say the general quality of WP apps is extremely high because of the quality of the dev tools.

[epk]

Sorry you had to jump ship but I kinda understand. I love the platform and my Lumia 800 but if I had to upgrade I'd really have to think it through whether I wanna stay or switch to an iPhone (or maybe a Nexus).

Sadly there's a lot of basic features still missing to the OS. I can't think of many now, but they're there. One example is keeping wifi on when the phone is locked. I don't know if they fixed that on WP8 but even if, it took bloody ages! And it's still there on 7 and probably always will be :(

Apps are ok, altho updates take ages to be released, like the Foursquare app that's been promised or this Facebook update. Most games are missing. On 7 they had the lack of native code to blame, but now that's gone and the problem is still there.

That said I love a lot of things about Windows Phone, like how smooth and clean the interface is and how so many services are integrated as well but it still needs a lot of work and I'm not sure I wanna keep being a beta tester (yup, Nokia, it's NOT over).

By the way, the updated Facebook app should be coming to 7.8 too :)