Is It Worth Switching to Windows Phone 8.1?

[Tobias Brown]

Hi fellow neowin members,

 

 

 

So im wondering if switching to Windows Phone 8.1 is worth voiding a warranty?

 

 

Has anybody installed it - regardless of the consequences?

 

Do you enjoy it SO much more than WP8 that its worth not having protection in case of an accident etc./

 

 

Thanks for any responses,

 

 

 

Tobias

[gohpep]

It is worth it. No problems, but if your warranty covers hardware damage as well, and you're afraid that you'll drop your phone, then I would wait.

[macoman]

I upgraded it to the developer preview and is worth it. Great new features and very usable. If you are going to go for it, I recommend after the upgrade to do a hard reset to reinstall a clean WP 8.1, it will improve your experience and bugs free. It also does not affect the warranty because your phone will eventually upgrade to the final version or RTM in couple months.

[+Eternal Tempest MVC]

Myself, on my non-activated pay as you go At&T 520, yes.

 

So far, worked perfectly. I even was able to revert to Windows 8.0 using the Nokia recovery tool (tried it just to see).

That being said, I can only speak for my specific Nokia model.

[Stokkolm]

I've had some minor bugs with it, but overall I would say it has definitely been worth it.

[Ironman273]

Another vote for worth it.

 

Edit:  I'm on a Lumia 920 with AT&T.  No problems.

[Mugwump00]

I had quite a major issue - no mobile data! (or, it would fail to reconnect mobile data after the first screen-off sleep).  I've an Ativ S, but I've read of other devices with the same issue.

 

Found (from a forum) the solution was to disallow all background tasks and re-enable them one by one.  All sweet now!

[Stokkolm]

I had quite a major issue - no mobile data! (or, it would fail to reconnect mobile data after the first screen-off sleep).  I've an Ativ S, but I've read of other devices with the same issue.

 

Found (from a forum) the solution was to disallow all background tasks and re-enable them one by one.  All sweet now!

I have heard the ATIV phones have had some pretty major problems with the update. 

 

http://www.wpcentral.com/psa-dont-install-windows-phone-81-samsung-ativ-se

[_neutrino Veteran]

Personally its worth it, as far as the warranty thing goes. They only warn of it because each carrier / manufacture is different. However, if you have a Lumia phone no matter the carrier it will not void your warranty.

[Farchord]

I'm aiming to switch from Android to WP8 myself real soon. Gonna switch from the galaxy s4 to the lumia 1520 most likely.

[Studio384]

It's worth it, no major bugs have been found yet that could break your phone or something. This or next month, a major bugfix update is expected to fix most of the discovered issues.

[protocol7]

I was a bit concerned too but went through with it on my 520. Apart from the music playback problem I have (noise at the end of tracks) everything else is great.

[AsherGZ]

I'm having problems with IE. So much so that I've considered rolling back to 8 now that the 8.1 excitement has worn off, because seriously a lot of stuff may be cool in 8.1, like Cortana or action center or swipe keyboard, they hardly carry any practical value for an average user. I was really looking forward to the improvements in IE, but so far my experience with it has been frustating to say the least. I spend most of my time on the browser on my phone, and the browser in 8 may have sucked and was just limited to 6 tabs, but at least it worked. In 8.1, there's no sense to the tab arrangement, they removed the number of tabs open from its button and if you switch to another tab and come back again, the whole page loads all over again. And not even the refreshed version, but the cached one. The worst thing however is the new video player. I stream a lot of stuff, or used to in 8 from the comfort of my bed late at nights, but I haven't been unable to stream a single video with this new player. "Decode error" every ******* time if you even so much as pause the video, forget about scrubbing. Speaking of which, I miss the old back forward buttons. I find the scrub bar horrible to use on a touch phone with fat fingers. So that's my opinion. If I somehow manage to roll back to 8, I'm sure there are some things from 8.1 I'll miss, but I won't regret it. Hope they fix the mess that is IE right now by time the final version rolls out with Cyan.

[Ironman273]

I'm having problems with IE. So much so that I've considered rolling back to 8 now that the 8.1 excitement has worn off, because seriously a lot of stuff may be cool in 8.1, like Cortana or action center or swipe keyboard, they hardly carry any practical value for an average user. I was really looking forward to the improvements in IE, but so far my experience with it has been frustating to say the least. I spend most of my time on the browser on my phone, and the browser in 8 may have sucked and was just limited to 6 tabs, but at least it worked. In 8.1, there's no sense to the tab arrangement, they removed the number of tabs open from its button and if you switch to another tab and come back again, the whole page loads all over again. And not even the refreshed version, but the cached one. The worst thing however is the new video player. I stream a lot of stuff, or used to in 8 from the comfort of my bed late at nights, but I haven't been unable to stream a single video with this new player. "Decode error" every ******* time if you even so much as pause the video, forget about scrubbing. Speaking of which, I miss the old back forward buttons. I find the scrub bar horrible to use on a touch phone with fat fingers. So that's my opinion. If I somehow manage to roll back to 8, I'm sure there are some things from 8.1 I'll miss, but I won't regret it. Hope they fix the mess that is IE right now by time the final version rolls out with Cyan.

That's odd.  I have had the polar opposite experience with the new IE.  I'll admit I don't use tabs that much but some of the high points for me are the swipe for back and forwards and the reading view.  There are still webpages that render a full sites and used to be very hard to read on 8.  The last high point is the streaming.  They have improved it considerably so it can play pretty much anything that iOS plays, like an embedded Vimeo video for example.  Never seen the decode error.

[Tobias Brown]

Hi everyone,

 

thanks for the really helpful responses (really!)

 

So i am tempted with the upgrade - however there are a few other factors to include (for me) 

 

Im running a HTC 8X - which i don't believe has any rollback features should i wish to revert back to Windows Phone 8.

My warranty does cover hardware - and they will not fix if its "voided".

 

I assume i would have to find an independent fixture,

 

 

 

Has anybody tried with HTC models?

 

thanks a lot,

 

 

Tobias

[sagum]

So im wondering if switching to Windows Phone 8.1 is worth voiding a warranty?

 

Has anybody installed it - regardless of the consequences?

 

Do you enjoy it SO much more than WP8 that its worth not having protection in case of an accident etc./

 

Overall Windows Phone 8.1 is a great update to the OS. I think most people are really going to enjoy a lot of the features.

I've installed it on a 520 and 920.

 

Issues I've had is just some lag when tapping things to open them. Kind of takes away from the ultra smooth feel Windows Phone had for me, but I can understand if it's just from the preview builds we're using (debug etc).

If you're outside North America at the moment you're going to have to play around with regional settings to get Cortana working.

Also, if you were a fan Facebook, twitter etc integration into the messaging and people hubs, that's gone now. Messaging hub is just for text messages. People hub needs to have the Facebook app installed to work properly with your contacts... and the Facebook app and Facebook messaging apps are very poorly done, more so when it used to be a slick smooth experience from the hubs.

 

The lack of Facebook is the only reason I'd go back to WP8.0 now, it certainly feels more like a generic smart phone with 'an app for that' experience now.

 

[vcfan]

I have heard the ATIV phones have had some pretty major problems with the update. 

 

http://www.wpcentral.com/psa-dont-install-windows-phone-81-samsung-ativ-se

those are issues with the new Verizon ativ se, not the ativ s. ive had no such issues with the ativ s. the only major major annoyance I have is that usually,when I pressed the windows button, if my finger was resting on the touchscreen, the windows button would take priority and I would be brought back to the start screen. now, I have to hit the windows button precisely without my finger touching the touchscreen,or else the windows button doesn't respond. im sure this will get fixed with a firmware update,and isn't actually a wp8.1 problem.

[CG-88]

I have had it installed since it was released and think it is very good! The notification centre is excellent, extra tiles and background images are all excellent features.

 

In addition, performance wise my phone is smoother and more fluid, Other storage has been reduced to pretty much nothing.

 

Overall I think it was a worthwhile upgrade, and any bugs that are found will be ironed out in RTM.

 

Also, you can revert back to wp8 if you want :D

[jakem1]

Hi everyone,

 

thanks for the really helpful responses (really!)

 

So i am tempted with the upgrade - however there are a few other factors to include (for me) 

 

Im running a HTC 8X - which i don't believe has any rollback features should i wish to revert back to Windows Phone 8.

My warranty does cover hardware - and they will not fix if its "voided".

 

I assume i would have to find an independent fixture,

 

 

 

Has anybody tried with HTC models?

 

thanks a lot,

 

 

Tobias

 

 

I believe George P has an 8X that he has upgraded to WP8.1 and I don't think he has reported any major problems.

 

Personally, I would definitely upgrade.  WP8.1 offers so many little improvements that I feel quite constrained when using a phone running WP8.  In particular, I'm currently loving the improvements to the Mail app that make it more like the Windows 8 Mail app.  Photos appear as thumbnails, you have an option to download all at once and you can scroll through photos once you've opened one rather than having to go back and forth between the pictures and the email. 

[Darrian]

I do not like it.  I like some things about it, but the castrated messenging app is driving me nuts.  I hate the Skype app, Microsoft's service is my main chat protocol, and now I'm being forced to use a crappy app to chat with people when it used to be integrated into the OS.  There are lots of pros but this one con is seriously making me consider reflashing 8.0 amber.

[Farchord]

Ordered my Lumia 1020 today, should get it in the following days! :)

[Guest]

Honestly, WinRT and the Flow keyboard are probably the two things that I really care about, everything else went down the I-don't-care path after the first few days of excitement / hype. Not even Cortana since I am in Sweden right now and I rather not restart the phone multiple times per day for some silly feature (silly at the moment, will most likely improve in the future).

[CG-88]

Honestly, WinRT and the Flow keyboard are probably the two things that I really care about, everything else went down the I-don't-care path after the first few days of excitement / hype. Not even Cortana since I am in Sweden right now and I rather not restart the phone multiple times per day for some silly feature (silly at the moment, will most likely improve in the future).

flow keyboard is great!

 

For cortana, I am in the UK and have it as I set my region to US. I kept the keyboard and regional settings as UK so currencies, date and time all stay as UK format.

 

I like Cortana so far, it really is going to be a powerful tool once it is out of beta and is obviously region specific. For example:

 

Places and wifi control - you can save favourite places and then set your wifi to turn on when you reach that place, doesn't work for leaving but it has been confirmed this will be in final build.

Reminders that appear when someone calls or texts, for example " Remind me to tell John when he calls that he needs to do x,y,z" John calls, reminder pops up,

 

Im not a fan of talking to my phone....lol but I think some of the non voice features of Cortana are pretty awesome.

[Ironman273]

Hehe.  I had one of those "Wow" moments with Cortana last week.  I had a trip to New Jersey coming up which the details were emailed to me.  Cortana picked up on it and asked me if I wanted her to track it so I said yes.  The day I was traveling I had lunch and checked Cortana. She told me that my flight was on time, how long it would take me to drive to the airport from my current location and what the temperature was in New Jersey.  That was pretty cool.

 

Another feature I'm enjoying is the "Hey, you better leave now" when I have appointments throughout the day.  I just have to make sure the location is correct and she'll give me enough of a heads up to leave where I am.

[BajiRav]

Hehe.  I had one of those "Wow" moments with Cortana last week.  I had a trip to New Jersey coming up which the details were emailed to me.  Cortana picked up on it and asked me if I wanted her to track it so I said yes.  The day I was traveling I had lunch and checked Cortana. She told me that my flight was on time, how long it would take me to drive to the airport from my current location and what the temperature was in New Jersey.  That was pretty cool.

 

Another feature I'm enjoying is the "Hey, you better leave now" when I have appointments throughout the day.  I just have to make sure the location is correct and she'll give me enough of a heads up to leave where I am.

 

Cortana tracked my flights last week too. It's pretty handy.

 

I am loving the "Time to leave - You need to leave now to reach work by 10:20am" alert every morning. :)