Cannot believe how useful WP8.1 Update 1 is!

By #Michael
in Windows Phone/Mobile

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Grand Master

#Michael

Posted
Posted

For work I have had an HTC 8x for dev work for the last 2 years.  Problem was is that WP8 and the app store was severally lacking in terms of features and apps.  Now that WP8.1 update 1 has hit, this phone is outstanding.  It can really hold its own against the iPhone.

 

There are a few things I notice though that still annoy me:

1. Why does spotify make their apps free on iOS and Android but require a premium account for WP?

2. Why does the lock screen still only allow for 1 app to get a detailed status?

Grand Master

macoman

Posted
Posted

Yeah, Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 is not perfect at all but is a great improvement over the previous versions. The only thing that annoying me is that Google does not want to deal with the platform because they said in one occasion that the market share was too low and not worthy. But blackberry have an even worst market share and they developed few apps for it. I think is more that Google hate Microsoft and they see it as a threat.

Grand Master

George P Global Moderator

Posted
  • Global Moderator
Posted

I don't know why Spotify is like that but it could change at some point.  As far as the lock screen goes, I think we'll see it advance more and more with each new update, remember update 2 is on the way before the year is over iirc. 

 

I still don't have 8.1 update 1 on my HTC 8X though so I can't talk about it much detail wise, though my needs are lower than others.

Grand Master

#Michael

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yeah, Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 is not perfect at all but is a great improvement over the previous versions. The only thing that annoying me is that Google does not want to deal with the platform because they said in one occasion that the market share was too low and not worthy. But blackberry have an even worst market share and they developed few apps for it. I think is more that Google hate Microsoft and they see it as a threat.

 

I have almost stopped using google entirely.  The only thing I still use is google maps.  There are a couple of really good gmap apps for turn by turn navigation on the app store.

Grand Master

+Ryster Subscriber²

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  • Subscriber²
Posted

Getting ready to update my 520 to the dev preview.  Are you able to update to the official release if on the preview via OTA?

 

Yes. (assuming no bugs like the recent one where they had to turn OTA updates of the preview program off for certain versions).

Experienced

CG-88

Posted
Posted

Spotify isn't free because of Spotify. There is no other reason aside from them although they have stated it will be coming just on ETA.

 

The lock screen will get more detailed soon I think. There are already third party apps for weather, calendar etc. that improve the lock screen greatly and I think once Microsoft start doing this in addition to their lock screen beta app it will be pretty useful and customisable which everyone loves.

 

I think WP has come on a long way since I first got mine and I think the updates and improvements are for the better every single time which not many other phone software devs can say.

Grand Master

BajiRav

Posted
Posted

Getting ready to update my 520 to the dev preview.  Are you able to update to the official release if on the preview via OTA?

No. not yet. You will have to revert to 8.0 but is pretty painless (have done it on one of my own phones).
Grand Master

protocol7

Posted
Posted

I'm starting to lose hope with it. Ever since first installing the 8.1 dev preview on my 520 I've had the music bug where in between songs it will play back a split second of the previous one. I put it down to lacking the Cyan firmware but I got that the other day and the bug remains. Updated to the latest 8.1u1 build and still no fix. Really MS, how hard is it to be able to playback music?

Grand Master

jakem1

Posted
Posted

I'm starting to lose hope with it. Ever since first installing the 8.1 dev preview on my 520 I've had the music bug where in between songs it will play back a split second of the previous one. I put it down to lacking the Cyan firmware but I got that the other day and the bug remains. Updated to the latest 8.1u1 build and still no fix. Really MS, how hard is it to be able to playback music?

 

I haven't encountered this bug but the Music app still has a long way to go before it's working smoothly.  It's getting there but it shouldn't have taken this long.

 

The good news is that the Music app is now independent of the OS so updates are being released on a fortnightly schedule.

Guest

Posted
Posted

I haven't encountered this bug but the Music app still has a long way to go before it's working smoothly.  It's getting there but it shouldn't have taken this long.

 

Also happens with other apps. Seems there is some stupid caching going on.

 

On another note, congratulations to MS for making Live Tiles obsolete. Every single god damn app on the phone doesn't want to update its tiles on time, it is always a few hours late. The Cocktail Flow app has been stuck on the same cocktail for several days now, just because the stupid scheduling doesn't allow the update task to be fired when I connect to the internet, and has to wait for a specific point in time when the OS gives a damn to allow that.

Grand Master

protocol7

Posted
Posted

I haven't encountered this bug but the Music app still has a long way to go before it's working smoothly.  It's getting there but it shouldn't have taken this long.

 

The good news is that the Music app is now independent of the OS so updates are being released on a fortnightly schedule.

 

I'm not sure what triggers it. Some people have it, some don't it seems. It's not to do with the music app. It affects all music apps so it's something at the OS level. I've downloaded every OS dev update and Music app update since it first surfaced and nothing has fixed it.

 

For someone who uses their phone as a music player as much as I do it's getting tiring.

Grand Master

jakem1

Posted
Posted

I bit the bullet and decided to downgrade last night to see if Cyan improved my 920's performance.  Thankfully the downgrade installed Cyan which saved me an extra upgrade step but the best thing is that all the "Loading..." messages I was getting on the DP have disappeared.

 

My Start screen didn't really restore that well (not a big deal) but all my settings and accounts did including Cortana settings when I installed Update 1.

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