30 days with Windows Phone 8 — Perspective from an admitted iOS addict

Every time I've used a WP device I've walked away disappointed. Haven't done an extended test just 10-15 minutes on various devices. If I had to point to any one thing that leaves me disappointed it's probably the excessive amount of scrolling and swiping required. Even on the larger display devices the amount of information I can see without scrolling/swiping is a fraction of what I'm used to from iOS/Android. It leaves me with kind of a stuck-in-the-mud feeling that I'm just doing a lot of extra work to access the same amount of information. The same type of problem pops up with apps in a different way. They tend to be fairly basic and lacking features. I guess this is to be expected for a relatively young platform but it's really difficult to step away from these iOS/Android apps that just have so much more functionality. Between the apps and UI style it almost just feels to me more like a glorified feature phone. People said the same thing about the iPhone but it had some really killer features. To get a real web browser I was happy to give up the unified messages system on my BlackBerry. I can't really find the killer features in WP that would justify the trade-offs. Honestly every interaction I've had with WP so far makes me very happy to return to iOS/Android where all my apps pack tons of information on the screen and have just about every feature I need.

I got a Lumia 822 (Verizon-only offering) and I have mixed feelings about it. I love the Live Tiles but things like IE10 Mobile really frustrate me. There is no Flash support so I can't go to certain sites (like Beatport Sounds). There are sites that don't render properly and overall the text is rather small and I haven't figured out a way to increase the size yet (not sure if it is the smaller screen size to blame or there is just not a way to increase that size).<p>One thing that I have found to be an annoyance is the search button on the bottom of the phone. No matter what it will bring me to the Bing search, which is good unless it is hit by accident. There is an archery game that I enjoy that has you press and drag to aim and quite often I'm brought to the search screen because my finger goes out of the screen area and hits the search icon. My fault? Of course, but it is incredibly frustrating.<p>The other thing I hate is volume control. There are only two. One for in call volume and then one for the ring tone. That seems great, except that the ring tone volume also controls headphone/media volume. If I want my ringtone low then my volume for youtube will be low. If I want to my ringtone to be loud (which I haven't been able to get, even with the volume turned all the way up to 30 out of 30 I can still barely hear it) and so will all my media. I wasn't happy with my previous Android phone (HTC Evo 4G) but at least my volume for media was separate from my volume for ringtone.<p>Overall, I'm happy with it and some of the addons from Nokia are amazing; such as an app that uses augmented reality and shows various attractions (restaurants, gas stations, etc) in the area while you are holding up your camera. It will mark them on your screen as well as tell you how far you are from that location and the ability to get quick reviews. Plus it shows a compass in the upper right which allows you to know which direction it is in. While there are major issues, in my eyes, that need to be fixed, I still think the phone is better than the Android phone I had before and for only $30 with a new plan (due to $20 trade in credit and just Verizon slashing the price) you can't really go wrong.

One factor I also look at is what happens when you want to write some code on your computer and put it on your device (it does say "Hacker" at the top left).<p>Only Android scores well in this respect and it looks like none of the competition really cares.

I've really enjoyed my Nokia 920 so far.<p>I find myself most interested in the OP's point that Microsoft should offer a flagship Windows phone ala the Google Nexus line.<p>The app situation is meager by comparison to the two big boys in mobile, but I've been able to get by well enough.<p>Like the OP, I really like the default mail client. It's way better in my opinion than the Android client. For one thing, it doesn't Base64 encode everything [1]. I also prefer Bing maps to Google maps. The virtual keyboard is really solid, and the predictive text beats what I've dealt with on my wife's Galaxy Nexus. If you're interested, I wrote up a mini review at my blog a month back [2].<p>[1] <a href="http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=2630" rel="nofollow">http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=2630</a> [2] <a href="http://tiamat.tsotech.com/lumia-920" rel="nofollow">http://tiamat.tsotech.com/lumia-920</a>

I think that this article basically his the nail on the head in most respects. I agree with his complaints as well as his thoughts on why it's good. I currently own a WP7 device but am looking to pick up a 920 or 8X in February when I get an upgrade available.<p>In the end I think he really nails it in the last paragraph: overall this is a solid offering that is hindered by lack of apps which is due to a lack of consumers (...which is largely due to a lack of apps?). If more people take the plunge, then the apps will come and this will become a non issue.<p>Time will tell, I guess!

I also just gave up my iPhone 5 for a week to test the HTC 8x I am using to dev with. I have been very pleasantly surprised with how much I like it. I'm sticking with the iPhone for now, but I really like wp8. I'd put it at a close second just ahead of android. Dev'ing for it has been nice as well. First app is in review as we speak.

Last December I purchased an HTC Titan running 7.5 from a Microsoft Store. A couple months later, HTC released the Titan II, and not long after that, Microsoft announced my new phone was incapable of running WP8. I have never experienced such rapid technological obsolescence with any purchase.<p>Six months after purchasing my phone, AT&#38;T still hadn't enabled visual voicemail, and numerous WP fixes (including several security patches) were never made available to my device. I'll blame AT&#38;T for that, as well.<p>I was so disgusted by the experience that I went back to iOS, spending nearly $1300 on two mobile phones over a period of six months.<p>WP is a fantastic operating system, and for many reasons I do prefer it over iOS. What I did not like was the third and fourth tier app ecosystem, AT&#38;T's interference with service upgrades and patches, and how MS sold me hardware when they knew it essentially would be EOLed with their WP8 announcement.

Have they fixed the back button? I had a wp7 phone for a while and this userflow breaks the back button:<p>1. Open IE and browse the web a little 2. Press the home button, read your text messages or some bullshit 3. Press the home button again, open IE. Now try and browse back one page in your history (e.g., you're returning to hacker news after reading a story). The physical back button takes you back to the home page. There is no "soft" back button, so I have to pull up my history and use that.<p>Horrible!!!!!! Maybe Android is this way but it seems horrendously stupid to not even give me the option of a soft button.

I currently own an Android phone (Galaxy Nexus). I've always been fascinated by the WP UI. It's a refreshingly new style that allows enough customization while maintaining a consistent look for the OS across devices. I've been telling myself that I want to make the jump when I'm eligible for my next upgrade, using Launcher7 and Launcher8 in the meanwhile to satisfy my Metro craving.<p>With that being said, the one thing that's been keeping me from making the jump is the Google integration that Android gives me. For people like me that are so dependent on Google services, Android's native support for Google Talk, Google Docs, Gmail, Google Calendar (and Tasks), and Google Chrome (since 4.2) has become essential.<p>If there's a way to be able to use these services on Windows Phone, I will almost immediately switch over, as I am very impressed with Redmond's offering, and look forward to seeing how they continue to tell the Windows Phone story.

I played with a Lumina 920 when I was in the store a few days ago. It demoed very well and the phone itself was very nice.<p>I was willing to buy one for my collection of smartphones for research and development purposes, however in the UK its currently only available on the high street as an exclusive with EE and the phone is locked to that network. Sad but true.<p>Clearly Microsoft didn't learn from the mistake Palm made as when you aren't the market leader, going with an exclusive carrier deal only prevents people buying into your platform. Apple learned that, and clearly Microsoft feels necessary to mimic even Apple's mistakes before it gets it. I'm sure RIM will make the same mistake when they launch BB10 next month this leading to their demise. All this has happened before and all this will happen again.

I had an HTC Arrive running Windows Phone 7.5 which I loved except for one thing: the lack of apps. The OP mentions this too. I wonder if they'll be able to wait this problem out like they did with the Xbox?

I must admit as an Apple device wielding individual that the Windows Phone UI has always intrigued me. I was put off however by a colleague who at the time of writing is on his 4th Lumina 920. I know that this is anecdotal, but the hassle the guy had getting faulty phones replaced was poor. Nokia weren't interested. Which is why I'll stick with Apple. My own experience of their customer service has been second to none, and ultimately it's a big decider for me. It is a lovely device though, <i>when it works</i>.<p>Having tested Window 8 Desktop with a view to deployment in the enterprise space, all I can say is that as things stand, not a chance. The metaphor just doesn't translate to the desktop.

&#62; The mobile device market is far too large to be constrained to two choices.<p>That's why we need Jolla's Sailfish OS and Samsung's Tizen to start competing for third place already.