Windows Phone 8.1 - Is it really that bad?

[Mo5]

Usually when you mention Windows Phone to someone the response is either: "What is windows phone?" or "Why didn't you buy an Android?". Naturally - me being the person who likes to try stuff - I bought a Windows Phone 8.1 device. 

 

* Check out the unboxing of that phone here: 

*

 

Before jumping in, I have to mention that I'm not a phone power user. I check my mail and Twitter but that's about it. Simple stuff. Because of that I was perfectly happy with Symbian (on Omnia HD) too. Don't judge me.

 

Let me address the lack of apps first. Yes, it's true. There are a lot of apps missing and there are plenty of bad ones (or even fakes) too. But most popular apps are there. Things like Youtube, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat (just had a fiasco - http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/21/7432071/microsoft-removes-unofficial-snapchat-apps-from-windows-phone) etc are all there. Just don't expect any more than that. Forget Google apps too, they're not there.

 

If you are able to sacrifice the lack of apps then it's a really likeable OS. The design has been kept to an Apple-esque level of simplicity. You get the home screen with all your live tiles and if you scroll to the side you get to all your installed programs - just like you do in Windows 8. 

 

One of the first things you will see when you power on your device is the lock screen. You get your time and date at the bottom and you can also set 5 apps to show notifications below that (with one in detail - I have it set to calendar as it shows my next appointment). The nice thing about this lock screen is that other apps can change the background. Setting it to weather (my favorite) will show the forecast for 3 days and the background changes to whatever weather happens to be (not always accurate, but that's not the lock screen's fault). The other apps include Bing, Twitter, Facebook and more.

 

Sliding up will bring you to the home screen which is where all your live tiles live. The tiles can be set to 3 sizes (1/4, full and double) and can be arranged in whatever way you like (Update 1 brought folders but I don't have that). Most of the tiles will have a fixed color background which you can change to a range of colors, some however you can't (Skype, Twitter, Office etc). Some tiles are live though and can be more than just an icon, they can show more informations. I'm going to use the weather as an example again. Similarly to the lock screen it shows a forecast and current weather. You can think of live tiles as widgets.

 

Added in 8.1 is also what Microsoft calls "Action center" which is essentially the notification tray from Android. In action center you have the ability to quickly toggle your Wi-fi or Bluetooth on, there is now rotation lock and more - there are 5 customisable tiles. Apart from that you can also see the battery percentage (really happy about that one) and date and time, quick access to the settings and (obviously) check your notifications. The notifications are grouped by apps and you can swipe them off one app at a time. One gripe I have with it is that once you go in to for example check an email, you can't get to the inbox - you have to close the app and open it again.

 

So far so good, but what happens when you start using the device? Well the goodness continues. Even on my device which is powered by a "slow" Snapdragon 200 there is no major lag. You get neat integration with all Microsoft's services (most notably Office and their One apps). Unlike Android I haven't had any frustrations setting up my contacts. They all loaded from my SIM and they all reliably synced to Outlook. It even has a cool trick up it sleeve - you can set the picture for a contact even without importing them to phone memory (in fact there is no phone memory) and even cooler set an SMS ringtone to each contact individually. Another cool feature added to WP8.1 is the ability to quickly swap between a regular phone call and a Skype call (provided you linked whoever you're calling to a Skype account). Sadly there are no cool things in messaging that I've found.

 

Speaking about messaging, there is only one keyboard. Granted it is a good keyboard: the word prediction is solid (however not all languages get it) and Word Flow works nicely too (but it's tied to the word prediction so as expected you get limited language support). 

 

Now to a more controversial topic... Internet Explorer and Bing. Much to anyone's surprise they're both solid. As a search engine Google is superior, but I've found absolutely nothing bad about IE.

 

I could also write about other preinstalled apps (Calendar, Alarm, and the whole pack of MSN apps), but those work as expected and I really have nothing to say.

 

So it's conclusion time. Is Windows phone really so bad as people say? In a word - no. Personally I like it a lot. The only problem is the lack of apps as previously said.

 

Have I missed something? Have something to ask? Feel free to ask

 

[ZetZet]

that prestigio is where windows should be, low end devices. I only hate the overpriced "high-end" nokias.

[ELSknutson]

I have to use Windows os on my work phone and I HATE it especially since my daily driver is an apple iphone 6 plus 

the Windows os is vary un user friendly and there tile system makes simple tasks a chore 

But if you haven't owned a decent phone before you might think it was ok.

[laxer]

You hit the nail on the head.

Lack of apps and associated developers make Windows phone a no go for me.

[Mo5]

I have to use Windows os on my work phone and I HATE it especially since my daily driver is an apple iphone 6 plus 

the Windows os is vary un user friendly and there tile system makes simple tasks a chore 

But if you haven't owned a decent phone before you might think it was ok.

I have had a decent phone before, I just happen to be one of the 5 people in the world that prefers WP

 

You hit the nail on the head.

Lack of apps and associated developers make Windows phone a no go for me.

Well WP is a Catch-22. People don't buy it for the lack of apps, developers don't make apps because no one buys phones.

[Thorium19]

I recently had my snapchat account locked because of the issues with 3rd party apps, so I actually emailed them asking why they don't make a windows phone app if they're that bothered by people using unofficial. Lo and behold, no reply and nothing on the app store.

I'll give my own mini review of it after two years use, just to clear some things up as well:

I've been a WP8/8.1 user for the last 2 years, it's a brilliant OS in my opinion, the best designed of the lot, but sometimes app support has let it down, but besides snapchat there's nothing that isn't on iOS/android that I would use. Admittedly the Instagram beta app doesn't have video support yet, but that should arrive in a future update.

If it wasn't for the lure of androids more powerful devices, I would be happy to get another Windows phone, however being able to use the Dev preview on any WP8.1 device is great, I've got it on my low powered HTC 8S and it works fine.

When I started with windows phone, there was no functionality to save apps to the SD card, no folders, no way to get any other background past the solid colours, and a fairly poor keyboard. In the following updates, especially with WP8.1 all these features have been added, so even on a 4gb internal storage device, I have a load of apps installed and it's never stressing it. I do experience the occasional bit of lag when I haven't used the phone in a while or from a cold boot, but otherwise it's snappy, fluid and barely drains my battery, even when I've something with only 1700mAh of charge in it. I can easily get through a day and not hit 20% and when I do battery saver kicks in to hold the charge even longer.

Also, cortana is outstanding. Having used Siri for a number of years on both my iPad and my dads phones, I thought nothing could beat it. I was wrong. Siri isn't just a personal assistant, with the capacity to give specific notifications from the news, tell me the weather at a glance, give me good places to eat/visit in my local vicinity and tell me the sports scores for my favourite teams, I don't think I need any other personal assistant, I can't wait for microsoft to roll it out to other devices.

[SJBijzitter]

I love WP 8.1, but do NOT enable the preview for developers!
I have and now my phone is stuck in airplane mode and i'll have to fully re-install Windows Phone 8.1, which is a bitch to say the least.

[SJBijzitter]

I recently had my snapchat account locked because of the issues with 3rd party apps, so I actually emailed them asking why they don't make a windows phone app if they're that bothered by people using unofficial. Lo and behold, no reply and nothing on the app store.

Same here, I just use an Android phone for snapchat now. It's a shame they have to be such dicks about it

[Mo5]

I love WP 8.1, but do NOT enable the preview for developers!

I have and now my phone is stuck in airplane mode and i'll have to fully re-install Windows Phone 8.1, which is a bitch to say the least.

it's called a dev preview for a reason

[Thorium19]

I love WP 8.1, but do NOT enable the preview for developers!

I have and now my phone is stuck in airplane mode and i'll have to fully re-install Windows Phone 8.1, which is a bitch to say the least.

I've got the dev preview on mine and I've never had that issue. The only one ive ever had was with two updates back it kept resetting itself if I opened the games app, but the following version fixed that.

Also, I've installed snapchat on my iPad, but that means there's little chance to send people messages, which is frustrating. I actually found 6snap to be better than the official app.

[SJBijzitter]

I've got the dev preview on mine and I've never had that issue. The only one ive ever had was with two updates back it kept resetting itself if I opened the games app, but the following version fixed that.

Also, I've installed snapchat on my iPad, but that means there's little chance to send people messages, which is frustrating. I actually found 6snap to be better than the official app.

Yeah 6snap is definitely better, but it's a shame they didn't take the time to spoof all network requests to hide their tracks like - say - runescape bots do. (<-- lots of experience right there).

 

The issue seems to be rare, but yeah, I'm always that person lmao

it's called a dev preview for a reason

True, that's why I'm not mad. I just had expected apps and shit to crash frequently, but they run surprisingly well. Core functionality is rarely affected by developer previews, but yeah, this case...

[Mo5]

@Thorium19 @SJBijzitter Speaking about dev previous - any ideas when is WP10 coming out?

[SJBijzitter]

@Thorium19 @SJBijzitter Speaking about dev previous - any ideas when is WP10 coming out?

Well the desktop consumer preview is coming this January, so I can't imagine WP10 developer preview being much later