Windows Phone?

[da_KOWZ]

I have been looking at phones to replace my iphone for a while. I want more user control, so I've been looking at android devices, but recently a lot of windows phones have started appearing in my area. I was wondering what the pros and cons of the mobile windows os is. I like on android how you can just drag and drop a file from your pc to your device, so can you do that on windows phone? More importantly, what are they good at, I know the nokia phones have a good camera and windows does a good job handling your contacts, but is there anything else. On the flip side, I heard the app support was pretty terrible (no google hangouts from when I looked ) I think I'll still get android, but I'm really interested in what they can do.

[EarthboundHero]

If you're looking for user control stay away from Windows Phone.

[dizmo]

I'd wait to see how Windows 10 plays out for the phone. Might make it a pretty good contender, but it'll still have the App shortfall.

Which is an awfully large one if you ask me. It's the main reason one has a smart phone.

Android is still in the lead by far.

 

Not gonna lie, I was really hoping Windows would pan out. But there's simply too many downsides for me to even consider it.

[Dr. Moose]

I was a user of Windows Phone for two years- since the launch of the Nokia Lumia 920 (November 2012). Windows Phone is more customizable than iOS, but not as much as Android. I switched to Android about a week and a half ago- I'd never go back. The PROS: tiles are pretty fun to organize and the way they playfully move around on your start screen is very pleasing. Nokia Camera is probably the most in-depth camera app on any mobile platform; if you are into more professional-type photography rather than point-and-shoot photography, you'll like this a lot. I also like the way the apps are sorted on Windows Phone rather than the app drawer on Android (it's organized alphabetically and you can go to certain letters pretty quickly. Finding apps is much easier this way). And... it's very fluid. Although it doesn't feel as snappy as Android does, it runs fluidly and can do so on very low specifications as well. Last of all, it has a battery saver mode included, but this is implemented in Android Lollipop anyways. Now, here are the CONS: the app store, while much better than when I started with Windows Phone two years ago, still sucks. I mean, it really SUCKS. Even though there are a lot more official apps as of now, they aren't nearly as high quality as the same ones on iOS and Android. You still have to rely on third-party apps for some things (Snapchat, for example). The worst thing though about the Windows Phone Marketplace is that the only Google app on Windows Phone is a basic Google Search app- and it hasn't been updated in over a year. Some people say you shouldn't judge Windows Phone entirely on it's app ecosystem; I agree to a certain extent, too. It's just that with the little amount of quality apps on Windows Phone, it makes for a dull experience. I realized this days after I locked myself into a two year contract with my Lumia 920. The app store is by far the worst aspect of Windows Phone and for me it's a deal breaker. Almost all the things I didn't like about my Windows Phone experience had to do with the apps, which all leads to app quality on Windows Phone, which all leads back to the terrible Windows Phone Marketplace. At least for right now, you shouldn't get a Windows Phone. But it's definitely promising. I have much hope for Windows Phone in the future because it's a really awesome mobile platform and it's better than iOS in my own opinion. But the app store is a huge drawback for the platform. I hope that Microsoft will get more developers on board for apps in the future. 

[Diederik_Gr]

Windows phone is a solid OS, but the app support is just terrible. I'd wait for Windows 10 and see how that works out.

[Jambls]

If you really want the look of windows, you could download a launcher.

[shadowblitz3]

it doesn't have apps

[QueenDemetria]

I'm in the middle of my process of evaluating Windows Phone, but I think I am ready for this thread. So to start: Windows Phones aren't horrible, but they aren't great either. The experience is consistent meaning that the UI should be familiar and beautiful throughout(if you like a boxy design), but its also consistently problematic. There are many things that should work in WP but dont. When you plug in a WP to a computer it is recognized as a mass storage device, but you can't copy files to the device(this sometimes works, but it doesn't work mostly). The sync app for Windows 8 works, but if you use Windows 7 you are screwed, because M$ abandoned the beta sync app(the only one available) and they left it in a broken state(gotta love error: 830000000). You can use Bluetooth to transfer files, but this can be equally as unreliable. The appstore has some good app like Tapatalk, disqus, most of the popular social networks(some of these are 3rd party, soo..) and plenty of games, but thats all the positive I can say about it. There is so much garbage on the WP app store that I wish it was nonexistent. It also has had many problems, where apps/podcasts/music/etc. gets stuck in a "pending" state, which is disappointing to see that M$ hasn't solved a 3yr old problem. the apps also aren't as good as iOS's or Androids, and some examples of this are: Netflix(cant change users), Textnow(no calling), Tapatalk(works for the most part, but super glitchy), and YouTube(the official version is just a link to YT, and the unofficial version could get pulled at any moment for breaking Google's ToS). THe web browsing experience is decent once you ditch Internet Exlporer, because IE has a 6 tab limit. I suspect they have this limitation for improving the experience, but they should just give up because IE is clunky and loads most webpages improperly(Disqus plugins, T-Mobile.com, LTT, and pop up ads for examples). UC Browser is a good alternative, but its sad to see such a terrible browser preinstalled especially in 2014. It does do some thing real good though, like the WiFi to cellular hand off, search button, and cellular tweak features(##3282# menu), but sadly most of the features that WP is good at are outweighed by the cons.

 

Now you did mention that Nokia phones have a good camera but let me stop you there. Yes the cameras are good(I said good, not great), but you also have to know how to operate a camera, so how to adjust things like white balance and ISO. This leads me to this: If you want a good camera thats easy to use, get an iPhone or Android equivalent. If you want a camera thats better than the iPhone(or Android equivalent), just get a real standalone camera. The camera can be tricky to get the picture you want, but at this point you should just get a real camera that will beat the Lumia in almost every way(for cheaper).

 

The only way I could recommend WP is if you actually want it, but until M$ pulls their head from their rear or if Jailbreaking(window smashing) becomes mainstream, Windows Phone will just be an inferior platform. 

[TopWargamer]

Windows Phones are great IMO. I personally love the tile-based UI. As for apps, app support has improved IMMENSELY over the years. I personally own the Nokia Lumia 521 (as a backup phone) and I had no issue downloading the apps I used from day to day. @da_KOWZ, I'm sure you'll be just fine.

 

If you're still worried, head over to Windows phone app store web page and look up the applications that you use.

(Tip: Get use to 3rd party variants of certain apps, such as YouTube. But just because they're 3rd party apps doesn't mean that they're bad. I've found some of the 3rd party YouTube apps are much better than the YouTube app for Android, for example.)

 

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store?signin=true