How terrible is Windows Phone compared to Android?

[Darkis]

I switched about a year ago, and got a 6-inch Lumia 1520. Never looked back.

Amazing screen, amazing camera, battery lasts for 2 days at least with constant wi-fi, gps and moderate usage. Interface took some getting used to, but now i swear by live tiles - they are just THAT informative. Regarding app gap - it shrinked substantionally since WP was upgraded to 8.1 (i have about 400 apps in my store history, but i obviously don't use all of them). WP8 also has a good updates history, and it's pretty sure that all current phones (lumia ones at least) will be getting the universal OS Win10 (which is looking to be a beastly thing).

In a nutshell: WP8.1 - 10/10, would bang.

Edit:

As someone noticed - to get the full experience you should aim for a top of the line models, like 930 or 1520 (only major difference is size and microSD in 1520). But one would think it's self-explanatory.

Edit2:

If in US - do not, whatever you do, get a carrier locked Lumia. I don't know about lesser models, but i've read that AT&T 1520 missed tons of features compared to a unlocked one.

Edit3:

In your price range i'd check out the 830. It's not the flagship, but i'd say it's upper-mid tier in Lumia line.

[PizzaSHARK]

In your price range i'd check out the 830. It's not the flagship, but i'd say it's upper-mid tier in Lumia line.

Yeah, looks like that's going to be at the very very tip-top of my potential price range... looks like about $300-$350 at a glance, but it does also sound like a significant improvement over the 920.

ASUS needs to hurry up and ship the Zenfone 2 so I can read reviews about it.

[Darkis]

Yeah, looks like that's going to be at the very very tip-top of my potential price range... looks like about $300-$350 at a glance, but it does also sound like a significant improvement over the 920.

ASUS needs to hurry up and ship the Zenfone 2 so I can read reviews about it.

Don't get the 920. It was a flagship, but that was two years ago. 830 is newer, and better.

Zenfone 2 looks pretty good on paper, but i'm not sold yet on Atom CPU, and how it will affect the battery and system performance.

[vqkatsuko]

The windows phone OS is a lot better then both android and iOS. It works better and is more efficient and it overall just a better OS. With that being said you will have to be ok with literally nothing working on your phone at all. Literally nothing. No official support from pretty much anyone and the app store because of this is full of the same millions of copy apps for the lack of official apps on windows phone for various "staple" application on ios and android. As a Developer I love my windows phone alot more then android or iOS. as a consumer my windows phone is fucking useless.

[Darkis]

The windows phone OS is a lot better then both android and iOS. It works better and is more efficient and it overall just a better OS. With that being said you will have to be ok with literally nothing working on your phone at all. Literally nothing. No official support from pretty much anyone and the app store because of this is full of the same millions of copy apps for the lack of official apps on windows phone for various "staple" application on ios and android. As a Developer I love my windows phone alot more then android or iOS. as a consumer my windows phone is fucking useless.

Except 3rd party apps, like metrotube and 6tag, are miles better than officiall apps. So yeah, literally nothing is working, but somehow my phone manages to practically replace my PC when i'm on the move.

[crunk]

i love my windows phone. it is a little light on apps, but most things you would want are easy to get. no mobile armory. only thing i found, and i can live without constant world of warcraft updates.

transferring data between my pc and phone is amazing, and while windows 8 might not be the greatest desktop platform it is real sleek and functions smoothly on a phone. the tiles are cool.

windows has its own version of spotify that has a larger selection of music for like 4 bucks a month. you can stream it with a sub and also buy songs for 99 cents like itunes - i don't know if that matters to you, but i think its an incredible service. i cancelled spotify as soon as i discovered it.

i really dont understand people's loyalty to their information companies. IE works fine on the phone, it was designed for it, and I use both Google and Bing and they give practically the same results. Google has even copied some of Bing in some regards.

at the end of the day having a windows phone for my windows computer just seemed to make the most sense. at least now that microsoft can finally put out a good mobile product

[vqkatsuko]

Except 3rd party apps, like metrotube and 6tag, are miles better than officiall apps. So yeah, literally nothing is working, but somehow my phone manages to practically replace my PC when i'm on the move.

except alot of these companies are going to crack down on these 3rd party apps in the way that snapchat has done, while not giving a official application. just letting him know that while the OS and phones are good. he will literally not find an official application for 95% of all the biggest apps that people use. and as I said as a developer I dont really care about this since I have made my own that I wanted. but I could see how normal people coudl see this as annoying.

[Deng]

I do not live in the States but even I know that Icon has a terrible support from Verizon.

The rest of the world is getting Lumia Denim update while the Icon is still two updates behind (and no signs of Verizon being interested in releasing these).

My suggestion is to try the Lumia 830 from the newer models or the 1520 if you like 6".

You still have to check the cellular connectivity here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/mobil...d_connectivity and confront it with your operator.

EDIT: I missed this: http://www.windowscentral.com/lumia-...led-early-2015 but still - you can't be sure when and they already skipped one update so you don't really know if they will release more updates after that - their (Verizon's) support is simply poor.

[Darkis]

except alot of these companies are going to crack down on these 3rd party apps in the way that snapchat has done, while not giving a official application. just letting him know that while the OS and phones are good. he will literally not find an official application for 95% of all the biggest apps that people use. and as I said as a developer I dont really care about this since I have made my own that I wanted. but I could see how normal people coudl see this as annoying.

Not true, your statement applies mostly to Google apps (don't even have an idea what snapchat is - never used it, and literally no one i know does), since G decided to be a bitch and not release any official apps. Other than that - i don't see anything that i was using on Android missing on WP. Well, except armory, but since i don't play WoW anymore - couldn't care less about it. Also there's the thing about unified Win10 that's supposed to come this year, and i think that developers would jump on the chance to release universal apps that would work on all Windows platforms. Guess we'll find out more about that later tonight during MS conference.

I do completely agree with you about general quality of the OS (althouth it does miss some tweaks that i hope they'll bring via updates, like open a background tab in IE), but i think you're exagerrating the issue with apps, as it's nowhere as bad as you say it is.

- - - Updated - - -

I do not live in the States but even I know that Icon has a terrible support from Verizon.

The rest of the world is getting Lumia Denim update while the Icon is still two updates behind (and no signs of Verizon being interested in releasing these).

Yup, that's why i hate carrier locked phones (even though there's no such thing where i live), plus, Icon was also exclusive to Verizon. Add those two up, and you get a recipe for disaster.

[Rukentuts]

Do not get a windows phone. Seriously. Just don't. It's a falling marketshare. Do a droid.

[Deng]

Do not get a windows phone. Seriously. Just don't. It's a falling marketshare. Do a droid.

Their marketshare will not vanish until Microsoft wants it to. Until then it's a great system (at least 8.1 upwards).

[Rukentuts]

Their marketshare will not vanish until Microsoft wants it to. Until then it's a great system (at least 8.1 upwards).

Of course it won't vanish, like Windows CE never has yet to vanish, but there comes a point where the masses of (especially casual) developers just won't support your OS.

[Deng]

Of course it won't vanish, like Windows CE never has yet to vanish, but there comes a point where the masses of (especially casual) developers just won't support your OS.

I'd say that developers support is still rising though
Let's wait for the late december's Kantar report.

[Darkis]

Of course it won't vanish, like Windows CE never has yet to vanish, but there comes a point where the masses of (especially casual) developers just won't support your OS.

Yet the amount of apps showed a huge growth in last 12 months. And i can live without 104761821975 different flashlight apps.

[Rukentuts]

I'd say that developers support is still rising though
Let's wait for the late december's Kantar report.

http://www.statista.com/statistics/2...ating-systems/

Marketshare has a history of decline for MS.

[Darksoldierr]

If you don't mind the lack of Apps i think WP is better. I had to develop apps in my last two semester for WP, and i got the Phone during the semesters for working on it, my next phone will be definitely WP

[Annoying]

http://www.phonearena.com/phones/benchmarks

The speed difference between phones can be staggering. Find similar phones there, and compare them. Whether you like the UI and apps available is entirely subjective, but the actual performance matters too.

[Deleted]

Do not get a windows phone. Seriously. Just don't. It's a falling marketshare. Do a droid.

Yeah get a phone that gets abandoned 6 months after release and the only way you can get updates is by installing shady ROMs from a 3rd party that may or may not brick your phone.

[Kujako]

Do you have a Mac or other Apple product? Get an iPhone.
Do you use Google for mail, entertainment, etc? Get an Android.
Do you use XBox more then is healthy? Get a Windows phone.

Otherwise, get the one you like best.

[Deleted]

Android (Nexus 6) for personal use, have to use Lumia's at work.....

I would never personally buy 1, as there just isn't the apps I need/use on WP yet, but that doesn't mean there isn't enough for anyone else. They are decent phones tech wise & while I don't personally like the tiles, but you aren't picking a bad choice from another. Just a different taste