Anybody got a Windows 8 phone and an Android phone?

[robsawalker]

My business phone is an HTC One, which is the best phone I have ever had. I gave my personal phone, a Galaxy S3 (which is also a really great phone) to my partner. My contract renewal date is due at the beginning of next year and I'm pondering over what I want to get to play around with. The main contenders so far being:

Note 3 - I had a Note and absolutely loved it
Xperia Z Ultra - I love big phones, but no flash?!
Lumia 1520 - 20MB camera, OIS, SD card slot
iPhone 5S - I have had 3 iPhones and they are brilliant, but the screen may be too small now.

I was wondering if anyone has a windows phone and an android phone and would love to hear comments and thoughts really. I love Googles suite of apps and I'm not sure what it would be like not having them. No notifications either and no voice commands, although I believe these are all coming in the 8.1 update?

I have used a friends HTC 8X (which is Windows) and was impressed with how well it ran. The app store is starting to look a bout less lame now, and with the 8.1 update I think it could be a contender as a secondary phone. I love taking photos on my phone, which is another reason I love my HTC One so much. It starts up so incredibly quickly, takes photos mega fast and has awesome low-light capabilities, along with zoe's and highlights and so on. So I am thinking the 1520's 20MP camera could match this is some areas, and of course have the higher resolution so even allow a little zooming in too (although I rarely zoom in for photos using a phone).

So, anybody got a Windows phone care to comment?

 

[ljxdaly]

i just got a lumia 520, and am just learning to use it. i suppose by today's standard it is a lower end device. but it cost 49 bucks, so what the heck.

i also have a moto x.

the two phones are EQUAL as far as slickness. scrolling on the lumia is better than on any device i've had. i'm really impressed with how WP interacts with the phone.

The windows store is difficult though. the biggest problem i'm noticing is that there is little by the way of description when you choose an app. just seems a bit trial and error to me. i'm not a huge app guy, so i really only need a few to get me thru.....but the search function in the store is poor.

the only thing that would hold me back from a windows phone would be the ecosystem. the lumia is extremely well made, and WP is a slick OS. the hierarchy of ecosystems remains, imo. IOS>Android>WP.

wish i could throw some sophisticated benchmark tests at you, but all i have is holding the things in my hand and messing around with them.

 

[Vaas]

I came from a Lumia 920, which I had for a year. I got my first Android phone this past November, the Moto X. Ill give a quick pro/con

Lumia 920
Pro
- Windows phone 8 - this is more personal, but I like the live tiles.
- Smooth - it ran smooth and fast
- Integration with Skydrive - every picture/movie I took auto uploads to skydrive
- Camera, hands down best camera on a phone I have used

Con
- Apps lacking, this is getting better. Specifically fitbit and mapmyrun didnot have the functionality I wanted
- Cannot customize the way you can on android
- Phone functionality - see Moto X
- Battery - I could never get more than 7-8hrs and that is with the phone in my car not being used

Moto X - I cannot comment on earlier version since this is the only Android phone I have owned. It is upgraded to 4.4.1
Pro
- Functionality is awesome. I love Moto Assist, Daydream, Google Now. I use all these daily, I have thrown out my old alarm clock on my side table and now dock my phone with daydream. Might be able to do something like this with Windows phone but having it already built in was a huge plus
- Apps - love the app store and have purchased more there than I ever did on Windows app store. My fitbit and mapmyrun work better
- Integration with Google+
- Smooth, the Moto X runs everything I have with no problems
- Battery, I get 14hrs with no use and it drops from 90% to 70%, I easily get a full days out of it with my use
- Size, the 4.7 of the X is actually overall smaller than my 4.5 Lumia 920. I do not like big phones and 5inch is pushing it so the 4.7 was perfect

Cons
- Camera, I take a ton of pictures/movies. the camera is good but not up to Lumia standards. However it was good enough for me that I switched to the X without a problem

In the end, the Moto X is the best phone I have ever used. I use so much more for different things daily than I have any phone I have used. I have not had a lot compared to others, Iphone3, Iphone4, Lumia 920. On the Windows side things are still looking good and I hope they become a good solid 3rd choice. I am looking forward to see what they do with Smart Glass with the Xbox one, the 8.1 update and the functionality it brings.

Good luck in your choice

 

[mattjopete]

This is my minor experience of playing around with the OS, and I'm not an expert. If I'm wrong please let me know.
If you are used to android, know that there is no notification drawer on WP8. So, the only way to tell if you have a notification is to hope you have the app on the homescreen and see which app has something listed in its live tile. Otherwise, if you don't have it on the homescreen you have to hop around from app to app until you find the one that made the notification.

 

[robsawalker]

Thanks guys. Vaas, sadly Moto X is NA only so not available in the UK. It does look like a superb phone though.

I believe notifications and voice actions are coming in Windows 8.update.

Posted via Android Central App

 

[Geodude074]

I've used my friend's HTC Windows Phone 8X a few times. It was just god awful, there were so many things about it that just confused me and didn't make sense. I'm sure if I would have spent more time with it I could have gotten used to it, but the fact that a lot of simple actions just aren't intuitive and require a learning curve is just inexcusable.

Just simple things like adding a phone number to your contact list was impossible. A person had called my friend, the number was in the call history - but there was no option to save the number as a new contact. My friend couldn't figure it out and gave it to me to figure out. I spent a few minutes on it and gave up. Something as simple as that should be intuitive.

There was no Facebook app (at the time, maybe there is one now). If he wanted to go on Facebook, he had to open up a browser.

The apps were listed in one big list, instead of grid-view like Android or iOS. Just a chore to scroll through and look for.

Windows Store list of apps was just pathetic. What's the point of having a smart phone if there's barely any apps for it? Just get a dumb phone then.

And that's my short and limited experience of Windows Phone 8.

 

[pgg101]

Windows Store list of apps was just pathetic. What's the point of having a smart phone if there's barely any apps for it? Just get a dumb phone then.

And that's my short and limited experience of Windows Phone 8.

Not every smart phone users cares about apps. For some, Facebook, news, bank app, and a good email app is all they really need.

I don't know anyone with a WP8 but it looks pretty nice from what I saw at the store.

Posted via Android Central App on BlackBerry Z30

 

[JRDroid]

Not every smart phone users cares about apps. For some, Facebook, news, bank app, and a good email app is all they really need.

I don't know anyone with a WP8 but it looks pretty nice from what I saw at the store.

Posted via Android Central App on BlackBerry Z30

Many bank apps are not available on Windows Phone (Chase, BoA, and Wells Fargo are the only major US banks available), the email app is not nearly as good as what Android has to offer, the Facebook app is even worse than Android's, and, at least in my area, all the local news apps are iOS/Android/(sometimes)Blackberry only. The app ecosystem really is pathetic. I nearly got a Lumia 1020 instead of the Moto X, but even the most basic app needs I had couldn't be met.

 

[pgg101]

Many bank apps are not available on Windows Phone (Chase, BoA, and Wells Fargo are the only major US banks available), the email app is not nearly as good as what Android has to offer, the Facebook app is even worse than Android's, and, at least in my area, all the local news apps are iOS/Android/(sometimes)Blackberry only. The app ecosystem really is pathetic. I nearly got a Lumia 1020 instead of the Moto X, but even the most basic app needs I had couldn't be met.

True. But sometimes the web-based mobile sites are even better than apps I find. For example, my bank doesn't offer a native BlackBerry 10 app yet (but coming this year). So I use the mobile site over the Android app because it looks better. I find the mobile version of Facebook better than the Android or bb10 app too. Some HTML5 enhanced mobile sites are really starting to look like an app.

Posted via Android Central App on BlackBerry Z30

 

[JRDroid]

True. But sometimes the web-based mobile sites are even better than apps I find. For example, my bank doesn't offer a native BlackBerry 10 app yet (but coming this year). So I use the mobile site over the Android app because it looks better. I find the mobile version of Facebook better than the Android or bb10 app too. Some HTML5 enhanced mobile sites are really starting to look like an app.

Posted via Android Central App on BlackBerry Z30

While I agree that HTML5 webapps have come a long, long way and can be nearly indistinguishable from a native mobile app, most sites have yet to deploy and HTML5 webapp on that level. Yes they exist, but they are far from the norm. Until they are the rule instead of the exception, a OS's app ecosystem will continue to be a huge factor in its success. I like Windows Phone a lot. I used Windows Phone 7 from about 3 months after its launch until this time last year. I had a Windows Phone when their app store hit 10,000 apps. The main reason I switched back to Android instead of Windows Phone 8 was the app ecosystem, I was so tired of saying "this is the year Windows Phone will get apps". I seriously considered the Lumia 1020 when I was looking at getting a new phone in November and I very nearly got one, but I just couldn't bring myself to deal with the poor app ecosystem. It isn't even just missing apps, but many of the apps that are there are lacking features that the same title has on iOS or Android.