My first days with a Windows 8 phone

whs

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I became adventurous and spent $79 for a Windows 8 phone. I said to myself what can you lose, I spent similar money for a USB stick. But what I can gain is some experience - as if I needed that at my age, LOL.

My first impressions are mixed. There are really 3 parts to it.

1. The Nokia part - they make the hardware. It clearly shows that they once were the largest cell phone manufacturer in the world. The phone is very well put together. It makes a solid impression.

The little Qualcom CPU does a decent job and operation is fluid. The screen is ok, not more. It has a bit of a reflection and it is certainly not high def at 800x480. But even with my bad eyes I can manage. The touch works well once I had peeled the protective foil off. The camera takes pictures - not more. You are not going to win a photo contest with those.

2. The Microsoft part - W8P is neatly organized and I had no problem with all the setups. It took me about two hours to 'tune' it my way. It feels a bit like a mini Android but it has a lot less options than Android. That is also the major weakness of W8P - compared to Android the whole infrastructure is pretty poor - e.g. few apps in the store. The best app is the navigation app, but that is from Nokia. I can now see why people prefer Android over W8P.

A little aside - I had a question and called Microsoft where I bought the phone. They told me that they do not support the device. The person literally said that they do like Walmart.

3. The T-Mobile part - although the phone is contract free, if you want a contract, you can only get it from T-Mobile. They want $30 minimum without data. I said thank you because for the two calls per month we would be making that is steep. Their mother company in Germany offers a minimum of E9.95. That is still too much for my purposes but more reasonable. I am now scouting the terrain for a reasonable VoIP - here again Android is a lot better. With GrooveIP the calls are free, even from Europe to the US.

Well, as I said at the beginning, it is to gain experience. I don't really need a cell phone.
 
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Why is my favorite part about the phone the updates? lol

You got the 'black' update yet? I assume they release it worldwide.

So far I haven't had any problems with apps. I use my calendar, facebook with address book, weather, music, and that pretty much has me going clean. All other stuff is just fun add-ons
 

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What is the black update?
 

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Their mother company in Germany offers a minimum of E9.95. That is still too much for my purposes but more reasonable.
In France I pay €2 per month for 120 minutes national and international - enough for me. In Germany this one from O2 has a monthly fee of € 0 which may be good if you don't make many calls.
 

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Their mother company in Germany offers a minimum of E9.95. That is still too much for my purposes but more reasonable.
In France I pay €2 per month for 120 minutes national and international - enough for me. In Germany this one from O2 has a monthly fee of € 0 which may be good if you don't make many calls.

Sounds like a good deal. The problem with this phone is that the SIM card is a T-Mobile card. I am wondering whether other SIM cards would work too.
 

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You're quite welcome, whs. :)

Yes on the Beamer. First time I've seen it. I'll have to check it out.

Overall with reading your evaluation; I’m quite sure you realize that you got what you paid for. It’s a low-end Nokia. A Pinto vs a Ferrari. It’s certainly not a 1520 believe you me. Looking back for what we paid for handsets, $79 is a steal for what we get today.

Confused as to how you can compare it to a “mini Android”. I thought you said this was your first cell device. Yes? Or are you comparing it to a pad?

Continuing from W9 forum:

The Walmart story really p'd me off. They sell you a product and then they don't even want to talk to you.

I sympathize with you here. Depends on the question I would guess. What was it? Hardware or software? Any which way, although MS is in the process of buying Nokia, they are just a retailer of their products for now. Even though in this instance it’s a MS OS on the phone, the fact is that Nokia bought the license to install it. In dealing with a corporate retailer today, if one has problems with a product the retailer refers the customer to the manufacturer. Unfortunately it’s not similar to dealing with a Ma and Pop small-town retailer where one would get more service.

e.g. Recently I bought a memory foam mattress from a fairly large regional corporate retailer. Much to my surprise it came folded in a fairly small box for a mattress. Once unpackaged and laid out it’s supposed to unfold to its original manufactured state within 72 hours. “Ok, after all it is memory foam” so I thought. It didn’t unfold properly, so I call the retailer, which contacted their “vendor” who contacted me to rectify the defect. In their first email to me was a request to send them a picture of the tags attached to the mattress for “verification of manufacturer”. My first questions in thought > What makes them think I have the time? Why wouldn’t they send a rep? What makes them think I have a camera??!! After all I’m the customer! Ugh!! Having had past experience with similar situations, I bit my tongue and sent them pics. After a dozen emails, setting up separate pickup and delivery appointments, and one month’s time later I received another mattress of which I am finally happy with!!!

I have a T-Mobile SIM card, but I do not plan to use it. I really need no phone when I am out and about. And in all the hotels we stop, they have WiFi.

Although we can’t/don’t think of everything, I would have thought you checked that out before purchasing. Cokie and azasadny are probably the two that know more about WP8 than anyone here. You may want to PM them. That’s not to say there are others.

So you have a T-Mobile SIMM, but no service. Not all that sure, but I would think you could slip any carrier’s SIMM in as long as the phone is compatible with that carrier’s Network requirements. There’s probably T-Mobile software on it that you may not be able to uninstall unless you jailbreak it. My Droid was like that too. In fact I think they’re all branded like that.

Weren’t you going to use this for navigation also? Can’t do that without carrier service, unless you wait for Super WiFi.
 

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HG, I am not at all complaining about the little guy. It is a cute gadget and you are right, for $79 you can't expect the world. The only Android comparison I have is my Nexus 7. That has great apps from the Playstore and I assume that Android phones can get those too.

The Walmart story is odd. I never got to ask my really simple question regarding the protective foil on the screen. The lady cut me right off. As far as a phone contract goes, I really don't need that. I would get something where you pay per call (if it is reasonable) but a fixed monthly fee is not practical for my possible 2 or 3 calls.

Yes I will use it for navigation and you don't need a connection whilst you are driving. You only need a connection to set up the route. I have practiced that many times on my Nexus. But the Nexus is in Germany right now. Tomorrow I will be navigating to Yalahla about 65 miles from here - try to find that on the map. The Nokia Here+ found it. It's a lone bakery in the nowheres that makes good German bread which I need because I cannot eat this sponge stuff they sell around here.
 

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I am glad to see you taking an interest in the WP and giving it a shot.

I can certainly sympathize on the apps side. But keep in mind, the WP is still an infant by all other standards.
The Android has had several years lead on WP and App Development has been several years ahead.
I am certain that a lot of those apps will be coming, quite a few already have.
But some of the better more polished Apps, I think are right around the corner after the 8.1 update.

Namely because of a lot of the business/enterprise additions to the 8.1 update that are not there now.
Once people start incorporating them more in to the Corporate world, and they will. We will see a turn for the better App wise.

One App that I think has been on Android and iPhone for a while (not sure though) is Waze Maps App
https://www.waze.com/
I am quite impressed with this app. I had a chance to take it on a 4+ hour round trip, and it saved me a couple of times.
Very cool idea, and ran well on my Lumia 928.

The other one that I peaked at, but haven't used, because it's a limited trial and not free, and the important stuff to test doesn't work in trial is,,, GPS Voice Navigation
It looks like it has some better options than Waze, but similar features.

However, Here Drive+ works very well also.

I can tell you, from the Android that I used, the one my Mother in Law had, it was a nightmare even for me.
She had a heck of a time with it and messaging. That thing was all over the place to get to anything significant
My wife handed her, her Lumia 928, and she picked it up pretty darn quick.
She took it back and got an iPhone (which is a lot better than the Android she had) cause that is what my Brother in Law got her as he is paying the bill for it.
Still lacks simplicity in essential use stuff. Such as messaging. That was my experience anyway.
WP8, just works, get's you to where you want to be much quicker in my opinion, has better sorting and not a lot of fluff.

As for options,, they will come as well.
Such as, more personal tone settings. I would like to see some custom Toast tones etc.

What apps are missing that you were looking for specifically, besides Map/GPS apps?

Apps | Windows Phone Central
 
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Thanks for the input. That waze app looks interesting. I will try it out. The Drive+ I use and it is pretty good.

Now I am really looking for a VoIP app like GrooveIP in Android where I can make free calls within North America and from Europe to the US - and US to Europe for 2 cents. I call to landlines and cannot have any special setups (my mother-in-law for example could not deal with that). Just a plain phone call facility.

Have not yet found anything suitable. If you have a tip, I would be much obliged.

Today I downloaded a couple of apps using my win7 desktop from the MS apps store. It said that they would be loaded on my phone but they never arrived. I wonder how that works. If I do the same from the Google Playstore, they appear on my Android device the next time I turn that on.

Anyhow, my experience with Android is a good one. It has a lot more options than W8P and is easy to use - at least for me. The little Lumia phone is not bad but it is not quite adult yet. But I am not complaining. For the money I paid it is quite nice and the wife keeps it now all the time to play Sudoku (because I left the Android tab in Germany, LOL).
 

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Unfortunately, I have no info for VoIP, I have no use fir it, nor Skype.

For the sending app to phone, it generally works the same way as others.
Make sure you are logged into the store with the same creds as your phone
make sure everything is correct for the phone under My Phone
You may have to have location services turned on, not sure, i have that on anyway.
Then hit install and agree and get app
I have had to do a couple a couple of times, but they usually install right away, or after a few moments.

Not sure if you have been through this... maybe something here?

Search results for "voip" | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)
 

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Thanks for the info. I have one other question.

Is there something like an Explorer with which I can look at my files and folders. I loaded a bunch of documents om my NicroSD card but cannot see them. The Music, pictures and videos are accessible (although in a terrible order) but the docs are somehow hidden.
 

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Unfortunately no File Explorer in WP8, whs. A complaint I have with as well. Hopefully added in WP8.1?

I do, however, access files with Office and other files via OneDrive.

Did you make it to the bakery? Did the navigation work well?
 

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The native file manager in Android sucked IMO. It was limited.

That app looks like it'll work for you, whs.

Keep it under 100mph on your way to the bakery! :p
 

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The wife is driving and she goes slow. My eyes are too bad for driving any distance. In Germany we always have an argument because I used to go at 120MpH and she goes at 70 - at best holding up the traffic.
 

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There is Best Player and Pocket File Manager

[DEL]I am currently testing Total Explorer
It says you can transfer more easily using BlueTooth, we will see.
Was released just the other day, but so far, it is crashing on my phone.
Restarted my phone and tried it again, but still crashing.[/DEL] Not as good as others.


There are a lot of File Explorers for the WP though.
 
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I just got this file explorer and tried it out. At first glance it worked OK. Was able to display and open videos, music and pictures. But only from the mixed list. Have to still figure out how to oen them from the folder view.
 

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Ok, as I understand it or am finding out

Local Storage, is Local Storage only for that Application.
Not like plugging in your phone via USB to a PC.

So, if you have Office docs in Office, they will not be viewable from there.
The reason is cross app security, or Sandboxing of the apps.

So, MS opened access to certain locations, but not all locations to Apps in general.
ie, Music and Pictures and possibly Video
I have Pocket File Manager, Best Player and File Explorer
Local Storage is different on each one of these apps.

So, there are limitations based on the security of the phone and being locked out of accessing things across apps.
Which is what makes WP so secure, or less prone, and could be said completely immune to viruses.

Also, executable code can not be run from those locations I do not believe.
 

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