The Windows Phone Thread

[reniarahim1]

we are waiting for your reviews...

[Shah]

we are waiting for your reviews...

I don't know what is there in WP8 which makes us crazy to buy and suggest WP8 devices to others too. May be, the "lag-free" UI and live tiles have attracted us, so much.

we are waiting for your reviews...

I don't know what is there in WP8 which makes us crazy to buy and suggest WP8 devices to others too. May be, the "lag-free" UI and live tiles have attracted us, so much.

[pranav0091]

^
Its a fresh, refreshing take on the concept of a mobile OS, not to forget the current WP8 flagships are also arguably the most beautiful phones on the market ATM and also the most lag-free. They "hide" the little lag seen here and there through the use of cute-yet-understated animations unlike android where all you see (usually) is a circular loading icon, so reminiscent of the days when windows would stop responding. If you ask me, its about time the consumers felt "joy" while using a phone that they have shelled out their hard earned money on. And the other end of the spectrum we have the IOS which is too expensive/restricted in many ways. WP8 is far from being perfect but attempts to strike a balance between the two extremes and seems to have succeeded in pulling it off. Just my two cents.
My Lumia should also be arriving tomorrow

[dhan_shh]

Wow! Battery discharger app is showing battery percentage as tile and in lock-screen too! ENJOY!




I'm slowly getting used to L920,Nokia music download is pretty useful for listening music!

eMail app is good,push for Microsoft Hotmail,google mail but only Pull for yahoo and other mails?!

I'll add my views slowly....!

[pranav0091]

Got my Lumia too. Will review once I can use this handset properly

First thoughts: Good looking handset (matte black), slightly on the heavier side, feels "solid" as a result. Beautiful screen, very legible in bright light (will check sunlight legibility and report later). Dont like the new windows logo at the centre, the one on the Lumia 800 is cooler. Also the new logo lights up a tiny bit too bright for my liking (No-one else had any such opinion though). Yeah I am nit-picking. Lovely packing, even prettier 3-pin charger thats shaped like a half inch slice taken out from a 1.5 inch diameter white cylinder. That extra "wasted" space at the bottom is surprisingly useful.

No $ sign as default, its the rupee sign, can be changed of course. Maps for Karnataka and Kerala together take up only about 150MB. Total usable space is about 26G, which makes the 8X seem even more cramped. Good speakers at first sight , decent bass reproduction for a phone. It might be because my friend has setup her beats wrong or something (if thats possible, IDK) but I prefer the sound output from the 920 over my basic earphones.

More coming up later today

[Shah]

Got my Lumia too. Will review once I can use this handset properly

First thoughts: Good looking handset (matte black), slightly on the heavier side, feels "solid" as a result. Beautiful screen, very legible in bright light (will check sunlight legibility and report later). Dont like the new windows logo at the centre, the one on the Lumia 800 is cooler. Also the new logo lights up a tiny bit too bright for my liking (No-one else had any such opinion though). Yeah I am nit-picking. Lovely packing, even prettier 3-pin charger thats shaped like a half inch slice taken out from a 1.5 inch diameter white cylinder. That extra "wasted" space at the bottom is surprisingly useful.

No $ sign as default, its the rupee sign, can be changed of course. Maps for Karnataka and Kerala together take up only about 150MB. Total usable space is about 26G, which makes the 8X seem even more cramped. Good speakers at first sight , decent bass reproduction for a phone. It might be because my friend has setup her beats wrong or something (if thats possible, IDK) but I prefer the sound output from the 920 over my basic earphones.

More coming up later today

Congrats on your new L920.

@For all WP8 device owners:

Could you all please throw some light on the Mysterious "Other" Storage Issue? Wanna know more about it before taking a decision on buying a WP8 device.

[maverick786us]

I laminated my Lumia 920 from a local shop who used local skin. Will it void the warranty or cause any scratch to the poly shell?

[pranav0091]

I laminated my Lumia 920 from a local shop who used local skin. Will it void the warranty or cause any scratch to the poly shell?

Man, why use local plastic on such a beautiful phone?
No, it wont.

@Shah : Currently its 1.23G. Will keep an eye on it.

[Empirial]

Is this true : Internet disconnecting on screen timeout - xda-developers

[pranav0091]

I dont use IM on phone. But I can assure you that the wifi can be kept on even when the screen locks. Will check some download and update.

[Empirial]

I dont use IM on phone. But I can assure you that the wifi can be kept on even when the screen locks. Will check some download and update.

Ok Thanks

[maverick786us]

Man, why use local plastic on such a beautiful phone?
No, it wont.

@Shah : Currently its 1.23G. Will keep an eye on it.

For now, could'nt find good skin in delhi. Do you know some place in delhi where I can get a good skin fitteed?

[Krow]

Ok Thanks

The latest WP8 update fixed that issue AFAIK.

[X 0 N 0 D E]

Still no HTC 8S Domino Black in India..hmmm.

[Shah]

@Shah : Currently its 1.23G. Will keep an eye on it.

Thanks for replying. Do post when you find it increasing or decreasing suddenly.

[Empirial]

The latest WP8 update fixed that issue AFAIK.

Hi, you are using HTC 8X right? I read that any apps above 50mb can be downloaded only using WiFi. So, is it possible to download apps, games via 2G/3G data? And that data cut off when screen is locked happens with WiFi only or with 2G/3G too?

[Shah]

Hi, you are using HTC 8X right? I read that any apps above 50mb can be downloaded only using WiFi. So, is it possible to download apps, games via 2G/3G data? And that data cut off when screen is locked happens with WiFi only or with 2G/3G too?

This has been fixed with the latest Porticco update. Now, you can download Apps above 50MB through 2G/3G data itself. No WiFi connection is needed.

[Empirial]

This has been fixed with the latest Porticco update. Now, you can download Apps above 50MB through 2G/3G data itself. No WiFi connection is needed.

Oh Thanks! And what about IM alerts/notification?

[Shah]

Oh Thanks! And what about IM alerts/notification?

IIRC, Microsoft is working on some update to use the Three Capacitive Keys below the screen as LED Notification. It will released soon.

[Krow]

Oh Thanks! And what about IM alerts/notification?

A notification centre is in the works. Should be added in a future update. I'm not using the 8X anymore.

[pranav0091]

More random updates (forgive the lousy punctuation :> ):

Love the keyboard's next word prediction. Its similar to swype's on android my friends tell me. Its pretty accurate most of the time in predicting the next word if you are typing "regular" english. Didnt find an option to add custom words to the dictionary, but was pleasantly surprised to see it learn new words with just 1-2 uses. has a special section to store recently used emoticons separately from the mass of other smileys, a nice touch. All these combined mean that I am having to actually punch in much lesser to type the same message on my 920 as compared to my Xperia ray. also find it much much easier to edit single mis-spelled characters thanks to the "floating" cursor (activated by a tap and hold on the text area). A very nice touch indeed.

Notifications appearing on the top can be swiped away to the right. Delivery reports are "messages" that appear as unread messages until you "see" them; not very amused about this one. Still dont miss the notification centre (I never used it all that much on my Xperia TBH, so my experience may be skewed to favour WP8). I wish the search and the back buttons were interchanged in their placement - cant reach the back button with one hand on the 920 while I can just about make it on the SIII. Note that I have smallish hands.

Nokia maps arent as good as google maps for out-and-out detail, but serve their purpose well. The GPS lock doesnt get lost even when you lock the screen to save battery. good. Camera excels in low light. Nearly matches my canon dslr in a random handheld, all-settings-auto test I conducted last night. Not great detail on the low light pics, but neither did the canon have any more. But definitely more saturated colors on the 920, hell, the photo looked better than the actual view :>
So, its a very impressive achievement indeed. In normal light, though much harder to see any difference (vs One X). I'l check if mine has the portico update and then comment.

No lag yet. I dont game much, but just for the sake of it downloaded some three simple free games and started all of them (penguin something, dalton something and free flow) and randomly switched between them and the homescreen. Not a hint of lag. Good.

Lasts a day with decently heavy usage. Possibly not as good as my Xperia, but maybe I am using the phone a bit too much currently as its new (even my Xperia's battery life seemed to get better to me after a couple of weeks). browsed a little bit on IE, its good as the reviewers say. Possibly a tad faster than the stock browser on the One X (JB). Just checked a couple of sites like engadget, espnstar : so no firm opinions there except that IE is definitely usable. I cant really say its the puremotion thingy at work, but zooming in on webpages is arguably smoother on the 920.

Had a bit of trouble getting my gmail to sync, not sure what was the issue as it disappeared on its own. Integration of mails and FB is top notch and really slick, though you dont get the option to edit your posts as in a normal browser. Havent downloaded the official facebook app (not going to either).

[tkin]

A windows phone thread, perfect, please report on the others storage bug in win 8.

[pranav0091]

My others folder was at 1.23G a couple of days ago, but now its a wee bit larger at 1.31G. From what I noticed, the size increases only when you download an OS component, say a keyboard language or say an app. The increase in size though is disproportionately large as the download of a 4MB neyboard zapped 60MB of space and an app less than 1MB took up 20MB of "others" space. Removing the app/keyboard doesnt reclaim the space. Futher, the uninstalltion occurs very quickly leading me to suspect that the increase in space is due to some kind of unzipping of the downloaded files that WP8 doesnt delete even when you uninstall the app. It could be a bug or it could be just that Windows is caching the files, in case you change opinion and install that app again (just my hypothesis)

[Shah]

Hey guys, Look at this non-commercial L920 ad made by an fan. It's awesome.

[NoasArcAngel]

some hope for hacks on wp8 :

RT Jailbreak Tool Lets Users Install Non-Microsoft Executables on Windows RT – xda-developers

[pranav0091]

And some more updates (I have been using the phone quite a lot):

If you are used to google maps you are gonna be dissapointed. Nokia drive is currently not the slickest mapping/navigation solution around. Compared to Google maps app on android, I find the lack of the following two features almost criminal/ridiculous:

1) Inability to rotate the maps: Yes, you cannot rotate the maps. Now you might want to know why would I make such a big fuss about this, afterall the navigation solutions are meant to be best used from the "driving" point of view right (the one where you are always at a fixed position on the screen and the direction you are heading towards is the "upside") ? and the Drive launches in the driving view by default...That brings me to the next issue...

2) Fickle-minded maps direction-sensing : When you walk towards an intersection, there is a very good chance that Nokia drive will think that you are taking a left/right when you are just following the straight path. It takes a few seconds (anywhere from 3-7 seconds) to get it back right about your direction. This may not have been such an issue if it were not for the other issue that I mentioned above. The change in direction as perceived by the app (wrongly, of course) is followed with a rotation of the "view" making this new direction the "upside". And a few seconds later it switches the view again as it finally realises its folly. This quick rotation of the maps is so acutely dis-orientating that its almost a deal breaker for me. If I had the choice of using google maps here, I'd gladly do so. Let me put this no uncertain terms - Nokia map is buggy. And very annoying at times.
These bugs combined with the fact that you cant rotate/lock the maps to point n a true N-S direction makes for a very formidable reason to just stop using Drive if you can.

And on a couple of occasions I did see false locks. Once, the app swore I was about 10km away from where I actually was. Of course it corrected itself in a few seconds again, but I did see a proper "lock" about 10km from me.

I also find the lack of movable bubbles at the endpoints of a path very unhelpful. It was one of those features that I loved about google maps, the ability to change your endpoints just by tapping and holding on the screen and moving the bubble/s to a new position. And the lack of a "scale" doesnt help WP either.

I have finally achieved the impossible: to get WP to lag. Yes, you heard that right. Again it was Nokia Drive. I pressed the back button to quit Drive and nothing happened. I thought I had missed the button and was about to press it again when all of a sudden I was at the homescreen. I have since found it lightly lagging in a couple of other occasions both times when browsing the marketplace. I pressed to open up the description of an app and nothing happens - and after abt 3 seconds it immediately reaches the description page. But then again, it could be because of the fact that I was on a lousy 3G connection as well.

On the brighter side I am now getting the feeling that the battery life is improving, although it could simply be because I am using it less intensively...
There you go.

Update:
I take back part of what I said above. Tapping and holding at a point in Nokia Maps lets you choose it as the start or end of a journey. Though I'd still vote for Google's movable location bubbles, this indeed is what a good part of my gripe was about. And luckily Maps doesnt suffer from the random-direction-syndrome mentioned above. So thats something to lift my spirits

[Shah]

And some more updates (I have been using the phone quite a lot):

If you are used to google maps you are gonna be dissapointed. Nokia drive is currently not the slickest mapping/navigation solution around. Compared to Google maps app on android, I find the lack of the following two features almost criminal/ridiculous:

1) Inability to rotate the maps: Yes, you cannot rotate the maps. Now you might want to know why would I make such a big fuss about this, afterall the navigation solutions are meant to be best used from the "driving" point of view right (the one where you are always at a fixed position on the screen and the direction you are heading towards is the "upside") ? and the Drive launches in the driving view by default...That brings me to the next issue...

2) Fickle-minded maps direction-sensing : When you walk towards an intersection, there is a very good chance that Nokia drive will think that you are taking a left/right when you are just following the straight path. It takes a few seconds (anywhere from 3-7 seconds) to get it back right about your direction. This may not have been such an issue if it were not for the other issue that I mentioned above. The change in direction as perceived by the app (wrongly, of course) is followed with a rotation of the "view" making this new direction the "upside". And a few seconds later it switches the view again as it finally realises its folly. This quick rotation of the maps is so acutely dis-orientating that its almost a deal breaker for me. If I had the choice of using google maps here, I'd gladly do so. Let me put this no uncertain terms - Nokia map is buggy. And very annoying at times.
These bugs combined with the fact that you cant rotate/lock the maps to point n a true N-S direction makes for a very formidable reason to just stop using Drive if you can.

And on a couple of occasions I did see false locks. Once, the app swore I was about 10km away from where I actually was. Of course it corrected itself in a few seconds again, but I did see a proper "lock" about 10km from me.

I also find the lack of movable bubbles at the endpoints of a path very unhelpful. It was one of those features that I loved about google maps, the ability to change your endpoints just by tapping and holding on the screen and moving the bubble/s to a new position. And the lack of a "scale" doesnt help WP either.

I have finally achieved the impossible: to get WP to lag. Yes, you heard that right. Again it was Nokia Drive. I pressed the back button to quit Drive and nothing happened. I thought I had missed the button and was about to press it again when all of a sudden I was at the homescreen. I have since found it lightly lagging in a couple of other occasions both times when browsing the marketplace. I pressed to open up the description of an app and nothing happens - and after abt 3 seconds it immediately reaches the description page. But then again, it could be because of the fact that I was on a lousy 3G connection as well.

On the brighter side I am now getting the feeling that the battery life is improving, although it could simply be because I am using it less intensively...
There you go.

Update:
I take back part of what I said above. Tapping and holding at a point in Nokia Maps lets you choose it as the start or end of a journey. Though I'd still vote for Google's movable location bubbles, this indeed is what a good part of my gripe was about. And luckily Maps doesnt suffer from the random-direction-syndrome mentioned above. So thats something to lift my spirits

What about the "Other" storage buddy???

[pranav0091]

1.41G
I have quite a few more apps on my phone now, so I am not surprised. Tried and discarded few others as well.

[Empirial]

Sorry for asking similar question again but I am a bit confused. Suppose if we receive any im message or email when the device is kept ideal with screen locked. Then we will hear any message tone/vibration or nothing?

[pranav0091]

^^ I dont use IM, but there is an option to keep the Wifi on even when the screen is locked, if thats what you are worried about. Cant find a similar option for data though.
Can someone who uses IM on WP8 comment?