Making the jump from Android to a Windows 10 mobile?
- Thread starter clockwork.satan
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Soldato
Gotta say, the battery life on the 640 is awesome. Seems that Edge is the worst offender for draining the battery going by the stat's. Destroys the battery life of the S3 I had previously. I would say it's on par with my ZTE ZMAX for battery life (which has a bigger battery)
The comments that point out the lack of downloaded maps seem to assume Google Maps is the only option, which as with most things on Android, is not the case.
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I got a free Lumia 640 from work, and switched from my old SGS3 with work SIM to the 640. Sure, the apps are a bit lacking, but I've never used apps too often anyway. For me it's Facebook, email, browsing, and it's just fine for that. I much prefer the live tiles over IOS or Android, it's by far the best mobile desktop IMO.
The real benefit for me it, after months of using it, it's just so fast and fluid, even on a basic phone. Even after a full reset, TWO of my SGS3 just slowed to being unusable, and that's with virtually nothing installed. The 640 even beats my daughters HTC One M8 for speed. Android has really disappointed me over that last year.
As others have said, maps are really good and the in-built sat-nav rivals TomTom apart from speed camera alerts (which cost). Free with the ability to download, very impressive.
Cortana is useful too, I never used Google's version, but use Cortana all the time.
The real benefit for me it, after months of using it, it's just so fast and fluid, even on a basic phone. Even after a full reset, TWO of my SGS3 just slowed to being unusable, and that's with virtually nothing installed. The 640 even beats my daughters HTC One M8 for speed. Android has really disappointed me over that last year.
As others have said, maps are really good and the in-built sat-nav rivals TomTom apart from speed camera alerts (which cost). Free with the ability to download, very impressive.
Cortana is useful too, I never used Google's version, but use Cortana all the time.
Soldato
I'm currently developing games for the windows platform and I have to say things are getting better. The platform still has its quirks but I reckon MS are working hard to iron them out. People still have the opinion that it's a dying platform but I'm not so sure - it's still a small market share but it is increasing! Personally I'm still on Android but I'd probably go to Windows phone before iOS.
The major thing for me is the app store really needs cleaning up. It's sort of like Android 4 - 5 years ago - lots of fake apps, not so many quality games etc. The submission process is pretty much all automatic.
The major thing for me is the app store really needs cleaning up. It's sort of like Android 4 - 5 years ago - lots of fake apps, not so many quality games etc. The submission process is pretty much all automatic.
No its not.
Apart from a blip in 2013 its been falling for a decade. The shift from 6 to the 7/8/10 style has done little to stop its demise.
It's hardly surprising there is little app support for it when it accounts for just over 2% of the market.
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Soldato
Ouch!
Its actually decreasing
http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-os-market-share.jsp
It used to be you'd see the odd one around on the train. Now I rarely see one. Work used to use them as work phones, they've almost all been replaced now.
http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-os-market-share.jsp
It used to be you'd see the odd one around on the train. Now I rarely see one. Work used to use them as work phones, they've almost all been replaced now.
Well I've had Iphones in the past but I felt I was paying a lot of money and I didn't like IOS7.
I then moved to Samsung Android. Pretty good and was great being able to use my 128gb micro sd card. Unfortunately the newer models don't support SD cards.
Decided to order a Lumia 640 for a change and see how I get on. The App gap doesn't bother me too much as I don't use many. Their seems to be a Facebook App and banking app so that's fine by me.
I then moved to Samsung Android. Pretty good and was great being able to use my 128gb micro sd card. Unfortunately the newer models don't support SD cards.
Decided to order a Lumia 640 for a change and see how I get on. The App gap doesn't bother me too much as I don't use many. Their seems to be a Facebook App and banking app so that's fine by me.
Yea, but places like in the EU its been slowly trending upwards all the time, NA is the hardest market for them right now.
Soldato
Me being an Android fan, I was quite amused by how defensive Win Phone users got when I reviewed their devices.
On the whole I was reasonably impressed with them, but the missing apps where a problem for me and overall the OS is still rather restrictive. Even the smallest thing I would say I didn't like, huge objections, arguments and even abuse were sent my way.
Possibly Android fans where like this 4 or 5 years ago, lets hope Win Phone users move beyond it.
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But Andy, the point is, by this stage in Android's life, it had good app support, it was stable, it was a good OS.
WP is not. STILL.
WP is not. STILL.
Soldato
Hmm, I'm I remember app support was in a seriously lacking position. I think I started using Android at 1.5 and app support was probably worse then than Windows is now. Android moved forwards though, I don't particularly see this from Windows (although I've not used 10 on a phone yet).
WP is only 2 years behind Android. WP now is comparable to Android at the point KitKat and the Nexus 5 were released.
WP is just so slow in catching up. 8.1 solved a lot of the issues I had with 8, but they were things that should have worked from day 1 so it was too little too late.
I see it as like the Bluray/HDDVD thing. Microsoft have nailed their colours to a mast and will persist with it as long as they can, but ultimately I think we will see Lumia devices shifting to using a (likely skinned) version of Android.
WP is just so slow in catching up. 8.1 solved a lot of the issues I had with 8, but they were things that should have worked from day 1 so it was too little too late.
I see it as like the Bluray/HDDVD thing. Microsoft have nailed their colours to a mast and will persist with it as long as they can, but ultimately I think we will see Lumia devices shifting to using a (likely skinned) version of Android.
I still agree with this. And I really like the Windows OS on the phone. I had a Lumia 920, 930 and the devices are great, so is the interface. But the APP support is terrible and still is. There's not enough good apps. People will question "well how many apps do you 'really' use?" but that's not the point, having a vast choice and diversity of apps makes the Windows system more attractive and it currently lacks this, I still think in terms of apps, it's like Android 4 years ago.
It's a shame I really want Windows to do well. But Facebook / Instagram apps to name a few are updated so infrequently and there's no real proper Google app support... I dug out my Lumia 930 in preparation for Windows 10 but I may box the thing back up.
Picked up a 950 on Tuesday coming from Android and IOS I can use either doesn't bother me. Windows phone isn't a great experience for me.
The app support doesn't bother me as I only use a handful, its the quality of them that is bad, just not as good as on other platforms.
Hoped it be a refreshing change from Android but sadly not, so back to my S6 Edge and already it feels like a much more accomplished phone all round. I think you would have to be a die hard windows fan to have one of these over anything else out, looking at the price of it.
I seen some reviews and they summed it up for me IOS and Android fans need not apply, it really does feel like a cheap piece of plastic nothing that commands the money they want for it.
The app support doesn't bother me as I only use a handful, its the quality of them that is bad, just not as good as on other platforms.
Hoped it be a refreshing change from Android but sadly not, so back to my S6 Edge and already it feels like a much more accomplished phone all round. I think you would have to be a die hard windows fan to have one of these over anything else out, looking at the price of it.
I seen some reviews and they summed it up for me IOS and Android fans need not apply, it really does feel like a cheap piece of plastic nothing that commands the money they want for it.
Those were the early days of smartphones in general though, so that's understandable and forgiveable to a large extent. Nowadays though, not so much.
Imagine the Windows 10 UI running on top of Android underpinnings? That would be quite cool.
Obviously the "one OS" solution would have to go out the window, but that's hardly the end of the world as they would instantly gain a billion Android apps to replace the W10 ones.
Obviously the "one OS" solution would have to go out the window, but that's hardly the end of the world as they would instantly gain a billion Android apps to replace the W10 ones.