[Q] Anyone go back to 7.8? Anything you miss? - Windows Phone 8 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

The lumia 920 is a great piece of hardware, but xbox music is so godawful that I think I am going to take the plunge and just get a used lumia 900 or titan 2. As far as I am concerned, the xbox music service is almost useless without autoplaylists or the ability to do anything with rated music to me - and a huge reason I went WP is to sync my music. SO, has anyone actually taken the plunge and gone back? Anything you miss about WP8? I cant even think of a feature WP8 has that WP7.8 doesnt that I would use...

Speed would be the most important Thing I can think off. WP7.8 is fluid but Apps take considerably longer to load than on WP8. Also there's some Apps I use that are WP8 only due to new APIs (mainly camera related).

I miss photostudio app apparently not available for wp8, apart from that, I have all the features I wanted to have on my Omnia 7

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[Q] Media experience panel problems

I liked the idea of media panel since I knew about it. But now when i have it on my device and I took a closer look at it I noticed some disappointing things about it. It seams that's it's good in general but every part has some defect:
1)Pictures part(most disappointing)-it seams to zoom not the actual images but the thumbnails of them.What's that for!?Can't it load images from sd card?
2)Music part-has no equalizer(I can live with that) and can't show all songs of one artist.
3)Video part-it's almost OK but it is just a bit more laggy then WMP.
The point is-are those real problems or am I a noob and just don't know the solution?
Do you mean the the MPX Panel MR1 (without radio) or MR2 (with Radio)?
If it's MR2, absolutely yes, it occures to me.
If it's MR1 (Original ROM), I don't think so.
I had the second version of the panel, the one with the radio. I have just uninstalled it and installed MR1 version. Well...there are no differences between them, at least i haven't noticed any.The video plays a little smoother, that's all.
So there isn't any way to fix picture viewer in the panel?
I use the Media Xperiance Panel only to play high quality movies. For this purpose it is definitely much better than WMP. For everything else I use a dedicated program. It's Pocket Player for sound and XNView for pictures. The reason is the inflexibility of the Media Xperiance Panel. Like you mentioned it offers no equalizer and the picture part is crap. But to watch high quality mp4s it's great.
I just hoped that this Media panel was so useful as I thought it would be when I first heard about it. Oh well!.. I'm using other programs for multimedia too - Coreplayer for music and Resco Picture Manager for pictures, but if there weren't those defects it has, it would be a great useful program! Thanks a lot for your answers.
Actually I found a way to deal with the music player part! I've installed the HTC Audio Booster - it didn't work for me last time because i didn't rename the .mui file to my region code but now it works perfect! So now I have Media panel with equalizer!
Asked a question about picture viewer to Sony Ericsson support. They said to update my phone's software. Like it would change something even if I could(already have R3AA007)!
It's a sad thing. Almost every time you contact a support hotline (SE is no exception) you realise that you already know far more than the person on the other end of the line will ever
Yep, totally. But I suppose that's because people who you call/write to are not engineers - their job is to tell you that "you should update your phone's software and everything will be awesome!". But anyway i started using the not-zooming panel picture viewer to quickly look at my recently added pictures, it's quite useful to have all pictures in one place and not browsing through 100 directories.
I agree, the panel is definitely a good thing. It is not perfect and SE wasted some of the panels potential but it's useful nonetheless. Like I wrote before I still consider it the best solution to watch high quality movies. Far better than WMP.

Got my HD7!

Hi Everyone,
My HD7 arrived today and I have started to set it up etc. (I am in the UK)
Any questions you want to know fire them at me.
I am coming from a Galaxy S so it does seem a tad limited for now until the apps catch up.
So far I have noticed the following oddities.
OS based Issues MS need to fix
Video player does not play audio via A2DP. (music does)
Bluetooth settings lack any options for type (Headset/Stereo) settings (no real issue)
Mobile IE does not render Toodledo/slim well so not sure about other sites.
Zune software - Podcast section does not appear in market in UK have to add rss feeds manually to the app.
No custom ringtones/other sound settings
No option to connect to WIFI with hidden SSID
Only syncs main calendar from any source not any additionals.
Media HUB only remembers the location of the last video in the play list that is "paused" once you move to other items of music or other videos it forgets the place.
Other issues not OS related. (all will be fixed over time with good apps)
Lack of apps is a real issue on day one. This should change.
No TODO app with push notifications available! big issue for me.
YouTube App just loads the m.youtube.com so its really just a player engine once you pick a video from the site.
Videos get converted on the fly during sync which makes this a slow process. Should kick off the conversion as soon as you say sync to phone.
Other than these points the phone itself is really nice and fast, no lag at all.
Takes some getting used to but I am trying hard to make it all work.
Russ
No connection to hidden SSID? That sucks!
Can you categorise imported/synched videos into any album you want and rename the albums? So I could have say one video album labelled FAMILY, one labelled, FUNNY, one labelled MOVIES etc
Thanks for the input. What's your opinion of the screen coming from samoled? How is the ringer volume compared to the Samsung?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I got mine today, just sold my Galaxy S, still have my iPhone 4.
Screen is almost as good as iPhone, nothing like Super AMOLED sadly.
Biggest issue for me is speakers are terrible.
Kev
Oh okay thanks for the info. I had an ip4 so if its close to that I am cool. I hate to hear the speakers suck. That's big issue for me. Especially since I can't add my loud ringers I usually add if speakers suck on the phones I get
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I thought the HTCs had Dolby Surround or whats it called How can they be worse than the competitors?
I may be mistaken but Dolby Sound and SRS only work when headphones are plugged in. Maybe someone can confim.
i Can confirm that both SRS and Dolby mobile work through headphones and through the speakers, when putting on Dolby does make it sound slightly louder and clearer for me!!
That's great to hear
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
tboy2000 said:
No connection to hidden SSID? That sucks!
Can you categorise imported/synched videos into any album you want and rename the albums? So I could have say one video album labelled FAMILY, one labelled, FUNNY, one labelled MOVIES etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I can make out on my Zune software I can not group videos into playlists so there does not seem to be an easy way to get it to auto sync unless you pick the ALL option.
Still messing with it though.
Russ
kevwright said:
I got mine today, just sold my Galaxy S, still have my iPhone 4.
Screen is almost as good as iPhone, nothing like Super AMOLED sadly.
Biggest issue for me is speakers are terrible.
Kev
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, the screen is nowhere as good as the Galaxy but if you have never had a Super Amoled then I dont think you will be disappointed.
Speaker volume is very low compared to my Galaxy also. I thought the grills at top and bottom were speakers but they are just for show.
The speaker is next to the camera on the back.
Russ
RussST24 said:
YouTube App just loads the m.youtube.com so its really just a player engine once you pick a video from the site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not true, without the Youtube app you can't play Youtube Videos from the website. The App contains necessary Code/Drivers which allow you to play Youtube videos whethere going through the App/Link or from IE.
Also the Front Mounted Speakers are still being questioned. HTC seemed to have advertised the phone to Reviewers/Critics as having "Front Mounted Stereo Speakers" however atm they are either not used (software update required from M$) or HTC were lying. I'd like to hope it's teh first one but you never know
The Screen on mine is brilliant when the brightness is set to High. When on Auto it seems to keep screen brightness on Medium which is a bit rubbish and doesn't show it off very well. Get it on High and you'll notice the difference. It's (very) hardly noticable from the HTC Desire's when they're side by side, but the fact it's massive far outways that.
Thats was my point about it being just a player engine (codecs etc). I was comparing what I know from Android for a youtube app and was suprised it was not a full in app experience.
But being able to play the videos at all is a big plus.
Agree on the screen, set on HIGH it looks very nice and anyone will be happy with it but I am not sure what impact the battery is going to take. Side by side with a galaxy S though you do see the difference but if you never had a super Amoled then you wont care at all.
What is a score with Low - Med - High anyway, wheres the slider for brightness. Seems like a miss that should have been easy.
Russ
Ah apologies I misread you on the YouTube thing. I've left my screen brightness on high for a few days now and I must say I haven't even noticed a difference in battery life, although tbh my battery life is terrible anyway. Why HTC chose a 1200 instead of a 1500 is beyond me.
Waiting on my new HTC HD7 arriving this afteroon, been using an HTC HD2 with hacked Android and love it apart from the bugs etc...
Have 14 days to decide weather its worth it or if i need to switch carries to the Desire HD...
Hurry up DHL!!!
Did you already try to install on your HD7 some .CABs developed for WM6 ?
There are a couple of apps (SPB Wallet, iGO8) I couldn't live without, and losing them under WM7 would be a big problem.
Thanks
S
sandrinopi said:
There are a couple of apps (SPB Wallet, iGO8) I couldn't live without, and losing them under WM7 would be a big problem.
Thanks
S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, would like to know if iGo8 works with Windows Phone 7 as well.
sandrinopi said:
Did you already try to install on your HD7 some .CABs developed for WM6 ?
There are a couple of apps (SPB Wallet, iGO8) I couldn't live without, and losing them under WM7 would be a big problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Absolutely, positively no possible way ANY Windows Mobile apps will run on Windows Phone 7 as it exists today.
2) What is this "WM7" of which you speak?
tai4de2 said:
1) Absolutely, positively no possible way ANY Windows Mobile apps will run on Windows Phone 7 as it exists today.
2) What is this "WM7" of which you speak?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...you mean that NO existing app running on WM6.x will run under WM7 ?
No backward compatibility ?
Apps have to be completely rewritten ?
Please tell me I'm wrong
PS WM7 = Windows Mobile 7
exactly, WP7 and WM6 are 2 different pairs of shoes. You also cannot run a Windows program on a Commodore C64 Btw. there is on Windows Mobile 7, it´s called Windows Phone 7,
cheers

[Q] Airplay instead of Medialink?

Hi, i love my HTC One and get amazed about it`s functions and new features i stumble upon when using it. The only thing that really irritates me is the Medialink HD system that i don`t understand. I have a lot of airplay compatible units and often also the one`s i visit. I am not able to share anything like i am used to with Airplay.
The real question is if it would be able to exchange the medialink with airplay in a custom rom. I don`t wish to loose any of the other functions but wish i were able to use airplay like i did on my Galaxy Note Phone. In custom roms the gallery app and music app had been upgraded with built in airplay functionality so it seemlesly pushed my media forward to my chosen device.
I will never buy the Medialink hdmi kit and won`t get the same satisfaction with their system considering the fast development, universal plug and play interface and standarisation that is happening with airplay.
Another post in the forum asked about the possibility to change the three finger swipe for Medialink to Airplay but was just declined in two post without a real answer. I know this is something HTC One user`s would deeply appreciate if it was possible to add this feature built in and not in some power consuming, buggy and very limited app.
Best regards.
Caspin Jones

[Q] How viable is this phone?

If i wana game and stuff.. can i still do android games, or i dont understand exactly how this works.. is it a mini pc?
"i wana game and stuff" is a pretty un-informative list of desired functionality. However, I'll do the best I can.
"can i still do android games" Let's see... what part of "Windows Phone" sounds like "Android"? Nope. Of course, a lot of games that are on Android are also on WP8. A lot of Android games are *not* on WP8, though. On the other hand, some WP games aren't on Android (relatively speaking, far fewer, but there are some). The main key features that WP has for gaming are that A) there's a mandatory chassis spec, so you don't get games that run great on some phones and terribly on others (though some of the cheaper phones will simply not run some high-end games); B) there is Xbox Live integration with a lot of games, meaning you can get Gamerscore, sometimes get rewards tied to the console games, and can play with Xbox friends in some multiplayer games.
"is it a mini pc?" Not any more than any other smartphone. It's a mini PC in the same sense that an iPhone is a mini Mac (which is to say, from a user experience and software compatibility perspective, not at all). It is made by the same company, uses some of the same online services (SkyDrive, Xbox Music, etc.), you can link it with a Microsoft account the same way you can a Windows 8 PC, its browser uses the IE10 rendering engine, and it supports Office documents. Other than that, though, all of the similarities between Windows Phone and Windows are under the covers, invisible and irrelevant to the end user. I personally think Microsoft was stupid to keep the "Windows" part of the name. It's arguably more similar to an "Xbox Phone" or something like that.
"i dont understand exactly how this works" I don't understand exactly how your spell checker let you type like that, but back on subject... Windows Phone is its own smartphone OS. It is as different from iOS or Android as iOS and Andriod are from each other, and as similar. Like Android, it's available on a range of hardware, some better than others; unlike Android (but like iOS), all the hardware that it's available on meets certain minimum specifications. Like iOS, it's a locked-down OS without any kind of file browser or command line features, but unlike iOS (and like Android) you can sideload (some) apps for free. (Taking this moment to preemptively remind you to read the forum rules, especially #6.) Like both iOS and Android, there's an app store with hundreds of thousands of apps, many of which are free or have free trials; like iOS (but somewhat unlike Android) the apps are all screened carefully to prevent malicious ones.
Regarding viability in general, here are some of WP8's strong points (note that some of them are specific to certain lines of phones, rather than being available on all of them):
Social network integration. Best with Facebook and Twitter, but it supports a bunch of them.
Office documents. Specifically Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and OneNote. Also works really well with Exchange servers, of course, though it can do other email just fine.
Music. The Xbox Music pass is a sweet deal, if you live in a region where you can get it, and support for it is built into the phone. Nokia Music, if you buy a Nokia phone, is also supposed to be great (I have a Samsung phone, so I can't speak for that). Pandora, etc. are of course available too, as apps.
Navigation. Here Drive/Transit/Maps (Nokia's mapping and navigation apps) are available on all Windows phones (free on all Nokia phones and also on non-Nokia ones in some parts of the world) and they are good.
Excellent hardware value. The Lumia 52x and 62x phones are fantastic value for their (very low) cost. The Samsung ATIV S is considerably cheaper than its Android equivalent, the Galaxy S3.
Fantastic cameras, especially on the higher-end Nokia phones. The Lumia 92x and 1520 phones have Really Good cameras; the 1020 has arguably the best camera of any production smartphone in the world (quite a bit better than some dedicated point-and-shoot cameras).
Security. Unlike Android, there is essentially no malware (I'm not aware of *any* malware "in the wild") for WP8.
Storage. Unlike iOS, some WP8 devices have microSD slots; combined with internal storage, they can hold a lot of music/videos/pictures/documents/etc. Apps can't be installed to the SD card, but you have more room for apps anyhow because you put everything else on the card and leave all the internal storage for apps.
Battery life. WP8 is *much* better than Android about preventing background apps from eating all your battery life.
Skype integration. If you use Skype much, WP8 is great.
Xbox Live integration. If you like getting achievements and having mobile games connected with Xbox games sounds cool, WP8 is where it's at.
At-a-glance information. The whole "live tiles" system, where basically every app can (if useful for it to do so) act sort of like a little Android widget (but with much less battery impact) and where notifications for a given app show up as a number on that app's tile, is pretty cool.
With that all said, WP8 does have some weaknesses too. If the following things are important for you, that could be a problem.
Not very hackable/rootable. We're part-way there on Samsung WP8 devices. Nothing much on any other manufacturer yet, although there's talk of something for Huawei.
No support for third-party app stores. Like iOS (but unlike Android), only the official app store run by Microsoft is supported by the OS.
Not as many apps, and the don't tend to come out on WP8 until they're already out on Android and iOS. That's not to say there aren't tons of apps - there are, by any objective measure - but there aren't *as many* as the two leading platforms.
No ability to install other browser engines. IE10 is good, and you can use apps that re-skin the browser engine (this is how Chrome works on iOS, as well), but like iOS (and unlike Android) you can't install things like Mobile Firefox at this time.
No VPN support yet. If you need a VPN on your phone (most people don't, but some do) then you'll need to wait on WP8; there's an update coming that should add support though.
Stuff I didn't mention, like gaming quality or so on, are basically on par with other platforms. The hardware is less diverse than Android but more diverse than iOS, it's available on tons of carriers around most of the world. It's less customizable than Android, but Microsoft also protects the software against being too screwed up by the OEM or carrier the way a lot of Android devices are. You don't need special software (like iTunes) for day-to-day use, so it doesn't really matter what OS you use on your PC. The UI is *different* from that of iOS or Android, but whether you like it or not is personal taste.

[Q] Windows Phone 8 vs Android 4.4.2

I am an Android phone user for 4 years now who is quite happy with my current phone the S3 LTE. No doubt Windows phones are on the rise and I am curious. So, I would like to ask these questions regarding the OS (and the latest updates attached to it as of March 2014) in particular high-end Lumia phones (like the 1020) that would help me decide.
1. Does the Lumia's Bluetooth allows me to send photos (or any files supported) via bluetooth to an Android phone?
2. Does Lumia have a quick toggle to settings to instantly turn on or off things such as wifi, Bluetooth, brightness, etc. (much like the notification drop down bar of Android)?
3. Does the Lumia have Dolby Mobile or Dolby capability in its music player? Is there a customisable equaliser to the new Lumias? Or Surround sound option?
AND Can one create a Playlist on-the-fly or via the device itself? And does the Lumia's music player have the ability to "find" or search for the Album art of a song/s online?
4. Does Lumia phones fully support full drag n dropping of files (.mp3, .flac, .mp4) from my Mac to the Lumia without the need of any 1st-party app?
5. What alternatives can you guys recommend for Google Translate, Google Drive and Google Keep (that new note-taking app)?
And why no Youtube app on the Marketplace? Or I could be wrong.
6. Is there a pinch to zoom feature in zooming objects for taking photos? Is there an option to edit then share them via Email, Bluetooth, Twitter, Instagram, Dropbox, etc.? A way to set photos as a phones's wallpaper? (For 8.0 atleast)
7. Any swiping capability in typing? (A feature found in Android phones where you slide your fingers on the keyboard for faster typing) are there any predictive text ability in WP8?
8. Any good alternatives music player, video player for the Lumia?
I'm looking for an app that supports hi-fidelity files such as Flac or video files such as .mkv?
9. Does the Lumia (or any WP8 phones) have the capability to print wirelessly to a wireless printer via an app or within device?
10. Can one send complaints or suggestions to an app developer via the Marketplace? (much like in Google's Play store)
11. How fast is the startup and shutter speed of the Lumia cameras? Is it as quick as an S3 or iphone? Is there a panorama mode? Can i easily or quickly see a photo (with a swipe to the left or right or thru a window toggle or something) that i have taken then easily & quickly edit them then send them via bluetooth or post them via Twitter, etc.,?
12. Is there a Battery-saving option in Lumia phones? (Like what most Android phones have nowadays)
13. Games are still a disappointment as i am writing this 7 out 10 of my games are NOT on the Marketplace. is MS doing anything about this?
For me its kinda crucial but I do admit I like a bit of casual games on my daily commute or when during a holiday.
Pls advice. Thanks.
1. Yes
2. Nope, not until 8.1
3. There's an equalizer, you can make playlists in various apps
4. I don't use a Mac, with windows it works fine
5. The bing versions / onedrive / one note or evernote, there are several YouTube apps, consider searching
6. Yes and yes, no wallpaper until 8.1, then there are wallpaper tiles (google is your friend)
7. No custom keyboards
8. Yes, quite a few available, search the store
9. I am not sure, I mail then print
10. Probably
11. Fast and easy
12. Yes
13. It is up to devs, not up to MS for the most part, google doesn't develop games either.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
For #7, there is supposed to be a swipe ability in 8.1 and the keyboard does have some predictive text.
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 using Tapatalk
i prefer android at all mate :good:
@naenee did a good job answering. I'd like to add that most of the things you ask about are just WP8 things, not Nokia / Lumia things. This means you could get a different phone (I realllly like Samsung's Ativ S line, which puts WP8 on hardware very like heir Galaxy phones, but partially that's because we have mostly jailbroken them). The only thing I can think of that's really Lumia-specific is the built in camera app features being better... but any phone can download things like a panorama app if they want to. Also, note that while "wallpaper" (behind the tiles on the Start screen) is not currently settable, you can of course use your own images for the lock screen.
As for apps, bear in mind that a lot of apps may have clones or at least decent impersonators, even if there's no official version. Also, remember that WP has Xbox Live exclusive games; there's no lack of games for WP8 (some very good indeed) but you may need to find different ones that fill the same niches for you.
Which way?
Never used windows phone & wondering if i can get a good one that beats Android phones (Using Galaxy S4).
---------- Post added at 08:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:18 PM ----------
Using it on my laptop though. Hope its a better experience too on mobile?
Windows Phone 8 is not Windows 8, first of all. OK, with that said...
Not many WP8 devices yet have specs comparable to the SGS4. However, it turns out that this really doesn't matter; on the same hardware (for example, my ATIV S vs. a SGS3) WP8 performs better than Android in many ways, including smoothness of UI.
android is very very different : WP so much
Windows Phone 8 system is fluid and stable on all devices. It is also a close one so you do not have to mamy customization possibilities and so many different option's to achieve one goal ( no widgets for example). It's theirs way or no way but this do not bothers me. The only lack I find is underdeveloped localization API which doesn't allow application's to often checks localization so programs like glympse or locale alarm does not work reliable. This feature gona be incorporated in 8.1 update which should be rolling out this summer. Overall for me it is better system than android ( I know well jelly bean on s3 when 4.4 rolled out I was on Lumia 920 ). It is simple fast and reliable. One interesting thing I noticed is a text wrapping in browser which is much better on WP 8 as I never get any problems with reading newspapers online -On HTC One s or Lg G2 I had problems with reading the same page's.
Sent from my RM-821_eu_poland_493 using Tapatalk
I've owned 3 WP phones (Lumia 710, HTC 8x, and Lumia 521) and I prefer Android. I currently have a GS4 and Nexus 4 (previously had a GS1 and GS3). WP isn't bad, but it lacks so many little things compared to Android. I am constantly disappointed because a function or feature is not available on WP that's on Android. I recommend you pick up an budget WP phone and give it a try for a few weeks.
I, on the contrary, am having a blast on WP8.
I still am an Android power user, but I prefer the look and feel of M$.
I don't like it app-wise. I miss apps like Fing and Wi-Fi Analyzer. Devs blame it on the API.
You're just talking about two different things, it all depends on what you're searching from a device

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