Hello,
I m researching about windows phone n I haven't used windows phone since 6.5
I m an avid android user n want to get a taste of windows phone.
I usually have following uses apart from call/texting :
*browsing with flash, download files, surf websites.
*EBook reading with PDF , mobi , epub , office
*Whatsapp , Viber and Tango
*Facebook
*Opera Mobile Browser /chrome/ Firefox/dolphin or similar
* Video player with all video support like vlc n MX player pro in android
*Games n few HD games too
Also can you control brightness?
How much is internal memory available to user when you buy the phone . I know you won't get exactly 8gb.
How does 512 ram limits your experience with apps and games?
dont compare WM6.5 with new WP series... is totally different....
flash not supported (and never be because dead... only is problem on pages which not give proper support to html5)
all this (ebooks, docs, pdf) open on phone
whatsapp, viber, skype working, tango not support wp8
facebook work, official or not officiall apps work, also you can use browser
no support for firefox, chrome or opera... only IE or Nokia Express...
only wmv and mp4 video files work, no mkv or subtitle support, no other media players support
games (HD or which you want play) in marketplace work but if you want gamer experience 512 RAM devices not for you.... you must buy device with more RAM....
2 gb ram is taken by OS and dont forget other things... 8 gb not enough for gamers... how i say it: if you want play games take device with 1GB+ RAM and minimum 16 GB of memory, 32 GB is recommended....
nobody can tell you did 512 mb device have problems with games and apps because if game need more than 512 mb ram you cant install it....
Mostly right. A few caveats:
* Flash is not "dead" though you might argue it's heading there. Windows RT still supports it, and an awful lot of the web still tries to use it. It is a problem on the phone. On the other hand, Flash for Android *is* dead, so you don't actually *lose* anything there by switching to WP8.
* You'll need apps for document formats other than Office formats (which are supported natively), but there exist free apps for ebook reading.
* Odd that Tango is missing (it's available for WP7), but it does seem to be that way. Skype integrates well, though. I haven't used the others.
* Lots of Facebook stuff (OS-level integration, some good apps, and yes it works fine in the browser too).
* IE10 is a pretty solid browser, fast and HTML5-capable. It's better than the old default Android browser before Chrome, for sure. Is there a specific reason you need an alternate browser? There are tons of "browser" apps, but (like on iOS), they are all just wrapped around the native browser control rather than actually having their own rendering engine.
* VLC has said that they are bringing the player to WP8! It's still being ported and not available yet, though (no real ETA either). I don't use MKV so I can't speak to the quality of apps for it, but I'd kind of expect them to exist.
* The Lumia 520 screen isn't "HD" (800x480) so there's arguably no point in "HD" games for it, but they do exist. Many are Xbox Live games as well. The point about the RAM issue is valid, though; you will need a 1GB phone for the really "big" games.
* Brightness control works fine, either manual control or automatically based on the light sensor. I don't know how good the actual screen brightness is, though.
* One-point-something gigs of storage (not RAM, despite what dxdy said) are used by the base OS, yeah. The remaining 6GB or so is enough for quite a lot of apps, but you'll want to get a microSD card for music/movies/etc. to avoid wasting the internal storage with those. You can't install apps to the microSD though.
A word of warning: WP8 is more locked down than Android, never mind WinMo. Things like browsing the filesystem or registry are officially impossible, and even with homebrew we can't really do it yet (much of the registry is readable, but not all). So far, there are no public bootloader unlocks (so, no custom ROMs yet) either.
On the 521 the o/s takes up 1.9 gigs. The 52x series phones are great phones to start with. There's a lot of good games that'll run on it too. So don't let that phase you!
Sent from my Nokia 521 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Overall I believe the phone is worth the price you pay for it. It is very fluid and I haven't had any problems with it.
ed00. said:
Overall I believe the phone is worth the price you pay for it. It is very fluid and I haven't had any problems with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, you are right... but people want cheap phone and play big games
Thank you everyone for your time and your help. Appreciated!
MY NEEDS IN A PHONE
I usually use my phone when I am in bed. This too is usually for reading, browsing, watching movie (5 inch) etc or playing card games like spades etc. Further, I would need good messaging support, while I do not like to update my tiles every hour or so but only once in a day be good for me. I hope multitasking is enabled as if i am browsing, I can switch my apps to games/messaging if required. Lastly I am not looking to put a lot of money in Windows phone especially when the platform is new and when it gets a bit better, my high end device would be unable to fully utilise apps of that period as Windows only offer 1 gb of ram till date with mostly dual core support. I hope I can get few good free apps and I hope there are good games on windows 8.
I will get an SD card and i hope to move apps to sd card is supported or it is by default ? The option that there is no file manager/ file browser is also a bummer but I guess I will manage.
Can I setup multiple email accounts too ?
Now my choice goes from either getting Nexus 5 or just Lumia 520.
Basically, I have an android tablet and an android phone. The only reason I want to change my android phone is that, mostly I am using my tablet and use my phone only when I do not have access to my tablet due to any reason. Thus, my high end android phone is not fully utilised and even a basic phone will do.
MY EXPERIENCE :
The reason to change to windows phone is because it promises great battery life even on its budget models. Looking at phones from different manufactures, HTC sets that I have used, have always some problem with signals strength draining more battery while Sony has low battery life in general. LG and Motorola promise good battery but I havenot tried them yet. Samsung is most promising out of all with quick updates, better battery life and good support from developers. In a way, I guess every manufacturer has something great to offer but at the same time, it is limited to some issues except Nexus devices.
I have used all android and iphone and although I admire android, I just want to taste how windows 8 platform works out for me. I have used Nokia for a long time too, with trying everything from Symbian to its budget phones. Nokia promises very good battery life but lack of applications is big disadvantage. I said farewell to symbian when the apps were dwindling and I realised that Symbian (s60, Belle, Anna ) is going for an end soon.
Windows phone never really impressed me with lack of features, optimisation and how hard it is to find an application. Moreover, most of the apps are PAID which are not as good as even free android or IOS apps(Iphone has very few apps free though but still alot). However, the reason to try for a new platform is also intriguing.
What I do not like about Symbian s40 is no multitasking and generally limited support from developers and manufacturers with good battery life and small screens.
Windows phone on the other hand, the platform is still too young and it might be a good choice to try for Windows phone in a year or so, when it will have more support and I guess doing much better than now. Maybe more applications are officially supported.
Android at the same time is rocking and doing very well if you have a nexus device. I already have 4 updates since August till today, every time, bringing new features and updates. Plus, a nexus device gives you updates till a very long time. I am not sure this about windows phone.
I know 4 inch is small for watching a movie but the option to run a movie on lower end android device and how much support is given is just amazing. I usually use Opera Classic browser for my phone while Chrome, Dolphin and Opera Classic for my tablet. Every browser has its own advantage as Opera offers you to download files within browser whilst Chrome browser offers sync features to your all history, bookmarks and even access them on your PC just by logging in your gmail account. Dolphin has flash support and although, I can run everything including video websites on my Chrome, the mental peace that I have with Dolphin, that it will run any flash is just too good.
I do not think that I will have time to convert, large media files into mp4 or wmv so I can watch movies on my phone. So that's a real bummer!
Do you mean this VLC player ? Have anyone used it ? how does it perform ?
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/s...-for-vlc/2b27eb95-c86f-4989-8c81-3d4efa994654
dxdy said:
dont compare WM6.5 with new WP series... is totally different....
flash not supported (and never be because dead... only is problem on pages which not give proper support to html5)
all this (ebooks, docs, pdf) open on phone
whatsapp, viber, skype working, tango not support wp8
facebook work, official or not officiall apps work, also you can use browser
no support for firefox, chrome or opera... only IE or Nokia Express...
only wmv and mp4 video files work, no mkv or subtitle support, no other media players support
games (HD or which you want play) in marketplace work but if you want gamer experience 512 RAM devices not for you.... you must buy device with more RAM....
2 gb ram is taken by OS and dont forget other things... 8 gb not enough for gamers... how i say it: if you want play games take device with 1GB+ RAM and minimum 16 GB of memory, 32 GB is recommended....
nobody can tell you did 512 mb device have problems with games and apps because if game need more than 512 mb ram you cant install it....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does that mean, I can not open videos on my browser ? In Android , I run all videos on my browser without any problem. I installed flash myself which is supported by Dolphin browser, however, even without it, I can easily run yahoo videos and many other video websites like dailymotion, metacafe etc. Didnot try youtube as I have dedicated application for that.
GoodDayToDie said:
Mostly right. A few caveats:
* Flash is not "dead" though you might argue it's heading there. Windows RT still supports it, and an awful lot of the web still tries to use it. It is a problem on the phone. On the other hand, Flash for Android *is* dead, so you don't actually *lose* anything there by switching to WP8.
* You'll need apps for document formats other than Office formats (which are supported natively), but there exist free apps for ebook reading.
* Odd that Tango is missing (it's available for WP7), but it does seem to be that way. Skype integrates well, though. I haven't used the others.
* Lots of Facebook stuff (OS-level integration, some good apps, and yes it works fine in the browser too).
* IE10 is a pretty solid browser, fast and HTML5-capable. It's better than the old default Android browser before Chrome, for sure. Is there a specific reason you need an alternate browser? There are tons of "browser" apps, but (like on iOS), they are all just wrapped around the native browser control rather than actually having their own rendering engine.
* VLC has said that they are bringing the player to WP8! It's still being ported and not available yet, though (no real ETA either). I don't use MKV so I can't speak to the quality of apps for it, but I'd kind of expect them to exist.
* The Lumia 520 screen isn't "HD" (800x480) so there's arguably no point in "HD" games for it, but they do exist. Many are Xbox Live games as well. The point about the RAM issue is valid, though; you will need a 1GB phone for the really "big" games.
* Brightness control works fine, either manual control or automatically based on the light sensor. I don't know how good the actual screen brightness is, though.
* One-point-something gigs of storage (not RAM, despite what dxdy said) are used by the base OS, yeah. The remaining 6GB or so is enough for quite a lot of apps, but you'll want to get a microSD card for music/movies/etc. to avoid wasting the internal storage with those. You can't install apps to the microSD though.
A word of warning: WP8 is more locked down than Android, never mind WinMo. Things like browsing the filesystem or registry are officially impossible, and even with homebrew we can't really do it yet (much of the registry is readable, but not all). So far, there are no public bootloader unlocks (so, no custom ROMs yet) either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
aclegg2011 said:
On the 521 the o/s takes up 1.9 gigs. The 52x series phones are great phones to start with. There's a lot of good games that'll run on it too. So don't let that phase you!
Sent from my Nokia 521 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ed00. said:
Overall I believe the phone is worth the price you pay for it. It is very fluid and I haven't had any problems with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hnk1 said:
Does that mean, I can not open videos on my browser ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no.. most of videos work but on some sites not... all depend did this site have right support to show video in html5
P.S:
and also you cant move apps on WP to SD.... dont except all what you want from Android on WP... WP is great but many people simply disappointment because have too much expectations....
you can setup multiple email accounts...
about battery: all smart phones (no mater which one: android: iPhone or WP) have problems with battery... and dont expect more than day for battery life... with videos, games and heavy duty you be lucky if battery last one day
my thinking is: you want to have cheaper device and want it all on it.... seems (this my opinion) WP not for you.... this is problem for "Android spoiled" users hehehe
dxdy said:
no.. most of videos work but on some sites not... all depend did th. E site have right support to show video in html5
P.S:
and also you cant move apps on WP to SD.... dont except all what you want from Android on WP... WP is great but many people simply disappointment because have too much expectations....
you can setup multiple email accounts...
about battery: all smart phones (no mater which one: android: iPhone or WP) have problems with battery... and dont expect more than day for battery life... with videos, games and heavy duty you be lucky if battery last one day
my thinking is: you want to have cheaper device and want it all on it.... seems (this my opinion) WP not for you.... this is problem for "Android spoiled" users hehehe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for your reply.
One last question : how about signal strength? How will you rate on scale of ten.
I m not expecting too much out of a budget phone. I am not ready to spend big money on platform which I might like or might not.
My simple plan is to taste it n before buying one, I just want to see what WP can do for me.
If battery life is bad, then it's a deal breaker for me. On official website, its 9:40 3g time with over 14hrs on 2g.
Video playback is 7 hrs n browsing for 8.
I guess i will just buy one by the end of weekend just to see what it can do actually.
Hnk1 said:
Thank you so much for your reply.
One last question : how about signal strength? How will you rate on scale of ten.
I m not expecting too much out of a budget phone. I am not ready to spend big money on platform which I might like or might not.
My simple plan is to taste it n before buying one, I just want to see what WP can do for me.
If battery life is bad, then it's a deal breaker for me. On official website, its 9:40 3g time with over 14hrs on 2g.
Video playback is 7 hrs n browsing for 8.
I guess i will just buy one by the end of weekend just to see what it can do actually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The signal strength is a 8-9/10 I haven't had any problems with this aspect of the phone. I honestly believe that you will have a pleasant experience with the WP. This is my first time using a windows phone ( before I was a android user) and I have really started to grow to like it alot.
ed00. said:
The signal strength is a 8-9/10 I haven't had any problems with this aspect of the phone. I honestly believe that you will have a pleasant experience with the WP. This is my first time using a windows phone ( before I was a android user) and I have really started to grow to like it alot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't say anything about a 520, but I'd have to say it varies per lumia device. I have a 928 which is Verizon's (a CDMA carrier like sprint, but different from everyone else) flagship phone at the moment (that's soon to quickly change) and the signal on my HTC 7 Trophy had great reception, id give it a 9/10 while the 928, I'd give a 7/10. The calls all sound great, but I'm kinda on the edge of their coverage with LTE/4G, let alone 3G. Essentially the trophy I got 3-4 bars of 3G, while on the 928, I get 1-2 bars of LTE that usually bounces between 3G and 1X. The other GSM services are pretty poor across my whole home, while on the Trophy I almost never had any signal unless I stood absolutely still in a given spot (I haven't tested on the 928, I don't have a microSIM.) I had access to #DATA to get a decible reading on the signal strength on the Trophy, but that's not on a 928.
So, I can't vouch for the 520, but it could just be better depending on the band your carrier uses. Everything is bad in my region, because the trees are thick and the cell towers barely peak over them not to mention they are using the 2200MHz? band.
I bought the LUMIA and it is not up to my standards.
SORRY
I AM VERY MUCH DISAPPOINTED.
GOING BACK TO ANDROID
Hnk1 said:
I bought the LUMIA and it is not up to my standards.
SORRY
I AM VERY MUCH DISAPPOINTED.
GOING BACK TO ANDROID
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why? I LOVE WP! :'(
thals1992 said:
why? I LOVE WP! :'(
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will explain in order :
1. Firstly the amount of clicks you have to do in order to turn off wifi or data or go into airplane mode....or generally do anything...... you have to go into settings and there are no tiles apps to directly switch on or off anything. I got a tile app but then again, it just redirects me to settings.
In android, I only have to swipe down and use toggle buttons.
2. Battery life, I thought I was up for a treat as Windows Phone is known for battery but really ?
Overnight on power saver mode with airplane mode turned ON, my phone battery reduced to 27 from 52.
On hundred percent charge and used it less than an hour, 27 after just 24 hours while the phone was on airplane mode ?
Android gave me so much better life on 2.3.6 (GB) while it has gone better and better on JB.
3. The amount of data live tiles take is just stupid. I took around 1.26 Gb in one day alone ? I know I downloaded few apps (around 400 Mb) but that went till 1.26 without anything else, that's a lot of data. I used like half the data even while streaming videos.
4. The amount of taps I can open on my UC browser/IE after which, I get the message, trying to restore memory. . .. . is only 3 to 4 while I could manage even 10 easily on Opera Classic.
5. Applications are not optimised to run on WP as well as it is on Android.
6. Windows Store! Where are all the useful applications ? What about a good movie player, a good ebook reader that can support all formats at once. You even pay to get the worst apps ever. LIMITED! It is so much limited. WP claims it has reached a long number of apps but I can hand pick useful and really good application out of all they ever made. I have to install 5 apps to do half run stuff which one app in android did for me!
7. Where is a good file explorer? Why can't I just manage my files from my phone ?
Why do I have to connect it to computer every time, I need to manage my files or anything ?
8. Bluetooth a song from an android device, I can not find it anywhere at all. Not in Xbox Music or anywhere really. And I couldnot manage my files to know where it went and how will i ever manage to play it ? Restarted so it might just refresh but no, BAD!
9. Many applications are paid in WP which are free in android. Come on, MS should invest in free apps to attract customers.... no
10. Free Music forever from Nokia, well it turns out, the feature is still not available in MOST of the regions. While advertising, they were too EAGER to show they will give you free music for rest of life. TURNS out only few countries are supported.
11. What about a good MUSIC PLAYER???????
12. YOU CAN NOT TURN OFF AUTO ROTATE, REALLY ????
13. Minimum customisation
14. Still needs to catch up with Android and IOS on so many levels.
15. Getting Windows 8 if you need to develop apps.
16. JUST 3 brightness mode supported ??? Why can not I manage in percentage huh ? For me, the least bright is too bright for me at night!!
There is so many more things I do not like about WP
But only good things I noticed in WP are
1. Good sound hardware than most of budget and mid range Android phones.
2. Better Signals strength compared to HTC. While Sony and Samsung do just as equal.
3. Try option is good in WP store but android has usually free versions. What I like is that every apps has try option that's not true for every app in Google Play
The number of clicks needed to change settings is a well-known issue, though the need to change settings is probably a lot less than you think it is. Unlike Android, WP8 is smart enough to turn off stuff like the GPS, and put the Bluetooth and WiFi into extremely low-power modes, when they aren't being used. I see no battery difference whether I leave them on (but inactive) or not.
Assuming you weren't doing something dumb like expecting the battery to last all day while you played games, you have a defective phone. Mine will go over 3 *weeks* if left idle in Battery Saver mode. That's without using Airplane Mode too, just Battery Saver. Battery loss is less than 5% for an entire day in that mode.
No, Live Tiles do not take gigabytes. It's highly unlikely they even take megabytes per day, in most cases. Some will, but not many. A typical tile push is tens of kilobytes, no more.
I have 4 tabs open constantly and hit 6 pretty often; I have literally never seen a message about memory after having the phone for months. Admittedly, my phone has 2x the RAM of yours; assuming you have the 520 like this thread is about, you got one of the lowest-end WP8 devices that exists.
Your optimization claim is absurd; even if you were using the same hardware on both platforms (which I'm pretty sure you weren't), I really doubt you have any real idea how to test how well an app is optimized.
I have several Ebook reader apps, at least one of which supports all the formats I've tried so far (I don't use the others anymore). You aren't looking very hard if you can't find them. As for video, VLC is coming.
I'm not sure what sort of file management you're trying to do on the device, since even using a PC there isn't much you can do, but... yeah. There isn't much you can do. Well, without hacks (which we don't have for the Lumias yet).
It should be possible to save received songs to your library - I know it is with photos - but it doesn't happen automatically.
As for item #10, that's a case of know what you're buying. Not our fault you didn't read the ads more closely. I mean, I sympathize, but I'm also rolling my eyes. "Know what you're buying" is rule number one of being a smart customer. That goes for most of this list, actually.
I have no particular problem with the built-in music player, but there are plenty of alternatives, some of which are linked to right here on XDA...
Orientation lock is coming in the next update. Known complaint, though it's never bothered me.
Your number 14 is meaningless; WP8 has features that both Android and iOS lack, just as both of them have features that both of the other two major platforms lack. That's the way the world works.
The need for Win8 for app development is annoying, yes. I mean, I have Win8 at home, so that's no problem, but it's an annoying restriction. Technically I think you actually can run the compiler on Win7, it's just the other tools (emulator in particular) that need Win8.
Just use auto-brightness; at least on my phone the dimmest level (i.e. in a dark room) which the automatic mode goes to is much dimmer than the manual "dim" mode.
The customization stuff has been missing since WP7 and I don't think that it is going to change. It was nice when it was available on fully unlocked (essentially flashing a custom rom for WP) devices
every people have own thinking..... for me (locked) WP8 much better than (full unlocked) WP7 and 100x better than Android....
@Hnk1
i laugh when read your reason... in most of then you simply dont know how to use WP...
GoodDayToDie said:
The number of clicks needed to change settings is a well-known issue, though the need to change settings is probably a lot less than you think it is. Unlike Android, WP8 is smart enough to turn off stuff like the GPS, and put the Bluetooth and WiFi into extremely low-power modes, when they aren't being used. I see no battery difference whether I leave them on (but inactive) or not.
Assuming you weren't doing something dumb like expecting the battery to last all day while you played games, you have a defective phone. Mine will go over 3 *weeks* if left idle in Battery Saver mode. That's without using Airplane Mode too, just Battery Saver. Battery loss is less than 5% for an entire day in that mode.
No, Live Tiles do not take gigabytes. It's highly unlikely they even take megabytes per day, in most cases. Some will, but not many. A typical tile push is tens of kilobytes, no more.
I have 4 tabs open constantly and hit 6 pretty often; I have literally never seen a message about memory after having the phone for months. Admittedly, my phone has 2x the RAM of yours; assuming you have the 520 like this thread is about, you got one of the lowest-end WP8 devices that exists.
Your optimization claim is absurd; even if you were using the same hardware on both platforms (which I'm pretty sure you weren't), I really doubt you have any real idea how to test how well an app is optimized.
I have several Ebook reader apps, at least one of which supports all the formats I've tried so far (I don't use the others anymore). You aren't looking very hard if you can't find them. As for video, VLC is coming.
I'm not sure what sort of file management you're trying to do on the device, since even using a PC there isn't much you can do, but... yeah. There isn't much you can do. Well, without hacks (which we don't have for the Lumias yet).
It should be possible to save received songs to your library - I know it is with photos - but it doesn't happen automatically.
As for item #10, that's a case of know what you're buying. Not our fault you didn't read the ads more closely. I mean, I sympathize, but I'm also rolling my eyes. "Know what you're buying" is rule number one of being a smart customer. That goes for most of this list, actually.
I have no particular problem with the built-in music player, but there are plenty of alternatives, some of which are linked to right here on XDA...
Orientation lock is coming in the next update. Known complaint, though it's never bothered me.
Your number 14 is meaningless; WP8 has features that both Android and iOS lack, just as both of them have features that both of the other two major platforms lack. That's the way the world works.
The need for Win8 for app development is annoying, yes. I mean, I have Win8 at home, so that's no problem, but it's an annoying restriction. Technically I think you actually can run the compiler on Win7, it's just the other tools (emulator in particular) that need Win8.
Just use auto-brightness; at least on my phone the dimmest level (i.e. in a dark room) which the automatic mode goes to is much dimmer than the manual "dim" mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thals1992 said:
The customization stuff has been missing since WP7 and I don't think that it is going to change. It was nice when it was available on fully unlocked (essentially flashing a custom rom for WP) devices
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, being honest, it is just a personal choice of using a platform which suits you. I am not going personal with anyone and it’s just my personal opinion that could be different amongst individuals. My only reason to buy a Lumia 520 was to have a FEEL of WP8 before considering a high end device.
I think WP has potential if it makes the right decisions and increases its quality application in the market. I used windows 6.5 on Omnia and it had good browsers and good video support. However, I guess I bought a platform which has not yet given it’s full and it is still in its very early stages. Maybe I am just too much hooked to Android that I am not ready to accept WP8.
I do agree to your few claims that you made but not to everyone. I am comparing Xperia U with same specification as Lumia 520 which I both own. 512 ram and dual core 1 GHz processor with 16 million colours.
I tried loving WP8 with Amber. I just could not. I guess if MS just spent like a million dollars in developing specific applications, it can help in the long way. Another disappointment is that if you have to programme for WP, you need to buy a development account and you need WINDOWS 8 with 64 BIT SYSTEM to start programming. That's a real bummer for small app developers like me who could chip in just a bit to help WP grow a bit faster. THIS was another reason, I just put my phone on sale today. I cannot invest another 1000 dollars on developing application (new 64 bit system with windows 8 and developers account) which I might just make for a hobby or try to optimise WP8 to my taste by making some apps which may benefit thousands other. THUS, only SERIOUS DEVELOPERS WILL CONSIDER making applications and these applications would be mostly paid, regardless of their quality as I saw on WP8 market.
If MS takes incentive and is serious about its growth, a mere million pounds it can spend to make these few specific applications rather than just promoting MS Office and other of its products. MS support is very good in these phones.
Applications like a proper dedicated video player that can support all formats of video with audio codecs. Adding subtitle support would be very much appreciated too. When you develop a platform, you always have to take all devices and not just the high end devices. Like Lumia 1020 supports more codecs than Lumia 520. I do understand that there are limitations due to hardware but it must not be forgotten that there are many others using lower end devices too.
Secondly, a proper ebook reader which can support all sort of books. like epub, mobi, word, pdf, rtf, etc,fb2,xeb etc. And also, ebook reader should support sd card rather than downloading from sky drive. only Mohoo supports sd card and sadly, it doesnot support all types of epub. Thirdly, a bunch of good and interesting games. A wide range of them so everyone from different taste can enjoy them.
There are so many applications that are used by everyone. MS needs to focus on that. Maybe a policy that if you are developing specific applications, you do not need to pay any fee and MS will support your work.
And the list goes on really from File management, Storage management, Data management etc
There is really no good storage management. You can only put pictures, videos, music, documents in your sd card but not applications. Neither applications can use sd card for their cache and data. This also eats a lot of space if you are a regular at whatsapp , viber or skype etc.
At least, there should be option to save game data and application cache and data into your sd card.
For many people, the lesser things to worry about is good while for some, they just want to have more options. WP8 just makes you more comfortable if you just want to stick to basics. Maybe this is the case for many who love WP8.
Also, you need to open different applications in order to run a particular file that is compatible with it. I find it easier to arrange my internal memory/storage card and then just use a file explorer to open every file. In WP8, I have to just open apps and then open a file. Sometimes, I need to look two Ebook readers in a list to see which file is supported by which reader.
App drawer is more quick way to find application in my opinion, thus when I had a long list of applications, it took some time. It could have been easier if I could arrange my list according to my need rather than in a alphabetical order or need to search every time I need to open an app.
Why do I have to press so many backs to close an application huh? There could be close button or a cross ?
In Android, I just press home button and use a task killer widget to kill all background apps with one touch.
I was very much disappointed with NO REAL notification center. I am just used to it.
Also, WP8 has problems running applications in the background. So whatsapp and such applications are not 100 % flawless.
PLUS, NO FILE MANAGEMENT WITHIN THE PHONE. I have to connect it to PC every time I need to transfer data or anything. And then I have to manage every file accordingly. Why my system doesnot do that for me. I just have to put it and my system automatically refreshes itself to do that for me.
I cannot open files until after a few minutes or after few restarts till they are refreshed in the system.
Installing Apps via Sd card is such a pain really. Restart your phone and it won't show.
Then I learnt the trick to dismount memory card and then restart so you can install apps from your sd card. I know you can do that via market too but market won't show every app due to different regions. So that's cool ?
Also, not all apps are supported for all regions. Why?
RESTART YOUR PHONE BY CHANGING YOUR REGION and then you can install that particular application by matching region.
No control over your internal memory and you just cannot delete stuff until it’s full and you then get to use SHRINK STORAGE to get your memory back after a restart. ANOTHER RESTART ? PLUS, it should be a build in feature as it is so BASIC.
BATTERY LIFE increased when I turned off auto sync. Tiles updates once a day. Disabled background Applications. Reduced brightness and such. SO THIS IS GOOD POINT. AGREED WITH YOU COMPLETELY
Well, NO OPTION TO STOP AUTO ROTATING . I love to read in my bed before going to sleep. When I hold it in one side, it just auto rotates. I did install legimi and other apps and I stopped auto rotating but most of apps does not support that. So if I am doing anything else like texting, it will keep on rotating. That makes me giddy already!
NO real good games compared to Android. Just bunch of games on WP that are good.
BROWSER TABS INCREASED with using IE but I was not so happy. It was just kind of sluggish. WP8 only has few browsers to offer which are not good except from UC Browser. I am not a fan of IE. Night mode was interesting to see though.
OREINTATION & VIDEO PLAYER ARENOT HERE SO YOU CAN NOT TALK IN FUTURE. I CAN SAY, to prove my point, Android in future will have better or same battery life to WP8.
KNOWN ISSUE IS STILL an issue to the users. KNOWN OR UNKNOWN, ISSUE IS AN ISSUE.
ABOUT YOUR CLAIM, I RESEARCHED ALOT BEFORE BUYING A LUMIA and saw its all features. I really do not need a free music for life as I hardly listen to music but the way they put it up was a bit deceptive.
I am NOT talking about my region of music for free. but if you go to nokia website, it clearly states that in bold, free music for life. not many are lucky like me and you because they fell into this ad hoax by buying this phone, only to realise their region is not supported.
I can go on and on really, but my point simply is to be constructive and things that I feel WP8 lacks.
I guess if there were a good movie player, a browser either opera or chrome or dolphin, applications to be installed on SD or at least their data/cache etc , with a good ebook reader, a few good games i could enjoy (applications are still very less), a proper file and storage management with option to manage my data I WOULD HAVE BEEN SOLD TO WP8 and WON'T HAVE THOUGHT OF SELLING MY PHONE. I MIGHT HAVE ALSO THOUGH OF DEVELOPING APPS ON WP8.
If MS does that, I might give it another try.
dxdy said:
every people have own thinking..... for me (locked) WP8 much better than (full unlocked) WP7 and 100x better than Android....
@Hnk1
I laugh when read your reason... in most of then you simply don’t know how to use WP...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I believe that after reading my detailed account on WP8 you might think again. I strongly feel that people need to learn to respect rather than laughing. What you really are laughing at is your negligence to foresee things clearly but rather simply living in an illusion.
Hnk1 said:
Well, being honest, it is just a personal choice of using a platform which suits you. I am not going personal with anyone and it’s just my personal opinion that could be different amongst individuals. My only reason to buy a Lumia 520 was to have a FEEL of WP8 before considering a high end device.
Another disappointment is that if you have to programme for WP, you need to buy a development account and you need WINDOWS 8 with 64 BIT SYSTEM to start programming. I cannot invest another 1000 dollars on developing application (new 64 bit system with windows 8 and developers account) which I might just make for a hobby or try to optimise WP8 to my taste by making some apps which may benefit thousands other. THUS, only SERIOUS DEVELOPERS WILL CONSIDER making applications and these applications would be mostly paid, regardless of their quality as I saw on WP8 market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They have a few hiccups and that requirement for Win8 is kinda bs on MS's part. There are ways around it. To upgrade to Windows 8 x64 its only ~$100. And that's the same price as it was for XP and Windows 7.
Applications like a proper dedicated video player that can support all formats of video with audio codecs. Adding subtitle support would be very much appreciated too. When you develop a platform, you always have to take all devices and not just the high end devices. Like Lumia 1020 supports more codecs than Lumia 520. I do understand that there are limitations due to hardware but it must not be forgotten that there are many others using lower end devices too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Codecs are the same across all WP8 devices. I'm not sure where you got that one. MS just covers the basics and several other developer's take care of including other codecs, but are unable to hardware accelerate the decoding to relieve the CPU from doing all the decoding work and making your phone hot and when its not plugged in, your phone dead.
Secondly, a proper ebook reader which can support all sort of books. like epub, mobi, word, pdf, rtf, etc,fb2,xeb etc. And also, ebook reader should support sd card rather than downloading from sky drive. only Mohoo supports sd card and sadly, it does not support all types of epub. Thirdly, a bunch of good and interesting games. A wide range of them so everyone from different taste can enjoy them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This implies that including all the different ebook file types makes the app proper. Sounds like a nightmare for developers anyways. I understand them only intending on only including the standard file types.
There are so many applications that are used by everyone. MS needs to focus on that. Maybe a policy that if you are developing specific applications, you do not need to pay any fee and MS will support your work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some companies are being just stubborn and that's only going to change if the WP market share changes. Companies are not going to make WP apps, just because they can. They are completely basing it on the ~9% total marketshare worldwide and they won't do it, because they won't have a huge profit return.
And the list goes on really from File management, Storage management, Data management etc
There is really no good storage management. You can only put pictures, videos, music, documents in your sd card but not applications. Neither applications can use sd card for their cache and data. This also eats a lot of space if you are a regular at whatsapp , viber or skype etc.
At least, there should be option to save game data and application cache and data into your sd card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everyone is banking off using your skydrive. MS is banking on that too, but there are a few things that can be moved around into Music+Videos. Besides that MS intended for these thing to be cloud only anyways. Going from WP7 to WP8, that's completely evident. WP7 used Zune and that was the pre-evolution of Xbox Video. WP8 just uses any app that supports MTP or MS's wrapper that enables iTunes support. The worst part is that the application data can't be backed up unless the developer has added in skydrive support to export the settings.
For many people, the lesser things to worry about is good while for some, they just want to have more options. WP8 just makes you more comfortable if you just want to stick to basics. Maybe this is the case for many who love WP8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, this is true, but in the hands of developers, its a mess. Power users' just realize they didn't want prople to be plugging the phone in and out of USB.
Also, you need to open different applications in order to run a particular file that is compatible with it. I find it easier to arrange my internal memory/storage card and then just use a file explorer to open every file. In WP8, I have to just open apps and then open a file. Sometimes, I need to look two Ebook readers in a list to see which file is supported by which reader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the developer's fault for not supporting more than one format. Anyways, don't they have websites dedicated to converting ebooks anyways? MS didn't intend on having people use the USB.
App drawer is more quick way to find application in my opinion, thus when I had a long list of applications, it took some time. It could have been easier if I could arrange my list according to my need rather than in a alphabetical order or need to search every time I need to open an app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These apps are supposed to be pinned. That's also why a search function was provided. [note: Samsung did make a app folders for the startmenu, but its only good for samsung.]
Why do I have to press so many backs to close an application huh? There could be close button or a cross? In Android, I just press home button and use a task killer widget to kill all background apps with one touch. I was very much disappointed with NO REAL notification center. I am just used to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All of these are in GDR3. The notification center is being added into WP8 to ease users into the new platform. If you use WP as intended, all your notifications are inside the respectively pinned live tiles. I usually have to mash the back button to close all the apps running, but most people hit the start button.
Also, WP8 has problems running applications in the background. So whatsapp and such applications are not 100 % flawless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm starting to experience that more and more. Some live tiles won't update unless I relaunch the app even though it was running hours ago (almost everything I have is set to update a the lowest interval - 30 minutes.)
PLUS, NO FILE MANAGEMENT WITHIN THE PHONE. I have to connect it to PC every time I need to transfer data or anything. And then I have to manage every file accordingly. Why does my system not do that for me. I just have to put it and my system automatically refreshes itself to do that for me. I cannot open files until after a few minutes or after few restarts till they are refreshed in the system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again why do you need to be transferring files back and forth? Skydrive is supposed to be taking care of that for you.
Installing Apps via Sd card is such a pain really. Restart your phone and it won't show.
Then I learnt the trick to dismount memory card and then restart so you can install apps from your sd card. I know you can do that via market too but market won't show every app due to different regions. So that's cool?
Also, not all apps are supported for all regions. Why?
RESTART YOUR PHONE BY CHANGING YOUR REGION and then you can install that particular application by matching region.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apps were meant to be installed from your region to your region. Exceptions are minimal. Installing apps to the SD fells like an afterthought. AFAIK, installing from SD still requires the phone to be online. So, I can't really tell you as the 928 (a flagship phone for verizon) doesn't have a microSD slot.
No control over your internal memory and you just cannot delete stuff until it’s full and you then get to use SHRINK STORAGE to get your memory back after a restart. ANOTHER RESTART ? PLUS, it should be a build in feature as it is so BASIC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its been an issue in the past, but its slowly getting better. Nokia's storage checker lets you remove some temporary files. The other files are pertaining to photos and album covers that are cached that gets removed when you use SHRINK STORAGE that essentially fills the phone up completely and empties it.
Well, NO OPTION TO STOP AUTO ROTATING . I love to read in my bed before going to sleep. When I hold it in one side, it just auto rotates. I did install legimi and other apps and I stopped auto rotating but most of apps does not support that. So if I am doing anything else like texting, it will keep on rotating. That makes me giddy already!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is also another GDR3 fix. I can't say I ever thought to install another app to prevent autorotation. WP7 never received that feature unless you were using a custom rom on a unlocked device.
NO real good games compared to Android. Just bunch of games on WP that are good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not exactly in my book. This will be different depending to who you talk to. I have Halo:SA, Bejeweled Live and +Live, UNO, Civilization Revolution, COLLAPSE, Earthworm Jim, The Sims FreePlay, and Wordament.
BROWSER TABS INCREASED with using IE but I was not so happy. It was just kind of sluggish. WP8 only has few browsers to offer which are not good except from UC Browser. I am not a fan of IE. Night mode was interesting to see though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nokia also has a browser too if you are interested.
OREINTATION & VIDEO PLAYER ARENOT HERE SO YOU CAN NOT TALK IN FUTURE. I CAN SAY, to prove my point, Android in future will have better or same battery life to WP8. KNOWN ISSUE IS STILL an issue to the users. KNOWN OR UNKNOWN, ISSUE IS AN ISSUE.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other Music and video players are here, but its up to the developers to make them useful. After all they are only working to pay off they time they put in and the ~$20 it took to buy a developer account.
ABOUT YOUR CLAIM, I RESEARCHED ALOT BEFORE BUYING A LUMIA and saw its all features. I really do not need a free music for life as I hardly listen to music but the way they put it up was a bit deceptive. I am NOT talking about my region of music for free. but if you go to nokia website, it clearly states that in bold, free music for life. not many are lucky like me and you because they fell into this ad hoax by buying this phone, only to realise their region is not supported.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure they ever ran something about free music forever.
I can go on and on really, but my point simply is to be constructive and things that I feel WP8 lacks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems that you are screaming across the forum table, but thats just me. We are here to help you. If you want to help WP8, go rate some of their suggestions over at uservoice.
I guess if there were a good movie player, a browser either opera or chrome or dolphin, applications to be installed on SD or at least their data/cache etc , with a good ebook reader, a few good games i could enjoy (applications are still very less), a proper file and storage management with option to manage my data I WOULD HAVE BEEN SOLD TO WP8 and WON'T HAVE THOUGHT OF SELLING MY PHONE. I MIGHT HAVE ALSO THOUGH OF DEVELOPING APPS ON WP8. If MS does that, I might give it another try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This just is because you have only lived on WP for a very short time.
Well, I believe that after reading my detailed account on WP8 you might think again. I strongly feel that people need to learn to respect rather than laughing. What you really are laughing at is your negligence to foresee things clearly but rather simply living in an illusion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not laughing, I just think this is the view of many people who try to use WP after using Android. I'd also like to note that many of Apple users won't have this issue.
Its just an issue of people not understanding how MS (or MS misunderstanding people for that matter) intended on people using WP and users are looking for other ways to do when the features are just not quite up to par.
Sorry for the wall of text, but I felt obligated to help.
thals1992 said:
They have a few hiccups and that requirement for Win8 is kinda bs on MS's part. There are ways around it. To upgrade to Windows 8 x64 its only ~$100. And that's the same price as it was for XP and Windows 7.
Codecs are the same across all WP8 devices. I'm not sure where you got that one. MS just covers the basics and several other developer's take care of including other codecs, but are unable to hardware accelerate the decoding to relieve the CPU from doing all the decoding work and making your phone hot and when its not plugged in, your phone dead.
This implies that including all the different ebook file types makes the app proper. Sounds like a nightmare for developers anyways. I understand them only intending on only including the standard file types.
Some companies are being just stubborn and that's only going to change if the WP market share changes. Companies are not going to make WP apps, just because they can. They are completely basing it on the ~9% total marketshare worldwide and they won't do it, because they won't have a huge profit return.
Everyone is banking off using your skydrive. MS is banking on that too, but there are a few things that can be moved around into Music+Videos. Besides that MS intended for these thing to be cloud only anyways. Going from WP7 to WP8, that's completely evident. WP7 used Zune and that was the pre-evolution of Xbox Video. WP8 just uses any app that supports MTP or MS's wrapper that enables iTunes support. The worst part is that the application data can't be backed up unless the developer has added in skydrive support to export the settings.
Yes, this is true, but in the hands of developers, its a mess. Power users' just realize they didn't want prople to be plugging the phone in and out of USB.
That's the developer's fault for not supporting more than one format. Anyways, don't they have websites dedicated to converting ebooks anyways? MS didn't intend on having people use the USB.
These apps are supposed to be pinned. That's also why a search function was provided. [note: Samsung did make a app folders for the startmenu, but its only good for samsung.]
All of these are in GDR3. The notification center is being added into WP8 to ease users into the new platform. If you use WP as intended, all your notifications are inside the respectively pinned live tiles. I usually have to mash the back button to close all the apps running, but most people hit the start button.
I'm starting to experience that more and more. Some live tiles won't update unless I relaunch the app even though it was running hours ago (almost everything I have is set to update a the lowest interval - 30 minutes.)
Again why do you need to be transferring files back and forth? Skydrive is supposed to be taking care of that for you.
Apps were meant to be installed from your region to your region. Exceptions are minimal. Installing apps to the SD fells like an afterthought. AFAIK, installing from SD still requires the phone to be online. So, I can't really tell you as the 928 (a flagship phone for verizon) doesn't have a microSD slot.
Its been an issue in the past, but its slowly getting better. Nokia's storage checker lets you remove some temporary files. The other files are pertaining to photos and album covers that are cached that gets removed when you use SHRINK STORAGE that essentially fills the phone up completely and empties it.
This is also another GDR3 fix. I can't say I ever thought to install another app to prevent autorotation. WP7 never received that feature unless you were using a custom rom on a unlocked device.
Not exactly in my book. This will be different depending to who you talk to. I have Halo:SA, Bejeweled Live and +Live, UNO, Civilization Revolution, COLLAPSE, Earthworm Jim, The Sims FreePlay, and Wordament.
Nokia also has a browser too if you are interested.
Other Music and video players are here, but its up to the developers to make them useful. After all they are only working to pay off they time they put in and the ~$20 it took to buy a developer account.
I'm not sure they ever ran something about free music forever.
It seems that you are screaming across the forum table, but thats just me. We are here to help you. If you want to help WP8, go rate some of their suggestions over at uservoice.
This just is because you have only lived on WP for a very short time.
I'm not laughing, I just think this is the view of many people who try to use WP after using Android. I'd also like to note that many of Apple users won't have this issue.
Its just an issue of people not understanding how MS (or MS misunderstanding people for that matter) intended on people using WP and users are looking for other ways to do when the features are just not quite up to par.
Sorry for the wall of text, but I felt obligated to help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much for your time and comments. I really appreciate them. The laughing part was not for you at all. My dear apologies!
I do understand your points and everything I wrote was according to my experience. I was hooked to my PC for a long time just trying to do stuff. Yes, MS has decreased developers account to 20dollar for 60 days. In the Uk, it is 35 quids and 60 quids.
Also, if you look at supported formats by 1020 to 520, you will see that 1020 supports MP4/DivX/XviD/H.264/H.263/WMV player ( MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+ player) while 520 only supports (MP3/WAV/eAAC+/WMA player) MP4/H.264/H.263/WMV player. So there is a difference in codecs out of the box
Yes you can upgrade with only 100 dollars but I have a 32 bit machine with windows 7 ultimate. My PC can not support a 64 bit system due to limitations of my motherboard. So I will need to update my PC while easier would be to get a new Laptop running wp8 64 bit.
I am not saying developers to support every format in wp8 but even epub is not fully supported. I have to check through different apps to see if the images are also supported so that's a bummer for me.
You are right about the market share and I guess that's another major reason apart from MS greed to get money out of developers rather funding them. Developers will always work where they find profit and Wp8 isnot a very versatile and widely used platform that MS could have thought of implementing such measures.
Games are there, but they are not my type mostly. Some of heavy games do not support 512 ram. Plus, out of those games I played in wp8, I think android and IOS have more detailed games and graphics are much nicer. It's just like game developers made an application quickly as they know they won't find much people using it but at the same time, take an extra mile to make the same game better in IOS and Android.
Yes, there are websites and ways to convert books. But what is easier for you? Just download it and it will be there in your phone where you can immediately use or where you have to download it, then convert it and then put into sd card and restart to get your ebooks. Also, moon + reader pro supports all formats of epub, mobi and pdf. It also supports SD and many other formats. This is not the case with any windows phone appliaction.
I am not a person who will first download files to pc, then sync to your sky drive and then again download into your phone. For me, just download on your phone is easier. Plus, even if i download on my PC, it just takes a minute to copy all the files to my phone rather than syncing them for about 5 to 7 minutes. (I am using 2mb connection )
Yes pinning is a nice way but I do not like to pin 20 apps on my tiles. It be much easier for me to make one tile for games, one for ebook reader and thus arrange every app with a category.
Yes, I know you have to be online to install apps as WP8 checks if it is compatible or not. But for me it's more convinient as I need to install different apps from different regions. Like few apps are only available in US and not the UK. So i downloaded all and installed one batch of UK and then changed the region and installed the other batch using US region.
I hope storage and management gets better soon.
You are right about Nokia browser but I will like to see from major companies like Mozilla, Google Chrome, Opera at least.
About Music, there is a way to make it work. I researched a bit. Again change your region will help after a restart.
I agree that I have not used much of WP8, but it didnot attract me much that I could think about using a WP8 as a primary device. Battery life is better and that is only advantage I can think of WP8.
Cheers once again
Related
Everyone knows computers, phones, pda, slows as the memory fills. Now there are ssome apps on the market that say they speed up you phone. So far I count three
- Memory up Professional
- Memory up Personal
- Memory for Lemmings
Has anyone tried any of these? What do you have to say about them? Do they work? Are you to skeptical (scarred) to try them?
I tried memory up Professional but didn't seem to work also its shareware
Memory for lemming seemed more simple but memory number keep jumping around there should be a log/graph for memory usage like windows task manager (I probably should email him that)
Haven't tried mem up personal though,
To an extend they work but overall they have no use. Android OS is built around killing services after some time and keeping the phone running in top performance. Those memory programs might free up a few KB's but not much use on that part, unless you have a program that allows you to kill services and stuff, which might have a practical use. Overall my answer is they are pretty much fake!
Just look at the definition of Lemming...
Lemming
The act of following the crowd into an investment that will inevitably head for disaster.
The version Memory for Lemmings is essentially garbage as well. He only made it to prove a point that the effects of the other pay programs are useless.
I used Memory Up when my G1 was working (doing a warranty, still waiting for the mail). It did not appear to do anything. Some claimed it did, I claim placebo effect for them.
The first thing I checked when running it was whether or not it killed open apps, it did not. Useless in my opinion. Wait for a real task manager.
From what I understand it does the same thing Oxios Memory does for Windows Mobile... it merely compacts RAM by clearing up system memory providing a slight boost but non noticeable to the human eye or feel. Android system by default will keep up to 6 applications running in the background and closes the oldest app. when the 7th application is opened (hold down the home key and try it out yourself). From what I have noticed, (and there is not real way to track virtual/RAM memory in the G1, if you don't turn off your phone but every few days... then the memory programs WILL help (slightly) to avoid the inevitable power off to clear system RAM or cool off the circuit board.
Lol welcome to the land of the stupid. I explain not only WHAT the app MemoryForLemmings does , but also HOW it does it right in the description. Not only that but I also suggest a google search term which tells you ALL ABOUT Garbage collection. But for the Google inept here we go.
Every java program has variables and objects in it. These objectd consume memory - both on the java heap and also indirectly the system. Now Old School coders like myself who used C generally null out the variables when done with them - thus freeing memory off the heap.(I am not going to explain what the heap is ****ing look it up), we are used to C where every spec of memory had to be allocated and deallocated. Java on the other hand doesnt require you to be so fussy, It keeps a running log of variables etc and whether they are being used or not and periodically it will go through and run .... wait for it ... garbage collection. It does this at a set time or at a set memory level of the heap.
But guess what, Sun in their infinite wisdom provide a way to ask the system to run garbage collection early. This is not a forced suggestion merely a hint to the OS, the OS can choose to ignore this. Guess what my app does? Can you guess? Thats right it merely suggests to the OS to finalize items thats may be running but are old and to run garbage collection. Thats it. The whole damn program is maybe 40 lines long and that includes the Dialog code.
There is nothing like a bunch of non coders getting together on a forum to write up some of the least correct assumptions I have ever seen about code.
Android does not close apps on a First in First out basis. You cannot rely on that when coding apps, Androids program management is more sophisticated than that. You cannot "compact RAM" it is not disk. Any clearing of the system memory is a crap shoot, I Included it on the app for ****s and giggles. It may speed up your system as the heap/system memory clear, but again that's a crap shoot.
I only wrote the app at all so the idiot charging 15 bucks for app wouldn't be able to scam people for something the OS would do anyway (Which by the way is ALSO in the description). I didn't even post it to the market to start just the androidcommunity boards, but they encouraged me to list it.
I really suggest you actually USE google (Golly where would you find a google search bar), before you go off half cocked.
Bratag said:
I really suggest you actually USE google (Golly where would you find a google search bar), before you go off half cocked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think half the visitors to xda-dev Dream understood what you wrote above. And that's why people will continue to buy these apps (on this and other platforms). Right now the Android Market is still not as bad as the iPhone App Store, where exploitation and ridiculously pointless apps hit truly saddening new plateaus.
I think i'll go write a "cell phone radiation reducer" app right now and charge twenty bucks for it.
jashsu said:
I don't think half the visitors to xda-dev Dream understood what you wrote above. And that's why people will continue to buy these apps (on this and other platforms). Right now the Android Market is still not as bad as the iPhone App Store, where exploitation and ridiculously pointless apps hit truly saddening new plateaus.
I think i'll go write a "cell phone radiation reducer" app right now and charge twenty bucks for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet Ill totally buy it
I sometimes feel I am one man trying hold back the tide of stupid armed only with a soggy celery stalk.
Java?
Bratag said:
But guess what, Sun in their infinite wisdom provide a way to ask the system to run garbage collection early. This is not a forced suggestion merely a hint to the OS, the OS can choose to ignore this. Guess what my app does? Can you guess? Thats right it merely suggests to the OS to finalize items thats may be running but are old and to run garbage collection. Thats it. The whole damn program is maybe 40 lines long and that includes the Dialog code.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bratag: All of the apps on my system run in Linux, not Java. So your program wouldn't really do anything for me or the 90% of android users that don't do Java? I'm not sure about the Linux/Java connection you are making. Please elaborate.
The dalvik vm is basically a tweaked java vm. With some very limited exception, almost all the code in the available apks are all java classes.
Bratag said:
There is nothing like a bunch of non coders getting together on a forum to write up some of the least correct assumptions I have ever seen about code.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You must be new here.
texasaggie1 said:
Bratag: All of the apps on my system run in Linux, not Java. So your program wouldn't really do anything for me or the 90% of android users that don't do Java? I'm not sure about the Linux/Java connection you are making. Please elaborate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually all the apps on your system run In a Java Runtime Environment called Dalvik which is a virtual machine which has been optimized to efficiently run multiple instances efficiently. So everything you run is a java app and that includes the desktop.
Now this all runs on TOP of a linux KERNEL.
EDIT: damn someone beat me to it
Bratag - you rock.
Bratag said:
Actually all the apps on your system run In a Java Runtime Environment called Dalvik which is a virtual machine which has been optimized to efficiently run multiple instances efficiently. So everything you run is a java app and that includes the desktop.
Now this all runs on TOP of a linux KERNEL.
EDIT: damn someone beat me to it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The very reason an emulater like Smartgear, Pocketnes or MAME is impossible on Android. A black & white Gamboy emu would kill the 7201a with sound and 30fps.
Java sucks for these type of apps having to emulate the game system and be interpreted through two layers.
rushless said:
The very reason an emulater like Smartgear, Pocketnes or MAME is impossible on Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not at all impossible if you use JNI to hook to a compiled c++ or asm library for the main engine. Heck, it's not even "impossible" to do in Java-- merely unfeasible.
Stay on topic.
Apps on Android can't touch anything outside their own sandbox due to the security model (unless the other app gives you a way to access it's data, but even then, you can't touch it's memory). I feel sorry for the poor sod who pays for these apps.
Well i searched around XDA a bit and found many threads related to this bt all for WM and not android.
Multi-tasking is getting a bit tough. Apps get auto-closed after sometime.
Samsung Galaxy SL i9003
Stock firmware and everything stock, nothing chngd much. Only apps installed from the Market.
Say m surfing the opera, and even if a small app like messaging is open and aftr some roaming around when i return of opera, it has closed.
PS - Above is jus an example so dnt claim Opera is a power-hogger so it wil b to open up ram for other apps and all......
So any way of disabling the auto-closure of apps?
Love XDA
@ mod who moved it...
Its related to i9003 nt i9000.
Anyways tnx for moving. Wil get more views here....
Any dev der? Help!
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA App
Personally, I cannot believe that this doesn't get complained about a lot more vocally and a lot more often, especially as it is common across ALL Android devices running 2.2 or beyond, not just the Galaxy S. It is a MAJOR usability issue in the operating system and one that is a complete dealbreaker for me.
Since 2.2 any application left running in the background is automatically closed by the system after a few minutes of inactivity, regardless of memory availability/needs or power consumption. This approach is far from acceptable for things such as EBuddy or any other msn-style instant messaging client which the user may want to leave open in order to stay logged in, so as to remain constantly available and reachable by other parties using the same service. This is just one example of a type of application I might want to leabe open and running in the background, but there are plenty of others.
The fact that the entire Android platform has essentially removed multi-tasking as a feature of the OS as of version 2.2 is astounding and appalling to me, and it's very surprising not to find more people just as offended by this on a more regular basis. What's worse, no matter how rooted or custom-ROM'd your device might be, there seems to be absolutely no way to override or disable this behavior as it is hard-coded into the OS kernel at a fundamental level. We basically have a first generation iPhone on our hands now, thanks to this latest innovation.
Closing apps when memory and system resources are low is one thing, but closing them just because the user hasn't attended to them in the last five minutes or so? Ridicullous. If you wouldn't want your desktop computer shutting down all your open/background applications every time you go for a coffee break or take a 10-minute phone call, what makes the Android developers think users want this done on their smartphones???
Exactly.
There's an app on the market, Spare Parts, in it ders a option on hw android handles suc apps.
There r two options. Normal and aggressive. Keep it normal and try and c if it helps.
paleozord said:
Personally, I cannot believe that this doesn't get complained about a lot more vocally and a lot more often, especially as it is common across ALL Android devices running 2.2 or beyond, not just the Galaxy S. It is a MAJOR usability issue in the operating system and one that is a complete dealbreaker for me.
Since 2.2 any application left running in the background is automatically closed by the system after a few minutes of inactivity, regardless of memory availability/needs or power consumption. This approach is far from acceptable for things such as EBuddy or any other msn-style instant messaging client which the user may want to leave open in order to stay logged in, so as to remain constantly available and reachable by other parties using the same service. This is just one example of a type of application I might want to leabe open and running in the background, but there are plenty of others.
The fact that the entire Android platform has essentially removed multi-tasking as a feature of the OS as of version 2.2 is astounding and appalling to me, and it's very surprising not to find more people just as offended by this on a more regular basis. What's worse, no matter how rooted or custom-ROM'd your device might be, there seems to be absolutely no way to override or disable this behavior as it is hard-coded into the OS kernel at a fundamental level. We basically have a first generation iPhone on our hands now, thanks to this latest innovation.
Closing apps when memory and system resources are low is one thing, but closing them just because the user hasn't attended to them in the last five minutes or so? Ridicullous. If you wouldn't want your desktop computer shutting down all your open/background applications every time you go for a coffee break or take a 10-minute phone call, what makes the Android developers think users want this done on their smartphones???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA App
Exactly.
I hv migrated frm Symbian, and m a hard multi-tasker, and disappointd with Android jus cos of tis...
paleozord said:
Personally, I cannot believe that this doesn't get complained about a lot more vocally and a lot more often, especially as it is common across ALL Android devices running 2.2 or beyond, not just the Galaxy S. It is a MAJOR usability issue in the operating system and one that is a complete dealbreaker for me.
Since 2.2 any application left running in the background is automatically closed by the system after a few minutes of inactivity, regardless of memory availability/needs or power consumption. This approach is far from acceptable for things such as EBuddy or any other msn-style instant messaging client which the user may want to leave open in order to stay logged in, so as to remain constantly available and reachable by other parties using the same service. This is just one example of a type of application I might want to leabe open and running in the background, but there are plenty of others.
The fact that the entire Android platform has essentially removed multi-tasking as a feature of the OS as of version 2.2 is astounding and appalling to me, and it's very surprising not to find more people just as offended by this on a more regular basis. What's worse, no matter how rooted or custom-ROM'd your device might be, there seems to be absolutely no way to override or disable this behavior as it is hard-coded into the OS kernel at a fundamental level. We basically have a first generation iPhone on our hands now, thanks to this latest innovation.
Closing apps when memory and system resources are low is one thing, but closing them just because the user hasn't attended to them in the last five minutes or so? Ridicullous. If you wouldn't want your desktop computer shutting down all your open/background applications every time you go for a coffee break or take a 10-minute phone call, what makes the Android developers think users want this done on their smartphones???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA App
Is this the reason why I have to constantly log back into Evernote, and Tweetdeck every time i wanna have a look at them?
The whole concept of syncing periodically doesn't work anymore because they are constantly logging out on me.
Unfortunately neither Spare Parts nor any such custom tweaking app seems have any effect on this berhaviour under Froyo or Gingerbread. And yes, the system auto-close is the reason that re-logging into connectivity apps every time you open them is necessary. Since they have been shut down and are no longer running, you are essentially re-launcing them anew each and every time. Hardly ideal.
Previous "old school" smartphone platforms like Symbian and Windows Mobile 5/6 had multi-tasking incorporated into their basic functionality. It's really a shame that shiny new operating systems like Android/iPhone make it such a struggle. Up until and including Eclair (2.1) leaving apps open in the background was completely possible, but as of the present moment WebOS is the only "new age" smartphone OS that still allows it, and unfortunately it hasn't moved along in other development areas very quickly at all.
I wonder y others @xda & @google dnt feel tis....
paleozord said:
Unfortunately neither Spare Parts nor any such custom tweaking app seems have any effect on this berhaviour under Froyo or Gingerbread. And yes, the system auto-close is the reason that re-logging into connectivity apps every time you open them is necessary. Since they have been shut down and are no longer running, you are essentially re-launcing them anew each and every time. Hardly ideal.
Previous "old school" smartphone platforms like Symbian and Windows Mobile 5/6 had multi-tasking incorporated into their basic functionality. It's really a shame that shiny new operating systems like Android/iPhone make it such a struggle. Up until and including Eclair (2.1) leaving apps open in the background was completely possible, but as of the present moment WebOS is the only "new age" smartphone OS that still allows it, and unfortunately it hasn't moved along in other development areas very quickly at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA App
Erm....why do you think people flash custom roms?!
GTi9000 insanitycm010/insaneglitch
slaphead20 said:
Erm....why do you think people flash custom roms?!GTi9000 insanitycm010/insaneglitch
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Custom ROMs do not change or affect this system auto-close functionality in any way. At least I've never seen any that did so successfully. It seems to be coded too deeply into the OS to be changed, from what I can tell. That is, I'm sure theoretically it *could* be changed, but most custom roms I've seen tackle far more surface-level interface issues and not the way the kernel manages processes in the background.
I didn't realise this happened after 2.1... I already was thinking why all apps were getting closed so fast after I updated my i9000 to froyo and then to 2.3. I just bought i9100 mainly because of the 1gb ram and still, with 400mb free ram, apps getting closed after couple of hours. (Not minutes, or even seconds like i9000, thankgod).
Autokiller lets you manually change some value of a running app, so it won't get killed... unfortunately this isn't automated so it's no use.
The time before auto-closure can sometimes vary from device to device.. I've tested on two Froyo devices other than the Galaxy S, each from different manufacturers as well, and apps rarely make it past ten minutes before being shut down on any of them. I've never seen anything make it a couple of hours so that's a new one.
I've actually gone back to my Motorola Defy running 2.1 for now, specifically to be able to multi-task again. Sadly there is a 2.2 update available over-the-air for it, but I keep declining because I just don't want to lose the ability to multi-task. Unless some future version like Ice Cream Sandwich restores control to the user, Eclair may very well be the last edition of Android I ever use.
Or should I say AndroIPhone, since that is what it has become.
Eclair actually allows u to multi-task normally?
No issues lik froyo?
Working lik "old-school" OSes's multi tasking?
paleozord said:
The time before auto-closure can sometimes vary from device to device.. I've tested on two Froyo devices other than the Galaxy S, each from different manufacturers as well, and apps rarely make it past ten minutes before being shut down on any of them. I've never seen anything make it a couple of hours so that's a new one.
I've actually gone back to my Motorola Defy running 2.1 for now, specifically to be able to multi-task again. Sadly there is a 2.2 update available over-the-air for it, but I keep declining because I just don't want to lose the ability to multi-task. Unless some future version like Ice Cream Sandwich restores control to the user, Eclair may very well be the last edition of Android I ever use.
Or should I say AndroIPhone, since that is what it has become.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA App
ggclanlord said:
Eclair actually allows u to multi-task normally?
No issues lik froyo?
Working lik "old-school" OSes's multi tasking?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct, applications are left open and running in the background indefinitely until the user chooses to close them. Using a good multitasking app like TaskSwitcher or Smart Taskbar you can switch back and forth between open apps as much and as often as you like, or go away for hours without anything ever closing on you. I'm doing it presently on my Defy with no issues at all, just like older operating systems allow(ed).
Tats really Awesome!
paleozord said:
Correct, applications are left open and running in the background indefinitely until the user chooses to close them. Using a good multitasking app like TaskSwitcher or Smart Taskbar you can switch back and forth between open apps as much and as often as you like, or go away for hours without anything ever closing on you. I'm doing it presently on my Defy with no issues at all, just like older operating systems allow(ed).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA App
ggclanlord said:
Tats really Awesome!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's certainly a saving grace for Android that Eclair devices still provide multi-tasking functionality for those who insist upon it, though at the same time it sucks to see all these super powerful, souped up Froyo and Gingerbread devices being released monthly and having to snub them because of the deficiency in the newer OS.
Please, please fix this in Ice Cream Sandwich or Chocolate Souffle or Lemon Tart or whatever desserty moniker the 2.4 flavour of Android takes on. Or at the very least give the user the option to select an operational mode (auto-close or manual manage) just like many devices offer for battery management, with performance mode versus smart-saver mode etc..
It's hardly a smart phone without multi-tasking!!
I guess so it'd b more effective if tis is wrttn to Google...
paleozord said:
It's certainly a saving grace for Android that Eclair devices still provide multi-tasking functionality for those who insist upon it, though at the same time it sucks to see all these super powerful, souped up Froyo and Gingerbread devices being released monthly and having to snub them because of the deficiency in the newer OS.
Please, please fix this in Ice Cream Sandwich or Chocolate Souffle or Lemon Tart or whatever desserty moniker the 2.4 flavour of Android takes on. Or at the very least give the user the option to select an operational mode (auto-close or manual manage) just like many devices offer for battery management, with performance mode versus smart-saver mode etc..
It's hardly a smart phone without multi-tasking!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA App
Cn any1 tel me whthr tis issue is der @GB o nt?
M on Froyo cos GB nt yet released for my device (only a Dev update yet)
I can't say with 100% certainty but I'm reasonably confident it's the same under Gingerbread (2.3). Google considers this "feature" of the Android operating system to be a significant improvement and benefit, so they're not likely to remove it on their own anytime soon unless they get a massive influx of complaints about it.
The best we can hope for is probably a user-controllable setting of some sort that determines the degree of system aggressiveness in auto-closing background applications. There are already plenty of third party root-based utilities available in the market with similar settings, but they only affect their OWN auto-closing tendencies and do not override the system itself's default auto-close behaviour. I know this because I have tried them all at the lowest possible setting levels, and everything still gets closed in the background just the same.
I personally liked the fluidity of the OS although that might be due to the fact that it is running on a i7 or something.
I would certainly like an UI like that but i would like it even more if Android gets a UI that is so fluid and awesome.
Since arm port of windows would have no legacy support for apps, it wouldn't be that ahead of Honeycomb i guess.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/01/microsoft-unveils-windows-8-tablet-prototypes/
What about you? did you like the UI?
I thought it looks great as an evolution of windows, Imagine running your normal windows apps on a tablet or vice versa, its pretty cool. I love the whole unified look. but only time will tell of its usability and what it actually does by release haha.
I like it and want it on my Nook LOL
Omega Ra said:
I like it and want it on my Nook LOL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was my first thought too
I could see myself wanting this on a tablet or other touch enabled device but really don't see any benefit on a standard PC or laptop even if it's touch enabled *unless* Microsoft makes it possible to easily dump the exact state of an app or group of apps from one device to another, like a Chrome to Phone on steroids.
I'm talking like the scene in Avatar where he "grabs" the image off the main computer screen and "throws" it onto a tablet like device. Being able to, within seconds, take my work from my main PC / Laptop to an ultraportable device (ie. phone / tablet) and back would be the killer feature and seems like it would be possible with the demo'd interface.
oh god that is fugly.... way too busy and a waste in my opinion.
Unless there is a way to turn it off.. i am skipping win8
I like it and see a lot of potential with it. I did LOL though. In the video he is talking about touch type (on a tablet) and says "so we created a split keyboard" or words to that effect...they created. Hell, I've seen keyboards like this on Android for years. Pretty sure they didn't create it...copied it yes..
probably they're running all that behind a cluster of servers no doubt about it...
Looks like a great interface for a tablet, not sure how it'll work on a desktop. I use my desktop to do actual work, with multiple applications open, each with multiple windows arranged across multiple monitors. I don't see how a full screen app interface, even split as shown, would be anything but a dramatic hindrance.
Again, as it pertains to the desktop, I'm not sure I like the "each app as a tile" idea. right now, with two or three clicks, I can launch any of the 75 to 100 applications I have on my computer. I don't see how anything approaching that efficiency would be possible if only 9 or so application "tiles" can be placed on any given screen.
For a tablet type device, which is inherently of more limited use, an interface like this is perfect, and this one does look clean and smooth. I just hope they don't insist on forcing this type of UI on desktop PC's.
i agree with the other guy that it is fugly. i think that their tablets will fail.. unless they pull the same ol monopoly of the market BS.
ChrisDDD said:
Looks like a great interface for a tablet, not sure how it'll work on a desktop. I use my desktop to do actual work, with multiple applications open, each with multiple windows arranged across multiple monitors. I don't see how a full screen app interface, even split as shown, would be anything but a dramatic hindrance.
Again, as it pertains to the desktop, I'm not sure I like the "each app as a tile" idea. right now, with two or three clicks, I can launch any of the 75 to 100 applications I have on my computer. I don't see how anything approaching that efficiency would be possible if only 9 or so application "tiles" can be placed on any given screen.
For a tablet type device, which is inherently of more limited use, an interface like this is perfect, and this one does look clean and smooth. I just hope they don't insist on forcing this type of UI on desktop PC's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get the feeling that the windows 8 touch UI is going to be something of an additional above the usual desktop. I'm imagining it is somewhat similar to Windows Media Center in windows 7. You launch the UI when you want to use it in tablet mode, and then revert back to regular desktop when you, say, have a keyboard and mouse attached. I think they are going for the best of both world approach. I like the idea, but I would have to agree that there will most likely be a reduction in functionality when you move to the tablet mode.
I think it looks interesting overall. I have a convertible netbook, so I will probably install the beta when they release it for public use.
luciferii said:
i agree with the other guy that it is fugly. i think that their tablets will fail.. unless they pull the same ol monopoly of the market BS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be really hard to do when Apple already has the tablet market locked down.
I am glad i am not the only one who thought that OS looked hideous. I dont want that on my tablet, let alone my PC....
I think it looks fantastic, and if the price is right, I'll definitely get a W8 tablet or hopefuly, something like the Asus Transformer.
It looks like Win Media Center merged with Android 3.0....
Linux Looming.
I was a devoted Windows Mobile user until about a year ago. It was time for a new phone and I was really looking forward to Windows Mobile 7. Fortunately that never happened and instead the awful u.i. that is Windows Phone 7 appeared in it's place.
I say fortunately because as a result I am now fully vested in Android, loving it, and won't ever look back.
This revelation makes me wonder if I should go ahead and get me some flavor of Linux for my pcs...
I'm excited about this. Understanding they are sort of loading up that device with all sorts of apps to show off the interface. I am sure it will be very customizable and certainly we will be able to stretch tiles and have empty space as we see fit.
I think the general interface looks very nice, especially for touchscreens. I am happy there will be some competition for android. In my humble opinion, android OS development has been going very slow. There are a ton of features and design elements that should have been implemented that have been overlooked. It's great, and it's getting better. I get that. I just find that competition tends to accelerate getting better.
martian21 said:
I could see myself wanting this on a tablet or other touch enabled device but really don't see any benefit on a standard PC or laptop even if it's touch enabled *unless* Microsoft makes it possible to easily dump the exact state of an app or group of apps from one device to another, like a Chrome to Phone on steroids.
I'm talking like the scene in Avatar where he "grabs" the image off the main computer screen and "throws" it onto a tablet like device. Being able to, within seconds, take my work from my main PC / Laptop to an ultraportable device (ie. phone / tablet) and back would be the killer feature and seems like it would be possible with the demo'd interface.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed. I've been doing a lot of thinking about this. It's not very hard to imagine. I don't see it being very hard to accomplish. The data for the app would have to be completely compartmentalized, and the app would have to be completely compatible. It could be implemented at the OS level but it is so hard to know for sure exactly what kind of data apps are going to want to use. Hrms.
I doubt the MS technology is going to do this, but I imagine it coming in the next 10 years.
ExploreMN said:
That would be really hard to do when Apple already has the tablet market locked down.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was the only reasonable thing on the market. Now it's not. It lost 20% market share in 1 single quarter.
It's funny that this came out because just a few days ago I had a dream about a windows tablet (that was super cheap in my dream) and then this happens. haha.
Apple won't hold the market for long. Apple's restrictive marketplace and OS is it's problem. That and jail breaking it and you don't have to pay for any of their apps.... what a joke... Why would developers make apps when their investment is so easy to steal?
I liked it a lot for phone and tablet use. I am not so much a fan for desktop use -- prefer the overlapping windows for that, and I think the tiles in lieu of icons are wasted on directories full of normal text documents.
I liked everything about Win8 until they showed legacy support for Excel and Word. Seeing the Win7 UI was such a hideous contrast to the smooth appearance of 8. Microsoft needs to re-build its Office suite for 8.
Sent from my phiremod for Nook using Tapatalk
jessie57 said:
Microsoft needs to re-build its Office suite for 8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Microsoft loves making money...you think they won't?
I had Android for a while, and I remember there was an App that broke down Battery/Cpu usage. It would even keep track of how long the screen was on, what was being used most that could potentially be using the battery more.
Ive yet to see an App like this for WP7, let alone 8. Is it even possible? Or is it just yet another thing impossible due to MS lock down on some aspects of the phone OS?
I really do like this OS, but it seems more and more, MS's lock down really hurts development, preventing Devs from really bringing out the most of the OS and prevents functions and abilities youd normally think would exist.
I can understand the want for an app like this (I had it on android myself), but since switching over to WP8 I don't see the need.
All the apps on here run very well and nothing is going crazy like it does with android. Locking down the OS is a good thing sometimes, devs have a much harder tune creating system level apps that run way out of control or have memory leaks that cause battery to run dry in an hour. The only thing I have done is gone to the background apps in settings and stopped what I didn't want running in there.
Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express
LudoGris said:
I can understand the want for an app like this (I had it on android myself), but since switching over to WP8 I don't see the need.
All the apps on here run very well and nothing is going crazy like it does with android. Locking down the OS is a good thing sometimes, devs have a much harder tune creating system level apps that run way out of control or have memory leaks that cause battery to run dry in an hour. The only thing I have done is gone to the background apps in settings and stopped what I didn't want running in there.
Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Board Express
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I initially thought this when I had WP7 and a Trophy. Now that I have the 920, I would love to have this. Partially just to prove out that using my phone (screen on) and games and other things just eats up the battery like crazy. Others over at WPCentral have also posted issues with the battery. Many people have in fact. It would be very useful to some of us who are experiencing issues.
I know some claim to get over a day or more use out of their 920. I, among many others, could only dream of such a thing, or perhaps achieve it if we just didnt do much with our phones.
I disagree on the lock down. While I get your point, having used Android also, I enjoyed many great apps that just wont ever be possible on WP's. No other email clients, no true 3rd party browser not built on IE, no new keyboards to name a few. Some of these apps I had used on Android really were superior to what Ive seen MS do with WP. Which is why I think sometimes 3rd party Devs or home Devs sometimes can just do things better as well as think outside the box and give us real options. You dont get real options for many thing on WP. Everyone is stuck with the same keyboard, browser, mail, messaging client, etc.
True...but remember, there was a time when nothing like that was available for Android either.
Devs have made things more than possible - granted an open system helps - but don't discount what may become available in the future.
Yes there are battery monitor apps for Windows Phone 8. Battery Level for Windows Phone 8 seems to be the most popular. The nice part is that it will autoupdate the live tile with the battery level and you can add it to the lockscreen to show it there as well. It's not quite as in depth as Android with regards to telling you what is pulling the most power but as others have mentioned on WP8 it's a slightly different mechanic than Android as the background processes are a lot more regulated with regards to how they can do that (as are the developers when making their apps). It would be kind of interesting to see something like Android's built-in battery stats but I honestly haven't really haven't had any problems (not that I was really having problems on Android either).
Battery Measure is similar, and has a free version with ads - live tile, graph over time. etc.
and can you tell us where we can get the battery monitor for th WP 8? I want one...
Battery App
inconceivable said:
Yes there are battery monitor apps for Windows Phone 8. Battery Level for Windows Phone 8 seems to be the most popular. The nice part is that it will autoupdate the live tile with the battery level and you can add it to the lockscreen to show it there as well. It's not quite as in depth as Android with regards to telling you what is pulling the most power but as others have mentioned on WP8 it's a slightly different mechanic than Android as the background processes are a lot more regulated with regards to how they can do that (as are the developers when making their apps). It would be kind of interesting to see something like Android's built-in battery stats but I honestly haven't really haven't had any problems (not that I was really having problems on Android either).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sound very good but where can I get the apps Battery Level?
Hello there. I just wanted to get some advice from windows phone veterans.
I currently own an android device and I want to purchase a secondary phone. My choices are either blackberry or a windows phone 8. Or another android device.
I really want to try windows phone 8 but I'm still hesitant since I've never used any Windows mobile device before.
I also like to install apps and games, that's why blackberry is currently under wp8 on my list right now.
Can someone tell me the advantages and disadvantages of wp8. And, also, will getting a mid tier device like the lumia 620 affect my possible wp8 experience? Aside from being a budget phone, it is the only wp8 phone that I know of that has memory card support. And I need external memory.
Sent from my MK16i using Tapatalk 2
I've been into android for long and currently own s3, I bought the 620 few weeks back from Singapore! It's a pleasant experience & different from android.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 2
Samsung Ativ S, Nokia Lumia 820 would be the more high end devices that feature SD card expansion support. The Lumia 620 is 512 MB RAM device which some Apps (especially games) do not support (you will not be able to install them). Aside from that a Lumia 620 should be similarily fluid in usage as faster phones.
As for the memory card support: you can only move Music, Pictures and Videos to the SD card. You can not install Apps there or have Apps store their data on the SD card.
StevieBallz said:
The Lumia 620 is 512 MB RAM device which some Apps (especially games) do not support (you will not be able to install them).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is bull I think. Everything I've fed to my "beastly" 620 has worked. So what apps or games in your experience do not work and you've verified not to work?
I use a Lumia 810, having moved from a galaxy s2. Apps seem to the biggest thing to get used to
YouTube - I use Supertube
Tumble - I use blueprints
For an android looking contact manager grab contacts off the store.
UC Browser is a good companion to internet explorer and I've found it quiet useful.
For a live battery meter I use battery meter pro and amazing weather hd for live tile weather.
Snex8x for snes and vga8 for gba roms. I have alot of games and more or less there the same as android offerings.
Hope this helps. No file manager app at all though ?
Sent from Lumia 810 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
I recently bought the 620 after some years of Android budget devices.
All I can say is: it may not be the most dev/ROM friendly operating operating system, but after sorting out the multiple-google-calendar problem (caused by Google!) I must say I'm really happy with it.
Currently sorely lacking:
- dropbox support
- no app for my bank (ING) where there was one for Android and iOS
I really like the way social networking is integrated in this OS.
Some small issues I see:
- idiotic implementation of sms delivery confirmation (you get an sms back instead of a checkbox in the sent sms)
- only one volume setting
My previous smartphones were:
- original Samsung Galaxy (piece of crap)
- LG P500 (loved it and still like it a lot. Girlfriend's phone at the moment.)
- Sony Xperia Mini Pro (loved it, dropped it, screen broke. Will keep it for modding.)
I hope this helps...
hardy81 said:
This is bull I think. Everything I've fed to my "beastly" 620 has worked. So what apps or games in your experience do not work and you've verified not to work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/real-soccer-2013/9b794ec2-7d92-43ed-b085-b2dc54d739e1
Currently have a Windows Phone 7.5 device (Focus 2); now have a 620 on the way. For me, the main difference is that iOS and Android are all about the apps. You go to an app for Facebook, an app for twitter, an app for contacts, an app for e-mail, etc.
Windows Phone bakes all this in. It's People Hub, for example, is a contacts list, but it's more a communications center where you can see your friends messages, Tweets, and Facebook posts without having to jump around to a lot of different apps. It's smarter and you get more out-of-the-box, before you even install your first app. (It used to take me two days to get a new Android phone set up with the right apps and widgets to make it usable - a new Windows Phone is ready to go as soon as I've added my Google, Hotmail, Facebook and Exchange accounts.)
The DISADVANTAGE is that your favorite apps may not be available on WP. There will likely be lots of apps that do what your old app did, but if you want that old familiar Instagram (for example), it's not there... yet. Also if customization is your thing, look elsewhere. WP is focused on making your phone as functional as possible rather than as unique as possible. (Not that there's anything wrong with that; it's just a different approach.)
I encourage you to give it a try. As with any new OS, it helps if you have a friend around that already has WP and can show you the ropes. The Microsoft visual interface is very clean, modern, and spare. Which is another way of saying that there aren't a lot of visual clues that will guide your through finding your way around. Fifteen minutes with a buddy is invaluable.
StevieBallz said:
Samsung Ativ S, Nokia Lumia 820 would be the more high end devices that feature SD card expansion support. The Lumia 620 is 512 MB RAM device which some Apps (especially games) do not support (you will not be able to install them). Aside from that a Lumia 620 should be similarily fluid in usage as faster phones.
As for the memory card support: you can only move Music, Pictures and Videos to the SD card. You can not install Apps there or have Apps store their data on the SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems 512 MB ram is enough for %95 of applications and %75 of games now.
But big problem is on disk storage. My Lumia 620 has 8 GB (7.28 GB usuable) disk storage You cannt install applications to the SD card.
Temple Run won't run on 512 MB devices, Asphalt 7 Heat did not work until a recent Update. The newest version of Tune In Radio does not work (only the older Nokia specific version). The list goes on with the recent releases of Batman and Spiderman.
Sometimes there are updates that make it work on lower memory devices. This is blocked through the Store so you won't be able to install them if the developer opted out of it.
It simply is something to keep in mind when opting for a low - midrang WP8 device. It's not that different on Android though (some Apps don't support all resolutions, etc.).
hleotangco said:
Hello there. I just wanted to get some advice from windows phone veterans.
I currently own an android device and I want to purchase a secondary phone. My choices are either blackberry or a windows phone 8. Or another android device.
I really want to try windows phone 8 but I'm still hesitant since I've never used any Windows mobile device before.
I also like to install apps and games, that's why blackberry is currently under wp8 on my list right now.
Can someone tell me the advantages and disadvantages of wp8. And, also, will getting a mid tier device like the lumia 620 affect my possible wp8 experience? Aside from being a budget phone, it is the only wp8 phone that I know of that has memory card support. And I need external memory.
Sent from my MK16i using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been using Lumia 620 for a few days now. I am extremely happy with it, Alhamdulillah. I have used two budget androids before (SE Xperia mini pro and Micromax A25). I liked the customization of android, but you have admit it, you don't really need to customize your phone every day. The brilliantly simple UI of WP8, the coherent look on all apps and the buttery-smooth performance - I am enjoying a new level of smartphone experience. I know there are androids that will give me similar smoothness, but they are pricey. I didn't find any android (or apple for that matter!!) that could match the performance at this price point as Lumia 620 does.