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.
This is now android works. The way I see this, this is very much similar to "pre-fetch" concept in windows 7.
I have a 6 GB RAM laptop. Base OS uses less than 1.5 GB of RAM. But like an hour or so when I see my RAM usage, its to the tune of 3-4 GB. What I have noticed is that my most frequently/recently used apps are loaded to RAM and kept there idle. Some amount of RAM is always kept free instead of using up all RAM. This way apps start faster. When I load a different memory heavy program, it pushes the existing one out and loads this.
More or less the same in android too. When u go to any task manager app n see the running apps, u'll notice that many of the apps loaded are the ones u use frequently.
These apps do NOT use any CPU. They are just loaded to memory and kept there for quick access.
When I boot up my phone I have like 190+ MB free RAM. Though left in standy mode, within an hour, I see my free RAM fall to 80-120 MB range. I never saw it go less than 80 MB. And the apps in memory are the ones I used the last time, and the ones I use all the time.
Even if u use a task killer to kill these "inactive" apps at intervals, they would be loaded again sooner or later. That's the principle of android. So by using task killers, though u feel u r freeing up memory, in fact, u r only draining ur battery. What's the use of memory if u r not using it effectively.
Don't worry abt free RAM amount. Let android manage it. Systems are intelligent enough these days.
Hope this helps. Below is more about the same in detail.
Android Memory Management
Android is a Linux based OS with 2.6.x kernel, stripped down to handle most tasks pretty well. It uses native open source C libraries that have powered Linux machines for years. All the basic OS operations like I/O, memory management, and so on, are handled by the native stripped-down Linux kernel.
How to use memory for each application
Android’s process and memory management is a little unusual. Like Java and .NET, Android uses its own run time and virtual machine to manage application memory. Unlike either of these frameworks, the Android run time also manages the process lifetimes. Android ensures application responsiveness by stopping and killing processes as necessary to free resources for higher-priority applications.
Each Android application runs in a separate process within its own Dalvik instance, relinquishing all responsibility for memory and process management to the Android run time, which stops and kills processes as necessary to manage resources.
Dalvik and the Android run time sit on top of a Linux kernel that handles low-level hardware interaction including drivers and memory management, while a set of APIs provides access to all of the under- lying services, features, and hardware.
Dalvik Virtual Machine Dalvik is a register-based virtual machine that’s been optimized to ensure that a device can run multiple instances efficiently. It relies on the Linux kernel for threading and low-level memory management.
The Dalvik Virtual Machine
One of the key elements of Android is the Dalvik virtual machine. Rather than use a traditional Java virtual machine (VM) such as Java ME (Java Mobile Edition), Android uses its own custom VM designed to ensure that multiple instances run efficiently on a single device.
The Dalvik VM uses the device’s underlying Linux kernel to handle low-level functionality including security, threading, and process and memory management.
All Android hardware and system service access is managed using Dalvik as a middle tier. By using a VM to host application execution, developers have an abstraction layer that ensures they never have to worry about a particular hardware implementation.
The Dalvik VM executes Dalvik executable files, a format optimized to ensure minimal memory foot- print. The .dex executables are created by transforming Java language compiled classes using the tools supplied within the SDK.
Understanding Application Priority and Process States
The order in which processes are killed to reclaim resources is determined by the priority of the hosted applications. An application’s priority is equal to its highest-priority component.
Where two applications have the same priority, the process that has been at a lower priority longest will be killed first. Process priority is also affected by interprocess dependencies; if an application has a dependency on a Service or Content Provider supplied by a second application, the secondary application will have at least as high a priority as the application it supports.
All Android applications will remain running and in memory until the system needs its resources for other applications.
It’s important to structure your application correctly to ensure that its priority is appropriate for the work it’s doing. If you don’t, your application could be killed while it’s in the middle of something important.
The following list details each of the application states shown in Figure (see the attached image) explaining how the state is determined by the application components comprising it:
Active Processes Active (foreground) processes are those hosting applications with components currently interacting with the user. These are the processes Android is trying to keep responsive by reclaiming resources. There are generally very few of these processes, and they will be killed only as a last resort.
Active processes include:
* Activities in an “active” state; that is, they are in the foreground and responding to user events. You will explore Activity states in greater detail later in this chapter.
* Activities, Services, or Broadcast Receivers that are currently executing an onReceive event handler.
* Services that are executing an onStart, onCreate, or onDestroy event handler.
Visible Processes Visible, but inactive processes are those hosting “visible” Activities. As the name suggests, visible Activities are visible, but they aren’t in the foreground or responding to user events. This happens when an Activity is only partially obscured (by a non-full-screen or transparent Activity). There are generally very few visible processes, and they’ll only be killed in extreme circumstances to allow active processes to continue.
Started Service Processes Processes hosting Services that have been started. Services support ongoing processing that should continue without a visible interface. Because Services don’t interact directly with the user, they receive a slightly lower priority than visible Activities. They are still considered to be foreground processes and won’t be killed unless resources are needed for active or visible processes.
Background Processes Processes hosting Activities that aren’t visible and that don’t have any Services that have been started are considered background processes. There will generally be a large number of background processes that Android will kill using a last-seen-first-killed pat- tern to obtain resources for foreground processes.
Empty Processes To improve overall system performance, Android often retains applications in memory after they have reached the end of their lifetimes. Android maintains this cache to improve the start-up time of applications when they’re re-launched. These processes are rou- tinely killed as required.
How to use memory efficiently
Android manages opened applications which are running in the background, so officially you shouldn’t care about that. This means that it closes the applications when the system needs more memory. However, most android users are not very satisfied with how it does its things because sometimes it leaves too many processes running which causes sluggishness’ in everyday performance. We can use advanced task killer/task manager and it does its job very well.
Source:
Code:
http://mobworld.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/memory-management-in-android/
NICE!!
diablo009 said:
This is now android works. The way I see this, this is very much similar to "pre-fetch" concept in windows 7.
I have a 6 GB RAM laptop. Base OS uses less than 1.5 GB of RAM. But like an hour or so when I see my RAM usage, its to the tune of 3-4 GB. What I have noticed is that my most frequently/recently used apps are loaded to RAM and kept there idle. Some amount of RAM is always kept free instead of using up all RAM. This way apps start faster. When I load a different memory heavy program, it pushes the existing one out and loads this.
More or less the same in android too. When u go to any task manager app n see the running apps, u'll notice that many of the apps loaded are the ones u use frequently.
These apps do NOT use any CPU. They are just loaded to memory and kept there for quick access.
When I boot up my phone I have like 190+ MB free RAM. Though left in standy mode, within an hour, I see my free RAM fall to 80-120 MB range. I never saw it go less than 80 MB. And the apps in memory are the ones I used the last time, and the ones I use all the time.
Even if u use a task killer to kill these "inactive" apps at intervals, they would be loaded again sooner or later. That's the principle of android. So by using task killers, though u feel u r freeing up memory, in fact, u r only draining ur battery. What's the use of memory if u r not using it effectively.
Don't worry abt free RAM amount. Let android manage it. Systems are intelligent enough these days.
Hope this helps. Below is more about the same in detail.
Android Memory Management
Android is a Linux based OS with 2.6.x kernel, stripped down to handle most tasks pretty well. It uses native open source C libraries that have powered Linux machines for years. All the basic OS operations like I/O, memory management, and so on, are handled by the native stripped-down Linux kernel.
How to use memory for each application
Android’s process and memory management is a little unusual. Like Java and .NET, Android uses its own run time and virtual machine to manage application memory. Unlike either of these frameworks, the Android run time also manages the process lifetimes. Android ensures application responsiveness by stopping and killing processes as necessary to free resources for higher-priority applications.
Each Android application runs in a separate process within its own Dalvik instance, relinquishing all responsibility for memory and process management to the Android run time, which stops and kills processes as necessary to manage resources.
Dalvik and the Android run time sit on top of a Linux kernel that handles low-level hardware interaction including drivers and memory management, while a set of APIs provides access to all of the under- lying services, features, and hardware.
Dalvik Virtual Machine Dalvik is a register-based virtual machine that’s been optimized to ensure that a device can run multiple instances efficiently. It relies on the Linux kernel for threading and low-level memory management.
The Dalvik Virtual Machine
One of the key elements of Android is the Dalvik virtual machine. Rather than use a traditional Java virtual machine (VM) such as Java ME (Java Mobile Edition), Android uses its own custom VM designed to ensure that multiple instances run efficiently on a single device.
The Dalvik VM uses the device’s underlying Linux kernel to handle low-level functionality including security, threading, and process and memory management.
All Android hardware and system service access is managed using Dalvik as a middle tier. By using a VM to host application execution, developers have an abstraction layer that ensures they never have to worry about a particular hardware implementation.
The Dalvik VM executes Dalvik executable files, a format optimized to ensure minimal memory foot- print. The .dex executables are created by transforming Java language compiled classes using the tools supplied within the SDK.
Understanding Application Priority and Process States
The order in which processes are killed to reclaim resources is determined by the priority of the hosted applications. An application’s priority is equal to its highest-priority component.
Where two applications have the same priority, the process that has been at a lower priority longest will be killed first. Process priority is also affected by interprocess dependencies; if an application has a dependency on a Service or Content Provider supplied by a second application, the secondary application will have at least as high a priority as the application it supports.
All Android applications will remain running and in memory until the system needs its resources for other applications.
It’s important to structure your application correctly to ensure that its priority is appropriate for the work it’s doing. If you don’t, your application could be killed while it’s in the middle of something important.
The following list details each of the application states shown in Figure (see the attached image) explaining how the state is determined by the application components comprising it:
Active Processes Active (foreground) processes are those hosting applications with components currently interacting with the user. These are the processes Android is trying to keep responsive by reclaiming resources. There are generally very few of these processes, and they will be killed only as a last resort.
Active processes include:
* Activities in an “active” state; that is, they are in the foreground and responding to user events. You will explore Activity states in greater detail later in this chapter.
* Activities, Services, or Broadcast Receivers that are currently executing an onReceive event handler.
* Services that are executing an onStart, onCreate, or onDestroy event handler.
Visible Processes Visible, but inactive processes are those hosting “visible” Activities. As the name suggests, visible Activities are visible, but they aren’t in the foreground or responding to user events. This happens when an Activity is only partially obscured (by a non-full-screen or transparent Activity). There are generally very few visible processes, and they’ll only be killed in extreme circumstances to allow active processes to continue.
Started Service Processes Processes hosting Services that have been started. Services support ongoing processing that should continue without a visible interface. Because Services don’t interact directly with the user, they receive a slightly lower priority than visible Activities. They are still considered to be foreground processes and won’t be killed unless resources are needed for active or visible processes.
Background Processes Processes hosting Activities that aren’t visible and that don’t have any Services that have been started are considered background processes. There will generally be a large number of background processes that Android will kill using a last-seen-first-killed pat- tern to obtain resources for foreground processes.
Empty Processes To improve overall system performance, Android often retains applications in memory after they have reached the end of their lifetimes. Android maintains this cache to improve the start-up time of applications when they’re re-launched. These processes are rou- tinely killed as required.
How to use memory efficiently
Android manages opened applications which are running in the background, so officially you shouldn’t care about that. This means that it closes the applications when the system needs more memory. However, most android users are not very satisfied with how it does its things because sometimes it leaves too many processes running which causes sluggishness’ in everyday performance. We can use advanced task killer/task manager and it does its job very well.
Source:
Code:
http://mobworld.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/memory-management-in-android/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sweet!! Good Info.. But wrong Section. You should port this in the General Section to help all!
rickysa2000 said:
Sweet!! Good Info.. But wrong Section. You should port this in the General Section to help all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh. I thought this belongs to Q&A.
Any mods here who can move this to "General" please.
This would be why when you open the built in task manager nothing or only your launcher shows up but when you open ATK multiple other programs are shown open, correct?
I found similar information while researching battery saver programs. I keep ATK when I have stubborn apps that are stuck because it is easier to get through than Android Task Manager but the auto-kill feature is always disabled. Good coverage of this info.
bclark said:
This would be why when you open the built in task manager nothing or only your launcher shows up but when you open ATK multiple other programs are shown open, correct?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly! If all programs/processes show up, like they do in ATK, it could cause instabilities in the system when the user kills any important process knowingly/unknowingly.
trekie86 said:
I found similar information while researching battery saver programs. I keep ATK when I have stubborn apps that are stuck because it is easier to get through than Android Task Manager but the auto-kill feature is always disabled. Good coverage of this info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks you. Saw too many threads/posts with questions about ATK and killing tasks. So compiled this so they could all be directed to this thread.
I don't mean to go digging up old threads, but I just wanted to post my opinion here on this memory clearing ordeal.
After reading the entire thread, I am even MORE inclined to want to use ATK or something similar...
At the very bottom of the post, last paragraph, it reads -
How to use memory efficiently
Android manages opened applications which are running in the background, so officially you shouldn’t care about that. This means that it closes the applications when the system needs more memory. However, most android users are not very satisfied with how it does its things because sometimes it leaves too many processes running which causes sluggishness’ in everyday performance. We can use advanced task killer/task manager and it does its job very well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's my take -
While there is no way to override Dalviks operations for application retention, at least while you're operating the device you can keep the memory clear by monitoring and assisting in clearing it out, manually; Which will in fact yield a performance boost for a duration of time. Based on the description of how Dalvik operates, this is true.
Exactly how long of a duration I don't know. But it is as obvious as it gets that while Dalvik memory management is indeed cool, it is far from perfect and definitely induces low memory situations that CAN in fact cause sluggish performance. That much is already known.
So, in my opinion, if you enjoy the absolute maximum performance out of your device, ATK or something similar is definitely NOT a bad idea. Though it has to be done manually and after a period of time applications are brought back into memory, clearing the memory before opening an application allows full memory access to that application and also inevitably reduces CPU load as it removes the requirement for Dalvik to "shove" other applications on idle off the memory to make room for the active applications.
Personally, I just use Task Manager. It seems much more effective at clearing the memory.
Well, there are times when my phone is on for abt a week or so without turning off or rebooting (the times when I resist flashing roms or kernels or modems) and still I hardly feel any sluggishness. And I do NOT use any task killers. I let android handle everything its way.
And there is a difference between cleaning up memory say once every couple days, and having ATK set up to free up memory every hour or two. The first one could be helpful while the second is a battery killer.
rickysa2000 said:
Sweet!! Good Info.. But wrong Section. You should port this in the General Section to help all!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why quote such a big post to tell this
come on
regards
strategist99 said:
why quote such a big post to tell this
come on
regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^
Why necropost ?!? Come on !
(just messin with ya)
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda premium
how about file expert's memory management options?
ok - i get what's being written at the top of this. however, i do wonder about being able to tweak things some, mainly because on file expert's memory manager there's several memory config options: gamer, multi-tasker, light user, whatnot.
i got a phone to fit in my pants pocket, so it doesn't come with tons of RAM. and it freezes quite a bit when swapping between apps. of course there could be many other reasons, but still...
file expert's options don't seem to be persistent, so it's hard to get a handle on which setting would work best. now - would there be a way of making persistent memory optimization changes? if, how?
what is an amount of free memory that would need to be there for things to be smooth? by ATK, i get south of 50Mb quite often, which seems low.
i don't really like ATK's auto-kill - don't know what it will kill, and it seems that a free memory kill-threshold would be better than one based on time.
zdoe said:
ok - i get what's being written at the top of this. however, i do wonder about being able to tweak things some, mainly because on file expert's memory manager there's several memory config options: gamer, multi-tasker, light user, whatnot.
i got a phone to fit in my pants pocket, so it doesn't come with tons of RAM. and it freezes quite a bit when swapping between apps. of course there could be many other reasons, but still...
file expert's options don't seem to be persistent, so it's hard to get a handle on which setting would work best. now - would there be a way of making persistent memory optimization changes? if, how?
what is an amount of free memory that would need to be there for things to be smooth? by ATK, i get south of 50Mb quite often, which seems low.
i don't really like ATK's auto-kill - don't know what it will kill, and it seems that a free memory kill-threshold would be better than one based on time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Auto-kill is quite bad as the it kills processes that always reset.
As for your ram, you could run a Bigmem kernel. 50ram is fairly normal with regular processes and a couple extras. It all depends on what you use/run.
I would need your phone's setup to help you more towards it though.
xperia ray, snapdragon, 512Mb of RAM
don't know what bigmem kernel is or would do. i'm a noob.
the phone as above. list of installed apps courtesy titanium attached - except i've since killed ATK and now trying autokiller, which is good at least for the SD-card parameter tweaks it gives. not sure about its memory management aspects, but at least they're persistent.
list of apps
here's the list - the forum didn't take .htm
and i'm on CM7.2.
EDIT/UPDATE: unrelated to killer apps, but for those of you who came to this thread to find remedies for RAM shortage - my observation currently is that the best thing you can do to yourself is to enable swap. that, and taking out the "play store" took me from 5 crashes a day to 1 - and after half a day of multi-tasking apps i can see up to 80Mb of swap in use, with 60Mb of RAM free, and the phone still running smoothly.
How to detect if an app is in background
In the above article it is said that the memory management is completely under control of Dalvik VM and Android runtime.
Is it not possible for a device driver to intelligently check if any app in background and release memory (allocated inside driver).
onStop(): All the rendering is stopped.
Is it possible to check some app state value to see if app in background or minimized?
This is not the explanation of memory management but process management
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....
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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...
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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