I'm Finally Ditching Windows Phone for Android

By gohpep
in Android Support

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gohpep

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Hello guys. I used to be a huge Microsoft fanboy, but as I have gotten more and more into open source, the Microsoft hate kind of grew on me, although I try to stay rational and don't absolutely hate Microsoft for no reason whatsoever.

 

Anyway, I am deciding to leave my Lumia 928 behind and get an Android phone. This is not going to be a 'bash Windows Phone post', so to speak, but just a reasonable explanation of my frustrations with the platform, but before I detail my concerns, let me start with what I love about Windows Phone:

 

  • Windows Phone is fast and it feels very smooth and fluid
  • Windows Phone has better battery life than most other phones
  • The notification center is perfect
  • The camera quality is great
  • Live tiles

 

But, although there's a lot to love about Windows Phone, as a power user, I can't use it. Windows Phone seems to be the most locked down system out there, with Android and iOS being able to be hacked and then customized while with Windows Phone, the only thing you can change is the lock screen, which is a horrible hack on Microsoft's part, as well. Also, apps. Sure, main apps have been ported, but some of the apps I truly need are not there, like a good Grooveshark app, or many of the cool new apps that appear on launch date on Android and iOS. Now, I realize this is not Microsoft's fault necessarily, they have very good dev tools and such, but as a consumer, it is inconvenient for me.

 

Now, the reason I am choosing Android over iOS is because I'll be able to install CyanogenMod, which is open source so I will be able to trust it over Android or iOS, and Windows Phone.

 

But I'm not sure about what Android phone to get. I want a good replacement for my Lumia 928, and I want CyanogenMod to be installable on it.

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tompkin

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@mastercoms: I am an Android user and have always wondered how Live Tiles affect battery life. Can you adjust the notification settings? I have been happy with Android. If you use Google Chrome on both phone and laptop, the browser bookmarks sync well and Microsoft's OneNote syncs well across devices. OneDrive syncs well across devices. 

 

As far as trusting these companies, I really feel that's it's fighting a losing battle in the age of Big Data. I personally dislike Facebook the most. I'm not on it anymore but when they kept changing privacy options purposefully to confuse users, and such, turned me off. I'm under no allusions though that anyone can avoid Big Data completely.. It will be just too widespread.  

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RandPC

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I don't care to delve too deeply into debating what's the best OS, but I will say it's sort of ironic that I use Windows on the desktop specifically because of how open and customizable it is, less so perhaps with Windows 8/10 then previously but it's still largely an open field and if one disables SecureBoot then can pretty dramatically alter the OS to make it do whatever they wish.

The sheer degree of flexibility and customization that ensures I love Windows on the desktop is exactly why I have zero interest in Windows Phone. It's tightly locked down and closed up. Very few options, all apps are available only with Microsoft's approval and the concept of substantial changes to the experience is out of the question.
You use it how Microsoft wishes, and you use the apps they wish how they wish them to be used. Or you don't it at all.

 

Desktop Windows is pretty much the polar opposite, or can be if one chooses anyway. Obviously you can lock yourself down by sticking to WinRT if you desire. The choice is there.

Android, I can root, use the xposed framework and then it's pretty much up to me to make whatever dramatic overhauls I deem fit to best suit my needs regardless of whether that matches up with what Google would desire. Or unlock the bootloader and grab CyanogenMod and do what I wish with it.
Apps are the same story, I can grab my apps from anyone and anyone can make apps to do whatever they so desire with no interference from Google if the play store doesn't suit them, as it's entirely optional.

I'm avoiding Microsoft on mobile for the same reason I use them on desktop. And I avoid Google on desktop (ie. Chromebooks) for the same reason I love Android on mobile.

 

Trusting either is absurd in my opinion, their only goal is to take as much money from me as possible and neither has the slightest concern for what I like. Merely how best to exploit me. That's not really something to get fangirlish/fanboyish over.

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gohpep

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@mastercoms: I am an Android user and have always wondered how Live Tiles affect battery life. Can you adjust the notification settings? I have been happy with Android. If you use Google Chrome on both phone and laptop, the browser bookmarks sync well and Microsoft's OneNote syncs well across devices. OneDrive syncs well across devices. 

 

As far as trusting these companies, I really feel that's it's fighting a losing battle in the age of Big Data. I personally dislike Facebook the most. I'm not on it anymore but when they kept changing privacy options purposefully to confuse users, and such, turned me off. I'm under no allusions though that anyone can avoid Big Data completely.. It will be just too widespread.  

 I don't think they affect battery life more than push notifications. I am not sure if live tiles can be disabled but notifications in the notification center can be adjusted.

 

I am not going to be trusting Google, since I will be using CyanogenMod and FDroid.

 

Trusting either is absurd in my opinion, their only goal is to take as much money from me as possible and neither has the slightest concern for what I like. Merely how best to exploit me. That's not really something to get fangirlish/fanboyish over.

Small correction: I am not going to use Android, because I don't trust it. I will use CyanogenMod, which I do trust.

I meant Android as in an Android phone, just like I would say PC, and although that would probably mean I am talking about Windows, the most popular operating system of the open computer platform, I could be talking about Linux, just as in this case, I am talking about CyanogenMod.

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tompkin

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@RandPC: You know what got me confused...Right when the original Windows 8 came out, I rushed out and bought a Windows 7 laptop because I was afraid the Windows 8 laptops would be flooding the stores. i got burned a bit because it wasn't before I got it home that I discovered that it doesn't have a DVD drive in it! I have gotten around that inconvenience ok. But the problem is that it came with the regular standard BIOS and now if I decide I want to upgrade to Windows 10 I don't know if I can do that. "Supposedly" there is a way around this but I haven't discovered that yet. Meanwhile I was reading that if you buy a computer with Windows 10 preloaded that it is up to the manufacturer to decide whether or not Secure Boot can be disabled.

 

Secure Boot--Another Microsoft boondoggle. 

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RandPC

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@RandPC: You know what got me confused...Right when the original Windows 8 came out, I rushed out and bought a Windows 7 laptop because I was afraid the Windows 8 laptops would be flooding the stores. i got burned a bit because it wasn't before I got it home that I discovered that it doesn't have a DVD drive in it! I have gotten around that inconvenience ok. But the problem is that it came with the regular standard BIOS and now if I decide I want to upgrade to Windows 10 I don't know if I can do that. "Supposedly" there is a way around this but I haven't discovered that yet. Meanwhile I was reading that if you buy a computer with Windows 10 preloaded that it is up to the manufacturer to decide whether or not Secure Boot can be disabled.

 

Secure Boot--Another Microsoft boondoggle. 

 

You're fine as far as Win 10 on your current laptop is concerned. Win10 will run fine on older systems without UEFI, it's only newly sold computers that require it.

Any new laptops could be an issue though, OEM's are probably going to be reluctant to allow end users to disable it. Laptop BIOS's already tend to have as few options as possible, and it's just easier to support if the user has less they can alter. Plus the side benefit that an OEM can use SecureBoot to lock down the supported hardware to prohibit users from upgrading.

Still, some should still be available. You'll just have to be cautious about what you buy and do a lot of research to ensure it's suitable if you want to disable SecureBoot. You'll have choices, just perhaps not many and need to do a lot more research to find out which those are.

 

I luckily don't expect to have any issues with this, tablets have essentially made laptops irrelevant to me for mobile computing and simultaneously made desktop computers more important then ever, and I built my own systems there. The desktop DIY market is essentially dead outside of enthusiasts. So motherboard manufacturers will pretty much be forced to continue the status quo of targeting power users which means allowing pretty much anything imaginable to be adjusted in the BIOS.

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tompkin

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You're fine as far as Win 10 on your current laptop is concerned. Win10 will run fine on older systems without UEFI, it's only newly sold computers that require it.

Any new laptops could be an issue though, OEM's are probably going to be reluctant to allow end users to disable it. Laptop BIOS's already tend to have as few options as possible, and it's just easier to support if the user has less they can alter. Plus the side benefit that an OEM can use SecureBoot to lock down the supported hardware to prohibit users from upgrading.

Still, some should still be available. You'll just have to be cautious about what you buy and do a lot of research to ensure it's suitable if you want to disable SecureBoot. You'll have choices, just perhaps not many and need to do a lot more research to find out which those are.

 

I luckily don't expect to have any issues with this, tablets have essentially made laptops irrelevant to me for mobile computing and simultaneously made desktop computers more important then ever, and I built my own systems there. The desktop DIY market is essentially dead outside of enthusiasts. So motherboard manufacturers will pretty much be forced to continue the status quo of targeting power users which means allowing pretty much anything imaginable to be adjusted in the BIOS.

What confused me though was that when I run the Windows 10 Upgrade Adviser (or the Windows 8.1 update adviser) it tells me that my machine isn't compatible because of no Secure Boot. I'll probably take a "wait and see" attitude toward Windows 10 in the first 2 or 3 months just to see how things go but I might upgrade after that. 

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simplezz

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I don't care to delve too deeply into debating what's the best OS, but I will say it's sort of ironic that I use Windows on the desktop specifically because of how open and customizable it is, less so perhaps with Windows 8/10 then previously but it's still largely an open field and if one disables SecureBoot then can pretty dramatically alter the OS to make it do whatever they wish.

The sheer degree of flexibility and customization that ensures I love Windows on the desktop is exactly why I have zero interest in Windows Phone.

I used to think the same thing until I tried Linux. You don't realise how limiting, simplistic, and non-customisable Windows is until you've tried out a few distros and desktop environments on Linux. Once you've felt that kind of empowerment, it's very hard to go back.
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tompkin

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Sorry, but could we stay on topic? I am wondering what a good Android phone would be for me.

I'm not a phone geek and keep phones for a couple of years but my wife and I were both due for new phones this past Christmas so I was looking. At that time I personally wanted a Nexus 6. Unfortunately, I had to settle for an LG G3 because of price but we also got tablets with each phone which kind of made up for it. I'll just give you the link to someone I read. I'm sure there is a lot more out there but he's worth reading. 

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2901269/galaxy-s6-galaxy-s6-edge-hands-on.html

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simplezz

Posted
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Sorry, but could we stay on topic? I am wondering what a good Android phone would be for me.

Considering you're going to be putting Cyanogen on anyway, how about One Plus One? It seems to have great hardware at rock bottom prices. Grab one on open tuesday if you can't get an invite.

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HawkMan

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Considering you're going to be putting Cyanogen on anyway, how about One Plus One? It seems to have great hardware at rock bottom prices. Grab one on open tuesday if you can't get an invite.

 

would be a horrible choice for someone used to a good WP camera. probably go for one of the higher end Sony Z's. since you has a 928 you might even get a better or at least equal camera. Sony also does a very good job optimizing the firmware and drivers for their hardware so they operate a lot more smoothly and faster than other androids. I wouldn't go cyanogen though. then you'll only get generic drivers for any phone, not optimized at all so not only are they slower they're also less efficient on battery use.

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simplezz

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would be a horrible choice for someone used to a good WP camera. probably go for one of the higher end Sony Z's. since you has a 928 you might even get a better or at least equal camera. Sony also does a very good job optimizing the firmware and drivers for their hardware so they operate a lot more smoothly and faster than other androids. I wouldn't go cyanogen though. then you'll only get generic drivers for any phone, not optimized at all so not only are they slower they're also less efficient on battery use.

It does use a Sony Camera. I don't know how good it is though. I can't imagine it's much different to the Lumia 928, which is the Phone the OP currently has.

 

Here's the engadget review. I don't know how up to date it is though.

Grand Master

HawkMan

Posted
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I can't imagine it's much different to the Lumia 928, which is the Phone the OP currently has.

 

 

all reviews from reputable sites mention how bad it is, it's not just the hardware either. their fw and driver for it is slow has terrible iso and whitebalance and results in grainy miscolored pictures.

Grand Master

Mando

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my good lady also did the same this year move from a Lumia 800 (I know!) to a Galaxy SIII mini and she cant believe the difference in speed to a low end device like that, so any handset you fancy the specs of and screensize is the answer you seek?

 

 I went to a LG G3 32Gb model/3gb sys ram (previous was a galaxy note1) and havnt regretted it a bit, the camera is pretty fantastic (laser focus) and overall performance is rapid. Few benchmarks puts the cpu processing power at equivalent of some of the core i3 ulvs doing the rounds but in a phone/phablet. To buy the equivalent note 4 would have been 2x the cost for the same spec.

 

I don't understand why they went QHD screen (2560x1440) when 1080p would have worked and added time to the beefy 3000Mh battery, its pointless, although I get 2 days out of it easy with normal use, and games etc do look lovely at that resolution, after a few days you don't notice the difference.

 

Rooting and custom roms are all good and well, but there are a few things that wont work, a lot of banking apps and SKY Go tv wont work on a rooted device for example, they are deal breakers for me (Sky Go)

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PaulATMOS

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my good lady also did the same this year move from a Lumia 800 (I know!) to a Galaxy SIII mini and she cant believe the difference in speed to a low end device like that, so any handset you fancy the specs of and screensize is the answer you seek?

I went to a LG G3 32Gb model/3gb sys ram (previous was a galaxy note1) and havnt regretted it a bit, the camera is pretty fantastic (laser focus) and overall performance is rapid. Few benchmarks puts the cpu processing power at equivalent of some of the core i3 ulvs doing the rounds but in a phone/phablet. To buy the equivalent note 4 would have been 2x the cost for the same spec.

I don't understand why they went QHD screen (2560x1440) when 1080p would have worked and added time to the beefy 3000Mh battery, its pointless, although I get 2 days out of it easy with normal use, and games etc do look lovely at that resolution, after a few days you don't notice the difference.

Rooting and custom roms are all good and well, but there are a few things that wont work, a lot of banking apps and SKY Go tv wont work on a rooted device for example, they are deal breakers for me (Sky Go)

How do you find the audio quality on the LG when connected to a good set of headphones? I never found my Samsung GS4 to be as good as Apple devices in audio quality.
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Seahorsepip Veteran

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Yeah, I was thinking about getting a Sony Xperia Z3, LG G3, or Samsung Galaxy. I'm leaning on the side of the Z3.

Z3 bootloader is atleast unlockable officially without the need for any tricks.

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gohpep

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You leaving to Android without even try the final version of Windows 10 for phones?... My Lumia 1520 has been the best phone I ever have and I can't wait to test out WP 10 when is available for my phone.

It won't solve my problems.

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neo1911

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@OP

 

Yup, good riddance.

 

1. My sister just gave me her Lumia 1030 to check why it was not updating to latest Denim update. Then I checked and it says that storage is full. On checking with storage sense, the system folder has bloated to 7.3 GB. There is no way to free up space as her phone has just 8 GB internal memory. Including all apps, her phone has just 3.02 MB free. On checking forums, the only way out was factory reset. :(

 

2. Now I needed to backup all her WhatsApp chats. In Android we can back them up and transfer the folder to SD card. But WhatsApp backs up to internal phone memory only and is not visible in windows explorer. So it's totally a pointless feature. We can backup, uninstall whatsapp and reinstall Whatsapp and restore from backup. Hahaha. If we perform full reset, there goes all the chat history. (It's WhatsApp developer problem but why are they torturing WP8 users? Is it that hard to let it backup on SD card directly and restore from it?) Such a basic thing.

 

3. OK finally reset her phone. Now on initial setup wizard it asked me if I could restore from a previous OneDrive backup. I tapped next. Now I realized that I should have done a restore but there is no scope to go back to previous step? Why?????

Android and iOS allow us to go back to every step we missed in initial setup. 

 

4. Finally the phone started and the first thing I checked was the size of system folder in data sense. It sits at a comfortable 2.7 GB. Now I have to ask, why was it bloated so much before? WP 8.1 doesn't do any self cleanup of unused files? At the moment it is behaving exactly like Desktop Windows. Getting bloated over time. This itself is a very bad sign.

 

My sister gets frustrated when she has to wade through settings to find a particular one. She wants to switch to Android. She has joked several times that if a beer glass were big enough, she would have drowned her 1030 into it and switch to Android or iPhone. The only thing that has kept her going is finally Candy Crush Saga is available for WP8.

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Joe User

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If you really want a phone to tinker with, the Nexus phones all have unlockable bootloaders and are well supported in the ROM department. The Nexus 5 is a great phone in that regard. I do wish it had a bigger battery though. 

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