I'm Finally Ditching Windows Phone for Android

[tompkin]

It's not mandatory.  Even on prebuilts (such as mom's Pavilion AIO) it can be turned off.  (In fact, I HAD to turn it off to correct a device-driver goof by the OEM (HP) concerning the Ethernet adapter - they installed the driver for the Fast Ethernet - not gigabit - version of the RealTek adapter.)  Baby Pavilion, on the other hand, has a semi-UEFI option - unlike the older Big Pavilion, it's AMD from CPU to GPU, including the north and southbridges.  HP used a Phoenix Insyde BIOS of the semi-UEFI sort for their Vista and 7-era AMD-driven notebooks - Big Pavilion is Vista-era, while Baby Pavilion is 7-era.  The System Diagnostic portion is UEFI, while System Information and Settings is "standard Phoenix BIOS". (What's rather hi8larious is that Phoenix - which had earlier acquired Award - another BIOS OEM of major repute - was itself acquired by Intel (AKA Chipzilla) prior to the deal with HP (and similar deals with Dell and other OEMs).  So in the case of one of my two notebooks - the older one - it's a real honest "Frankenbook"; Intel BIOS, AMD CPU, and NVidia GPU.)

I found out on my laptop (Win 7 era) that Toshiba put out a new BIOS version for Windows 8. When I tried to run the BIOS update program I got an error message that basically said to contact support. I looked out on their forum and there were other people that had the same problem but no answers to be found.

 

I know that I'm going to have to call Toshiba to get them to work me through this but I have been putting it off because i hate dealing with those type of things if the support is not good. Anyway, I'm going to use Windows 7 until Windows 10 RTM and then either put Win 10 on my laptop or get a new laptop. Probably get a new one. 

[HawkMan]

a lot of laptops that shipped with windows 7 just before windows 8  launched was upgraded with UEFI bios for windows 8 and the bios download site usually says "DO NOT install the UEFI bios on a windows 8 upgrade computer). 

[Jase]

i'm doing the same thing but with my new iPhone 6 Plus, I hate this thing & I really hate iOS now.. it's useless, boring and dull.. all my apps that I use on iOS are available on Android now.. I don't need this Phablet anymore I need an android... I'm Currently looking into the Nexus 6, what do you think?

[FloatingFatMan]

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.

 

 

As a former Android user (for years), who moved to Windows Phone last year, here are some of my thoughts...

 

• Windows Phone is fast and it feels very smooth and fluid

So is Android in its last few iterations.

• Windows Phone has better battery life than most other phones

You'd be hard pressed to tell much difference really. 

• The notification center is perfect

Android's is far better, and always has been.

• The camera quality is great

Not even the best Android phone on the market can compete with my Lumia 930.  In fact, the only digital camera that CAN, is a proper digital camera, not a cameraphone.

• Live tiles

Android Widgets are far more useful.

 

TBH, I'm probably going to go back to Android once my contract runs out.  I like WP, but it's just too restrictive compared to Android.  The biggest issue I have is that WP has no control over individual Bluetooth profiles.  I cannot disable bluetooth audio to my car handsfree kit, which means voice navigation guidance continually cuts out my radio.

 

As for what phone to get, the best advice I can give you is avoid all budget devices as they're junk.  Most especially, avoid anything from Acer as you will NOT get any kind of support or updates whatsoever from them. I was a field tester for them for years, and even -I- didn't get any friggin' support (they ignored bug reports etc, too... As far as phones go, a truly useless company.)

[Bi4me]

Those debates are so useless and endless... People! It's up to the user - what he likes and prefers. There has to be variaty, possibility of choice. There is no universal OS - each user prefers his coffee with or without sugar. Nobody cares about your rants on how your OS is better!

 

I'm saying this as an Android user disgusted by the Android community. Sure, I like it and wouldn't change it for any other OS. But bashing on Windows and iOS because of "insert random reasons here" is plain stupid and childish. Everything you say is a pro could be a cons (and vice-versa) for somebody else.

 

Oh, and stop with the open-source argument please, I bet no more than 5% of you (and about 0.1% of the general population) actually profit from this concept.

[PGHammer]

@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.

Android tablets (and phablets as well) can suffer from bloat issues, or are just plain storage-constrained due to small amounts of internal storage - a prime example of this are the Lenovo Tab2 (7-inch in particular) series of tablets and phablets; yes, there are PHABLETS in this size - the GC and HC subseries sold mostly in Asia; the biggest sellers in this series have a mere 8GB of TOTAL internal storage - with just 3GB left over when the user gets hold of it.  (I have the Lenovo A7-30F; however, as I made plain in this post, the issue is not unique to this tablet, or even to Android.)  If your device supports microSD *at all* (and, in most cases, they do - regardless of the device's OS), get yourself at least one 32GB microSD - your device WILL thank you for it.

OS cleanup is not a problem unique to Windows Phone - Android has no built-in cleanup utilities, either.  All the cleanup utilities I have are third-party (not from either Google OR Lenovo) - they are also all free and available via the Play Store.

Applications getting bloated over time - again, not unique to Windows (of any sort), or any other OS - the very reason I grabbed OneCleaner (the cleanup utility I use on my tablet) is due to Android suffering the same issue.  (The biggest reason I have not moved FROM OneCleaner is that it also tells me exactly where the bloat is - RAM, storage, sdcard, etc. - not just how MUCH bloat.  Very educational.)  OneCleaner is also free (Play Store).

[Son_Of_Dad]

So is Android in its last few iterations.

From what I've seen Android is currently implementing "Metro" in a much more consistent way than MS ever did as they swang from branch to branch. The only thing Windows currently offers over Android UI wise is live tiles.

[PGHammer]

 

From what I've seen Android is currently implementing "Metro" in a much more consistent way than MS ever did as they swang from branch to branch. The only thing Windows currently offers over Android UI wise is live tiles.

That is due to USERS being more consistent on mobile platforms - Windows users in general are all over the map, then there are the issues with multiple platforms that Android really doesn't have (how often do users change from how the ODM has laid out the device initially without doing a wholesale ROM changeout on Android - even though it's certainly possible?).  And even in terms of LIve Tiles and Gadgets (the immediate predecessor to Live Tiles), the view of them in Windows generally is very "Marmitish" - either you like them or hate them.  (The same was true of Active Desktop.)  You can "approximate" ModernUI on Android devices (WP Launcher, for example) - however, there are capabilities that Android simply does not have compared to ModernUI even on Windows Phone 8, let alone Windows 10 Mobile.

[FloatingFatMan]

You can "approximate" ModernUI on Android devices (WP Launcher, for example) - however, there are capabilities that Android simply does not have compared to ModernUI even on Windows Phone 8, let alone Windows 10 Mobile.

I'm curious as to what you think Android can't do that Windows Phone can.  After all, Android was doing widgets with live data in them long before MS thought of their live tiles interface...  I've been a WP user for the past year, and there's nothing I can think of that WP can do that Android doesn't do better...

 

[]SK[]

The lack of apps is the WP's Achilles heal.  I think the OS is great.  Hardware is cheap and the battery is the best of any SmartPhone.  My Nexus 5 dies within 24 hours if I don't give it at least some juice during the day.  My work phone (a Microsoft 640) is a great looking phone that can easily last 4 days.  Without apps though the phone doesn't really get much use from me.

[kozukumi]

Without apps though the phone doesn't really get much use from me.

I think we found out how you get 4 days use on the 640

[Son_Of_Dad]

That is due to USERS being more consistent on mobile platforms - Windows users in general are all over the map, then there are the issues with multiple platforms that Android really doesn't have (how often do users change from how the ODM has laid out the device initially without doing a wholesale ROM changeout on Android - even though it's certainly possible?).

I really don't know what you're talking about; if you open phone, messaging and people you'll see a lack of consistency even more so in W10m than WP8.1 I'm pretty sure those three screens come direct from MS and apart from theme colour can't be modified.

[]SK[]

Yes that's my point. Other than push mail it doesn't have to do all that much.  That said there is no way my Nexus 5 would be able to do the same if put in the same situation.  The 640 (and 635 I had before that) are pretty amazing.

[Bamsebjørn]

I've been using my Lumnia 640 XL for about a month now, and the only apps I'm missing so far are Google Hangouts, Google+ and Youtube... which, curiously, are all Google apps.

Google not releasing apps for Windows Phone is just douche baggery, I'm not going to switch back to Google, just because Google refuses to release apps for WP.

[simplezz]

Google not releasing apps for Windows Phone is just douche baggery, I'm not going to switch back to Google, just because Google refuses to release apps for WP.

By that same logic, Microsoft not releasing Microsoft Office for GNU/Linux is just douche baggery too.

[Bamsebjørn]

By that same logic, Microsoft not releasing Microsoft Office for GNU/Linux is just douche baggery too.

It is. They could easily do it, and they'll probably sell plenty.

Don't mistake me for a Microsoft fanboy.

[The Evil Overlord]

I find this thread an interesting read, I've had android phones since 2011 (I think) to be honest, I'm getting bored with android, but wp and apple haven't really wow'd me neither..
I hope you enjoy your choice, as lets face it, if bought as part of a contract, you're going to be stuck with it regardless of which OS the phone is running
(This isn't meant to sound aggressive, I haven't had my coffee yet)

[kozukumi]

It is. They could easily do it, and they'll probably sell plenty.

Don't mistake me for a Microsoft fanboy.

Back in the late 90s and early 2000s Microsoft were working on a Linux version/port of Office just in case Linux took off on the desktop. They were torn as to whether release it. Linux was getting more popular but not massively so. Microsoft risked adding fuel to the fire in legitimising Linux by releasing Office for the platform. In the end Ballmer killed the project as Google was starting to interest people and Microsoft saw they needed to get into search more than they needed Office on Linux.

[macoman]

Already ditched and sold the Lumia 1520 for a LG G3 and I can't believe the big positive experience... Is really great to be back to Android and soon I will be upgrading to Android M.

[Cnónna]

am about to buy another windows phone, love me lumia's

[+Elі Subscriber²]

I switched to Android a year ago and I'm thinking to switch back as soon as Microsoft makes using Android/iOS Apps possible on Windows 10 for phones, I just hate Android and cannot stand iOS either.

[chrisj1968]

As a windows phone user, I'm less than enthusiastic that even my security company, for my home security hasn't developed their security app for windows phone.  I blame a lot of Windows phone problems on lack of acceptance  by the market. I see everywhere you need android phones or apple. Microsoft needs to get out of the market or do SOMETHING to be relevant.

[Jim K Global Moderator]

I like Android and can not see me switchin anytime soon.  However, I wish Google would be more like Apple with regards to software (especially security) updates.  My LG G2 is still vulnerable to "Stagefright" which really shouldn't be the case (obviously I've disabled MMS auto retrieve to help protect it).

[The Werewolf]

Android tablets (and phablets as well) can suffer from bloat issues, or are just plain storage-constrained due to small amounts of internal storage - a prime example of this are the Lenovo Tab2 (7-inch in particular) series of tablets and phablets; yes, there are PHABLETS in this size - the GC and HC subseries sold mostly in Asia; the biggest sellers in this series have a mere 8GB of TOTAL internal storage - with just 3GB left over when the user gets hold of it.  (I have the Lenovo A7-30F; however, as I made plain in this post, the issue is not unique to this tablet, or even to Android.)  If your device supports microSD *at all* (and, in most cases, they do - regardless of the device's OS), get yourself at least one 32GB microSD - your device WILL thank you for it.

OS cleanup is not a problem unique to Windows Phone - Android has no built-in cleanup utilities, either.  All the cleanup utilities I have are third-party (not from either Google OR Lenovo) - they are also all free and available via the Play Store.

Applications getting bloated over time - again, not unique to Windows (of any sort), or any other OS - the very reason I grabbed OneCleaner (the cleanup utility I use on my tablet) is due to Android suffering the same issue.  (The biggest reason I have not moved FROM OneCleaner is that it also tells me exactly where the bloat is - RAM, storage, sdcard, etc. - not just how MUCH bloat.  Very educational.)  OneCleaner is also free (Play Store).

Yup.. like my ASUS FonePad. 8GB of storage. As soon as you turn it on for the first time - 4.2GB gone to Android and their baked in - non-removable apps... then the first update and bam... down to 1.3GB. Now you install the apps you *want* and you're down to around 800MB - and that's it for updates. Android can't handle it.

And yes, I've moved everything I can to SD.. of  course when they update, they're back in system storage again.

[patseguin Global Moderator]

i'm doing the same thing but with my new iPhone 6 Plus, I hate this thing & I really hate iOS now.. it's useless, boring and dull.. all my apps that I use on iOS are available on Android now.. I don't need this Phablet anymore I need an android... I'm Currently looking into the Nexus 6, what do you think?

You're going to be disappointed. A couple years ago I thought I was bored with iOS and bought a Nexus 4. I was happy for a very short time but that wore off quickly. There is no better device than the iPhone and no better OS than iOS in my humble opinion. The beast number of quality apps is staggering compared to Android and the Android OS itself is a mess compared to iOS.