Windows Phone 8 - 60 days

Well, when I initially set out to do this, I thought I could barely make it 30 days. To my surprise, I went two full months!  A big part of that was the hardware I was using. The HTC 8X is a beautiful phone and, without its beautiful screen and outstanding sound quality, I, honestly, would have put the phone down or given it away (my daughter thought it was beautiful and wanted it to replace her iPhone 4S).  The reason I say this about the hardware is that it was a big incentive to stay on Windows Phone 8 (WP8) even though I was having a less than stellar time to start out, and I wanted this test to be about WP8 and be phone independent. I have played with the Nokia Lumia 920 and, despite front facing photos, these phones do not look alike at all.  The Nokia is large, heavy, and not attractive at all. On the flip side, I got lots of compliments about the HTC. I even had people come across the dining room of a coffee shop to investigate. Your mileage may vary depending on which phone you use. I would plug the HTC over the Nokia any day due to the look and feel and the Beats headphone amp. Seriously, if you use your phone to listen to music, this phone sounds so much better than any other portable device I've used, that I replaced my iPod with it.

One big piece of news is that Microsoft has announced that all WP8 phones will receive operating system updates and the rumor is that there will be a new one released around Christmas 2013.  They appear to have learned their lesson from WP7 and are attempting to make the platform have some life instead of being disposable.

Back to the real point of my experiment: can an Android user make the switch? We'll get to that at the end.

One big point of using Android, in the USA anyway, is free texting via Google Voice. Fortunately, I was able to do this using Metro Talk. It was hard at first as it lacked voice input... A crucial feature for the occasional reply while driving. About 14 days in, they updated it and it worked pretty well. I was surprised at its accuracy until I got in my car.  My personal tests show that it doesn't screen background noise nearly a well as Android does.  Minus one for WP8.  It is important to note that traditional texting supported voice input from the outset of WP8.

What about apps? At first, this department was really lacking. I have been amazed at the speed of development. The only apps I couldn't replace were the more obscure ones where I couldn't access an existing Android account (like Studyblue). All of my maps were there: Spotify, Yelp, Open Table, Starbucks.  there are a lot of apps that don't exist on Windows Phone, but for just about each 1 of those, there's a Windows Phone equivalent. This can be completely acceptable to many people, especially first time smartphone users or those that didn't invest heavily in their app ecosystem (you know what I'm talking about...people that use, say, 3 apps, versus people that have invested hours and hours putting things into an app that they can't access from a different platform, not to mention people that have spent $100 on apps and want to keep them!).  I, personally, have invested too much in a couple of apps that I couldn't move from, most notably, Studyblue, which is a study flashcard app, that I simply needed to pass tests!

Web Browsing is a good experience on mobile Internet Explorer (IE).  The browser works great.  It's fast, and handled most sites better than Android's Chrome browser.  A big disadvantage is that, on Android, I have 4 browsers in case one doesn't play well with specific websites.  There's no option to switch on WP8 if you come across something that doesn't play well with IE.

Something taken for granted by all smartphone users is the method of input.  Apple has famously had a keyboard that users like.  I personally don't get it.  It's fairly rudimentary.  Android is famous for the ability to switch keyboards with several on the market and a quick and easy switch between them.  Something else neat about Android is the "Swype" style keyboard. The WP8 keyboard is surprisingly good.  I seemed to have fewer mistyped letters and the word prediction is pretty reliable.  Additionally, if you don't see your word predicted up top, you can swipe the predictions to the left and it brings up more predictions, something that came in handy with a lot of long words.  Unfortunately, there is no "Swype" style input.  Instead, I found myself using text input a lot to send many message (as long as I wasn't in a noisy place!)

The app tray was very nice because, while all of the apps were in a single file, alphabetical list, they were quick to access because you can touch the header letter (such as "A" for the apps starting with "A") to jump to that section.  This great feature also works in contacts/people to quickly get to the person you want.

One of the best features of WP8 is the People hub.  Going into that app gives you a slick layout that shows all of your contacts' latest social posts as well as their social photos and contact information, all in one continuous feed.  Combining these all into one space is the best thing about the operating system.  This works the same way with the "Me" hub.  It compiles all of your social interactions from all of your feeds into one slick page.  The only drawback to this is that it removes the ability for you to "Like" the comments from individuals on a post (while you can still like a post).

The one last section I want to touch on that was a big difference in the way WP8 shares files.  WP8 does not integrate with apps the way Android does (neither does iOS...Apple).  With Android, I can tap any file and share with just about any app on my phone, so I can post a photo on service, and I can upload files straight to Dropbox, Box, Skydrive, etc.  With WP8, I can only upload to Skydrive, or to specific apps that work with WP8 (Facebook, Mail, it's pretty limited).  There was no way to load from the gallery to Dropbox or other services, although there are workarounds from within some apps to upload from within the app.  Something else very frustrating is that there is no way to see a file size, so sending a small video is a trial and failure type approach.  It will let you share any size file with e-mail, but it's hard to tell if your short video is going to be 2MB or 10MB.  There is literally no preview.

The camera started out really weak (why does Microsoft do this?  They have consistently...all the way back to Windows 1.0...released software that wasn't finished and then patched it later down the line).  It was frustrating as the camera sensor is the same as in my One S, which is marvelous, but I was unable to get some of the same great photos due to WP8's camera app.  This has finally changed as several camera apps and "lenses" have come out since the October launch of this operating system.   Now, apps like CameraPro (and others) have added all of the features I had on my Android phone and I could finally take better photos.  Interestingly, the video camera seems to do a better job than video on my Android devices.  "Lenses" are like mini plug-ins that go into the WP8 camera that let you do things like: take a panorama pic, take a time-lapse pic, and, Blink, a new lense that lets you pic the right moment in time out of a series of fast exposures.

Turn by turn navigation was something lacking, but Microsoft forced Nokia to open this up, so Nokia drive (which works as well, and with a few more bells and whistles than Google) can be installed on any WP8 phone.

Finally, WP8 has a multitasking window, accessed by long pressing the back arrow key.  It brings up cards, much like a webOS or Android phone. Unfortunately, it only lets you jump into the other apps.  There is no way to close them from this screen.  You have to manually enter each app and hit the back key repeatedly to kill other apps.  This is a simple and terrible design flaw that can (and hopefully will be) fixed with a simple little "X" button to kill the app.

Overall, I could live within the WP8 universe if I didn't already have so much invested in the Android apps that are not existing in a WP8 format.  I have a few friends now that are converts after checking out my phone and haven't looked back, really loving their HTC 8X.  I know several people who have their Nokia's but they just look so cheap and ugly in comparison, and I haven't seen as much difference in the photos as they claim that the Nokia has.  The bottom line is, if you are not heavily invested elsewhere, give WP8 a try.  It's the new, hip operating system that is growing faster than any of the others, has a fresh feel, and has a few excellent, innovative features built in.

Come back soon as I will have walk through videos showing you how to use many of the features of this innovative operating system.

$100 Rebate for HTC One Pre-Orders

I have never been as excited as I am about the launch of a new phone.  The new HTC One with Blinkfeed and Zoe has the hair on the back of my neck standing up.  It's going to be great.  In the meantime, head over to this link: http://s.htc.com/htconereg to pre-register...no commitment...but pre-registering will make you eligible to get a minimum $100 rebate on this phone.  Since it's rumored to be selling for $200 when it comes out, that's a significant discount for a top-of-the-line beast.  Not only is this a great geek phone, it's also got the middle-aged-person ease of use baked right in.  This thing is milled out of a solid block of aluminum.  You will never use a phone constructed as well as this.  So go do it!

Day 3 of Windows Phone 8

So far, it's been a mixed bag with Windows Phone.  It synced my Google contacts with aplomb.  It even drew the photos taken on my Android into the new contacts. Granted, that has more to do with Google than Windows, but it's nice.

Another nice touch is that the mapping system allows you to download map packs for every state and numerous non-US regions/nations.

I have to admit that not having voice instructions, turn by turn, is lame.  I don't know why, when Nokia Drive (only on Nokia phones, but I've heard you can hack it onto other phones if you're a hacker) can do it and Bing Maps can track you live and give on-screen turn by turn (as opposed to spoken) directions.

One huge plus is that you can delete the bloatware that your carrier installs.  This is a huge boon to people that hate having to look at apps that are really advertisements to buy other crap from your carrier.  I was able to delete T-Mobile TV and 411 & More...stuff that I couldn't remove from Android until I rooted my device.

I miss Spotify and being able to sync my playlists.  I've been trying to use the free Xbox Music Pass to replace it, but that's been a nightmare.  It took me over a day to get their server to send me an acknowledgement code.  When I finally did, the service simply would not recognize that I had a Windows phone.  I called tech support and they told me that they had no idea about my problem and told me to search the Windows Phone forums.  Nice...not.  I did do so and found this is a common problem.  The solution? Factory reset your phone.  This results in a complete wipe.  Apparently, the service will not rescan to find your device.  One user said his phone had this problem and it was found by the service an hour later.  I let mine sit overnight with no luck.  This sounds like a serious bug. 

After resetting my phone to get Xbox Music to work, it looks like it might be a nice service.  Not sure others would give it thus much work.  On top of that, their app store was very confusing.  There is no on-phone "my apps" like on Google (there is online) so, when I tried to reinstall my purchased apps, it told me to buy the apps again.  This had me very upset until the phone told me (after I clicked to buy again) that I had already purchased the app and it asked me if I wanted to install again.  Not intuitive at all.

See you at the next update.

The Switch From Android to Windows Phone 8

Today I receive an HTC 8X, courtesy of the kind folks at HTC in Bellevue, WA (They are a Taiwanese company that has their US HQ in Bellevue, WA).  This is a really slick phone (you can see a review here).  The interface is undeniably slick and so is the overall look and feel of the phone.  One really neat feature that they are advertising is Kid's Corner which allows you to let your kids play with the phone without accessing any non-approved content or features.  The Metro interface (the old working name for the blocks all over the screen) is very pretty and customizable.  This isn't a review, per se, but an opportunity to see if I can switch over from Android to Windows Phone 8 without looking back.

I am committed to staying with this phone for at least a month.  I love my HTC One S which is easily my favorite phone.  I also use an Asus Transformer Pad so I have an Android backup that I can turn to.  Having been an Android fan for quite a while, I have grown quite accustomed to several of the convenient apps and, perhaps more importantly, the hacker community.  They have allowed me to root my phone and set up apps that backup the entire phone, work secretly, and provide wifi hotspot capability behind my carrier's back.  I'm not sure how much support there will be in the Windows Phone community for stuff like this, but I am convinced that forcing myself to use it exclusively will make my find the true potential of the phone.  I will provide updates as I go.

The big question is:  Can someone deeply entrenched in the Google universe escape and function on a Windows Phone?  Stay tuned.

Problems With My HTC One S - How To Fix Them

I love this phone.  It is super slim, super sexy, and super fast.  I live by it.  Recently, about the last two weeks, all kinds of data problems have crept up.  It was slow, it was unbearable...all of my apps hung as the internet connection timed out.  After calling T-Mobile (no help), I checked with HTC.  It appears there is a built in "reset" that resets the radio without having to reflash your phone (as T-Mobile had me do, requiring a full day to get my apps back the way I wanted).

Here's how to do the reset:
Press and hold the power button (don't stop until I tell you!).  First, the reboot prompt comes up.  Don't flinch, keep holding it! Next, the hardware buttons begin to flash...don't let go!  Then, a new pop-up comes up and says "to restart, continue to hold the power button" and a countdown timer starts counting down.  Keep holding the button down!  Then, the HTC screen comes back up.  You can let go and let it boot up.  This seems to reset data issues that many people online have been complaining about with this phone. 

I love this phone...my first pick on the market, even if it's 6 months old.  The processor is still top of the line, the build and feel are unmatched (okay, the iPhone 5 feels just as nice in the hand).  The LED screen is beautiful.  Most importantly, the screen is big without being too big in the hand.

How To Use Amazon Locker

For those of you fortunate enough to live in one of 4 cities where Amazon has introduced this service (Seattle, London, NYC, and Washington DC), there is no an easy, secure way to get items at work. With locations sprinkled throughout these cities, Amazon has set up a locker service where your packages are delivered indoors, within a locked locker. This is great if you get something like a tablet or some other sensitive or expensive item. The banks are inside buildings and look something like this:

Once delivered (and I've found that, here in Seattle, some packages arrive early (I imagine this is because it's only a mile or so from their warehouse to these lockers!), you'll receive an e-mail that looks like this with your code:

You simply walk up, touch the screen, and enter your code. Your locker will pop open electronically and your package will be inside. It's as simple as that. Here's a little video of it in action:

Get the Most From Google!

How to get the most from Google: