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Windows Phone 8.1 |OT| Update 1

NeOak

Member
I'm off out upgrade shopping tomorrow. Currently have an S4, but am looking to switch to a Windows Phone. Looking to reduce my monthly costs from the (eugh!) £45pm that I currently pay.

Currently on EE, I really wanted to get the Lumia 930 as it seemed to have the best screen and a really decent camera (the thing I use most on a phone other than the usual phoney bits).

Problem is, it seems to have a really limited availability. I can only really have a chance of getting one by going direct to one of 3 phone carriers - EE, O2 or Vodafone. Vodafone has the best deal, so I'm hoping I can beat EE into submission and get them to give me a good almost equivalent deal.

Failing that, I will have to choose a different one. My options are as follows:

435
535
635
640
735


Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm kinda hesitant about picking a different phone as I feel like I'd be "settling for an alternative", and considering that I'm going to be stuck with my choice for 2yrs, you can understand my reservations.

Any wisdom offered would be appreciated.

640 is the newest one and if you get the XL, it has a 13MP camera.
 
So I am behind an update and everytime I check for updates I either get that my phone is uto date, which it isn't, or this error: 0x80240059. Searching online I saw someone say to do some crazy 4 button hard reset but other people are saying that didn't work for them. Anyone have any ideas?
 

Ganondolf

Member
I'm off out upgrade shopping tomorrow. Currently have an S4, but am looking to switch to a Windows Phone. Looking to reduce my monthly costs from the (eugh!) £45pm that I currently pay.

Currently on EE, I really wanted to get the Lumia 930 as it seemed to have the best screen and a really decent camera (the thing I use most on a phone other than the usual phoney bits).

Problem is, it seems to have a really limited availability. I can only really have a chance of getting one by going direct to one of 3 phone carriers - EE, O2 or Vodafone. Vodafone has the best deal, so I'm hoping I can beat EE into submission and get them to give me a good almost equivalent deal.

Failing that, I will have to choose a different one. My options are as follows:

435
535
635
640
735


Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm kinda hesitant about picking a different phone as I feel like I'd be "settling for an alternative", and considering that I'm going to be stuck with my choice for 2yrs, you can understand my reservations.

Any wisdom offered would be appreciated.

If you can't get the 930 I would not buy any of the other ones listed. They are low end phones with average to poor cameras. 2 years with a low end phone is a long time and you will probably be disappointed with your choice somewhere down the line. If you can wait it out till September/October when wm10 is released there will be a batch on new phones. There is the 1520 if any of the operators have that as an option, its almost the same specs as the 930 but a XL phone.
 
If you can't get the 930 I would not buy any of the other ones listed. They are low end phones with average to poor cameras. 2 years with a low end phone is a long time and you will probably be disappointed with your choice somewhere down the line. If you can wait it out till September/October when wm10 is released there will be a batch on new phones. There is the 1520 if any of the operators have that as an option, its almost the same specs as the 930 but a XL phone.

That's what I was worried about. The only reason I entertained the idea was that they all seem to have similar specs, except the screen resolution and camera quality. The 930 has the superior screen and camera (and onboard storage, if that makes any difference at all). There's a chance I could get an 830, but that one seems lacking too. I may just string out my current contract till the new phones are released, but the newest ones will only be available on the higher tariffs, defeating the other purpose of getting a 930 (available on a better monthly tariff than I'm currently on).

At the moment EE have offered me unlimited minutes and texts, and 4GB of data for £39.99 (£5 cheaper per month than I'm on at the moment). The best deal I found was Vodafone offering unlimited minutes and text and 6GB of data for £30 per month. Don't really want to move to Vodafone though.

Would you buy outright and go SIM only?

I would, but can't afford to ATM.



Can anyone enlighten me as to how much of an issue on-board storage is? Almost all of the Windows Phones seem to have expandable storage via SD, but can everything be installed to it? All the phones listed seem to only have 8GB of onboard, which quite frankly is crap. My S6 has 16GB, and even then most of that is unavailable. Worst still is not being able to install the majority of apps to the SD without hacking the phone in some fashion.
 

kharma45

Member
At the moment EE have offered me unlimited minutes and texts, and 4GB of data for £39.99 (£5 cheaper per month than I'm on at the moment). The best deal I found was Vodafone offering unlimited minutes and text and 6GB of data for £30 per month. Don't really want to move to Vodafone though.

I'd avoid Vodafone like the plague.


I would, but can't afford to ATM.

No worries. The issue with the 930 is it's more than likely going to be replaced in ~3 months, and I wouldn't want to be tied in for two years to one.

A 640 SIM free from Amazon is £127 http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00UTYJ9MM/ and is £90 iirc from CPW on PAYG upgrade if you know anyone with a valid SIM http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/phones/microsoft-lumia-640/ppayupg?colourCode=WHITE Good thing about CPW is all their phones are unlocked

A 640 XL LTE is £143 from Amazon.de http://www.amazon.de/dp/B00TX5MKTC/ On back order though

Can anyone enlighten me as to how much of an issue on-board storage is? Almost all of the Windows Phones seem to have expandable storage via SD, but can everything be installed to it? All the phones listed seem to only have 8GB of onboard, which quite frankly is crap. My S6 has 16GB, and even then most of that is unavailable. Worst still is not being able to install the majority of apps to the SD without hacking the phone in some fashion.

The 930 is 32GB and no MicroSD, the 1520 is 32GB and MicroSD, the 830 is 16GB and MicroSD whilst you'll have seen with the rest they're 8GB with MicroSD.

All music, photos and video can be stored on the SD card. Windows Phone supports apps being stored wholly on the MicroSD card but it's at the discretion of the developer. You'll find the odd couple that aren't allowed to be installed on the SD card but the vast majority can be.
 
Does anyone know if upgrading to windows 10 will affect an office 365 license? I'm looking at the free year on the app store for my 640 but was wondering if I should wait to redeem it. Also not sure when the deadline is to redeem it here in the US, would suck to miss out.

Also wtf do people do with 1 TB of onedrive?
 

KageMaru

Member
So is the newest Windows 10 build safe to download on the 930/Icon? My phone keeps reminding me there's an available update and I'm tempted to just go through with it.
 
Ah well... went round everywhere in the area and no-one has a 930 anymore anyway. I'm not interested in settling, so I'm going to phone EE tomorrow and reduce my tariff to a more reasonable one on a 30day rolling contract. At least then when something emerges that I'm interested in I could upgrade to it more easily.


Thanks for the help, guys.
 

maeh2k

Member
Does anyone know if upgrading to windows 10 will affect an office 365 license? I'm looking at the free year on the app store for my 640 but was wondering if I should wait to redeem it. Also not sure when the deadline is to redeem it here in the US, would suck to miss out.

Also wtf do people do with 1 TB of onedrive?

The Office 365 license is independent from the device. No reason to wait for Windows.

Some people can easily use that space for photos alone. E.g. the .raw photos of a DSLR could be 30 MB in size. Or you could use cloud storage as a backup location for a NAS.
 
So is the newest Windows 10 build safe to download on the 930/Icon? My phone keeps reminding me there's an available update and I'm tempted to just go through with it.

I put the latest on my 930 and once you got the initial install and apps all set-up it was super smooth.

Best release of win10 so far.
 

kharma45

Member
My phone has started giving me that GDR2 bug (not sure if it's just for us who went early via DP or not) where I get no system sounds. So no message alerts, calls or alarms.
 

Paganmoon

Member
My phone has started giving me that GDR2 bug (not sure if it's just for us who went early via DP or not) where I get no system sounds. So no message alerts, calls or alarms.

I've learned to live with it, occasionally the system sounds come back, but they only work for a short while.
 
The Office 365 license is independent from the device. No reason to wait for Windows.

Some people can easily use that space for photos alone. E.g. the .raw photos of a DSLR could be 30 MB in size. Or you could use cloud storage as a backup location for a NAS.

Perfect, thanks for confirming that for me. Time to hoard digital shit and do spreadsheets on my phone I guess lol.
 
So I got the latest update on my phone finally, but when I try to use cortona I cant. It wants me to set it up but I can't scroll the screen down and rotate my phone doesn't work either.

Edit: Nevermind I turned text scaling off and then i could see the button to click I agree.
 

BeforeU

Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
I put the latest on my 930 and once you got the initial install and apps all set-up it was super smooth.

Best release of win10 so far.

I feel like pulling the trigger on my 1520. Someone stop me, or I am doing it in few hours.
 

Special C

Member
Great, my IT group doesn't support Airwatch Browser or Locker for WP so I'd have to get an Android or iPhone to take advantage of our BYOD program.
 

MCD

Junior Member
Xbox Music just pissed me off big time.

Bought some osts like Halo 2. But some are still asking me to pay after taking my money.

Wtf.
 
The call button in WhatsApp is really unfortunately placed.
Last I checked the calling was just unfortunate. I've had people call and the phone never rings only to tell me there's a missed call when I open the app -- although my WhatsApp notifications in general do that a lot. When anybody tries to call my mothers 640 it says you can't because she needs to update the app even though it is updated and she can call everybody else.
 

MCD

Junior Member
Spotify is streaming, no? I prefer to download albums and Xbox music was ok till now.

I will have to contact support after work.
 
Spotify is streaming, no? I prefer to download albums and Xbox music was ok till now.

I will have to contact support after work.

Spotify is a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

For only $9.99 per month you can download and save as much music as you want, to any of your devices. Albums, playlists or individual songs. It doesn't matter. Play any song, anywhere, instantly with Spotify Premium. Listen offline, play on-demand and no ads. On your phone, tablet, PC, Playstation or just with the web player. Spotify is everywhere you want it to be.

Now, look, I know what you're thinking.
"Shut up, you snake oil salesman, before I get Bish in here to drop the ban hammer on your ass"
But wait, hear me out! As a new subscriber, you can get an awesome deal for a limited time only. You ready?

Spotify Premium. 3 months. $0.99. Boom!
It doesn't get much better than that.

Get Spotify now, on www.spotify.com!





brotkasten, 6brot and yo6bro, LLC is not in any way affiliated with, endorsed or sponsored in any way by Spotify and/or Spotify AB. Spotify is not responsible for the shit you just read. Even this here. It's all your fault. By reading this sentence you agree to sell all your assets and belongings to yo6bro, LLC.
 

Paganmoon

Member
Just picked up the 640, holy shit it's so low budget, they don't even include a headset?.

Edit: holy crap, I now understand the hate for onscreen buttons... On the plus side, so far it seems as responsive as the 1020.
 

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
Windows Phone's implementation of onscreen buttons is utter garbage. I don't know how Microsoft thought it'd be a good idea to release that function in such state.
 
Windows Phone's implementation of onscreen buttons is utter garbage. I don't know how Microsoft thought it'd be a good idea to release that function in such state.

I... actually like it? I mean, it's my first proper smartphone, been on dumbphones with physical keyboards before this, but it works alright. Home button takes me home, back button takes me back, search button pulls up Cortana.
 

Windu

never heard about the cat, apparently
Great, my IT group doesn't support Airwatch Browser or Locker for WP so I'd have to get an Android or iPhone to take advantage of our BYOD program.
airwatch can be a pain in the ass on android devices so i would recommend an iphone.
 

Funky Papa

FUNK-Y-PPA-4
I... actually like it? I mean, it's my first proper smartphone, been on dumbphones with physical keyboards before this, but it works alright. Home button takes me home, back button takes me back, search button pulls up Cortana.

It's not nearly as fluid nor elegant as Android's latest, which makes it feel like a bit of an afterthought.
 
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