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Windows Phone |OT2|
- Thread starter brotkasten
- Start date
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lastflowers
Banned
Yep
I lament the desire for 4.5+ handsets. I might be able to stomach a 4.3, but I like the 4.0-4.1 size.
If I need a screen bigger than that, I'd rather it be on a table.
Unknown Soldier
Member
They've actually moved so many OT threads into Community that the regular OT is kind of a wasteland now with just the Tragedy of the Day threads and the What Rick Santorum Said Today threads and that sort of thing.
Yep
I lament the desire for 4.5+ handsets. I might be able to stomach a 4.3, but I like the 4.0-4.1 size.
If I need a screen bigger than that, I'd rather it be on a table.
Regardless of current trends, there will be handsets around 4.0 range for forever.
Women and children need something to use
VanMardigan
has calmed down a bit.
Where the heck is brotkasten? Can someone go check to see if he's still alive?
He's taking a much needed vacation from caring about having to make that damn OT2. Probably eating a hamburger.
Complex Shadow
Cudi Lame
i am pretty sure hes lost and can't find the OT. i knew we shouldn't be in community
Complex Shadow
Cudi Lame
Well I did hear that the Samsung phones have screen burn in issues
It is known.
Complex Shadow
Cudi Lame
betweenthewheels
Member
So besides size, LTE, FFC, flat screen/bezel is the Lumia 800 identical to the 900?
I ask, because I think I may actually prefer the modest size of the 800. I've just heard mixed opinions on the 800 camera and praise for the 900 camera...aren't they identical? They even share improvements via software update, no?
I ask, because I think I may actually prefer the modest size of the 800. I've just heard mixed opinions on the 800 camera and praise for the 900 camera...aren't they identical? They even share improvements via software update, no?
Those AMOLED screens have burn in issues eh? Maybe I'll ask if I can switch with the Titan and use it as a media device. The only downside is that the resolution is horrible for a "large" screen. Spoiled Apple's "retina" display.
peppermints
Member
Anyone know when we can expect to see some Lumia 900 reviews?
frontieruk
Member
He knows about it, updates are being made he's just busy with work. It's coming though.
Haven't witnessed it on the two Focuses (Foci?) in our house.
VanMardigan
has calmed down a bit.
No screen burn in on my Focus S. Focus S > Titan
Tumblebee is the only halfway decent one.
Titan's screen looks great, not as nice as the Focus S, but it is bigger if that matters to you. Also, build quality is better on the Titan unless you don't mind the plasticky feel of the S.
VanMardigan
has calmed down a bit.
The camera is also better on the Titan. The Focus S is lighter, thinner, gets better call reception and has better data speeds. Which is weird, because by all accounts it should be the same data speeds, but for some reason At&t has slowed the Titan's data speeds. I read an xda thread about it and I don't know if there is a workaround.
T-Mobile finally released their billing app for Windows Phone
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/apps/00947e6a-c359-4d9e-ae6a-ce914ae276eb
looks like it's only for T-Mobile UK right now. Not sure how it works elsewhere.
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-GB/apps/00947e6a-c359-4d9e-ae6a-ce914ae276eb
looks like it's only for T-Mobile UK right now. Not sure how it works elsewhere.
frontieruk
Member
Looks a damn sight nicer than O2s after the interface pushes you to their mobile site.
BlueTsunami
there is joy in sucking dick
Anyone know of any good weight training apps? (for logging weights used for certain type of workout etc).
frontieruk
Member
Gymwolf looks promising but I'm unable to use the gym ATM so I've held off installing it as it'll only depress me.
Thanks duckroll!
That's not the same as the my account app that comes pre-installed?
no idea. I've never had an app for my phone and the website has only been updated in the last few days with a link to it.
Steelyuhas
Member
Hmm, I use Rowi, but I haven't gotten the update and when I search marketplace, the app doesn't exist lol.
BlueTsunami
there is joy in sucking dick
I downloaded one called CardioTrac that has a weightlifting log that seems good enough. I'll checkout Gymwolf.
The only difference seems to be you can pay directly from that app. The my account app lets you see all your details, but redirects you to a link within IE when you want to pay.
frontieruk
Member
Complex Shadow
Cudi Lame
Read or Fake?
HHNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
GODDAMIT
screw it i am still getting the 900.
Anton Sugar
Member
Third time's a charm.
With Windows Phone 8, Microsoft attempts to unify the code base for their desktop and mobile operating systems.
The OS is now based on the same NT kernel as Windows 8 and finally brings support for modern CPUs, new resolutions, native code, NFC, MicroSD cards and full VOIP integration.
Despite the massive underlying changes, the unique look and feel of the previous version remains the same. Features like Live Tiles and Hubs were improved, new features were added and almost all of the 120,000 Windows Phone 7 apps work flawlessly.
In the new version of Windows Phone, Microsoft refined the start screen experiences to make it much more customizable and personal.
Just like in the previous versions of Windows Phone, you can pin your apps, contacts, pictures, videos or even just specific features of one app.
Instead of having a single, uniform size, live tiles now have three different sizes available.
The information displayed on a live tile will dynamically change based on tile size. For example, the large Mail tile will give me my total unread count, as well as a preview of the most recent e-mail. As you decrease it in size, extra details (like the preview) are hidden, but the most important information (unread mail count) is still displayed.
To switch between tiles sizes, long press on any tile to enter the Start screen "edit" mode. From here, you can:
- Rearrange tiles
- Resize tiles
- Remove tiles
Start is the home screen reimagined—Live Tiles keep you caught up on everything from your sister's texts to your next meeting and Live Apps dish up news, deals, and more.
The development on the Zune desktop client was effectively stopped two years ago and with the discontinuation of the Zune brand, Microsoft decided to completely ditch the Zune software in favor of a lighter, but less capable syncing client.
The Windows Phone tool, as the new client is called, lets you sync your music, videos and pictures.
Features
- Get your music, photos, and videos from your computer to your phone (and vice versa).
- Import from iTunes
- Quickly share things from your phone with Windows 8 apps (like Photos, or Search). You don’t even have to open the Windows Phone app to move things around.
- Automatically save photos and videos you take with your phone to your PC.
- See at a glance how much space you’re using for each type of content, so it’s easy to make sure you never run out of room on your phone.
While some users favor the light Active Sync-like client, dropped features like wireless sync and podcast management are significant losses for Windows Phone fans.
Bing for Windows Phone 8 retains everything that made it great in previous Windows Phone iterations along with a few updates.
The dynamic local see-and-do search has been enhanced with a new "for you" pivot. This utilizes social media data
Bing for Mobile gives you access to our popular Bing daily home page. Just tap in the search box to display the soft keyboard and, as you begin typing a search term, Bing will automatically make suggestions based on your favorites, search history and popular search terms on the Web today.
The Bing home page changes daily, providing new images with hotspots that you can tap on to help you discover fun facts. You’ll also see your present location, telling you that Bing knows where you are and is ready to deliver location-aware search results.
In Windows Phone 7.5, Microsoft enhanced Bing Search by putting buttons, such as Local Scout, Bing Music, Bing Vision and Voice Search, at the bottom of the screen.
The dynamic local see-and-do search has been enhanced with a new "for you" pivot. This utilizes social media data to personalize recommendations based on what you, your friends, or the general public like.
Tapping on Local Scout either from the start menu or from the search page gets your windows phone connecting to GPS and the 'net to pull sites of interest to your phone, once it's worked out your location it returns results for Eat + Drink, See + Do, Shop and Highlights.
Tapping any result within Local Scout will bring up an information card for that result, which will contain useful information such as the Venues contact details,
reviews of the venue (if available), the option to get directions to the venue from your current location and a link to the venues website (if available).
Local Scout is available here:
Australia, France, United Kingdom and United States
and only on devices with 512mb memory or more.
This can only be accessed from the search page by tapping the Eighth note (quaver) icon, tapping this icon and holding your phone to a music source your phone will recognise the song and then allow you to open the Zune music marketplace to buy/download the album/song. Not quite as capable as Shazam or Soundhound it's a nice feature to be available.
Microsoft saw fit to include a barcode / Microsoft Tags / QR code text reader straight in at OS level, this allows for some cool usage as barcodes and QR codes are all around use now.
Using the phones camera to scan a products barcode you can check instore prices against those online, comparison results are provided by Ciao!
QR codes are commonly being used for advertising campaigns now, to save people having to type a web address you just scan the QR code and get linked to the website, other uses are for contact details, time tables basically anything that's quicker to scan than type can be put into a code.
Vision search also supports OCR which can be used in a couple of ways this first being you can scan a news article from your morning paper, after scanning the article Bing will bring up the web version of the article for easy reading on the go.
The feature will work with over 30,000 publications. Hopefully chances are almost every major publication you can think of will supports the service.
The other way the OCR can be used is to translate text, once in vision search tapping scan while the camera is over text will take a photo of the text, if the OCR is good and the language is recognized you will get the option to translate the text.
Vision search is only available in these regions:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States.
Voice search is available from the search hub, tapping on the microphone icon will activate voice search which can interact with Local Scout if the search is considered to be a search for an activity / event i.e.
saying "Bowling" would open a web search about bowling
saying "Bowling in Boston" would open the Local Scout Panorama and show bowling lanes there.
saying "Bowling in Boston" would open the Local Scout Panorama and show bowling lanes there.
Voice Search is only available in the regions :
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and United States.
Tellme is Microsofts equivalent of Apples Siri. The service can be accessed from anywhere by pressing and holding the Windows key.
commands you can use are :-
Call
usage "Call Mom at home" would start calling your Mom at home (if you had saved the number as contact Mom or added the nickname Mom to the real name contact)
Find
usage "Find neogaf" would open the Bing Web panorama with links about / to NeoGaf
usage "Find pizza" will open the Windows Phone 7 Local Scout panorama showing pizzerias in the local area.
Open
usage "open 4th and Mayor" would launch the 4th and Mayor App (if installed).
Text
"Text Dad" "Fancy playing some golf this weekend" "send" sends a text to your Dad contact.
KID'S CORNER
New with Windows Phone 8 is Kid's Corner. Kid's Corner can be enabled in the Settings app and allows you to essentially create a "space" for children to use on the phone. With Kid's Corner, you don't have to worry about children messing with your own apps--it is easy to set up and to access.
While setting up the app, you can choose games, videos, apps, and music that can be accessed from Kid's Corner.
After Kid's Corner has been set up, it can be accessed by swiping right from your lock screen.
It can be lightly customized (name(s), accent colors, and wallpaper). Each tile represents the games, videos, apps, and music that you chose during setup.
The Windows Phone Store now has over 120,000 apps available for download, and Microsoft is still making moves to acquire the
Xbox Music is Microsoft’s new all-in-one music service, specially designed to let users listen to music in exactly the way they want. It combines the best aspects of free-streaming radio, music subscription services and music purchasing options, all in one elegant package
With Xbox Music you can access your music collection from any screen, combined with unique social features. It includes a music store for song downloads, music subscription offering, artist-based radio and a great cross-screen client for your personal music collections.
- Xbox Music Pass. Want unlimited access to the songs and artists you care about, including offline access? Get an Xbox Music Pass for ad-free, unlimited playback of any track in our subscription catalog across your tablet, PC, phone and Xbox 360 for US$9.99 per month. Xbox Music Pass also unlocks unlimited access to tens of thousands of music videos on your Xbox 360.
- Xbox Music Store. Want to own the music you love? The Xbox Music Store is a comprehensive MP3 marketplace giving you the opportunity to purchase a single track or entire album on your Windows 8 or Windows RT tablet or PC and Windows Phone 8.
- Smart DJ. Creating a new form of artist-based radio, the Smart DJ feature is a quick and dynamic way to personalize your collection, discover new favorites and create ultimate playlists by launching instant mixes based on your favorite artists. With unlimited skips and a view of the full recommended music stream, Smart DJ puts you in control of your Internet radio experience.
- Cloud Storage. Available in the coming year, a scan-and-match feature will take you beyond the 30 million tracks globally offered through Xbox Music. It will add all the music you own to your Xbox Music cloud catalog, including music acquired through other services. This means you can add almost any content you have to your personal Xbox Music collection, even if it’s not available in the Xbox Music catalog.
- Free streaming music on Windows 8 and Windows RT. Enjoy on-demand access to tens of millions of songs for free on all Windows 8 and Windows RT tablets and PCs. Discovering and enjoying free music on Windows 8 and Windows RT is as easy as typing an artist or song name and hitting “play” — songs are instantly available to stream and for you to create an unlimited amount of playlists.
- Social Music. Xbox Music will add unique social features in the coming year that let you share your music experiences with friends and family.
Xbox Music Pass:
The Zune Music Pass subscription service offers unlimited music streaming and is available in following countries:
USA ($9,99 per month)
Canada ($9.99)
Australia ($11.99)
UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria (£8.99 / €9.99 per month)
Canada ($9.99)
Australia ($11.99)
UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Austria (£8.99 / €9.99 per month)
Xbox Music:
The Zune Music marketplace offers over 30 million songs and is available in:
Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States
Xbox Video:
Video purchase is available in:
US, UK, France, Germany, Canada, Australia and New Zealand
Movie rental is available in:US, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Mexico, Canada, Australia and New Zealand
Podcasts
The Podcast section of the marketplace is only available in the US. Users outside the US have access to various podcast apps that are available in the Windows Phone Store. Ask people in the thread for recommendations.
With the underlying changes Microsoft made to the OS, Windows Phone finally supports a much wider range of hardware. The former limitations of the CE kernel, like max. 512 MB RAM or the lack of multi-core CPU support are gone.
The first version of the OS will be limited to Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 SoC, but support for other chipsets will be added shortly after launch.
Microsoft updated the minimum chassis requirements accordingly:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor
- Minimum 512MB RAM for WVGA phones; minimum 1GB RAM for 720p / WXGA
- Minimum 4GB flash memory
- GPS and A-GNSS; GLONASS is supported if OEMs decide to include it
- Support for micro-USB 2.0
- 3.5mm stereo headphone jack with three-button detection support
- Rear-facing AF camera with LED or Xenon flash, optional front-facing camera (both need to be VGA or better) and dedicated camera button
- Accelerometer, proximity and ambient light sensors, as well as vibration motor (magnetometer and gyroscope are optional)
- 802.11b/g and Bluetooth (802.11n is optional)
- DirectX graphics hardware support with hardware acceleration for Direct3D using programmable GPU
- Multi-touch capacitive touch screen with minimum of four simultaneous points
Note: While 512 MB RAM devices are supported, Microsoft recommends 1 GB RAM for full app and feature compatibility.
With the switch to the NT kernel, Microsoft dropped support for the previous two generations, which means that Windows Phone 7 user won't get an update to the new OS.
Here's a list of new phones you can buy instead!
GAMES
The Games app has been redesigned with several enhancements, including a more complete Xbox Live experience. Notifications are now supported and can be pushed to Windows Phones
OFFICE
The Office app has been updated with a new look similar to Office 2013, and has full access to documents stored in Skydrive. Office documents may be edited, commented on, and shared directly from your Windows Phone; resume work on your documents from any device with access to Skydrive.
OneNote is now its own app and has robust support in Windows Phone 8, including the ability to add photos into notes and to quickly record voice memos by utilizing Bing's voice commands (see below).
INTERNET EXPLORER
IE Mobile is closer to reaching parity with other top-of-the-line mobile browsers with the inclusion of IE 10 on Windows Phone 8 devices. In addition to being a much faster browser, the address bar button can be customized and the much-loved "Find on Page" feature returns after a hiatus following WP 7.5.
The Xbox SmartGlass application allows remote control and access of applications on an Xbox game console. Using SmartGlass, users can control various applications or discover additional information on an application or media (game, movie, etc.) being played.
For example: on election day, you could watch the news coverage on the NBC app, and look at an electoral college map on your phone/tablet running SmartGlass. Use SmartGlass to find information on a movie you're watching, music you're listening to, or access bonus content for a game being played.
A Room allows you to create a shared experience between yourself and your selected room members. Within a Room, you can share:
- Calendar
- Photos
- Notes
- Chat
Think of a room as a "folder" that automatically shares any and all messages, photos, calendar invites, etc., with the members. For example, you can choose to share a picture, or folder of pictures, with a group. Once shared, any one of those members can view these pictures. The chat function as a group chat between all members, constantly connecting you.
While the Room experience was design with Windows Phone 8 owners in mind, there is still functionality with other smartphone owners:
Groups, as opposed to Rooms, are an easy way for you to view updates from a group of people. You can view their latest social updates and latest photos, as well as easily send a group message to all of them.
Compared to Groups, Rooms are more collaborative; while Groups let you interact with the members via text, it really is more useful as a way of aggregating social updates from certain people.
- Hardware-Acceleration: Improved video and animation thanks to GPU-accelerated browsing.
- Improved HTML5/W3C Support: Over double the HTML5 support compared to WP 7.5, in addition to support for other web standards
- SmartScreen Filter: Protects you and your phone from harmful content
- Protected Mode: Allows the browser to be run in a safe "sandbox" environment
OTHER
MAPS: Bing Maps now uses Nokia Maps as its backend navigational source. Please note that Nokia Drive is included with Lumia devices only, though it is expected to be available to all phones in the near future.
BACKUP: Certain aspects of your Windows Phone can now be backed up, including settings, texts, photos (with optional setting for original/high resolution), and videos. At this time, game saves are not included in backups.
UPDATES: All updates can now be delivered OTA
MULTITASKING/RESUME: Multitasking has been expanded to allow 8 programs running at a time and also properly resumes applications instead of relaunching them. Please note that not all applications take advantage of the new resume functionality, but see the Facebook app for a live example.
Robobandit
Member
I've got a 16GB Zune HD that needs a home.. it isn't getting the love it deserves..
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Negative. I didn't look that hard, but when I did I found I couldn't upgrade for the price of free/penny so that solidified my waiting period.
Shit like this pisses me the fuck off though. I fucking hate the way Telecos run phone shit in the US. Just head to Amazon and click on all the different options to buy a phone. New customer? You get this price! Upgrade on a solo line? You get this other price here! Wait you're on a family plan? You get this other other price over here! Wait you want to add a line to a family plan? Sorry those other 3 prices aren't valid, and instead you get this 4th price here.
It makes me go nuts!
PS: I love how everyone in this thread likes to hate on me, yet I'm not singled out at the #1 person who owns a phone on the platform yet is constantly negative!
Negative. I didn't look that hard, but when I did I found I couldn't upgrade for the price of free/penny so that solidified my waiting period.
Shit like this pisses me the fuck off though. I fucking hate the way Telecos run phone shit in the US. Just head to Amazon and click on all the different options to buy a phone. New customer? You get this price! Upgrade on a solo line? You get this other price here! Wait you're on a family plan? You get this other other price over here! Wait you want to add a line to a family plan? Sorry those other 3 prices aren't valid, and instead you get this 4th price here.
It makes me go nuts!
PS: I love how everyone in this thread likes to hate on me, yet I'm not singled out at the #1 person who owns a phone on the platform yet is constantly negative!
Telcos are even worse in Canada.
Interfectum
Member
question about windows phone 7... when MS releases an OS update are they going to handle the update themselves (ala iphone) or is it going to be another android situation where some have to wait for the update depending on phone/carrier/etc?
Vanillalite
Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Are you talking off contract or on contract?
It's much closer to Android than how iOS handles updates.
frontieruk
Member
Carrier dictated
MisterNoisy
Member
Apparently, my Lumia 900 is going to be here 2 days before the actual launch. Woo - I love new toys!
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