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Maneki Neko posted:Ha, well might actually be easier than it sounds: Yeah, someone on my twitter feed mentioned that yesterday. I still wish GIFs were available in image controls, but I guess this is the next best thing.
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Jun 19, 2014 22:59
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Maneki Neko posted:Yeah, I'm pondering jumping ship this year over the state of the music experience (both the app and syncing), and I was literally the only non-microsoft employee purchasing a phone back on 7.x launch day at my local AT&T store. Same here. Is iTunes on PC really atrocious? For gently caress's sake, every single loving thing about music/podcasts is DELIBERATELY loving worse on WP8/8.1/Windows8.
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Jun 20, 2014 00:28
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Can anyone recommend a good to-do/gtd app for WP? I used to use Things on iOS and I'm not sure what to replace it with.
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Jun 20, 2014 00:46
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EdEddnEddy posted:+1 for a Zune and ZuneHD fan and still baffled as to why Microsoft thought it was important or a good idea to kill the name, brand, style, software. This post. The experience is getting worse it seems and no one wants to support the platform. I emailed Starbucks asking they were working on a WP app. Here is a portion if their reply. quote:As we grow and evolve our mobile applications, we seek to develop on the platforms where we see the greatest opportunity. At this time we will not support the Windows platform but will continue to evaluate it as the landscape evolves. If the ship stays the course I will finally be trying out iOS this fall, if the rumors of larger iPhones are true.[ Doomsday Jesus fucked around with this message at 01:41 on Jun 20, 2014 |
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Jun 20, 2014 01:36
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Battery life update: nuked and reverted to 8.0. Day 1 was good, but day 2 my phone got stuck draining ~20% an hour sitting in my pocket. Hooray.
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Jun 20, 2014 02:08
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WattsvilleBlues posted:What do you miss from WP when using other platforms? I ask because my next phone will be an Android, after nearly 3 years with Windows Phone. That may be difficult to quantify for me because I think I'm quite biased. Windows Phone was my first real smartphone and it's what I'm most familiar with since WP7 first came out. As a result, I prefer the UI and design of WP and I like all the new things Microsoft is bringing with WP8.1. I feel it's more consistent than Android and more aesthetically pleasing than iOS. The home screen is far more useful that iOS and it's easier to make a functional home screen that has consistent UI elements and won't clash like crazy. When comparing the functionality of WP to Android, I may not be the best person to consult. My experience with Android has been derived from my Nexus 7 (2013) and I don't feel that Android makes a great tablet OS when compared to Windows 8. It feels like vanilla Android doesn't make much use out of the increased screen real estate. As for on phones, the newest Android phone that I had used was running Gingerbread which is far from modern, up to date, or relevant. However, this whole debacle with Xbox Music has shaken my confidence. Despite having said this a million times before, what I really miss is Zune especially once it got SmartDJ in WP 7.5. It's because Zune was thrown to the wayside in favor of the piece of garbage that is Xbox Music that I don't feel nearly as much attachment to Windows Phone as I did a over a year before. The only reason I had touched Android earlier was because I had busted my old Dell Venue Pro and it was quicker to buy a used replacement Android phone until the actual replacement from Dell arrived over a week later. It really is bad for Microsoft that I'm looking at the older Lumia 900 and an Android phone as supplementary phones or possibly as a replacement combo. The new CEO's objective to restructure Microsoft is one of the few reasons I'm not completely dismissing Windows Phone yet. That change can't come any sooner.
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Jun 20, 2014 04:01
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Edward IV posted:
What I do like about Windows Phone 8.1 is the transparent tiles which gives it a visual edge over the competition, but the music situation has convinced me that Microsoft just does not give enough of a poo poo about the mobile market. So if they don't give a poo poo why should their potential customers? I've been carrying the torch for the Windows Phone platform since its inception but the continued bungling of the music situation at this point feels like a total slap in the face. G-III fucked around with this message at 04:27 on Jun 20, 2014 |
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Jun 20, 2014 04:25
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Edward IV posted:The new CEO's objective to restructure Microsoft is one of the few reasons I'm not completely dismissing Windows Phone yet. That change can't come any sooner. I don't think this will do anything as long as the management ranks are filled with "GO TEAM GO! CRAPPLE AND SCROOGLE! Evangelize to the wife and kids!" high school football team loyalty garbage. Hoping that "restructure" is actually code for "mass purge." In other news, Xbox Video appears to be the most battery-efficient app on my phone. I can watch locally stored videos for 30-40 minutes without ever heating up the phone or having mass drain problems. Really curious if this indicates something internet-related that other apps are doing which causes the heating issues.
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Jun 20, 2014 05:24
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G-III posted:Any restructuring going on right now at Microsoft will take at least a year for teams to get re-aligned, their budgets properly allocated, their project portfolio updated, new project plans drafted, new requirements updated, and finally something developed. LentThem posted:I don't think this will do anything as long as the management ranks are filled with "GO TEAM GO! CRAPPLE AND SCROOGLE! Evangelize to the wife and kids!" high school football team loyalty garbage. Hoping that "restructure" is actually code for "mass purge." xylo fucked around with this message at 08:49 on Jun 20, 2014 |
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Jun 20, 2014 08:42
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Really am ecstatic that Microsoft is teasing the release of a Nokia X Android phone. 
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Jun 20, 2014 13:40
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Anyone else have an issue where they're connected to WiFi but the phone is using mobile data? I know I am.
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Jun 21, 2014 14:15
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Doomsday Jesus posted:Anyone else have an issue where they're connected to WiFi but the phone is using mobile data? As I previously reported, none of my searches in the xbox music store were working via the phone yet the same searches would work on the xbox music website and windows 8 app. I've been a long time zune / xbox music subscriber which got me grandfathered into the 10 credits per month, however the only place where you can still spend song credits is ONLY through the phone interface. Therefore not being able to search and purchase music from the phone basically renders my xbox music subscription completely worthless. No matter what search you put it, the store search in the xbox music app will come back as "no results." Turns out, in order to even SEARCH for music in the xbox music app, you need have location services enabled for the app and then sync your microsoft account. I poo poo you not, the app won't even let you look up songs in their store unless they know your gps location. Utter loving bullshit. Meanwhile, I'm definitely dropping this poo poo in November and canceling my xbox music subscription as Windows Phone has turned into a colossal goddamn joke. No consumer should ever have to go through this crap simply to play music on their phones. G-III fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Jun 21, 2014 |
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Jun 21, 2014 16:24
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Doomsday Jesus posted:Anyone else have an issue where they're connected to WiFi but the phone is using mobile data? Is it a specific application or all of them? If you launch the "cellular+SIM" settings, what's the setting for limited wifi connectivity?
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Jun 21, 2014 16:29
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Do Windows phones have a feature where if you can roll an app back to a previous version?
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Jun 21, 2014 16:43
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wormil posted:Do Windows phones have a feature where if you can roll an app back to a previous version? If you have a Lumia you can use Nokia's tool to roll back to 8.0: http://nds2.fds-fire.nokia.com/fds_fire/1310/0909/7297834135/NokiaSoftwareUpdaterForRetail_4.1.0.exe (caution, link automatically starts downloading the .exe - only click if you have a Nokia and are ready to install it)
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Jun 21, 2014 17:50
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G-III posted:As I previously reported, none of my searches in the xbox music store were working via the phone yet the same searches would work on the xbox music website and windows 8 app. I've been a long time zune / xbox music subscriber which got me grandfathered into the 10 credits per month, however the only place where you can still spend song credits is ONLY through the phone interface. Therefore not being able to search and purchase music from the phone basically renders my xbox music subscription completely worthless. No matter what search you put it, the store search in the xbox music app will come back as "no results." Not even disputing that the xbox music app is horrible but if you are a zune pass subscriber, you can still use the grandfathered song downloads in the wonderful zune desktop app.
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Jun 21, 2014 23:08
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G-III posted:As I previously reported, none of my searches in the xbox music store were working via the phone yet the same searches would work on the xbox music website and windows 8 app. I've been a long time zune / xbox music subscriber which got me grandfathered into the 10 credits per month, however the only place where you can still spend song credits is ONLY through the phone interface. Therefore not being able to search and purchase music from the phone basically renders my xbox music subscription completely worthless. No matter what search you put it, the store search in the xbox music app will come back as "no results." This may not be helpful in your case but it reminds me of a dumb thing that I don't think anyone has mentioned, that might help others. When you search for music it searches locally first/only. You have to tap right below the search window "Search more in Store" to toggle searching the store. You cant change this default behavior that I'm aware, and its dumb.
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Jun 22, 2014 05:54
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OldPueblo posted:This may not be helpful in your case but it reminds me of a dumb thing that I don't think anyone has mentioned, that might help others. When you search for music it searches locally first/only. You have to tap right below the search window "Search more in Store" to toggle searching the store. You cant change this default behavior that I'm aware, and its dumb. This had nothing to do with it as the searches were clearly toggled to search in the store. Additionally without location services turned on for the app, you can't buy music even if you browse to it through the store menus. The interface will vomit an error code at you, and it was through that error code I was able to diagnose the problem.
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Jun 22, 2014 09:19
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Doomsday Jesus posted:Anyone else have an issue where they're connected to WiFi but the phone is using mobile data? I've had my WiFi just disable itself at random. I usually notice relatively quickly, but that's kind of troubling. I've also been getting a lot of "NO SERVICE" lately, even in locations that have had perfectly fine service in the past.
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Jun 22, 2014 15:29
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hotsauce posted:If you have a Lumia you can use Nokia's tool to roll back to 8.0: Thanks, I was thinking apps in general but then realized how impractical that would be storagewise. I do have a Lumia on the way, was supposed to be here Friday but didn't come.
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Jun 22, 2014 16:24
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I'm looking at upgrading from my horrendous Huawei Y200 to a Windows phone because gently caress the ten different versions of android. I am looking at the Nokias 520, 620 and 630. my max budget is 200 dollarydoos, which is what a 630 costs. I can get a 520 for $80 used and locked to telstra, which is the carrier I already plan to use anyway. or new and unlocked for $130. but an unlocked 620 is only $150, a mere twenty bucks more, and then another $50 brings me to both the newest 630 and the max of my budget. I mainly use my smartphone for a running tracker app and plan to use this new phone slightly more with more fitness apps. I'm a little bit confused as to the differences between these three phones other than the 520 looking really cool and smaller than the 600 series phones. I'm hoping some of you have used these phones, and can give me some advice. RasputinVarez fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Jun 26, 2014 |
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Jun 23, 2014 05:05
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In this price range, the important thing to know is what compromises have been made to push the price down. The 520 lacks a front-facing camera (for video calls or selfies). It has no LED flash (not terribly important for photos, but can be handy as a flashlight). Finally, the screen is rather reflective, which can make it hard to read in sunlight. The screen picks up fingerprints easily. It's generally considered good value for the money. The 620 does have a front-facing camera (of low resolution) and an LED flash. Despite the small size of the screen, it's generally the highest-quality of them - good contrast, good colours, good visibility in sunlight. It has support for the "Glance screen", which can be handy to see unanswered calls/texts at a glance. It has the worst battery life of the three. The 630 is rather similar to the 520 in that it also lacks the front-facing camera and LED flash. There's no separate camera button. The processor is quad-core and enables a power-efficient always-on step counter for fitness programs, which may be important for your use scenario. The screen is decent, has better visibility in sunlight than the 520. Strangely, there's no ambient light sensor, so you will need to manually adjust brightness. It's Gorilla Glass 3, so perhaps more scratch-resistant. Finally, the 630 has the best battery life of the bunch, and it will hopefully improve a bit as the initial bugs from WP 8.1 are ironed out.
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Jun 26, 2014 03:13
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I was also kind of disappointed that my 625 doesn't have a compass which would have been really handy since I have zero ability to determine which way I'm going if I'm not familiar with the immediate surroundings so having to refresh GPS every few seconds to tell if I'm going east or west is kind of annoying. Not sure how that plays into your fitness thing, if at all, but maybe worth knowing. I'm generally happy with WP8.1 but I think I'm going to look at upgrading my hardware sooner rather than later. 625 is nice with a few quirks here and then that just make me want something a little better. Mostly it just feels like such a "meh" phone. Nothing AWFUL about it, but there's nothing really imaginative about it either. Feels like Nokia's mission here was to make the most bland, inoffensive phone ever, and I think they succeeded pretty well.
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Jun 26, 2014 03:16
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They really need to bring something under $200 (or around that) with at least 720p, a flash, and 1GB, as I've been saying since the MotoG introduction. The 630 is such a weird product in so many respects - no ambient light sensor is just bizarre, but nearly a year later making a model that by its # designation should be an upgrade from the 620 but is a downgrade in many respects - 512MB as opposed to 1GB, no flash, no front facing camera, still relatively low-res screen, etc. This really should be obvious - the only time WP had significant momentum was when the 520 was such a ridiculous deal off-contract so WP finally started getting some traction in countries where most phones are purchased that way. But MS/Nokia haven't been as aggressive since, and reportedly market share declines in Europe last quarter, so WP is treading around 3% where it has for seemingly forever now. There's just no substantial traction. Dunno, I'm pretty close to getting off this sputtering train I think, especially since my 520 slipped out of my hands and now cracked the screen (dropped 6 inches, screen cracks - whipped it out of my pocket twice by snagging my elbow on the headphone cables where it launched 10+ feet and bounced on the ground without incident in the past, luck of the draw). I have $200 credit at an MS store from an iPad2 trade-in I really can't use on anything else, so if there was say, a 640/650 for $200 with the specs I listed above I would probably have one by now, but who knows when/if such a WP phone will hit the market. That, combined with a a lot of promising stuff shown at Google I/O (I really like the new design direction of Android), and with MS continuing to struggle with such advanced features as "Play several music tracks in a row", I can't see the point or much hope that MS really gets it other than continually touting some mystical synergistic future where the ever-lasting promise of "universal apps" apps actually has something tangible in terms of net gains for the desktop/phone user (frankly Apple demonstrated a huge portion of what I would actually want from that as opposed to running crappy phone apps on my PC, but the off-contract price of iPhones and making GBS threads desktop selection makes that somewhat of a non-starter for me to migrate to it as my main platform). Hell, that "synergy" now consists of me syncing my shopping lists with Onenote on the desktop and phone, which I could do with any other platform.
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Jun 26, 2014 12:47
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Happy_Misanthrope posted:That, combined with a a lot of promising stuff shown at Google I/O (I really like the new design direction of Android), and with MS continuing to struggle with such advanced features as "Play several music tracks in a row", I can't see the point or much hope that MS really gets it other than continually touting some mystical synergistic future where the ever-lasting promise of "universal apps" apps actually has something tangible in terms of net gains for the desktop/phone user (frankly Apple demonstrated a huge portion of what I would actually want from that as opposed to running crappy phone apps on my PC, but the off-contract price of iPhones and making GBS threads desktop selection makes that somewhat of a non-starter for me to migrate to it as my main platform). Speaking as someone who has made two "Universal Apps" so far, I would say it is a massively good thing from a development standpoint. It's so much easier to take an existing Windows 8 app and port it down to the phone, or create a new app that supports both form factors. It does things that you could have kinda already done with portable class libraries, but it makes the process much simpler. Universal Apps are not "Phone apps on your PC"; it's taking the same base code and using it on both platforms. Sure, technically you could run the same views on both, but Microsoft (and common sense) suggests new views for that support each platform. Development issues are not the big problem with universal apps. It's the actual logistics of creating an app in the first place. Why bother when there are so few users? If you want to make money off of it, you're probably going to get screwed. I started using my iPhone again, mostly because the music situation and that I actually want to use my Pebble as a smartwatch again. Android Wear looks amazing, specifically the Moto 360, and I would get a new Nexus device just so I could use it. Windows Phone does not even support the Pebble yet.
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Jun 26, 2014 13:31
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Happy_Misanthrope posted:GREAT BIG WALL OF TEXT Android has had more time to iron out it's issues And you are right on the stats front, If that new Nokia X2 was a windows phone it might be ideal. Hell, if any of these had 1GB of RAM it'd seal the deal for me. Perhaps I should go for a new Android, but Microsoft's interesting interface, stability, efficient RAM usage and the fact that they aren't trying to phase out SD cards interest me. (I've read that Android isn't going to support installing apps on SD cards)
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Jun 26, 2014 13:42
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RasputinVarez posted:and the fact that they aren't trying to phase out SD cards interest me. (I've read that Android isn't going to support installing apps on SD cards) Removing support for installing apps to the SD card is a good thing. SD cards can be removed while the OS is running, SD cards are great but should only be used for music, movies, and other media. Allowing apps on SD cards causes so many user and developer issues its not even funny. The only time I could see it being a big issue is the Moto E only has 4gb on board, that's pretty small. But the G with 8 on board + a 16 or 32 SD card would probably work for almost anyone. Stick100 fucked around with this message at 15:07 on Jun 26, 2014 |
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Jun 26, 2014 15:04
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Happy_Misanthrope posted:
There's also the Moto E. It's not quite as nice as a G but it's a tank with killer battery life with a good screen and experience for $130 w/ one free screen replacement. I assume whatever they did to the G to make it survive 30 minutes underwater was also done to the E. (All Moto products bought directly from Moto come with a free screen replacement).
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Jun 26, 2014 15:06
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My guess is that the X line will eventually be replacing the Asha series of phones. Also, soak tests for Cyan are apparently going out in Finland for the 925.
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Jun 26, 2014 17:53
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This might be a controversial opinion in this thread these days, but during the forums downtime I decided that I might be coming around on the Music app  Like, it's still not "good" but it's usable now, for my particular use case (huge 20-gig dump of locally-stored MP3s) anyway. I still use Cortana to queue stuff up most of the time, but it's more because I listen to most of my music while driving than because the app is a horrible mess. Going in to do something like turn shuffle on or off now takes only a few seconds like it should, and the Artist list is still much slower to load than it has any business being in 2014, but even that has sped up to "minor inconvenience" status rather than "total dealbreaker." Like, it's still nowhere near where it should be at this point, and sync is still awful as far as I know, but I can't really see it as something that should drive you away by itself anymore  Am I just a special case, or am I rationalizing, or what?
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Jun 26, 2014 18:31
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How much of a game-changer is Cortana on day-to-day use? I'm itching to get a new phone but if Cortana is balls-to-the-wall great, I might wait a while longer until it lands in the UK.
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Jun 26, 2014 19:36
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The ability to save news searches so that it pulls up new articles on that topic in the Cortana feed I find mildly useful, restaurant finding is a bit gimmicky but I've used it more than I expected so I guess it's doing something right, and you can do things like tell it "World Cup matches" and it displays the upcoming matches in your local time and channel. The real game changer though, at least for me, is the ability to set people, place, or time reminders by voice OR by typing it out. Never gonna forget to pick something up at the store again. 
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Jun 26, 2014 20:13
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Yeah, Cortana's type input option is great, and reminders are a huge game-changer. I haven't used the location- or contact-based reminders that much, but that's mostly because I keep forgetting about them. It strikes me that if this thread is any indication, Preview for Developers actually turned out to be a really bad idea on MS's part, though. Again, I think the Music app has by now improved enough that if we went straight from 8.0's version to the current one the prevailing reaction would be "hmm artist browsing is wonky now, that kinda sucks but ". Instead we had to deal with it when it was completely crippled and broken for a really long time, and it pissed everyone off to the extent that tons of longtime users are apparently switching away because it's still not completely fixed, and 8.1 still hasn't even seen general release yet (and maybe Music is why it hasn't???).
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Jun 26, 2014 20:19
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WattsvilleBlues posted:How much of a game-changer is Cortana on day-to-day use? I'm itching to get a new phone but if Cortana is balls-to-the-wall great, I might wait a while longer until it lands in the UK. So far I think Cortana is probably the best thing about 8.1. loquacius posted:Yeah, Cortana's type input option is great, and reminders are a huge game-changer. I haven't used the location- or contact-based reminders that much, but that's mostly because I keep forgetting about them. Well, for me, 8.1 preview was useful in that it showed that Microsoft really didn't seem have making the Music and sync experience any better in 8.1 a priority, and that it's probably time to look for a new phone. I don't see anything that would've led to me arriving at a different conclusion once 8.1 was released though either, the best I think the 8.1 music app can hope for is to be as good as the 8.0 one, which frankly sucked compared to 7.5 Maneki Neko fucked around with this message at 20:44 on Jun 26, 2014 |
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Jun 26, 2014 20:40
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ack, double post.
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Jun 26, 2014 20:42
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loquacius posted:It strikes me that if this thread is any indication, Preview for Developers actually turned out to be a really bad idea on MS's part, though. Again, I think the Music app has by now improved enough that if we went straight from 8.0's version to the current one the prevailing reaction would be "hmm artist browsing is wonky now, that kinda sucks but Preview for Developers is not akin to a beta release, it may be considered a "release candidate", but even that's being generous IMO. The gap between it and the release from the carriers has a lot to do with Nokia and the few other WP models to get their firmware to behave with it and carriers testing it as well. The fact of the matter is, the music experience as a whole on the WP platform (and one could argue, Windows) has been in a continual downgrade since WP 7.5, with features omitted and bizarre interface changes amongst several "reboots" for no seemingly no reason. Xbox Music was poo poo when it was released behind a paywall in WP 8, then got a lot of flack for it and did little to improve it. It has trouble playing successive tracks without randomly projecting a burst of the previous track - still - for fucks sake. The wheel has been re-invented several times and it's gotten closer and closer to a square. Preview for Developers was an absolute necessity. If I had to wait until late this year - like I will if I had to wait on my carrier - to get the 8.1 features on my phone (don't forget, the majority of which are just playing catch-up to the competition in many aspects) then I would have ditched WP long ago. Happy_Misanthrope fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Jun 26, 2014 |
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Jun 26, 2014 21:29
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I just bought the Lumia Icon as my work phone. I'm ready to
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Jun 27, 2014 00:24
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OK, after posting on the Android thread apparently Android has never had any optimization problems and has never been a RAM hog... So after some more research, I think I might be going with the Nokia Lumia 920. I can get one for $250 which is $50 over my original budget but still quite reasonable 720p screen (well 1280 x 768 becasue of the digital button thing windows has) 1GB of RAM, and whilst it doesn't have expandable storage it does have 32GB built in and works with windows 8.1 Is this a good phone?
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Jun 27, 2014 01:27
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RasputinVarez posted:OK, after posting on the Android thread apparently Android has never had any optimization problems and has never been a RAM hog... Haha, I sincerely asked what you'd heard about RAM problems and then offered you legit recommendations. Oh well. If you're saying that Android caches stuff to RAM and you're worried about 80%+ RAM being "in use" or whatever, you need to realize that RAM not being used is being wasted. Task killers or other poo poo that boots stuff out of RAM is literally doing harm to battery and performance, not good. Here's an article from 2011 explaining how Android uses RAM and why you shouldn't care about it at all, and keep in mind it's only gotten better since then. As far as I know, WP and iOS work the same way with respect to RAM, though they both restrict active background processes more.
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Jun 27, 2014 01:44
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The more I use WinPhone, the more I find that developers use the back button inconsistently and I really wish it would stop. Is it going to take me back to the last sheet? Is it going to exit the app outright? It's anyone's guess! Or at least that's how it seems from my viewpoint. Maybe they are using it consistently and I'm just doing it wrong? Either way it seems messy.
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Jun 27, 2014 01:50
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