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OldPueblo
May 2, 2007

Likes to argue. Wins arguments with ignorant people. Not usually against educated people, just ignorant posters. Bing it.

Shumagorath posted:

Oh, another issue with switching: I want zero data in iCloud because Apple's off-device security is poo poo, but can I make phone calls if the numbers are only in Outlook? Contact management is another area where Windows and Blackberry are way ahead.

Basically as far as I've been able to tell, you sync your outlook contacts over to the google contacts app. But it's a one way sync, if someone can somehow show me what I'm doing wrong that'd be amazing. But I think sadly that's just how it is. This will look overly detailed but I want to capture the incredulity I experienced when I went to do something I felt was really simple.

Scenario: Someone calls me and I want to save their number, so I long press and choose create new contact. This is a dumb telemarketer so I don't care about blocking the number. I want to create this in the outlook contacts of course because I only want to maintain one address book across all my devices. And it even gives me the option yay!



So I know fictitious Goon Test bro and might as well add his e-mail address at the same time. Wait why is there no e-mail field? Maybe if I click more fields? Nope. What if I instead choose to save to the Google account address book? Magically a ton more fields appear!



Okay whatever, I create it in the outlook address book and then go to send them a groupme room invite. Except no contact is found with that name?



So I'm thinking maybe it hasn't synced over to the google address book yet. Except it never does. So I start questioning whether or not I saved it. So I do a search inside of outlook people tab.



The contact is not there. So I go back to the google contacts app and there it is right there. If I choose edit it still says "Saving to myemailaddress:Outlook". So then I go play Overwatch with my son and jump on top of people as Winston to make me feel better.

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OldPueblo
May 2, 2007

Likes to argue. Wins arguments with ignorant people. Not usually against educated people, just ignorant posters. Bing it.
For me it was 920. I don't think anything was missing from it. QI, glance, DDTW, it was no compromise (except apps :v:).

OldPueblo
May 2, 2007

Likes to argue. Wins arguments with ignorant people. Not usually against educated people, just ignorant posters. Bing it.
So after moping around a bunch dealing with all of Android's annoyances I stumbled across this video and got really excited:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8qnbZC9GLU

Integrated Microsoft services embedded directly into Android, and no more half-assed Cortana integration! So I set about re-teaching myself all about ROM flashing from the good old days that started with the Droid Incredible. I unlocked my bootloader (wiping the phone), flashed recovery, installed cyanogenmod 13, couldn't boot, exercised critical thinking, realized CM13 is based on Android M and I had updated to N, reflashed back to Android M, then flashed to CM13, couldn't find Cortana anywhere, then realized that cyanogenmod and cyanogenos are two different operating systems and I'd just wasted a ton of time and wiped my device for no reason. Apparently the only way to get cyanogenos is to buy a phone that comes with it.

Welp! :bang:

I really wish MS would just release an android ROM of their own.

OldPueblo
May 2, 2007

Likes to argue. Wins arguments with ignorant people. Not usually against educated people, just ignorant posters. Bing it.

monster on a stick posted:

"Welcome to the post-app era"

That's seriously in the video.

So yeah that's dumb but also I linked the wrong video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HudXvIC8gps

This one shows the ability to launch Cortana from the lock screen, and Hey Cortana works everywhere in CyanogenOS not just within the app. That's the stuff I wanted. :( I really question now why MS hasn't just created a custom ROM with all embedded services and people can add gapps on their own.

Funny sidenote, my wife asked me if she could switch back to her Lumia 950 since it worked better and she's not one of "those app people". A tiny win for Microsoft. Sadly I had already sold it. :v:

OldPueblo
May 2, 2007

Likes to argue. Wins arguments with ignorant people. Not usually against educated people, just ignorant posters. Bing it.

Sombrerotron posted:

Three years ago I got a Lumia 820, with which I've been quite happy. Despite the somewhat restrictive amount of good, dedicated software, I've rarely if ever felt hamstrung in terms of functionality. Of course, my phone usage is mostly limited to calling/texting, jotting down appointments, whiling away the minutes whenever I'm waiting for something by reading news articles, getting directions, and occasionally looking up some other information - all pretty simple and straightforward, so I require few fancy applications. It still suits all my direct needs just fine. However, this phone is three years old now, the hardware itself is even older, and it's been ages since it received any system updates. Having grown accustomed to and fond of WP 8.1, I'd rather not switch to Android though (iOS is kind of out of the question, if only because of iPhone pricing).

So, what with Windows phones' future being uncertain at best, I thought that perhaps it might be a good time to get a replacement now before they're all gone. After some internal debate between the 950 and the much cheaper 650, I settled on the former because in terms of hardware the 650 didn't sound like much of an upgrade (and could even be considered a downgrade as far as the camera's concerned). It came in yesterday, but after some testing I'm left wondering if I really have any good reasons for spending over 300 euros on this phone. While there's nothing wrong with the 950 per se, I find it difficult to identify advantages in it that justify the expense.

For starters, a lot of the 950's pros just aren't that important to me or not implemented in such a way that I really care for them. Although the screen resolution is admittedly phenomenal, I feel that it's wasted on a 5.2" screen - especially in the way it's used. I suppose it's helpful when it comes to small text, but there seems to be so little of it that it hardly matters. Also, seeing as I don't typically hold my phone right up to my eyes (and am used to the comparatively low pixel density of computer monitors), I generally don't notice that everything's a little fuzzy/pixelated on the 820 anyway. The 950's extra screen real estate should be helpful too, yet it often looks like it's mitigated quite a bit by large text and images. Like the screen, the camera is certainly very impressive; unfortunately, if I'm honest I pretty rarely use my phone's camera and for casual picture-taking the 820's is still quite adequate anyway. Communion and Hello, too, are fancy features - yet I don't see myself ever needing them, or perhaps even using them at all. MS Office integration might be the most valuable thing to me about the 950, except only in theory. I only make serious use of Word, after all, and hell if I'm going to be typing out and editing entire documents on a goddamn phone with a touchscreen.

On the other hand, I'm finding there are a number of minor yet off-putting issues with the 950. Although it looks and feels quite pleasant, having smallish hands I must say I prefer the 820's more diminutive size. The fact that it's slightly thicker makes it somewhat more comfortable for me as well. Though to be fair, these concerns might disappear if I keep using the 950. The same may apply to the new look of, say, (Bing/MSN) Weather and the Store. Nevertheless, I do find it annoying having to adjust to a new interface - especially if I find that the changes make use more cumbersome than before. The elimination of tabbed pages in favour of long lists is not something that can be considered an improvement, in my opinion. To make matters worse, the amount of information now displayed on a single screen has in some cases actually decreased despite both the larger screen size and much higher resolution. Again, the technology comes across as wasted on the actual software. More generally speaking, WM 10 appears to do away with various aspects of WP 8.1's interface that I've grown accustomed to and which I appreciate. The previously ubiquitous tabbed pages have gone, suggestions don't pop up in the search bar anymore, and all the (in my opinion) really cool screen transitions have been removed. It's all just fade-ins and fade-outs now, with a simple zoom effect applied to the main screen. The overall effect is that the 950 is both less user-friendly and considerably duller than its older and technically inferior brother.

Still, I could overlook these nitpicky-ish irritants if it weren't for one especially baffling fact: in more that one instance, the 950 seems more sluggish than the 820. There is a distinct pause between swiping away from the main menu to the applications list on the 950, whereas on my 820 - with an even longer list of applications, mind - this transition is virtually instantaneous. Perhaps the delay is programmed right into WM 10, but it's not the only moment where the 950 looks like it's struggling a bit when you'd think it really wouldn't. For instance, it feels like it requires noticeably more time to load lists in the Store and has more trouble loading/unloading images fast enough to keep up with rapid scrolling. This may well be a side-effect of the images themselves being much higher-resolution than on the 820, but it begs the question whether it's more important to have great rendering speed than super sharp icons. What really left me dumbfounded, though, was the 950's performance in Maps. On my 820, I can wildly drag around the map at practically any size at a perfectly decent to almost perfect framerate. By contrast, the 950 chugs and jerks and wheezes enormously as I try to reposition the map, especially when it's zoomed in to afford a decent overview of any city area. My best guess is that it's a combination of WM 10 being a bit unoptimised and, again, the enormous resolution being rendered proving to be too taxing for the processor. If I'm doing something wrong, though, I'd be happy to hear it. For the record: I did completely update the phone and install offline maps, first.

Aside from the remarkably poor performance in Maps, I should stress that I haven't found anything wrong with the 950 as such. I'd consider it a fine and technically impressive phone, and if I didn't have the 820 I'd most likely keep it. But I do have the 820, and the fact is that I just don't think I'm ever going to find the 950 more enjoyable to use and currently don't see any other compelling reasons to make the switch. As such, I'm very seriously considering just returning it and keeping my 820 until I become genuinely dissatisfied with it. Would you guys agree, or is there something more I should consider before shipping it back?

Just a quick question, do you have your apps loading from a microsd card? If so, is it high performance?

OldPueblo
May 2, 2007

Likes to argue. Wins arguments with ignorant people. Not usually against educated people, just ignorant posters. Bing it.
Every time I check e-mail/calendar and communicate with someone I miss Windows Phone. That's multiple times a day, why doesn't MS just make an Android ROM or something with native Cortana. :sigh: Why can't I adapt to android e-mail/calendar/contact apps?? I've gotten much less productive since switching and I feel like an old man shouting at technology. :argh:

OldPueblo
May 2, 2007

Likes to argue. Wins arguments with ignorant people. Not usually against educated people, just ignorant posters. Bing it.

CharlesM posted:

I mean what is it? The Alpine I got doesn't seem to be and I want to get something else.

Are you connecting with that extra box checked under Bluetooth settings? I found that helped a lot with compatibility.

OldPueblo
May 2, 2007

Likes to argue. Wins arguments with ignorant people. Not usually against educated people, just ignorant posters. Bing it.

Doctor_Fruitbat posted:

Does anyone know of a simple way to transfer text messages from Windows to Android? The Xperia transfer app didn't seem to have the option. Everything else I've managed to transfer over, although getting my Live contacts to show anywhere outside of Outlook was a ballache I never want to experience again.

I've used this with success, though I don't think this is the URL I originally saw it at. It doesn't appear easy but it actually is pretty straight forward.

https://medium.com/@matteocontrini/how-to-transfer-windows-phone-smses-to-android-6d5e941f3362

OldPueblo
May 2, 2007

Likes to argue. Wins arguments with ignorant people. Not usually against educated people, just ignorant posters. Bing it.

n0tqu1tesane posted:

Oh, yeah, I tried that, but the contacts+messages backup app didn't work on my 950.

Strange, I came from a 950 myself. Welp!

OldPueblo
May 2, 2007

Likes to argue. Wins arguments with ignorant people. Not usually against educated people, just ignorant posters. Bing it.
I'm pretty much ready for a portable pocket computer that also does phone stuff. So tired of all phones having some kind of compromise. I still contend that Windows phone had the best email/calendar/contacts/assistant UI or integration of all devices. Since I've moved to Android I feel like more of a jumbled mess and no system I come up with works as well as stock Windows phone. :( I wish MS would do a full Android fork like Amazon or something.

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OldPueblo
May 2, 2007

Likes to argue. Wins arguments with ignorant people. Not usually against educated people, just ignorant posters. Bing it.

Edward IV posted:

Yeah, I assume that a bad battery was what was causing stability issues with my 950 XL. However instead of buying a replacement battery, I used the money towards buying a Galaxy S8 Active.

While I have more or less gotten used to Android after sidestepping most of the Samsung bloat, one thing I've only now realized is how limited Cortana is on Android particularly when it comes to sending texts. The texting feature is great to use while driving since I can use it completely through voice control. The first time I try to send a text through Cortana on Android, I get a prompt to select a contact even though I used the voice command and included the contact's name. So I select the prompt only to be greeted by Android's contact list with no voice commands and I think to myself that this may not be very safe to use while driving. I very carefully find my contact and select it and then I'm finally greeted with a prompt to enter my message again with no voice commands except for the keyboard's dictation mode at which point I just gave up and continued driving.

Not a complete deal breaker since I don't use it very often but it is really useful when I get texts while driving. But boy is using Cortana on Android like this really unsafe for driving and quite cumbersome otherwise.

This is pretty recent https://www.windowscentral.com/cortana-now-lets-you-start-calls-and-send-texts-your-voice-android.

I finally gave up on Cortana and started using GA. Maybe I'll give it another shot, I also believe Cortana is built into Arrow Microsoft Launcher now.

OldPueblo fucked around with this message at 01:06 on Mar 31, 2018

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