which phone?

[Target]

It's come around time for me to refresh my existing (android) mobile handset and I'm tossing up whether or not to dabble with a windows phone

I've read lots of reviews and I'm really no closer to a decision so I'm canvassing for some 'real world' advice

Anyone here had a foot in both the windows and android camps care to chip in?

[Ath]

Mostly depends on the requirements you have for your apps and if you need to move over data from your old phone.
If you want a simple to use phone and don't want to pull out the big cash for an iPhone, get Windows Phone, if you need to do a little more complicated stuff, get an Android.

For dabbling you could always buy a cheap Windows Phone model with a prepaid card, for real world use (by a technically inclined person) I (still) think Android is the best solution.

[Shades]

The Lumia 520 I have is a decent phone...comes with a lot of software and offline map and has 1 GByte of RAM + 16GByte of storage capacity (half of it is already taken up by the OS and pre-installed software).

If your needs don't go much further than those functionalities that software provides you have a good phone. If you want to control your media set remotely with your phone...then don't. Not that many games are available either. But recently Microsoft announced that every Lumia phone that is capable of running Windows Phone 8 will get an upgrade to Windows 10 for free.

Bought mine here (without any plan) from a guy who tried it for a few days and didn't like it for 500.000 Gs which roughly translates in 125 USD, the official price here is still 800.000 Gs, which is close to 200 USD. If you live in Western-Europe or the US, Windows phones (new) can be had for less.

If you get a Lumia that won't break the bank, get the Lumia 535, not the Lumia 530! Spend a bit more to get the Lumia 935, which comes with a camera that isn't too afraid of the dark anymore.

Sure hope they make the 'Project my screen' app work a lot better soon...that app projects the screen of your Windows phone to your desktop, giving you full control over your phone from your PC. 'WhatsApp'-ing with your PC keyboard and mouse is a major improvement.

[eleman]

You may want to check out this.

[allen]

I used Windows Phone for a couple years, starting with WP7 through Cortana. I am presently using Android. I enjoyed using/having a windows phone more than Android. It's a far more consistent, streamlined and intuitive experience.

Honestly, I do not like Android. I don't care for it. It's a convoluted mess of Vendor, OS, and everything inbetween. It is loaded with apps I don't want that I cannot install. As an ecosystem, Android brings me no joy. . . but I wouldn't trade it for Windows Phone today, because Android Just Works, with everything, pretty much all the time. A new service, app or device comes out, it works with Android. Windows Phone, you have to beg, wait, and hope support comes along. And when it does, it's usually half-baked.

Long story short -- I prefer the Windows Phone OS, but you can do a lot more with Android.

[4wd]

You may want to check out this.

You'll have to update your other post, Nokia have just released Here android into a more open beta, (used to have to download from Nokia).

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.here.app.maps

[eleman]

You may want to check out this.

You'll have to update your other post, Nokia have just released Here android into a more open beta, (used to have to download from Nokia).

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.here.app.maps

Awesomissimo. Yeah, I'll use it in Italy.

[superboyac]

I used Windows Phone for a couple years, starting with WP7 through Cortana. I am presently using Android. I enjoyed using/having a windows phone more than Android. It's a far more consistent, streamlined and intuitive experience.

Honestly, I do not like Android. I don't care for it. It's a convoluted mess of Vendor, OS, and everything inbetween. It is loaded with apps I don't want that I cannot install. As an ecosystem, Android brings me no joy. . . but I wouldn't trade it for Windows Phone today, because Android Just Works, with everything, pretty much all the time. A new service, app or device comes out, it works with Android. Windows Phone, you have to beg, wait, and hope support comes along. And when it does, it's usually half-baked.

Long story short -- I prefer the Windows Phone OS, but you can do a lot more with Android.

I concur exactly.  Well said.

My struggle with the windows phone was that your brain wants to treat it like windows, the windows we love which is full of options and possibilities and third party tools, etc.  But the windows phone is none of those things.  it's even more restrictive than iOS, without the apps.  So it's essentially the most restricted device imaginable.  I stopped using it when the nexus 5 came out.

[Innuendo]

Windows Phone is a platform that has very solid hardware with mobile cameras that have no equal on Android and iOS. It also has a full-featured OS that makes a lot of people happy. Unfortunately, their app store is very anemic. There are many apps that just do not exist on Windows Phone that exist on other platforms.

Allen makes some very good points, but choosing an Android OEM is much like choosing a Linux distro. They all run the same OS underneath, but each OEM adds their own spin to things. As for not being able to uninstall apps your carrier puts on, it's nothing rooting the phone and using an app like Titanium Backup wouldn't cure, but that course of action is not for beginners or the weak of heart.

[Target]

thanks to all who have responded - I now realise I made a mistake in asking the way i did (it has the potential to degenerate into another 'fanboy discussion').  I wouldn't expect that to happen here but it wouldn't be the first time.

My struggle with the windows phone was that your brain wants to treat it like windows, the windows we love which is full of options and possibilities and third party tools, etc.  But the windows phone is none of those things.  it's even more restrictive than iOS, without the apps.  So it's essentially the most restricted device imaginable.  I stopped using it when the nexus 5 came out.

This seems to encapsulate the replies so far, but it's ultimately fairly inconclusive.

Reading between the lines here it seems that the user experience on WP is generally excellent.  The dissatisfaction (?) seems to centre around a lack (?) of customising options, and the fact that some (many?) of the applications available under other platforms aren't available under WP (is that a reasonable expectation?).

That said, WP seems to offer some options that the others don't?

FWIW the 2 handsets I'm considering are the LG G3 and the Lumia 830.  I don't have any particular dependency or affinity with android, nor do I have anything of importance that I might lose (that I know of ).  I'm not terribly interested in customising nor do I have any particular expectations of the hardware, so long as it works well and is reliable.  

In the end this may come down to the toss of a coin

[Shades]

When choosing between those 2 phones, I would go for the Lumia. Because of the (Lumia only) Nokia software, which is great, and the MS promise that they will offer an upgrade to Windows 10 for all Lumia phones that run Windows Phone 8.

In case you do get a Lumia, you would better go for the 835 than the 830. In the lower classes of the series Nokia reduced the amount of RAM in the successors. For example the 520 had 1GByte of RAM, the 530 had 512KByte of RAM. Now Microsoft comes with the 535 and it is back at 1GByte again.

I don't know if Nokia did something like that to the 830, but if they did, then MS fixed this in the 835 model.

[Stoic Joker]

I've had a Nokia Lumia 928 for the last year or so and have been quite happy with it.

[Innuendo]

I'm a huge Android fan, but I have to cast my vote against the LG G3. We really don't need a 4K display on a smart phone yet. There's hardly any content that takes advantage of the higher resolution and it is a needless drain on your battery.

[Target]

In case you do get a Lumia, you would better go for the 835 than the 830.

the 835 isn't available here (Oz), but while the 830 specs are generally acknowledged as being a little behind the current 'standards' they appear to be more than adequate

re the G3, I'd be interested in some sensible feedback on battery life (I very much like the look of this handset).  Most reviewers seem to think that 1 day is acceptable (personally I think that's pathetic, but what do I know) .  FWIW I generally wind everything back as far as I can to stretch the battery as far as possible

[Renegade]

Probably not of interest to you, but you can spend Bitcoin on Windows Phone now.

[Tuxman]

Windows Phone is ok, it just has a horrible lack of third-party apps.

[Dirhael]

I own/have owned several Windows Phones (920, 930, 1520), and overall I really, really like the OS and hardware. The problem is as mentioned a lack of apps and reduced/missing features in apps compared to other platforms. You'll also miss out on several features (such as Cortana) if you're living in the "wrong" country. Due to this I'm currently using a combo of the iPhone 6+ and the HTC One m8 (flashed to a Google Edition, now on Android 5.0) as my daily drivers, but the instant WP starts getting treated as a first-class citizen I'm switching back.

iOS has the apps, but the OS itself doesn't really do it for me. Android has almost the same selection of apps (and some that isn't on iOS), and you can customize pretty much everything. I like that, but the OS doesn't feel as "smooth" as WP, and the camera no matter what Android phone I've used leaves something to be desired.

Edit: I should probably add that despite the lack of apps, WP has some gems in the store. Tweetium is probably my favorite Twitter client on any mobile platform, Nextgen Reader is a great rss reader, Poki is a lovely Pocket client, Readit is a beautiful reddit client, Nokia's Here suite of apps are amazing (offline navigation and maps, for "free"!) and the same can mostly be said for many of Microsoft's previously Bing-prefixed apps, and the Lumia camera app is a joy to use when you want to do more advanced shots.

[Innuendo]

re the G3, I'd be interested in some sensible feedback on battery life (I very much like the look of this handset).  Most reviewers seem to think that 1 day is acceptable (personally I think that's pathetic, but what do I know) .  FWIW I generally wind everything back as far as I can to stretch the battery as far as possible

Re: The G3 screen...you could probably take a look at the G3 forums over on XDA Developers. They take their phones seriously & if anyone has done in-depth testing on the affect the screen has on battery life, it would be them.

Re: Acceptable battery life....the days of 5-7 day battery life for phone is long past. We simply use our phones differently than we did when flip-phones ruled the world. We want a big, beautiful screen and a fast GPU to keep the graphics smooth along with a fast CPU that won't make our apps lag. We call these wonderful devices smartphones, but let's be honest. These things are computers that can fit in our pockets that just happen to be able to make phone calls. Another aspect is the time people spend on their phones. People just don't take them out, glance at them, and stick them back in their pockets. They spend lengthy amounts of time with them in one go.

I cannot speak to other platforms, but Android has many apps available that will help tame your phone's battery consumption and a few that will let you rule with an iron fist if you are willing to root your handset. Even something simple such as being mindful of your screen's brightness setting can add hours to battery life.

[Clive]

If you're used to the "old" Windows phones i.e. anything up to 6.5 then you might be disappointed by the way MS has removed much of the functionality you'd be used to. I'm referring here to capabilities such as syncing to your PC (in particular email, calendar, contacts). These functions have gradually been removed since iteration 7. If you use a phone as a phone and a PIM (rather than an entertainment device) then I'd say go for Android. I have a Lumia 520 and for a lower price range phone it's acceptable and does what it sets out to do OK, but after using earlier Windows phones I'm very disappointed with this one. Also the apps no longer seem to be of the quality which was available for the older OS. The other thing which annoys me about all the major stores is the way you can't really do refined searches and 99% of free apps come with ads or limitations which the vendors don't reveal until after you've installed the app.

[superboyac]

If you're used to the "old" Windows phones i.e. anything up to 6.5 then you might be disappointed by the way MS has removed much of the functionality you'd be used to. I'm referring here to capabilities such as syncing to your PC (in particular email, calendar, contacts). These functions have gradually been removed since iteration 7. If you use a phone as a phone and a PIM (rather than an entertainment device) then I'd say go for Android. I have a Lumia 520 and for a lower price range phone it's acceptable and does what it sets out to do OK, but after using earlier Windows phones I'm very disappointed with this one. Also the apps no longer seem to be of the quality which was available for the older OS. The other thing which annoys me about all the major stores is the way you can't really do refined searches and 99% of free apps come with ads or limitations which the vendors don't reveal until after you've installed the app.

This is all so very true.  Well said.

[4wd]

The other thing which annoys me about all the major stores is the way you can't really do refined searches and 99% of free apps come with ads or limitations which the vendors don't reveal until after you've installed the app.

Plus with Android, you can't remove what you've previously installed, (and probably no longer use), from the list kept in your account at the online Play Store - which is a f'n PITA.

See below

[allen]

Plus with Android, you can't remove what you've previously installed, (and probably no longer use), from the list kept in your account at the online Play Store - which is a f'n PITA.

Actually, if you go into the play store -> my apps -> all, you can remove apps you no longer want in the list.

[4wd]

OMG, how long has that been there?

This used to be a real annoyance with the Play Store - thanks allen 

[Deozaan]

OMG, how long has that been there?

Years.

[4wd]

OMG, how long has that been there?

Years.

People were asking how to do it from the browser Play Store for years, (it would still be a lot easier) - didn't even think to look at the app ... time for my morning coffee I think  

EDIT: After using it, it's still a PITA since you apparently can't multi-select to delete.  Even though online guides say there's a Delete icon up the top, all I have is Install.