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Windows Phone 8.1 |OT| Update 1

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
My brother had an 8x lying around and I decided to play around with it..... At&t never put 8.1 on this?!?!?!?? Wtf, they're such a terrible partner for windows phone, this was supposed to be a hero device on the premier wp network? Crazy
 
$850 in Canada with our shitty dollar then ~50 in taxes. Guess the 950 is an option too, but I prefer the XL.

I really wanna get a 950XL, but I'm guessing they won't sell well - i.e. the price on them should come down relatively soon. It's not hard to imagine it being $500 at Expansys or somewhere like that by next Spring.
 

PG2G

Member
Big decision come Nov/Dec.....fork out $900 and get the XL or go Android. Annoying that my carrier likely won't get the 950XL.

I'm debating between staying with WP, getting a Nexus, or getting an iPhone. The lack of certain apps (namely dating ones) is kind of killing WP for me right now, as much as I'd like to stay
 

JaggedSac

Member
I'm debating between staying with WP, getting a Nexus, or getting an iPhone. The lack of certain apps (namely dating ones) is kind of killing WP for me right now, as much as I'd like to stay

There is no better instrument for catching the eye of the opposite sex than a WP. Unfortunately it is followed by a look of disgust or resentment.
 

clav

Member
"Just buy our newest budget device"

Oh right. 550 when people then would probably search for a iPhone 5S or Android handset.

What a piece of shit.

All the bad in Microsoft is still in the phone division despite changes throughout the company. Other areas have shown improvement but this mobile division sector is truly the worst.

That Surface Phone needs to be absolutely Steve Jobs-esque as Panos will need to bring his best to see some turn around. Hoping for customers to notice isn't working.
 

Doffen

Member
8YfjXbw.jpg


https://twitter.com/mskkpr/status/654147348617150465
 

hadareud

The Translator
Does not look like Microsoft is pushing these devices AT ALL. They are just going to let it die, no carrier partnership announcement other than vague AT&T statement. I doubt carrier will bother picking this up in Canada.

Selling it for $750 and $850 CAD is just badshit cray

Far too early to say.

They haven't set or announced a release date yet. If they do want to push those phones, it would make sense to have another announcement of the release date where they will reveal official pricing, availability and what's included with the phone.

Anyway, it looks like they will release the phones in the first week of December in the UK. To announce details now doesn't really make sense, since it's still far too long to go until then.

Of course, that's not to say that they will do such a thing and that they will be pushing the devices.
 

ElNino

Member
Big decision come Nov/Dec.....fork out $900 and get the XL or go Android. Annoying that my carrier likely won't get the 950XL.
You and I are in the same boat.

I have my trigger finger ready to order a Note 5 for $250 (on contract), or possibly an iPhone... but I'm having a difficult time doing it. I'd love to know more about Android side loading in Windows 10 Mobile as that would make the decision to drop the cash on an unlocked 950XL a bit easier.
 
Is this the what, third time they say something like: "We have a mobile build looking really good, that is in final stages of testing, but the desktop build will have to wait a little do a blocking build" only to a few days later release a desktop build with no sight of the new mobile one?

Not to mention the troubling fact that about a month from its release, when it was supposed to RTM they still don't have a build bug free enough to send to insiders.
 

hadareud

The Translator
There is no such thing as a bug free build. Of anything.

Also, pretty sure that they said that it would start rolling out in December, for all we know the build is more optimised for the new devices at the moment.

That said, the next build better be a big step forward. Or else.
 

clav

Member
I have my trigger finger ready to order a Note 5 for $250 (on contract), or possibly an iPhone... but I'm having a difficult time doing it.

Same here.

Anyone here own an iPhone since supposedly it's the best smartphone for MS apps? What are your experiences with the lightning cable?

I don't have any other Apple device outside of an old iPod that uses the old connector, so I'm hesitant to buy a new device that I don't have many replacement cables. Also 6S and 6S+ are the heaviest smartphones on the market for its form factor.
 
Same here.

Anyone here own an iPhone since supposedly it's the best smartphone for MS apps? What are your experiences with the lightning cable?

I don't have any other Apple device outside of an old iPod that uses the old connector, so I'm hesitant to buy a new device that I don't have many replacement cables. Also 6S and 6S+ are the heaviest smartphones on the market for its form factor.

There are a million cheap-ish lightning cables out there. What's the deal with people constantly bringing that up? It's fine, annoying that it's proprietary, but fine.

I've got an iPhone, but I'd rather be using my old Icon. I'm hoping to write a couple of cross platform apps just to gain more experience, but work and homebuying and baseball and getting back in shape are sucking up like 95% of my time. I liked WP's OneNote better, simply because the keyboard is far better to use. Because of that, I also haven't played around with any of the other office apps...because input is such a horrific pain on the iPhone. The email client that they bought is pretty decent for me. Groove is terrible, or was terrible. I haven't used it in a month or so.
 

clav

Member
There are a million cheap-ish lightning cables out there. What's the deal with people constantly bringing that up? It's fine, annoying that it's proprietary, but fine.

I've got an iPhone, but I'd rather be using my old Icon. I'm hoping to write a couple of cross platform apps just to gain more experience, but work and homebuying and baseball and getting back in shape are sucking up like 95% of my time. I liked WP's OneNote better, simply because the keyboard is far better to use. Because of that, I also haven't played around with any of the other office apps...because input is such a horrific pain on the iPhone. The email client that they bought is pretty decent for me.

A lot of publications and online reviews complain about a proprietary cable breaking within a month or 6 months within normal use.

That seems unacceptable.
 
A lot of publications and online reviews complain about a proprietary cable breaking within a month or 6 months within normal use.

That seems unacceptable.

My cats eat through them before they get a chance to wear out :mad:. The Belkin wire I bought about 9 months ago is still kicking fine, and it cost me like 10$
 
Same here.

Anyone here own an iPhone since supposedly it's the best smartphone for MS apps? What are your experiences with the lightning cable?

I don't have any other Apple device outside of an old iPod that uses the old connector, so I'm hesitant to buy a new device that I don't have many replacement cables. Also 6S and 6S+ are the heaviest smartphones on the market for its form factor.
Cable seems fine to me, no obvious flaws. Father has had the same cables for his 6 and iPad Air with no issue.

MS apps are superb. Outlook is my email client and OneNote my go to notes app. I've used Word, Excel and PowerPoint for uni although only for reading files, not actually compiling any. OneDrive is sweet and my cloud storage of choice so everything is syncing across my iPhone, laptop and Surface with no issue. Can't knock the experience at all.

Edit: weight is fine on the 6S although I'm coming from a 930 which was a bit heavier.

Also, the keyboard being bollocks is my only complaint.
 

kazinova

Member
I really could use a new W10M build today. I have to restart my phone to get basic features working at least 4 times a day at this point.

Camera app crashes when you hit the shutter button? Restart.
Podcast app won't open? Restart.
5 minutes and still "Loading..." the start screen? Restart.
Turn on the phone and it starts behaving like you're touching the screen randomly? BURN IT WITH FIRE, THIS THING IS POSSESSED!!!

I've already reported the issues and upvoted evry similar one I could find in the feedback app. It's time for a new build already.
 

clav

Member
My cats eat through them before they get a chance to wear out :mad:. The Belkin wire I bought about 9 months ago is still kicking fine, and it cost me like 10$

José Mourinho;181640862 said:
Cable seems fine to me, no obvious flaws. Father has had the same cables for his 6 and iPad Air with no issue.

MS apps are superb. Outlook is my email client and OneNote my go to notes app. I've used Word, Excel and PowerPoint for uni although only for reading files, not actually compiling any. OneDrive is sweet and my cloud storage of choice so everything is syncing across my iPhone, laptop and Surface with no issue. Can't knock the experience at all.

Edit: weight is fine on the 6S although I'm coming from a 930 which was a bit heavier.

Also, the keyboard being bollocks is my only complaint.

I thought the iPhone keyboard was supposed to be decent. Is Android's Google Keyboard or Swiftkey better?

Why not the Plus variant of the phone? Too big?
 

f0lken

Member
iPhone's keyboard is good, pretty good, but the thing is that the WP's is simply superior to any other regardless of platform
 
iPhone's keyboard is good, pretty good, but the thing is that the WP's is simply superior to any other regardless of platform

I think this is probably more accurate. I'm spoiled because WP was used first and for many years. I have to double check everything I type on iPhone because autocorrect is overzealous and hitboxes are very bad. My speed is dramatically reduced when typing on an iPhone, so much so that any lengthy post will simply be delayed until I reach a computer.

Also, the Plus is just plain too big for me, as likely the 950XL won't be my preferred device. My hands are pretty small, which contributes to that factor.
 
I thought the iPhone keyboard was supposed to be decent. Is Android's Google Keyboard or Swiftkey better?

Why not the Plus variant of the phone? Too big?
WP keyboard is just better in my opinion. I've messed around with a few default settings and got the iPhone keyboard to a point I'm happy with, I just much prefere the WP experience. I also really miss swipe. I know there are third party keyboards but I'd read that the implementation was really half assed and so haven't even bothered to try them yet. I'd love MS to bring their keyboard over to iPhone, then it really would be the iPhone Pro that Satya talked about.

I never considered the 6S+. I've never even held one. I've seen a few in the wild and think they are a tad too big.
 

KageMaru

Member
Got to play around with a 950XL last night. Much lighter in the hand than you'd expect but still feels solid. It's hard to believe W10M is on those phones, the build is solid and lightning fast. Not sure if it was the specific phone I was looking at but I didn't care for the volume buttons. They felt cheap when pressing on them, even though they were metal. The power and camera buttons felt fine though, so I'm hoping it was just that specific phone. The camera seems amazing too.

I really want the phone when I switch to AT&T but $650 is a lot for me to drop on a phone.

I really could use a new W10M build today. I have to restart my phone to get basic features working at least 4 times a day at this point.

Camera app crashes when you hit the shutter button? Restart.
Podcast app won't open? Restart.
5 minutes and still "Loading..." the start screen? Restart.
Turn on the phone and it starts behaving like you're touching the screen randomly? BURN IT WITH FIRE, THIS THING IS POSSESSED!!!

I've already reported the issues and upvoted evry similar one I could find in the feedback app. It's time for a new build already.

I'm surprised the new build hasn't launched today.

Not sure if this will help you but I've experienced a huge improvement with performance consistency by having battery saver on all the time now.
 
José Mourinho;181645353 said:
WP keyboard is just better in my opinion. I've messed around with a few default settings and got the iPhone keyboard to a point I'm happy with, I just much prefere the WP experience. I also really miss swipe. I know there are third party keyboards but I'd read that the implementation was really half assed and so haven't even bothered to try them yet. I'd love MS to bring their keyboard over to iPhone, then it really would be the iPhone Pro that Satya talked about.

I never considered the 6S+. I've never even held one. I've seen a few in the wild and think they are a tad too big.
Isn't the iPhone keyboard still all caps? I can't imagine how anyone thought that was a good idea.
 
Same here.

Anyone here own an iPhone since supposedly it's the best smartphone for MS apps? What are your experiences with the lightning cable?

I don't have any other Apple device outside of an old iPod that uses the old connector, so I'm hesitant to buy a new device that I don't have many replacement cables. Also 6S and 6S+ are the heaviest smartphones on the market for its form factor.

I wish all the other device use Lightning connector. It's small and can be plug in either way eliminate half of the annoyance with wired charging.

edit: just read your comment about breaking, my wife has her for over a year and my daughter has her for over two and they both still fine. Both of them are pretty careless with their cable and they have yet to break.

Apps on both iOS and Androids by Microsoft are hit or miss. Some is really nice, the Outlook apps is really slow and terrible. They do get update a lot though.
 

NeOak

Member
I wish all the other device use Lightning connector. It's small and can be plug in either way eliminate half of the annoyance with wired charging.

Apps on both iOS and Androids by Microsoft are hit or miss. Some is really nice, the Outlook apps is really slow and terrible. They do get update a lot though.
USB Type-C solves that.
 
yeah, i checked out the 950xl too yesterday. camera is fast as previously reported. video is 1080p 60fps but no slo-mo. come on MS, all the flagships have slo-mo now. at least throw in 720p 120fps.

the phone itself felt really good. extremely light in hand and the light weight makes for holding the large phone very easy. in fact, it's far easier to hold than my previous 920 and 1020. i'd say the softer edges and the matte plastic also make it much easier to hold than my 830.
 

Blackhead

Redarse
I thought the iPhone keyboard was supposed to be decent. Is Android's Google Keyboard or Swiftkey better?

iPhone keyboard used to be decent but has been slow to update with the times and is now pretty shitty. Microsoft keyboard is better (although I want the cursor control to move a lot faster) as is Google's Keyboard and Swiftkey/Swype — on Android. On iOS Apple crippled the thirdparty keyboards like Swiftkey etc with heavy restrictions.
 

ElNino

Member
I spent more time over my lunch today using the 950 and XL at the Microsoft store here in downtown Toronto.

Some of my personal observations:
- The glass edge on the 950 appears to be slightly rounded, whereas the XL is squared.
- Don't care for the button layout on the XL, and buttons on both could use to be a bit more rounded, as they both feel "sharp" to me.
- The metal around the camera in the 950 looks much better in person than in renders.
- While both are pretty light to hold (difficult to tell when they are tethered), the 950 to me seems easier to hold and use the soft buttons (swipe up).
- Cameras on both seem to work great, as expected, but it was missing a lot of the functionality I have in the 1020 on 8.1 (ie. lenses, action shots, etc).
- Browsing in Edge seemed quicker on the XL, but that could have been that pages had been cached.
- Screens on each looked great
- 950 start screen has 2 or 3 columns while the XL has 3 or 4
- There doesn't appear to be double tap support on either, but I haven't used W10M much so I might have just missed the setting
- If I were to decide today, I'd probably go for the 950 over the XL. For me, it just seemed easier to hold and use in a normal manner (ie. one handed).
 

Suerte

Member
We're getting 3D touch guys!

Also, new preview build has just been released.

Improvements to Cortana: Cortana now works for Insiders in Japan and in English for Insiders in Australia and Canada.

Messaging app improvements: The Messaging app now has a text box that can be expanded as you enter text. Previously, the text box had 2-3 lines which made it really hard to see what you were typing. As I mentioned yesterday with Build 10565 for PC, an upcoming build for mobile will include the integrated Skype capabilities for you to preview.

Diverse emoji: With this build, we are adding support for Unicode's diversity emoji's. Consistent with Unicode's vision, we're excited to offer people all over the world with emoji that reflect more human diversity. We added this capability to the PC with Build 10547 and now we're extending to mobile. Check out our new diverse emoji and let us know what you think.

An update for Lumia 1020 users: Lumia Camera is no longer uninstalled when you update to Windows Mobile 10, so you can continue using it when you update your phone from Windows Phone 8.1. You should use Lumia Camera in order to take advantage of all of the Lumia 1020's great camera capabilities. Lumia Camera is not yet available in the Store for Windows 10 devices so you will need to use the Windows Phone Recovery Tool to return to Windows Phone 8.1 in order to get the app back.
 

JaggedSac

Member
Sucks that you have to go back to Wp8.1 to get this one. I'm gonna pass and wait on the next one most likely. Or until perf degrades to the point of unusable again.
 

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
I spent more time over my lunch today using the 950 and XL at the Microsoft store here in downtown Toronto.

Some of my personal observations:
- The glass edge on the 950 appears to be slightly rounded, whereas the XL is squared.
- Don't care for the button layout on the XL, and buttons on both could use to be a bit more rounded, as they both feel "sharp" to me.
- The metal around the camera in the 950 looks much better in person than in renders.
- While both are pretty light to hold (difficult to tell when they are tethered), the 950 to me seems easier to hold and use the soft buttons (swipe up).
- Cameras on both seem to work great, as expected, but it was missing a lot of the functionality I have in the 1020 on 8.1 (ie. lenses, action shots, etc).
- Browsing in Edge seemed quicker on the XL, but that could have been that pages had been cached.
- Screens on each looked great
- 950 start screen has 2 or 3 columns while the XL has 3 or 4
- There doesn't appear to be double tap support on either, but I haven't used W10M much so I might have just missed the setting
- If I were to decide today, I'd probably go for the 950 over the XL. For me, it just seemed easier to hold and use in a normal manner (ie. one handed).

When I checked it out, I preferred the XL, I like that the XL has less bezel even though it is a bigger phone.
 
Sucks that you have to go back to Wp8.1 to get this one. I'm gonna pass and wait on the next one most likely. Or until perf degrades to the point of unusable again.

Really? Maybe it will finally work for me then. I try every weekend to upgrade my phone from 8.1 to 10 but it never works. I start out with a full battery and the phone plugged in, but the spinning gears comes up and nothing happens, and then the red battery flashes on the screen and I have to roll back to 8.1. This has been driving me crazy for months now.
 

ElNino

Member
When I checked it out, I preferred the XL, I like that the XL has less bezel even though it is a bigger phone.
That's true, the screen is nice without feeling like that much bigger of a device. I just wish the W10M was further along. Using a half-finished OS makes it a more difficult decision.
 
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