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Windows Phone |OT3| Apollo has landed

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V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
lastflowers said:
Both the red and the yellow really grew on me once I saw them in person. I really would like to see a green version!
Click to expand...

The red looks fantastic. The only one I think wouldn't look better matte.

Matte cyan is still the best 920. It's held up well too, have had mine since launch.
 
S

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
Twitter got updated.

- apply filters and effects to photos
- view vine videos in timeline
- compose tweets seamlessly with the new integrated composer
- various bug fixes

edit: the app actually has Lens integration as well.
 
K

kharma45

Member
SCHUEY F1 said:
Twitter got updated.

- apply filters and effects to photos
- view vine videos in timeline
- compose tweets seamlessly with the new integrated composer
- various bug fixes

edit: the app actually has Lens integration as well.
Click to expand...

That's pretty good, nice to see Twitter cares now for the most part.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
SCHUEY F1 said:
Twitter got updated.

- apply filters and effects to photos
- view vine videos in timeline
- compose tweets seamlessly with the new integrated composer
- various bug fixes

edit: the app actually has Lens integration as well.
Click to expand...

I'm glad that Windows Phone is finally part of the food picture war.

E: How could anyone hate the 925?

LBrEwRK.jpg
 
B

brotkasten

Member
Ars reviewed the Lumia 928. Nokia seriously put a pentile 768p display into a $500 phone in 2013. :lol What a joke.
KGulE99.jpg
Click to expand...

Closing thoughts

I like this phone. I really do. I haven't been particularly taken with most of the other devices that cross the Ars review desk, but this one has really grabbed me. It's a combination of the AMOLED display and the slickness of the Windows Phone 8 interface itself. I'm not a fan of the confused split-brained creature that is Windows 8 on the desktop or on a tablet, but the Windows Phone 8 interface is a thing apart. It's something I enjoy using.

There are barriers still standing in the way of a Lumia 928 as my personal every-day phone, but a lot of those barriers really are more tied to Windows Phone 8 itself rather than the Lumia 928 in particular. One that drove me batty was the lack of any visible notifications on the receipt of new e-mail or on calendar notices if the screen is locked. It's less of a problem when carrying the phone in a pocket, but it was annoying to have to reach out and hit the unlock button to glance at incoming e-mail with the phone sitting on my desk charging. Even more annoying was that text messages did cause the screen to light up with a preview.

If I had to choose a Windows Phone to switch to today, it would be this one. Even though it's still a giant pocket-monster of a device, the screen's sharpness and clarity (and oh, those blacks!) are enough to tip the balance for me over the 8X and even over the Lumia 920. I don't really need to spend much time discussing the relative sparseness of the Windows Phone Store; that alone is more than enough to keep heavy app users off of the platform. The excellence of any individual handset isn't enough to overcome an ecosystem that doesn't have the apps you want.

Still, if I were buying a new smartphone today, this one would be pretty darn near the top of the list.

The Good:

Brilliant, beautiful AMOLED display
One of the best cameras you can get in a smartphone
Unlocked GSM means it will work with any carrier that supports the right GSM frequencies, at home or abroad
Windows Phone 8 is a great OS, and this is a great phone to experience it on
For $99 on contract (and it's starting to pop up even cheaper than that), it's not terribly expensive

The Bad:

AMOLED display is PenTile, which is going to make some people angry no matter what
I don't care at all for the placement of the unlock button
Battery is probably undersized for heavy mobile users
If you like apps, the Windows Phone Store is still a pretty bare cupboard—at least for stuff that matters
Off-contract, non-subsidized price is $499—it's not terrible, but it's not $99, either
Verizon and Nokia still confusingly trying to "add value" and push their branding with crapware—though at least it can be removed

The Ugly:

It's a great phone, but it's a great Verizon-exclusive Windows Phone, and that's enough to keep a lot of customers away
Click to expand...

Milchjon said:
The border looks like badly designed cutlery.
Click to expand...

No, you look like badly designed cutlery!
 
M

MCD

Junior Member
brotkasten said:
I'm glad that Windows Phone is finally part of the food picture war.

E: How could anyone hate the 925?

LBrEwRK.jpg
Click to expand...

I don't hate. It's just that my 920 still works even after hitting the ground for like...10 times now and there is still no chip upgrades for WP8. It sux.
 
M

MarkusRJR

Member
Going to be signing a new 3 year contract in a week or two. I'm mainly looking at getting a back up phone (currently using a BB Z10) and the Telus only carries the Ativ S in regards to Windows Phones. Is it any good at all? Or should I just pluck down the $200 and get the S4 (despite me not being a fan of android)?
 
K

killer rin

Member
MarkusRJR said:
Going to be signing a new 3 year contract in a week or two. I'm mainly looking at getting a back up phone (currently using a BB Z10) and the Telus only carries the Ativ S in regards to Windows Phones. Is it any good at all? Or should I just pluck down the $200 and get the S4 (despite me not being a fan of android)?
Click to expand...
Unless you absolutely need a phone, I'd personally wait until December before you sign any contract. Mainly because that's when the CRTCs new cellphone regulations come into play. They are definitely something worth waiting for.

Other than that though, the ATIV s is an okay phone. I've heard some good things about it. Though personally I've never used one.
 
S

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
killer rin said:
Unless you absolutely need a phone, I'd personally wait until December before you sign any contract. Mainly because that's when the CRTCs new cellphone regulations come into play. They are definitely something worth waiting for.

Other than that though, the ATIV s is an okay phone. I've heard some good things about it. Though personally I've never used one.
Click to expand...

It is decent from what I have seen, but like rin said I would wait for the new regs.
 
S

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
My battery hasn't to great of late and my phone has been getting pretty warm even without playing games so I deleted some apps including the Facebook beta. So far today it has been better. Going to see how it goes before I reinstall Facebook (which also got an update today).
 
D

derFeef

Member
SCHUEY F1 said:
My battery hasn't to great of late and my phone has been getting pretty warm even without playing games so I deleted some apps including the Facebook beta. So far today it has been better. Going to see how it goes before I reinstall Facebook (which also got an update today).
Click to expand...

Funny you say that, I also wondered if the Facebook beta drained more battery as I got that impression.
 
S

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
derFeef said:
Funny you say that, I also wondered if the Facebook beta drained more battery as I got that impression.
Click to expand...

I have been using my phone lightly (bit of web, apps and Jetpack Joyride) for 8 hours already today and have 77% left. Seems much better.
 
V

VanMardigan

has calmed down a bit.
I have come to the conclusion that having capacitive buttons below the screen is a mistake. Having the Windows button be an actual button like Samsung did in the Focus Flash is better, but not enough. On screen buttons are better once you have a bezel to grab.

Only Apple has it it right, with no soft keys. The amount of unintentional home screen and Bing search button presses that take you out of an app, game, email, text message, etc. cannot be considered anything other than bad design. Its shocking that something so bad for usability and such an obviously flawed design choice is the overwhelming standard for Windows Phone devices.
 
A

Anton Sugar

Member
VanMardigan said:
I have come to the conclusion that having capacitive buttons below the screen is a mistake. Having the Windows button be an actual button like Samsung did in the Focus Flash is better, but not enough. On screen buttons are better once you have a bezel to grab.

Only Apple has it it right, with no soft keys. The amount of unintentional home screen and Bing search button presses that take you out of an app, game, email, text message, etc. cannot be considered anything other than bad design. Its shocking that something so bad for usability and such an obviously flawed design choice is the overwhelming standard for Windows Phone devices.
Click to expand...

It doesn't really happen to me that often, but yeah, if I had the choice, I'd choose no soft keys.
 
M

Magni

Member
VanMardigan said:
I have come to the conclusion that having capacitive buttons below the screen is a mistake. Having the Windows button be an actual button like Samsung did in the Focus Flash is better, but not enough. On screen buttons are better once you have a bezel to grab.

Only Apple has it it right, with no soft keys. The amount of unintentional home screen and Bing search button presses that take you out of an app, game, email, text message, etc. cannot be considered anything other than bad design. Its shocking that something so bad for usability and such an obviously flawed design choice is the overwhelming standard for Windows Phone devices.
Click to expand...

I used to think that, but then pretty much every one I know with an iPhone has had at least one of them die because of that non-capacitive home button. Then again my Omnia's button still works after 2.5+ years.
 
J

joshschw

Member
VanMardigan said:
I have come to the conclusion that having capacitive buttons below the screen is a mistake. Having the Windows button be an actual button like Samsung did in the Focus Flash is better, but not enough. On screen buttons are better once you have a bezel to grab.

Only Apple has it it right, with no soft keys. The amount of unintentional home screen and Bing search button presses that take you out of an app, game, email, text message, etc. cannot be considered anything other than bad design. Its shocking that something so bad for usability and such an obviously flawed design choice is the overwhelming standard for Windows Phone devices.
Click to expand...

Miss my Lumia710 for this
 
T

TheBryanJZX90

Member
Magni said:
I used to think that, but then pretty much every one I know with an iPhone has had at least one of them die because of that non-capacitive home button. Then again my Omnia's button still works after 2.5+ years.
Click to expand...

The home button breaking on my iPhone 4 was a big reason why I switched to Nokia and Windows Phone. Of course, the 920 has had its own share of problems...
 
B

brotkasten

Member
Fjolle said:
Isn't it like every apple keynote where the technology isn't there yet to actually stream it live, so everybody follows text updates or a bad mobile stream?
Click to expand...

It was explained many times. It got nothing to do with technology, but with catering to the press. Pretty much the opposite that Nintendo is doing. Why else do you think the press loves Apple? It's a giving and taking. If Apple would stream the events for everyone, the blogs would get way less clicks. Why else do you think the press loves Apple?

Milchjon said:
Let me guess, you built a quick reply browser extension that lets you choose snarky prepared responses from a dropdown menu? Does it feature keyboard shortcuts too?

;-)
Click to expand...

That's actually a pretty good idea. But no, I got myself covered in enough screens to follow everything.
 
K

kazinova

Member
Wait, isn't he literally a paid shill for M$ (using a dollar sign in MS is like gaming-camo, no one will suspect I'm actually down with the One if I do that)?

The hyperbole on the gaming side is getting so dense it's about to form a black hole.

Meanwhile I'm throwing tons of money at Steam on my PCs...
 
M

Milchjon

Member
kazinova said:
Wait, isn't he literally a paid shill for M$ (using a dollar sign in MS is like gaming-camo, no one will suspect I'm actually down with the One if I do that)?
Click to expand...

He's a MS employee, and has always been upfront about it. One of his last posts contains a disclaimer about it. And I don't think his posts, while slightly passive aggressive, warrant a ban on their own.

Oh well.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
kazinova said:
Wait, isn't he literally a paid shill for M$ (using a dollar sign in MS is like gaming-camo, no one will suspect I'm actually down with the One if I do that)?

The hyperbole on the gaming side is getting so dense it's about to form a black hole.

Meanwhile I'm throwing tons of money at Steam on my PCs...
Click to expand...

He's part of the Windows Phone team.
 
K

kazinova

Member
brotkasten said:
He's part of the Windows Phone team.
Click to expand...

That's what I said, technically M$ pays him and he promotes his company within reason. "Paid shill" is strong but I was trying to be a little sarcastic.

At this point I'm trying real hard to continue to not post in Gaming threads.
 
B

brotkasten

Member
kazinova said:
That's what I said, technically M$ pays him and he promotes his company within reason. "Paid shill" is strong but I was trying to be a little sarcastic.

At this point I'm trying real hard to continue to not post in Gaming threads.
Click to expand...

Except he doesn't promote the product he works on.
 
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