Windows Phone 7/8 Catch All

I got mine and it is the most beautiful piece of hardware I've ever seen. The screen is big and beautiful and the OS is very snappy but i'm lost in how it works. I wish it ran webOS but I'll keep at it.

Ulairi wrote:

I got mine and it is the most beautiful piece of hardware I've ever seen. The screen is big and beautiful and the OS is very snappy but i'm lost in how it works. I wish it ran webOS but I'll keep at it.

I've really liked how the OS works so far. The main issues I have are with the web browser. It renders things a bit poorly and wonky sometimes. Also, when you are viewing GWJ and click on the new posts link, it doesn't take you to the recent posts. It sticks you at the top of the freaking page, and you have to scroll down to get to what you may have to guess is a new post.

I highly recommend the Nokia Apps which aren't preinstalled. I uninstalled all the AT&T crap and installed Nokia Creative Studio, Drive, Maps, and Transit. Creative Studio is a superb little photo editor.

Other apps that I've found to be useful are Subsonic music streamer, Non-AT&T Tango, Toggle, and Bing Wallpaper.

What weather app does everyone like? I bought Weather Flow for 1.99 because it seemed like the best looking one to me and has all the information I like to look at and not much more. The only issue I have with it are the slightly long loading times.

I still haven't found a good weather app. I haven't managed to find one that loads quickly, has a nice interface, and has a good live tile. If anyone has a recommendation, I'm all ears.

I have always used the weather channel app. The live tile flips between the temperature and the radar and the app itself loads fairly quickly.

I have been using weatherlive. It's decent and fulfills all the needs I know I have.

I use Criags7 for craigslist and Flashlight7 for use as a flashlight (the only one I know that works with the dell venue pro). I use supertube for youtube video.

Wunderlist is a cross-platform to-do/list manager. They have an iOS version as well so it can sync with my wifes iphone and my ipad.

Evernote works well and is also multi-platform.

Runkeeper works pretty well but you have to stay within runkeeper or it pauses (like iOS used to do).

I have a lot more games on my phone than straight up apps. You can find the WP7 games thread here.

I don't need facebook or twitter since it's built into the phone.

One of the nicest things is how easily you can create groups. I have several groups of friends I've created so I can separate work friends from former work friends from family. Then, I can pin that group and easily see things going on with a particular group. Unfortunately, if one of your friends does facebook games it doesn't filter out that junk. Otherwise, though, it's great. You can also use it to email/text everyone in the group.

My response of facebook spam is not to have friends.

I don't really like the twitter integration because I get too much that it gets messy. What is a good twitter app? Carbon was awesome on webOS but I haven't heard much about it on Windows Phone.

I've had the phone for over a day and I'm still getting used to it. Having owned an iPhone, Android, and webOS device it is a big shift on how things work. I really wish HP didn't screw webOS so badly because it was so intuitive and made so much sense. One of the biggest things I don't like is how multi tasking works on Windows Phone. If I don't specifically go into the multi tasking menu it restarts the app. I wish we could also "toss" away the apps in multi tasking view.

I do love the music experience on Windows Phone. So much better than the other platforms. Has anyone used the Zune service? How does it compare to spotify?

I love the Zune Pass. It's quick, good quality, and works great with the Bing music match.

Love the Zune pass.

Been using mine for a few days and I love it..it took a bit getting used to the size compared to the 4S but it has an excellent combination of size and weight so it just feels "right"

Would have loved the 4S pixel density on this screen but then the price would have been $400+

For $99 AT&T should be selling these like hotcakes. The OS is very much up to par with iOS and I feel actually superior to Android...and Zune pass is just awesome...oh love the wifi sync. I spent about an hour just downloading suggested Artists to listen to on my travels.

Now..where is my Bejeweled?

Bejeweled LIVE is $4.99 in the marketplace. Achievements and everything.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Bejeweled LIVE is $4.99 in the marketplace. Achievements and everything. :)

bah.. its way old version.. no Butterflies or nothing

The Netflix app works pretty well except for one huge thing. The resume feature is super lousy. It's usually not worth trying from what I've seen, so I just manually go into a TV series and select the episode that I was watching. From there, it will pick up where I left off. It doesn't seem to send the info to the Netflix servers where you left off either. When I've switched to the PS3 after getting home from riding the bus, I had to fast forward through an episode before finding my spot.

Also, if you lock the device while watching something, it kicks you back out to the main menu. At least the resume button works from there. Unfortunately, that's a 5-10 second process from unlocking the device unlike the iOS version which is a 2-3 second process.

Ah well, at least there IS a Netflix app. I've definitely noticed less frequent pauses/compression in bad network areas which is a plus. The app must do a better job buffering.

As to the $100 credit, I guess that's cool. I would rather AT&T than Nokia/Microsoft be taking the hit because of their bullsh*t billing policies and that ludicrous $36 upgrade fee, but I can't really complain. I haven't had any issues with my phone.

Very happy to be reading so many good first impressions of the Lumia 900. Depending on what my profit share bonus is next month, I'm considering taking back my cell phone plan from my employer so I can finally get off the BlackBerry 9900 they insist we all use. Android's becoming a sh*t show from what I'm seeing and I've no interest in getting further into the Apple treadmill so this is what I'm looking at. I'm really hoping the sales continue so developers can be convinced to write more software for it.

Ars Technica says, basically, it's the best phone you shouldn't buy, if you're on AT&T, because AT&T is really dismal about getting updates for Windows phones out the door.

Malor wrote:

Ars Technica says, basically, it's the best phone you shouldn't buy, if you're on AT&T, because AT&T is really dismal about getting updates for Windows phones out the door.

Yeah, I read that article and had already accepted that caveat. I doubt I will be able to update to Apollo, but I can live with that. Definitely important to some people, though.

Having used both iOS and WP7 (Mango) devices for quite awhile, here are the biggest discrepancies for me:

WP7 - Better social and media/photo integration, better 'today' screen, Xbox Live integration, better email, more enjoyable UI experience, more flexible camera software (but not necessarily better photos)

iOS - VASTLY superior audio/midi support for cool music + audio apps, better photo results (mostly due to the best-in-class point-and-shoot default settings), MUCH better Skype experience, better standalone FB app, MUCH better backup/restore process

I'm very much on the fence about my next purchase. There are things I really love about both platforms, and a few things I really dislike about both.

WP7 wins for me because of how easily it handles my podcasts, which is what I listen to most. It also handles my music fine, even though importing from iTunes on a Mac limits me somewhat.

I like my wife's iPhone 4s fine, but the only advantage is that it would handle my music better. I don't know why it is is so cumbersome to handle podcasts, which is what I listen to in my car the most.

I like the XBL integration, and overall, I think Mango is just a great UI. Once I wrapped my head around it, I really came to prefer it. I'm the odd duck that does Apple for my computer, and even iPad, but uses WP7.

Jayhawker wrote:

WP7 wins for me because of how easily it handles my podcasts, which is what I listen to most. It also handles my music fine, even though importing from iTunes on a Mac limits me somewhat.

Good podcast support (something iTunes has always been terrible at) is a big deal for me. Can you elaborate more on how WP7 does it better? Does it just manage them internally or through the Zune software?

Parallax Abstraction wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

WP7 wins for me because of how easily it handles my podcasts, which is what I listen to most. It also handles my music fine, even though importing from iTunes on a Mac limits me somewhat.

Good podcast support (something iTunes has always been terrible at) is a big deal for me. Can you elaborate more on how WP7 does it better? Does it just manage them internally or through the Zune software?

I do it through Zune. You can search and subscribe to them through zune. Then I et it to how many I want it to keep. I also have it set to only update them when I am on WiFi to avoid extra data charges.

Zune then lists each podcast I have in a simple Metro style menu. I can hit back and scroll up or down with the touch screen easily and quickly to load a different podcast. It also has a Recent screen that lets me get straight to the podcasts I listen to most often.

This is a decent overview:

Jayhawker wrote:

I do it through Zune. You can search and subscribe to them through zune.

Just jumping in here: you can do this with the Zune software on your PC or through the Zune/music+video tile on your phone. I think what Jayhawker is describing is subscribing to podcasts using the phone interface, which is really the best way to do it.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

I do it through Zune. You can search and subscribe to them through zune.

Just jumping in here: you can do this with the Zune software on your PC or through the Zune/music+video tile on your phone. I think what Jayhawker is describing is subscribing to podcasts using the phone interface, which is really the best way to do it.

Yeah, I don't have access to the Zune software on my iMac. Even booting into Windows has been a fail because I cannot get an update I need to run it. My Mac is just too old.

One of the things I really like is what they guy shows at the end of the video. Basically, when I get ut of my car, I either hit pause, or unplug the jack, which pauses the podcast. When I turn my phone on later, the last thing I was listening to is available from the locked screen. So I can hit play and go with out having get back into the menus.

ClockworkHouse wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

I do it through Zune. You can search and subscribe to them through zune.

Just jumping in here: you can do this with the Zune software on your PC or through the Zune/music+video tile on your phone. I think what Jayhawker is describing is subscribing to podcasts using the phone interface, which is really the best way to do it.

I started doing this and found the podcast had to be in the Zune Marketplace which means it's missing some of mine. Is there anywhere in the PC Zune software to add podcasts via RSS? I would rather just stick with the integrated podcast functionality. I'm just using PODCASTS! because of this. It seems ugly but functional enough. I have podcasts setup on my Subsonic music server, but they are difficult to get to in the Subsonic WP app.

Also, are there any other web browsers besides IE? The main problem with it is browsing GWJ. Clicking on "XX new posts" doesn't take you to the new posts, and it's massively frustrating.

tuffalobuffalo wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

I do it through Zune. You can search and subscribe to them through zune.

Just jumping in here: you can do this with the Zune software on your PC or through the Zune/music+video tile on your phone. I think what Jayhawker is describing is subscribing to podcasts using the phone interface, which is really the best way to do it.

I started doing this and found the podcast had to be in the Zune Marketplace which means it's missing some of mine. Is there anywhere in the PC Zune software to add podcasts via RSS? I would rather just stick with the integrated podcast functionality. I'm just using PODCASTS! because of this. It seems ugly but functional enough. I have podcasts setup on my Subsonic music server, but they are difficult to get to in the Subsonic WP app.

Also, are there any other web browsers besides IE? The main problem with it is browsing GWJ. Clicking on "XX new posts" doesn't take you to the new posts, and it's massively frustrating.

I don't think there is. The inability to go to new posts is frustrating. But I've just gotten used to it. I figure it will get patched in due time.

I use PODCASTS! if I can't find certain podcasts. It's what I used before Mango, actually.

But I don't have very many niche tastes. I have more podcasts than I have time to listen to. The only things I have not found are Certis' Striving and AATK podcasts. Otherwise, the Zune library is complete enough for me.

Jayhawker wrote:
tuffalobuffalo wrote:
ClockworkHouse wrote:
Jayhawker wrote:

I do it through Zune. You can search and subscribe to them through zune.

Just jumping in here: you can do this with the Zune software on your PC or through the Zune/music+video tile on your phone. I think what Jayhawker is describing is subscribing to podcasts using the phone interface, which is really the best way to do it.

I started doing this and found the podcast had to be in the Zune Marketplace which means it's missing some of mine. Is there anywhere in the PC Zune software to add podcasts via RSS? I would rather just stick with the integrated podcast functionality. I'm just using PODCASTS! because of this. It seems ugly but functional enough. I have podcasts setup on my Subsonic music server, but they are difficult to get to in the Subsonic WP app.

Also, are there any other web browsers besides IE? The main problem with it is browsing GWJ. Clicking on "XX new posts" doesn't take you to the new posts, and it's massively frustrating.

I don't think there is. The inability to go to new posts is frustrating. But I've just gotten used to it. I figure it will get patched in due time.

I use PODCASTS! if I can't find certain podcasts. It's what I used before Mango, actually.

But I don't have very many niche tastes. I have more podcasts than I have time to listen to. The only things I have not found are Certis' Striving and AATK podcasts. Otherwise, the Zune library is complete enough for me.

The main issue with PODCASTS! is the example where you are listening to one and then stop listening to it for a period of time. When you come back to it, open up PODCASTS!, it takes you to a freaking page with a stupid podcast suggestion. I just loaded it up and it took me to "World's Top Models: Hot Photo and Video Shoots". WTF? Then, I have to scroll over to the right two pages, choose the recent podcast I was listening to, scroll to the right once for episodes, find the episode I was listening to, and click play on that. It remembers where you left off from there. Why in the hell wouldn't they just have a big fat resume what you were listening to button when you load the app? I think I will have to find a different podcast app. I realize you can resume from the lock screen, but if I go to listen to Subsonic in between podcasts, that function will go away.

Have you tried contacting the people who do the podcasts and asking them to add them to the Zune marketplace? It's a pretty painless process as near as I can tell.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

Have you tried contacting the people who do the podcasts and asking them to add them to the Zune marketplace? It's a pretty painless process as near as I can tell.

The one that came up was DGRadio. I would assume that it's an extra step that people don't want to deal with. I may just stop listening to that one because I don't listen to it too often these days. I had just started adding podcasts and when that one came up missing, I assumed there would be a bunch unavailable. Maybe I'll try adding them again and see how many the marketplace is missing.