From Mango to Apollo: The HTC Windows Phone 8X on the Daily
by Dustin Sklavos on January 28, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- windows phone 8
- Windows Phone 8X
- HTC 8X
Essentials: Search
One of the places where Windows Phone 8 has done an excellent job of moving forward is the "Search" function. As one of the three buttons mandated on the bottom of the actual phone, this should've been a more robust feature in Windows Phone 7 and 7.5, but I never used it on the Dell Venue Pro. It was easier for me to just type whatever I wanted to search for in the browser window.
In 8, though, things are a bit different. Now there are multiple pages under Search; in addition to conventional web search results, there's a page for News, a page for Movie Showtimes, Local Videos, Local Deals, and Local Events. This feels much more robust. On top of that, whatever you enter into the search bar will provide you with a list of web links for whatever you've searched for, along with local, media, and shopping results. Compare that to the less powerful Search function in WP7.5, which only produced local and image results alongside web.
I couldn't tell you exactly why, but I just find myself using Search far more in WP8 than I did in WP7.5. It feels like a more useful tool and less like a trojan horse for Bing.
Essentials: GPS Navigation
While it's still not the catastrophe that Apple Maps was on release, Bing Maps continues to be a sore spot for Windows Phone. The map quality itself is fine, and Microsoft has worked with Nokia to integrate vector maps, but the actual navigation leaves a lot to be desired. Simply put: Bing Maps doesn't provide turn-by-turn navigation. This was something I found myself missing intensely from my time with Android, as Google's navigation is frankly excellent. With the default Bing Maps, you have to tap the display to get the next direction instead of it just simply being read to you as you approach it.
All isn't entirely lost, though. Until recently, users of Nokia-based Windows Phones had access to Nokia Drive for turn-by-turn navigation, but as of the 23rd, anyone using a handset based on Windows Phone 8 now has access to a beta version of Nokia Drive for free. This finally adds the turn-by-turn navigation that Bing Maps was so desperately lacking, and to me this offers a legitimate solution to a baked-in feature that competing phones sporting Android and iOS have been enjoying for a long time now.
Essentials: Camera
The camera app on Windows Phone 7.5, or at least with the Dell Venue Pro, was frankly mediocre at best and downright terrible at worst. As someone who enjoys foisting pictures of his cat to the internet, the Venue Pro was an exercise in frustration. White balance was never accurate, detail was poor, and image stabilization was nonexistent.
If you switch to Windows Phone 8, though, you'll definitely see a benefit. Windows Phone 8 enjoys more detailed controls for the camera, face detection, and Lenses functionality (the default Bing lens allows you to scan barcodes and text and use it to search online.) On top of that, you benefit from the advances that have gone into smartphone camera hardware in general. The WP8 camera is more responsive, easier to use, and produces far superior point and shoot photos than the Dell Venue Pro did.
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ananduser - Monday, January 28, 2013 - link
"Gamers for example are forced to use windows because of DirectX. MSFT refused to follow open standards."What a load of bull. DirectX was a tremendous effort on MS' part that had them derided by the game outfits of the 90s. Like Apple feels that it has a responsibility towards its users to create imessage, facetime and airplay so is MS responsible towards its users to create a gaming API(keep in mind OGL was built with CAD in mind not gaming).
Office/Exchange are just the best in their market segments.
Furthermore with Windows you're locked within software not sotfware AND hardware like with Apple. I would happily pay Apple for OSX and iWork to run on my PC but unfortunately I am forced to buy another set of redundant x86 hardware to be able to run said software. Vendor lock-in is significantly more atrocious if it's Apple's style.
RevLuck - Monday, January 28, 2013 - link
I noticed the Lumia 920 battery info seems wrong, It's not removable.I've been using Lumia 920 for about two months now and love the phone, coming from Android, the tiles fit me lot better than widgets. Easy, consistent and you can fit lots of info in one view. While there are still features that I miss from Android, I don't think I could go back.
For me, the two features that really stand over X8 are the wireless charging and super sensitive screen. Twice in few weeks I've been freezing my fingers off trying to use phone outside before realizing I can just put the gloves back. After getting used to the wireless charging its the kind of convenience I would probably find hard to go back on. I guess I'm lazy :)
I pretty much thought both features as gimmicks when I bought the phone, but now I hope my next phone will have them too. I just wish the charging pad prices would go down, the current price point is pretty ridiculous.
shompa - Monday, January 28, 2013 - link
I hate that people still thinks its great dragging files back and forth in explorer. That is 1970 thinking. A good OS should make it so you never have to see the filesystem.How should a person with a huge library do? I have had over 40K songs in my library since 2002. In "Windows" thinking I should drag and drop the stuff I want.
No.
The computer should do the work for me.
Give me songs, rated 3 stars and above, that have not been played for the last week.
Smart playlists.
It amazes me that people still 11 years later don't use playlists, automatic syncing and so on. This is typical Windows thinking. So 30 years after the fact.
boozed - Monday, January 28, 2013 - link
Wow. Hate's a pretty strong emotion to feel towards someone... Especially people whose only crime is that they want to be able to do things a certain way.If I wanted to be churlish I'd have said "...they can do things for themselves." instead, but I won't.
madmilk - Monday, January 28, 2013 - link
You can use rsync for syncing and playlist files (duh) for playlists.Or you can wait for the music management software you're using to suddenly come out with a craptacular update (cough iTunes and Winamp), and then wonder what the hell you're going to switch to.
piroroadkill - Monday, January 28, 2013 - link
I could do exactly that, with smart playlists, using my player (J River Media Center), but you know what, I don't bother.I prefer exposing the files and doing it manually.
karocage - Monday, January 28, 2013 - link
"How should a person with a huge library do?"You should probably either continue using the Zune client with WP7.5 or the new desktop client for WP8. Using Windows Explorer would be a pain for that.
dragonsqrrl - Monday, January 28, 2013 - link
"If you're one of the precious few people who invested in Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 like I did, Windows Phone 8 is going to feel pretty lackluster initially, if not even capable of engendering a mild feeling of resentment. Windows Phone 7 was a rough draft and a product with no real future the moment it left Microsoft, and they knew it."Microsoft did the exact same thing to Zune HD users, otherwise known as Windows Phone 7 beta testers. Anyone who owned or followed the news about the Zune HD a couple years ago should know what I'm talking about. And lo and behold they've done it again, although the situation with the Zune HD was far more severe. And this is why I didn't get a WP7 device, and I won't be getting a WP8 device. Microsoft has proven itself time and again to screw over its customers and early adopters in the mobile market for the sake of its grand mobile development plans.
I'm actually a little surprised Microsoft repeated this behavior twice, but now there's no doubt in my mind that it's systemic. They essentially use their customers as nothing more then beta testers, and each revision of their mobile platform is nothing more then a brief, unsupported, unadvertised stepping stone to the next thing. I'm sure not supporting or investing in a new platform saves a lot of money, initially, but eventually this kind of behavior is going to catch up with Microsoft in a big way, if it hasn't already. They're probably losing a lot of potential and once loyal customers.
karocage - Monday, January 28, 2013 - link
I'm still trying to figure out what I got screwed on as a WP7.5 user. All my apps I bought would still work and be useable on a new WP8 phone so....? They didn't give me a new free phone? This is asserted in the article multiple times without ever laying out what the tangible harm is. And neither did you here.steven75 - Monday, January 28, 2013 - link
You lose out on any apps made for the WP8 APIs, obviously.