Windows Phone 8.1 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on April 14, 2014 10:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Microsoft
- Mobile
- windows phone
- Windows Phone 8.1
Final Words
Windows Phone 8.1 is a much needed and well thought out upgrade to the WP platform. Action Center is extremely well executed. The new keyboard brings the most polished implementation of shape writing to Windows Phone. IE11 is faster and more compatible than IE10. And Cortana offers hope in the way of eventually turning Windows Phone into even more of a personal digital assistant. The upgrades are solid.
In terms of high level features, Windows Phone 8.1 brings the platform up to near parity with Android and iOS. If what you’re doing is calendar, basic camera work, email, SMS, web browsing, Facebook and Twitter you can have a good experience on all three platforms. In fact, there’s an attention to detail that Microsoft exhibits in Windows Phone 8.1 that at times rivals that of Apple. I suspect this is why Windows Phone users, although a small portion of the market, are generally satisfied with their platform.
With Windows Phone however, Microsoft finds itself in a very frustrating position. It lacks the marketshare necessary to make Windows Phone a primary target for developers. Apps are more likely to launch first on Android and/or iOS. Part of the problem is one of marketshare, the other part is one of philosophy. For the past 3.5 years Microsoft needed to rev Windows Phone more frequently than Android or iOS, and it needed to be on the forefront of hardware adoption as well. For whatever reason, Microsoft did neither. Windows Phone saw, at best, as many major OS updates as Android/iOS, and at worst trailed the two in terms of minor updates. I’d argue that both Android and iOS changed more since Windows Phone’s introduction than WP itself, which shouldn’t be the case as both of those platforms are far older (and thus should be more mature/changing less substantially). On the hardware side, it’s important to note that no one ever wins by consciously choosing slower hardware. Building efficient software is one thing, but failing to use the latest hardware isn’t doing anyone any favors.
Last year saw Microsoft accelerate its software release cadence, and by the end of the year was on parity with Android in terms of high end Qualcomm silicon support. These two trends must continue through 2014 and beyond for Windows Phone to continue to grow. The UI needs regular updates/tweaks to keep it fresh but also keep it evolving towards perfection. With faster hardware on the horizon, Windows Phone can no longer be the last to support the latest platforms. I can’t say I have a ton of faith that Windows Phone will become the launch platform of choice for new silicon, but I do hope the lag between what is offered on Android and WP will narrow to at most a couple of quarters.
Microsoft has a huge opportunity in its universal app strategy. Being able to run the same app on smartphone, tablet, notebook and desktop is a sort of holy grail for the next stage in the computing evolution. I honestly see the biggest strength there in gaming, but for that to work out Microsoft not only needs to push its mobile hardware more than anyone else but it also needs to treat Xbox as a platform and not as a console.
So what about Windows Phone 8.1 today? The hardware is decent and the software just saw a solid upgrade. Going back to the platform after a significant hiatus I’m quickly reminded of why it is a reasonable third choice. I’m still not a fan of the overuse of text as a navigational element, but between Action Center and aggressive use of the start screen you should be able to avoid a lot of that. Personally I'd still prefer Android or iOS. The Google services experience is understandably better under Android and unless you're using Skype exclusively, messaging is better under Android and iOS. Then there's the third party app story. The Windows Phone Store is healthier today than it was four years ago, but if you want the latest and greatest apps as they hit the market you'll want to be on Android or iOS. (Can I also add that only having three brightness settings and a ton of devices that won't let you force the display on makes testing these things a nightmare?)
I believe Windows Phone’s biggest strength continues to be as an entry level smartphone platform. If you don’t need the flexibility and bleeding edge feature/app set that Android offers, and you don’t want to invest as much financially into moving to iOS, Windows Phone offers a unique middle ground between the two platforms. With the majority of growth in the smartphone space over the coming years moving to the entry level and mainstream segments, that’s Windows Phone’s real opportunity. What’s needed is the Moto G equivalent in the Windows Phone space. The high end Nokia devices are interesting from a camera perspective, but I suspect the real chance to win is if Nokia can point its camera excellence at a more mainstream price point.
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rudder - Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - link
I have the $59 Nokia 520. great phone with GPS, camera, SD slot. I have been using a windows phone for almost 2 years now. My wife has an android phone and the kids have iphones. I like the windows UI the best out of all of those.The problem continues to be the app store. It takes forever for popular apps to show up. Or they never show up. I shop and Kroger and they have a nice app for android and iOS. Still no windows version. Just one example but this is the most frustrating aspect of having a windows phone.
EddyKilowatt - Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - link
Finally, the elephant in the room: Apps. No, Microsoft, NOT the latest Flappy Bird or whatever the flavor of the month is, that you will dutifully get ported for you. It's the thousands upon thousands of small specialized apps, like the above-mentioned retail store app, or the one for controlling my new smart TV, or the one that remote-starts my new Nissan. ALWAYS these apps are "now available for iOS and Android". SELDOM and I mean like <1% of the time (and shrinking) are they available for Win Phone. When was the last time you saw Windows mentioned in an app ad?I know because I've had the original Lumia 900 for two years and am just in the process of deciding what to replace it with. I would love to another Nokia with a nice camera, but I'll just feel like "fooled me twice, shame on me" if I go Windows Phone again.
hangfirew8 - Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - link
One such small "killer app" is a Data Sense replacement, since AT&T deletes this absolutely essential App from WP8.Jonahkirk - Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - link
Data Sense is built into 8.1 if you get the developer preview (even on my ATT Lumia 920)Romberry - Wednesday, April 16, 2014 - link
Yes, it's in the developer preview. I hope that when AT&T releases their OTA update that they don't take it out...but I'd almost bet that they do.Klimax - Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - link
Some things to note:1)What for is powerful hardware, when you kill it by software stack? (Android) Chase after hardware is mostly misguided thing if it doesn't have real effect. (And that is mostly true for WP, too optimized) Or rather forced to compensate for bad software.
2)Reminder html5 test is testing unfinished specs and thus its score is useless. (What is support now may turn up as obsolete unsupport) Or did everybody forgot lesson of IE6?
3)" It’s no coincidence that the two players that do have that feature also derive revenue from selling advertising against user data."
That's Google, not Microsoft so it is mostly wrong.
akdj - Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - link
"3)" It’s no coincidence that the two players that do have that feature also derive revenue from selling advertising against user data."
That's Google, not Microsoft so it is mostly wrong."
Google AND Apple. IOW; in your quote 'the 2 players.' ;)
HTML 5...useless? LoL. Tell that to the 90% of real 'players' (YouTube? Facebook?) on the web while Flash goes the way of the DoDo, even Android has abandoned Flash support..Adobe isn't refining Flash for mobile any longer. HTML 5, while still being 'refined' is certainly FAR from 'unfinished specs' rendering Anand's measurements/'scores useless'. IE6? It's 2014. The ONLY one that needs to 'remember that lesson' is MS. Not you, not me, not 'us'. Just. Microsoft.
I'll agree whole heartedly with your first point although I'm not sure it gold water for Window's phones. They're still babies as is Win 8.1. As this is really the biggest and most significant update to the handset yet. Opening their A/SPK and providing an optimized platform for developers, IE XCode, they'll make in roads with developers. I've not spent real time with any Win phone but a colleague of mine at the radio station refuses to use anything but his year and a half old Nokia. He LOVES it and isn't interested in a different platform. As Anand mentions in the article, those in the camp seem content for the most part. Point being this is the FIRST round of Window's handsets using recent silicon. They've NOT chased fluency of the GUI with 'specs' and faster, more powerful silicon ala Samsung. TouchWiz is a HOG...And that added layer of peanut butter...I mean java script to eat through as well as the default apps installed by the carriers mandates hearty silicon JUST to achieve parity with iOS fluency. That said ...Apple isn't resting on their laurels when it comes to graphic and computational power. Look at the 5s/Air/rMini reviews. The A7 is a MONSTER. And 7.1, much like 8.1 on Windows slapped a lot of Mosquitos out of the way born from the virgin rewrite of iOS 7's rewrite for the ground up. Again, these are infants. The OS'es. We've been computing on our desks for 30 years give or take a decade pending your wealth in the 70s/80s. Mobile computing is really REALLY young. While we've had cell phones for decades, the 'smart' phone reimagined by blackberry....evolved/revolutionize by iOS in 2007 & Android '08---we're not even a decade into this serious computational paradigm. Many (excluding those of us geeks hanging and commenting on boards such as this) are finding iPad or Surface or the latest incarnation of Note/Nexus tablet computing to be ALL they need! Facebook, surfing and reading, music and media, email and gaming, social media and communication via FaceTime and iMessage...the list gets HUGE when you add the 2,000,000+ apps/software available in the Play and App Store. More software is available (and for significantly Less $) than any time in HISTORY! That's awesome. And faster, more powered I, and more efficient 'guts' IMHO is a welcome addition. Not for the sake of powering the basic, default UI but the option to access more data faster, play bleeding edge games, lower latency creative (audio, drawing, video manipulation, etc)... Faster radios and LTE infrastructure ...we're JUST getting a peak of the future. And Moore's Law seems to have jumped ship (desk and laptops) to the skiff...and the mobile platform. Intel is jumping HEAD FIRST...That should tell ya what the real 'players' are thinking. Did you see any of the reactions from Intel, Qualcomm, et al when the 64bit A7 dropped? If not, spoiler...so did ALL of their jaws. Snapdragon is aiming for their 64bit chips late this year, early next. Qualcomm ...maybe first or second quarter of '15. Intel is building out 64bit ULV chips as we speak and Haswell was a serious update efficiency-wise in comparison to ivy and sandy bridge...not to mention the phenomenal increase in iGPU performance. While you absolutely MIGHT be right on all accounts it would be sad if the barriers aren't continuously being pushed and more companies 'play'. Competition helps ALL OF US, as well as the companies doing the innovation from the polyurethane companies to the radio producers, SoC and silicon providers to the display and optic development for Gosh Sake...DON'T slow down! Keep it going!!!
J
akdj - Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - link
My apologies for the length and typos! Anand...is it mobile only or just the response 'system' that doesn't allow for editing? Seems like I remembered a small edit button post, posting;)...if that makes any sense. Anyway...hopefully you understand my points. All in fun and enjoyment of technology...I wasn't trying to come across as a 'dick'. If my initial response did, my apologiesJ
RollingCamel - Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - link
No T9?Da W - Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - link
Just bought an HTC 8x on ebay, going back to WP8 baby!Got an HTC ONE for SALE! Good bye android, you never did what i needed the way i needed it!