Friday, April 08, 2016

First Two Weeks With a Windows Phone #268

On 22nd September 2008, I got my first iPhone (a 2!) - a freebie from O2 (and of course I blogged about that here). Since then I have had three more and got very fond of the device. My iPhone 5 was my last one - I had it two and a half years and it had started to give a lot of trouble - like failing the SIM card several times a day. It was time for a new phone.

Image source: Microsoft.
New iPhones are soooo expensive. One of the biggest problems with my 16GB iPhone was space - I was constantly deleting photos to make room for more. I was also limited in what music I could keep on it and subscribing to a podcast was fraught with the danger of filling it up. I also felt that the camera was shite. I investigated other options including the new Microsoft Lumia 950. Many of the reviews gave it lots of praise but pointed out the dearth of Apps - the so called "App Gap". I liked the option of 32GB space expandable to 200GB via a microSD card. The camera was a big thing for me - at 20 MP I was impressed. While in Florida last January I investigated one in a phone store and one of the attendants told me it was the best built phone he had.

Two weeks ago I bought one! And so far so good. I miss Google, but Bing Search and Maps is fine. The main Apps I wanted to use like Facebook and WhatsApp have Windows versions - it was also easy to configure email and calendar. Not all Apps have Windows version, the first I really wanted was a Radio Player App. The only one available switched off the radio when it went into sleep mode. However, I went to the RTÉ web page and played the radio directly from there - and it was easy to add this as a shortcut to my Home screen. The screen is bigger than I'm used to and as a handset it feels a lot bigger in my pocket. I got a 64GB microSD and I have my entire music collection (13GB) on it and there is still lots of room for more. The camera is fantastic and easy to use. I also like that you can browse all files in Explorer on the phone.

I don't see myself using it like a PC with Continuum, or using Word or Excel on it. I still have all my files on Google Drive which so far I have not managed to access from the phone (no App). 

Overall - I thoroughly recommend this phone. With its Nokia pedigree it is not inferior to the iPhone in any way - and it is a lot cheaper.

1 comment:

  1. I discovered my productivity actually improved with every app I deleted and with fewer apps to distract on a Lumia 950 XL, I can assess work faster and stay on task longer since notifications are much less frequent than on my Xperria Z5. However, I also have a throwaway iPhone 5C with a cracked screen that serves specific needs, such as making 360 images clips or keeping my 8yo placated with games from Toca Boca.

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