A BlackBerry addict's review of a Windows phone
By Emma Waverman
The satisfying click when my thumbs hits the buttons gives me an endorphin rush each and every time. My name is Emma and I am a keyboard addict.
We’ve been enmeshed for almost a decade. There was a time that I couldn’t imagine living without my BlackBerry, but lately I have been missing out on some of the fun extras of the newer smartphones — like a good camera. So when Microsoft gave me an opportunity to try out the Nokia Lumia Windows 8 phone for a month, I eagerly, cautiously said yes.
I am a fairly average phone user — I use it for searching, email, Twitter and as an actual phone (yes, I’m a “voice’ dinosaur) as well as for kid distraction purposes.
The Nokia Lumina 920 is much larger than what I was accustomed to, and doesn’t fit comfortably in my back pocket. Whenever I pull it out, people want to see it. I’m not used to this much
attention from baristas and teenagers. The good thing about the size is the massive screen, which means that I can read whole articles without too much scrolling, watch videos (something I'd never do before) and play games. I have dropped it a couple of times, without an issue. A major bonus right now is that you can use the screen with gloves on, not just tech-savvy ones either.
The screen is customizable with “live tiles”; different tiles can be pinned and moved around according to my needs. I can pin my shopping list, an important email or an article I’m reading to the front for quick reference.
The phone has a great feature called ‘Kids Corner’ which means that I can load up the kid’s favourite apps that they can access in their own area without access to my phone apps. And yes, they can play Angry Birds.
I use Windows 8 at home, so everything I put in One Note, contacts and calendar seamlessly moves into the cloud and is accessible from my desktop at home.
The camera is amazing. Suddenly I am taking pictures and videos all the time. The 8.7-megapixel camera uses Carl Zeiss optics and takes really great photos, even in low light. There are picture editors such as Aviary, and I can take Panorama shots. Unfortunately, I can’t upload to Instagram yet, though there is an app that gives me access to my account so I can see what everyone else is doing. Photos can be uploaded to SkyDrive so I can access them from any
computer.
The integration of all the social feeds is much more useful than I had ever thought. The ‘People’ tile brings in all the information about my contacts that can be found on different parts of the phone. When I bring up a contact I see their picture, their Twitter handle, LinkedIn bio, phone numbers and latest tweet.
As of yet, I have not found a Twitter app that I like as much as UberSocial. I’ve been using Gleek which has some good functions, like quick access to conversations and people’s profiles. But, it doesn’t update often enough.
One of the big surprises with my Windows phone has been the Xbox music service (a paid subscription service). I can pick an artist and create a playlist on the spot and stream music pretty much wherever I am. The artist selection is excellent and I use it all the time.
The Facebook app is not very good, but neither is the Blackberry one. So that’s a draw.
One thing that I do miss is my Blackberry Messenger (BBM) and my group BBM feature. The Windows phone has a similar service, called Rooms where you can share photos and calendars as well as text, but you can only join a room with other Windows 8 phone users, which means my son who has a Windows 7 phone and I couldn’t link.
My biggest hurdle has been the lack of keyboard. The predictive typing is very good and the phone is starting to learn my idiosyncrasies but typing on the smooth screen takes me much longer and I am less likely to send long emails. This is obviously something I have to get over.
Over 20 bloggers took part in the Windows phone swap; most of us have elected to keep our phones. One blogger even wrapped up her iPhone and gave it to her daughter for Christmas.
I am also keeping my Windows 8 phone; now that I have become accustom to a large screen and variety of Apps, I want to keep them. I expect the Apps will improve with time, as will the selection.
I admit it though; sometimes I get an itchy feeling in my thumbs longing for that satisfying click.
Emma Waverman is the author of the blog Embrace the Chaos on MSN Lifestyle.
Comments
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Posted by: mandelbrot | Jan 29, 2013 1:07:53 AM
accustomed!
Posted by: Yosemite Sam | Jan 29, 2013 7:32:54 AM
Hi Emma
I saw the error too. You need to conjugate the verb by adding ''e d''
An elementary error like that stands out and completely spoils the whole article.
Maybe you should get your postings proof read or go back to your grade five
teacher for a refresher course.
ou may also look at the difference between ''bring'' and ''take''
Posted by: Paul | Jan 29, 2013 8:03:48 AM
Oh my...some people realty need a life if they are picking on a simple error like that. I guess they don't read for the substance.
It is fine to compare the windows phone to the OLD Blackberry devices, but if they had done that with a blackberry 10 device I am pretty certain that would have been a different view.
Posted by: Wendy | Jan 29, 2013 8:26:08 AM
This is my third blackberry and I'm running out of patience. My kids both had a blacberry and were constantly complaining about the phone, so one hads an Iphone and the other gets his tomorrow for his birthday. Blackberry is a blackberry, no matter what the number. They all SUCK as far as I'm concerned.
Posted by: Ray | Jan 29, 2013 8:35:51 AM
Bad timing... you shouldn't be publishing stuff like this on the eve of the Blackberry 10 launch. If it were me I'd fire your marketing people for such a weak effort. Comparing WP8 to older technology... really!
While I am sure Windows Phone 8 is a decent alternative to older platforms, the simple fact of the matter is it has been virtually invisible and unavailable here in Canada. It would appear that the carriers could not care less, so I wonder how well MS sold it. Carriers fell over themselves to carry the iPhone mainly because of demand, so I don't know how you think you can get away with the same arrogance that Apple had towards carriers. It is because of that arrogance that carriers are in love with RIM right now, so I guess MS missed a great opportunity. With RIM, carriers stand to make money, instead of losing it just for the "prestige" of iPhone.
Posted by: Bluestar | Jan 29, 2013 8:42:52 AM
I have a Blackberry Playbook and a Blackberry Curve 9320 phone, wouldn't trade either one for a smart phone or any other tablet. I like the confidence my phone and tablet offer, can't be hacked, the solid feel and secure typing it presents.
A friend of mine lost his Blackberry under a couple loads of frozen backfill (earth), two days later in extremely cold weather while leveling the dirt we came upon the Blackbery phone, wiped off the dirt, brought it inside to defrost, turned it on, and away it went, working like normal, excellent, let's see an ipone do that!
Posted by: Kris | Jan 29, 2013 9:16:07 AM
While it is not right to compare a new smartphone with older technology I do feel that I can say I love my Windows phone, though somewhat outdated now I have had a windows phone 7 (7.5 now) for a couple of years. At about the same time my girlfriend purchased a blackberry (don't remember the model and neither does she) I purchased my phone to be a media device more than anything, thus I went with the htc surround which bosted a slide out speaker that had dolby mobile tech. In terms of speed it was faster than most andriod phones at the time (program switching, browsing etc.) and was comparable to the latest iPhone available, what it did lack was apps. My GF has since moved on from her blackberry vowing to never own another one and has a galaxy3, which she is much happier with.
What I love about the phone: Integration of sharepoint, this was big for me as my IT department kept a lot of files on a sharepoint site that I often needed access to. Word and excel - worked well when I did not have access to a wireless network I could send out/recieve properly formated documents. The speaker and stand, having the built in speaker made watching videos on my phone and listening to music on my phone a little more enjoyable. Durability; I have lost count of the number of times I have dropped this thing, once was off the side of a slow moving train (yes I worked as a conductor for a while) and the screen has held up nicely, though the body of the phone has some chips and dents, and I should point out I do not own a protective case or screen for the phone.
What I do not love: Lack of customization, without 'freeing' my device I could not input my own ring tones (till the 7.5 release) that was a huge oversight by MS. Lack of apps, and size. The size is mostly due to the addition of a slide out speaker that makes my phone a little plump.
After all is said the windows phone platform seems pretty solid, and I have no regrets about my purchase, and am considering upgrading to the 8 platform once I find a phone running it that I like.
Posted by: Jatan | Jan 29, 2013 9:50:25 AM
I got the HTC Win 8 phone. To most extent I have liked it, that I didn't feel I was missing my S3 or the Note 2. The only drawback was not having the apps which I had on my android phones, but I can't use that to say the phone or the platform is bad. After using Blackberry for 3 mths, Apple for 5 months, Android for 2+ years and now W8 for 2+ months I have to say, microsoft has provided a nice system personally better than the rest of them. Took me some time to get used to a new system which works unlike all others, but once I got used to it, I find it hard to use the other systems and find them annoying.
Posted by: kyleheney | Jan 29, 2013 9:52:31 AM
You do know that BB10 is coming out tomorrow right? Horrible timing for this article... makes it sound so redundant and misinformed given that you'll be able to have the same experience of "large screen and variety of apps" in about 48 hours. Also a keyboard version coming soon.... maybe a little mention of BB10 is deserved...?