I currently use two phones:
- My iPhone 4 that I bought the week that WP7 went on sale in Europe. I use it for my on-the-road stuff, and it’s mostly used with an FM transmitter for listening to podcasts/music in the car. I very rarely listen to broadcast radio.
- A WP 7.x HTC HD7 handset for work. I turn it on when I get to the office, and I turn it off when I leave the office. I hate Zune, it’s a dreadful platform to manage podcast subscriptions on, and there are no FM transmitters … no I am not replacing my car because a phone has no 3rd party add-ons. Would you replace your legs because a shop doesn’t have shoes in your size? Think about it … I jumped on the Hyper-V bandwagon when it came out. I was all over System Center before it was even called that. And I, of all people, hate using Windows Phone 7.x.
With all the mess around IOS6Apocalypse, I’m considering my options when my 2 year iPhone 4 contract runs out. I had been thinking that it would be an automatic upgrade to an iPhone 5. But, the phone isn’t a “grab my attention” device and there are some things about IOS 6 that I’m not mad about.
So here’s my challenge to Microsoft:
Prove to me (not to yourself or to someone else) that Windows Phone 8 is up to my requirements and I’ll buy a handset when it comes to Ireland. I want whatever is replacing Zune to be useful. The corners in WP7.x need to be shaved off. I don’t want some long flat list of apps (the solution is not an app-starved store). I need to be able to search for podcasts, and click-to-subscribe. And finally, I need an FM transmitter that plugs directly into the phone.
My advice to you: I don’t care about colours. I don’t give a damn about how many megapixies are in the camera: I’ll take out my €4,500 DSLR and stick a Canon L lens on it if I want a good picture. Screen resolution is a red herring for journalists and fanboys. Stick to my 3 requirements and you’ll be able to crow about converting a WP-cynic:
- Podcast management
- Sorted apps
- FM transmitter
It wouldn’t hurt to prove that typing is greatly improved too.
yeah! same for me … we now only buy windows phones at work .. so i took a look at the HTC TITAN and thought i would switch from my iphone 4s (where i read emails/rss/twittter about 95% of the time, 4 % music listening and 1 % gaming) if they’d offer something like http://www.lockinfo.net …
i don’t understand how others can work productively with their phones if they have to unlock and then start an app to do .. anything …
i am not that confident WP8 will be the next big thing in phones or a phone i will switch to some time soon …
Same here, the Podcast thing really sicks, got worse with the last update where most of my podcasts dont update. Also you cannot search for Podcasts in the phone or on Zune. I dont think that XBOX Music will ever get released in Ireland, so Nokia Music suits me for now.
In my car I use bluetooth audio for Podcasts and Windows phone is unusable with the controls on my Parrot kit as well. Although the kit is seeing some strange behaviour, so I can blame it directly.
I don’t use my phone for music except a single album I uploaded a long whiiiiiiiiiiiile ago and I don’t Tweet.
But I do follow Facebook, linkedin and other less “hyperactive” media, and I sync everything from skydrive/Outlook.com as needed.
It’s the only phone to allow this (iCloud was not there) and that’s why I have one (Samsung Omnia 7, the Galaxy S2 clone).
I’m a WP entusiast just because I have no interest in the 3 points you mentionned :p
PS: Work great with my car Bluetooth, but its not a Parrot, its build in the radio.
They need to add VPN support or I’m not buying it: http://windowsphone.uservoice.com/forums/101801-feature-suggestions/suggestions/1549707-add-vpn-or-directaccess
For FM transmitter I assume you mean something that can plug into the headphone jack of your phone and broadcast the signal to your car (or other nearby device). I was using one with my HTC HD7 before I had a car with bluetooth. I can’t remember the model but it had a USB charging cord for the phone and a large button/microphone so that you could do the “click” the same way that you can on attached headphones.
The transmitter and my car didn’t get on all that well I must admit. The Bluetooth in the car I drive now is ok but doesn’t control the phone at all – it’s a completely passive listener. A cheap Hyundai that I hired once whilst travelling had a stereo that did control the phone completely (start/stop audio, etc) – up until then I wasn’t sure if the lack of Bluetooth control was my car’s fault or my phone’s fault.
I’ve only ever used Zune for podcasts – prior to that I’d manually download and then drag/drop files to my HTC HD2, or prior to that, my Nokia N95 (going back a while now!). So I guess I haven’t had the utopia that might be iTunes (I’ve never heard anyone say they actually like it on Windows though?). Zune does have its idiosyncracies. I’ve never used the Zune Marketplace since most podcasts I like to listen to, despite being free, somehow aren’t available in my region (Australia) – way to feel loved!
For the apps… I quite like the tiled approach although I admit it’s not for everyone. Status comes through the tiles – a lock screen update would be nice though. Maybe Win Phone 8 will have it – Win 8 does at least. For non-frequently used apps I just flick over to the apps list and used the alphabet buttons to jump to a place in the list quickly.
Again – I’ve never owned an iPhone and don’t really plan on doing so. My experience driving an iPhone is quite limited although when I used an iPad recently I was upset that I couldn’t “swipe in from the left” to go back Safari from the PDF that opened from Safari. Win 8 / Metro is quite obvious in its mannerisms – I hope the as yet unannounced features of Win Phone 8 have some of those mannerisms too.
Great blog btw!
Cheers, Ian
I’m confused over the podcast problems. I go into the Marketplace, search, find what I want, and hit the subscribe button. I never use the Zune software unless I’m upgrading.
I guess you live in one of the very few countries where Zune works. In most countries, you cannot see/subscribe to podcasts in Marketplace.
Ah, gotcah. Works fine in the United States.
I refer to that as The Curse Of Zune … available in the USA but almost nowhere else.