The end of the Windows Phone 30 day challenge.

So the 30 day challenge has come to an end just a few days early and here is the verdict.  I took the Nokia Lumia 900 back to AT&T yesterday.  I really really wanted to love this phone.  It had so much promise and so does the Windows Phone OS.  But the fact that this phone will not be upgradable to Windows Phone 8 and some of the minor software issues I was having, I decided that Windows Phone has some growing up to do, before I delve back into using a Windows Phone again.

The one feature which I thought I would miss the most was the voice to text in the car usage.  However, I found out that there are many apps out there for android phones that do the exact same thing if not better than the windows phone did.  Live tiles are great, but I want a standard notification center where I can see all updates for everything and not have to scroll down my start page to look at each individual tile to see if there is anything new and for that matter I don't want to have to put all my apps on the start page just to see what is new with them.  Also for this to be the first non "beta" phone as the commercials go, it sure did have a lot of hang ups and freezes.
But don't get me wrong this is still a great phone and the platform as a whole has a lot of promise and I hope it really catches on and catches up to iOS and Android.  This phone though, is not for a power user.  There aren't enough apps out there and for those that are out there, the developers seem to neglect them and do not seem to update the apps in a timely fashion like you get on the other platforms.  Microsoft really needs to get on the ball with these developers.

All in all I can say the Nokia Lumia would be a great smartphone for those who do not currently have a smartphone and for those who do not need thousands of apps or the ability to customize everything.

So, I know you are asking, what phone did I get in it;s place?  Did I go back to iPhone or did I delve into Android?  Well the answer may surprise some of you that know me.  I have been known to be a bit of an Apple fanboy but in this instance I went with one of the nicest looking big phones out there.  The New Samsung Galaxy S III.


Don't worry I will be giving you a full review of this new phone later this week.  So far it is really nice though.  Let's see how long the I like this factor holds out after the newness factor wears off!

Week 3 of the Windows Phone challenge.

Well here we are three weeks into my challenge and with only a week left I have to say that I am missing my iPhone just a little bit.  Yes the app ecosystem and the maturity of iOS has me wanting it back, but there are still things I like about this Nokia Lumia 900.

First off let me say this is still a great phone with a lot of promise.  Sadly though this phone will not get to be upgraded with Windows Phone 8 so it's lifespan just got cut short by a whole lot.  Let me be clear, I totally understand why Microsoft is doing this, and I agree that it is necessary for the Windows phones to mature and seal their future.

The thing that I don't think I can part with on the Nokia Lumia is the Bluetooth text to speak.  When you have it hooked up to your cars Bluetooth (or a headset) the phone will announce you have a text message and who it is from.  You can then tell it to read it, reply to the text message by speaking and then you can send it all without having to look or touch the phone.  I am using this thing so much I absolutely love this feature.  I honestly do not think I can do without it now that I have been using it as much as I have been.

The other thing I love about the phone still is it's people app, that integrates your address book along with your news feeds for twitter, and Facebook.  I love not having to open a bunch of different apps to quickly glance in with these social feeds.  You can also create groups within the app to organize your info and information to send them.

So what makes me want the iPhone again.  The notifications.  I can say that I love the tiles and the updated info that they give me without having to just see little red 1's or 2's on the corner of the app.  It actually shows me the info that is on that app in the tile.  Problem with this right now is that if the app isn't on your home screen then you don't see any of those notifications.  Yes you will see them as the come in with a top down toast notification but after that nothing.  In iOS and android you can simply pull down from the top and it will show you all the apps that have sent you notifications.  I am kind of missing that.  Now I know with 7.8 update we will be able to make as many small, medium, or large icons on the start menu but I really don't want all those apps on my home-screen.  I like the clean feeling that it is now, not cluttered with information overload like an Android home-screen covered in widgets.

My next complaint on the phone is the freezing.  To be the first "non beta" phone, according to the Nokia commercials it sure does freeze a lot and I think this is just because of the maturity of the operating systems.  Windows Phone is behind several generations and has a lot to catch up on.  Now this phone isn't freezing every day or a lot but other than when my iPhone broke I couldn't tell you the last time that it froze on me.

So what is the final verdict?  Well, for now I will be keeping the Windows Phone, and I can tell you that the two main reasons for this are:  The text to speech for texting feature, and the fact that the iPhone 5 will be coming out in about two to three months.  So, I will update you guys again when that time comes around because also the first Windows 8 phones will be coming out by then as well.

Microsoft announces Windows Phone 8

Microsoft yesterday finally took the wraps off of it's upcoming Windows Phone 8 operating system.  While the future of the Windows Phone just got a lot interesting and promising, the current gen of phones are not getting as much love as they would like.

With the announcement yesterday, Microsoft said that the new Windows Phone 8 will be moving away from the CE core and moving to the NT core.  What does that mean exactly?  What it means is that it will share the same core as the actual Windows 8 operating system and the Windows RT tablet system. So you can in theory make an application for Windows 8 and with just a minor amount of tweaking make it compatible with all three platforms.  This is huge for developers and insures the strength and future of the mobile operating system.  This all comes at a price though as the current generation of Windows Phone 7.5's will not be getting the update to Windows Phone 8 simply because their hardware cannot support it.  But Microsoft isn't leaving you completely high and dry as they will be releasing an update for 7.5 to 7.8 which will give you some of the great features of Windows Phone 8.

Sadly other than the updated start screen there was not very much detail as to what exactly other features the current generation of Windows Phones will be getting.

As far as developers go any app that you have currently made for Windows phone 7.5 will work with Windows Phone 8 without anything needing to be done to them.

It is a bitter sweet move by Microsoft but it was one that had to be done.  If they want the Windows Phone to succeed they needed an updated and great core to their operating system that almost all developers know how to develop on.  With the Windows operating system being the largest and most used operating system in the world, they have insured that all these developers will already know how to make a great Windows Phone app simply by knowing how to make a program run in Windows.

Here is a quick rundown of some of the other features announced for Windows Phone 8:

*  With the addition of the NT core, this brings with it support for up to 64 cores of cpu power, SD card functionality and an increased resolution up to 720p.

* True NFC support in all phones.  Along with this they have made an app called Wallet where you can store all your coupons, credit cards, and giftcards and use the NFC technology to use them without having them handy.  This could mean a lot for NFC actually catching on and not just being a nice trick to have.

*  The updated start screen, where you can change the size of the tiles and add as many as 28 tiles on the start screen from one corner to the other if you wanted to do so, all while keeping the sleek clutter free design of the Windows Phone.

*  Full Skype and third part Voip support built into the operation system.

*  Nokia maps will be the main map application for all Windows Phones.  Currently the Nokia Lumia has a great advantage over most other phones because you get Nokia Maps free along with their outstanding turn by turn navigation app called Nokia Drive.  With Windows 8 all Windows Phone users will have access to these great maps.

As with their Surface announcement exact launch dates are not being discussed.  Only a "fall availability" has been announced.  This is a great and long over due leap for the Windows Phone Platform.  Hopefully with all these changes the Windows Phone app store will start seeing a lot more big name publishers moving in to take up residence. 

This platform is truly an original and stunning operating system that I hope truly catches on and truly compete with iOS and Android.  This operating system has a good chance at succeeding now and hopefully will not see the same fate as WebOS.

OH noes my Iphone go boom and how it will turn into an experiment with Nokia

So I knew that my trusted iPhone 4 was on her last legs.  The home button would take sometimes, 15 presses before it would recognize it and you can imagine how useless the phone is when that button doesn't work.  But I was really hoping that it would of held out till this fall so that I could pick up the iPhone 5.  I was crushed when today my phone (which pretty much is an apendage for me) was not responding to any of the actual button presses.  Turns out after taking it to the Apple store it was determined that something had caused the connection to all the physical buttons to stop working.  I could pay to have it fixed (not worth it by the way) or go ahead and get an iPhone 4s.  I will go ahead and say that I have no desire for the 4s, if I'm going to get a new iPhone it is going to be the 5.  Sadly, I have no extra phones laying around that I could use in it's place.  So the morale of the story is that I had to get a  new phone.  But which to choose.  I thought about Android but I have used them in the past and they are ok, very nice when it comes to customizable features but I don't like the fragmentation of updates for the OS.

To back track a little here in the story, I ran into an old friend the other day and she had a Nokia Lumia 900 (windows phone 7.)  I have talked about how nice the operating system looks and the phone is just stunning.  Well I got to play around with it for an extended amount of time and I really liked how Windows Phone operates.  It is a true, unique operating system.  I really liked it but the thought of the much smaller app store,  kind of made me think hard about that switch.

Here is a neat link that microsoft provides that will demo the operating system from your current phones web browser, check it out for yourself.  So when it comes to tech I really think things through before I make a purchase (OK, I admit sometimes with Apple products, I just buy, but they make it so hard to not do it.)  Anyway, I made a list of all the must have apps that I use daily on my iPhone.  When it came down to it, windows phone had about 85% of those apps and the rest could simply be replaced by apps that do the exact same thing.  I could get Spotify, Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Netflix, and Evernote.  I thought that it sucked that a lot of the games I play had no Windows Phone app, but then I thought, Oh wait I have a New Ipad, I still have all of these apps and games.  To be honest, I mostly play all my games on the iPad because of the bigger screen anyways.

So I went to the AT&T store and looked at the phone and played with it for a while.  You just have to see one in person it just looks great.  After talking with the Sales guy, and I explained in our conversation that I have a blog and I could do a write up on my experiences with the Windows Phone, we came to an agreement that I could try the phone for 30 days (AT&T's normal exchange period) but not have to pay the $35 restocking fee if I did not like the phone.  So, considering I needed a phone desperately I bit the bullet and got this phone.  By the way it's only $99.

My thought process was if I didn't like it I could take it back in 30 days or also my Mother's contract, we share a family plan, would be up in August so I could use her upgrade for the iPhone 5 and give her this Windows Phone.  So I have a plan and now I am playing around with my brand new Windows Phone.  So far it has been extremely easy to setup, the one thing I do not like is the fact that you still have to plug it into a computer to update it's software, but that is for a different article.

I plan on giving a video review of what I think of the phone so far, sometime this week.  Then I will give an update next week to see how I am still liking it, and if I miss my iPhone and then again before the 30 day period is up.  So we will see if this Windows Phone is what it will take for me to leave my loyalty for iPhones.  This is my first non iPhone since the original iPhone was released in 2007.   Stay tuned for future updates on this experiment.

Why I want to love this phone but....

Nokia and Microsoft have teamed up to help save each others mobile business plans and this phone is a beauty.  There are even rumors that AT&T can't keep them on their shelves.  I will have to admit it is one sleek phone and Windows phone 7 is a neat and finally original concept for a smartphone's operating system.  So why haven't they taken off?