Thork

Windows 8 phone
« on: February 22, 2014, 01:01:25 AM »
So as you may or may not know, I get free stuff from my clients. Mostly phones and tablets.

Anyhoo, I recently got given a new Nokia Windows 8 phone.

Now my first reaction was "Yuck, I hate Windows 8" (it does not work on desktop full stop) and my second was "That's a shame because I'm bored of iPhone and iOS7 sucks so badly".

Anyway, I had to use it for some work and well ... I frickin' love it.  :D

Its fast, looks nice, has everything I need, isn't hard to read or garish like iOS7. Its just a really nice phone. I'm not a huge fan of Android either. Too google dependant and it looks like shit as well.

So anyway I'm downloading the Windows Phone SDK and will be hammering out apps for it very soon. There is way less competition in the app store at the moment so that is appealing.

Microsoft seem to have done a really nice job. Apart from anything else, Visual Studio is done so much better than xcode which is a steaming pile of massively unstable manure.

My iPhone is now sat simless in my drawer wishing its home button hadn't got progressively more difficult to activate and that its upgrade from iOS7 hadn't buggered its performance so badly and made it the ugliest thing on a computer since goatse. Its crappy battery life didn't help its cause either. Now it can only hear its replacement chiming and ringing through the darkness as it sits next to my socks. I hope its heart-broken.

Anyone else have a Windows phone?
« Last Edit: February 22, 2014, 01:02:56 AM by Thork »

Offline Blanko

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2014, 01:04:16 AM »
>iOS 7
>uglier than previous iOS versions

>Android
>implying stock looks are relevant when the entire thing is entirely customizable

Oh, you got a Windows phone. That explains everything.

Thork

Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2014, 01:05:22 AM »
No, that's what I thought, but its actually really bloody good. I know, I know, I wouldn't have believed it either. But it is.


Also most versions of Android I have used are poorly laid out and its fussy about stuff, always sticking screens up in your grill when you are trying to do something else.

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Offline xasop

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #3 on: February 22, 2014, 01:34:43 AM »
I'm not a huge fan of Android either. Too google dependant and it looks like shit as well.

Android is not at all dependent on Google. My phone runs Android with no Google apps installed, and the only Google service I use it with is Google Maps (via Firefox).

There are plenty of good reasons to hate Android, but Google isn't one of them.
when you try to mock anyone while also running the flat earth society. Lol

Offline Blanko

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2014, 01:40:38 AM »
You're just in a Google botnet and you don't even realize!!!!!!!

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Offline Rushy

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2014, 02:31:39 AM »
Unbeknownst to Thork, Google bought Microsoft in 2008.

Offline Blanko

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #6 on: February 22, 2014, 02:35:05 AM »
Unbeknownst to Thork, Google bought Microsoft in 2008.

blaze it

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Offline markjo

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #7 on: February 22, 2014, 04:09:17 AM »
I'm not a huge fan of Android either. Too google dependant and it looks like shit as well.

Android is not at all dependent on Google.
Except for the fact that Google develops and maintains Android.
Abandon hope all ye who press enter here.

Science is what happens when preconception meets verification.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. -- Charles Darwin

If you can't demonstrate it, then you shouldn't believe it.

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Online Lord Dave

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #8 on: February 22, 2014, 04:14:36 AM »
I'm not a huge fan of Android either. Too google dependant and it looks like shit as well.

Android is not at all dependent on Google.
Except for the fact that Google develops and maintains Android.
Isn't Android open source?


Thork: that's basically how I felt about the MS surface.  Its weird isn't it?  Its like Microsoft knew how to make a touch screen interface but failed at making it a desktop too.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2014, 04:40:00 AM by Lord Dave »
If you are going to DebOOonK an expert then you have to at least provide a source with credentials of equal or greater relevance. Even then, it merely shows that some experts disagree with each other.

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Offline markjo

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #9 on: February 22, 2014, 04:35:14 AM »
Isn't Android open source?

I suppose that depends on your definition of open source.
Android's source code is released by Google under the Apache License; this permissive licensing allows the software to be freely modified and distributed by device manufacturers, wireless carriers and enthusiast developers. Most Android devices ship with a combination of open source and proprietary software.
Abandon hope all ye who press enter here.

Science is what happens when preconception meets verification.

Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge. -- Charles Darwin

If you can't demonstrate it, then you shouldn't believe it.

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Offline Rushy

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #10 on: February 22, 2014, 05:11:34 AM »
I suppose that depends on your definition of open source.

Please enlighten us as to what you define open source as.

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Offline xasop

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #11 on: February 22, 2014, 06:12:20 AM »
Except for the fact that Google develops and maintains Android.

Irrelevant.

Isn't Android open source?

I suppose that depends on your definition of open source.

No, it doesn't. You're just wrong.
when you try to mock anyone while also running the flat earth society. Lol

Thork

Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #12 on: February 22, 2014, 11:54:24 AM »
I'm not a huge fan of Android either. Too google dependant and it looks like shit as well.

Android is not at all dependent on Google.
Except for the fact that Google develops and maintains Android.
Isn't Android open source?


Thork: that's basically how I felt about the MS surface.  Its weird isn't it?  Its like Microsoft knew how to make a touch screen interface but failed at making it a desktop too.
I can't stand the surface. I think I have ranted about it before. Apple has OSX and iOS. They appreciate that a desktop OS is not going to work on a phone and vice versa. Microsoft didn't get the memo.

Its why I was not interested in Windows phone. Windows 8 hadn't worked on my PC, it was awful on the surface ... but it suddenly makes sense on a phone. Its really rather good.

Unfortunately to develop for Windows Phone you need Windows 8 Pro on your desktop. This is irritating. I have windows 7 like anyone else with a windows PC. Do I want to pat £107 to write phone aps for Windows phone and ruin my computer at the same time? I thought about buying a separate machine just for development but that really is just crazy talk. I have a perfectly good PC already.

Offline Blanko

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #13 on: February 22, 2014, 11:57:18 AM »
You could just not use Metro on Win 8 like a sensible human being.

Thork

Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #14 on: February 22, 2014, 11:59:26 AM »
You could just not use Metro on Win 8 like a sensible human being.
Of course.

But £107 + all the cocking about reformatting and reinstalling everything on my computer? Very tempting just to get a new one.

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Offline jroa

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #15 on: February 22, 2014, 12:55:43 PM »
It is easy to make a new partition and install Win 8 on it so you can dual boot.  It is also very cheap to buy a separate drive to install Win 8 on and then you could just chose which drive to boot from.  No need to reformat anything. 

Although, with all of the problems that you had with GRUB after you tried Linux, maybe you should just stick to a single operating system. 

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Offline beardo

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #16 on: February 22, 2014, 01:01:38 PM »
Yeah, let's not forget it's a noob you're talking to here.
The Mastery.

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Online Lord Dave

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #17 on: February 22, 2014, 03:02:16 PM »
I'm not a huge fan of Android either. Too google dependant and it looks like shit as well.

Android is not at all dependent on Google.
Except for the fact that Google develops and maintains Android.
Isn't Android open source?


Thork: that's basically how I felt about the MS surface.  Its weird isn't it?  Its like Microsoft knew how to make a touch screen interface but failed at making it a desktop too.
I can't stand the surface. I think I have ranted about it before. Apple has OSX and iOS. They appreciate that a desktop OS is not going to work on a phone and vice versa. Microsoft didn't get the memo.

Its why I was not interested in Windows phone. Windows 8 hadn't worked on my PC, it was awful on the surface ... but it suddenly makes sense on a phone. Its really rather good.

Unfortunately to develop for Windows Phone you need Windows 8 Pro on your desktop. This is irritating. I have windows 7 like anyone else with a windows PC. Do I want to pat £107 to write phone aps for Windows phone and ruin my computer at the same time? I thought about buying a separate machine just for development but that really is just crazy talk. I have a perfectly good PC already.
  A smart phone is just like a small tablet.  How can the same OS work on a phone with a smaller screen but suddenly become horrible when the screen size is larger?  That's like saying iOS is terrible on the iPad but great on the iPhone.

Also, having now used the surface for work, I love it.  Its weight is great for one hand holding and typing, the battery life is damn good, and excel works oddly easily. 

Too bad the store sucks.
If you are going to DebOOonK an expert then you have to at least provide a source with credentials of equal or greater relevance. Even then, it merely shows that some experts disagree with each other.

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Offline Rushy

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Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #18 on: February 22, 2014, 04:50:52 PM »
Also, having now used the surface for work, I love it.  Its weight is great for one hand holding and typing, the battery life is damn good, and excel works oddly easily. 

Too bad the store sucks.

That's the great thing about the Surface (and probably why the store sucks) is that you don't need the store for anything.

Unless you're using the RT. That's unfortunate.

Re: Windows 8 phone
« Reply #19 on: February 22, 2014, 05:56:03 PM »
Your clients are bribing you. Does your work know this?