Forgive me for going all generic and chatty and, for once, abandoning technical details and platform specifics. For this topic is applicable to all phone of all prices and OS persuasions. Well, maybe not all prices, as you'll see. I'm, quite simply, intrigued by the eternal battle between style and protection. Let me explain...
Following on from Steve's and Ewan's live tile tour, it's my turn to show you how I have my Windows Phone 8 tiles set up. While Steve went for the most optimal set up, and Ewan went for a much more active set up, mine is now somewhere in the middle. Unfortunately, you missed my very elaborate v1.0 set up, but now I'm on v2.0 with plenty of live tile activity, even though I've scaled things back as my needs have changed.
One of the new features of Windows Phone 8 that I've been enjoying is having Bing's 'Image of the Day'. Great views, fascinating pictures, and adds something surprising to my day. But there's one thing that's been bothering me... why can't Bing synchronise up the lock screen image and the Bing search image?
Following on from Steve's post last week talking about his Windows Phone 8 live tiles, it's my turn to show off my set-up. Looking over Steve's article, it looks like my start screen is twice as large as his, mostly because Steve has made a conscious decision to stay minimal, while I prefer to have far more activity and links on my screen. It's a layout that has evolved and built up over time, and one that still goes through small changes every week or so. Let's have a closer look.
Having now been living with the Nokia Lumia 920 and Windows Phone 8 off and on for the last two months, I've found that my setup has been iterating week on week, eventually stabilising on what is my 'optimal' Start screen and application loadout. Now, I know that every Windows Phone will be set up differently, but hopefully something about my final configuration and app picks will prove of interest to the AAWP readership.
For various reasons, the life of a reviewer involves pushing phones a little bit more than the consumer. As a result, I tend to move a lot of data around, and it has not taken me long to come to a conclusion. Microsoft's approach to backing up data on someone's Windows Phone is seriously lacking.
We hear time and time again how iOS and Android are streets ahead of the competition in terms of availability of applications and I've even done a few repostes of my own, a while ago. Time for a new snapshot though, looking at the top 30 Android applications and their availability or equivalency on the Symbian and Windows Phone 8 platforms, representing our readership here on All About Symbian and All About Windows Phone. Summary?
Windows Phone needs to tempt users away from other platforms if it is to survive in the long-term. While Android is now the biggest smartphone platform, iOS still has a massive user base, and remains a status symbol despite showing its age. Is Windows Phone 8 a viable alternative for iOS users? In 2012 I went from Windows Phone 7 to iOS6, to, by the end of the year, Windows Phone 8. Things went rather smoothly, here are my experiences.
I'm spotting an interesting trend in articles talking about Windows Phone 8, and I want to disagree with some of the automatic thinking that is going on. The idea that there are hordes of Windows Phone 7 users ready to flay Microsoft alive because they aren't getting a new OS was laughable at best, but now I've had some time with Windows Phone 8, I think the phrase 'be careful what you wish for' is appropriate here. If Windows Phone 8 was available for the first and second generation Windows Phone 7 devices and forced on them, that's when the trouble (and the flaying) would start.
Following previous head to heads, many people asked for a comparison between the Nokia N8 camera and that in the Lumia 920 with the PR1.1 camera fix in place. Furthermore, others wanted a direct comparison between shots from the Lumia 920 and industry-standard cameras like that in the new Samsung ATIV S (or Galaxy S III). Finally, I couldn't resist throwing a wild card into the mix with the Meego-powered Nokia N9. Four top camera-toting smartphones, which one will emerge victorious?
