The apparent duplication in having both Windows Phone 'Photos' and 'Lumia Storyteller' on most Lumias is a little confusing, but a little investigation reveals that the latter can on the whole be used as a replacement for the former, and with significant extra features and tie-ins. It doesn't make much difference for the everyday Lumia, but for the Lumia Camera 5-compatible smartphones, it's very worthwhile making the switch, opening up the full gamut of modern features.
With the One M9 in for review, from the Android world (here's my main general 930 vs M9 comparison), the very latest iteration of HTC's famous design but with, for once, a traditional high megapixel camera, an obvious test was to pitch the device against the similarly specced Lumia 930/1520 camera unit. Now that HTC has moved from its disappointing 'ultrapixel' units to something more competitive, does it leapfrog the 930/1520 by virtue of being newer, or is the old Nokia unit still more capable? Let's find out.
It's fair to say that the Lumia 930 is already looking long in the tooth - yet it remains the 5"-screened flagship in the Windows Phone world. Go pester Microsoft about there not being anything newer! In the meantime, the arrival of the HTC One M9 for review (and with a guess that a Windows 10 version of the latter might just turn up in the Autumn) gave us the chance to put the two smartphones head to head in traditional fashion.
Group tests of Twitter clients on any platform are always a little transient on any platform because of Twitter's own (crazy) client token limits, meaning that any third party application that gets really popular effectively gets shut down when it gets to 100,000 users. Such was the fate of several applications on Windows Phone, with Mehdoh and Rowi bowing out for this and other reasons. Begging the question at the end of March 2015, with a very serviceable first party client for the platform, of whether it's worth going third party at all any more and if so, which application to choose? This is my much updated look at Twitter clients, now with six apps in the mix.
In their latest blog post, the folks at AdDuplex have painted a picture of the low end of Windows Phone dominating more and more as time goes on, i.e. in terms of price and spec. While this is an interesting data point, it certainly doesn't tell the whole story, and I thought some balancing caveats were in order. Just what are the proportions of Windows Phones/Lumias out there?
You may remember that, back in Autumn 2014, I did a couple of companion articles, looking at 10 reasons why anyone WOULD choose a Windows Phone over the competition, and then 10 reasons why they WOULDN'T? Things change fast in the smartphone world, with Windows 10 now a reality and the competition fiercer than ever, which is why I thought an update of both lists and a new verdict was in order....
A slightly belated head to head, but with Denim arriving for the 930, it's worth taking a look at the wider world beyond its Cyan launch. Overshadowing things this time is a massive price difference though - the Lumia 930 is now just over £300 in some places, under this if you shop around, while the Apple iPhone 6, not that much newer, hasn't really come down since launch and still sits at a whopping £619*, both SIM-free etc. Windows Phone or iOS - that's part of the equation, of course, but there's plenty of component choice to comment on below.
No time machine this time, just a little crystal ball gazing. Microsoft has said from the MWC stage that a flagship Windows 10 (for phones) smartphone is coming, has said elsewhere that it will be powered by a Snapdragon 810, that Windows 10 itself will arrive 'in the summer', and we can guess a time frame of very early Autumn 2015 for mobile hardware. But what else will be in the presumed 'Lumia 940' and what chance will it stand in the marketplace?
Announced today was the Moto G 4G, over in the Android world, a stunning mid-tier handset. How do I know it's stunning? Because I'm holding the 3G version in my hand, and it's 99% identical. What about an equivalent in the Windows Phone world? The obvious choice is the Lumia 735, which I reviewed here, but I'm also going to throw in the new Lumia 640 too - it's a veritable mid-tier fight!
