What are the pros and cons of windows phone 8?

[The Mask Rev]

Hi. I've been using a BB torch for the past 2 years, and I've decided that I should buy myself a new phone. (Well, my BB is having lots of problems recently)

My budget is about $350, And I've looked around for some phones in a local phone shop. The Lumia 720 catches my eyes ; Good design, Good camera, Is priced exactly @$350....One drawback though ; windows phone 8.

Windows phone 8 is fairly new around here, and most people here uses either samsung or BB. So I've got no one to ask about it...So, can you please tell me what's the upside/downside of windows phone 8, Aside from its puny little app store which is pretty understandable because it's only 9 months old?

[Vineeth Kumar]

The app store is the only drawback. The rest of the os is amazing and flies. It does not stutter like android and it is as solid as ios. Trust me because I use lumia 520

[Doug k]

It only has one drawback... that is the app store as mentioned already.

Before you go getting too turned away though, consider that, of the top 100 mobile apps, Microsoft has two thirds of them. The only real one that I would want is Instagram. It has all of the social ones you would want and many are built-in to the phone. You can use your GMail on it, etc, and the app store is growing all the time.

In all other ways, it is a very quality OS... blazing fast, doesn't crash (most Android users know how to hard reboot their phone, unseat their battery, etc). Some Android uses who want deep control of their phone with global settings for everything, and then application settings to override the global ones will definitely be upset with Windows Phone in that it does not have such deep settings.

People who like Windows Phone would say... "It's much fresher, more configurable than an iPhone, but not nearly as confusing and clunky as Android."

People who hate Windows phone would say... "It's not nearly as configurable as an Android, but it's harder to use than an iPhone."

Both are technically correct. I personally think Microsoft nailed it. Common tasks like finding a local drug store, updating your FB status, and such are so fast and easy... the phone is clearly optimized for these more common functions. More specifically, the Nokia phones are the way to go.. as Nokia writes exclusive apps for their devices. The 720 is a great phone for the price... regardless of the OS.

Unless you are a total app junkie who needs all the latest apps first (coming from BB torch I doubt it), Windows Phone is definitely a good choice.

[Saptadeep]

40+ Drawbacks or Limitations of windows phone

1. Video and audio downloading is natively restricted
2. No file manager. You can't see files without a appropriate app. You can't move , rename the files... You Can't delete files that are not supported. Can't move files between SDcard and phone memory. simply you always need a computer for every single file operation.
3. You can't send Prerecorded audio and video files via any social networking apps like WhatsApp, Wechat etc
4. You Can't save received audio and video files with any social networking apps
5. You Can't upload video, audio, document files to any sites. And unable to upload image files to most of the websites. And can't attach with email.
6. No video players for playing popular video formats like .mkv,.avi,.flv etc
( offcourse there is one, yxplayer (Rs235), but Its NOT A STANDALONE APPLICATION... You Need buy another SDCard viwer application (Rs 110) for working with this player. total cost Rs 345... But still it can't give a satisfactory performance coz it can't play files from video hub and take minutes to open a video file, poor quality playback and many features are not present)
7. You can't share videos via Bluetooth except your personal videos taken with this phone.
8. No multiple file sending for files except images
9. No multiple delete option except audio and image files
10. No notification center. Always results in delayed notifications.
11. Call recording not possible. Its restricted
12. No background downloading support ( except app store)
13. Charging phone while its switched off is not possible. It automatically get on while connect to charger
14. No flash plugin support .. So you can't see any flash videos or web content that requires flash support..
15. No zooming while video recording in progress and no pause option for video recording
16. No way to see files properties.
17. No separate volume controls for music and ring tones. Can't set custom ring tone for message.
18. Can't save numbers directly to contacts from call record
19. Sms delivery reports comes into a separate thread
20. No looping option in to do list. No proper notification. No way to set alerts for different day intervals
21. No way to close internet explorer immediately
22. To close apps you need first bring the app into foreground
23. Page refreshing in browsers and other applications when switching to foreground. Typed content vanishes.
24. No USB tethering. So you can't use it with your desktop computer.
25. No Equalizer for music player
26. One waste hardware button. dedicated for bing. No one using it. Its really irritating when bing launches by accidently touching it while running other apps or games.
27. Day by day increasing other storage. No way to clean it
28. Duplication of files
29. No seek bar for music player
30. No CUT option in text editing. Only COPY option..
31. No rotation lock. Really Annoying while in bed.
32. No auto alignment for text while zooming in documents and web pages... Really annoying while reading web pages
33. No quick short cuts for WiFi,Bluetooth,battery,network,gps, brightness settings. No Bluetooth auto on while sending files.
34. No task killing, one hanging application leads to entire phone hang and restart.
35. No privacy features. Only way to protect your personal data is screen lock password.
36. In video and audio hub. There is no way to categorize your files. every thing shows mixed... In video hub there is no way to even sort the files. Everything mixed up. No matter whether its p*rn or movie clip.
37. While receiving video files via Bluetooth it goes to saved images folder instead of video hub.
38. Vibration alerts are not really helpful. It vibrates only once when getting a call.
39. Poor JavaScript and HTML 5 support in internet Explorer... Webpages not displaying correctly... And can't upload images or any files
40. Image preview quality is poor with default viewer.
41. Unable set custom applications for opening files.
42. Windows phone does not support WiFi Direct feature. Only way to file sending is slow Bluetooth.
43. Call duration not showing in Call record