Windows Phones- Reliability Issues

mrduffy17

Hi all,

So I'm thinking about making the switch from Android to Windows Phone. My Dad has had a couple of Windows Phones from work (520,635) and I've been really impressed with them, I think the have more of a premium feel to them than budget Android devices.

My only worry is that any time I've looked at the Windows App store and viewed certain apps such as Facebook, Twitter, FB Messenger, 6snap etc, the reviews from users seem to be very inconsistent, for every person saying a certain app is great there seem to be another two saying it wont work for them or it crashes.

I'm not a big user of apps so the smaller number of apps available for Windows Phone doesn't bother me. However, if some of the big-hitters like Facebook don't work all of the time that would be an issue for me, what are people's experiences of using these apps on Windows Phone 8/8.1?

Thanks!

PaulieC

mrduffy17 wrote: »

Hi all,

So I'm thinking about making the switch from Android to Windows Phone. My Dad has had a couple of Windows Phones from work (520,635) and I've been really impressed with them, I think the have more of a premium feel to them than budget Android devices.

My only worry is that any time I've looked at the Windows App store and viewed certain apps such as Facebook, Twitter, FB Messenger, 6snap etc, the reviews from users seem to be very inconsistent, for every person saying a certain app is great there seem to be another two saying it wont work for them or it crashes.

I'm not a big user of apps so the smaller number of apps available for Windows Phone doesn't bother me. However, if some of the big-hitters like Facebook don't work all of the time that would be an issue for me, what are people's experiences of using these apps on Windows Phone 8/8.1?

Thanks!

all of the above apps work consistently fine for me

mrduffy17

So you reckon, by and large, that there's nothing to worry about?

simi956

I would recommend WP alright, I am getting no crashing issues with any of the apps mentioned

theothernt

mrduffy17 wrote: »

So you reckon, by and large, that there's nothing to worry about?

Most of the apps are fine, especially the bigger brand apps like Facebook, etc. The problem with the Store (and this is true on Android and iOS too) is that you'll always find people complaining that the app crashes, is slow, etc.

If you still have access to your dad's phones, you should try the apps out and see what you think.

The only thing to note is that the 520/530 is the slowest phone, so apps do run faster on newer, more expensive handsets (eg. 930 or 1520).

suave.4u

I used a nokia 620 for sometime. After 8 months, the phone just went crazy. The buttons, case all is cheap plastic and during a call, the volume will reduce automatically. The buttons got stuck all the time. I bought a second hand iphone 4 and life has been bliss after that.

theothernt

suave.4u wrote: »

I used a nokia 620 for sometime. After 8 months, the phone just went crazy. The buttons, case all is cheap plastic and during a call, the volume will reduce automatically. The buttons got stuck all the time. I bought a second hand iphone 4 and life has been bliss after that.

That sounds like a mechanical failure of some sort, and should be covered under your warranty.

Any device from any manufacture can fail like this, it's only a serious issue when over a certain % of models have that issue - which in this case it does not.

Kevin Moran

I use a 1520, and a 925 and even 520 before that. The 520 was a tad slower than the other two but rarely did any of the apps crash or freeze, once or twice The Guardian app would need to close and then reopen to access a particular story but the 925 or 1520 never had/have that problem. At the entry level, the windows phones are of a better quality all round than the entry level Androids in my opinion, definitely a lot less freezing issues.

bidiots

suave.4u wrote: »

I used a nokia 620 for sometime. After 8 months, the phone just went crazy. The buttons, case all is cheap plastic and during a call, the volume will reduce automatically. The buttons got stuck all the time. I bought a second hand iphone 4 and life has been bliss after that.

So you replaced a cheap phone with a premium phone and everything is better now? :eek:

suave.4u

bidiots wrote: »

So you replaced a cheap phone with a premium phone and everything is better now? :eek:

I bought a second hand iphone 4 for 150 bucks (same price as a new Nokia 620).
The nokia phone has some better features, better camera..but the iphone is a solid build, more reliable.
I have another iphone, no issues till now for the last 4 years.

bidiots

I bought a 520 for 50quid. Still works perfectly. No need to splash the cash or buy old tech

senordingdong

Have only used WP on Nokia phones. No reliability issues beyond my own butter fingers.

A friend uses a HTC WP and bitches no end. I used to think he had sheep mentality but lately in thinking it might have been a low end device.

InTheTrees

I'm coming to the end of my 2 year contract with a lumia 920.

Its never crashed, never had any weirdness from it, and its still as solid as the day I got it. I never had to buy a case or screen protector for it either.

So now i'm starting to look around for whats next and thought I might swing back to iphones again but I'm not so sure. Android seems to be a minefield of manufacturers with variable and dodgy quality.

tampopo

I've had a 610 for over two years, no problems at all. till about two weeks ago when it was rare I'd get a full 100% charge. Twice in that time I'd say. Now, today, it's struggling to get above 10%. It keeps beeping the low battery warning and dying.

I think I'm due a 935 in a 2 year contract renewal. Should I just buy one straight out and would anyone recommend any other Nokia phone.

Light user...

InTheTrees

A 930 or an 830 seems to be my best choices.

Ill certainly look at the new iphone but I don't expect much from it.

tampopo

yeah, will go for the 930, I think. Thanks for your reply....

it's not taking a charge at all at all....

Do-more

I bought a Nokia 635 to replace the wife's 710 a month ago. On the first day when I was setting up her email etc. it froze on me completely and needed a reboot. Hasn't happened again luckily enough but hasn't filled me with confidence.

senordingdong

Do-more wrote: »

I bought a Nokia 635 to replace the wife's 710 a month ago. On the first day when I was setting up her email etc. it froze on me completely and needed a reboot. Hasn't happened again luckily enough but hasn't filled me with confidence.

Synching the wife's emails eh?....I need a reboot after just looking at my missus' inbox.

tampopo

Will get a new battery and go with the same tariff as before. Job's a good'un.

fingers crossed....

castle2012

I have had a windows phone for the last 2 years. Started with the Lumia 710 (great phone).Unfortunately I let it fall and smashed the screen. I bought an iphone after that . I could nt get used to the iphone. I found the iphone very slow.I'm back with a windows Lumia 620 since Christmas and haven't looked back. I would defo recommended.

tampopo

Hmm, turns out the new battery is not a solution. Still not taking a charge. Must be the connection on the phone. Bugger...

Kevin Moran

A Nokia Care Point will be able to sort this problem. The phone sounds like it is over two years so there will be an out of warranty repair fee. The problem may well be two fold with both usb port needing replacement and a firmware upgrade

tampopo

google search shows none in Dublin. Any suggestions? Fonemenders in Sth. Anne Street looks to be closed...

Kevin Moran

tampopo wrote: »

google search shows none in Dublin. Any suggestions? Fonemenders in Sth. Anne Street looks to be closed...

Driving distance, you have Newbridge, Arklow and Navan. Or you can post to a Care Point also, generally have same day turnaround. I work in the one in Galway, we've fixed a few with this exact problem

kevmc1180

I have a Lumia 920 which im about 19 months into a 24month contract..

Actually I started my contract with a HTC one x plus or something to that description.
After only 2 weeks of having it, it fell out of my pocket whilst walking into my house and shattered the screen.
Luckily I too the option of insurance so claimed they couldn't offer me direct replacement they could offer me a Samsung galaxy s3 but im not mad on Samsung phones and I knew the S4 was due out soon.
However they had a Lumia 920 and as I recently got a new laptop at the time with windows8 which unlike a lot of people I love , I decided to give windows phone a whirl..

To be fair after 19 months I have zero complaints..
At the beginning Facebook was shocking but they have made lots of regular updates and is really good now, the layout is way better than iPhone or android in my opinion..
The only thing it lacks in user ability to the other versions is you cannot TAG in a comment.
But that's it...

All the main apps work perfect..

The main OS is fantastic so simple to use and silky smooth..
Reckon I will up grade and stick to windows phone end of the year..

I have a Samsung s3 mini as my work phone and hate it compared to my private phone..

Obviously the elephant in the room is the lack of apps, but it has all the main apps which does me..

kevmc1180

tampopo wrote: »

google search shows none in Dublin. Any suggestions? Fonemenders in Sth. Anne Street looks to be closed...

Try Bing search...lol

tampopo

kevmc1180 wrote: »

Try Bing search...lol

Ha, I would have done, if the thing was working!!!

jahalpin

Windows Phone 8.1 is very stable, it is a lot more stable than Android Kit-Kat

I have had a number of Windows Phones over the years and have never had a problem with them.

I have a Nokia Lumia 1520 at the moment and it just flies along, Windows Phone is a lot faster and more stable than Android on the same hardware (I also have a Sony Xperia Z1, which has the same chip, amount of RAM etc.)

The app store is getting better all the time, most major apps are now available in for Windows Phone. The only exceptions are the Google suite of apps which are being deliberately withheld by Google

senordingdong

jahalpin wrote: »

The app store is getting better all the time, most major apps are now available in for Windows Phone. The only exceptions are the Google suite of apps which are being deliberately withheld by Google

I find it hard to accept this argument as the vast, vast majority of apps in the apple store and the google store are disposable garbage. And anything that's important can be accessed through a browser anyway.

hadoken13

senordingdong wrote: »

I find it hard to accept this argument as the vast, vast majority of apps in the apple store and the google store are disposable garbage. And anything that's important can be accessed through a browser anyway.

But his point about the Google apps are very relevant - very little support by Google for Windows Phone, even though they have plenty of apps on the Apple store. I'd rather use an app then go through the browser. However, I agree on the argument with the lack of apps - let's be honest there aren't too many of the premium apps that most people use that aren't available in the Windows Phone store.

Back to the reliability of Windows Phones, I am having problems with my 920 since the update to 8.1. The phone hangs a lot when changing the mobile setting, the compass no longer works, the store shows updates some days then on other days no updates show, even when there are updates available - I have to install another app to get the other updates to show.

My sister has a 520 and Whatsapp & Skype work intermittently. She has other issues with the phone hanging in settings. My girlfriend has a HTC 8x (I know it's a very basic model which 8.1 will not be installed on) and is considering going back to Android with all the problems.

I actually convinced most of my family to go to Windows Phone (my other sister has a 720 and has a few issues) and hate to see all these issues.

So I can justifiably say that there are issues with Windows Phone's reliability.

I like Windows Phones but am seriously considering moving to Android when I next upgrade.

hadoken13

All quiet here when you mention a load of problems

TBi

hadoken13 wrote: »

All quiet here when you mention a load of problems

Shhh!! Windows Phone never has problems! Which is a problem because when something does go wrong no one knows how to debug it!

beauf

hadoken13 wrote: »

But his point about the Google apps are very relevant - very little support by Google for Windows Phone, even though they have plenty of apps on the Apple store. I'd rather use an app then go through the browser. However, I agree on the argument with the lack of apps - let's be honest there aren't too many of the premium apps that most people use that aren't available in the Windows Phone store.

Which google apps. Because a lot of them are direct competitors, bing, office, One Drive, One Note.

hadoken13 wrote: »

Back to the reliability of Windows Phones, I am having problems with my 920 since the update to 8.1. The phone hangs a lot when changing the mobile setting, the compass no longer works, the store shows updates some days then on other days no updates show, even when there are updates available - I have to install another app to get the other updates to show.

Did you have problems before? are you on the developer update or the official release?

I find the updates are regional. They are on the US/UK store sometimes but not on the Irish one. Or appear much later. What are you missing in the apps that you need the update for?

hadoken13 wrote: »

My sister has a 520 and Whatsapp & Skype work intermittently. She has other issues with the phone hanging in settings. My girlfriend has a HTC 8x (I know it's a very basic model which 8.1 will not be installed on) and is considering going back to Android with all the problems.

The 8x is not a basic model. That was the 8s. There is meant to be an update coming. Again what in the update are you looking for that you are missing?

http://wmpoweruser.com/windows-phone-8-1-update-to-hit-htc-8x-in-late-october/

hadoken13 wrote: »

I actually convinced most of my family to go to Windows Phone (my other sister has a 720 and has a few issues) and hate to see all these issues.

So I can justifiably say that there are issues with Windows Phone's reliability.

I like Windows Phones but am seriously considering moving to Android when I next upgrade.

Windows phone is still a new OS relatively speaking. Android has its own problem. Especially at the low end. I don't think you are going to avoid some problems no matter which you switch to. IOS is the most mature, then Android then WP.

All that said, I would consider moving back to Android, but not if I can only get a low end device. You'd need to be getting a MotoG or better.

caycro

I have had a Nokia 800 for two years and have loved it. Sadly, cannot upgrade the software ( i knew this when bought it so got it cheap, 120e) and now skype is not being supported. whatsapp doesn't push notifications as regularly as it should but apart from that, no problems. Himself bought the 625, battery life not as good on that as mine tbh but the phone is great too. Can be used as a wifi hub so saved us buying a mobile wifi hotspot when we needed one last year. At 160e and unlocked after 3 months, it was a good price and a heck of a lot cheaper than the Apple.

beauf

I think it works better than Android as a phone. As a smart phone it has some limitations. The browser on IE is poor. Esepcially the lack of fwd and back buttons. Half the time back takes you out of the apps, and when you go back its forgotten where you were. Things like that are annoying. But I love the speed of the OS even on a cheap 520.

hadoken13

beauf wrote: »

Which google apps. Because a lot of them are direct competitors, bing, office, One Drive, One Note.

A simple official Gmail app and a Google Search app - the Google search app on the phone is crap and setting the default search to Google isn't great either - and let's be honest, Bing search is really crap even on a PC.

beauf wrote: »

Did you have problems before? are you on the developer update or the official release?

I find the updates are regional. They are on the US/UK store sometimes but not on the Irish one. Or appear much later. What are you missing in the apps that you need the update for?

Had a few before the update but not nearly as many as since the update. My store update issues have nothing to do with the region. For instance today I have 25 apps waiting to be updated, in a few days I may go into the store and it says no updates are available. I then have to reset the phone, set the time and date and then the apps are showing for updates again.

beauf wrote: »

The 8x is not a basic model. That was the 8s. There is meant to be an update coming. Again what in the update are you looking for that you are missing?

http://wmpoweruser.com/windows-phone-8-1-update-to-hit-htc-8x-in-late-october/

No 8.1 coming for the 8s model.

beauf wrote: »

Windows phone is still a new OS relatively speaking. Android has its own problem. Especially at the low end. I don't think you are going to avoid some problems no matter which you switch to. IOS is the most mature, then Android then WP.

All that said, I would consider moving back to Android, but not if I can only get a low end device. You'd need to be getting a MotoG or better.

4 years old all the same (if you include WP7). Don't like IOS at all - hasn't changed since inception.

beauf wrote: »

I think it works better than Android as a phone. As a smart phone it has some limitations. The browser on IE is poor. Esepcially the lack of fwd and back buttons. Half the time back takes you out of the apps, and when you go back its forgotten where you were. Things like that are annoying. But I love the speed of the OS even on a cheap 520.

In the 8.1 update you can swipe back and forward on the browser to navigate pages.

beauf

I just use the google website to search. I just think that method worked better for me.

What are these updates? For what apps? I only get a handful of updates in a month. What new stuff are these updates adding? On the Android phones we have they get a ton of updates but they are mainly games and such.

Do you have a 8s or 8x? I thought on the developer preview even the 8s got 8.1 ill have to find a link. Its worse on android the low and even middle end phones often never get an update from the manufacturer our the network. We've two dual core android phones both stuck on 2.3.6 for this reason. Have had the same problem on almost all the budget androids that we've had.

4yrs is still new in os terms. Though MS have been very slow with adding features and fixes.

Didn't know about the swipe. Thanks that might be handy. Its still not a patch on opera on android Imo.

theothernt

hadoken13 wrote: »

No 8.1 coming for the 8s model.

The 8s and 8x are getting 8.1 Update 1...

http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2014/09/24/new-update-for-windows-phone-preview-for-developers/

hadoken13

theothernt wrote: »

The 8s and 8x are getting 8.1 Update 1...

http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2014/09/24/new-update-for-windows-phone-preview-for-developers/

Not sure about the 8s as HTC recently stated that the 8s does not meet the criteria for an update:

http://www.wpcentral.com/htc-8s-apparently-wont-be-seeing-windows-phone-81-update-1

I'll try to find more from HTC.

beauf

The problem with 8S has always been it has 4GB which leaves too little space with the stock software.

They may find some work around yet, or they might give up.

This is a similar issues for 8GB iPhones
http://lowendmac.com/2014/does-ios-8-mark-the-end-of-8-gb-iphones/

kevmc1180

I have a Lumia 920 and got the wp 8.1 upgrade a few months ago now, and I have had no such issues, phone running perfect...

Antar Bolaeisk

Anyone having any issues with the latest update? Phone was working perfectly up until today and now it's freezing on apps to the point where I can't even lock/unlock the phone and data connectivity sometimes completely fails. Think I might have to do a factory reset as the phone has been almost unusable today.

damon5

I,m using a nokia 925 for a few months and had an issue the other day while playing a game on it.Had noticed that the top of the phone was starting to get warm while playing the game and then got a call so I answered it,after a short while the phone was getting hot so I ended the call.When I looked at the phone the screen was black so being a touch screen was incable to do anything,if someone rang the phone it would ring but of course I couldn't answer.Did a bit of googling and came across the https://expertcentre.nokia.com/en/articles/kbarticles/Pages/Nokia-Software-Recovery-Tool.aspx .I connected the phone to the computer with the mini usb lead and downloaded it onto the computer and ran it,very shortly after the phone started vibrating and the screen came back and bingo phone as good as new..
p.s it does say to save photos,contacts etc or you will lose them but I never did and nothing was missing after at all.

senordingdong

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

Anyone having any issues with the latest update? Phone was working perfectly up until today and now it's freezing on apps to the point where I can't even lock/unlock the phone and data connectivity sometimes completely fails. Think I might have to do a factory reset as the phone has been almost unusable today.

Getting that alot lately myself.
Qi has also crapped out.

Antar Bolaeisk

Turned out my problem was related to the VPN settings which I had been playing about with. Once I turned off VPN everything returned to normal which I must say was a little disappointing as lack of VPN was one of my main gripes with 7.8.

hadoken13

I have another issue since the update - cannot back up my settings and apps. Keeps getting as far as 96% then fails every time.

GristlyEnd

I had this issue before. Go to settings, backup, apps+settings, manage backups. Click on delete then try the backup again.

hadoken13

DarrenG wrote: »

I had this issue before. Go to settings, backup, apps+settings, manage backups. Click on delete then try the backup again.

That worked.

hadoken13

Does anyone know how to turn off the lights on the three buttons at the bottom of the phone i.e. the back, windows and search buttons? Before the update you could put the phone in battery saver mode and the lights turn off, but they stay on now. This is a pain when watching stuff on the phone at night as the buttons are very bright.

theothernt

hadoken13 wrote: »

Does anyone know how to turn off the lights on the three buttons at the bottom of the phone i.e. the back, windows and search buttons? Before the update you could put the phone in battery saver mode and the lights turn off, but they stay on now. This is a pain when watching stuff on the phone at night as the buttons are very bright.

I don't see an option for it at all on the latest OS update

hadoken13

theothernt wrote: »

I don't see an option for it at all on the latest OS update

Ye - the more I use the phone since the 8.1 update the more I am starting to dislike it. The only bits I like since the update is the notification centre. Battery has been poor since the update, problems with the store not showing updates too.