TechSpresso

10 things I don't like about my awesome Windows phone.

October 10, 2014

I love my Windows 8 Phone. Make no mistake. I love the simple interface, the cross-device look and feel (unlike many Windows/Xbox/mobile users). I have the Nokia Lumia Icon (929) from Verizon which has not gotten the Win Phone 8.1 update (currently only shipping on one Nokia Lumia 530 WITH CORTANA!) The camera is amazing. You can individually set the exposure, shutter speed, white balance, brightness, etc. or you can go full auto. Cropped photos look great, as do zoomed photos on subjects up to a good distance. I can actually get a decent picture of the moon at night with the right settings. I love live-tiles and the alpha index for searching for things in lists. However, nothing is perfect and so here, in no particular order, are my gripes. The order is slightly significant, but not much.

10: No notifcation bar/light

Although notifications hang out on the top of the screen for a decent amount of time (sometimes to the point of annoyance,) I often miss a twitter or text notifiction as it fades off screen or gets superceded by successive texts, twitter posts or other "toast" notfications. Live tiles on the home screen will give you a number indicating how many new notifications you have but you have to click each app tile and go into the notifcaion list of each individually. For twitter, this is no help since the tweet nofications do not show up in the list of alerts, they are mixed in with your entire feed and impossible to find. I get around this by putting a live tile for my key people and if I want to see their new tweets I just go to that profile directly. I hear the windows 8.1 update for alredy released phones is coming but i have no idea when.

9: Music player: Playlists

The only way to create a play list in the Xbox Music+Videos App (misleading, since it doesn't sync with your Xbox) is to be in a list and then tell the app to create a playlist from the songs listed on the screen at that time. Once created, you can't add a song or remove any from the playlist. I think what I may try is using the add to now playing for a certain selection then making that into a play list then open that play list, add it to now playing and then select anothe song to add to now playing and then make that into a playlist. You see what I mean?

8: Navigation app, no alternate route selection, clunky commute functionality.

I actually like the interface for Here+. Which, I am not even sure whether it is a native Microsfoft app or a third party. The maps are clear, the traffic drive time adjustments are uncanny and it even alerts me when I am speeding, which I usually ignore but at least I know it's accurate and it only beeps the first time you go over unless you slow down again. I like the voice quality and how it tells you your next move well in advance. However, there's no way to select an alternate route. It's picked the best route for you and you can't override it. It keeps telling you to make a u-turn long after google navigation would recalc the route. You can create commutes, and save them but you can't select a new commute as an alternate for the same destination. The only way is if you pick a different starting point, like your home vs the coffee shop you stop at on the way to work.

I improvise by ignoring commutes altogether and just starting a new navigation for the same destination once I change routes.

7: No Candy Crush (and for me, only a couple of other apps.)

I get that is the software companies that choose whether to publish for a particular platform but c'mon King.com and Perka! I need you! Luckily,Sweet Crush for Win8 is a pretty good imitator, and trust me, there a LOT of crap imitations of the (actually) Bejeweled copycat.

6: No Google Hangout support

Sure it has Skype, and iPhone has Facetime and Android devices have Google+ Hangouts but everyone has a Gmail account and it runs on iPhone so why can't I have google hangouts on my Skype phone. Somebody help me out here. Even my Windows Surface 2 Pro only supports video Hangouts in desktop mode.

I found a third party app IM+ (whose logo looks oddly like the Christian fish symbol) that let's me get Google chats and notifications so I'm hanging in there. I think I'll see if there is a Tango app for Win8.

5: Photo albums/no tags other than favorites

I LOVED all the different ways you could arrange photos in Android. Tags, Folders, Sort by Dates, faces etc. Granted if you used a filemanager to move your pics around in the sd card, you'd lose all your tag settings but I rarely did thta. Windows photo albums a set up as: Camera Roll, favorites, screenshots, saved photos, and then all your facebook sky/one drive. One good thing is the ability to pin any album, or photo (or anything else you want) the the homescreen as a tile. I dig that. There is a people view but it only works for pics you've tagge on one of your social networks with someone in your contacts/people list.

4: No driving mode without a bluetooth device.

Seriously? Anyone at Microsoft ever heard of headphones or MAYYYYBEEEE putting the audio readout to the phone SPEAKER???

3: Camera control inconistency between front facing and rear camera.

In camera mode, you have to tap the camera button or the on screen camera circle. tapping the screen focuses a the tap point and LOOKS like it is taking a pic but it is not. Countless opportunities missed in the first couple of weeks with this phone. In front facing AKA selfie mode, tapping on the screen focuses and snaps the pic. Also, I don't like how the front facing camera photo elongates the subject, though it does make me look a bit thinner, I don't like how my face get's al horsey...

2: Texting: No taking of video in messaging app.

Umm... I don't like having to go out of text mode, make a video then go back to messaging and attach it. My android phone took text attacment quality video of limited length "in-message." You can capture a video in camera mode, click the view button then share it but that's still too clunky.

1: Texting: No message lock or export function.

I admit it, I get some text/pic messages I like to savor. This lack of lock functionality is resulting in me making a lot of screenshots of texts; Which have their charm, so I won't compain too much.

Free advice is worth the price you pay

August 14, 2014

Being known amongst friends and family as a computer tech professional is a lot like being a doctor, lawyer or financial advisor. People are forever asking you a "quick question", have this nagging problem they can't figure out, or gotten themselves into a little hot water and need help fast. Of course, they are grateful for any help you offer and are not trying to intrude on your "off hours" or get something for free. I've had many cups of coffee bought for me and even had my tab paid at my regular coffee spot for spending 15 or 20 minutes tinkering with a cell phone, laptop or just answering the endless "why didn't Microsoft put x, y or z" in the newest flavor of Windows questions with "I don't know. I'm not Microsoft."

There are a million tech websites out there that can be googled and weeded out for possible solutions to most tech issues. The folks who end up asking me for help have either already looked at such sites, or not, and lack the technical knowledge to get from the chaff to the wheat or the problem is just too obscure and the answer isn't documented on the sites that google, bing or yahoo offer up.

I never mind (well, usually) answering a question, looking at a person's cell phone settings or laptop configuration to see if I can't help them get rid of that annoying prompt, download a ringtone or tell them that the virus they contracted would be easier gotten rid of with a system wipe and fresh os install. Of course, I don't know EVERYTHING, and specialization in computers and technology is as wide and varied at that of other professions. That never kept anyone in my family from asking my sister-in-law the anaesthesiologist how to get their cholesterol down or asking my sister the genetic patent lawyer how to keep their estate safe from the tax man.

Ask me anything; I'm not afraid to say "I don't know."