Windows Phone WP 7/WP8 Problems & Frustrations

Having now used the Nokia Lumia 800 Windows phone for 3 months the problems and frustrations of the phone have become more apparent. While I love the People hub and the fact the phone can let you send text messages while you are out of coverage and they will be delivered as soon as a signal becomes available (unlike the iPhone!) there are a number of issues that really let the phone down.

Something that has only become apparent since switching to the Google Nexus 4 is that with the WP7 you are constantly swiping the screen to access things because the icons are much larger and you cannot divide them into different screens. On an Android phone or iPhone you have so much more screen space available and can move across screens.

1) No way to search content on the phone such as SMS text messages.

I get a lot of text messages. Many are not from or to anyone who I have contact details stored for so if I want to find a message I need to search. Except on Windows Phone 7.5 (and also on the new WP8) searching is not something that is possible.

So if I want to find a message from someone about a specific subject I have to search - manually - through all my messages in order to find it. Not good and something that is easy to do on both Android and iPhone so missing it from the latest Windows Phone 8 release is a major mistake Microsoft!


Windows Phone WP 7/WP8 Problems & Frustrations

2) Screen Shots

On WP7 it isn't possible to get a screen shot from anything running on the phone other than by using a camera to take a picture of it. Standard on Android and iPhone and another serious ommission although apparently this is now available in WP8.

3) Status bar - signal & battery

On WP7 and Windows Phone 8 the design theory is to keep the screen clear and uncluttered. Unfortunately that also means not displaying the signal strength unless you are on the home screen and tap the top of the screen. SO being able to check if an app is running slowly due to the poor mobile signal is not possible without switching back to homescreen and back to app again.

4) Apps

As a heavy Facebook user for business and personal, the FB app for WP is poor and way behind the standard of the iOS or Android versions. This might be fixed at a later date but isn't much help now.

Unfortunately despite the benefits from Nokia Lumia Windows Phone I've now decided to switch to Android and a Google Nexus 4 is now on its way to me