By Rich W Woods
If you are an AT&T or a T-Mobile subscriber and you want a phone with the best camera possible, you are probably looking at a Nokia Lumia Windows Phone. They are the only phones that support RAW photos and the cameras are either 20 or 41 MP.
If you are looking at camera only, you may see the Nokia Lumia 1020 and say that 41 MP is the way to go; however, you are making sacrifices. The Nokia Lumia 1520 has a 20 MP camera with a Snapdragon 800 processor.
By Rich W Woods
I’ve been calling for a high end Windows Phone for a long time. Nokia typically used Snapdragon S4 processors in their phones and finally started using Snapdragon 800 processors right around the time that the latest high end Android phones – the Sony Xperia Z2, the HTC One M8, the Samsung Galaxy S5, and the LG G 3 – started using Snapdragon 801 processors.
The highest end Windows Phones at the moment are the Nokia Lumia 1520 that has a Snapdragon 800, a 20 MP camera, and a 6″ screen. The Lumia Icon and 930 have the same specs with a 5″ screen.
Continue reading The HTC One M8 for Windows: The First High End Windows Phone
By Rich Woods
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. The time immediately following Apple, Microsoft, and Google’s developer conference when they all release the developer betas for the operating systems that will be released in the fall. For those of us that love to get our hands on the new features first, it’s like Christmas. I am constantly buying new hardware and paying Apple $99 per year just so I can get these features first and tell you all about them.
Continue reading iOS 8 vs Android L vs Windows Phone 8.1: Developer Preview Mexican Standoff
By Rich W Woods
As most of us know by now, Microsoft now makes an Android phone, the Nokia X, X+, XL, and X2. Many have wondered why Microsoft would make an Android phone running Microsoft services when it has its own operating system, Windows Phone.
Some have speculated that it is a backup plan in case Windows Phone ultimately fails. Personally, I think it is a way to use Google’s Android platform against them. After all, Google did the same to Microsoft when they released the Windows 8 version of Chrome, taking advantage of the full screen to provide a full Chrome OS experience.
Continue reading Nokia X Could Bring Android Apps to Windows Phone
By Rich Woods
Benjamin Franklin once said, “Anyone who sacrifices freedom for security doesn’t deserve either.” Not only is that what the country is doing, it is what technology is doing. On operating systems like iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Windows RT you can only install apps approved by the OS manufacturer.
A decade ago, we had a choice. We knew what software we shouldn’t install but at least we could do it at our own risk. This is how totalitarian governments get started. “We know what’s best for you and you can’t be trusted to decide what’s best for you.”
Continue reading The App Culture is a Step Backward for Technology
By Rich Woods
Every platform now has an app store that runs different from the next. Android has one that includes both phone and tablet apps. iOS has one for the iPhone and one for the iPad that gives the option to also use iPhone apps on an iPad. Chrome OS and Mac OS had them as well. Back in November 2012, Microsoft wanted to start taking a chunk of change from people developing for their platform as well. Microsoft’s app store has one for Windows Phone and another for Windows 8 and RT.
By Rich Woods
iOS 7 and Windows 8 were complete redesigns of their predecessors. They were both met with mixed reactions. Windows Phone 8 wasn’t as much of a redesign from Windows Phone 7 as Windows much, but it was a huge step forward. As you could see above, this is the 14th part of this series and since Microsoft and Apple usually seem to move in parallel, I try to write up a comparison of their competing products as they come out.
Continue reading Microsoft vs Apple part 14: Windows Phone 8.1 vs iOS 7.1
By Rich Woods
I have written several posts about the Dell Venue 8 Pro. Since I got it at Christmas, I was first unable to obtain any accessories for it and it had a pretty poor touchscreen. There were times when it didn’t pick up when I would touch the screen and other times when it thought I double tapped the screen, making it hard to do something as simple as type in my password and log in.
When I first got it, I promised that I wouldn’t write a full review about it until I received all of the accessories. That being the folio case, the keyboard, and the stylus. I was able to obtain the keyboard and the case from Dell within a couple weeks but the stylus was shown as “temporarily unavailable” and no back order date was given. Finally, a couple weeks ago, Dell showed that the stylus was for sale and would ship in 3-5 weeks. I ordered it immediately and received it on Tuesday. Although I broke my promise and wrote a review, I will keep my promise that I would update it once I got the stylus. This is that update.
The Dell Venue 8 Pro started as a really bad tablet. I didn’t want to tell my fiancée that because she bought it for me for Christmas and I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. It had one of the worst touchscreens I had ever seen and the reviews for the stylus were that it hardly works at all. The first thing that I did was run “the Temple Run test”. The Temple Run test is a test I always run on a new device. It’s a simple game that I am very good at but it has a lot of motion and high quality graphics. I feel that it tells you a lot about how well the device can perform. It runs the game fine, but I kept crashing because so many times I would try to swipe the screen and the screen was unresponsive.
After running the Dell software update program a few times, I downloaded some firmware updates and a BIOS update which improved the touchscreen dramatically. Also, after finally getting the Bluetooth keyboard, I didn’t have to worry about double tapping anymore and typing became much easier. The functionality of the device was improving but it wasn’t quite there yet.
Next, I ordered a micro-USB to USB adapter from Amazon. This allowed me to use a wireless mouse which solved even more of the clicking problems. This turned the Dell Venue 8 Pro into a fully functional mini PC. But mini tablets are meant for portability, and who wants to carry around an adapter and a wireless mouse everywhere?
Finally, my stylus came in the mail. Either the negative reviews for it were wrong, all of the firmware updates that I had downloaded along the way had fixed it, or Dell fixed the actual product in the time that it was “temporarily unavailable” but it works wonderfully. The Dell Venue 8 Pro went from being the best way to waste $300 to a full blown mini Surface Pro.
While the display of the Dell Venue 8 Pro is only 1280×800 that’s more than enough pixels for me, especially on an 8″ screen. I think that we’re entering an era that we really need to ask ourselves “how HD is HD enough?” Can you really tell the difference between 720p and 1080p? Probably. Can you really tell the difference between 1080p and 4k? Maybe. Is it worth the extra money? Probably not. Think of the amount of bandwidth that you end up using when you start streaming HD content. Most of us have data limits on our cell phone plans. If I’m connecting my Dell tablet to the internet through my MiFi hotspot I would much rather have Netflix stream to me in SD than through anything higher than that.
I had always heard terrible things about Intel’s Atom processor but so far I haven’t had any problems with it. After all, it is a 32 GB tablet. Perhaps if I had the 64 GB model, I would try to run Access on it or I would try to run Visual Studio on it but I don’t. The point that I’m trying to make is, while it doesn’t have the strongest processor in it, there is only so much that you can ask it to do. You are not going to try to run any hardcore software on a machine that has 32 GB of storage because you don’t have nowhere to store the app itself. You can’t complain that the Atom processor won’t have enough firepower to run Visual Studio when you can’t install Visual Studio in the first place. Of course, Windows RT machines have the same excuse.
I love the Dell Venue 8 Pro and I love it for the reason that I love all Microsoft and Windows related products. It might not be that great when it comes out of the box but unlike products from Apple or Google, they actually get better over time through software and firmware updates.
As you can see, I’ve written quite a bit about the Dell Venue 8 pro and this will most likely be the last one. If you would like to read any of my previous posts on it, look below:
Make sure to follow me on Twitter @rwoods716 and like us on Facebook at “For the Love of Tech” for all of the latest news, reviews, and product comparisons. I would love to hear from you. Tell me how we can make this site better by leaving a comment or posting on our Facebook page or sending a tweet. Got a tech question about how to fix your broken PC or smart phone? Just ask. Need help deciding which tablet is right for you? Happy to help. Drop me a line.
By Rich Woods
Both Windows 8 and iOS 7 were major overhauls of their predecessors. Whenever a company takes a major operating system and decides to build it from the ground up, there are bound to be problems. The history of Windows is that Windows 95 was a complete redesign after Windows 3.11, and then Windows 98 was built on top of that and 2000 on top of that. Windows XP was a redesign although it looked mostly the same, and then Vista was built on top of that and Windows 7 was built on top of that. iOS has been building on itself from when the first iPhone was released until iOS 6.
The fact that these two OSes were completely built over was no mistake. Times are changing and our operating system needs are changing, but you can’t please everyone when you change so much at once and many weren’t happy with Windows 8 or iOS 7. The “point one update” is the update that refines everything. It’s the “we listened to your feedback, added some features that you wanted, and tried to give you a better experience” update.
Windows 8 has already released this update a few months ago with Windows 8.1 but its mobile companion has not. While Windows releases a major updates to its operating system every three years and typically releases a few service packs along the way, Apple typically makes one and iterates on it year after year. For example, Mac OS X is up to 10.9 at this point and for a decade old operating system, Mac users are pretty happy with it.
All that being said, we’re right around the corner from seeing the full release of Windows Phone 8.1 and iOS 7.1, the biggest updates to come to these platforms since their designs. iOS 7.1 Beta has been released to developers and as a developer, I’ve been using it since it the beta was released in December. Windows Phone 8.1 has not been released but there have been many leaks from around the Internet about what the update will bring to the platform.
Most of the changes to iOS are superficial. They have changed quite a bit to make it look more pleasing, including changes to the lock screen, the keyboard, and the power off screen.
There were a lot more changes to Windows Phone 8.1. Unfortunately, most of these changes are features that iOS and Android already offer. A good example is the ability to use an image as a background on the start screen, something that iOS has offered since iOS 4.
One feature that Windows Phone 8.1 appears to be adding is the ability to share Wi-Fi networks. This is something not offered on any other platform and should prove to be very useful. Many times I’ve been at a friend’s house unable to get a good LTE signal and he didn’t know his Wi-Fi password so I couldn’t show him the YouTube video that I wanted to. It would have been so much easier if he could have just changed a setting on his phone that said “share this Wi-Fi network with Rich for the next 60 minutes”.
Another is encrypted email support. Email is an antiquated system with a great amount of security vulnerabilities. The fact that they are taking a step like this is important.
Other features coming to Windows Phone 8.1 that iOS already has is a voice assistant (Cortanna will be Microsoft’s version of Siri), app suggestions by location, automatic app updates, app syncing, and there will be a notification center.
Now let’s go over some things that you can do with iOS that you cannot do with Windows Phone. You can natively print from iOS. While viewing any document, email, or photo in iOS, you can click the share button and assuming you have an airprint compatible printer on the same Wi-Fi network, you can easily print. Windows Phone doesn’t offer this. For a platform that promotes having Microsoft Office and a 41 MP camera on the phone, it seems illogical that I can’t make a hardcopy of the beautiful photo I’ve just taken. Also, what exactly is the point of having Office on a 4.5″ screen if it’s not to print a previously saved document on the fly? I would love to be able to put an NFC tag on my printer and tap my Windows Phone against it and easily print something.
Another feature that sounds minor but I absolutely love in iOS is the ability to use your iPhone as a flashlight natively. Obviously, any camera phone with a flash can have a flashlight app that will access the flash on the camera; however, on the iPhone, you don’t need an app anymore. Just swipe up from the bottom of the screen to see the control panel and you get the flashlight option without having to unlock your phone and open an app.
Both platforms offer the ability to organize apps into folders, but Windows Phone only allows you to do it on the start screen when I think it would be much better from the “All Apps” menu. iOS has a search feature as well, so if you can’t find a certain app because it’s hidden away in a folder, you can always find it. This feature may come to Windows Phone as well with rumored Bing integration into Windows Phone.
So each of the two operating systems do a few things that the other doesn’t. Even Android has a few features that neither Windows Phone nor iOS has, such as the ability to have multiple user accounts. It’s not as necessary on a phone, but for a tablet it can be important.
If you’re thinking about buying a new phone and you’re deciding between an iPhoone or a Windows Phone, right now the best bet is to wait until Windows Phone 8.1 and iOS 7.1 are released. In fact, I will definitely be updating this very blog with a post very similar to this one when that does happen. In the meantime, keep in mind that no one has really used Windows Phone 8.1 yet. I’ve been using iOS 7.1 beta for two months through its five beta iterations but all we have to go by for Windows Phone is a list of leaked features.
If you would like to see any of my previous posts about iOS 7.1 beta or my comparisons between Apple and Microsoft products, follow the links below:
Microsoft vs. Apple:
iOS 7.1 Beta:
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By Rich Woods
We’ve been hearing quite a bit about Windows updates lately. Windows 8.1 Update 1 is coming on either the second Tuesday of March (March 11) or the following patch Tuesday in April (April 8) and Windows Phone 8.1 is coming right around the same time. We have seen screen shots from each and there have been leaks all over the board and just as many rumors.
Between all of these leaks, it seems that everyone has forgotten that Microsoft still makes a product called the Surface which still runs an operating system called Windows RT 8.1. Searching far and wide across the internet I have not been able to find news about the update that is coming for Windows RT. There have been rumors of Windows Phone and Windows RT coming closer together and since the tablets that run Windows RT have ARM processors, the only OS that Microsoft makes that would run on these tablets is the Windows Phone OS.
There have been some rumors that since the changes brought by Windows Phone 8.1 is so major that it may be called Windows Phone 9. Changing the version number of an operating system is always Major.Minor.Bug Fix, so perhaps this is the major change that we should be expecting. Windows Phone 9 could be under a different name altogether and they could completely merge Windows RT and Windows Phone.
There are many things from Windows RT that I would love to see in Windows Phone. For instance, it would be great to be able to swipe to close apps in the same way that you do in the metro mode of Windows RT and Windows 8. At that, why not be able to swipe between apps instead of having to hold down the back key?
On the other hand, there are some features of Windows Phone that might not work so well on a full size tablet that’s built for landscape mode. The Surface scrolls horizontally and Windows Phones scroll vertically. If you turn a Surface to portrait mode, it looks a little strange, but it would make much more sense to have it scroll vertically then.
The fact is this. Microsoft is going to be pushing out major updates for all of their operating systems in a few months which means that they can change whatever they want, however they want because they can make those changes right across the board. This makes a lot of the fans of Windows 8 very nervous.
There have been lots of rumors that Microsoft is going to go back to a Windows 7 format. This would leave all of the current supporters of Windows 8 feeling quite abandoned and Microsoft would lose a lot of their existing support. Windows Phone 7 was not a very popular OS and when Windows Phone 8 came out it left Windows Phone 7 users completely in the dust. If I had a Windows Phone 7 and I was still under contract for it I would be pretty upset. If they do this with Windows Phone 9 or Windows RT they will face a huge backlash.
For example, if you were one of the first people to buy the Surface RT and when the next version of Windows RT comes out they decide that not only will current Windows RT users not be eligible for the update, but any new apps that come out from now on will not be available to Windows RT users, you would lose faith in the company that you put so much support in to start with right? They need to remember the people that are supporting their current platform as they move forward here.
Just the fact that nothing at all has leaked about Windows RT 8.1 Update 1 when we have been hearing so much about the other two updates says a lot. Maybe there will be no more Windows RT. Maybe it will be just Windows 8.1 Update 1 and Windows Phone 8.1 and the current Surface RT and Surface 2 tablets will actually receive Windows Phone updates. It’s very far-fetched of an idea, but it’s not entirely impossible.
The other chance is that Windows RT 8.1 Update 1 will simply get the same new features that Windows 8.1 Update 1 gets and that’s it. Only time will tell and we will not know anything for sure until either Microsoft makes an official announcement or at Microsoft’s Build conference in April.
Make sure to follow me on Twitter @rwoods716 and like us on Facebook at “For the Love of Tech” for all of the latest news, reviews, and product comparisons. I would love to hear from you. Tell me how we can make this site better by leaving a comment or posting on our Facebook page or sending a tweet. Got a tech question about how to fix your broken PC or smart phone? Just ask. Need help deciding which tablet is right for you? Happy to help. Drop me a line.
For the Love of Tech 