Rant Alert – Some readers may find this blog a piece of rant, readers’ discretion advised!
Just like most of the millennials out there, my first phone was a Nokia. And unlike most of them, every new phone that I bought after that has been a Nokia. It was only last year that I got into the World of smartphones where you are likely to be LOOKING at the device much longer than SPEAKING or HEARING from it. My Windows Phone 8.1 OS powered Nokia Lumia 925 is a fun device and it becomes much more fun when non-Windows users check it for the first time 😆
What’s the difference between Facebook and Twitter? They are two enormously different social networking platforms. While facebook is this bulky giant that has opened the floodgates to all sorts of content, twitter chooses to be calm with the trademark 140 characters limit and doesn’t compromise on it. In summary, that’s an analogy for Windows Phone OS and the others out there especially Android. I keep Android and iOS in the same league due to the similarities of their user interface when compared to Windows live tiles. I have been using the iPad for over 3 years now and I don’t really see a big difference in the look and feel of iOS and other Android powered 6-inch giants.
Meanwhile, Windows keeps it simple and doesn’t allow any customization maintaining a standard interface across all devices. When you unlock, it does not give you a start screen with stale-dead icons (icons – a copy of the Windows computer OS in the first place!) and an ocean of home screens for multiple swipes or the ever so confusing multi-windows and ‘gadgets’ or the double tap for something… tap-hold for something else… right/left/up/down swipe for something even more… hell, swing the phone in the air and some app will open up! Instead of all this drama, Windows gives you a fresh breath of air with live tiles that flip and provide glance-able latest updates and you can swipe to the right for an uber-clean list of apps. Every single app on your phone is right there on your start screen and reachable with just one scroll.
Now you may think Windows has a total 25 apps in the Windows Store right? Well 25 apps is what we actually need! The users across the World have been using about 25 apps over the past few years and the number does not seem to grow as per the latest Nielsen study. Windows Store, by the way, has more than 120,000 certified apps including the 25 that the World uses the most. Oh and did I mention the fantastic battery backup of the Nokia phones yet? Its okay if I haven’t because we aren’t discussing Nokia, we are discussing Windows Phone OS here 😉
So lets stick to how the phone becomes much more fun when a non-Windows user tries it for the very first time. Some find it very hard to accept how things can be this easier compared to the “best OS in the World”. Some are broad-minded enough to appreciate the good while others are a surprised with the comparatively much better things that Windows has to offer.
However, this blog isn’t intended to prove the superiority of Windows over others. I think for an average user a phone maybe just a communication device but for enthusiasts, fans, geeks, youtubers, diehards and everyone else who is not an ‘average user’, the phone has become a personal affair just like the music. A Ghulam Ali fan may never like Eminem but both of them can endlessly argue on who is better. This blog only intends to put across a point about how the first time users are stumped by the simplicity (even if they are ‘advanced users’ of other OS’s)… and start a video recording when asked to take a snap only because they cannot find the “galaxy” of options in the camera app 😆. Nevertheless, they go ahead and create the video because of the camera’s exceptional performance in low light and inspire me to write such posts. By the way, the video is below,
PS – I have never owned an Android or iOS powered phone and for this blog I watched more than 100 tech videos (mostly Android phone reviews) by MKBHD, TechCrunch and PocketNow. They are awesome YouTubers and links to their channels are below –
MKBHD – https://www.youtube.com/user/marquesbrownlee
PocketNow – https://www.youtube.com/user/pocketnowvideo
TechCrunch – https://www.youtube.com/user/techcrunch
However, please note that they are more of Android/iOS people and I found their Windows Phones reviews missing out on some of the best Windows features. For Windows expert reviews, you can follow Daniel Rubino at the Windows Phone Central –
WP Central – https://www.youtube.com/user/WMExperts
Also, show some love for my friend who accidentally did this video at Tech Virus –
Tech Virus – https://www.youtube.com/user/TheAbhishekvirus