Who here uses Windows Phone?

[desura]

GDR2 update in now being pushed for ATT and TMO in the US. Long overdue.

ah, finally.

 

[RandomFool]

Oddly enough, right after my phone rebooted from installing GDR2, the store tile lit up with 16 updates. That's promising.

 

[Lil Frier]

GDR2 update in now being pushed for ATT and TMO in the US. Long overdue.

Yeah...sort-of. AT&T stripped out DataSense, which is uber-stupid.

 

[Lil Frier]

My guess is they're planning on turning the back button into the charms button.

I'd hate this. We already use that swipe gesture for Charms to get to the app list, so they'd either have to invert it from 8/WT to Windows Phone (which people would tout as "confusing fragmentation"), or they'd have to change how apps were accessed (maybe make them a Charm, which I'd ALSO hate?).

 

[RandomFool]

I'd hate this. We already use that swipe gesture for Charms to get to the app list, so they'd either have to invert it from 8/WT to Windows Phone (which people would tout as "confusing fragmentation"), or they'd have to change how apps were accessed (maybe make them a Charm, which I'd ALSO hate?).

Assuming they're implementing some form of charms on WP, I don't know how else it would work. Swiping in from the side would be difficult on phones with cases. Swiping up/down would work, but it's still different from how Win8 works. I can't imagine they're going to go with a single Window button on all phones but who knows.

 

[Piotrsama]

If they implement that change... hopefully you can configure what action you want to make when you press the "back" button.

 

[dlock13]

Yeah...sort-of. AT&T stripped out DataSense, which is uber-stupid.

Does VZW still have exclusivity rights on it?

 

[Deeko]

Does VZW still have exclusivity rights on it?

No, I believe T-Mobile got it with GDDR2.

 

[blurredvision]

Updated to GDR2 on my 920 last night, no issues.

 

[Deeko]

After getting GDDR2 you can now use Nokia Pro Cam on the 920. Give it a try, its pretty awesome.

 

[bearxor]

I was holding on to the 920 for so long in anticipation of Amber so I could really put Pro Cam through its paces.

I'm thinking definitely next year for the Lumia 1020 successor. Should be a lot of fun.

 

[Kallogan]

i just bought a used lumia 920 with Amber/pro cam on board, this phone is just impressive, wow. All about this phone feels just right, near perfection. The only cons remaining is that there's still no decent app to play mkvs and that you can't manually focus by touching the screen WHILE shooting a video. Also, is there a setting to turn off backlight on the the physical keys, it's an eyekiller in low light, only the screen brightness is lowering, kind of stupid.

 

[Crono]

i just bought a used lumia 920 with Amber/pro cam on board, this phone is just impressive, wow. All about this phone feels just right, near perfection. The only cons remaining is that there's still no decent app to play mkvs and that you can't manually focus by touching the screen WHILE shooting a video. Also, is there a setting to turn off backlight on the the physical keys, it's an eyekiller in low light, only the screen brightness is lowering, kind of stupid.

I don't think there is an option to disable or lower capacitive button brightness, unfortunately.
As for MKV, you could just demux your files and move streams into MP4 containers/files. Definitely a pain if you have a big MKV collection, unless you automate it all. Microsoft should have added in native MKV support, even if it isn't commercially popular.

 

[notposting]

i just bought a used lumia 920 with Amber/pro cam on board, this phone is just impressive, wow. All about this phone feels just right, near perfection. The only cons remaining is that there's still no decent app to play mkvs and that you can't manually focus by touching the screen WHILE shooting a video. Also, is there a setting to turn off backlight on the the physical keys, it's an eyekiller in low light, only the screen brightness is lowering, kind of stupid.

Hmmm...my 928 has the capacitive buttons dim along with the screen. Not sure if a feature, or a glitch on one of our phones

Could just be something they refined in the 920 followups.

edit: pop over to WPCentral's 920 forum and see if anyone can confirm/deny it on their phone.

edit2: the low light is amazing, btw -- 928 is basically the same camera. I took a shot of our infant son in the bedroom at 4 am, there was a small nightlight in the room for illumination (I could barely see shapes in the dark). Bumped exposure a couple notches, set exposure time for 2 seconds, and then held steady (no flash/focus light). Bright as day, grainy for sure, but good enough for parental memories. I also took a screenshot of the camera viewfinder view...pitch black lol. An extreme case, but in general I am VERY pleased with the camera.

 

[Geekbabe]

Disclaimer: I am a lifestyle ambassador for Verizon. I have been lukewarm about Windows phones but have to admit I really like the build quality of the Lumia 928 & the camera is very good particularly in low light conditions.

 

[biostud]

Also a happy 920 user here. I also recommended it to my mother, so now she has one too.

 

[lopri]

Disclaimer: I am a lifestyle ambassador for Verizon. I have been lukewarm about Windows phones but have to admit I really like the build quality of the Lumia 928 & the camera is very good particularly in low light conditions.

Thank you for your candor. I don't know what lifestyle ambassador does, but being a FIOS subscriber I have a question to ask (if you can answer): Does Verizon FIOS have a plan to increase public Wi-Fi coverage? Comcast and Time Warner have coverages for every other place where public traffic is semi-busy.

 

[QueBert]

Did they add custom SMS notifications tones for each contact? This is the one thing that's keeping me away from WP. Was surprised WP didn't support this, was absolutely floored they didn't even have the option for a general custom tone.

 

[phantom404]

I Believe sms notifications tones for each contact is going to be released in GDR3.

http://www.wpcentral.com/changelog-gdr3-windows-phone-8-bittersweet-shimmer

 

[notposting]

Did they add custom SMS notifications tones for each contact? This is the one thing that's keeping me away from WP. Was surprised WP didn't support this, was absolutely floored they didn't even have the option for a general custom tone.

GDR3 is supposed to add custom tones...but I'm not sure it will add custom tones for each contact :\

They really screwed up with the whole WP7/8 debacle. Instead of moving the platform forward feature wise they had to redo the whole thing and just try to keep it at the same point WP7 was (which was behind).

These are little things but they cumulatively add up (I mean, I don't care about the custom tones for each contact but I can see why someone would and why *shouldn't* you be able to -- it's supposed to be a *smart*phone!).

 

[QueBert]

GDR3 is supposed to add custom tones...but I'm not sure it will add custom tones for each contact :\

They really screwed up with the whole WP7/8 debacle. Instead of moving the platform forward feature wise they had to redo the whole thing and just try to keep it at the same point WP7 was (which was behind).

These are little things but they cumulatively add up (I mean, I don't care about the custom tones for each contact but I can see why someone would and why *shouldn't* you be able to -- it's supposed to be a *smart*phone!).

Wow, so no custom tones yet, and maybe no custom contact tones at all? This is not super advanced functionality. I get a lot of texts from a lot of people, some are worth going to get my phone for, most aren't. No way I could use a phone that had 1 tone for every message I got. I guess I won't even be looking at the 1020, oh well...

 

[RandomFool]

Wow, so no custom tones yet, and maybe no custom contact tones at all? This is not super advanced functionality. I get a lot of texts from a lot of people, some are worth going to get my phone for, most aren't. No way I could use a phone that had 1 tone for every message I got. I guess I won't even be looking at the 1020, oh well...

They confirmed that's in GDR3 today and they're launching a developer early access program for the updates that should enable just about anyone to get the new OS updates immediately.

http://www.wpcentral.com/microsoft-officially-announces-windows-phone-8-gdr3-update
http://www.wpcentral.com/get-gdr3-today-windows-phone-preview-developers

 

[maevinj]

They confirmed that's in GDR3 today and they're launching a developer early access program for the updates that should enable just about anyone to get the new OS updates immediately.

http://www.wpcentral.com/microsoft-officially-announces-windows-phone-8-gdr3-update
http://www.wpcentral.com/get-gdr3-today-windows-phone-preview-developers

I think more people will start to like WP8 once all the devices get GDR3