Comparing Android User Experience vs. Windows User Experience - Part 1

The Windows Phone Experience

 

After a brief stint with a Nokia Lumia 730, I had my opinion changed towards Windows Mobile 8. Before I get into the details, let me tell you that Nokia Lumia 730 was my first Windows Mobile. Everything worked fine, except the famed Gorilla Glass. The moment, the phone fell down, the glass cracked. Well the display was working fine, but there were cracks on the glass that can challenge Spiderman's web. The cracks made the readability worse.

But I decided to live with the cracked glass, as replacing the glass was quoted at INR 9,000 which is 60% of the phone's retail price. To top up the injury, the replacement glass+display does not have a guarantee against cracks. It too might develop cracks, if the phone kisses the tarmac.

So I started living with the cracked display. Once I started looking beyond the cracked glass, the Windows Phone user experience emerged. It took a bit of getting used to with the interface. Not months, but a few days. After that initial time-period, I was comfortable with the phone.

Windows Phone Dialer
It had all the options. The right sized buttons, the jumping UI for incoming calls (reminding to swipe-up to unlock the screen and attend the call) and clean-layout of options (Bring up Keypad, Switch on Speaker phone, go home etc). The dialer delivered the perfect experience that even a newbie can catch up. The Windows Phone 8 supported Dual-SIMs, and the top-right switch took care of switching SIMs on the fly.

Messaging
Message app comes with a classic conversation layout which is quite easy to interact with. What was not right was - COPYing some of the details. To copy the phone number of the sender, one must move into the Contact Details mode, and then long-tap to copy the number. This means, you cannot copy everything on the UI, but only some selected items.

Apps
The biggest weakness for Windows Phone is the collection of apps. While there are leading games and apps available, some of the existing apps are old or poorly updated. Some never worked in Windows 8.1. I never faced the lack of apps, but somewhat the collection of apps never impressed me.


Camera
The biggest plus point is the camera. Probably the best in the price range. It was quick, and had all the options a prosumer would look for. The settings adjustments were top-notch, easy-to-find, easy-to-use and offered the best user experience ever. The photos were bit saturated, yet they never had the "dramatic color" or "over done" effect. The front camera was good too. With a wide angle lens, it offered greater coverage, and I never felt that I will need a selfie stick.

Hardware
I am not getting into the specifics. The Windows phone hardware in Lumia 730 was probably the best match to offer a no-nonsense user experience. There were no lags, no issues of over-heating, no hangs. The speaker was loud enough. The voice quality is good. Signal pickup was also good.

Contact Migration to Windows Phone
Never faced any major road-block. But moving the contacts was bit difficult initially. I had to refer the internet to figure out that there is a inbuilt app to migrate your contacts to Windows Phone. It supported VCF, so I never faced issues losing the contact data.

Conclusion
Windows Phone is not perfect. But it has a lot of things right. And the not-so-right things are rarely used. Summing up, Windows Phone is on the right track, and with the Windows 10 approach, I believe Microsoft has a good potential to impress other OS users.