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General Category => Off the Record => Computer Affairs => Topic started by: derspiess on December 29, 2014, 12:13:32 PM

Title: Windows Phone
Post by: derspiess on December 29, 2014, 12:13:32 PM
Probably not deserving of its own thread, but what the hell...

I had some Amazon gift card credit to burn, so I splurged and spend $29 on a Nokia Lumia 520, which was last year's Nokia entry level Windows Phone offering.  This was upgradeable to Windows Phone 8.1 and I've wanted a Windows Phone device to play around with.  I figured at the very least it's a cheap upgrade to my old Zune HD which I still sometimes use.

Really like the interface, in some ways a lot more than iOS or the various flavors of Android.  The device has a low res screen of 800x480 but still looks pretty good with the flat, high contrast Metro UI.  I know long-term I'd start to miss some of the things I have with Android, but I could live with having this as my everyday phone.  Just wish it functioned as a Media Center Extender somehow.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: mongers on January 06, 2015, 04:21:50 PM
I just picked up a 635, which is one up from the current budget model that replaced your 520. I think it's a 635 rather than a 630 because the network I've got it on needs a 4G model.

Didn't have any vouchers like you so spent like $75 on it, plus another $30 for network credit, as they are new to me. Still a very reasonable deal.

I'm liking it, well made, works well as a cellphone, usable internet and a handy camera for snaps.

I can see the navigation being usable, I just need to buy a fast and humongous sdhc card and start loading it with the offline maps.

Haven't really investigated the OS too much, but I like the way it led you through the set up and most of the possible annoy personal data sharing options were off by default, until it clearly explained the uses and benefits/cost  enabling those.

Useful having office on it, and I shall explore the utility of using one drive etc.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: derspiess on January 08, 2015, 12:17:37 AM
May not be an issue for you, but the Facebook app is crap.  The way it aggregates social media (as does desktop Win 8.1) is kind of cool but takes some getting used to.  I totally dig the interface, which I've basically been using since the ZuneHD hit the scene.  Browser is okay but I still prefer Chrome on Android.  XBox integration is cool and is honestly one of the reasons I've wanted a Windows Phone device.

I still reach for my Samsung Galaxy S5 first when around the house.  Then my Nexus 7 if the GS5 is charging or if I want to watch a video.  But I'm still pretty happy with the 520 as a third device.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: mongers on January 08, 2015, 12:58:51 AM
Yes, thanks for that.

Good guess on the social media size.  :)

Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Zanza on January 08, 2015, 03:17:03 AM
I'll get the Lumia 635 as my new phone at work now. Never used a Windows phone before, but it can only be better than a Blackberry...  :P
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on February 10, 2015, 06:50:57 PM
HELP!!!  NOOB!!! HELP!!!

This is my second cell phone ever, never figured out the first one, and that one didn't have a touch screen.

How do I save a phone number from a message with name to contacts?

How do I edit an existing contact to include a name?

Is it supposed to power off after like five minutes?
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: mongers on March 14, 2015, 07:12:32 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on February 10, 2015, 06:50:57 PM
HELP!!!  NOOB!!! HELP!!!

This is my second cell phone ever, never figured out the first one, and that one didn't have a touch screen.

How do I save a phone number from a message with name to contacts?

How do I edit an existing contact to include a name?

Is it supposed to power off after like five minutes?

Did you sort this out?

There's now a 8.1 D update, which has a rather nifty voice recognition assistant on it, 'who' might be able to help you with these issues?
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: MadBurgerMaker on March 14, 2015, 07:47:06 PM
Just saw this, Yi.  Sorry it's so late.

Quote from: Admiral Yi on February 10, 2015, 06:50:57 PM
How do I save a phone number from a message with name to contacts?

In the message, click on the person in the circle (bottom right), click the save at the bottom (the disk), then the plus sign to add them. 

QuoteHow do I edit an existing contact to include a name?

Go to people, click on the number, then click on the pencil to edit.

QuoteIs it supposed to power off after like five minutes?

No.  That's not good.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on May 20, 2015, 08:12:35 PM
When you turn on your phone and all you get is a big battery with a little red bit at the bottom, does that mean you zapped your battery?  :(
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Liep on May 21, 2015, 03:44:53 AM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 20, 2015, 08:12:35 PM
When you turn on your phone and all you get is a big battery with a little red bit at the bottom, does that mean you zapped your battery?  :(

If it still does that after 30 minutes in the charger, then maybe.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Grey Fox on May 21, 2015, 06:46:02 AM
Stop turning your phone off.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on May 21, 2015, 09:24:56 AM
Quote from: Grey Fox on May 21, 2015, 06:46:02 AM
Stop turning your phone off.

Why?

And does a zapped battery mean I need to buy a new phone, or can I get a replacement battery?
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on May 21, 2015, 09:29:18 AM
It lives!
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Grey Fox on May 21, 2015, 09:51:31 AM
These things are not built to be turned off.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on May 21, 2015, 09:56:05 AM
Quote from: Grey Fox on May 21, 2015, 09:51:31 AM
These things are not built to be turned off.

I honestly and sincerely don't understand what you mean.  Like I should leave it on all the time, that will save the battery??
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Liep on May 21, 2015, 10:26:16 AM
You should be able to change batteries if it's not an iPhone. One of the things I miss now and was happy about when I had a Samsung was back up batteries.

I don't think modern batteries are adversely affected by turning the phone on or off or draining it fully.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: DontSayBanana on May 21, 2015, 10:39:19 AM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 21, 2015, 09:56:05 AM
I honestly and sincerely don't understand what you mean.  Like I should leave it on all the time, that will save the battery??

Phones are notoriously inefficient at booting.  A computer boots in around 10 seconds from a solid-state drive, and in about 40-60 seconds from a traditional hard drive.  Phones can take more in the minutes range to get all their various background services started to the point where you can at least make a phone call (they're getting better about this, but they're still comparatively slow.

You can eke out some lifespan from your battery by getting into the habit of draining it completely, then charging it completely.  Really, though, alkaline rechargeables benefit more from that (having to do with keeping the alkaline reaction as efficient as possible).  With lithium-ions, it'll probably give you a couple weeks extra on a battery that's already likely to last 3-5 years before needing to be replaced (unless you're really wildly overcharging the battery).
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on May 21, 2015, 10:49:45 AM
Quote from: DontSayBanana on May 21, 2015, 10:39:19 AM
Phones are notoriously inefficient at booting.  A computer boots in around 10 seconds from a solid-state drive, and in about 40-60 seconds from a traditional hard drive.  Phones can take more in the minutes range to get all their various background services started to the point where you can at least make a phone call (they're getting better about this, but they're still comparatively slow.

Which means what in terms of me doing stuff?  I should leave it on all the time, in power save mode?
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Grey Fox on May 21, 2015, 11:50:29 AM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 21, 2015, 10:49:45 AM
Quote from: DontSayBanana on May 21, 2015, 10:39:19 AM
Phones are notoriously inefficient at booting.  A computer boots in around 10 seconds from a solid-state drive, and in about 40-60 seconds from a traditional hard drive.  Phones can take more in the minutes range to get all their various background services started to the point where you can at least make a phone call (they're getting better about this, but they're still comparatively slow.

Which means what in terms of me doing stuff?  I should leave it on all the time, in power save mode?

Yes. You are wasting time turning it on-off.

My phone Nexus 5 has a current uptime of 313h, 12 days, uptime. My nexus4 got over 3000h uptime once.

It is said li-ion are at peak efficiency between 20% to 80%. Try to keep your battery around that figure.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on May 21, 2015, 12:03:43 PM
If all it saves me is time, I probably won't bother.  I thought you guys were saying it killed the battery, or did something else bad to the phone, to leave it off.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Grey Fox on May 21, 2015, 12:08:19 PM
Imo, your battery was just drained.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on May 21, 2015, 12:09:43 PM
Are you trying to be mysterious GF?  I honestly know jack shit about cell phones so I can't decode some of the stuff you're posting.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Liep on May 21, 2015, 12:14:42 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 21, 2015, 12:09:43 PM
Are you trying to be mysterious GF?  I honestly know jack shit about cell phones so I can't decode some of the stuff you're posting.

What you're doing right now is fine. What happened to your battery was simply a full drain and all it needed was some time charging.

As you were.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on May 21, 2015, 12:29:48 PM
Thanks bro.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Barrister on May 21, 2015, 12:32:05 PM
GF is right though, there's no real need to turn your phone off regularly.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on May 21, 2015, 01:01:35 PM
Quote from: Barrister on May 21, 2015, 12:32:05 PM
GF is right though, there's no real need to turn your phone off regularly.

Is there any advantage other than not having to wait for the phone to boot?
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Grey Fox on May 21, 2015, 01:08:36 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 21, 2015, 12:09:43 PM
Are you trying to be mysterious GF?  I honestly know jack shit about cell phones so I can't decode some of the stuff you're posting.

No, I always have a hard judging people's understanding of technology.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 13, 2015, 04:15:18 PM
Two messages with a date and time stamp Thursday afternoon/evening didn't show up on my phone until late Friday.

Am i doing something wrong?

This is the first time this has happened to me, although one person claimed to send me a text I never got.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Grey Fox on June 13, 2015, 08:53:13 PM
If these are regular text msg, you are probably not doing anything wrong. Networks throttle text msg all the time.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Josquius on June 14, 2015, 02:37:38 PM
I have a windows phone. I fancied a difference and was still holding out hope of cracking my iphone.
The interface certainly is very nice but:

1: apps suck. Even where there is a app available on the platform it is clear the makers have put very little effort into it. Windows phone Facebook for example is embarrassing.

2: something about the way I interact with it.... It just doesn't seem as smooth as an iphone or even an android. The keyboard is slow.

3: the system takes up a crazy amount of disk space. 6gb out of 16...
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 14, 2015, 02:39:59 PM
Quote from: Grey Fox on June 13, 2015, 08:53:13 PM
If these are regular text msg, you are probably not doing anything wrong. Networks throttle text msg all the time.

I can expect a few messages to be a day or more late?
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Grey Fox on June 15, 2015, 07:14:53 AM
Yeah, it happens.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Liep on June 15, 2015, 07:19:45 AM
A day late sounds like too much for throttling. Maybe on New Year's eve around midnight, but on regular days it shouldn't happen.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 15, 2015, 07:02:16 PM
Any other explanations then?
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Liep on June 15, 2015, 07:11:43 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on June 15, 2015, 07:02:16 PM
Any other explanations then?

I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but a text message is such a tiny amount of data that I can't imagine the need to throttle those messages in this day and age.

Did everything else work? Phone calls, 3G, etc?
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: DontSayBanana on June 15, 2015, 11:50:03 PM
Quote from: Liep on June 15, 2015, 07:11:43 PM
I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but a text message is such a tiny amount of data that I can't imagine the need to throttle those messages in this day and age.

Did everything else work? Phone calls, 3G, etc?

It's not so much about the amount of data being transferred as the signal uptime being used to send those messages.  SMS is an antiquated, agonizingly slow transmission that sits in that radio spectrum for a long time to transmit a relatively small amount of data.  Also, there's so much comingling among the carriers now on the portions of the radio spectrum they're using that they can't afford to let things like that sitting idle anymore (the last big holdout with a lot of isolated spectrum all to itself is AT&T, with a huge swathe of transmissions in the 600-750MHz range- very low, which is why AT&T is generally better than the others inside buildings... but that may be changing the next time the FCC auctions off spectrum in the C block).
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on June 16, 2015, 04:46:42 PM
Quote from: Liep on June 15, 2015, 07:11:43 PM
I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but a text message is such a tiny amount of data that I can't imagine the need to throttle those messages in this day and age.

Did everything else work? Phone calls, 3G, etc?

Didn't make or get any calls in that time.  Don't know what 3G is.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on December 09, 2015, 06:48:39 PM
So I've been messaging my pot dealer to arrange a purchase.  Yesterday and today both, as soon as I messaged her, a previous message from her, time stamped prior to mine, showed up on my phone.

Am I doing something wrong?  Should I be tapping some refresh button that I'm not aware of?

I thought I could just turn on the phone, and if I had any unread messages they would pop up in my inbox.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Grey Fox on December 10, 2015, 07:57:29 AM
Stop turning the phone off.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Liep on December 10, 2015, 08:46:11 AM
Quote from: Grey Fox on December 10, 2015, 07:57:29 AM
Stop turning the phone off.

Haven't you seen The Wire? They can tap that shit.

Yi: When I turn my phone* on it takes about 5 minutes before messages sent to the phone while off ticks in. Sometimes it alerts me, sometimes they're just there.

*Nokia non-smart phone
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Grey Fox on December 10, 2015, 09:28:00 AM
Not every police corps is the NSA.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on December 10, 2015, 08:10:36 PM
Thanks Liep.

Are you serious General Wolfe?  Just leave it on all the time?
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Barrister on December 10, 2015, 11:27:29 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on December 10, 2015, 08:10:36 PM
Thanks Liep.

Are you serious General Wolfe?  Just leave it on all the time?

Umm, yeah.  They go into a low-powered state when the screen isn't on.  That's how they're designed to be used.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on December 11, 2015, 02:33:52 AM
Quote from: Barrister on December 10, 2015, 11:27:29 PM
Umm, yeah.  They go into a low-powered state when the screen isn't on.  That's how they're designed to be used.

Hmm.

There's an app called battery saver.  Should i do something with that?
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Grey Fox on December 11, 2015, 07:01:06 AM
I am.

Just like anything other modern device :computer, tablet, streaming device, phone. I avoid turning them off as much as possible. Hell, some can't even be turned off.

My phone has a current uptime of 731 hours.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on December 11, 2015, 03:16:35 PM
When I bought the phone the sales dude said "charge it frequently, and don't overcharge it."

So if I leave my phone on all the time, seems I have to be charging all night.  Wouldn't that be overcharging it?
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Liep on December 11, 2015, 03:22:17 PM
I've left my iphone in the charger every night, at least when I remember, for its entire life and it has survived fine for almost 3 years now.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on December 11, 2015, 03:39:04 PM
Well alrighty then.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on January 24, 2016, 03:00:36 PM
I've just started getting a lot of spam texts.  Anything I can do about it?
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: MadBurgerMaker on January 24, 2016, 10:50:28 PM
If they're coming from the same number, go to Settings > Call and SMS Filter. Turn it on and block the number.
Title: Re: Windows Phone
Post by: Admiral Yi on January 24, 2016, 11:48:39 PM
Quote from: MadBurgerMaker on January 24, 2016, 10:50:28 PM
If they're coming from the same number, go to Settings > Call and SMS Filter. Turn it on and block the number.

Done.  Now how do I add numbers to that list?

FYI, I got spammed by 410 100-1001, 1002, 1003, and 1004.