Battle of the Smartphone Platforms: Android VS Windows Phone

[MessiaaH]

GSM Arena's Smartphone Champions League















http://blog.gsmarena.com/smartphone-champions-league-grand-final/

What an impressive showing by Nokia. And by the looks of the votes so far, the epic Phablet 1520 going to take d crown. GG WP.

[TriniXaeno]

boom! my phone is the only android to make it to the semi finals

dazwhawetalkinbout

strong showing by the 1020. If Santa Claus gave me one, I'd be VERY happy. That camera is epic.

Not going back to a phablet form factor ever. Unless it is given as a gift or something. Will not spend my own money on a mobile phone larger than the nexus 5. Form factor is....dare I say it....perfect.

[Fkacn_tt]

I am sorry to be a negative nelly,  but how does a Nokia 520 beat out a HTC One, a phone way above its punching weight.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[MessiaaH]

This is a battle decided by the people, that's what people vote on.... the 520 price is epic, and one of the most popular wp of all time, it single handedly has the most market share amongst all wp models, it sold like gang busters. One can be had for 50$ off contract. And running wp, it performs like a champ.

This battle is not about which phone more powerful, plenty things to consider in the vote. Take the 1020 for instance, 2 year old specs, but the camera carried it all the way to the grand finals.

The 520 is a hallmark in budget phones. It deserves the respect it get.

[TriniXaeno]

I wish we knew of the contest before so we could have voted as well. Might be worth having our own POTY award.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[Spazosaurus]

Very interesting. Using the Lumia over the last few days and liking it very much. WP has a solid #2 position for my personal affections.

[Arcmanov]

I am sorry to be a negative nelly,  but how does a Nokia 520 beat out a HTC One, a phone way above its punching weight.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

Same thing I saying.

What about the 'comparison' between a Galaxy S4 Mini and a Nokia Lumia 1520?
That whole so-called 'poll' is bogus.  Messiaah could spin it any way he want.

[MessiaaH]

Well d poll came from GSM arena, an impartial site, take it as u wish, is not my poll lol.

Each battle and d number of votes per device available at the source link btw.

[TriniGamerShaq]

dat xperia z lookin temptin to buy. But dem nokia really so dread? For some reason me2 is all i could associate nokia with.

[MessiaaH]

The only aspect of a me2 the high end Nokia retain, is that they can take a literal pounding and still work.
But they do have some sick hardware technology in the Lumia line of products.

But I not the one to answer yuh question if your eye on the experia, sapzsosorus go be most suited once he handle 820 for a while.

[Spazosaurus]

Man, its hard to recommend one platform over the other. So far I'd have to say that in terms of pretty UI with fancy transitions, Wp wins over Android. Both are very fast and fluid. I'm not really a fan of OS skinning because it usually bloats the OS to high heaven (Samsung, I'm looking at you) but man, Sony's implementation is gorgeous andddd fast. Truly impressed. It very much improves the less "pretty up" nature of stock Android ui.

There's a good selection of apps for the WP platform which is good. A big caveat though is that they lag in quality and functionality behind android versions. Tapatalk for example behaves strangely at times (freezes sometimes have to close the entire app to regain control, randomly loses my subscribed topics). A couple other minor features are missing but make no mistake, it is still good.

Its a similar story across several apps I use frequently, Facebook etc where there are sometimes some abnormal behaviors. Nokia drive, well I doh know what going on with that. It always shows me as being about half a mile away from where I actually am, this is even with all GPS options enabled. I'll have to dig further into that one. (Edit: Drive works better now. Maybe there was a glitch somewhere in the MS matrix).

All in all I recommend either platform to people based on their reported usage and expectations and required features. For example if someone wants a fun and fresh user interface, bess camera phone with excellent mail handling characteristics (yeah WP handles mail better than stock android but ties with Sony UI), I recommend them the 1020 Lumia.

Stability, high functionality of apps with a superior and more mature eco system and the ability to tweak to your hearts desire, I point them the Android way.

Tl:dr version: they are both great platforms geared at different audiences. I , Spazosaurus love them both (but not equally 😄). It all depends on what you're looking for. Sony UI gets my pick over stock android. Stock like nexus is a close second but id stay far from Samsung phones. Too much bloat. Wayy too much.

I'll continue to update my thoughts in comparison, perhaps open a separate thread for documentation purposes.


Sent from my Nokia Lumia 820 using Tapatalk

[Arcmanov]

The Galaxy S3, Note 2, and Note 3 I've used would tend to disagree with you, Nicholas.   


Samsung flagship phones are powerful enough now that the so-called 'bloat' you're always bitching about isn't an issue.

I don't use budget devices, so I can't speak to that end of the scale.





Samsung Galaxy Note 3 | SwiftKey | Tapatalk 4

[TriniXaeno]

well I never thought I'd see the day when spaz rating Windows Phone and dissing Battlefield

2014, the dawn of a new era

@arcman, having used the Nexus for sometime now (both the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 5) as well as a Note 2 and S3 I can attest to what spaz is saying about the bloat.

The Nexus is definitely more responsive and fluid.

I am cautiously using the word again......perfect.

[Spazosaurus]

hahahahaah when a man use yuh real name, yuh know he vex with yuh lmao.

But seriously, arc. Thats the problem. You've been using the same wares for so long you're numb to the other possibilities out there. Not saying Samsung software is slow. Just that compares to stock unmolested versions and even lightly salted iterations like Sony's, Samsung is a huge, heavy beast.

You won't know it until you've tried it.

[Spazosaurus]

Ok, so you KNOW i'll be adding stuff to this thread now that I have one of each device in hand and putting them through their paces.

So ummm...whatsapp...there's no way to independently configure notification settings for this app. Means that EVERY SINGLE message recieved results in a buzz and a chime, no exceptions. Even when looking at the damn convo. The only option is to kill sound and vibration globally which obviously affects all other applications including phone calls.

Also every new message wakes up the screen. I mean really whatsapp??? WP version is sooooooo poor compared to the Android counterpart lawd faddah.

[Arcmanov]

Oh, but I have used various custom builds of Android on my Galaxy devices that claimed to be as close to stock as a Nexus, and you know what....?
There was so much actual functionality stripped away that I could seldom use those ROMs for more than a day before beating a hasty retreat into the arms of Touchwiz-based firmware once again.

... and launchers like Nova Prime also render that 'huge, heavy beast' argument invalid.

But it's just convenient to hate on Samsung because it's the best at this Android thing ent? 





Samsung Galaxy Note 3 | SwiftKey | Tapatalk 4

[TriniXaeno]

interesting perspective arc.

Having just left the icy grip of touchwizz myself only a couple weeks ago, I don't find myself missing anything significant on the stock nexus ui.

What precisely were you jonesin' for that samsung provided in their skin?

[W1nTry]

I also have both platforms (620 and moto g)  so I can chime in on the 'budget'  range.  What spaz is complaining about on WhatsApp is all too annoyingly true. However I only get notifications when I either open the app or sometimes when I open the screen lock,  notifications are seemingly dormant.  Otherwise the integration with xbox is excellent for smartglass and the phone is fast and responsive in the menu. Opening apps is a little slower than on my Android and battery life is excellent.  Can go days on standby,  whole day on moderate use and charges in under an hour or two from dead to full.  Apps are still losing IMHO.

On the moto g front...  Well after I cried down moforola coming from an atrix 2, I have to say that this FIRST love child between moforola and Google is as wyatt cautiously said...  Perfect.  Stock android, fast,  responsive great battery (went whole day under heavy use)  without a charge. Charges as fast as fast as the lumia even while IN  Use.  Screen is sharp and bright. Size is perfect for me (no phablets here)  and the price on both the 620 and moto g are excellent.

Sent from my XT1032 using Tapatalk

[Arcmanov]

It's the little things, like sliding to call/text from the contact list, turn over to mute, hover your hand over the proximity sensor for a quick status view.

Not to mention the specific hardware-related apps and features fundamental to the Galaxy ecosystem.

Lets just say, using a Nexus-based ROM on a Galaxy Note... is disastrous, regardless of speed/fluidity.

Samsung's firmware is specially tailored to their hardware for a reason, and it shows when you try to shoehorn a 'stock' firmware onto one of their flagships.
It just ain't there yet.  Too many compromises need to be made.

That being said... I'd like to play with a Google Edition S4 to see the difference.
After all, it's still Android.   
I'll never recommend anything else.





Samsung Galaxy Note 3 | SwiftKey | Tapatalk 4

[Spazosaurus]

Yes win. From what i've read, that Moto g is like the perfect budget Android device. Glad you are having a good experience with it. See how its never good to let past prejudices cause you to miss out on a good thing.

@ Arc, the Exynos versions of Samsung phones are the worst in terms of porting a stock android experience to it. Samsung NEVER releases the FULL kernel sources (always missing key elements needed by ROm makers to make them stable) specific to these cpu's so any attempt to build stock google roms for devices powered by these cpus are always spotty at best.

Also, keep in mind that even when using custom launchers on a stock rom, the device still loads the bloated framework and keeps it running in the background alongside whatever launcher you're using chewing up extra cpu cycles, memory and other resources.

Frankly speaking, my experience with my original note was not the best because of the same reason identified above. I like to flash different roms including stock but because of he CPU it ran made that hard. That's why you find me hating on Samsung permanently and unless this practice changes my stance is unlikely to change. They are just not interested in helping the development community make good roms. That's why you'll HARDLY get a good, stable fluid build of stock Android on your beloved Sammy.

To be clear, i'm not saying that Sammy software is BAD but having used their products in the past I am in a unique position to criticize its weaknesses. I'm just BROADLY proposing to everyone that comes across this post that by burying one's head in the sand and not acknowledging that there MAY be something out there that's better is detrimental only to oneself. At least try it for yourself if you can before bashing it.

Of course the flip side is that not everyone has the means or desire to look elsewhere if their choice is working for them. I'd say different strokes for different folks.