Recently, I bought a Nokia Lumia 720 which was selected mainly for the Operating System it is powered by – Windows Phone 8. Everything was fine as expected for a Windows Phone 8 device, in short – Fast, Smooth, and Fluid but with a lot lesser in number of apps and games. The phone carries a decent camera too. I would say the Nokia Lumia 720 is an all in one package at that price point with the exception of a not-so-good ecosystem compared to the other dominant Mobile Operating Systems – iOS and Android.
But there are some considerable mistakes or in others words ‘things Microsoft missed to include in Windows Phone 8′‘. As coming from an Android phone and an iOS Tablet, I felt these missing features ARE to be corrected by Microsoft soon or Windows Phone 8 will see its ending soon. It’s a personal opinion. Some may not feel uncomfotable or won’t be disappointed with these ‘avoidable features’.
Windows Phone 8
1. Doesn’t Allow Photo Sharing with the Web
As I previously stated, coming from an Android and iOS device which allows the users to share photos and videos to anywhere in the Web, Windows Phone 8 doesn’t allow to share personal media with the web except with SkyDrive. I felt I’m being blocked from being able to use my phone freely. This is really a step down for a smarphone. Perhaps, Microsoft did it for security purposes. I won’t say this is much of an issue as SkyDrive is always there as a backup.
2. Doesn’t Allow Video Sharing with Cross-Platform Mobile Messengers
This is the most major let down part of the OS I have come across till now. It is that the Microsoft’s Mobile Operating System won’t allow its users to share videos with others through any messenger. Seriously, why is there a need of having a smartphone that won’t even allow to share videos? Also, the videos that others share to you with their Android or iOS smartphones or tablets can be seen only from the application itself and will not be saved to the phone’s gallery.
3. Only Music, Photos and Videos Can Be Stored In the External Storage From the Phone
Out of the eight Lumia devices (International excluding carrier ones), five of the devices come with only 8GB of internal storage (User accessible only under 5GB). This means that one won’t be able to store Apps, Games or Map Data on the External Storage. Though, it is able to install Apps or Games to the SD Card from the computer by performing some simple steps. But, a smartphone must be able to do all these from the phone itself.
4. No Near-Field-Communication (NFC) with non-Windows Phone 8 Devices
One of the mostly mentioned feature of Windows Phone 8 is the Bluetooth Sharing between a Windows Phone 8 devices with any other device, be it iOS or Android or a PC. But the next blocking comes here – it doesn’t allow to share files to any non-Windows Phone 8 device through the NFC chip. Every Lumia device except the 520, the 620 and the 625 (as per GSMArena, this device has no NFC chip), has an NFC chip. Almost every high-end Android phones support NFC and is the best way to share photos and videos. But, it’s not a big problem to complain about as it support BlueTooth sharing.
5. No Clear Battery Level Indication
Now, it is a User Interface problem. Both Android and iOS provides an option to show the current battery level in percentage whereas in Windows Phone 8, it shows only a bar of battery level. However, there are third party apps available for the same.
6. No File Manager
It is a major drawback, especially for the people who is coming from Android. It doesn’t allow the users to modify the files present in the phone. It means that, it won’t allow to copy or move files from the phone. Also, files outside the given directories(like Music, Videos) will not be detected.
I hope Microsoft will rectify these problems soon and release a quick update for these.