Since the inception of smartphones, I retained my loyalty to
Nokia and upgraded from one of their nearly smartphone to Lumia 920 - the
flagship model back then. Oh yes, I did fall for the hype of the deadly duo of
Android and Samsung back in 2012 and did buy a mid segment phone. It was nice
in terms of app. Only thing it failed me with was receiving calls as it kept
dropping calls. I don’t blame the manufacturers for harboring the idea that the
primary purpose of a smart ‘phone’ is smarting around with social apps and not
really for making and receiving calls.
Coming back to Lumia phones, what I loved right from the
beginning was the interface. It looked like a new generation interface totally
different from Android and IOS. The attractiveness of the interface was proven
by launch of apps in Android store to mimic the windows phone interface. But
why I really moved to Lumia over its adversaries was because it had a better
camera, it had and still is the only one to have offline GPS navigation, and
was clearly the most durable hardware device (exclude the software). Having a
matured NFC system back when IPhone probably did not even have it in its labs
was another advantage.
Down the line, what frustrated me in Windows phone is the
GPS navigation. While 100% offline was great and saved a lot of data for me,
the effectiveness (not accuracy) of the navigation many times led me down. Many
times it led me through longer routes without any reason. Other times, it led me
through unimaginably inconvenient roads, which are not meant for driving a car
at all. While making a long trip in UK, it reared its ugly face again and
forced me to take 5+ hours for a drive of 3 hours. I went berserk and said
enough is enough. I had always missed Google maps and so wanted it to be there
on windows phone always. I now decided to go for a phone with fully functional
Google maps. I opted against an android phone, as I did not find most of the
models attractive. And while Samsung had couple of attractive options, they had
very poor quality body material (PLASTICKY). This and buoyed by the fact that I
happened to read Job’s biography and watch his movie around that time, I
somehow ended up buying Iphone 5S. Now, before I go on my ranting about the
reason, why I dumped the phone, please note that I am not an ardent and
forceful anti-Apple guy. I own a Macbook and love it (currently typing on it).
So why did I get frustrated by Iphone 5S? To being with,
what I liked. I liked everything that I was expecting from it - Google
applications especially maps, more convenient access to my office web pages,
access to some of the service provider
applications related to travel, bank and hotel which I used to do through web
pages earlier on my windows phone. Another big advantage for me was that I
loved reading ebooks/ pdfs on IPhone compared to my previous Lumia 920 as the
IPhone was more comfortable to read from during nights lying on the bed,
because of the extra weight of 920, I suppose. (My current Lumia 640 provides
better reading than IPhone with a bigger screen and lighter weight)
That was pretty much it in terms of benefits. Moving to
disappointments. My first disappointment was that I could not find a single
simple run logging app such as track runner in Lumia. Second disappointment was
the absence of glance screen. It’s a big feature for people used to it on
Lumia. You get to see the time on your phone screen continuously without any/
negligible impact to battery. Its not a software thingy, it’s a hardware
feature in Lumia and that’s why barely eats up battery. The deal and patience
breaker for me was the camera. Don’t get me wrong. It takes decent pics. But, I
genuinely use my phone as my only camera. And IPhone camera is just not that
good. One moment of embarrassment for IPhone was when a much lower grade Lumia
640 could take a clear pic of the water meter reading in UK, whereas IPhone 5S
just captured a black board for me all the time, no matter what setting I
tried. Lastly, I also noted that the
body of IPhone 5S is also not as sturdy as is that of Lumia 920 for example.
And yes, although this was not a big deal for me, but the interface of IOS
looks downright stone age compared to that of windows phone. Last but probably
the most damning problem I faced was that Iphone 6S reception was clearly worse
than Lumia 920 and 640 using the same sim. Not only Iphone showed fewer bars,
but I missed few calls and messages as well.
Feature
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Comments
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Iphone
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Lumia
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1
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Camera
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Undoubtedly Lumia. There is hardly any difference in quality of
pic in daylight between the two. But in darker conditions, Lumia trumps
IPhone hands down.
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2
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Looks
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My wife found the look of Iphone so appaling
that she preferred a Nexus over my Iphone. But, it
could be argued that in the looks department, it would all boil down to
personal preferences. And Apple might have a more perception based delusional
feel good factor attached with its brand, which might make the device look
better than it actually does. I will hand it to IPhone even though I
personally find Lumia's better looking in general.
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3
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Durability
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Dropped my Lumia 20+ times and have lost count. It has fallen on
its screen quite a few times and the device keeps going on. I saw my friend's
Iphone smashing on falling on a walkway. Lumia by a long margin.
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1
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4
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Apps
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Iphone, no arguments there. However, all really important apps
are available on Windows in some form or the other.
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5
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Battery
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Lumia normally outlasts Iphone
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6
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Readability/ Screen
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Sharpness wise there is no difference to the naked eye. UI is
ultra modern on windows phone and screen size makes for better reading for me
personally.
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1
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7
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WOW factor
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This is where Iphone beats the competition. The brand is
associated with premium lifestyle and is perceived as an aspirational
product. As such, people aspire to get their hands on it and own one. Kudos
to Apple's marketing supported by innovative product line through the years.
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1
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0
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8
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Signal reception
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While staying in TW, UK I found Iphone 6S receiving weaker
signals compared to Lumia 920 and 640 using the same SIM. This was when I had
moved from 920 to Iphone and then back to Lumia 640. Few times, I even missed
calls and messages using Iphone. This was a very disturbing discovery indeed.
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9
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Rest
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Remaining features such as Wifi, USB,
Audio, Video etc. are similar in both phones.
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UPDATE on 30/12/16 - It has been painful to hold on to Lumia. Being an avid user of Google services, it was simply not possible to carry on with the brilliant piece of hardware that was Lumia. I have been back on Iphone 6 for sometime now, after being on LG G4 (Android). I have loved both these phones so far. But yes, if there was a Lumia today which would provide me access to Google services, I would jump back to them without batting an eyelid.
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