I got my hands on Xiami Mi3 last month so after using it for a while, I'm going to compare my user experience with Android (MIUI seems to be one heavily modified Android OS, but I guess basic function still the same) and with WP8.

First off, I'm not a very tech savy person. I changed hp around every 2 years and mostly I change platforms every time to keep things fresh. I bought Lumia 920 after using my N8, so the WP OS looks very fresh to me. Coming from N8 and Symbian, WP8 is very smooth, fast and beautiful. Two years past, I sorta get bored with my WP8, one of the main reasons is the lack of apps, it is sorta boring to see all my friends and colleagues playing the 'in-game' on their androids and ios devices. And with the recent Xiaomi craze, I thought, why not try one?

So I bought Xiaomi Mi3 and has a really great time with it. I'm going to compare my experience with it and with the WP8, and see what WP did wrong, what it can improve and what it did right.

First, for the OS, WP8 earns point for being beautiful, and this is why I go to WP and not Android the first time. I just love the concept of live tiles, animating tiles and very beautiful. Android only has the icons and widgets, which are not so beautiful when mixed together. However, I really love the widget's actual function. Take the music player widget for example, I can actually directly play music from it and does not even need to go into the app to do so. Same goes with the weather app, I can actually flip through few weather information on the different area without entering the app. Compared to Android, WP8's live tiles are kinda useless functional wise. It does not help that sometimes the live information shown does not even work....

The notification system in my Mi3 works better than the system in my Lumia 920, notification comes on time, but I notice that fb messenger still got the same problem, probably fb issues. I like that I have some control on the music player etc on the notification pull down list as well, and more access to more settings in my Mi3.

I do miss my Lumia 920's camera ability, and that wireless charging, but that's more on the OEM though.

The one area that Android is absolutely killing WP8 is the app. You can say that WP8 has enough app, but that definitely is not true, and the app quality in Android is way better than those in WP8 (and I heard it's even better in iOS). Compare facebook in android and to facebook in wp8, the quality is too far apart. FB on android is smooth, upload and viewing pictures fast, WP8's are slow as hell. Same goes with Whatsapp, LINE (with actual LINE games that WP8 lacks) and etc, not to mention all those extra games (the hot games like Hay Day etc) in Android but WP8 lacks. With Android, I now have access to good local apps such as CIMB banking apps, cinema apps that really add to my day to day life. WP must absolutely salvage the app problems. After seeing all the apps available in Android, I honestly can't recommend any normal people to use WP, unless they just want to try things out....

So yeah....I guess I can say that I make a good choice to leave WP? It definitely opens my eyes to how better the other platforms are. WP is playing catching up, but I think they are way too slow. I will probably move on to iOS after I'm done with Android to test out new stuffs, but I definitely hope that WP will improve, especially the app areas...or they probably will get slaughtered in the increasing competitive market, especially with the onslaught of highly affordable china phones....

What's your thoughts? Discuss away!

This post has been edited by LightningZERO: Jun 17 2014, 02:53 PM

The key social app such as facebook, whatsapp, instagram etc are available in WP8, although the quality are not as good as those available on android. Whatsapp imo is probably the most stable social app on WP8 for now

I have heard about all this android will lag, WP will not lag talk. How true is it? Granted, I have only used my new phone for about a month, but so far the performance has been flawless.

I do agree with what capsulr has said though

This post has been edited by LightningZERO: Jun 19 2014, 09:31 AM

I think another bigger concern is that Microsoft is so hell bent on winning the us market that everywhere else suffered as a result. For example our BING is featureless unless we switch to US region but even then we are very very restricted. Microsoft is way obsessed with US market that they don't even bother to do anything else with the rest of the world. Reading WP forums, I can see that most of the users are satisfied for in the US side, there are US banking and cinema apps available to them. But for Malaysia, no one make the app for Malaysian, and thus WP suffered and unable to win casual users.

Already used the 8.1.

Like I said, I really like the WP8 user interface, it is sleek and beautiful. However, once I entered Android, I now only realize how big the world really is. The app definitely is an issue. The app selection and quality totally pwn the WP8's apps. WP8 too limited. Now I definitely feel that app will bring out the 100% function of a smartphone. I probably will go iOS next, but who knows what will happen.

Pretty sure Microsoft is still catching up by then though. The hype for WP8.1 pretty much die down and the talks about considering giving other platforms Cortana (while the app does not even available to other regions in WP) is a very worrying sights. I mean, Microsoft has already done such things once by giving other platforms a far better Skype apps....

Disagree with don't like to pay for apps.

I buy apps on WP8 (metrotube, Halo etc), but there are way too many apps that you cant buy even if you have the money. Heck, on Android, I just discovered an official app for my favourite Chinese video streaming site and it is extremely convenient to access the site on my app and even download the videos.

Before getting my android phone, I used to think that app is a non issue. In a way, it is true. You can use your phone fine without apps, but then you will ask yourself then why get a smartphone when it can only do very basic functions (and an expensive flagship one at that). I love my L920 and there are some substitute for the main social apps, but now I have better main social apps and even those very specific apps that work wells...changing platform really opens my eyes on what app can really do and how much they can increase my phone's potential

This post has been edited by LightningZERO: Jul 7 2014, 04:24 PM