1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:07,120 A year and a half ago, I switched to Windows Phone with the HTC8X for a month 2 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:12,080 to see if the platform could woo me away from iOS. Four blog videos and a month 3 00:00:09,599 --> 00:00:15,920 later, the answer was a definite no. But Windows Phone has had a lot of time to 4 00:00:13,759 --> 00:00:21,520 mature. So, when HTC reached out about the 1 M8 for Windows running the latest 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:25,980 8.1 version featuring Cortana voice control, I jumped at the opportunity to 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:31,199 review it. 7 00:00:31,199 --> 00:00:37,360 Cooler Master V series semi-odular power supplies feature 80 plus gold efficiency 8 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:40,960 and their gold guarantee 5-year warranty. Click now to learn more. We'll 9 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:45,040 kick things off positively. Hardware-wise, HTC didn't change much, 10 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:49,760 but I don't really feel like they had to. I love this phone. It's the 1M8, 11 00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:54,079 man. It's got a fast CPU, ample RAM, enough storage on board with micro SD 12 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:58,640 expansion if you need more front-facing boom sound speakers. their ultra pixel 13 00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:02,960 camera with a two-tone flash that is designed to perform best in low light 14 00:01:00,079 --> 00:01:08,240 scenarios. And finally, that wonderful glass and aluminum 1M series build 15 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:10,320 quality that is second to none. Anyway, if you want to know more about the 16 00:01:09,200 --> 00:01:17,520 hardware, you should check out our original 1 M8 review where I basically say it's awesome. This video is more 17 00:01:14,799 --> 00:01:21,200 about the software. Off the bat, Windows Phone has some advantages. It runs 18 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:26,560 extraordinarily well on relatively low-end hardware. Mind you, so does 19 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:28,560 Android these days. It's a tiled display 20 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:32,799 and navigation animations are eye-catching and beautiful. Mind you, 21 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:36,960 what isn't these days? And finally, it works really well with Windows services 22 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:41,600 like Office Mobile, One Drive, and Skype. But what doesn't these days? 23 00:01:39,439 --> 00:01:45,600 Okay, so those weren't really advantages at all then, were they? This is going to 24 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:49,280 be a rough video. Setup was easy. I imported my accounts and settings from 25 00:01:47,119 --> 00:01:52,880 my old 8X in just a couple minutes. Also, Google account two-step validation 26 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:56,960 is super easy to deal with now and doesn't require app specific passwords, 27 00:01:54,479 --> 00:02:02,000 so that's good. But once I landed on the desktop with its live tiles, shoot, I 28 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:06,240 don't really know where to begin. Um, just like last time around, I started by 29 00:02:04,719 --> 00:02:10,879 trying to find equivalents for the essential apps that I use every day, and 30 00:02:08,479 --> 00:02:14,560 it's a real chore. The first party Facebook and Twitter apps are pretty 31 00:02:12,319 --> 00:02:18,800 good. Instagram has a very functional beta. Speedtest.net, Flickster, and 32 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:22,000 WhatsApp all worked fine. Plex is available, but I'm not paying $5 for it 33 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:25,920 again, so I can't comment on how good that one is. And Dropbox and Sonos 34 00:02:24,239 --> 00:02:30,080 services are enabled through third party apps that have some, but not all of the 35 00:02:28,239 --> 00:02:34,480 functionality and ease of use of the official ones on other platforms. Which 36 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:39,200 leads us to the stuff that's missing. Google stuff is a nightmare. So, kiss 37 00:02:37,120 --> 00:02:44,000 goodbye stuff like the YouTube Studio Creator app and Hangouts. And while 38 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:48,800 Google Play Music has a thirdparty app, this very amusing review the developer 39 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:53,440 left on his own app really highlights the issues with relying on these when 40 00:02:50,879 --> 00:02:56,800 the APIs can change overnight just like that. And then in no particular order, 41 00:02:55,440 --> 00:03:02,959 here's some other stuff that I use every day without suitable replacements. Harmony remote control, drop cam, 42 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:07,280 replacement keyboard such as Swift Key. I mean, even Apple is going to start 43 00:03:05,120 --> 00:03:13,760 allowing third party keyboards in iOS 8. Come on, Microsoft. Speaking of which, 44 00:03:10,640 --> 00:03:16,000 scam apps. The only things labeled Swift 45 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:20,879 Key in the Windows Phone Store are straight up scams. One of which has been 46 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:26,000 there for over a month without being cleaned up. For shame, Microsoft, which 47 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:31,040 I guess leads to a discussion about the stock keyboard. Its text prediction is 48 00:03:28,800 --> 00:03:36,640 accurate but slow. I felt like often times it was missing keystrokes. And the 49 00:03:33,040 --> 00:03:38,480 thing is so huge that a I simply can't 50 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:44,159 type on it without accidentally mashing B every time I go for the space bar and 51 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:46,879 B with autocorrect autofill predictions 52 00:03:44,159 --> 00:03:51,680 the navigation bar and some obnoxiously huge UI elements in some places. It's 53 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:56,560 amazing how little of the screen you actually get to use sometimes. I guess 54 00:03:54,080 --> 00:04:00,480 it's got swipe style typing now but I don't care cuz I don't really use that. 55 00:03:58,239 --> 00:04:04,640 It needs other things to improve first. Which leads to yet another complaint. 56 00:04:02,239 --> 00:04:08,640 Who is this UI made for? At least TouchWiz knows it's for people whose 57 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:12,640 eyesight is starting to go and who aren't that familiar with phones with 58 00:04:10,319 --> 00:04:16,320 nice, you know, loud sound effects when you mash on the gigantic buttons. 59 00:04:14,879 --> 00:04:19,519 Windows phone, on the other hand, doesn't really give you any indication 60 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:23,360 whether a button press worked other than, you know, after a little bit of 61 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:28,560 doing the thing. And on top of that, a single screen can have text as wide as 62 00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:31,759 your face in headings and then like super tiny micro text that you'd have to 63 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:36,960 squint at unless you have perfect vision. And on top of that, I just plain 64 00:04:34,960 --> 00:04:40,639 don't find it very intuitive to use. Drag down to see your notifications. 65 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:44,720 Okay, with you so far. Click an email. All right, brings up an email. With you 66 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:50,800 so far. I'm looking at the email. Okay, now I'm done. Now what? Maybe if I press 67 00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:54,720 back, I'll land in the inbox. No, no, that just takes me away. Okay. Well, is 68 00:04:53,199 --> 00:04:59,680 there maybe another button in case I want to look at other emails when I'm done with this one email that was in my 69 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:05,120 notifications? Or do I actually have to go all the way back to the desktop and 70 00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:07,840 open the email client from there? Wow, 71 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:12,800 that's slow. And lots of things are slow like this. How about a quick draw speed 72 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:18,000 competition to dial someone's phone number? No. T9 dialing is a big heaping 73 00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:22,080 wheelbarrow full of suck on top of all the other things that are slow about 74 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:26,560 this process. Some stuff is okay though. Quick toggles are reconfigurable in the 75 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:31,919 main stuff including portable hotspot sharing is here. Also, I was corrected 76 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:36,639 when I said on our podcast that folder support on the desktop is still missing. 77 00:05:34,080 --> 00:05:40,880 You can create folders of apps, making organization quite a bit easier now. So, 78 00:05:38,639 --> 00:05:44,320 that's good. Uh, changing ringtones lets you change without previewing at full 79 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:49,280 volume, which is nice. Good for parents with newborns. And I love the control 80 00:05:47,360 --> 00:05:56,479 that you have over snoozing and dismissing notifications. Every OS needs 81 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:58,560 this. Let me control how long it snoozes 82 00:05:56,479 --> 00:06:03,919 for. And there's more positive stuff, too. Cortana is actually quick to use 83 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:08,639 and seems to learn a little bit after the first time for a given task, like 84 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:13,039 call Ivonne. It doesn't force me to navigate unnecessarily through menus to 85 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:18,319 confirm things. So, for things like basic voice dialing and sending quick 86 00:06:14,800 --> 00:06:20,080 SMS messages, it's really fast. But I 87 00:06:18,319 --> 00:06:24,479 also think it's been oversold a little bit. While actual speech recognition for 88 00:06:22,560 --> 00:06:27,759 me was great, there's still no support for basic system setting stuff like 89 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:32,240 volume control and screen brightness. And I found it very flowbreaking to have 90 00:06:30,319 --> 00:06:36,000 to press the voice button in between interactions. You know, like, "Show me 91 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:39,199 where there's a sushi restaurant. Okay, here's something nearby. You can't just 92 00:06:37,680 --> 00:06:43,039 keep talking. You have to press the button again. It is very promising for 93 00:06:41,600 --> 00:06:49,440 the future, though, and I'm excited to see where Microsoft is taking this one because it's pretty darn mature for a 94 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:54,160 first attempt. Okay, so it's conclusion and more thoughts time. I think the 95 00:06:52,080 --> 00:06:59,280 bottom line for me here is that while in my mind HTC did a great job of 96 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:03,520 delivering the best enthusiast grade Windows Phone 8.1 experience they could, 97 00:07:01,759 --> 00:07:08,080 you know, their social media feed, Blink Feed, works as a live tile. the Duo 98 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:13,440 camera weird depth feature and quick video and photo highlight reel features 99 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:16,080 are enabled through apps as well and 100 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:20,960 they did a great job. But even if their entire company was staffed by like 101 00:07:18,479 --> 00:07:25,039 cowboy astronaut millionaires, there was nothing they could do to make the 102 00:07:22,479 --> 00:07:31,280 Windows phone ecosystem suitable for enthusiast high-end use. Nothing. Basic 103 00:07:29,039 --> 00:07:35,440 functionality, call people, take pictures, and video chat on Skype. All 104 00:07:33,599 --> 00:07:39,199 this stuff works. So, I guess I could recommend it for my mom, but go any 105 00:07:37,759 --> 00:07:44,639 further than that, and I don't understand why anyone would want it. For 106 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:48,560 intermediate users like my sister, she's going to be baffled by the need to use 107 00:07:46,479 --> 00:07:53,360 third party applications, some of which cost money, for stuff like YouTube. And 108 00:07:51,599 --> 00:07:57,599 then as we get into the higherend enthusiasts who are able to jump through 109 00:07:55,199 --> 00:08:01,440 those technical hoops, the ones that are likely to be also jumping on the trends 110 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:05,520 of like wearables and connected devices and stuff. And we got another deal 111 00:08:03,599 --> 00:08:12,319 breaker. The lack of third party developer support becomes a complete 112 00:08:09,199 --> 00:08:14,560 nogo for Windows and it happens over and 113 00:08:12,319 --> 00:08:18,879 over. The unofficial Pebble app does some cool stuff actually, but doesn't 114 00:08:16,319 --> 00:08:23,280 notify of calls and texts apparently due to Microsoft policies. Deal breaker. The 115 00:08:21,280 --> 00:08:27,840 unofficial Drop Cam app supports new images every two and a half seconds with 116 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:34,000 no live video, audio, or historical video scrubbing. Deal breaker. Um, and 117 00:08:31,919 --> 00:08:38,399 it's just on and on like that. Battery life was a very positive point with the 118 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:42,399 phone often lasting me two full days or more. But I think a big part of this is 119 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:46,800 how inefficient to use it was and therefore how little time I actually 120 00:08:44,320 --> 00:08:50,800 spent using it. Even stupid stuff like trying to find a draft email that I 121 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:53,920 started creating on the desktop in the stock email client, which is otherwise 122 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:58,080 one of the better aspects of Windows Phone was just such a waste of time that 123 00:08:56,240 --> 00:09:03,440 I would just walk to my computer if it was nearby. So, all in all, this phone 124 00:09:01,519 --> 00:09:07,279 baffles me a little bit. It's a phone for no one. I understand that some 125 00:09:05,600 --> 00:09:11,680 people have a thing for supporting the market underdog and are willing to work 126 00:09:08,959 --> 00:09:15,760 around numerous inconveniences to do it or have specific complaints about Google 127 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:20,800 and Apple that would cause them to want to avoid using the services of both of 128 00:09:18,160 --> 00:09:25,680 those companies. And for you, there's high-end Windows phones like the 1 M8 129 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:30,000 for Windows. For everyone else, there's stuff out there that's just plain more 130 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:34,160 functional and easier to use. And in the case of the 1 M8, also exactly the same 131 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:37,760 price. So, the conclusion pretty much writes 132 00:09:35,839 --> 00:09:40,320 itself here, guys. Thanks for watching. Like the video if you liked it, dislike 133 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:44,720 it if you disliked it. Leave a comment letting me know if you have some thoughts on the whole Windows phone 134 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:47,839 versus other platforms thing. I would love to hear from you. Uh, in the video 135 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:52,320 description, you'll find a support us link where you can give us a monthly contribution, buy a cool t-shirt like 136 00:09:50,399 --> 00:09:55,120 this one that also helps support us. Or change your Amazon bookmark to one with 137 00:09:53,839 --> 00:10:00,080 our affiliate code so that we get a small kickback whenever you buy stuff. We really appreciate all those things. 138 00:09:58,399 --> 00:10:03,640 It helps us out a lot. Thanks again for watching and as always, don't forget to 139 00:10:01,680 --> 00:10:14,000 subscribe.