What is Windows Phone? The best smartphones on Windows Mobile Operating system Windows background.

When choosing a smartphone, we look at different factors, and one of the main ones is the operating system with which we will have to deal. google android, Apple iPhone Or Microsoft Windows Phone? Many buyers believe that the main competition is between the first two, and Windows Phone is not serious. But we will try to debunk this myth.

10 Benefits of Windows Phone

Plus one: it's not an iPhone

From the point of view of the "Yabloko" this looks like a definite drawback, but those who do not like Cupertino products will clearly look at this fact with interest.

In fact, the ideology of the iOS and WP8 operating systems is similar in many ways: the closeness of both from "external influences", a strict selection of applications, and a rather narrow choice of gadgets. But if Apple needs to deal only with gadgets from Apple itself, then Microsoft is much better in this regard: smartphones on Windows Phone are produced by many respected manufacturers, from Microsoft itself to HTC and Samsung (the latter - even despite the promotion of competitor WP - OC Tizen).

To summarize and discard the technical details, then Windows Phone can be called "iOS without Apple." The latter, as you know, like to set absolutely ridiculous prices for their components, while there is no such problem with gadgets on Windows Phone, the components here are the most “ordinary” ones. In general, if you like the ideology Apple devices, but do not like the pricing (or any other) policy of the "apple" company, take a closer look at smartphones on WP and tablets on Windows.

Plus two: yes, it's Windows

In view of the upcoming unification of Microsoft operating systems for all mobile and desktop devices, this advantage looks especially attractive. Now a smartphone on Windows Phone 8.1 also syncs with Windows 8.1 without any problems, but when Windows 10 comes out, it will be Windows 10 for everyone, without the Phone prefix. By the way, the release for developers has already been released, which, as it were, hints.

Such unification means, at a minimum, the absence of gadget synchronization problems (and now they are trifles, but they do occur), and the convenience of working on all devices should, in theory, be similar.

Basically, the same can be said about different versions Apple iOS, but not about Google Android. Yes, there are Chromebooks, but this is where the variety of Android devices ends.

Plus three: no problem of lack of RAM

This is the scourge of Android devices: 512 MB of RAM was once enough, but now 2 GB is considered the minimum allowable for comfortable work. While the Lumia 720 on Windows Phone 8 can handle the same 512 megabytes of RAM without any problems, and even allows you to comfortably work with the navigation system (which the author personally tested a couple of years ago), not to mention the HTC Mozart of 2010 with its 576 megabytes of memory: despite the obsolescence of Windows Phone 7.8 and the actual termination of support for this version of Microsoft, you can still work comfortably on this device (unless, of course, you install “heavy” games). Moreover, you do not have to turn off various "pretty things" like animation of menu transitions. Of course, there are already top-end WP devices with 2 gigabytes of RAM.

But a three-year-old Android smartphone with one gigabyte of memory on the fourth version of the operating system today shamelessly slows down, and devices with three gigabytes of RAM actually cause more sadness than joy, because the “more, more, more!” it fits perfectly.

By the way, the Apple iPhone does not have such a problem either, which is proved by the presence of “old” iPhones of the third dash of the fifth generation in ads and at well-attended auctions, where they sell like hot cakes. And this is not only because iOS is a smart and simple operating system in its own right, but also because iOS also does not have problems with RAM, like Windows Phone.

Unlike Android. The increase in RAM in "android phones" only proves this.

Plus Four: Default Applications

Since Android smartphones are not only lazy in the basement (just look at their number in tens of thousands in any Chinese online store), they usually do not have a rich bundle by default. Of course, various major vendors like Samsung or HTC cram into their android variant a lot of everything that is possible and impossible, but the vast majority of Android smartphones on the market do not have anything other than stock firmware. Someone generous can, perhaps, give away a free shell and a couple of free applications. But the common denominator is that a small number (4% of the market, give or take, according to analysts) of Windows Phone smartphones give their users quite a lot of useful branded applications, and the mega-diversity of Android leads to the fact that you have to finish all on your own. Even with excellent HTC shell sense.

By the way, the swipe keyboard included with Windows Phone 8.1 can be called a nice bonus: while in Google Android, such an innovation appeared on a regular basis only some time ago (somewhere around versions 4.2-4.3), and before that it was necessary to use a paid Swype application or analogues, free versions which were nowhere near as good, having, among other things, extremely poor default dictionaries.

True, not for Windows Phone Google Chrome(as well as Hangouts), but everything else is there. And even sync Google account is on par with the default Hotmail account. There is also a Microsoft OneDrive cloud application - similar functionality in Android is called Google Drive, it provides the same space in both clouds: 15 GB each.

Plus fifth: little can be configured (and broken, respectively)

Probably, many at first decide to put this plus into a minus, but if you look from the point of view of the average user, then what does he want? Only one thing: to have everything you need, and so that it all works as it should. Without "finishing", "root", "customization" and other terrible words. Bought - use.

With Windows Phone, everything is exactly like this: I took it out of the box and everything works. You can change the color of the “tiles”, make a ringtone, arrange the desktop as you wish, but you don’t need to unlock your smartphone to get superuser rights, install tricky applications to clean and reorganize the memory, both operational and permanent… Because everything works fine without it .

By the way, this plus can be attributed to Apple - for the umpteenth time.

Plus six: simplicity

But since we have already mentioned the iPhone, so the operating system from Microsoft can give the user the same simplicity. Yes, there are not very many applications (yet), but their number is increasing. Yes, customization is very limited (see above) - but you don't need to shaman with a tambourine to make something work.

Simplicity is a guiding principle not only for the iPhone, but also for smartphones based on Windows Phone. They simply won’t let you mess up something in the system (including applications), ways to get something you need are also easy, and even a child can deal with everything (especially since there is a very simple and effective child mode called "Children's Corner" (Kid's Corner). Usability, in general, is on top.

Plus seven: updating the OS regardless of the manufacturer and device class

Everyone is familiar with the Android distribution model: coming out a new version The OS appears on the newest Nexuses, then smartphone manufacturers begin to slowly swing and integrate the new OS into their firmware very slowly. Sometimes months pass, and in some cases, seemingly actual devices, the new Android does not reach at all.

With Windows Phone 8, everything is easier: updates appear for all devices at about the same time, and for both the weak Lumia 520 and the powerful HTC 8x, all functions are available equally, except that toys on weak WP smartphones will slow down. There are no “finishing” of your own shells: firmware from different manufacturers differ, except perhaps in the amount of proprietary software, which is also not very much.

Plus number eight: safety

In fact, the roots of this grow not from the fact that in principle there are no viruses in the mobile OS from Microsoft (as in the joke about Elusive Joe), unlike the desktop relative, but from the fact that, due to their low prevalence, they simply have not yet begun to be written.

The second reason is the closed nature of the source code, which makes the OS practically invulnerable to hacking, at least for now. And antivirus for Android today is almost a mandatory must-have application for all "droids".

Plus nine: Xbox Live

This is more of a plus for gamers, but it's worth mentioning anyway: the Xbox Live system is integrated into Windows Phone, so you can use your profile in this system for all games, collecting points and “pumping” your character, and there are common rating tables where you can compete with other players not in some game separately, but in general in all at once.

Plus tenth: regular navigation system

While there is still debate on the "Internet" about which is better, Microsoft quietly builds a full-fledged offline HERE navigation system into its Lumia smartphones for free and has no problems with it. The system is really very powerful, there are updated maps of all countries of the world, there is a really full-fledged driving mode (offline!) in the HERE Drive application with voice prompts, there is also an application indicating the nearest places (from cafes to shopping centers) in overlay mode on a three-dimensional map with positioning in space.

There is, perhaps, only one minus for HERE cards: the cards are downloaded only to the built-in memory and categorically do not want to live on a flash drive. Well, no one is perfect.

As for offline navigators on Android, here you can allow a small lyrical digression into the topic. A few days ago, the author of this article watched a video of one popular autoblogger, in which he proved to us that a separate navigator where better than a smartphone. At the same time, rather ancient Samsung acted as a smartphone, and Navitel, cursed by many, acted as a navigation system. That is, it turns out like this: if you have an old Samsung smartphone, and you bought an expensive Navitel - it's better to buy a separate navigator.

The main thing is that there is nothing to argue with. Everything is just like that. And so many owners of old Android devices think the same way.

Conclusion

Of course, the Windows Phone operating system has its drawbacks (remember - no one is perfect), but we hope we have clearly demonstrated to you that this OS is quite competitive. In terms of simplicity and convenience, it is not inferior to iOS, and smartphones on it are several times cheaper. Like, for example, or, which we recently talked about.

Windows Phone is the third most popular mobile operating system after the well-known iOS and Android. In fairness, it should be said that this is the last place of the current major players. Tizen, Firefox OS, BlackBerry OS, Ubuntu Touch are not widely used.

Microsoft's mobile OS became widely known after the release of Windows Phone 8.1, with its recognizable tiled interface. The previous version of Windows Phone 7 was not commercially successful. This year there were devices with the latest Windows version 10 (Not Windows Phone 10). Windows 10 is positioned as an OS that works equally well on all devices.
The choice when looking for a smartphone on Windows Phone is not as great as when choosing Android, but this does not mean that there is no choice.

Windows backgrounds are presented in all price categories to meet the needs of any budget. True, there is a meager choice in terms of manufacturers, the list consists almost entirely of Microsoft.

Microsoft Lumia 950

Advantages:

• Great display
• Windows 10 out of the box
• Excellent camera

Disadvantages:

• boring design
• Plastic could be better used
• Software bugs

The Lumia 950 is one of two Microsoft models in the high-end smartphone market. Not the most expensive of the top ones, but in terms of hardware they did not save at all.

Having Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, 3 GB random access memory With 32GB of built-in storage and a 20MP rear camera, the Lumia 950 can keep up with the best smartphones on any platform, in terms of spec numbers. Add to that the resolution of the 5.2-inch 2560x1440 562ppi AMOLED display.
Windows 10 on smartphones is at launch and there are some quirks and bugs. But, despite the dampness, the Lumia 950 can take advantage of one of its W10 Continuum features. Using either Miracast or an additional display, you can turn your phone into something similar to a PC.

Microsoft Lumia 950XL

Advantages:

• Already on Windows 10
• Excellent camera

• Similar Lumia 950

These two smartphones are very similar, and many of them are the same. The display is different, it is slightly larger and is 5.7 inches with a resolution of 2560 × 1440. Another Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor

A good choice for fans of the big screen, given that the battery life is much better than that of the small brother. With such a display, the charge reserve will never be superfluous

Acer Liquid Jade Primo

Advantages:

• Support for Continuum in Windows 10
• Large selection of PC-like accessories
• Powerful hardware

Disadvantages:

• Not a very good camera
• A bit pricey

It was first shown at IFA in September 2015. This is Acer's first attempt at making a top windows phone. Carbon copy hardware like the Lumia 950.

Special attention should be paid to the implementation of Continuum. Acer introduces a dedicated docking station. And with only a monitor at hand, it is possible to turn a mobile device into a “full-fledged PC”. Of the proposed interfaces, standard HMDI, also two USB port– 2.0 and 3.0. By the way, you can connect to the monitor without a docking station, via HDMI
Acer Liquid Jade Primo cannot be imagined without a wide range of accessories. For corporate clients, there is a PC in a box offer, which will include a monitor, as well as everything you need for a docking station: a keyboard, mouse, and possibly an alternative to a laptop.

Microsoft Lumia 650

• Good display
• Metal carcass
• Great price

• No wireless charging

The Lumia 650 arrived a year after the 640, but without any fanfare, a simple press release, and the phone was on sale a few days later. But this does not mean that the phone is not worthy of attention. It is damn attractive in terms of value for money. For your hard-earned money, you will receive - an 8-megapixel camera, a super-bright 5-inch oled display, which will give a hundred points head start to anyone Android smartphone in your class. However, the processor is suitable for tasks requiring low performance, such as browsing the web, listening to music, etc.

Microsoft Lumia 640

• Good display in the budget segment
• good time battery life
• Great price

• No wireless charging
• Little internal memory

The Lumia 640 proves that you can have a fantastic smartphone without having to spend a lot of money. Not only on Windows Phone, but in general the best cheap smartphone.
The hardware is on par with the older but much more expensive Lumia 830, only inferior in camera. At 640, the camera isn't that bad when you look at the price of the phone.
Add to that a good battery life, a good display with Glance Screen and an announced upgrade to Windows 10.

Microsoft Lumia 550

• Decent display
• Super low price

• Design

Along with new top-end Windows 10 smartphones, Microsoft has announced a new budget model - Lumia 550
Compared to other Lumia 5 series, the 505 is a big breakthrough. Notably gets a 720p display and a 5MP camera. This model is the cheapest of all models on Windows 10.

The lock screen in WP8 is a screen in the truest sense of the word. That is, it is a full-screen picture that you need to pull up to unlock the display. The picture is selected in the settings, it can be either one of the standard images, or any photo or picture you downloaded to your smartphone. On NTS smartphones, you can also set weather animation as a picture.

The top of the lock screen displays the current signal strength, Internet connection type (HSDPA (H) or EDGE (E)), wireless icons, battery level, and time.

Also here, on top of the icons with system information, a panel with music control appears. To call it, you need to press the volume up or down key. This panel shows the current volume level, music control buttons, the name of the track, its playing time, as well as an icon with sound mode, ring or vibro.

In addition, at the top of the screen, information about the new found WiFi networks or a piece of a new text message, that is, part of it can be seen without even unlocking the screen.

Just below the center of the screen, the current time and an alarm icon next to it, if it is on, are displayed. Even lower - the day of the week, date and month. And at the very bottom - the icons of unread text messages, email and missed calls. Mail icons for different accounts are the same, with the exception of "boxes" from MS (hotmail) and MS Exchange Server.

In the settings, you can specify the time after which the lock screen will appear, the range of values: 30 seconds, 1, 3, 5 minutes or "never".

You can also set a password for the lock screen. In this case, when you move the screen up, instead of unlocking, a panel with a numeric keypad will appear, where you enter the password. Interestingly, as soon as you have finished entering the password, the screen will immediately unlock.

To be honest, I would have liked to have more settings for the lock screen, for example, the ability to quickly call the program. I also didn't like the tiny notifications: if you remember HTC Sense, where the entire message appeared immediately, it becomes quite sad.

Desktop

The workspace in Windows Phone 8 is organized in two panels, on one of them there are tiles already known to us, on the other - a detailed list of programs.

In Windows Phone 8, the tile menus have undergone a slight visual overhaul. Firstly, now up to four tiles can be placed in one row, and secondly, the useless arrow has finally been removed (or rather, it has not been removed, but placed at the very bottom of the tiled menu). Tiles can be of three sizes: small (1x1), medium (2x2) and large (2x4). If the program supports "live tiles", then the information on the tile will be updated. When moving a tile, nearby tiles will move away. It looks the same as the last one. Android versions, except that in Windows Phone this "trick" appeared earlier.

Most tiles support "unread notification counters", that is, if you receive a new letter, then there will be one on the mail tile, the same with other programs. And this applies not only to standard programs, but also to third-party ones (for example, IM +). The “Calendar” tile deserves special mention, if you stretch it to a large size, then it will display a list of the current tasks that you wrote down.

Adding a new tile is done by long pressing on the program from the application menu. Also, some third-party applications can add tiles directly from the settings. Changing the size and position of tiles or removing them from the desktop is done with a long press on the tile itself. From the list of programs, you can not only quickly add a new tile, but also remove the program.

All personalization of the desktop comes down to changing the background (black or white) and the background color of the tiles themselves (here the gamut was seriously diversified). Interestingly, some applications also change their appearance depending on the change in the color of the tiles. This allows continuity appearance between third-party applications and built-in ones.

The solution with tiles is interesting and unusual, on the one hand, these are ordinary shortcuts, on the other hand, updated tiles, on the third hand, peculiar widgets. Most of all, of course, I am glad that we finally got rid of the small arrow on the side and increased the size of the line on the desktop (4x1 vs. 2x1 in WP7). In my opinion, tiles lose in variety to the same widgets in Android, of which Play market great multitude.

Status bar

Unlike Android, Windows Phone 8 doesn't pay much attention to the status bar. First of all, it doesn't even drop out. Secondly, it contains the minimum number of notifications. Thirdly, this line is still automatically hidden, so if you need to check the smartphone's charge, signal reception or new messages, then you need to manually omit it, which, of course, is inconvenient.

The address book does the same, only you look for the subscriber's card yourself, and do not immediately open it. After shortcuts on Android, this solution looks outdated.

The “Phone” tile opens the history of all calls, you can immediately dial the subscriber who recently called you.

When you call a subscriber, you see his number and the time of the call. There is no contact photo (even if one is assigned!). This is a huge miscalculation, which upsets me very much, it is not clear why it was necessary to do this.

At incoming call you see the photo of the contact, to answer the call you first need to swipe up and then press the answer call button. The button itself is narrow and flat, made quite uncomfortable, you need to aim to press it.

The address book

The address book is located in the Contacts application. The application itself is divided into four blocks: a list of your contacts, their activity on social networks, the last contacts you accessed, and the All Together block, where the created rooms and user groups are located. Let's talk about everything in order.

The contact list displays your synced Hotmail address book. If you have enabled synchronization of contacts with Twitter and / or Facebook, then contacts from these networks will also appear in the address book. Contacts from social networks can be "associated" with contacts from Hotmail, then all the activity of a contact from social networks will be displayed in one card. In addition, after “linking”, a high-quality photo is pulled up, if we talk about Facebook.

If you wish, you can synchronize your smartphone with Gmail, then the contacts will be “pulled up” from your Google account. The disadvantage of this method is that with such synchronization, you automatically receive low-quality contact photos.

To create a new contact, just click on the plus sign at the bottom of the screen. There is also a "Search" button for quick navigation through the book.

The second tab displays a news feed from Facebook, Twitter and other connected social networks.

The third contains frequently called contacts.

The last tab contains a list of contact groups and rooms. What is a room? You invite one or more contacts to create a room, then inside this room you can keep a shared calendar, chat, make a shopping list and much more (for example, share photos). It can be seen that the functionality of the room involves its use, first of all, by family or just close people. The second use case is the corporate segment.

Call log (call history)

The call history window has been simplified as much as possible. You see a list of recent calls (all), on the left - the same phone icon, on the right - the name of the subscriber, just below - the type of call (incoming, outgoing, missed), the day of the week and the time at which the call was made. For missed calls, the line under the name of the subscriber is highlighted in a cheerful color (it depends on which color you have chosen for the OS).

The call list appears to show calls from the last week. There is no grouping of calls from one subscriber, you also cannot see detailed information about the call, for example, its duration, there is no such functionality. If you call the same person ten or twenty times, then these twenty entries will be in the call list without any grouping under one contact.

When you click on the phone icon, a call to the selected subscriber starts, when you click on his name, a window with a profile opens. By the way, if the number from the call log is not in your address book, then when you click on it, you will still be taken to the profile window. That is, you can select an action, call this subscriber or send a text message.

Display of missed calls

When the display is locked, the missed call information is displayed as an icon at the bottom of the lock screen.

On the main screen, the missed call is shown inside the "Phone" block. I already spoke about this above, it seems. The display of missed calls in the system line did not appear.

Working with USSD requests

The system processes direct USSD requests without problems, and support for requests has also appeared in which there is a choice of options.

Messages, mail

Display of new (missed) messages

In screen lock mode, new text messages are displayed as an icon at the bottom of the display, new text messages and mail are not shown at all in the system bar. The number of messages on the main screen is shown inside each block, i.e. inside the block, for example, for Gmail, for mail on MS Exchange and for text messages.

Text messages

Text messages are represented by a list of chats, for each chat the last message in it is indicated. In the general message window, you see for each chat the phone number or name of the subscriber, and below - the last message or a piece of it in two lines. To the right - the time when the message was received, or the day of the week (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) if the message is from the past days. Unread messages can be distinguished from read ones by the color of the text of the message piece under the name of the subscriber. For unread messages, this will be the color chosen in the theme: red, green, etc. The message list contains not only SMS messages, but also messages from rooms.

When you open a chat, you see all the correspondence with the selected person. The contact's first and last names are shown at the top, and the messages are below. By clicking on the name of a contact, you can go to his card. The subscriber's messages are aligned on the left side, yours are aligned on the right. Under each message is the date you received it or delivered it to the subscriber. An individual message can be deleted or forwarded, and the entire conversation with a contact can be deleted.

If the messages are old, then not only the time of sending and delivery, but also the day of the week will be indicated for them. If they are very old, then the date of the message will be indicated in the format day/month/year.

When you create a new message, it defaults to text. If you add any content to SMS, it will be converted to MMS. Users can send photos, video clips, their location, voice notes, contact cards, and ringtones via MMS.

Another feature of working with messages in WP8 is this. In the system, when entering messages, you first do not see anywhere how many characters have already been entered, and this is inconvenient. The thing is that the OS shows the number of characters entered as a number only after you have exceeded the value of 130 characters for Latin and 60 characters for Cyrillic. This flaw has been known since WP7, it's sad that it hasn't been fixed.

When you enter a new message, the destination is selected. To select it, you can start entering the first or last name of the contact, the system itself will offer options from those found in the address book. In addition, you can simply enter the phone number manually or click on the "plus" button and get into the address book, where you can already select the desired contact. A text message can be sent to one or more recipients.

In the message settings, you can enable notification of the delivery of a message to the addressee. If you turn on the notification, after each sent SMS, you will receive a response message with a text about the time your message was delivered.

In WP8, there are no message templates familiar to most other (or all other?) phones like "Happy birthday", "I'm busy, I'll call you back later", etc.

There is no concept of "draft message" in WP8. You can't save drafts. Moreover, if you were writing a message and accidentally pressed the "Windows" or "Back" key, that is, you went to the main screen, the text you wrote will not be saved and you will have to enter it again. The good thing is that if you answer the call while writing an SMS, then you can continue writing.

And the last point about messages. If you sent a message, but it was not sent (we rode the subway, drove through the tunnel in a car, the phone was in the “Airplane” mode, etc.), then you will need to resend it manually, on your own. Notification that a message has not been sent will only be shown in one place, directly below the body of the message itself. That is, situations are quite possible when the message was not sent, but you do not know about it, because you pressed the "Send" button and immediately closed the message window.

Mail

Let's look at the implementation of mail in Windows Phone 8. Unlike what we see in Android, there is no separation by account type, that is, if you set up Gmail and, for example, Hotmail boxes, the application for working with them will be used by one . Let me remind you that in Android Gmail has its own separate mail client and another one for the rest of the mail.

About the fact that each account with mail can be placed on the main screen in the form of a picture block, I have already said. Now let's look into one of these boxes.

Mail messages are presented as a list, about 5 letters fit on the screen (HTC Windows Phone 8x). In each line, the sender is displayed in large print, below - the subject of the letter and the first line from it. To the right of this data is the time of receipt or the day of the week (if the letter is yesterday or old). If you swipe the screen to the left, we will move from the screen with all letters to the screen with unread letters. And the last scrolling - letters marked "important". Convenient screen, in my opinion, it works correctly for all accounts. That is, if I send an email marked "important" to my Exchange and Gmail inboxes, then in both cases the system will place it on the important emails screen.

Letters in the list can be selected. To do this, you need to bring your finger to the left edge of the screen and gently click on the area to the left of the desired letter. As soon as one letter is selected, a square will appear next to each with the ability to put a tick there, that is, select it as well. In addition, you can simply press the button at the bottom of the screen to call the mode of selecting letters. You cannot select all messages at once. Selected messages can be marked as read or unread, checked or unchecked for them, and marked as “done” (a checkmark will appear to the right of the name and subject of the letter).

Let's open one letter. The name and surname of its sender are written at the top in large-large type. As a rule, this data does not even fit on the screen, and you will not be able to read the name of an unknown person to the end. For example, if Konstantin Konstantinov writes to me, then I will see both in the general list of messages and in the open message something like Konstantin Konst.

Below the name and surname - a line with a subject, and then - the date the letter was received. Even lower is the addressee, that is, you and other people, if the letter was sent not only to you or in the form of a mailing list. Attachments follow, if any, and only then the text.

The unprepared reader is in for some bad news. However, it is not pleasant for everyone. In WP8, you can scale the text of the letter, just like in any other system. Make it smaller or larger. However, unlike other systems, WP8 does not re-align enlarged text to the screen width. You understood me correctly, if you "enlarged" the text of the letter in the mail, please use the horizontal scroll to read it.

You can read letters both in the vertical orientation of the screen and in the horizontal one. Attachments are opened by clicking on the gray label "attachments". Clicking on the name of an attachment starts downloading it. You can’t track the download status, but you will understand that the attachment is downloading by the presence of the “Cancel” signature under it.

You cannot choose a specific place to download attachments, there is no concept of folders and the file system being viewed. Accordingly, in order to view the downloaded attachment, you need to open the letter with it and click on the attachment there. The system does not provide a tool to view all downloaded attachments or any download log for email accounts.

A downloaded attachment can be distinguished from one that has not yet been downloaded by the icon. For unloaded ones, it is common, in the form of a paper clip, for downloaded ones, by file type. By the way, WP8 does not distinguish between emails in html format, that is, with pictures, and emails with attachments. That is, in the general list of letters you will see a paperclip icon not only for letters with attachments, but also for letters in html format, because there are pictures there, and it's like attachments.

If the system "does not understand" the extension or format of the attachment, no action can be taken with it; when you click on such an attachment, you will see a notification that it cannot be opened. For some attachments to the OS, it is suggested to download an application that supports them. For example, this applies to .pdf files.

In the case of a Gmail account, the system recognizes the "there" labels as folders. Accordingly, you can see what labels you have. In G8, the mail client has finally learned how to work with labels, you can open letters marked with these labels and download attachments.

The search in the list of letters is carried out by first name, last name, subject of the letter, as well as by the body of the letter (through the entire text, and not just the line visible in the general list).

Mail Display

The mail client displays both standard text messages and those composed using html without any problems. In the case of html, to load images, you must first click on any picture inside the letter, after which they are loaded.

Working with text inside a letter

Windows Phone 8 supports copy-paste. That is, the text from the letter (and not only) can be copied and then pasted into another place, for example, into a document or into the address bar of a browser. It looks like this: when you click on a word, an icon for copying the selected text to the clipboard appears, to the left and right of the word there are arrows, by dragging which you can select other words or entire pieces of text and copy them.

Screen keyboard, text entry

The keyboard in Windows Phone 8 has not changed much since the "seven". Four lines of characters, no additional markup on the buttons: one click - one character. There is a jump key to enter numbers and additional characters. There is a button for entering smiles (emoticons), there is a space, the "Backspace" key and "Enter". Personally, I counted on the possibility of installing a third-party keyboard, but, unfortunately, Microsoft did not please us with such a luxury. In my opinion, this keyboard is too simple. If the company does not allow you to install other keyboards, then at least make your own the best and most convenient. But Microsoft did not do either the first or the second.

In landscape mode, the keyboard becomes slightly wider, but far from the full width of the screen. That is, in WP8 there is not much difference between landscape and portrait keyboards, they do not differ in the convenience of typing on them.

When you enter a letter on the keyboard, it is displayed in a pop-up field above the key itself, so even when you cover the button with your finger, you always see which letter you are currently typing.

Pressing the key is accompanied by a sound, there is no vibration. For different input fields, the keyboards are slightly different. For example, for text messages, to the left of the space is a button for entering smiles, and when working in a browser, there is also a key for quickly entering “.com”. At the same time, if you hold your finger on the “.com” button for about a second, a pop-up menu will appear where you can select the domain zone: .org, .edu, net.

If you hold your finger in the input field on one of the words, a cursor appears, you can use it to correct errors in words or simply move between words or phrases in already written text to add or correct something.

The keyboard has predictive input, Russian is also supported. Misspelled words are automatically corrected.

Calendar

The calendar can be presented as a block picture on the main screen, it will occupy the entire line, that is, two standard blocks. It displays the current day of the week and date, as well as the nearest event, if any.

In the calendar, you see a list of events for the current day, sorted by time, or a list of events for the next day for which they are. The general list of events displays their names and venue, as well as time. To the right of each event is a colored label that indicates that the event belongs to one of the calendars that you are synchronizing. Native synchronization with the Facebook calendar is supported, joint events from the common room are also displayed.

When adding a new event, you can select a theme, location, account affiliation, start time, duration, reminder, and status. In addition, you can enter a note and add users from your address book to the event, who will be sent an invitation to participate in this event (by mail).

Multimedia

Music+video

It is not clear why Microsoft decided to combine music and video in one program. What is the risk? While watching all the content, you have movies and songs mixed up. The meaning of this decision is unclear.

The music player itself supports playback by artist, album, or genre. You can also enable playback of all tracks. Support for playing folders, unfortunately, no. It's important to note here that you can't install a third-party audio player on WP8, so the fact that Microsoft installed such a simple app is pretty frustrating.

As for video playback, there are practically no settings here either: no subtitles, no changing the audio track, or anything else. Only linear playback. And again, a third-party video player cannot be installed.

It is important to note that in Windows Phone 8 there is no such thing as “ring volume” and “media volume”, so if you pulled out your headphones after listening to music and put your smartphone in your pocket, then it is quite possible that you can miss an incoming call.

Photo

The application is divided into four tabs. In the first one, you can view your photos by pre-selecting sorting by date, albums or contacts. The photo disk contains the pictures taken directly from the camera. You can add the picture you like to Favorites.

In the "What's New" tab the latest news from social networks containing photos is displayed.

Applications contain programs for working with images.

Marketplace

The app store home page is divided into four tabs. From the first one, you can quickly switch to branded smartphone applications, third-party programs and games. The second contains the "program of the day" - any good application according to Microsoft. The third and fourth tabs are dedicated to the list of applications and games, respectively. They display three titles and a proposal to get acquainted with all the programs.

In addition to the usual sorting by paid / free and the best programs, there is a "Collections" tile. The collections have selected the best applications for various cases. I liked this section very much, it is clear that they really chose good apps for each of the subsections.

When you open the application information, several tabs appear in front of you. In the first one is short description application, its weight, the name of the developer and the average rating. The second tab is reserved for reviews, on the third you can see screenshots of the program, and the fourth shows similar applications.

The app store has one inconvenient drawback - if you have already bought an application, when you open information about it, its purchase is not displayed in any way, that is, you still see the "Buy" button. Of course, you do not need to buy it a second time, and when you click on the button, they will tell you that you have already bought it and offer to download it. Many applications have demo versions, thanks to which you can try the program before buying.

As for the search, in my opinion, it is better organized in the Marketplace than in Google Play. Here, at least, all the applications displayed after the search are at least related to the word you enter. On Google Play, you can enter "FBReader" and get the Opera Mini program as the fifth or sixth link.

Programs for Marketplace

At the moment, you can find about seven good twitter clients, two or three good e-book readers, a couple of third-party browsers, about 9-10 social networking clients and some really good instant messengers in the Marketplace. Third-party video players as well as music players are completely absent as a class. Of course, there are no third-party launchers and keyboards either.

In principle, there are many applications in the market, but really high-quality ones, in my opinion, are about a hundred pieces. They are easy to find in the top paid and free programs, as well as in collections.

Xbox Live

This section contains all the games available in the Marketplace. If you want to see a list of available games in the Marketplace, you will still be transferred to Xbox Live. Conventionally, all games can be divided into two types - "games from Xbox" and "Other". What is the advantage of the former? They support the Xbox achievements system. That is, if you, say, have passed the next level in Sonic, you will receive the corresponding reward. In fact, Xbox Live is the equivalent of Game Center on iOS.

If we talk about the number of games, then there are very few really good, cool toys, probably not even two dozen. At the presentation of Windows Phone 8, several interesting toys from Gameloft and not only were announced, but so far only Cut The Rope has appeared.

PC connection

One of the innovations of the G8 was the ability to connect directly to a computer without intermediary programs like Zune. On the one hand, this is an absolute plus, but on the other hand, you still cannot upload any files to your smartphone. Or rather, you can download them to your phone, but third party programs won't be able to see them. A simple example: the popular Bookviser application cannot open books downloaded via PC, you need to use workarounds. Moreover, I will not be able to see the filled books in the folders on the PC, they (these folders) are simply hidden and not displayed.

multitasking

Windows 8 introduces full multitasking. I can easily close the game, send an SMS, read twitter, and then open it again and continue exactly where I left off. View all open programs by long pressing the "Back" button. However, at the moment, not all applications support this multitasking. Developers must update their programs to be compatible with this mode. At the moment, this has been done, at least in Facebook.

Browser

I think many of you have the phrase " Internet Explorer» is associated with a kind of installer for a third-party browser. However mobile version This browser pleasantly surprised me, it has a simple, I would even say ascetic design, outwardly it looks like the desktop version of IE in Windows 8.

The address bar has moved to the bottom of the screen, here you can also see the analogy with desktop IE.

The browser supports multiple tabs, Flash banners and animations are visible and playable. There are no problems with watching videos in the same Vkontakte.

Page position indicators are two thin stripes, on the right frame and at the bottom of the screen. From them you can understand in which area of ​​the site you are. This is useful when you have greatly enlarged a page compared to its original resolution and want to move to another area of ​​this page without changing the scale.

The maximum browser zoom is excessive, you can enlarge the page so that one or two words per line will be displayed on the screen. When you change the scale, the size of the pictures does not change.

When you enter an address, auto-selection works, the browser “offers” options from the list of pages you visited.

Unfortunately, there is no auto-fitting of text to the screen size.

If you wish, you can bring your favorite tabs to the desktop.

When editing an existing document or creating a new one, you can choose the font size, type (italic, underline, strikethrough) and color. It also selects a marker color for a word or phrase to make it stand out. There is a rollback button for one or more actions.

The application supports Microsoft Sharepoint Server 2010, you can take part in editing and viewing documents on the server without downloading them to the device. There is also a OneNote screen in the Office hub. Here you can create various notes. You can also view PowerPoint presentations using the Office hub.

Melodies and sounds. Here you can configure the notification sound and ringtone (your own melodies, for this you need to upload them to the Ringtones folder), the vibrating alert is turned on / off, and the actions for which sounds will be turned on are selected.

Themes. The color of the tiles and the background on which they will be placed are selected.

Shared internet. Distribution mobile internet using Wi-Fi. Open and secure networks are supported.

Touch and send. Windows Phone 8 introduces NFC support. You can use it in the following way. A number of applications support the "touch and send" function, it can be a contact, an open page in the browser, a document, an image, in general, all applications where, when the context menu is called, there is a "Send" line and then the "Touch and send" field. I can tap Send > Tap and Send in IE on a Lumia 920, then lean it back against the back of another WP8 phone and it will pop up a notification, if I accept it, the phone will load the same page I had on " lumia." The same goes for pictures and other content.

Characteristics:

• Screen: AMOLED 5.2 inches, 2560x1440 / 5.7 inches, 2560x1440
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 hexa-core / Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core
• Cameras: Main 20 MP, front 5 MP
• Battery: 3000 mAh / 3340 mAh

Opening the list of the best Windows smartphones is Microsoft's flagship Lumia 950, which is offered in two versions: regular and XL. They differ from each other in the size of the display diagonal, processor and battery capacity. With Microsoft's flagship phones being business-oriented, the Lumia 950 includes full-featured versions of Office apps and mail client Outlook, and also supports Continuum technology, which allows you to connect your Windows 10 smartphone to a special docking station and monitor, and work with it like a full-fledged computer - edit documents, surf the web, communicate via video, and so on.

Advantages:

• Large screen with WQHD resolution
• Powerful processor
• Camera with ZEISS optics
• Convenient applications for business

Disadvantages:

• Design that does not correspond to flagship status
• Case heating under load and charging

Model withdrawn from sale

HP Elite X3

Characteristics:

• Screen: AMOLED 6 inches, 2560x1440
• Processor: Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 820
• Memory: 4 GB RAM, 64 GB permanent
• Cameras: Main 16 MP, front 8 MP
• Battery: 4150 mAh

The flagship smartphone on Windows 10 from the company rightfully occupies a leading position in the rankings of the best mobile devices 2016. The manufacturer installed the most productive hardware at the time of its release into the top gadget, and also added a number of useful features, such as support for hot-swap SIM cards, wireless battery charging, a port, and dual biometric authentication using iris and fingerprint scanners. fingers. Powerful "stuffing" is combined with a nice design of the device.

Advantages:

• Large display and WQHD resolution
• Productive hardware
• Flagship design and build quality
• Useful additional features

Disadvantages:

• High price
• Combined slot for SIM-cards and memory cards

Model withdrawn from sale

Acer Jade Primo

Characteristics:

• Screen: AMOLED 5.5 inches, 1920x1080
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 hexa-core
• Memory: 3 GB RAM, 32 GB permanent
• Cameras: Main 21 MP, front 8 MP
• Battery: 2870 mAh

The Acer Jade line of smartphones comes preloaded with Android, but one model in the line, the Acer Jade Primo, runs Windows Phone. The smartphone is made in a plastic non-separable case with rounded corners, contains a fairly powerful “stuffing” and supports Continuum technology, while the manufacturer completes the device with a docking station for connecting to a monitor.

Advantages:

Disadvantages:

• High price
• Not the most powerful battery

Model withdrawn from sale

Xiaomi Mi4 Windows 10

Characteristics:

• Screen: IPS 5 inches, 1920x1080
• Processor: Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801
• Memory: 2 GB RAM, 16 GB permanent
• Cameras: Main 13 MP, front 8 MP
• Battery: 3080 mAh

The Chinese company Xiaomi also decided to release a smartphone on the Windows platform. The result of the work of engineers was the Mi4 Windows 10 model, equipped with a good, albeit not the most productive to date, stuffing, and made in a thin (only 8.9 mm) monolithic metal case. Among the features of the smartphone, you can highlight the function of fast charging and the presence of an infrared port that allows you to control household appliances using proprietary applications.

Advantages:

• Monolithic housing
• Capacious battery

Disadvantages:

• Non-removable battery

Model withdrawn from sale

Nokia Lumia 930

Characteristics:

• Screen: OLED 5 inches, 1920x1080
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 quad-core
• Memory: 2 GB RAM, 32 GB permanent
• Cameras: Main 20 MP, front 1.2 MP
• Battery: 2420 mAh

This Windows smartphone was put into production under the Nokia brand, and became very popular among Windows Phone fans. Gadget lovers were attracted by a monolithic body with a nice design, productive hardware at the time of release, a bright OLED display with FullHD resolution, a camera with ZEISS optics and support for PureView technology, which allows you to shoot high-quality photos and videos.

Advantages:

• Monolithic housing
• Bright OLED display
• Camera with ZEISS optics
• original design

Disadvantages:

• Non-removable and not the most capacious battery
• No memory card slot

Model withdrawn from sale

Microsoft Lumia 640/640 XL

Characteristics:

• Screen: IPS 5 inches, 1280x720 / 5.7 inches, 1280x720
• Processor: Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400
• Memory: 1 GB RAM, 8 GB permanent
• Cameras: Main 8 MP, front 1 MP / Main 13 MP, front 5 MP
• Battery: 2500 mAh / 3000 mAh

A budget model that has become truly "popular" due to its affordable price and good hardware characteristics. Available in two variations, differing from each other in the size of the display diagonal, the resolution of the main and front cameras, battery capacity. Microsoft also released a newer model, the Lumia 650, with similar specs but a less powerful processor.

Advantages:

• Capacious battery
• Affordable price
• Separate slots for SIM cards and memory cards

Disadvantages:

• Inexpressive design
• Slippery plastic body

Model withdrawn from sale

Conclusion

Definitely recommend the most best phone difficult: everyone chooses a gadget based on personal preferences and financial capabilities. However, when deciding to buy a smartphone on Windows 10, first of all, pay attention to the options in this collection.

In this article, we look at the Windows Phone 8 operating system, its features, applications for WP8 and the operation of devices in which it is used.

Here we will not conduct a detailed review of its interface or share our impressions of the operation of this OS. The purpose of the article is to understand the features of both Windows Phone 8 and the devices on which it is installed. And also sort out the main nuances and distinctive features of smartphones running Windows Phone 8 that are not obvious at first glance. This operating system came out a few years later than the touch-screen device boom and now remains in the shadows partly because it is tritely unusual for most users.

Features of Windows Phone 8

The interface of WP8 is very different from the competition, although this platform provides users with an almost identical set of functions. For most smartphone users, it’s a little unusual to work with this OS, but they say you can get used to it in just a couple of days. WP users point to the exceptional convenience and “smoothness” of the OS, users from the other camp are perplexed.
Among the bright differences of WP8 are, first of all, high stability and speed of work (even on weak devices) and, at the same time, limited possibilities for customization and settings of the operating system “for yourself”. Yes, WP8 is faster than iOS and gives users less wiggle room in terms of interface customization.

Pros and cons of the system

Let's first look at the pros and cons of Windows Phone 8 relative to competitors solely as an operating system, while not taking into account applications and devices on WP8.

Pros:

• As indicated above, WP8 works stably, without freezing or rebooting - there are always enough resources for applications.
• WP8 is well optimized and works fast enough. And those moments in which it can slow down are smoothed out by animation.
• Due to the closed nature of the OS, there are no viruses under it.
• Integration with social networks at the operating system level. Contacts from networks are combined with the phone book, and Facebook chat is implemented in the same format as SMS correspondence.
• The possibility of a full remote control device from a computer.
• Embedded in the OS, the ability to use at the corporate level: encryption, remote cleaning data, etc. In this regard, WP8 is more functional than iOS and more secure than Android.

Minuses:

• Limited interface customization options.
• Closed file system, which imposes small restrictions on the operation of applications. Not always possible: sending files, managing media content, etc.
• The absence of a "notification center" or, in common people, curtains. On the other hand, all the features provided in iOS or Android in this way are offset by other features of the OS.
• The impossibility of using the majority Google services(more on that below).
• Some users are not satisfied with the format of adding and editing contacts on the phone. On the other hand, this is offset by the versatility of the contact system.

Windows Phone 8 and Google

Google, for various reasons, is not going to release mobile applications under WP8 for their services. They say it has to do with the marketing strategy.
In particular, on WP8 you can't sync your calendar with Google Celendar, there's no authentic Google Maps, and there's no standalone Gmail app. Access to YouTube for Windows Phone apps is also blocked.

Applications in Windows Phone 8

For the first time after the release of WP8 OS, it lost significantly in terms of the number of applications in the market. After some time, the situation leveled off, and now applications for most popular services are also available on the Windows Phone Store. On the other hand, small companies and startups rarely release applications for Windows Phone.

Microsoft's operating system uses MS Office (free mobile version) and Internet Explorer. There are no worthy alternatives for a native browser in this platform, but it almost always works quickly and adequately. Nokia devices are also equipped with Nokia Maps, which, according to some reviews, are better than Google ones.
Among other things, so-called. “Rooms”, within which users are in constant contact, receive notifications from social networks about the activity of other members of the room, can use multifunctional chat, etc.

Censorship inside the WP Store works almost as hard as in the Apple Store - the number of frankly lousy applications in the marketplace is reduced to almost zero.
Also, developers under Widows Phone are officially encouraged to create applications using a single design for all and typical navigation methods. What pays off: Windows Phone apps look a lot less patchy than apps on other OSes, and users always know what to expect by swiping/tapping on the screen.

Devices on Windows Phone 8

A few facts:

• This OS can only be found on smartphones: for tablets, either Windows RT or full-fledged Windows 8 is used.
• According to the policy of Microsoft, for any device on WP8, a three-year support for operating system updates is guaranteed.
• Since Windows Phone is a proprietary and paid operating system, the circle of manufacturers of such smartphones is extremely limited.
• Smartphones on Windows Phone become much cheaper after the release of newer devices, unlike products from Apple or Samsung.

The most popular devices on WP8 are in developing countries due to the availability of high-quality budget models. In addition, some organizations are adopting WP8 devices at the company level due to system security and enterprise features.

via Alexander Mikhaylenko, Windows Phone user