[vikram_d]

Originally Posted by carboy

Windows Phones seem to top Amazon's Top Rated Cell Phones with Plans in the US. Very unexpected because the phones don't sell much compared to iPhone/Android.

Amazon Top Rated: best Cell Phones With Service Plans

Yeah that is becasue the Lumia 900 is just $99 with a 2 year contract. Absolute value for money.

[carboy]

Originally Posted by vikram_d

Yeah that is becasue the Lumia 900 is just $99 with a 2 year contract. Absolute value for money.

Here is an Android for 50$ - Amazon.com: Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch 4G Android Phone, Black (Sprint): Cell Phones & Accessories

Another for less than a dollar - Amazon.com: Samsung Infuse 4G Android Phone (AT&T): Cell Phones & Accessories

Even the iPhone is for 200$ odd.

In the US, the carrier subsidizes the phone & screws you in the 2 year contract.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

I gave the Lumia 710 to my wife so that she could force-upgrade her ancient and horrible E63.
It was a big challenge to move data because Lumia doesnt understand Nokia Ovi Suite etc. Hence I simply backed up my Wife's E63 onto my N8. Then I used the Lumia's Bluetooth Contact Transfer process to move all her contacts from my N8 to the new Lumia. N8 being a later gen phone than the E63, it was able to pair easily with the Lumia so no worries there.
Now the Lumia is a great phone overall but if one has loaded many apps onto it including facebook and whatsapp and all that jazz, it knocks down the battery life significantly. My wife is not a heavy app user and the phone lies idle most of the time - yet the battery lasts only about 8-9 hours.
Else it is a very nice phone indeed and the Windows stuff is a pleasure to use - the speed of access etc is also superfast in comparison to the older Symbian OS.
All things considered, I still think the Apple OS 5.1 is the best I ve seen.
I just bought an Ipod touch with Wi Fi and it is simply brill! Along with the Ipad2 with Wi Fi and 3G, I think I am becoming a bit of an apple convert.
No wonder Eve was tempted with the original Apple! Apple certainly is highly desirable.
Next for me should ideally be Iphone 5 and a nice little Mac Air and I should be set!

What consumes battery
. GPS
. WiFi
. 3G
. Bluetooth

Once you disconnect these, the battery will last 5-7 days at idle. I have done just that. I switch on WiFi when I want to and rest of the time it is off. I tried GPS once and it drained the battery in six hours.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by Aroy

What consumes battery
. GPS
. WiFi
. 3G
. Bluetooth

Once you disconnect these, the battery will last 5-7 days at idle. I have done just that. I switch on WiFi when I want to and rest of the time it is off. I tried GPS once and it drained the battery in six hours.

In my experience, the main (and probably the only) culprit for quicker battery rain is the data. EDGE/3G that is.

GPS, Wifi & Bluetooth - doesn't consume any notable power while they are turned on and not used. They only consume significantly while they are used. Like Navigation turned on, or file transfer happening over Bluetooth or even playing music over A2DP etc.

Moreover, if you have WiFi at home, it is better to leave it connected so that phone doesn't try to connect to internet over EDGE/3G which will drain more battery than just WiFi.

I am an Android user, don't know if WP users can manage these with a location aware app or anything. I do that - when I leave office, BT gets turned on, and when I reach home (any of the home locations which I configured) BT turns off. So, in car I don't need to manually turn it on in phone to connect to a handsfree. In similar way, Wifi and GPS is also managed.

[shankar.balan]

Thanks

I am constantly using only the Wi Fi service both at office and at home. Less usage of Edge/ Mobile Connect and anyway I dont run too many apps on the phones because I ve got the Ipad and the Ipod touch on hand.
Will follow the same thought process for the Wifey's Lumia.

Too many blighted gadgets to manage I tell you!
Cheers

Originally Posted by Aroy

What consumes battery
. GPS
. WiFi
. 3G
. Bluetooth

Once you disconnect these, the battery will last 5-7 days at idle. I have done just that. I switch on WiFi when I want to and rest of the time it is off. I tried GPS once and it drained the battery in six hours.

[Raccoon]

Current Mango running WP7 devices to never see Apollo update

[Ketan]

Originally Posted by Raccoon

Current Mango running WP7 devices to never see Apollo update

That can be a rumor. Lets wait for it to launch. There are possibilites that 2nd gen devices will get stripped down Apollo (not all that 3rd gen devices going to get), i.e. minus all features that will need 3rd gen hardware. Lets see.

[radek]

Originally Posted by Ketan

That can be a rumor. Lets wait for it to launch. There are possibilites that 2nd gen devices will get stripped down Apollo (not all that 3rd gen devices going to get), i.e. minus all features that will need 3rd gen hardware. Lets see.

+1. Some reliable reporters from ZDNET also reported on the same line. Apparently some of the new features will require high processing power. So they will classify the features and devices. So even if they have same OS across all hardware, some features will not be available on low-end phones.

[DevilsCry]

One should know that this rumour was started by The Verge. The editor-in-chief of The Verge, Joshua Topolsky was fired by Engadget for excessive bias against Microsoft. Topolsky is also responsible for low rating for Lumia phones on The Verge while Lumia series have been rated among highest on all other sites. Just saying.

[Shashank.A]

The rumor was cleared yesterday itself.

And I have a recommendation and a questions.

I hope you guys are using Mehdoh. Its a brilliant twitter client, try it.

Secondly, whatsapp does not work on my L800, its shows disconnected. unfortunately there are no settings which I can fiddle around. Any experience this issue?

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by clevermax

In my experience, the main (and probably the only) culprit for quicker battery rain is the data. EDGE/3G that is.

GPS, Wifi & Bluetooth - doesn't consume any notable power while they are turned on and not used. They only consume significantly while they are used. Like Navigation turned on, or file transfer happening over Bluetooth or even playing music over A2DP etc.

Moreover, if you have WiFi at home, it is better to leave it connected so that phone doesn't try to connect to internet over EDGE/3G which will drain more battery than just WiFi.

I am an Android user, don't know if WP users can manage these with a location aware app or anything. I do that - when I leave office, BT gets turned on, and when I reach home (any of the home locations which I configured) BT turns off. So, in car I don't need to manually turn it on in phone to connect to a handsfree. In similar way, Wifi and GPS is also managed.

I beg to differ.

Every Radio consumes power, transmitters even more. You can try it out. Switch all the radios - GPS, WiFi, Blue Tooth and see the battery life increase tremendously.

OK. I have tried and found that
GPS - drains the battery in less than 10 hours
Blue Tooth - two days max
WiFi - one day

This on both the Nokia C5-03 and now on the 710. With all these off I get 7-9 days standby time. My sons have a Galaxy S2, HTC (top end model), and a Motorola Top end, all Android. They use all the features and the batteries last about one day. Switch off all radios and the battery life goes to what is stated in the specifications - 5-7 days in standby

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by Aroy

I beg to differ.
Every Radio consumes power, transmitters even more. You can try it out. Switch all the radios - GPS, WiFi, Blue Tooth and see the battery life increase tremendously.

Every radio consumes good amount of power, when they operate. I have kept WiFi on throughout some days, and during some days, not ON at all. It never seemed to affect battery much. Just keeping the Wifi On without connected to any network consumes way less power than when it is connected and there is traffic.

GPS - If I just keep it ON without any app using it, it never drains battery.

Bluetooth - If it is just kept on with no visibility, it won't consume much power either.

My point was, compared to (WiFi+BT+GPS)'s standby power usage, the power used by EDGE/3G is significantly higher, and that is the main reason for a quick battery drain.

As I mentioned, keeping Wi-Fi ON and connected to the WiFi router at home saves power because WiFi's Rx and Tx uses much less power than EDGE/3G's. Of course keeping everything off consumes still less power but that's not what a smartphone is meant for..

[StarrySky]

My brother is planning to buy a Windows phone. Which among Samsung Omnia W and Nokia Lumia 710 would be better? Lumia 800 is out of budget.

[srishiva]

3G should not consume more power than voice (if you keep talking for that long as consuming data). EDGE will. Also Bluetooth is very low power. Dont know why GPS consumes so much power for just listening, maybe its processor intensive.

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by srishiva

3G should not consume more power than voice (if you keep talking for that long as consuming data). EDGE will. Also Bluetooth is very low power. Dont know why GPS consumes so much power for just listening, maybe its processor intensive.

Radios in a phone keep increasing sensitivity in low signal areas, so if there is a weak signal - cell phone, GPS or even WiFi (when connected), the power consumption goes up. I have definitely had a lot less battery life using blue tooth on my older Nokias (one day vs 5 days). In case modern phones manage radio power better then keeping them on may not take a big hit on the battery. I suspect it is not so, as there are a lot of apps which let you monitor and significantly reduce power consumption in Android Phones, by intelligent power management. I feel that Windows Phones also need these apps.

The only method of checking power consumption is by switching the power hogs off and check the battery life.