Nokia Lumia 920/Windows Phone 8 impressions over a month and a half

For the potential WP8 adopter, like I was, there were these questions, which I didn't get answered until I was using my Lumia 920.

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Does WP8 sync Video to SkyDrive, rather than just photos?  Yes, see Settings > backup > photos

Can User Agent of included Internet Explorer be adjusted?  No, it does not appear possible (can only choose between "mobile version" of website versus "desktop version")

Which smartphones (iPhone, Android, etc.), other than Nokia Lumia 920 and siblings, offer optical image stabilization?  The latest iPhone 5S does not yet offer this.

As I used the Lumia 920, there were some surprises, good and bad.  I generally focus on the unexpected bad surprises in this post although overall, I like my 920 and I feel the experience gets even better as I discover more features of the device and more apps and operating system updates are released.  For example, as winter approaches, discovering I can use the 920 with gloves on is a welcome surprise.

# September 16
- yellow theme color isn't as bright as expected ... Adjusting brightness helps
- doesn't focus well/photos aren't sharp ... Operating system update helps
- feel of screen is different than Samsung Focus (glass rather than plastic, and possibly a coating)
- flash doesn't activate ... Still an issue, occasionally activates
- list of apps is not separated by letters ... Requires installation of more apps to activate
- is scratch on glass (used phone) noticeable when phone screen is on?  No
- need to remember:  set up app-specific passwords for Google accounts that have 2-factor authentication enabled
- month view does not show actual calendar entry names but rather what appears to be Latin words?!?
- numeric keyboard for certain fields in web browser like for Google verification code
- does NOT show up as additional drive when connected to computer?

# September 28
- WP "app store" on WP8 shows whether app has Live Tile support and also when app was last updated rather than "originally released" as on WP7, much more useful to determine whether app is being maintained
- phone gets noticeably warm after continuous use
- apps work faster on 920, just enough so that there is no waiting on the user's part  
- some apps seem to have different versions for WP7 versus WP8 (for example, Accuweather) even though look and feel may be similar
- Screen not activating after pressing power button - this has happened to me only once and although very scary, to reset the phone (since I couldn't remove the battery as I could with Samsung Focus), I followed these soft reset instructions.


# September 29
- still a lag refreshing information on Start screen, e.g. Weather details
- more clear how to resolve upload conflicts when editing Excel files stored on SkyDrive 

# September 30
- no problem with SkyDrive surveys.  On WP7 and older Internet Explorer, SkyDrive survey would never completely load

# October 3
- weird behavior in MetroNote, a SimpleNote client, where attempt to select an entire word selects every character except the first.  And words like "ddone" are not underlined as being misspelled.  Not an issue in built-in OneNote

# October 7
- battery (or something) is moving around inside phone body when it is shaken
- Agenda view of Calendar remains confusing when glanced at:  which Day is the calendar entry on?

# October 8
- problems with syncing multiple Google calendars despite following instructions in forums - never resolved, purchased True Calender 8 app, a super if imperfect Calendar replacement

# October 13
- DataSense useless to find Wifi hotspots when offline (isn't that the point), despite downloading maps prior to going offline
- Does not prompt to save unsaved calendar entry when hit Back button

# October 16
- can't add a OneNote Section on WP8?  Can only add Pages to existing Section
- searching Gmail folder doesn't return correct results (no results) when using default mail client
- cannot "favorite" businesses, etc. found through Search?  This was possible with WP7.  Now can only Pin to Start screen

# October 22
- editing of Excel spreadsheet is difficult, cannot copy and paste multiple cells.  Also if editing same spreadsheet on SkyDrive, cannot edit spreadsheet on phone

Migration from old WP7 phone to new WP8 phone

Migration roughly consists of the following steps:

• need to synchronize WP7 to Zune for backup of photos
• migrate data that I want to keep; cloud-based storage is best
• sign into online accounts within phone
• re-install apps individually
• sign into various apps

Lack of official apps and third-party apps

While there are many apps and for many services, sometimes the WP ecosystem is still lacking official apps for certain services.  One can use third-party apps, e.g. Auctionapp, but unless the app is very popular and has been released for some time, I would avoid them because there is the potential that the app is malicious and the developer could be stealing security credentials.  This also applies to web browser apps where you type in your credentials into web pages.

Do your research before downloading and installing.  If you have nothing valuable to keep secure for that service, go ahead.