priced smartphone with premium qualities and OS for Confident

After I had already had very good experience with Windows Phone with HTC HD7, I now wanted to have a smart phone, which has Windows Phone as an OS. It was supposed to be the Nokia Lumia 925, however, the high introductory price as the much cheaper models Lumia 920 & 820, Ativ S and the 8X appeared to me from 600 for the same computing power as too high, so I decided to take a HTC again.

Since one by purchasing a smartphone inevitably always opting for an operating system hits, first a few words about Windows Phone.
I would like to say that I own a Nexus 7 with the current Android and even the iPhone 5 my girlfriend have been extensively tested. So I say once I know the dominant systems relatively well.
Generally I expect from a smartphone that it can handle the everyday tasks as efficiently and easily. In my opinion, Windows Phone is superior, especially Android. The following list corresponds to my subjective perception and experience.

Advantages of WP8 over Android:
- No shocks, everything seems all of a piece
- Ungebrandete devices get expected by 2016 all updates immediately after the release of Microsoft
Apps are consistently programmed by the Design & Operating Guidelines WP -
- Turn-by-turn navigation from Nokia is available free of charge (international card package costs 15) and contrary to Google Maps in the car suitable for everyday use
- No Task Manager to close permanently necessary apps, because the operating system takes care of this in order to enable an optimal battery life
- Contacts are clearer and summarize all information from social networks; In addition, Skype calls can be made directly from the telephone book
- When connecting the phone to a PC you have only access to folders with personal data (Android delivers the entire file system)
- Search While supplies not so good results as Google, but in everyday life faster, clearer and more logical to use, as shown behind the search button a music search, a barcode scanner and in addition to the normal search results and news, pictures, videos, and places a request will.
- The Out-Of-The-Box Voice control is very useful in the headset operation in the car as she reads SMS on demand and then you can dictate a reply
- LiveTiles Although not a substitute for widgets, but are clearly and with hardly any electricity because the update also managed by the OS / is limited

Advantages of WP8 against iOS:
- USB data transfer without software on the PC possible
- Bluetooth and NFC will also be understood with other devices
- Nearly all the controls are in the lower part of the screen, so that an operation is possible with the thumb; When iPhone 5 you have in spite of the small 4 inch mostly to meet the top left grasping at the back arrow
- Home Screen provides more information (LiveTiles) and can be personalized. In addition, contacts, links, locations or other connections can be deposited thereon
- Various hardware keys available (for camera); A triple occupancy of the Home button in iOS I find not exactly user-friendly

Cons of Windows Phone:
- Appvielfalt not so great, some important apps (Instagram) still missing
- Featured some Apps lower than for Android and iOS
- Microsoft is relatively sedate when it comes to new functions or new hardware; With the hardware for example, the HTC One has, one would set absolute standards in the field of Performance
- Configuration options are limited
- The system runs smooth, but it shows in direct comparison when scrolling the contents at Apple slightly better on fingers "glued".

In summary, everyone must decide for themselves which system can best life. Windows Phone is better than most sellers and authors of popular science IT magazines represent it in any case. For the average user you get a chic, performant and stable operating system, suggests its hardware is not equal to 600 to book.

But now at last to the device itself, which you should only buy anyway so far one has befriended WP:
I use the Vodafone network and reach just in 3G area an extremely good Gespächsqualität. Even in really noisy environments (fe. An open-air party) you can still communicate with his interlocutor.
The display is quite bright and the light sensor controls satisfy. Unfortunately, he corrects the brightness in current use only upward. Should he settle down you have to terminate your cell phone once and unlock it. The Lumias do better.
The reception is a little better than my old phone, but just the GPS and HSPA connections go with thick walls relatively quickly to its knees. Although there is no LTE (which you can not really use anyway without expensive contracts) to reach the HSPA network mostly to the 12Mbit / s download and 5MBit / s upload. This is according to an average DSL connection in nothingness.
Comparing the performance of the device with the HTC One or the iPhone 5 falls on the most apps under WP a moment take longer to start. By animations but you can tell that not really. While surfing the Internet, the 8X the speed to be absolutely equal to the expensive competition.
The camera knippst daytime good pictures and is equipped with a long press of the shutter even when activated lock within a very short time to start. At dusk on the other hand relatively quickly dominate the image noise and the flash does not provide uniform illumination (even at short distances).
What surprised me the Speaker. This can keep the volume of even the HTC One (in quality not quite). Yet he gives voices relatively well again, so you do not have to ask to stop him when consuming video.
The battery lasts for intensive daily use around 7h-10h, making it just as bad as in many other smart phones as well. In pure "mobile mode" (day: 2-3 SMS (no WhatsApp), no data connection, 3 minute call) creates one even one week. I have to charge the device on average at noon the next day. The HTC HD7 with 30% smaller battery was there no worse. Stupid, of course you can not replace the battery. In addition, there seem to be minor firmware problems, so that the standby battery consumption partly to high (about 5% battery an hour, even in airplane mode). A reboot fixes the problem in the short term, as a rule.
By unibody design the mobile phone acts indeed very slim and feels classy. The display, however, has already after 3 months use get first scratch (which had HD7 without protective sleeve until the end almost none). Generally, the device acts not very stable. A stronger pressure on the screen is also noticeable on the LCD panel with a discolouration.

Conclusion: With the HTC 8X you get a low-priced smartphone which copes with everyday tasks efficiently and easily and also can also convince with the core competencies of a telephone. Not so good is the standby battery power and the resilience of the housing.