gdgt

It's hard to evaluate a Windows Phone without really reviewing Windows Phone itself, and it's hard for me to review Windows Phone 8 without bringing my own preferences as a mobile user into play. I will say that overall the 8X is a phenomenal phone, with some of the best industrial design I've ever seen in a handset. I wish the battery life were better, but that is an issue most (though obviously not all) smartphones deal with.

I've been using the 8X off and on as my daily driver for the past couple of weeks, and have generally liked using it. It's hard for me to completely make the switch, partly because there are a few missing apps, and partly because as someone who uses Gmail, Google Voice, and other Google services it's hard to do things in the way I've become accustomed to with Android. (And I want to be clear that I'm not making a criticism of Windows Phone here, it'd be really petty to expect a seamless Google Voice experience!)

I don't want to overstate the app catalog thing, though. More and more top apps are represented, it's just the lack of stuff like Pocket (which I use almost every day) and Spotify (which doesn't work on Windows Phone 8 yet) that I wouldn't want to give up. Every person has a different set of apps that are important to them, and as the app catalog expands the universe of people who are going to be able to find most of what they need is going to grow.

So ultimately the issue for me is that to get the most value out of Windows Phone you really have to use Microsoft's set of services. This isn't at all surprising -- you'll get more out of an iPhone if you use Apple's services and more out of Android if you use Google's -- but since Windows Phone is a distant third, the next effect of this services lock-in is a switching cost that is just high enough to prevent users like me from switching.

There are only two ways to combat this. One is to get people to switch their services, the other is to make it easier for people to use the services they like on your device. They're not mutually exclusive, and Microsoft would be smart to attack on both fronts, but if they can offer an Outlook app for Android, why not build a Gmail app for Windows Phone? It'd make it that much easier for people like me to use Windows Phone.

Anyway, that was a little bit of a tangent. You want my take on the 8X? It's a great phone, and if you're interested in Windows Phone, this is the one I'd buy.