Of course I have a Nokia Windows 8 phone!
Before any of my readers start growling at me I would like to woof out two things: first, read the post to the end before you nip at me and second, remember the some of us like chicken, some like beef, some like big dogs, some like little dogs. This is just the opinion of me, Emma the GBGV, and how I feel about this topic.
I have to say mom is a tech person, she loves the newest, latest and greatest which is fun but also frustrating as we have to work out all the bugs with new products and mom does get pretty made at her devices when she is trying to figure them out but in the end, she gets it and then she is really happy, so we are ok with the whole thing.
I started my blog and social media presence about 15 months ago and it was all new territory for this scent hound. I had to learn all about photos, software and working on a computer which really challenged me as a dog. If they had scented software it would make things so much easier! Hello, Microsoft…hint, hint, hint… I have had a lot of issues with the keyboard and my paws which prompted mom to get us an ipad about a year ago. I liked our Windows 7 phone and with the ipad, the touch screen and icons my clumsy paws were much happier but with the ipad in the house we were also frustrated. I guess the ipad was like a zebra in a field with horses, similar but did not quite fit in and could not do everything expected of it. We longed for a better solution but for the time being it was an acceptable solution.
In November, the new Windows 8 phone came out, so guess who raced out and got one, yep mom. She brought our new phone home and we both loved our phone for the first time. It is so fast, has a hot spot so we can use other devices when we are not home, and it has adjustable tile sizes so I can have big tiles for my stuff and my clumsy paws. One other great feature – mom realized she can use the phone with her heavy gloves on, a major plus in Minnesota in the winter! Sure Windows phones don’t have all the apps that the iphone does but Microsoft is racing to catch up on that and how many of those iphone apps do you really use anyway? The German in me says quality, not quantity is important. We really love our Windows 8 phone and highly recommend it!
The Windows 8 “paw friendly” tiles, just love it!
Next Windows 8 came out. Mom was afraid to make the leap but finally bought this great touchscreen ultrabook with Windows 8. Well, the first 3 days or so were not great…let’s just say I had to cover my ears a lot as there were lots of 4 letter words flying around our office and I don’t mean B-A-T-H! Once mom got over that initial speed bump she started really liking her new computer. Mom and the new pc have had their issues on and off but all in all it is working well…just a few kinks. Mom’s Outlook (which has nothing to do with Windows 8, as it is Office 2010) keeps having an issue but that is probably her own fault and I could care less as it does not affect my email account which is most important anyway! The other thing is the IE10, sorry Microsoft, but you still need some work there, quite disappointing. We installed Firefox as our main browser which works perfectly and makes us happy.
The touchscreen with the big tiles makes my work at the computer so great! It is much better than the ipad since the tiles are bigger for my paws to paw on. Now I only use the ipad if mom says my paws are dirty or if she claims she needs the computer for work. Ha! I don’t see where her work could be all that important in comparison to my online life!
My opinion is a 4 paws up for Windows 8 and dogs…we are also back out of that apple cloud thing which messed us up a lot and back to our own online storage and some skydrive. I guess we decided that if we live with bunch of oranges, an apple really doesn’t fit in too well. If MAC and apple are your thing and they work for your needs we are happy for you but we have decided to stick with Microsoft. Next I need to get some bark recognition software so I don’t have to type at all!
Uh oh…I just heard the new Office 2013 is out…mom is contemplating upgrading to it. She is a bit afraid to but knowing her, it will be in our home shortly and the frustrated version of mom will appear again for a few days 😉 I guess I will review that after I have some time to test it out!
Wow – I’m impressed. My editor struggles with Windows 7 – she’s totally worthless anyway. 🙂 I have to keep her, though. She works cheap.
Well, my editor seems to enjoy a challenge and as long as she gets my stuff done, I am ok with it.
Love you! Yes different strokes for different folks. My Mom can’t see that good so we like The Samsung Galaxy s 111. It is easy to see they have the bigger screen. That is the only reason. On your phone is that the cotton candy operating system my Dad has that on his tablet and he said it is easy to use once my Mom put in his favorite tiles. Love you have a great day!
I can change my tile colors but yes, you put your favorite stuff on the tiles so it is super easy but mom likes the desktop screen that looks like the old window better.
Emma I’m so glad Windows 8 is working out for you…Mollie’s mom over at Mollie & Alfie’s blog had some big problems with it and went back to Windows 7…Momz has ‘7’ on her computer but my laptop still has Vista…I know lots of hoomins hated Vista but Momz has never had any trouble with it…Just an example of “YMMV” I guess…Momz is no expert, but she usually manages to muddle through and get stuff working
Vista was never loved at our house, Win 7 was great and now we are liking Win 8, especially the speed and touchscreen.
Well, it’s good to have brave people and dogs like yourselves to try out all this stuff for us before we go ahead with it. I’m sure nobody will nip you for such a good review
Thanks, just want those of us with paws to know it works great!
Very interesting review of Windows 6
Mommy and I have never used the iCloud thing but I hear its popular. To be honest we aren’t sure how it all works. We are so confused. Maybe you being such a techie doggie can help me outs
Well, the icloud is for Macs/Apple computers, so we are not using that anymore. Microsoft has Skydrive which is pretty much the same thing.
Hi Emma,
You and your Mom sure are pioneers in dogtronics!! 🙂
Glad to hear you’re enjoying Windows 8 as my Mum hasn’t heard many friends liking it so far, she thought the concept looked good, but was disappointed with all the feedback, so for now the kids are still on Windows 7 for their homework….
Mum and I on the other hand/paw are Apple all the way and love the way it all syncs together through the iCloud, but it’s great to see there are lots of choices for everyone!
Have fun,
Your pal Snoopy 🙂
There is something for everyone…as long as it works for you that is the main thing 🙂
One thing that I don’t like about my iPhone is that I have to take my gloves off to do anything with it when I am outside! I thought all the new phones were like this, nice to know some phones aren’t and I’ll keep that in mind!!
We were shocked to find that mom can use the phone with pretty thick gloves on! It did not use to be the case and for work she has those special gloves for phones but they aren’t warm enough for walks. Mom used it again yesterday for some calls and the camera on our walk in 11 degrees and the only problem with the gloves is hitting the right icon but since the tiles are big enough she hits the right one about 90% of the time!
Wow Emma…you and your mom are a lot more tech-savvy than I am. Do you know I still use a phone without a keyboard…? (Which is why I rarely even text)
Not everyone is into the tech stuff, we hated our phones until we got this one, so it can take time!
Mom is into all those new tech gadgets too! She has a Mac with a great big screen so it is easy for us dogs to see:) She also has a Sony that has Vista on it. She uses both and switches from one to the other. Mom gets frustrated too but it all seems to work out in the end! We just thinks she is crazy for spending so much time on the computers!
A huge screen would be nice…we have one on the back office computer that I use sometimes…it has Vista as well. My mom spends way too much time with the computer in our dog opinion but at least she is home with us 😉
I love my iPhone, but my computers are all windows. I prefer windows for my actual work and working on my blog. Love my iPhone for phone and music. Don’t do the cloud at all. 🙂
although I don’t have a lot of technology myself and never get into buying the newest thing it is mostly usually because Im scared on how to use it and so forth. Do you find having a tablet helps you blog better. And what really is the difference why someone would choose a tablet/tablet phone over a laptop?
The tablet we mostly use for social media or internet on the go but for the blog we only use the laptop, just don’t like the mobile interface that is on the phone or tablet. For us we would live without a tablet but not without the laptop and now the laptops are so small, lightweight and fast they are hardly at all like a computer!
very true
Hi Emma it’s Badger Boo **waves paw**
Gosh what a great review must get my hoomans to check it out cos we are way behind the times here, we still use WindowsXP on the pc **sigh** very difficult for fluffy paws to use!!! Mummy recently won a kindle fire in a raffle and says lots of cuss words as she can’t figure it out, if she would let me have a go I’m sure I could figure it out very quickly **giggles**
Until next time BB xxxx
Windows 8 is a big move but once mom figured out that you can use the desktop screen and not always the tile screen, it is not much different from our Windows 7. We also recently found out that there is a free Kindle app so you can read Kindle books on any device and don’t need a Kindle, so we were excited about that!
Thanks for that great review Emma. I switched my browser to firefox too and am VERY happy with it.
I have a question that maybe you or mom might be able to help with. My laptop is getting older and I’m thinking of getting a tablet that I can use for blogging, writing, social media etc. Is the iPad really the way to go or would say a Kindle Fire do what I want. I’m trying to be wise with my money. 🙂
Couldn’t help but notice your comment so Emma I hope you dont mind – I had the iPad and exchanged it for the Samsung Note. Either does everything I need except pictures (although I’ve been told it can) Get the one that will sync to your phone. I didn’t find the Kindle Fire could do as much.
with the new laptop we hardly need a tablet so I am not real worried about that anymore…the ipad has become the ugly stepchild for quickly going on line in the living room and that is about it.
We upgraded from Vista to Windows 8 and I love it although I still switch to the desktop version for some things. I have the Samsung Galaxy S3 Phone and Notepad too. An Android girl at heart. FYI – my daughter got me some gloves for Christmas that have special pads on the fingertips and thumb so I can use my touch screen phone outside.
PS – I switched from FireFox to Google Chrome and like it much better for speed and ease.
We haven’t tried google chrome, just use Firefox but we will keep that in mind.
We use the desktop screen most of the time but really love the speed of everything. The cool thing with our phone is that mom has regular ski gloves cuz it’s so cold and her phone works with them on her hands! We were amazed!
Very helpful – thanks.
Hm. I’m still on the fence. I got the third gen iPad last summer, but couldn’t blog on it the way I wanted to. I made my husband a VERY happy man when I gave it to him. Got a small touch screen Windows 8 laptop and nearly threw it through a window. I couldn’t handle the keyboard, touchscreen and touch pad combo. Horrible. The whole thing made me feel very OLD. I’ve settled in with an ACER Windows 8 laptop, no touchscreen, and it’s taken me a couple of months to fully adjust. I use very little of what it’s capable of, but I like the machine. Now.
The touchscreen takes some time but we like it now that we are used to it.
Great post Emma! I have a BlackBerry and can’t wait to upgrade to a different phone! I am thinking either an iPhone or Galaxy – something that has more apps! I can’t even use Instagram – how crappy is that?! 🙂
I recently upgraded my desktop to Windows 8 and I am enjoying it very much. My screen is not a touch screen – but it’s very easy to use my mouse to drag up and down the sides to pull up the different panes. Your right when you say that once you are past the desktop screen, Windows 8 is just like 7 – except I am finding it a whole lot faster. I have never used IE and have always used Chrome as my preferred browser.
It’s great that we have so many options isn’t it? 🙂
The speed is great, isn’t it! I think that is one of the best things! I know what you mean about apps but Windows is working really hard to catch up, so we are sticking with that and it is also nice to have everything sync. Good luck with the phone purchase!
Great pictures…your blog is awesome!!!!
Thank you so much!