From the Forums: Angry Birds now force sensitive, carriers causing more issues?

By Rich Edmonds
last updated

If you haven't already checked the Windows Phone community out, it's a busy place for everyone who's a fan of Microsoft's mobile platform. With discussions covering all the latest hardware, features and rumours, the forums is the place to be. So what's been happening these past couple of days?

News of Angry Birds: Star Wars heading to Windows Phone will have pleased many, but of course we're more than aware of Rovio's lack of support for the platform. What can we expect from the latest game from the Finnish studio?

"This is the best Angry Birds game we’ve ever done. It’s the best parts of Angry Birds with all new cutting-edge gameplay set in in a galaxy far, far away. As a big Star Wars fan myself, I’m really excited about this new universe. The Force is definitely strong with this one."

We're excited for the title to be released on both Windows 8 and Windows Phone. Any popular app or game is a step in the right direction for Microsoft. Be sure to pop on over to the "We're getting Angry Birds Star Wars on launch day!" thread to engage with other members on the Angry Birds news.

Greedy carriers and expensive plans

Funny Nokia

It's long been a cause for concern. Just how much do you pay for your monthly contract? Many find themselves forking out $100+ a month just for their plan, which includes little compared to other markets. How does yours rate? Vallos provided the following point:

"OEM's need to lower the cost of these phones. It's amazing that they are priced comparatively like a computer. But will carriers agree to this? I think they are afraid of you leaving at any time hence, the contracts."

Carriers do indeed require contracts and expensive handsets to keep the money rolling in and customers commitment being forced on. Will this change at any point soon? Probably not, but at least in some markets we do manage to have extensive deals in place to offer affordable plans for those with tighter budgets.

Be sure to read up on replies in the "What is it with carriers and contracts?" thread and add your own experiences.

Miscellaneous: Nokia's apparent doom

It's a heated debate - Nokia's future.- and one which our readers continuously find themselves in. Has Nokia done enough? Could they have done more prior to actually launching Lumia hardware. Forum member steve_w_7 had the following to say:

"Between the 920 exclusives and the Verizon/T-mobile 822/810 ugly step-children -- not to mention still no word on pricing - in my opinion - the Nokia product line roll-out is officially a disaster. I've actually gone WAY back now to considering the ATIV S as my first choice. Who would've thought?"

It's of course easy for one to jump to conclusions about Nokia, but one cannot rule out the manufacturer. 2012 was spent rebuilding the brand after a slow and steady decline supporting Symbian. Now the company is back on track with new technology, including PureView and PureMotion, we're to see the Lumia 920 possibly pull Nokia up onto its feet? Who knows.

The "Okay - I'm going to call it: The Nokia roll-out is officially a disaster!" thread over on our forums is begging for input.

Rich Edmonds
Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.

45 Comments
  • To much to fast and its easy to run in to road bumps. But marketing and presentation have much more work to do.
    On the official Nokia Facebook page they said somthing like. "-you can use a banana to control your Lumia 920".... ......i mean, wtf! Where is the heavy promoting for girls who like to have long fingernails and actually need this to be able to press any modern screen. Where is the person who might lost a hand and can now use a technology like everybody else. There should be tons of actual usefull situations for this and they display a......banana and make it in a light mood?
    I like Nokia but they need to be serious and stop la la laa around and step up harder, now this close to launch.
  • True
  • Seconded!
  • Agreed
  • Word!!
  • ++
  • Good points, agreed.
  • There's a brilliant ad idea... let's have Snookie and an Iraq/Afghan war vet do ads showing them how using a 920 makes their life easier! Oh wait, as smart as it sounds, there'd be far more people claiming how "demeaning" or "insensitive" the ads are (regardless of truth to such a claim). I think Nokia is doing the right thing here and showing that you can use whatever you want... a finger, a fingernail, a key, a fork, a banana, etc. It's a lot more light-hearted and direct (showing the strength of the display not just the sensitivity), and it still gets the point across. Just throwing this out there as a bit of perspective. :)
  • So true. I have long nails and so do a lot of women and this is a feature they really need to tout because it's been a problem since the iPhone first came out. I wish they'd throw a video up on the web with a lady with long nails using a red Lumia. :-(
  • Make one after you get your Lumia 920. I want to see it! *-*
  • you make one for me babe when you get your red lumia :)
  • you can b the one!! you have the power!
  • Lol, if I can I will. ;-)
  • 'scuse me, is this the line for the iphone?
  • I never thought about the disabled or Jersey Shore fingernail crowd but you're right. Those would be two very different campaigns that would get a lot of attention.
  • Nokia's strength, IMO, isn't the hardware but their going the extra mile with exclusive apps or bring apps to the WP platform that haven't been before. Nokia Drive is a killer app. They should've made commercials showing how good it was and how it worked offline. Instead they allowed Google to catch up.
  • An editorial on why Nokia is now the most hated WP oem would be a good read. How about it, wpcentral team?
  • Maybe because the WPCentral team doesn't think Nokia is the most hated WP OEM? How do you even measure that? I know plenty of the people here on the boards are pissed at Nokia, but that is technically a very small group. I'm disappointed about the 810/822, but that doesn't mean I hate the company. If Nokia screws up and disappears, I suppose I'd feel bad for Nokia and their employees that'll be out of work, but at the end of the day, life goes on.
  • Yeah, but are they the most hated? Let's consider a few things: 1. Nokia is doing things differently, and it's stirring up a lot of commotion. It has people excited, it has people angry, it has people worked up and talking about it... and we still don't have all the facts or announcements yet. 2. For a month now, all we've seen is people bash Nokia, and then the next week... everyone's like "oh okay, now we see something new." Look at the OIS controversy with the faked ad. Everyone was up in arms about how lame it was and then wow, it turns out OIS is a pretty big freaking deal. Everyone got worked up about the AT&T exclusive (to which we still don't know any real details on) but then suddenly we've got all these previously unannounced answers for T-Mobile and Verizon... was anybody speculating on an 810* model? Of course not, they were too busy thinking about the 822 to bother seeing it. And now, we're still too busy harping on 810/822 to see if there's other options coming. 3. What is HTC or Samsung doing? They made their announcements and that's it. We don't have that many details on those either. We don't know if it's actually coming to AT&T or not (right now it seems maybe not, even though their tablets are), so where's the outrage at Samsung from the ATIV fans? We know the 8X and 8S are coming to multiple carriers, but we don't know pricing or availability, and we don't know if HTC is gonna do their usual routine of looks great but works like crap. Where's the interest in either OEM right now? What are they doing to generate buzz and excitement... or just ANY emotion? My point is this... everyone is up in arms over things we can't control and things we don't have answers for, and so far we've been embarrassingly wrong about every pseudo-controversy that has come up. I know it's human nature to be reactive, but just once I wish people would think things through and not be a bunch of whiny brats. Quite frankly, we've all had a part in making it sound like the 920 is the savior to smartphones, so EVERYTHING ELSE... screw it, it sucks. But it's the wrong approach. Celebrate the different options... that's what Windows has always been about. And lest you think I'm wrong about people considering the 920 as some savior... You know the difference though between the 920 and the iPhone? Nobody in the Apple camp is ready to crucify the iPhone before it was even released (and let's face it... with disappointment after disappointment, they should have).
  • +1
  • You make a strong point about the fact that these phones haven't gone through the biggest test: the experience by the actual consumers. We have NO clue how they will perform once they are in our hands. There could be hardware/software bugs that could sour things for those who buy a WP8 on Day 1.
  • That's the point, I would just like to see their analysis of how differently Nokia is being perceived now as opposed to when they first announced they were adopting WP. From all the resentment on exclusive apps to the present outcry on the 920 exclusivity I wonder if they have the same opinion, nothing more.
  • You tell us we should celebrate options. Well, we DO want options, but the majority of folks are getting options they don't want, and a lot of people aren't getting any options at all. Just taking a guess, and please correct me if I'm wrong... You're on AT&T and have all the options you want.
  • it doesnt matter if hes on at&t im on att but guess what if i was on tmo id get the 810 and if you dont want it theres the ativ and the 8x. yeah the 920 is the one everyone wants but there are only a few features it has that the ativ or the htc phones do not have. if it bothers you that much leave you carrier and if it doesnt pick a different option. your claiming to want options but not the present options, well then who knows what you want. honestly if the 920 isnt enough to make you leave your carrier work with what THEY<<< brought into the lineup.
  • You know exactly what everyone wants: they want to stick with the carrier they already have (or need, due to service issues with the others), and they want feature-parity in the available phone choices.
  • Thats the benefit of having multiple oems. Because you dont like the lumia 820/22/10 then buy an 8x or 8s or ativ s theres many things out there that will suit your needs. people just seem to be bashing because of the "how come we dont get that thing" when i was with tmobile and had the 710 sure i wanted the 900, but because atnt is pretty good in Boston, i made the switch. had tmobile gotten the 900 do u think i would have switched? nah because tmo is also pretty good, just work with what you have because aside from pureview/puremotion hd+ and wireless charging and clearblack the ativ can do everything the 920 with added benefit of expandable sdCard slot. same with the htc 8x minus the sdcard.
  • I don't get your comment
  • 1000min or sms in vodafone, 125min or sms on other carriers, 650mb=18euro per month. I think its ok...Romania :D
  • I pay $30 for 14GB/500min/250texts in Egypt, carriers in US are dealing with a lot of dumb iPhone users with open pockets :D
  • Damn dude. I pay 88 dollars for 500mbs, unlimited SMS and mms, 150 minutes, unlimited network local calling. Thanks CRTC!
  • There's a US Tmobile plan for $30.00 - unlimited text/data and 1500mins.
  • Link? I couldn't find anything like that on their site.
  • Rogers offered for 60/month 6gigs of data, evenings and weekends starting at 6, 200 day time mins, unlimited txts, free local n longdist calls/txts Canada wide to 10 favorite phone numbers.
  • THIS sounds like a good plan. But is that for the individual? What about families? I know when my wife and I get our plan in a month or so it will cost us about $150/mo for 4GB of shared data, unlimited text + talk (AT&T). If that's $60/mo x 2 it's not THAT much better, but $30/mo would be nice to have back, and more data...
    I suppose I'll add my voice to the chorus of people who want cheaper plans, or at least more options. Why can't I have 5GB of data and 100 minutes of talk? Text shouldn't even be included, just use my data plan to send that 1kb text file.
  • I own lumia 900 and love it. Nokia dating back to '99 was OEM on my first four phones. Loved them than love them more now. HTC will never get another penny from me. Horrible customer service. Long live Nokia.
  • AT&T is fired up with mandatory on line trainings, mandatory already part of your schedule hour long live webinar training & in person classroom training. at headquarters for one designated rep per store. Customers already coming in asking when the release day is. Reps now more comfortable selling it.
  • "The 'Okay - I'm going to call it: The Nokia roll-out is officially a disaster!' thread over on our forums is begging for input."   The thread may be begging for input, but moderator eric12341 decided it didn't need more.
  • LOL I noticed that. I went to that thread and noticed it was closed. So much for that thread making it to a "From the Forums" post.
  • I dont know whats wrong with people anymore... -.-
  • "Now the company is back on track with new technology, including PureView and PureMotion, we're to see the Lumia 920 possibly pull Nokia up onto its feet? Who knows." Outside the US, I'd say yeah they've got a good chance. But in the US, I'm not so sure. Granted, most of this is they way the US market is, but Nokia needs to relearn how to play that game if they want to succeed here.
  • Contracts are always a rip-off... pre-paid is the way to go. If you just need to receive calls (making only a few calls / sending only a few sms) then you could pay as little as $60 PER YEAR. I currently pay $20 / month and that includes 150 MB per month of data (free facebook, youtube etc) which is more than enough for me as I'm usually on WiFi. You can get cheap contracts for $30/month - it really depends on how many calls & sms you need and how much data you want to use.
    *Note: this is all outside the US
  • I'd love to go pre-paid but unfortunately most of the phones available for pre-paid (at least here in the US) are Android-based junk.
  • +100
  • The "Okay - I'm going to call it: The Nokia roll-out is officially a disaster!" thread over on our forums is begging for input.
    Thread locked.  Doesn't look to me like it's begging for input.  Looks more like someone decided that opinions don't matter.
  • The one complaint that I hear from people a lot about switching carriers is data plans. People on certain carriers have unlimited plans, either because they have old plans that they haven't updated yet or the carrier provides them as an option. To me, that is probably the least of my worries. I have a 3gb plan on AT&T and I haven't gone over that yet. I have WiFi at home and at work. When I go places, they have WiFi most of time, if I need it. I had an unlimited data plan with Verizon and gave that up because I wasn't happy with phone options and service. I gave that up to come to AT&T even with the limited data plan. I haven't regretted it since. Unlimited data plans are overrated in my opinion and shouldn't be a reason to stick with a carrier, especially if you are not happy with them.