So I took the leap and moved to Windows Phone.  The Lumia 900 looked too good, and I’ve not been that happy with Apple so I did it. I’m going to blog about this experience in detail over the next few days and weeks so that you can see my impressions, as well as the ups and the downs. In this post I’ll tell you why I chose to move away from Apple, and why I chose Windows Phone.  I’ll give you my first impressions and how long it took for me to get my phone to that fully functional, indispensable state where all my communications are flowing into it. First, why I moved.  I’m tired of Apple. My 3GS has served me well, but it’s very slow since the iOS 5 upgrade.  It takes forever to open any app, and trying to take a picture is a joke.  On top of that I wasn’t impressed with the iPhone 4S.  The hardware isn’t great compared to other hardware available on other platforms and it has the same problems as previous models, such as poor voice and speaker quality.  Siri is kind of cool but not worth paying for a new iPhone that’s overpriced.  Furthermore, I just don’t see Apple innovating that much.  Their products are nice and extremely well refined, but every time I considered buying a new iPhone it just wasn’t worth it to me. Android hasn’t impressed me. There are too many standards, too many form factors, they still have problems with apps getting out of control, and I don’t see that getting a lot better.  Microsoft is the dark horse in the mobile race, but I like their approach to app control and the marketplace.  When their phones do take off, and there are signs that will happen this year, those approaches will help the platform grow.  I’m also stoked about the potential for the platform with Windows 8 coming out.  It has the potential to unify the interfaces between PC, tablet and Phone, and give users like me access to all of our apps and data seamlessly across those platforms.  Then came Nokia’s Lumia 900.  It won Best Phone at CES 2012, and had serious hardware and got good reviews.  That was impressive, and it would only cost me $100 to upgrade since I was due for an upgrade.  A bunch of my developers ran out and bought the Lumia 900 the day it was released.  I checked in with them every few days and they loved it.  Then, there was a software problem the caused problems connecting to AT&Ts network.  Nothing major, it just required a software update, but Nokia offered buyers a $100 credit for phones purchased by April 20^th regardless of whether they were affected by the problem.  That meant a free phone for me.  I couldn’t pass it up. I had an awesome experience at the AT&T store at Washington Square thanks to Sean T.  He got my service moved over and walked me through some things.  Within 30 minutes I had the phone fully functional and hooked up to e-mail, calendaring, etc..  Many of the extras, my favorite apps and other things came over the next few hours, but I’ll blog about that separately. But I will make one quick note, I love music and I’m having an easy time with transitioning because I’m a Spotify subscriber, more on that later as well.  For now, let me give you my first impressions. The AMOLD screen on this phone is incredible and beautiful.  The hardware is very impressive.  The voice quality and speaker quality far surpass the iPhone and rival my desk phone in terms of clarity and volume. The phone is also much larger than I’m used to, so I have to get used to that (I need a stretch thumb to reach the back button).  So far, after a few hours, I’m very happy. Coming up in the next few blogs I’ll discuss the following:

• Our recommended list of apps.
• Notes on setting up and customizing the phone.
• A Comparison of the Windows Phone interface to the iPhone interface
• The Camera on the Lumia 900
• The Nokia Drive App which has already earned its own blog spot
• Texting and Autocorrect
• A review of navigating the phone
• Working with Music, Zune, and Spotify
• More as it comes up