By Amartya Prasad
Now, this may sound strange. You may say that the whole world is moving towards Android and it is absurd that I talk you into buying a Windows Phone instead, with the small number of apps and blah blah. I hope this article is able to convince at least a few of you to make the switch.
Give this newbie a chance –
1) Exclusivity – Even though a Windows Phone device may not possess the snob value an Apple product brings with it, it is still owned by only a selected few (not because it’s not good), so it does have a sense of exclusivity associated with it ! And well, who doesn’t want to be different!
2) No Lag, Never Hangs (Even The Low End Ones)- Windows Phones never hang (well, almost never) while most androids hang several times each day. Also, the lag which all Android users have to adjust with (Yes, even the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the latest Google Nexus hang and show lags frequently) is alien to the Windows Phone. This is something even the hard-core Android aficionados cannot deny.
3) A Breath Of Fresh Air From The Same Old Icon Style Interface- live tiles look much more attractive than android widgets.
4) Reliability and Support – Nokia, the primary manufacturer of Windows Phones, dominated the world mobile phone market for over a decade, and with its experience and brand equity, you can be assured that the phone will be of high quality. And it is common knowledge that Nokia’s after sales service and support is unmatched.
5) Interface Similar to Windows on PCs/Laptops– Since most of us are already well accustomed to the tile interface of Windows 8 on PCs and notebooks, using a windows phone is a breeze. Also, since Microsoft provides excellent integration between different Windows devices, your phone and computer stay in sync 24*7.
6) Screen– All Windows Phone devices have IPS (In-Plane Switching) displays-(which allows pleasant viewing from multiple angles as opposed to the old TFT LCD screens) of reasonable quality while the same cannot be said for all Android phones.
7) Quality Control- Since Microsoft, unlike Google, licenses Windows Phone to manufacturers only after the phones satisfy certain minimum criteria which ensures a good battery life, smooth and fast operation, in short, guarantees a smooth user experience. On the other hand, since there is no one to enforce any criteria on manufacturers of Android phones, there is no standard maintained.
8) Here (Nokia) Maps +Navigation (previously called Nokia Maps) which are now available for all Windows Phone 8 devices, have been around much longer than Google Maps and are as good and easy to use, if not better. 
9) Light-Windows Phone 8 is a very light, fluid and intuitive OS which does not put pressure on the processor or the RAM, unlike the power hungry, hardware intensive and heavy Android OS. Thus, it works smoothly even with a low end processor thereby reducing the cost.
10) Gaming- Windows Phone users have exclusive access to a vast majority of XBOX games right on their phones. 
11) Free Music For a Year – You get free access to unlimited music in Nokia Music for a year. And there’s few things better than spending time listening to music, exploring new artistes, genres and so on.
12) Apps – Even though the number of apps in the Windows Marketplace is significantly less than in the Google Play store for Android, most apps people use (such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Youtube and the like) are already on the Windows Store. Moreover, the Windows App Store is growing very fast.
13) Social– Windows Phone offers seamless social integration with Messenger, Facebook and Twitter. 
Agreed, that Android is an open source OS and thus much more customizable but let’s face it, for the majority of consumers, this is a hardly a factor to consider while buying a smartphone. For the end user, what eventually matters is the overall user experience and that is a department where Windows Phone is unmatched. I use a Windows Phone myself and have used Androids in the past and I can tell you one thing. Windows Phone is worth falling in love with.
Take it from me; you will not want to use any other phone once you start using a Windows Phone device! Give it a chance ! PS – This article is a comparison merely between Android OS and Windows Phone and says nothing about iOS .
I invite my readers to express their views on this article, for or against in the Comments section !
