Is windows mobile really dying?

[David Steadson]

I don't know if I'm missing something here but how can "Windows Mobile" be dying when it is now the same thing as Windows on your tablet and PC? Wouldn't Windows 10 have to essentially be dead in order for phones running Windows 10 to be dead? Unless you're strictly speaking about Microsoft making its own smartphone hardware? Don't even see that completely ceasing in the near future.

yes, you're missing something - a lot of people, including tech journalists, just don't seem to get this strategy. Windows Mobile is dead. Long live Universal Windows.

 

[ThePyrobri]

Don't be absurd, everyone got multiple emails about the OneDrive storage reduction, you just clicked a link and hey-presto you get to keep it.
My wife also 'didn't get any warning' until I looked up her deleted emails and showed them to her, she then said she must have just assumed they were junk or not important or just plain didn't bother reading them. Plus you are on this site, have you only just started coming here? Or to any other tech blogging site in fact because every one of them I read reported the news and provided the link on how to keep it.
The final email I found in her trash was the one which lets her claim office 365 for a year which also give you 1TB of OneDrive storage.
She signed up for that and now not only has more OneDrive space than before she has Office 365 and a further year to enjoy while seeing what changes.

Then you say about having to pay for storage, you do realise it is incredibly cheap, you can get 50GB for under ?25 per year, certainly far cheaper than having to buy a new phone. Is it really all worth getting that upset about...

Finally Windows Phone's future is not at all bleak, Microsoft are a software company, they are not that interested in hardware, they will do the same as they did with the surface tablet, create a reference type phone that is meant to inspire it's OEM partners to create and innovate.
Don't forget Apple and Google only release one/two phones a year also, the only reason Android has a plethora of phones is the OEM's which is what MS are trying to do, the business model with Google/Nexus is almost identical.

 

[jlabelle]

My phone has multiple apps that make my workflow easier. I have the ability to dictate notes with dragon. I can look up medication and treatment references. I can deposit checks.

This is a good argument and where indeed, the grass is not always greened elsewhere. For instance, I have 6 iOS devices at home including an iPad Air 2 and iPhone 6 so I know them very well.
And W10M is allowing me to have much better / efficient workflow in a lot of cases.

Some examples :

• Map : I am using my phone as a GPS when travelling abroad outside of Switzerland : I have offline map with all Europe on my SD card. iOS just got offline map support through Google Map in November and still very limited where you cannot download a whole country and valid only 30 days. Also, I can type from the calendar event an address, navigate to this place, when arriving, it proposes me to store my parking location (with picture and a note). Then, I can navigate back walking. With iOS, clicking on an adress in the calendar launched Apple Map, not Google Map, so you have to copy the address and paste in Goggle Map (where you need to be sure you have the offline map covered). When arriving, you need to use a 3rd party app to store the location. And when returning to your car, you are using this 3rd party app that launched the walking guidance in ... Apple Map...which does not support offline map so y ou are screwed.
• Social integration : nothing complicated, I have my contact including Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, LinkedIn... information concatenated without any manual work on the contrary of iOS.
• Camera : if I want to scan something or read a QR code, I just click on the camera hardware button. And from there, I have access to all the applications using the camera. On iOS, you must unlock your phone and then you are lucky if you can find the application between multiple start screen. Also, I can just make a long press from my phone just taken out of my pocket and start filming at 4k. Then, I just extract a 8Mp image out of it so I am sure to never miss a moment. Do that with an iPhone
• Integration with a PC : like 93% of the PC users, I am using a Windows PC (a Surface Pro 3). Thanks to W10M, I have perfect integration : can send SMS from my PC, have map favorites synchronized, bookmarks, reading list, all Cortana reminders, application settings which are roamed...because I pay and have the SAME application on all my devices. With iOS, you need a Mac but Mac are not tablet so you need also on top a tablet.
• Continuum : now, I do not need to take my corporate laptop at home anymore. I have Good, Skype for business, Office so I can do all my work on the big screen at home from my phone. I am using a Continuum dock but now, I could just do it in the train from my SP3 that allow me to be used for Continuum as well (because only my phone is configured and authorized to have corporate email through Good). So I save 1,5kg to carry back and forth everyday !
• Live Tiles + Glance : I do not need like all my iPhone colleagues when they come back at their desk to open their phone just to see the notifications, it is right there on the AMOLED screen. And then, I can pin a boarding pass, a theater thicket, a train ticket and I can have access to it in just one click whereas others have to fiddle to find the application. Same with pinning my favorite contacts like wife and son where I get direct info if they send me a SMS, message, email or post something on a social media

I could go on and on. Of course, there are some great things on other plateforms. But make no mistake, Windows phone have clearly so clear strong points as well, still unmatched and making them also very efficient. While being secure, consistent, and having timely upgrade and for a long time on the contrary of Android devices.

I can deposit checks.

I like this example. For instance, my wife as the ZKB bank app (a local bank here). But you need a password to open it (for security reason) so she needs to go in Enpass to retrieve it.
Unfortunately, it is not allowing transfer within our accounts.

In the meantime, Windows mobiel does not have app but I am going to Enpass which unlock with Windows Hello and I launched directly the website. I do everything she can do, plus others she cannot with the app, while being quicker.

So yes, it is fine to have one application for everything but sometimes, the website is as good or better.

My phone wallet has every store card saved (not just Walgreen's).

You are using one application per store ???
I just has one application that I use to store ALL my card information. Seems more convenient for me.

And I get notified when people I follow are live on Facebook.

Thanks god I am not getting a notification each time someone I follow is live on Facebook, jesus...

I don't think I can do any of that on my windows phone and I do it all with apps.

I get this letmotiv of the app but at some points, I make me wonder what people are doing with their phone because most of the things where you have no app are things that anyway, would be more convenient to do from a tablet or PC that on a 4,7" screen.
And a lot of time, the website is just as good as the application as in many cases, you do not need Cortana or Action Center or Share API integration (like your example of Bank app).

 

[jlabelle]

In other words.. now we play the "waiting game"

You always wait. People can wait for the iPhone 7, HTC M11, Galaxy S8...

I do not understand this claim. Lumia 950 or 950XL or 650 are here.
Compared to the iPhone 6S, it has :

• wireless charging and quick charging
• bigger, better (color accuracy), brighter, more contrasty, more defined (higher resolution) AMOLED screen
• (much) better camera with OIS and hardware button
• double SIM
• SD card support
• thinner when considering a case (because it replaces existing back) and lighter

You can always wait for the next thing but the current Windows phones are still very competitive, especially considering the price.

And for the OS itself, W10M has already more features than iOS while iterating at an impressive pace compared to iOS that does not bring much.
The only real thing missing is extension support in Safari with TouchID like Enpass/LastPass/1Password extension in Safari which is a great feature.

 

[Ryujingt3]

I don't see it as dead. Merely evolving.

 

[Sensonic]

I don't see it as dead. Merely evolving.

I remember the time when Nokia developed and manufactured Symbian phones (before they switched to Windows Phone).
One of their directors said that they had investigated how often a user changes/replaces his/her phone. The result (average) was every 18 months.
Well, if Microsoft is not going to release any flagship phone Q2-Q3 / 2016 (or even Q4 / 2016), their market share (or actually what's left of that) will collapse during that period. Only die-hard fans are left after that. Is it still profitable to manufacture (or get them manufactured) phones after that?

My employer has made a clear decision they'll concentrate on Android devices with our own apps. My former employer made a decision they'll concentrate on Apple devices with their own apps.

Very few company is still providing apps for Windows Phones. Thank God almost all of those ones which I use (for example "Volvo On Call") have released a Windows Phone version of their app.

 

[Brian Emmerling]

No, to the contrary. If you view MS as a hardware company, then yes, you would see all doom and gloom but If you see MS as a software and services company they are riding a lot of success right now.

1. Mobile Office HUGE SUCCESS (iPhone, android users productivity suite of choice)
2. Office 365 Online HUGE SUCCESS (chrome OS, Linux users productivity suite of choice)
3. Bing is the default iPhone search engine and has a 35% (double check that) search engine market share
4. MS Office newly released keyboard is a huge hit
5. Outlook is a great app, but yet to catch on.

 

[DeNachtwacht]

No, to the contrary. If you view MS as a hardware company, then yes, you would see all doom and gloom but If you see MS as a software and services company they are riding a lot of success right now.

1. Mobile Office HUGE SUCCESS (iPhone, android users productivity suite of choice)
2. Office 365 Online HUGE SUCCESS (chrome OS, Linux users productivity suite of choice)
3. Bing is the default iPhone search engine and has a 35% (double check that) search engine market share
4. MS Office newly released keyboard is a huge hit
5. Outlook is a great app, but yet to catch on.

Don't forget to mention the huge amounts of updates Windows 10 Mobile is getting at this moment. For W10M hardware, yes, 2016 will probably a sad year. But for the software I think it'll be quite the contrary, and hopefully this will result in more and more hardware vendors starting to develop W10M devices.

 

[deezus]

I hate to break it to you but windows phone as a competing platform is dead and any hope for a 3rd os is as well. Its apps my friend, have you seen the Google play and ios app stores? I bet even Amazon has a better app store.

 

[cracgor]

This is a good argument and where indeed, the grass is not always greened elsewhere. For instance, I have 6 iOS devices at home including an iPad Air 2 and iPhone 6 so I know them very well.
And W10M is allowing me to have much better / efficient workflow in a lot of cases.

Some examples :

• Map : I am using my phone as a GPS when travelling abroad outside of Switzerland : I have offline map with all Europe on my SD card. iOS just got offline map support through Google Map in November and still very limited where you cannot download a whole country and valid only 30 days. Also, I can type from the calendar event an address, navigate to this place, when arriving, it proposes me to store my parking location (with picture and a note). Then, I can navigate back walking. With iOS, clicking on an adress in the calendar launched Apple Map, not Google Map, so you have to copy the address and paste in Goggle Map (where you need to be sure you have the offline map covered). When arriving, you need to use a 3rd party app to store the location. And when returning to your car, you are using this 3rd party app that launched the walking guidance in ... Apple Map...which does not support offline map so y ou are screwed.
• Social integration : nothing complicated, I have my contact including Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, LinkedIn... information concatenated without any manual work on the contrary of iOS.
• Camera : if I want to scan something or read a QR code, I just click on the camera hardware button. And from there, I have access to all the applications using the camera. On iOS, you must unlock your phone and then you are lucky if you can find the application between multiple start screen. Also, I can just make a long press from my phone just taken out of my pocket and start filming at 4k. Then, I just extract a 8Mp image out of it so I am sure to never miss a moment. Do that with an iPhone
• Integration with a PC : like 93% of the PC users, I am using a Windows PC (a Surface Pro 3). Thanks to W10M, I have perfect integration : can send SMS from my PC, have map favorites synchronized, bookmarks, reading list, all Cortana reminders, application settings which are roamed...because I pay and have the SAME application on all my devices. With iOS, you need a Mac but Mac are not tablet so you need also on top a tablet.
• Continuum : now, I do not need to take my corporate laptop at home anymore. I have Good, Skype for business, Office so I can do all my work on the big screen at home from my phone. I am using a Continuum dock but now, I could just do it in the train from my SP3 that allow me to be used for Continuum as well (because only my phone is configured and authorized to have corporate email through Good). So I save 1,5kg to carry back and forth everyday !
• Live Tiles + Glance : I do not need like all my iPhone colleagues when they come back at their desk to open their phone just to see the notifications, it is right there on the AMOLED screen. And then, I can pin a boarding pass, a theater thicket, a train ticket and I can have access to it in just one click whereas others have to fiddle to find the application. Same with pinning my favorite contacts like wife and son where I get direct info if they send me a SMS, message, email or post something on a social media

I could go on and on. Of course, there are some great things on other plateforms. But make no mistake, Windows phone have clearly so clear strong points as well, still unmatched and making them also very efficient. While being secure, consistent, and having timely upgrade and for a long time on the contrary of Android devices.



I like this example. For instance, my wife as the ZKB bank app (a local bank here). But you need a password to open it (for security reason) so she needs to go in Enpass to retrieve it.
Unfortunately, it is not allowing transfer within our accounts.

In the meantime, Windows mobiel does not have app but I am going to Enpass which unlock with Windows Hello and I launched directly the website. I do everything she can do, plus others she cannot with the app, while being quicker.

So yes, it is fine to have one application for everything but sometimes, the website is as good or better.



You are using one application per store ???
I just has one application that I use to store ALL my card information. Seems more convenient for me.



Thanks god I am not getting a notification each time someone I follow is live on Facebook, jesus...



I get this letmotiv of the app but at some points, I make me wonder what people are doing with their phone because most of the things where you have no app are things that anyway, would be more convenient to do from a tablet or PC that on a 4,7" screen.
And a lot of time, the website is just as good as the application as in many cases, you do not need Cortana or Action Center or Share API integration (like your example of Bank app).

I understand if you didn't comprehend my post. I do not really feel like reexplaining the same words.

 

[497362]

Windows phone is dying, but windows mobile is a juggernaut in the cradle.

 

[ven07]

You always wait. People can wait for the iPhone 7, HTC M11, Galaxy S8...

I never claimed we don't I simply meant to indicate that for those of us, who want sth NEW and at the same time want to stick with WP, we'll have to wait longer now..

I never said the 650/950(XL) were outdated

 

[ClixT]

More risk also equals epic fails :winktongue:

Oh yeah, that's part of it haha

 

[ClixT]

You always wait. People can wait for the iPhone 7, HTC M11, Galaxy S8...

I do not understand this claim. Lumia 950 or 950XL or 650 are here.
Compared to the iPhone 6S, it has :

• wireless charging and quick charging
• bigger, better (color accuracy), brighter, more contrasty, more defined (higher resolution) AMOLED screen
• (much) better camera with OIS and hardware button
• double SIM
• SD card support
• thinner when considering a case (because it replaces existing back) and lighter

You can always wait for the next thing but the current Windows phones are still very competitive, especially considering the price.

And for the OS itself, W10M has already more features than iOS while iterating at an impressive pace compared to iOS that does not bring much.
The only real thing missing is extension support in Safari with TouchID like Enpass/LastPass/1Password extension in Safari which is a great feature.

is it really though? I've been using the 1520 for 2 days now and I can't stand looking at the 950XL's warmer/yellowish screen.. Before I didn't notice it since I was using the 1020, which has similar problems.

 

[alex-kundera]

But that's the problem, we have to play the waiting game not for just updates and improvements, but for hoping that the mobile OS doesn't get killed, I know they are releasing new updates and working on the anniversary update, but then what? Nobody knows if Microsoft would launch a new phone, or if they even try something new, and I really don't see people wanting to go out with their phones a display lock an hdmi cable and a keyboard everywhere, nobody really cares for continuum, it's just stupid

Herein is the main problem - even Windows fans like you, with Lumia 950XL and SP3 on their belt, don't realize that Continuum can be used with Miracast dongles, like the Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter, and it would be plenty sufficient for work on office applications like Excel. So basically, it's a problem of MS's advertising, since they don't keep the professional details for professionals (who would know that a dock and HDMI cable would give them a better frequency) but MS actively makes it more complicated for the average user.

Their advertising should show a few things:
1) Lumia 950/XL phone only with a Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter to connect to any TV. (Maybe somebody shown putting them both in his pocket)
2) Highlight of the main applications being available for both phone and PC: Viber, Skype, freda book reader, Plex, Photos, Netflix,etc
3) Focus on camera and long exposition of Pureview technology ala Apple.

 

[nilchak]

Well that didn't help much - saying windows fans don't realise the Miracast solution ...
All you did of the parent posters problem statement

people wanting to go out with their phones a display lock (dock is what he meant), an hdmi cable and a keyboard everywhere

is replace the dock with a Miracast adapter. All the rest of the stuff still holds true.

You do realize that all TV's dont have a Miracast built in - so you still need to plug in the Miracast adapter (like Microsoft diaplay adapter) to the TV or monitor ?

 

[Tsarli]

To fans, Windows phone will never be dead. If Windows phone works for you then that's great. I like my Windows phones, but unfortunately it doesn't cater to my personal requirements. I have fun using them occasionally but that's about it. I am sure the platform works great for some, but for others (a lot of others) it just doesn't. Time to move on. No biggie.

It's only a problem if you make it one.

 

[Ivan05il]

MS is very zen about this, it's for businesses and enthusiasts, but it's getting increasingly difficult to stay enthusiastic about it. I use an official W10M and it's still too buggy. Suddenly WiFi does not work, the camera won't record, changing roaming options for mobile data leads to a crash, Weather app won't open, ... Sorry, this is just too amateurish. How do they want to attract anybody to the platform with a quality like this. They keep rebooting their OSs, so instead of polishing and improving, they spend too much time on reinventing a wheel and making sure it's really round. I'm disappointed by a turn MS took under Nadella. Pity I have issues with Apple and Google, I would not still be here waiting for I really don't know what. A miracle?

 

[ven07]

Suddenly WiFi does not work, the camera won't record, changing roaming options for mobile data leads to a crash, Weather app won't open

From what I can tell most of these are limited to the fast ring builds (Redstone), so you're on the fast ring?

 

[rromerof]

1. MS doesn't do marketing well.. we know
2. MS openly said that all hardware push (devices) will be done next year with the official launch of RS2
3. The Surface phone if it exists or will exist, will probably not be the savior of the entire mobile platform

My opinions

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Surface Phone the savior? LMAO, I might be wrong, but it would be another W10M device with the latest hardware, it won't be a x86/x64 device. If you really love your device with Windows 10, buy it, as for me I don't, I won't. For me the worst OS of the Windows 10 family.