The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new?

[Norris Rochelle]

The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

We've all heard about the new Lumia 650 but what's more interesting is that it's the last Lumia of its series. The Lumia 650 is one of the best looking Lumias on the market for its time. Despite it having lower specs than its predecessors it's still a sleek, snappy and well designed phone. I absolutely love the screen, size and appeal the aluminum band brings to the phone itself. With Microsoft axing the eclectic Lumia series, I have to ask, what's next? With Microsoft focusing on more Windows 10 specific handsets this gives us the opportunity to create new ideas for phones. Microsoft invested money in the Lumia series with intentions of flooding the market in order to gain market share. With so many of those phones in the market, not only is it expensive but it also makes it a bit complicated for consumers. I'm not to fond of Apple but they have a successful formula we could replicate or improve. Instead of flooding the market with numerous phones why not create a select few with them ranging from low to high to end in regards to specs? Not only does it simplify how many phones there are and what options you have but it also gives the user a clear and distinctive choice between hardware. Microsoft should have a Surface phone as their top product, with a Lumia 950ish mid end phone and a Lumia 640ish low end phone. Those are examples but are accurate enough to show you what I'm talking about. How do you feel about Microsoft ending the Lumia series and what do you think they'll do next?

 

[xandros9]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

Pretty sure it's just the last Lumia of 2016, but that's just my reading.

 

[etphoto]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

The Surface Phone will be a Lumia with a different name / specs.

 

[Norris Rochelle]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

Pretty sure it's just the last Lumia of 2016, but that's just my reading.

It could be. Personally, I don't want it to be but I believe it's the last of its series. I love the Lumia series and their exclusive features but I think Microsoft should create a better marketing plan in regards to how many phones they make as well as how they make them. They also need to work on a promotional campaign to promote Windows Mobile being that there are little to no commercials highlighting Windows Phone.

 

[cracgor]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

I think it would be a terrible idea to do another reboot. Every reboot just pushes some developers and users away.

 

[Jazmac]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

I think the Lumia had a good run but I think Sayta is probably trying to move on from all things Nokia and move hardware in-house. I don't much blame him since these phones have had so many production issues in its time, its time to start fresh and build no more Lumia's. That doesn't mean they could stop supporting my 1520 right away. Just sayin'.

 

[Lumious]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

In a business perspective they should definitely retire Lumia and start fresh. That old saying if it aint broke dont fix it, applies here but in the reverse. Windows Phone and Lumia is broken, it's not working, market share keeps decreasing. If they want to stay in the game and make mobile profitable for MS they need to try something new. I am all for ending the Lumia series and moving on to something new (and a new brand) like a surface phone, surface phone pro.

If they make a killer phone that no one else is doing, keep the line simple and straight forward (not a hundred variants like the Lumia series), and fix the OS, i think they have a solid chance of succeeding.


As a consumer and what i personally want is something entirely different. I'd love to see a surface phone but id also like to see a Lumia 960/970 in the coming years with niche phones just as a 1060/1070 with a bad *** camera or a 1560 6"+ display(They would likely have to skip the 1030, 1040, 1050 series as to keep everything in line with the current and future lineup.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

Since MS said that they would be making phones for Enterprise, enthusiasts, and economy phones I'd guess that MS will make both a Surface line and a Lumia line. Just a guess however. Time will tell

 

[pankaj981]

I think Microsoft should retire the Lumia line and start pushing for Surface mobile. They should come up with configurations that touch all (or most) types of user base. Like a base model starting with the SD6XX / 5" 1080P / 3GB / 16GB with all the way up to SD8XX or high end Intel / 5-5.7" 2K / 4GB+ / 32/64/126GB with different price buckets, similar to their current Surface line. All of the Surface phones should be Continuum compatible at the least.

 

[mjrtoo]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

If they can keep the lower price point phones like the 640 line as nice aa those are, I don't really care what they call it. The 640 carries on the excellence of value that started with the 520.

 

[Lumious]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

I think Microsoft should retire the Lumia line and start pushing for Surface mobile. They should come up with configurations that touch all (or most) types of user base. Like a base model starting with the SD6XX / 5" 1080P / 3GB / 16GB with all the way up to SD8XX or high end Intel / 5-5.7" 2K / 4GB+ / 32/64/126GB with different price buckets, similar to their current Surface line. All of the Surface phones should be Continuum compatible at the least.

What does SD6XX and SD8XX mean? What does SD stand for

 

[Usama Jawad96]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

What does SD6XX and SD8XX mean? What does SD stand for

Snapdragon 6xx SoC and Snapdragon 8xx SoC.

 

[hasasimo]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

The problem is marketing and pop culture infiltration. Apple have mastered it. Having vastly superior, more modern, more aesthetically pleasing hardware and software mean nothing if the average person doesn't know about it.

Windows Phone hardware was the best in the market during the Nokia days, and nobody cared because their favorite pop stars were rocking iPhones. Apple's strategy: dumb it down and saturate people's surroundings with it

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

Lumia is why I am with Windows phone as it has made me a loyalist though the OS always is what keeps me. I will buy whatever Microsoft makes next for us however...what I dislike about this move from making lumias is the fact they are relying on 3rd party OEMs.

I don't want crap from HTC, Samsung, HP, ETC ETC.
I want successors to the 1520, 1020, 950s....as long as we continue getting good hardware from MS, idc what they call it.

 

[v535]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

I think Microsoft should retire the Lumia line and start pushing for Surface mobile. They should come up with configurations that touch all (or most) types of user base. Like a base model starting with the SD6XX / 5" 1080P / 3GB / 16GB with all the way up to SD8XX or high end Intel / 5-5.7" 2K / 4GB+ / 32/64/126GB with different price buckets, similar to their current Surface line. All of the Surface phones should be Continuum compatible at the least.

I think all basic phone and mid range must atleast use SD 4XX because WP/WM is not a resource hog like Droids, unless MS starts to play catch up with Droid by following their Specification race. MS really showed us, even SD 2XX has enough HP to run w10m and provide lag-free experience. Currently their problem is removing some of the unique features that makes Nokia Lumia/ MS Lumia a Lumia is SensorCore and PureView. Atleast MS must bring more PureView based devices marketed as Lumia or Surface Phone. Atleast L650 should have Sensorcore and magnetometer when targeting Corporate consumers.

 

[pmhgeneral]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

You know, no matter what ms does they have got to get their carrier problem's worked out for all of these new phone to work, example the 950 disappointed with Verizon! How many people jump ship from the os. I know many went to at&t but that not a choice for all so this is really one big thing they should be working to overcome and getting the news out to the public. It's a shame i got my brother to go all Microsoft, purchased surface pro 4, x-box, desktop w-10, sold iPad & 2 iPhones was going to purchase Windows phones Verizon but what? He wants the top of the line flagship, been waiting since the 950 deal fell apart. So now he gave up on window phone ordered 4-Samsung's due out at 700.00 each I think this is what is happening alot. I must say it is a pretty nice phone from what I'll see.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

You know, no matter what ms does they have got to get their carrier problem's worked out for all of these new phone to work, example the 950 disappointed with Verizon! How many people jump ship from the os. I know many went to at&t but that not a choice for all so this is really one big thing they should be working to overcome and getting the news out to the public. It's a shame i got my brother to go all Microsoft, purchased surface pro 4, x-box, desktop w-10, sold iPad & 2 iPhones was going to purchase Windows phones Verizon but what? He wants the top of the line flagship, been waiting since the 950 deal fell apart. So now he gave up on window phone ordered 4-Samsung's due out at 700.00 each I think this is what is happening alot. I must say it is a pretty nice phone from what I'll see.

Considering ATT has pretty good coverage, why didn't he just switch if he can afford to pay 2800 for a phone. ATT and Verizon are comparable with signal and art is generally faster for data. Heck, even tmobile but that can be a bit touch and go for some.

I think all basic phone and mid range must atleast use SD 4XX because WP/WM is not a resource hog like Droids, unless MS starts to play catch up with Droid by following their Specification race. MS really showed us, even SD 2XX has enough HP to run w10m and provide lag-free experience. Currently their problem is removing some of the unique features that makes Nokia Lumia/ MS Lumia a Lumia is SensorCore and PureView. Atleast MS must bring more PureView based devices marketed as Lumia or Surface Phone. Atleast L650 should have Sensorcore and magnetometer when targeting Corporate consumers.

Yeah like I feel the ten megapixel pureview from the 830 or even 8 megapixel pureview from the Lumia 920 should at least be put into the 640s and 650. That would have given Microsoft a differentiating factor.

 

[cracgor]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

Why bring the surface line down with windows mobile? They probably want to keep the product lines separate (xbox, surface, lumia, etc). Maybe they could rebrand the mobile division as Windows Pane (like a window pane).

 

[Mr Hyde]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

Why bring the surface line down with windows mobile? They probably want to keep the product lines separate (xbox, surface, lumia, etc). Maybe they could rebrand the mobile division as Windows Pane (like a window pane).

Windows pane? could you imagine the field day the Tech news would have with that as they wrote about "Windows Pain"?

 

[Krystianpants]

Re: The end of Lumia. The beginning of something new.

It doesn't matter what the phone does. Unless it is a double chip solution that runs continuum as a full desktop it won't really garner much attention. The issue is that windows 10 mobile just won't get better because of hardware. They need to add more features. Yesterday I found myself really needing a snap feature to have 2 screens side by side in landscape, but instead had to go into task switcher and compare my 2 open apps that way. And the letters were so small it was a pain. There's many scenarios where I could use this. And this is a feature pioneered by MS, yet Apple is starting to do a better job with it.


I love my lumia 950xl, the screen is amazing, the phone is thin, sleek, mostly screen with very little bezel and nice and light. But it just seems that as things progress with firmware/OS it's hit or miss on whether you will have issues or not. I didn't have many issues till latest firmware and redstone build. It never got warm now it gets pretty warm in simple things like candy crush jelly. Continuum still lacks the ability to keep the phone screen off. Anything that uses Edge web engine will run slow in continuum. Even windows central app while much quicker than Edge has a bit of a delay because it is rendering a webpage. DirectX 12 isn't supported by the Qualcomm chips, even though it was supposed to as MS was working with them on adding full support for the API, but nothing ever came of that. A lot of apps are being built from the ground up so even bare bone features take forever to make it in. So MS is simply struggling to catch up to "standard". All this time the other platforms are adding features beyond that. So then MS will finally finish the bare bone stuff and will take forever adding features.

Honestly at this rate w10m will be on par with standard features probably sometime 2017. Then how many years before it gets ahead?

I still enjoy windows 10 mobile. But don't think hardware will do anything unless they put more effort into mobile OS. Think about it, Apple does nothing but increases the size of the screen, adds some new design and people buy in droves. All the hardware has going for it is speed and design. Yet people eat it up because they like the OS. Even an increase in ram and small things gets people buying a lot of these phones. Nothing magical in the hardware department. My guess is iphone 7 will have something big in the hardware area. Apple has been working on some new screen tech and they may put out something pretty shocking. And because the OS is already feature rich and complete, they can release a crazy phone and it will sell. MS will release a crazy phone but the OS will be the limiting factor.