Microsoft - Can you please simplify the naming of Windows Phones

[nasellok]

Does anyone else think that MS should simplify their phone releases.......Combine the names or something. It really is confusing with the numbering system that they have in place:

Asha Phones (Call it the Asha 4-5-6 - number corresponds to screen size).........535/635/1335 (The Low End - 99$-149$-199$) Combine these into a single "Named Phone" Make the specs almost identical except for the screen size. 535 = I feel it should be 4.7" screen / 635 = Low end - I think it should have same specs as 535 but with 5.2" screen, make the 1335 same specs with 6" screen (all running Windows of course)

Lumia Phones (Call it the Lumia 4-5-6 - number corresponds to screen size).........735/835/1435 (the Mid Range - 299$-349$-399$) Combine these into a single "Named Phone" use the 10mp Pureview Camera (830 camera) on each, with the 735 selfie camera on each. 735 - Should be the same phone as the 830, except a smaller 4.7" screen. 830 = Literally the 830 as it is being sold, and the 1435 as a 6" version of above

Surface Phones (Call it the Surface 5, X5, 6, X6 - number corresponds to screen size)....................935/1035/1535/1635 (499$-549$-599$-649$) = I would make this the Flagship line - maxxed out specs (premium magnesium to match the Surface pro line), with 20MP pureview option on the 935/1535 series, pureview 41mp option on the 1035/1635. 1535 = 935 with larger screen (surface pen support), 1635 = 1035 with larger screen....give us surface pen please.

I really think they could simplify by getting rid of the numbers, and calling each phone a series name of some sorts..........They already have the names............just use them better. Asha = the Low end, Lumia = Mid Range, and Surface = Flagship

That's my 2 cents

 

[trekgraham]

I dislike confusion all should be Lumia but make the model numbers mean something. I also think they should keep the model number the same each year and just call it the 2015 Lumia 1020 instead of calling it the Lumia 1030

 

[LDSBCfan]

I think you naming system is perfect.

 

[mermonster]

I agree this needs to be addressed asap. The numbers are so confusing now. Impossible to keep track, even for a die hard fan like me... How on earth is the public supposed to cope? I think using a device naming scheme (one name for high end, one for mid tier, one for low tier) instead of the numbers would be much better.

 

[BatteryLife]

I actually find it even more confusing. Hell, that's worst than Samsung's naming system.

Galaxy, alpha, trend, grand, duos, quattro, young, ativ... If that system were to be used, there will be 9 phones in total. Why not just make two screen sizes.

Maybe the low end could be called something fun, like kola( I'm bad with names). So there will be
Kola 1, kola 2 kola 3 .... For low end normal screened phone. For low end phablets, just adding an x to them. Like kola 1 x, 2x etc..

Same could be repeated with Lumia(mid end) and surface(high end)

Three names, 6 models, all market.

Eww. Kola sounds horrible.

 

[HeyCori]

The naming system could work if MS did three things.

1. Drop the amount of devices. Right now there's the 5xx, 6xx, 7xx, 8xx, 9xx, 10xx, 13xx, 15xx... Make one line the new "extreme low end" and keep a solid 4 device lineup. Or even 4 standard and one "super phone" like the 15xx line.

2. Stop carrier variants. Granted, that's easier said than done. Verizon, AT&T and other carriers force OEMs to make carrier variants. Still, killing off variants would go a long way in organizing the lineup.

3. Stop changing the darn chassis. For example, the low-end phones should be a standard 4 inches. Mid-range could be 4.5. A low-high end could be 5 inches and everything else is a phablet.

 

[xandros9]

I like and stand by the current naming scheme.
There are indeed oddities like the 810, Icon and 535, but hey, i think its still very efficient.
I rather they not use years and random names.

We're looking at the Lumia 510, 610, 710, 800, 900
520, 620, 720, 820, 920, 1020, 1320, 1520 (and flavors like 925, 822, 525...)
530, 630, 730, 830, 930 [and variants like the 630, 735, 635, 535 (which is both much better and a bit worse than the 630's IMO)]
It makes a boatload more sense than say Samsung's lineup.

Copied from a commenter on the Verge who brought in this gem in the exact same argument:
Place all these where they stand in the lineup, and which generation.

Samsung Galaxy
Samsung Intensity (series)
Samsung Galaxy (original)
Samsung Galaxy 5
Samsung Galaxy Chat
Samsung Galaxy Core
Samsung Galaxy J
Samsung Galaxy Express
Samsung Galaxy Express 2
Samsung Galaxy Fame
Samsung Galaxy Fit
Samsung Galaxy Grand
Samsung Galaxy Win
Samsung Galaxy Grand 2
Samsung Galaxy Mini
Samsung Galaxy Mini 2
Galaxy Nexus
Samsung Galaxy Note (original)
Samsung Galaxy Note II
Samsung Galaxy Note 3
Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Neo
Samsung Galaxy Portal
Samsung Galaxy R
Samsung Galaxy S
Samsung Galaxy S Advance
Samsung Galaxy S III Mini
Samsung Galaxy S II
Samsung Galaxy S Plus
Samsung Galaxy S series
Samsung Galaxy Spica
Samsung Galaxy Star
Samsung Galaxy W
Samsung Galaxy Y
Samsung Galaxy Young
Samsung Galaxy S Duos
Samsung Galaxy 3
Samsung Galaxy Ace
Samsung Galaxy Gio
Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2
Samsung Galaxy Ace 3
Samsung Galaxy Alpha
Samsung Galaxy Beam i8530
Samsung Galaxy Core Advance
Samsung Galaxy Core LTE
Samsung Galaxy Mega
Samsung Galaxy Note 4
Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
Samsung Galaxy Note series
Samsung Galaxy Pocket
Samsung Galaxy Pocket Duos
Samsung Galaxy Pocket Neo
Samsung Galaxy Pocket Plus
Samsung Galaxy Prevail
Samsung Galaxy Round
Samsung Galaxy S 4G LTE
Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2
Samsung Galaxy S III
Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G
Samsung Galaxy S4
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom
Samsung Galaxy S5
Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini
Samsung Galaxy SL I9003
Samsung Galaxy Tab series
Samsung Galaxy Xcover
Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2
Samsung Galaxy Y DUOS
Samsung Galaxy Y Plus
Samsung Galaxy Y Pro DUOS

[/TAB]

 

[bijak_riyandi]

Agree with you xandros9...
I prefer the current naming style.

The x3x line before Lumia 535 is a lot clearer segment-by-segment than on x2x line. Take a look at the gap of specs between 530, 630, 730, 830, and 930.

About why the 535 becomes the anomaly, I think it's because the "Nokia's Lumia numbering tradition" which omits the number 4(*) and reserving the numbers other than 0 and 5 in the third digit for the carrier variant. This phone should've been a 63x line, but the "Nokia's tradition" apparently prevented it...
EDIT: After putting some thoughts about it, I think the reason why the new phone was named 535 is because Nokia/Microsoft technically released one phone in two model numbers a few months before! The 635 and 735 should've been named 630 LTE and 730 LTE respectively; that would leave the 635 and 735 room open for new devices in the price range

Some of your suggestions here are good and rational, but if you take a look again at the current Lumia lineup, I hope you can understand that every single phone has their very own target market

NOTE: (*) Ever since Nokia create phones, they almost never made any phone with 4 in its series to respect the East Asian customers who considers number 4 as a bad number. Only seven phones out of thousands of models that released with number 4, they are Mobira Talkman 450 (1985), Nokia 8148 (1996), Nokia 640 (1999), Nokia 3410 (2002), Nokia 5140 (2004), Nokia 6234 (2006), and Nokia 114 (2012). (source)
I could bet that the next lineup would be x5x and not x4x, which coincides with how they jumped from Windows 8 to Windows 10

ADDITIONAL:
I believe Microsoft should be more distinctive in terms of specs for each lineup. I would suggest they do something like this:
5xx - The Lowest End Lumia (4", 512 MB + Snapdragon 2xx, 5 MP camera)
6xx - The Upper-Low End Lumia (4.5", 512 MB + Snapdragon 4xx OR 1 GB + Snapdragon 2xx, 5-6.7 MP camera)
7xx - The Mid-End Lumia (4.7", 1 GB + Snapdragon 4xx, 8 MP camera)
8xx - The "Affordable Flagship" (4.5"-5", 1 GB + older Snapdragon 8xx, 10-16 MP camera)
9xx - The Flagship (5"-5.2", 2 GB + newer Snapdragon, 20 MP camera)
10xx - The King of Smartphone Photography (4.7"-5.2", 2 GB + newer Snapdragon, the best camera tech)
13xx - The Mid-End Phablet (5.5"-6", 1 GB + Snapdragon 4xx, 5-8 MP camera)
15xx - The Monster (6", 2 GB + newer Snapdragon 8xx, 20 MP camera)

With this kind of lineup, hopefully there will be no more vagueness in the numbering system and there'll be rooms for sixteen different variants in one generation if they don't make the 630/635 naming blunder again

 

[wuiyang]

DO NOT change the name. Current naming system is corresponding to the price of the phone and mostly spec level
5xx - very low end, featureless, contain basic thing (GPS, water level thingy, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth etc)
6xx - low end, but better, contain extra feature (for 620, compass, FFC, NFC, for 630, larger screen, sensorcore)
7xx - mid range, contain extra feature + better camera (for 720, 3D spinning sensor (forgot the name), for 730 5MP FFC)
8xx - mid range, contain better camera (higher rear MP than 7xx)
9xx - high end, contain better feature + camera (920,925 - 8.7MP PureView, 930 - 20MP PureView)
10xx - high end, contain highest MP of all Lumia (1020 - 41MP)
13xx - low-mid, low end spec with big screen (1320 - 6 inch screen, but 5MP camera)
15xx - high end, contain high end spec with big screen (1520 - 20MP, 6 inch screen, using snapdragon 800)

xx0x/xx1x = windows phone 7
xx2x = windows phone 8 (no love for Nokia Lumia 810) [their last firmware update is Amber]
xx3x = windows phone 8.1

 

[Rajat Malhotra]

I loved the way HTC used to name its phones( butterfly, sensation, titan etc) but even they have moved to numbers now. Maybe that's the way forward and Nokia has a history with numbers, long before Windows phone. At the end of the day, for an informed buyer, it isn't a problem but for total 'noob' it can be.

 

[Aviskri]

Lumia naming system is great, they just confused all of us with the 535. I think it was named like that because 635 was already used and they're are using that dumb 5x5x5 slogan, so 535 fits well with a 5' screen and two 5 MP cameras, so...

 

[a5cent]

xx0x/xx1x = windows phone 7

xx2x = windows phone 8

xx3x = windows phone 8.1

But what does that number really mean, considering most x20 devices will end up running WP8.1?

I think this number is more correctly thought of as "hardware generation", rather than OS, but even then it's inconsistent (L810, Icon), and somewhat arbitrary (newly released hardware doesn't necessarily mean it contains new hardware).

 

[anon9169769]

I agree... It really should be called names from now on. Even in UK I am confused as the 930 has 3 different names.... The 929, 930 and icon. Even the 520 is also called a 521. LG seems to get it right with LG1, LG2 and LG3. why cant it be kept simple like that ?

 

[wuiyang]

But what does that number really mean, considering most x20 devices will end up running WP8.1?

I think this number is more correctly thought of as "hardware generation", rather than OS, but even then it's inconsistent (L810, Icon), and somewhat arbitrary (newly released hardware doesn't necessarily mean it contains new hardware).

forgot to mention, no love for Lumia 810 (latest hardware update was amber), icon is lumia 929, and it is windows phone 8

 

[a5cent]

^ It is marketed and sold as the Icon. That is what counts. If it's necessary to dig up an obscure moniker (L929) which 99% of people will never even hear about, just to get the model to fit the numbering system, then I'd say that counts against that system's consistency, not for it.

 

[xandros9]

I agree... It really should be called names from now on. Even in UK I am confused as the 930 has 3 different names.... The 929, 930 and icon. Even the 520 is also called a 521. LG seems to get it right with LG1, LG2 and LG3. why cant it be kept simple like that ?

I think it has merit however since there's a base model (the 930) and there are variants that are different, yet not their own model.
The 929 name for the Icon is rarely used and more of a codename, so I will disregard it. But we're looking at Icon and 930. Same on the outside, but different enough on the inside. although Verizon 930 would be just fine, I'm thinking its another concession to the omni-potent US carriers considering no other service provider has its own unique variant outside the US.

The Lumia 521 is called the 521 instead of the 520 because it is a distinct variant of the 520 for T-Mobile, and while almost identical, it is 4 mm taller than the 520 for whatever reason. (perhaps more room was needed to retrofit it with T-Mo radio bands or something)

The 820 and 920 had their own flavors for different carriers as well, and its important to distinguish them, although I sometimes wish they kept it consistent across the board sometimes.

 

[anon9169769]

Ah... Thanks for explaining that

 

[bijak_riyandi]

LG seems to get it right with LG1, LG2 and LG3. why cant it be kept simple like that ?

if you think that's easy, try to put LG Optimus G, Optimus G Pro, G Pro Lite, G2, G Flex, G Pro 2, G 2 Mini, G3, Optimus Vu, Optimus Vu II, Vu 3, L60, L Fino, and L Bello in the lineup

 

[ablahblah]

I feel like what Microsoft/Nokia were trying to achieve with the naming was a merging of the brand with the phone. Instead of saying I have a Galaxy Note or Droid Razr, you just say I have a Lumia. The numbering scheme denotes the specific model number, but they're all basically variants of the same thing.

I don't think it really caught on though, because we all still talk about Lumias in reference to the model numbers heh. We're still used to phone names and subnames after these years, and the paradigm shift never really took place. That, and the fact that the other manufacturers didn't really take to it doesn't help either.