Is Windows Phone headed in the right direction?

[MSFTisMIA]

It's also April 1st.

Yup. Looks like someone decided to prank a bunch of folks today. Still, I like the newer pace MSFT is adding apps. It would be nice for that to have been Instragran to stop the clamoring for it, but FB is too busy with their FB phone plans right now. SMH @ a FB phone...

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

Yup. Looks like someone decided to prank a bunch of folks today...

Yep. Some developer best hope his name never gets out, because if it does WP users are going to give him a hounding.

 

[MSFTisMIA]

Yep. Some developer best hope his name never gets out, because if it does WP users are going to give him a hounding.

Agreed. If there was ever a candidate eligible to get backlisted, this cat would be it.

 

[jcagga]

It could have been heading to better direction, but definitely not where Microsoft would have wanted it to be. Controlling your game with WP has been Microsoft's dream since wp7. I still don't see it. No qwerty phones from any manufacturers from wp8 tells me thag Microsoft is either not supporting qwerty or they ran out of time. I do wish one day WP can have all the gestures found on Windows 8.

 

[SpiralBorg]

Microsoft`s goal, in the end isn`t to overtake Android and IOS.
But to have that 3rd ground, for people who want an fluid interface, and great peformance.
Its certainly caught my attention.

 

[ChMar]

It could have been heading to better direction, but definitely not where Microsoft would have wanted it to be. Controlling your game with WP has been Microsoft's dream since wp7. I still don't see it. No qwerty phones from any manufacturers from wp8 tells me thag Microsoft is either not supporting qwerty or they ran out of time. I do wish one day WP can have all the gestures found on Windows 8.

I'm not sure that all those gestures in windows 8 are good for windows phone 8. The size of the screen the usage with one hand all makes it very hard to show the charms bar. The from the top gesture to kill apps in windows 8 I don't think they intended it to be there. But once you can use alt+f4 to close any program then it made sense to include a gesture for that too to ensure consistency. The gesture to bring the old apps from the apps task on to the foreground also seams a bit out of place on windows phone devices. And I don't know that users will appreciate the chaos swipe will do for them to have panorama scroll and also bring the charms depending on there you have your finger at the beginning of the move. In usability terms I think most of windows 8 gestures won't come to windows phone 8. Share and file system providers will make it eventually(I hope they should have been there from the beginning but that migration was too much to ask from devs and would have break a lot of old wp7 apps) and this move will also solve the file manager situation and some of the "other storage" problem(I think this is one reason we don't have a solution yet from ms). And the search contracts I'm sure in future upgrade will be there and usable in any app.

 

[ticktock5]

Easy question. Maybe about a year ago when we were all waiting eagerly for wp8, I had hope. But now, the biggest issue this OS faces - lack of quality apps - has not been addressed, and consumers will not take it seriously until it is.

I really thought back then that MS had the money and clout to attract third party app developers, *even if marketshare wise, it may not have made financial sense to develop for it. Certainly, it worked for some, but the big guns are not touching WP with a ten foot pole.

Case in point? Facebook. Not having a real Facebook app, and no the MS one or the apps all over the marketplace that are essentially touch.facebook.com do not count, is pathetic.

And all the media coverage about Home is just sad. None of the articles in the lay press even mention WP. It's all, how will this affect iPhone. They don't even mention that WP has been attempting to do all Home can do and more since the start (although obviously Home will be smoother and have more functionality since it's coming from Facebook itself.)

And if you don't care for social networking, it's still bleak out there. Look t how many threads here are discussing workarounds for non existing or non functional apps people enjoyed on android and iOS. You might be willing to take some extra steps, but the average person, if the guy at AT&T doesn't immediately turn them off the phone by telling them it doesn't have instagram, will rush to return it when they find it can't easily do what they're use to.

I do think MS will keep throwing money at this, but they won't succeed alone.

 

[Jay_P_Harris]

IMO the answer to the question is we dont know yet. The real question is what is Microsoft doing to push Windows Phone in the right direction for it to succeed?

As a few others have stated, the lack of quality apps and the commitment to consistently rolling out updates is still a alarming issue. The official Facebook app for example, does not include chat, tagging friends in statues/ comments, cant share other friends statuses, does not have search feature, major lags with the news feed, and toast notifications are constantly 30-45 minutes late. Those examples are just off the top of my head that I can remember. Keep in mind, this app has been on the market for 2 plus years and aside from from minor update releases, still causes alot of people who are big into social networking to jump ship from WP to Android/iOS.

Microsoft still needs to support older generation users especially the 7.5 and 7.8 crowd. I am currently a Samsung Focus 7.5 owner who was promise an update to 7.8 way back to Thanksgiving, then it got pushed to the end of the year, then got pushed to the end of February then nothing after that. Yes I know I can user the 78er method, but as I mentioned in another thread my buddy who has the same phone, under contract used the 78er method and was fine for about a month and all of a sudden his home screen dissapeared. He couldnt do a hard reset or flash his ROM so he was completly out of luck. Ive seen alot of people have no issues with force updating, but why are the customers doing all the grunt work/research to updating their phone when Microsoft can just simply have the carriers BETA test the update, and make the necessary improvements without the customers being the guinea pig. Ive heard the "be patient" chant before, but it gets really old when I see Microsoft roll out WP8 and all the updates to those customers but have completely left WP7 in the dark. It also dosent give me any confidence that if I decide to update to WP8 or Blue that within a year I will continue to get the proper updates necessary to keep my phone properly operating.

Toast notifications is also another major issue Microsoft has ignored. Sometimes I dont get notifications to my email because of the wifi disconnections when the phone gets idle and has been the determining factor in me leaving WP....Bottom line is there is so much more I can write, but I am tired and just hope Microsoft can get it together.

 

[Vb2012]

Well people Windows phone 8 has been growing very fast for example games are coming in as they should certain apps are also here and more coming.

The newest Bluetooth controllers being supported in a fashion so we can see Microsoft not forgetting about the mobile gamers

I also like Microsoft 's new way of taking mobile payment seriously via in app purchases

All I can say its looking great so far windows phone not die ing of just yet ;D ;]

 

[zachjjackson]

Re: Windows phone 8 on right track so far

cool story bro

 

[Vb2012]

Re: Windows phone 8 on right track so far

cool story bro

really come on :'(

 

[zachjjackson]

Re: Windows phone 8 on right track so far

really come on :'(

lol sorry I had too haha you make good points tho ..

 

[dgr_874]

I think that the next big update (Windows blue or 8.5 or whatever) will give me all the information to see how Microsoft is going to proceed with this. If most of the issues get fixed (Xbox music, volume control, etc...) then Microsoft may have a winner because it shows they listen to their customers (unlike apple) and respond with fixes. For me, support means everything. It started way back when Nokia gave me a credit for my data problem with my new lumia 900. That's why I have a lumia 920 today. I buy plenty of windows phone apps to support developers too. If Microsoft fails to fix many of the issues with their next big patch, I'll have to think long and hard if I'm going to stick with windows phone. Just my opinion of course.

 

[justcurious#WN]

I think WP is already the 3rd ecosystem, and the platform will continue with slow and steady growth. The biggest issues for Microsoft at this point are app quality(not quantity) and marketing. They need to rename windows phone. The windows brand (in the us) is not doing them any favors. Of course, I know alot people still on XP, so that likely colors their opinions of the brand.

 

[boxa72]

Alot of peepz in tha US aren't even aware that WP is Nokia which has gotta hurt branding, market penetration, etc as tha Nokia brand ppl trust (I've only ever used Nokia) but not so much Microsoft. I think just brand it a *uckin Nokia n leave tha Windows out of it altogether!!!

 

[SpiralBorg]

Microsoft`s goal for now, is to have a solid third place. Overtaking the other competition, such as Blackberry, and developing as a better OS.

 

[boxa72]

Microsoft have 2 become flexible n not try 2 bend peepz will like tha catholic church! It seems 2 me that Nokia have the right idea but Microsoft see it as a project

 

[marciocattini]

I don't think Microsoft will abandon the windows phone simply because of the "ecosystem" they want to build around it.

But instead of slowly waiting for the system to pick up and stand on its own I think they should be investing heavily at marketing and promoting in markets where smartphone's have not been established or have not reached its full potential. Brazil as an example has more mobile phone lines activated than people, but the smartphone share is around 20%, and I don't see Nokia nor Microsoft investing on the platform.

If you head out to cellphone carriers around the country the 920 is still not available, you can only find it at a few select Nokia stores, only available in certain capitals. If Nokia put as much effort as it did in other markets Windows Phone could have picked up its pace and certainly make a dent in the smartphone arena.
But it seems they're holding it of, like a wait-and-see approach, and I don't think that's gonna work especially when you go to a carrier store and not one working model is available for show, only dummies. Most people working at the shop don't even know what the Lumia series is, they only have a slight clue of the older series which is no longer relevant to most consumers today because simply put it cannot compete with similarly priced android and older versions of the iPhone.

I wish Microsoft and Nokia could invest more in marketing and developing markets where they might make a difference because of customer loyalty, I think it will not happen over night in the US, but it might just happen in India, China, Italy, Brazil, Argentina, etc. So when the market share rises significantly in those countries they might be able to expand to other places such as the US, UK and Australia, because by then their market share and share amount of users around the world will justify heavier marketing campaigns and development on the OS itself to target already settled and stagnant markets, such as those mentioned above.

Also changes and development needs to occur quicker and response to market and customer relationship management at Microsoft need to improve if they want to survive in this fast paced mobile war.

I hope I didn't bore you all, but these are my thoughts

 

[James Doiron]

Mine was the removal of the START button as hell it was there since the first windows as I remember booting into DOS and then type the command for Windows But thanks to Classic-Shell I got my start button back and I am happy with windows 8 as all my devices work. It was me buying a new Laptop with Windows 8 per-installed and for me to play with and when I got the start button back I went out and updated all my computers to Windows 8 and Pro for my main PC. Hell even went out and bought a Samsung Windows 8 Phone cool looking on the screen and love the bright colors so easy to see

 

[fardream]

Put direction aside, the pace at which they are heading towards that direction is painstakingly low