As a developer, the McLaren news is even more chilling.

[Bahamen]

It's mostly a gimmick, with the exception of the interactive live tiles. The tiles were supposed to "explode" when touched, similarly to how the old Microsoft surface table's interface was. In the case of, say, Atmosphere, I could have the tiles explode and display more weather data. That would be amazing.

However, the rest of the technology - the part that takes place within the app, is mostly a gimmick, more so with apps like atmosphere or, say, a newsreader where the ability to, say, scroll in the air would annoy the user more then assist the user. This is the very definition of gimmick.

Exploding tiles would have been a major change to UI interaction. To be in line with the philosophy of "consistent experience across all display sizes", it would have been necessary for Microsoft to bring this technology to all phones including budget ones not only the flagship device. For this reason, it would make sense for Microsoft to hold back on this technology until they are able to bring the cost (additional sensors) down to a reasonable level for this to be a mainstream feature for WP. One of the main selling point of the Lumia 520 is that you get the same great WP experience as the flagships. That won't be the case anymore if only one phone has some additional UI options not available to other phones.

Granted I see your point about strengthening the flagships, but there are much better way to do so without undermining the sales of budget ones. Personally, I may not buy the McLaren if it is merely a Lumia 930 with 3D sensors. But, I would upgrade from my current 1020 if another phone comes with same image quality but faster shot-to-shot speed, larger screen/battery and storage. Mundane stuff, but it will still take far better pictures than any other phones.

 

[rodan01]

Besides being insulting this post is also wrong. Large numbers of small mediocre independent developers are just as important as large company developers to a platform like WP. For example, I wrote a Win32 program for my own usage then made it public (it is a scientific program, not a game). It became a hit in its domain and I formed a one-man company out of my home office. Governments, companies, and individuals from all over the world use it (mostly USA). You can see it on TV during breaking news events. Many of my users run Windows specifically to use my programs.

So, one mediocre independent developer helps keep tens of thousands of users on the Windows platform. With a thousand more "mediocre independent developers" you could have millions more users on a platform.

Note: MSFT made it as difficult as possible for me to port my Win32 program to WinRT/PRT by changing the app model, changing the threading model, and changing the UI model without making that same system available on Win7. Win32/Win7 pays the bills while WP8 is a charity case that I work on as time permits.

Where is the insult?
Did you download the app of this developer (@IN5TIGATOR)?. It's yet another weather app without anything special. An awful design, It has usability problems, lacks features. It's a low quality work. Does this app add some value to the platform? No, it's just using space, getting in the way of finding a decent weather app.

Do developers like @IN5TIGATOR add value to the platform? No. If 1000 developers like @IN5TIGATOR leave the platform and remove 3000 low quality apps like "Atmosphere Weather", WP wouldn't lose much.

Do you think that a low quality app like "Atmosphere Weather" has any chance in a crowded app store like Play store? No.

If you want an opinion about your app, give me a link. If you have problems learning new APIs, hire someone.

 

[brunoadduarte]

Where is the insult?
Did you download the app of this developer (@IN5TIGATOR)?. It's yet another weather app without anything special. An awful design, It has usability problems, lacks features. It's a low quality work. Does this app add some value to the platform? No, it's just using space, getting in the way of finding a decent weather app.

Do developers like @IN5TIGATOR add value to the platform? No. If 1000 developers like @IN5TIGATOR leave the platform and remove 3000 low quality apps like "Atmosphere Weather", WP wouldn't lose much.

Do you think that a low quality app like "Atmosphere Weather" has any chance in a crowded app store like Play store? No.

If you want an opinion about your app, give me a link. If you have problems learning new APIs, hire someone.

I'm eager to see what you develop. With the knowledge you have, your app must certainly be a hit.

 

[Kevin N Smith]

Where is the insult?
Did you download the app of this developer (@IN5TIGATOR)?. It's yet another weather app without anything special. An awful design, It has usability problems, lacks features. It's a low quality work. Does this app add some value to the platform? No, it's just using space, getting in the way of finding a decent weather app.

Do developers like @IN5TIGATOR add value to the platform? No. If 1000 developers like @IN5TIGATOR leave the platform and remove 3000 low quality apps like "Atmosphere Weather", WP wouldn't lose much.

Do you think that a low quality app like "Atmosphere Weather" has any chance in a crowded app store like Play store? No.

If you want an opinion about your app, give me a link. If you have problems learning new APIs, hire someone.

You are the low quality user here, starting flame wars and criticizing an app that has been featured on multiple WPCentral and WMPoweruser articles, let alone the 4-5 star review average in major markets.

Absolutely pathetic post, with no regard for the other 40,000 users who love Atmosphere. I hope you are banned from this website so you can stop "contributing" your low quality, inconstructive posts that do nothing but insult the OP and defy logic. If you want to criticize, go find a fart app and give it the review you just gave me.

 

[anon(5383410)]

I don't get all this talk of lack of a flagship. Has anyone done a comparison of the specs for the 930/Icon and their competitors? MS HAS a flagship. Get yourself an Icon/930/1020 or the applicable variant for your carrier, enjoy THE PRESENT and wait. MS isn't spending all this money to sit on their hands. To think they're not developing the next big thing after buying the mobile division of an entire company is crazy. Then again in the tech world, constantly obsessing over the next big thing will drive one crazy.

You don't even know what McLaren was. You do know what their current flagships are and what kind of hardware they're packing. Concentrate on mastering developing apps for what's out there now.

 

[rodan01]

You are the low quality user here, starting flame wars and criticizing an app that has been featured on multiple WPCentral and WMPoweruser articles, let alone the 4-5 star review average in major markets.

Absolutely pathetic post, with no regard for the other 40,000 users who love Atmosphere.

Do you have links to those articles? I really can't understand how someone could make a good review of your app.

Your app is rated 3.9 which is pretty low for a weather app. And probably your rating is inflated by the good review in wpcentral, it should be lower.

 

[Noahma]

I don't get all this talk of lack of a flagship. Has anyone done a comparison of the specs for the 930/Icon and their competitors? MS HAS a flagship. Get yourself an Icon/930/1020 or the applicable variant for your carrier, enjoy THE PRESENT and wait. MS isn't spending all this money to sit on their hands. To think they're not developing the next big thing after buying the mobile division of an entire company is crazy. Then again in the tech world, constantly obsessing over the next big thing will drive one crazy.

You don't even know what McLaren was. You do know what their current flagships are and what kind of hardware they're packing. Concentrate on mastering developing apps for what's out there now.

So far there is not viable upgrade from the 920 on AT&T, the 1520 is a BIG *** PHONE, and fulfills a niche market where people like phones that dwarf their face. The 930 is the international version of the Lumia Icon on Verizon, a carrier specific phone. The 1020 is aging, and is a side grade from the 920. AT&T users, the 4.4 million that bought the 920 are starting to come up to the end of contract on AT&T and there is no new flagship phone on that carrier to upgrade to. That is a problem as AT&T were pretty much the only show in town for high end windows phones until Verizon started getting a couple... windows phones on there network. So.... what are the AT&T users supposed to go? I for one will not downgrade to a mid range or low range phone, the 1020 is not enough to get me to use my 2-year upgrade and the damn 1520 is TOOOO BIG!!! I am going to have to hold out until something shows up, or consider switching platforms (knowing my love of this os I would wait it out) I have other family members on current contracts so moving would cost me a **** load of money.


As for the OP, I think there is some over exaggeration of the situation, and emotions have taken hold. If the info was not leaked, no one would EVER have any idea of the research in this device. This one phone may be one of several that have been cancelled during the R&D stages with Nokia and Microsoft. The info on them was never leaked, so we have NO idea of what could have been (have you seen the video of the OS development before Windows phone 8? the "bubble" os?, that was only leaked a year AFTER windows phone 8 was on market)

Its also not worth attacking a developer and stating his app is "crap" obviously some users like the app or he would not have continued to develop it.

 

[drachen23]

I don't get all this talk of lack of a flagship. Has anyone done a comparison of the specs for the 930/Icon and their competitors? MS HAS a flagship.

Now that the mobile market has matured some, the definition of flagship isn't just "phone with high specs" anymore. It's got to be a phone people really want and can whip out and say "check out what my phone can do!" The 930 is a well-rounded, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses upgrade from the 920 but that's about it. It's not really a phone people will jump carriers just to own. The 1020 and 1520 on the other hand had killer features, the camera and the size respecticely that made them special in the market. Both are still sought after, almost a year later.

People are so ticked off about McLaren not shipping because the 930/Icon is so lackluster as a flagship. They don't want WP to feel like its stagnating.

 

[TheMightyCraken]

Just because Microsoft canceled a certain phone doesn't mean that they've stopped making phones
Sent from my RM-915_nam_usa_228 using Tapatalk

 

[chezm]

Just because Microsoft canceled a certain phone doesn't mean that they've stopped making phones
Sent from my RM-915_nam_usa_228 using Tapatalk

When they've stopped preproduction on the only high end WP we know they were producing, its not a good sign that flourish is planned.

 

[Tom Snyder]

I do not think MicroSoft cares one bit about what their user base thinks, and we now see the end of flagship Window Phones with the current line up.
It will shock me if Microsoft rolls out a flagship cell phone with better specs and features which are already on the market, they have already said they are going to concentrate on the low end phones for emerging markets in developing nations.

 

[Kevin N Smith]

Do you have links to those articles? I really can't understand how someone could make a good review of your app.

Your app is rated 3.9 which is pretty low for a weather app. And probably your rating is inflated by the good review in wpcentral, it should be lower.

Search "atmosphere" on the wpcentral search. I'm not going to waste my time getting links for a troll.

 

[12Danny123]

Search "atmosphere" on the wpcentral search. I'm not going to waste my time getting links for a troll.

Dude. Concentrating fixing your app is more important than arguing with people

Also add some pictures for the app. The plain look is weird

 

[Kevin N Smith]

Dude. Concentrating fixing your app is more important than arguing with people

Also add some pictures for the app. The plain look is weird

When I'm sitting in an airport terminal 900 miles away from Visual Studio, there's nothing better to do then argue with people. And I might add that as a theme. This thread has turned into free advertising anyway, my downloads have jumped +300/day since posting it.

 

[12Danny123]

When I'm sitting in an airport terminal 900 miles away from Visual Studio, there's nothing better to do then argue with people. And I might add that as a theme.

You're some....... odd developer. Still the animations are distracting as hell. And it's hard to use with no tutorial. That's just plain ridiculous a weather app. I'm sorry. But it's true

Wanna add one thing, why not just use swipe to next location on the top bar where the temp is

 

[Beijendorf]

I don't see why people are freaking out. It's not like they cancelled it after it was in production and about to be released. This phone didn't actually exist, it was a prototype. Not to mention mostly unconfirmed rumors.

As far as rumours go, having 4 separate accurate insiders (Evleaks, WPCentral, The Verge, Neowin) verify the rumour should place it above "unconfirmed".

 

[colinkiama]

You're making a big deal out of this. If you think you can make more money with Android then develop for Android. You don't have any good app for WP, so probably the platform will survive if you leave.

I think the platform has enough, or maybe too many, mediocre independent developers trying to take advantage of a less crowded app store. WP needs more support from big companies. The work of developers like you don't move the needle.

Wow calm down, we need as much devs as we can get.

 

[desitunez]

Anyone worrying about me killing off Atmosphere or ending WP development all together is wrong - I'm not going to shut off the server or delist the app, nor will I no longer maintain it. I'll just port it to another platform.

Good luck , Please do share your Success rate on Andriod /IOS vs WP.. Love you hear it as case study?

 

[Craigtrain]

WP needs more support from big companies. The work of developers like you don't move the needle.

This is the dumbest ******* thing I've ever seen posted at WPCentral. Congratulations.

 

[theefman]

As far as rumours go, having 4 separate accurate insiders (Evleaks, WPCentral, The Verge, Neowin) verify the rumour should place it above "unconfirmed".

Some of these "leakers" also claimed we would see android Lumia's, look how that turned out. Until something is actually announced it is nothing more than an unconfirmed rumor, no matter who the leaker is.