Buy a new Lumia, or wait, or jump ship?

[BritDad]

Before buying an Android phone, consider the security implications. Do you do online banking etc. on your phone? Tap to pay ? Then you will want a secure OS (like W10M) which is promptly updated for security and other patches. Chances are, any Android phone available for a similar price to the Lumia 950XL will be running an out of date OS and will be unlikely to promptly recieve patches, if ever. My wife went from Android to Windows phone precisely because of the lack of OS updates.

 

[speccy]

Before buying an Android phone, consider the security implications. Do you do online banking etc. on your phone? Tap to pay ? Then you will want a secure OS (like W10M) which is promptly updated for security and other patches. Chances are, any Android phone available for a similar price to the Lumia 950XL will be running an out of date OS and will be unlikely to promptly recieve patches, if ever. My wife went from Android to Windows phone precisely because of the lack of OS updates.

But there are very few banking apps for Windows phones. There's no WP apps for any of the UK banks I use, the only bank I'm aware of that does have an app is Metro Bank (an American bank), but the services they offer are not very compelling compared to other UK banks.

 

[Charles Goin]

I still use my 950XL. DO NOT Go Fast Ring.. the latest Win10 is a mess.

Love it and I have TRIED to jump ship to android, but until MS makes an arrow launcher with live live tiles for Android I am not willing to suck it up yet.

Especially with the 950xl still be a top of the line phone for everything I do. Has all the apps I need, and the camera is fantastic.

 

[David MacdAj]

I would't bother with any new non-Windows Nokia phones, they're Nokia in name only, and are manufactured by HMD in China.

It's true the brand is licensed to HMD but the company itself is made up of several ex-Nokia staff. It's possible the design principles of the old Nokia hasn't died completely.

 

[MrockNroll]

What carrier are you using? I would recommend the Alcatel Idol 4s, its amazing and new. you can get one unlocked at the Microsoft store, the T-Mobile store ( carrier Locked to T-Mobile). or find a recently used 950XL B&H still has a few left. I would probably wait 2 or three weeks until world mobile congress though since your 535 is still working for now.

 

[xandros9]

Before buying an Android phone, consider the security implications. Do you do online banking etc. on your phone? Tap to pay ? Then you will want a secure OS (like W10M) which is promptly updated for security and other patches. Chances are, any Android phone available for a similar price to the Lumia 950XL will be running an out of date OS and will be unlikely to promptly recieve patches, if ever. My wife went from Android to Windows phone precisely because of the lack of OS updates.

You just have to choose wisely.

Nexus, Pixel, BlackBerry devices are promptly patched. Within days in fact.

Now that $10 prepaid Android phone or random Samsung A, well...

 

[N_LaRUE]

I would't bother with any new non-Windows Nokia phones, they're Nokia in name only, and are manufactured by HMD in China.

You have that a bit wrong.

HMD is made up of ex-Nokia executives and are licencing the name Nokia. Technically, HMD IS Nokia but they are legally separated. You're getting Nokia engineering for the phones. Nokia had a plant in China making the old WP phones.

Foxconn is making the phones in China. The same company that makes iPhones. So quality shouldn't be an issue.

I'm curious to see what they bring out a MWC. Not sure I'll buy anything, sort of depends.

 

[sinime]

I'm kind of in the same boat... my 950 may or may not have a camera issue (not sure if it's hardware or software), and it's started having an issue with detecting the microSD card (although it could be an issue with the SD card). Going to wait for Mobile World Congress, and possibly //Build, to make a decision.

 

[Stiv X]

My suggestion is hold out or switch platforms. Whenever MS decides to release the Surface Phone or whatever the latest will be called, it will be running on ARM. The current WM devices will be obsolete.

 

[Ray Picone]

I have a Microsoft 640 and been using it for over a year and it runs great with Windows 10 mobile, I prefer it over the Samsung Galaxy S7 I also have. I tend to use the Windows phone 95% of the time. Every time I put the sim card back in the Galaxy S7 I can't wait to go back to the Windows phone. I tend to just put the sim card in the Galaxy S7 to get it to update to the latest version and then I had enough and go back to the windows phone. Much easier to text and listen back to voice messages and even make calls on.

 

[speccy]

You have that a bit wrong.

HMD is made up of ex-Nokia executives and are licencing the name Nokia. Technically, HMD IS Nokia but they are legally separated. You're getting Nokia engineering for the phones. Nokia had a plant in China making the old WP phones.

Foxconn is making the phones in China. The same company that makes iPhones. So quality shouldn't be an issue.

I'm curious to see what they bring out a MWC. Not sure I'll buy anything, sort of depends.

Apologies if my understanding was wrong, but even if it were Nokia themselves, I very much doubt they'll be able to produce a Android phone that everyone will suddenly want more than the other already established brands. There might be some people who don't know any better that see the Nokia badge and assume rightly or wrongly that it is a quality product, but for anyone who even half-knows what happened to Nokia, they'll be at the very least mildly suspicious when they suddenly spot one after them being absent for so long. Also, I don't think having original Nokia employees involved is necessarily a good thing either (maybe it is, maybe it isn't), but are these the same employees who threw away a market they were dominating because they just couldn't move fast enough when they needed to. Nokia went from total domination to complete humiliation, they were lucky Microsoft bought them when they did, they got way more from Microsoft than they were worth.

 

[Vasil Dechkov]

Nokia went from total domination to complete humiliation, they were lucky Microsoft bought them when they did, they got way more from Microsoft than they were worth.

True. I get so annoyed when I read those "I hate Microsoft, Nokia was a saint!" comments on YouTube. Gotta give you a thanks.

Sent from mTalk

 

[sinime]

There is also Cerulean (sp?) to wait and see what they do.

Sent from mTalk

 

[PerfectReign]

x3 (sorry for the pun) on the 950xl. You can probably pick it up cheap on eBay or offer up. (no there's not an app but the Android/ios ones suck)

I was using my 950xl yesterday at my sons game and the camera is fantastic.

Sent from mTalk

 

[N_LaRUE]

Apologies if my understanding was wrong, but even if it were Nokia themselves, I very much doubt they'll be able to produce a Android phone that everyone will suddenly want more than the other already established brands. There might be some people who don't know any better that see the Nokia badge and assume rightly or wrongly that it is a quality product, but for anyone who even half-knows what happened to Nokia, they'll be at the very least mildly suspicious when they suddenly spot one after them being absent for so long. Also, I don't think having original Nokia employees involved is necessarily a good thing either (maybe it is, maybe it isn't), but are these the same employees who threw away a market they were dominating because they just couldn't move fast enough when they needed to. Nokia went from total domination to complete humiliation, they were lucky Microsoft bought them when they did, they got way more from Microsoft than they were worth.

The phone industry changed with the iPhone. It caught everyone off guard. The Microsoft purchase was a mistake and everyone knew that. Nokia as a company, excluding the mobile division, has been doing just fine. They make quite a bit of money.

The other thing is, Nokia is known for quality. What people are going to be looking for is three things from Nokia - quality, camera and price. If they hit all three they will have a good selling product. If they can produce them quick enough to meet orders then they'll have a great product.

I don't know what industry you work in but in my industry there's thing called 'lessons learned'. If the guys at HMD have been paying attention and learned from their mistakes then we may see Nokia as a popular phone again. They may never be as big, but maybe second to Samsung (and lets face it, Samsung is not exactly a shinning example anymore) but who knows right? I know the Pixel is king at the moment but there's always opportunity.

A lot of people have called MS slow to move over the years, typically referring to them as the 'lumbering software giant'. They've made a lot of changes. Are you suggesting that Nokia can't do the same? They've had a couple of years to think about things.

Anyway, with the release of the Nokia 6 they had good pre-orders. All we can do is wait and see. I'm curious more than anything and want to see what they come up with.

 

[speccy]

I wish them luck, but without a huge marketing budget a la Samsung and Apple, I can't see them getting anywhere. Camera technology on phones has kind of plateaued now, it's not the differentiator it once was, so even with a decent camera, I don't think it'd be a massive selling point for them. The Android handset market is not a place I would want to be, look at HTC, they produce good handsets that are well reviewed, but even they are in trouble!

I was aware that Nokia still lives on (successfully) in other markets.

 

[N_LaRUE]

I wish them luck, but without a huge marketing budget a la Samsung and Apple, I can't see them getting anywhere. Camera technology on phones has kind of plateaued now, it's not the differentiator it once was, so even with a decent camera, I don't think it'd be a massive selling point for them. The Android handset market is not a place I would want to be, look at HTC, they produce good handsets that are well reviewed, but even they are in trouble!

I was aware that Nokia still lives on (successfully) in other markets.

I'll leave you with this. Who made Windows Phone popular? It wasn't MS.

 

[speccy]

I'll leave you with this. Who made Windows Phone popular? It wasn't MS.

No-one made Windows phones popular, that was the problem, though granted, Nokia worked as hard as they could and did actually get a half decent market share in some countries, but by that point it was too late. Microsoft needed to have their OS ready around 18 months earlier than it was, and then Nokia might have had a better chance of making a go of it, but by not having a decent OS of their own, and then having to wait on Microsoft, it was all too little too late, and the writing was on the wall. Microsoft then decimated what was left of Nokia after purchasing it (can't blame them for this as it was losing a ton of cash still), but this left them with just the last couple of Lumia's and nothing else going forward. At this point, market share began to freefall and has done ever since, one model from Alcatel, another from HP, and possibly a couple of other OEMs is not going to save them now. It's a shame as the interface on Windows phones is way better than IOS and Android imo.

Another reset of the OS from Microsoft will effectively kill their phone OS completely, those that have hung on until now (much like myself) will finally leave, and unless whatever Microsoft come up with next is truly groundbreaking, it's game over for them in mobile. All this talk of running x86 app on Arm devices is all well and good, but average Joe will not see the benefit of this at all, there may be a case for business users, but they'll never have a mass market product with this approach. If they want a mass market product, it's the hardware that will win it for them, much like the Surface range of products, but a Surface phone will need to be something completely fresh, not just another rectangular slab, maybe something with screens both front and rear perhaps, that can then fold out to work as a single larger screen... just an idea, but basically it's got to offer something genuinely useful that hasn't been seen before and can't be copied quickly by others.

 

[DarthVedder]

Another reset of the OS from Microsoft will effectively kill their phone OS completely, those that have hung on until now (much like myself) will finally leave, and unless whatever Microsoft come up with next is truly groundbreaking, it's game over for them in mobile.

Windows 10 Mobile is already dead. We've had great hardware in the past (my Icon still holds its own and frankly I like it better than my newer iPhone), but it doesn't matter if we don't have the killer apps.

Windows 10 on ARM would be a completely new OS, that will have to start from scratch, most likely alienating whatever Win10M fans that are still around when it's released, because the existing phones will likely not be compatible.

 

[SammyD97]

Honestly I'd say jump ship. There's little reason to stay especially if you have to contend with a 535, this coming from a 535 user.