Can the "flagship" live up to expectations?

[fatclue_98]

To all the members of Windows Central, riddle me this. Would you rather see a flagship that mirrors the competition spec-for-spec, or would you rather see an updated 1520 with a truly killer feature nobody else has? I'm not referring to a fancy fingerprint scanner or Wacom support. I'm talking about a device that makes my coffee in the morning, turns on my laptop, starts my car and walks my dog. Well, not exactly but you get the idea. I'm serious about the coffee, though.

 

[RJ Priest]

To all the members of Windows Central, riddle me this. Would you rather see a flagship that mirrors the competition spec-for-spec, or would you rather see an updated 1520 with a truly killer feature nobody else has? I'm not referring to a fancy fingerprint scanner or Wacom support. I'm talking about a device that makes my coffee in the morning, turns on my laptop, starts my car and walks my dog. Well, not exactly but you get the idea. I'm serious about the coffee, though.

For me, the truly killer feature must be imaging and audio capture related. Just like Nokia raised the bar with the 808, then the 920 (OIS & low-light quality), and again with the 1020 (lossless digital zoom & full manual control). The next camera must be something that really takes a huge step format and makes other smartphones look inadequate (again). This is the only area where Windows Phone stays a step ahead and makes the others play catchup. We don't need gimmicks, just an overall higher quality experience than what other platforms offer.

 

[fatclue_98]

For me, the truly killer feature must be imaging and audio capture related. Just like Nokia raised the bar with the 808, then the 920 (OIS & low-light quality), and again with the 1020 (lossless digital zoom & full manual control). The next camera must be something that really takes a huge step format and makes other smartphones look inadequate (again). This is the only area where Windows Phone stays a step ahead and makes the others play catchup. We don't need gimmicks, just an overall higher quality experience than what other platforms offer.

I would agree with that if the 1020 had made a dent in sales with such a superior effort at the time of release. Unfortunately, buyers didn't exactly flock to the 1020 for the awesome camera or the 1520 with its array of AAC mikes. This could help:

No secure SIM card or special app needed to make mobile payments using a Windows 10 handset

 

[Blacklac]

The 1020 was atleast known by people due to marketing. When i first got mine, people kept asking me if it was "that phone with the camera". Unfortunately, it wasnt sold on all carriers. I think if it was a globally released phone, it would have sold decent, for WP devices.

 

[peachy001]

I think a 1030 would be the wrong phone to focus on. It is too niche. I reckon the 1030 should be q4 2015, or q1 or 2 2016. It should have the 820 Snapdragon inside. Its camera tech deserves it.

This year, a 940 and 1530 are required. Both need a min of 32gb, plus sd support. And the camera needs to be top class. I don't need extra megapixels, I need top quality images and video, with fancy mics.

Wireless charging, 3gb RAM, 1080p, and a suitable battery.

Must be available on all carriers in as many countries as possible, and also Canada needs some love.

 

[Grimlock]

I'm afraid of the next lumia flagship having a snapdragon 810. The processor still runs hot and sacrifices battery life for a very small bump in performance. MS might be better off using a snapdragon 805 this year and going with a 820+ next year.

 

[Blacklac]

I'm afraid of the next lumia flagship having a snapdragon 810. The processor still runs hot and sacrifices battery life for a very small bump in performance. MS might be better off using a snapdragon 805 this year and going with a 820+ next year.

I heard MS were going to use fans.

 

[anon(5969054)]

i heard ms were going to use fans.

lol

 

[Zulfigar]

I'm afraid of the next lumia flagship having a snapdragon 810. The processor still runs hot and sacrifices battery life for a very small bump in performance. MS might be better off using a snapdragon 805 this year and going with a 820+ next year.

Depends on who you ask for the heat issue. Neither the LG Flex 2 and HTC One M9 are having heat issues, as noted by the writers of Android Central.

Who knows though, maybe they're going Intel. We'll have to wait and see.

 

[RaRa85]

Depends on who you ask for the heat issue. Neither the LG Flex 2 and HTC One M9 are having heat issues, as noted by the writers of Android Central.

Who knows though, maybe they're going Intel. We'll have to wait and see.

Yeah we know. We always have to wait...

 

[Blacklac]

Samsung made that crap up to promote their chip. XD

 

[peachy001]

The 810 is confirmed use for an MS phone this year. There is little chance the masses will allow MS to wait for the 820. The expectations are for high end gear for late summer or early autumn.

 

[Grimlock]

Depends on who you ask for the heat issue. Neither the LG Flex 2 and HTC One M9 are having heat issues, as noted by the writers of Android Central.

Who knows though, maybe they're going Intel. We'll have to wait and see.

I'm not familiar with Android Central reviewers, but I generally only trust reviews written by journalists with engineering/cs backgrounds when it comes to these kind of topics. I should have clarified by running hot that it no longer seems uncomfortably hot to hold, but this is because it is throttling.

From anandtech:
"SoC performance is a mild improvement over Snapdragon 805, and a significant improvement in GPU over Snapdragon 801. However, it’s definitely alarming at how small the differences are when Snapdragon 810 is placed in a phone, and it seems that the thermal output of the Snapdragon 810 is high enough that sustained tests end up placing it somewhere around the range of the Snapdragon 805 in CPU-bound tests."

and

"This is really the first generation to my memory that actually regressed on battery life in our benchmarks, which is concerning for any device with a Snapdragon 810 SoC. It may be that this is just HTC’s problem, but given that HTC has generally managed to do well at extracting maximum battery efficiency from previous platforms I’m not sure if other OEMs will be able to improve the situation here."

There is a part two so maybe something could happen between now and then, but they were using a fresh firmware update for the first part of their review.

 

[psudotechzealot]

Sure, If they make a surface phone/phablet.

 

[fatclue_98]

I'm not familiar with Android Central reviewers, but I generally only trust reviews written by journalists with engineering/cs backgrounds when it comes to these kind of topics. I should have clarified by running hot that it no longer seems uncomfortably hot to hold, but this is because it is throttling.

From anandtech:
"SoC performance is a mild improvement over Snapdragon 805, and a significant improvement in GPU over Snapdragon 801. However, it?s definitely alarming at how small the differences are when Snapdragon 810 is placed in a phone, and it seems that the thermal output of the Snapdragon 810 is high enough that sustained tests end up placing it somewhere around the range of the Snapdragon 805 in CPU-bound tests."

and

"This is really the first generation to my memory that actually regressed on battery life in our benchmarks, which is concerning for any device with a Snapdragon 810 SoC. It may be that this is just HTC?s problem, but given that HTC has generally managed to do well at extracting maximum battery efficiency from previous platforms I?m not sure if other OEMs will be able to improve the situation here."

There is a part two so maybe something could happen between now and then, but they were using a fresh firmware update for the first part of their review.

It's quite telling that the performance drops considerably when installed in a phone. I would be looking at the packaging requirements to make sure that heat dissipation is being properly addressed. When there are mutual conflicts, form should always follow function.

 

[peachy001]

Man, that is a shame about the heat and battery life. I hold Anandtech as the real geek site to be respected.

 

[anon(5969054)]

I really don't want a 810 in my next windows flagship. Please Microsoft avoid this chip!

 

[RaRa85]

I really don't want a 810 in my next windows flagship. Please Microsoft avoid this chip!

I don't care what's in it as long as it runs fast and efficient and is available for T-Mobile as well as other carriers.

 

[peachy001]

I really don't want a 810 in my next windows flagship. Please Microsoft avoid this chip!

Are there many other options? The flagship will be released before the 820 is released.

 

[Chuck Finley69]

MS will get no real market share unless app situation gets better. They have same problem as blackberry and will focus on enterprise for now.