I stopped using Windows Mobile a couple of years ago. As much as I tried and really wanted to, I never liked the improved WM10 interface and finally gave up and moved on.
The other day, I pulled the last Windows Phone that I had owned out of the drawer -- the Nokia 925. I hadn't used it in years. I powered it up and got that same empty and disappointing feeling again while I scrolled and poked around the version of WM10 that I had loaded on it as an insider.
For fun, I decided to roll it back to 8.1. It took a while to download all the updates and reinstall all of my old apps. I was pleasantly surprised to find that all of the apps that I used to use were still available. (With all the talk recently of apps leaving the platform, I had wondered about that.) It was fun to organize all the tiles again and I started to remember what I had loved so much about Windows Phone.
I love the lockscreen. The time and date are placed in exactly the right place and my next appointment is always there as a reminder. The slide up to unlock animation is smooth and delightful.
The bold typeface is still gorgeous and intuitive and really stands apart from the bland, fragile fonts that everyone else is using (including WM10).
The People Hub used to be my go-to place to catch up on what my family and friends were up to. It was a fun concept that was (and still is) way ahead of its time. Although some of the functionality is no longer supported, It was fun to browse through it again.
I popped open the Xbox Games app and was greeted by my old friend: my Xbox avatar. She hasn't aged a day since I last saw her. She humorously did backflips and danced when I tapped on the screen. When I ignored her for a bit, she ran away. With a tap, she was back and she got dizzy and fell down when I shook my phone. I remember that she used to get angry and stomp her foot and crack the screen if you did something to annoy her. I couldn't remember how to do that anymore...
Sure, some of the apps on WM don't have all the features that I have gotten used to on my current platform of choice (and that ends up being a pretty big deal to me), but it was fun to remember again why I had fallen in love with Windows Phone in the first place way back when. I remembered that once upon a time, using my smartphone used to be fun. Over the past couple of days, I have found myself pulling the old phone out again here and there -- just for fun. Somehow that makes me a little bit sad.
The other day, I pulled the last Windows Phone that I had owned out of the drawer -- the Nokia 925. I hadn't used it in years. I powered it up and got that same empty and disappointing feeling again while I scrolled and poked around the version of WM10 that I had loaded on it as an insider.
For fun, I decided to roll it back to 8.1. It took a while to download all the updates and reinstall all of my old apps. I was pleasantly surprised to find that all of the apps that I used to use were still available. (With all the talk recently of apps leaving the platform, I had wondered about that.) It was fun to organize all the tiles again and I started to remember what I had loved so much about Windows Phone.
I love the lockscreen. The time and date are placed in exactly the right place and my next appointment is always there as a reminder. The slide up to unlock animation is smooth and delightful.
The bold typeface is still gorgeous and intuitive and really stands apart from the bland, fragile fonts that everyone else is using (including WM10).
The People Hub used to be my go-to place to catch up on what my family and friends were up to. It was a fun concept that was (and still is) way ahead of its time. Although some of the functionality is no longer supported, It was fun to browse through it again.
I popped open the Xbox Games app and was greeted by my old friend: my Xbox avatar. She hasn't aged a day since I last saw her. She humorously did backflips and danced when I tapped on the screen. When I ignored her for a bit, she ran away. With a tap, she was back and she got dizzy and fell down when I shook my phone. I remember that she used to get angry and stomp her foot and crack the screen if you did something to annoy her. I couldn't remember how to do that anymore...
Sure, some of the apps on WM don't have all the features that I have gotten used to on my current platform of choice (and that ends up being a pretty big deal to me), but it was fun to remember again why I had fallen in love with Windows Phone in the first place way back when. I remembered that once upon a time, using my smartphone used to be fun. Over the past couple of days, I have found myself pulling the old phone out again here and there -- just for fun. Somehow that makes me a little bit sad.
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