Hi, my name is...and I'm a Windows 10 mobile addict

[westernwombat]

I think you should factor in to the articles on "Windows Phone futures" that appear here regularly, the more analytical and mature / grown-up discussion exhibited by this author on ComputerWorld -

The missing link in Microsoft’s A.I. strategy

The company’s minuscule mobile presence is likely the reason it kept Windows Phone on life support for so long.

by Preston Gralla (Computerworld (US)) - 04 December, 2017 21:00

 

[naddy6969]

“ I still think this should be the future of computing, particularly on college campuses. Imagine if every dorm room and every spot in the library had a monitor, keyboard and mouse (and continuum dock). Students could just go plug their phone in anywhere and get work done with out even having to lug around a less portable laptop.”

Imagine if every dorm room and every library just had wifi, so students could get work done with their own laptops/tablets/phones, WITHOUT with expense of providing hundreds of monitors/keyboards/mice and thousands of useless Windows phones.

Which is what every college campus provides.

 

[beman39]

OK I'll admit it " Microsoft got that ONE part right". Are you happy now?

And nope, no passenger required if one uses a little self-control - unless of course it's an emergency.

no I think they got more than that ONE, they got more like a half dozen, but for many stupid reasons let them fall by the waste side...

I think what he’s saying is texting while driving in any form takes your attention and mind off the road which is dangerous.

yes because we never talk to passengers and shush them when they say something to us when we're driving, because we might get distracted when driving rly: give me a break LOL interacting with Cortana and interacting with her while we drive to listen to and answer txt messages via voice dictation with 2 hands on the wheel is no different than conversating with our passenger.... been doing it for over 4 years and never got into an accident..or even close to one.... and still seem to amaze my passenger that I was able to receive and answer my txt without ever taking my eyes off the road :wink: BTW this forum needs more emoticons than the 25 they have to offer...really missing the rolling eyes emoticon... I'm sure that would be over used on this forum lol

 

[aximtreo]

Lumia 1520 (one of my all-time favorites), Lumia 950-XL (a letdown after the long wait) and an HP Elite x3 (the still-reigning champ at handling email, documents, and OneDrive, calendar integration). But currently using a Samsung 8+ and now a Samsung Note 8 as my reluctant daily driver.

Look, I get the joke, but this thread's title also stands for the attitude that sank the platform. The idea that it was always somehow quixotic or wrong-headed to even consider anything other than an Apple or Android device. This sentiment permeated almost every review or trade article written about Windows 10 Mobile over the last few years. Every article had to be bracketed by the disclaimer that the platform was failed and doomed and using it was necessarily a fool's errand. The truth is something other than disorder brought many of us to Windows Mobile in the first place, it was the ultimately unrealized promise of a truly integrated phone and desktop operating system across devices. And it was the slow but significant progress in delivering on that promise, and the brilliance of Live Tiles, that kept us hopeful for so long. The thing was the Windows Mobile narrative was always framed in the media by negativity and resentment against Microsoft. Microsoft should be blamed for making itself vulnerable to the anti-campaign and by being so clumsy and slow in marketing and communicating generally. But the under- and over-tones were supplied by Windows Mobiles' rivals and by those in their orbits.

The devices just plain worked. The apps failure to materialize was irritating and later fatal for its continuing viability. But the devices themselves worked and delivered great productivity. I ignored all the naysayers for my years with Windows Mobile but over time, the lack of a few critical apps made it a nonstarter at my work. So I got Androids I didn't love but believed and hoped that I would gain great benefits of abundant apps. Sure, it's nice not to have to question or worry whether I will be able to run some new app with an Android, but the overall experience has disappointed, comparative to Windows Mobile. And even more surprising, my assessment has become more firm as the months have gone on and I've travelled the learning curve. Instead of becoming smoother and turnkey, the Androids are constantly atrophying and becoming slower and more crashy. So yeah, I still miss Windows Mobile as a daily driver not out of habit but because the alternatives do not satisfy.

^ What he said and very eloquently I might add.

 

[anon(50597)]

yes because we never talk to passengers and shush them when they say something to us when we're driving, because we might get distracted when driving rly: give me a break LOL interacting with Cortana and interacting with her while we drive to listen to and answer txt messages via voice dictation with 2 hands on the wheel is no different than conversating with our passenger.... been doing it for over 4 years and never got into an accident..or even close to one.... and still seem to amaze my passenger that I was able to receive and answer my txt without ever taking my eyes off the road :wink: BTW this forum needs more emoticons than the 25 they have to offer...really missing the rolling eyes emoticon... I'm sure that would be over used on this forum lol

Yes, people have been driving dangerously forever, that doesn’t make it smart.
I think is a nice application for Windows Mobile and probably safer. I just don’t find it necessary to text while driving. If it works for you that’s awesome.
Perhaps if you ask nicely the mods will put in a rolling eyes emoji just for you. Seems like another necessary feature.

 

[Wevenhuis]

I don't consider myself an windows phone/windows mobile addict. But having been accustomed with the good and the bad in the windows ecosystem for several decades, has made my adoption of a windows phone device a relatively painless chioce to go for. Windows Phone has thus far fit my work and personal flow since windows mobile 6.x.

I currently own and use a 1520 and 950XL. My 1520 battery died after 4 years, but I repaired the phone with a new battery, and it currently works like new and is happily running windows 10 mobile (Thanks Microsoft!). I use my 950XL as my daily driver and my 1520 as my back-up device.

In the early days of windows phone 7 I had a HTC x310e and a galaxy note first gen. I loved both devices to bits. But the interesting experience for me is that I gravitated towards windows phone more after several months of using both devices. Android was increasingly alienating for me as I found it quite difficult to integrate the device in my workflow with windows, despite loving the stylus functionality. Android, for me was too problematic get the syncing and updating right. The skewed app choice that was less compatible with windows was a problem, as it forced me to use the device as a standalone device. I had this issue less with the HTC. Also the two wonderful designs of hub apps and live tiles, made the OS wonderful and easy to use. Microsoft's pitch for "putting people first" and the "get in, get out, get things done" with the OS worked perfectly for me. With android I just got lost with what seems endless tweaking of the phone and the OS to get it to work for me. Samsung's OS+ android wasn't working for me, it was the other way around. I found myself wishing, if only windows phone was on here with stylus support, it would be great! I found my choice! I was happy!
This continued with the 1520 and 950XL. My 1520 was awsome for my big hands, a great big 6 inch screen for awesome reading and a great camera. I would have used my 1520 longer, but I was stuck with a failing battery and in an emergency to have a new phone, because my 1520 battery was failing I bought a 950XL roughly six months after official release. I didn't have the time to wait for the phone repair. I was suprised that the 950XL worked better than what I read on dreadful blog reviews. But I noticed microsoft did a huge job to make the phone work great on this device. The camera was slightly better, to my surprise than my lumia 1520, I adored the oled screen, it was snappy, and I was surprised how better continuum was than on my 1520. It felt like a pc on my phone projected on a larger screen!

I use my 950XL intensively for work and private use. It's a great and snappy device. The store choice of apps is enough for me. Because I work in healthcare I was hoping to see more android apps, but that remains a disappointment.

I think the UI and live tiles are still a forte over android to use on a daily basis. Not sure how to explain it, but it just works for me, the glanceable information, the customazability on the startscreen, live tile folders, the actionable tiles, the free maps and navigation with windows maps and navigation work great in everyday use for multiple visits. Just save your route as a live tile. The next time just press the icon and hey presto, done, you're on your way. Awesome!

With my android gingerbread OS I had the unfortuante experience of unwanted apps and crapware being installed on my phone and the necessity of likely having to install an actual virus scanner to keep my phone up to par with security. I always found that a weird experience for a smartphone, and I didn't like the prospect of dealing with it on a mobile device. With windows phone I've always felt safe. I never had the sense I had to concern myself over safety above the security that was already available and in place on the phone. I have thusfar never had a bad security experience with windows phone, which has increase my trust in the platform over android. I don't know how it is in 2017 and if I would think differently if I used android or iOS now.

I have tinkered with windows mobile and windows phone 7 ROMs for a little while via XDA for a little while. Maybe I was a bit addicted then on the platform. But the results of the tinkering never really satisfied me, because most ROMs and executables never were really stable enough for realworld daily use and didn't offer a better experience than what I already had. In that regard I'm happy windows 10 mobile came around, in which even the phone was updatable to a new OS update. It felt like a breath of fresh air when I experienced this the first time on windows phone.

I'm sad to see windows 10 mobile in maintenance mode. I still use both devices. Oddly, both are still improving in time with performance and stability, which is a great experience. Despite the mainstream remarks of windows phone being "dead", the experience, for me, is still damn nice.

Four things I would still like to see happen is:
1. more live tile functionality and customizability.
2. landscape mode for the start screen.
3. continuum with at least two apps that I can open side by side. ( I think windows 10 mobile is then for me a viable option to use as a true pc on my mobile and be productive. Now with one app open at a time on the screen is a little counterproductive in real world use)
4. More UWP app support in continuum.

I think if these 4 points were addressed in the last 12 months, I think windows 10 mobile would still be a great potential and recommendable for daily use today on a windows phone or oem smartphone device.

 

[Jairo Jamyang Moreno]

I took about an hour to read through all the posts up to here. Last one being December 5 of last year, and mine is the first of this year, hard to believe, isn't it? I feel less lonely by reading through these notes, but still pretty lonely that I am the first one this year to post here. I hope I'm not the last this year. It's already February 20, past midnight and I got to get up early for a serious appointment.

It's hard for me to confess that I am an addict. But of what? Am I simply an addict of smart phones in general, or of this particular platform? So if I go on to Android, does that make me less of a fool, more reasonable because there are more addicts because there are more handsets in that platform? Or same goes for if I move on to an iPhone. So I think it would make me and others feel better if I say that I am an addict of smart phones with a preference for a platform that is near extinction. Or something like that. I don't know, I still feel sad and a little pissed off.

And I may add that Microsoft is making it harder and harder for me to stay in this platform by introducing a bug to the Microsoft Edge browser and its recent inability to not load PDF files. It amazes me that few people are experiencing this. If it is only a handful then there must be a fix such as factory resetting my phone, but I have yet to find someone that has found that to be a fix. Last I heard was that Microsoft is working on it.

I don't know what else to say right now. I'm just tired.

I am enjoying my HP Elite X3, though. I am trying to get things done with it, and teach my girlfriend how to use hers. I still hang on to my Lumia 950XL, it's still okay. It does have some burnt in images of the three buttons at the navigation bar at the bottom that sometimes like for videos, hide.

I get good pictures with the Lumia. Although a bit over saturated and the tone temperature seems to be towards the warm yellow-reds versus cool blue-greens. But perhaps that is the setting of my display. But Lumia takes good pictures in lighted but dark environments, such as a bar. Sometimes it's better to take the picture without flash than with. But sometimes it's good to experiment with the settings such as the brightness before taking the picture.

I happen to have a decent Android phone so that whatever apps I really desperately need that aren't available in Windows store, I just install on the Android, and I can use it there. I sometimes have to share my internet by turning on my hotspot on my HP Elite X3, which has the SIM card and so is my primary phone.

I love using Continuum. Okay, so it's not as comfortable, complete, and nimble as regular Windows 10, but it's okay. Good for fixing my contacts, trying out Hulu, browsing on MS Edge, and playing videos on MyTube! I can also get a Continuum like experience with a smart TV such as the LG that comes with Miracast built in, so as long as I got both connected to my home Internet network, then I can use the pad to do my phone stuff on the large screen. Since Netflix app doesn't work with continuum, I simply have pinned to the Start a tile of Netflix on Microsoft Edge with my login information saved. So that works just as well. Unfortunately I can't get SundanceNow nor Amazon Prime to work. For that I have to use my Android phone (which no longer has a functioning SIM card, so I use it when connected to WiFi).


Actually using the Screen Beam Mini 2 instead of other ways seems to work really well because unlike other ways such as using Microsoft's Miracast adapter, you don't need to connect the phone to the home WiFi, with Screen Beam Mini 2 you sort of connect as if it were Bluetooth but not really, and you use the phone's cellular data to get internet information, and it gets displayed on the monitor that has HDMI and the Screen Beam is connected to an HDMI port. So in a way, the Screen Beam Mini 2 is like a wireless dock.


Okay, enough crying. Now go to bed.

Jairo

 

[nate0]

@Jairo Jamyang Moreno
I love miracast and my screen beam 2. Don't use it a whole lot but when I need it it's awesome. I heard the pdf issue on Edge was on the insider ring build, correct? I am anticipating Microsoft's next feature update as to what it could encompass...
Having an Android device won't kill ya, but from our angle it is less productive, right? If I were 20 yrs younger I would probably think and share differently about Android, but for where I am at now, I need Windows 10 Mobile. Microsoft better have their next iteration lined up....