I think Windows Phone is Done!

[Andrea988]

Stop with the doom and gloom please, and look at the big picture. Microsoft is investing heavily into Windows Phone right now, creating new phones and new apps. Posts like this are completely absurd.

I haven't read all of this thread but I agree totally. Flagship phones, in the size that most people buy these days, that being around 5" screens, are represented here by the 930 and that was only introduced in April. That wipes the floor with the iPhone 6 in my opinion which has only just been released, and the 730/735 which has the same screen size and resolution as the iPhone 6 (and is a good match in most other areas) has only just been released. What's the problem?

Add to that the fact that a lot of Android vendors are struggling as the Android market is saturated, with Sony losing a lot of money and Samsung heading the same way, I would say Windows Phone has a very bright future indeed.

 

[Ian Too]

I agree msft failed their phone business. They take Nokia with them down too. If Nokia have used Android instead of Windows Phone or insist on MeeGo, everything would be different now and much better than the current situation.

Absolutely, the whole of Nokia would by now have gone down the drain they'd been circling for years.

You and other Nokia fans forget that Microsoft injected $250,000,000 a quarter into Nokia, that's how the development of the Lumia devices was paid for. Without that cash there would have been no new devices worth talking about, so how exactly were they going to compete?

In reality, Nokia as phone company were too far gone to survive without a partner. The adoption of Android would have made them one of many and Google would not have given the company any special treatment.

Another simple truth is Nokia laboured on with Symbian because they didn't think Android was good enough and in that their judgment was good. As the One M8 shows, Android is inferior to Windows Phone, so an Android Lumia 800 would not have performed as well the one we had.

It really is time to stop moaning about the end of Nokia and how terrible Elop was. The future is Microsoft and its '3 screens and a cloud' strategy, which ensures that there will be Windows phones if not Windows Phones. As far as phones is concerned Nokia is dead, long live Microsoft, because the world needs an alternative to Android.

Microsoft, I am one of many people who committed to Windows Phone early on and am about to upgrade from my Lumia 920. Right now, I have no upgrade option. The HTC One M8 for Windows isn't even available in my country (the UK being such a backwater), so my only choice is the Lumia 930, a device which is considered obsolete by Verizon. Why should I be interested? Give me an option please.

 

[Steve Adams]

Absolutely, the whole of Nokia would by now have gone down the drain they'd been circling for years.

You and other Nokia fans forget that Microsoft injected $250,000,000 a quarter into Nokia, that's how the development of the Lumia devices was paid for. Without that cash there would have been no new devices worth talking about, so how exactly were they going to compete?



In reality, Nokia as phone company were too far gone to survive without a partner. The adoption of Android would have made them one of many and Google would not have given the company any special treatment.

Another simple truth is Nokia laboured on with Symbian because they didn't think Android was good enough and in that their judgment was good. As the One M8 shows, Android is inferior to Windows Phone, so an Android Lumia 800 would not have performed as well the one we had.

It really is time to stop moaning about the end of Nokia and how terrible Elop was. The future is Microsoft and its '3 screens and a cloud' strategy, which ensures that there will be Windows phones if not Windows Phones. As far as phones is concerned Nokia is dead, long live Microsoft, because the world needs an alternative to Android.

Microsoft, I am one of many people who committed to Windows Phone early on and am about to upgrade from my Lumia 920. Right now, I have no upgrade option. The HTC One M8 for Windows isn't even available in my country (the UK being such a backwater), so my only choice is the Lumia 930, a device which is considered obsolete by Verizon. Why should I be interested? Give me an option please.

Who cares if verison "considers" it obsolete? its a freakin awesome phone. My 1020 is over a year old and its the best phone I have ever used. I owned evrything from the "flagship android models" to the "flagship apple models" and the 1020 is much better than all of them. The 930 is awesome and mops up the ip6. You really are putting way to much weight in the "flagship" part,.....thats a marketing term made to sell the others crap phones to uneducated consumers.

the 930 will be a better phone than both samsungs and apple's SO CALLED FLAGSHIPS.

As for purchasing new phones. Just find a new unlocked version of any phone and buy it. pop your sim card in and enjoy. I never would buy JUST what my service provider sells now. All they had for windows phones at the time was the 520.

 

[salmanahmad]

sigh another silly baseless rant
why dont people get what ms is doing here
by mid 2015 i think you will say google and apple are doomed(after windows 10)
windows 10 brings them a leap forward

I don't doubt that Windows Phone is progressing however would you care to enlighten me with the features of Windows 10 that will doom Android and iOS?

 

[salmanahmad]

anyways WP users dont lose hope,just like in star wars,the ways of the Jedi will return
same way WP will make its comeback in 2015

What do you mean by comeback? Windows Phone was never near the top. What comeback is it supposed to make?

Every single year, the same stuff. 2012 will be the year for WP, and then, 2013 will be the year for Microsoft and then 2014 will be the year for Microsoft...and you know how it goes.

Every. Single. Year. The same thing happens WP never thrives.

Sure it'll gain a little bit of marketshare here and there, but no year has yet to come in favour of the "massive growth" for Windows Phone that people keep on talking about.

 

[Hoekie]

....Windows 10 is a sign of that, the Modern UI was practically removed.
Probably Microsoft will concentrate their efforts in the enterprise market where Windows is still relevant, and use iOS and Android to distribute their apps and services for consumers.

W10 as just released is 'Technical Preview for Enterprise'.
The consumer version with consumer stuff and Modern UI browser has not been released yet.
So, hold your horses

 

[Timtcee]

I just posted a thread about feeling the need to go over to iPhone because WP is not catching on and the apps are so inferior to iOS and Android apps. Microsoft does care about WP and I don't think they will abandon it. What I think is happening is that it be abandoned by default because there are just not enough users. MS has not come out with a reason for iOS or Android users to switch. I thought Mc Laruen was going to be a game changer but MS nixed that and what are we left with now? MS needs to create something like the McLauren that will get people really excited and want to switch but they continue to drop the ball and just play catch up.

WP users are second class smart phone citizens. Take the Icon for instance I'm working on the Dev. preview so I have Cortana and 8.1 but most Icon users are still running 8.0 with no Cortana!! What the hell is Verizon waiting for? why can't MS put pressure on them to upgrade this phone?
It's situations like that I believe that will force people like me who love the WP to go else where.

 

[Hoekie]

We don't need masses. 10% will do and in Europa WP has that allready.
With Windows 10 on all devices and one Windows Store, anyone can see improvement in apps. Really the only part where people still can complain.

 

[Jorge Holguin]

I've been a huge promoter of Windows Phones since I bought my 810 from T-Mobile 2 years ago. Friends and colleagues I showed it to loved it. A few even switched from the iphones/androids to Nokia Lumia. But now I see the writing on the wall. T-mobile EOL'ed my 810 about 60 days after I bought it. I didn't mind. I still loved the phone. But for the last 10 months, I've eagerly wanted a larger Lumia. I've been patient, but now with the news that Verizon has stopped carrying the Icon, and MS completely silently as to any new flagship phones on the horizon, I personally believe they're getting ready to bail out of the hardware and phone OS system completely.

Sure, they'll still make apps for the competition, Cortana will eventually end up on the X1 and pc ecosystem, possibly even as an option on android and iphone. But I really think all of us current Windows phone owners are really just owners of "Zunes" at this point. I would love to be proven wrong. But the silence from MS regarding any new flagship phones is deafening, and I think they're just waiting to announce the death . Rip Windows Phone Ecosystem.

Questions
1: Why would you care what Verizon does, if you are a T-Mobile user?
2: Why don't you buy an unlocked WP compatible with T-Mobile bands? *
3: MS just announce that W10 is coming to WP, how is this equal to what happened with the Zune [that btw is/was one of the best players ever released]
I've been a T-Mobile costumer for 8 yrs now and using WP since WP7; 810 was a good phone but compare to the 925 the only thing better was the size. *: I just bough an unlocked 32gb 1520, it works perfect on T-Mobile's bands I have LTE and 4G, so 32gb + 64gb SD + 15gb OneDrive = 111gbs. T-Mobile unlike Verizon and AT&T don't hold the updates as they do and with Denim in its way my 1520 will be my regular phone until a WP10 shows up.

 

[ChinuKabi]

Even Android was mainstream only after 4 years after its inception. So be patient

 

[Misterfocus]

Windows phone sucks for the kind of people who read this site: first adopters and flagship phone buyers. Read the market reports and the writing is on the wall: Windows phone's success depends on sales of low-end phones. That's where the growth has been for a couple of years. As a 920 user hoping for a new flagship on AT&T, yeah, it sucks rocks. And unless Microsoft gets off its *** and produces flagship phones, people like us might leave. But if (if) they sell enough of the lower-end phones, it'll still be worth their while. I was at the Microsoft store testing low-end windows phones yesterday, and for the money, they're actually pretty good, at least the low-end lumias. Too bad the newest high-end phone they have is the gimped 1520 or the (gimped because it's on Verizon) HTC one.

 

[Jorge Holguin]

I just posted a thread about feeling the need to go over to iPhone because WP is not catching on and the apps are so inferior to iOS and Android apps. Microsoft does care about WP and I don't think they will abandon it. What I think is happening is that it be abandoned by default because there are just not enough users. MS has not come out with a reason for iOS or Android users to switch. I thought Mc Laruen was going to be a game changer but MS nixed that and what are we left with now? MS needs to create something like the McLauren that will get people really excited and want to switch but they continue to drop the ball and just play catch up.

WP users are second class smart phone citizens. Take the Icon for instance I'm working on the Dev. preview so I have Cortana and 8.1 but most Icon users are still running 8.0 with no Cortana!! What the hell is Verizon waiting for? why can't MS put pressure on them to upgrade this phone?
It's situations like that I believe that will force people like me who love the WP to go else where.

Well I don't consider myself a second class smart phone citizen, just because with don't have all the apps don't mean I am. I have all the apps I can require and many as well; yes it is true that the gap still exist but WP go head to head with any phone on the market. Let's remember MS doesn't need to win the race, it needs to stay in the race and see the child grow. BB just realized that by focusing in what it does best [business]. I still remember when Motorola, Sonic Ericsson & Nokia were kings of the pack, and going way back when Sony was the leader in electronic world. Guess what! None of them are any more; history has shown that companies go up and down and as long as they stay in the race the chances to go back up are always across the street. Apple is the best example of that.

 

[EssThree]

I want to argue with you and tell you you're wrong, but I've just realised recently that I've had Stockholm syndrome for the past year.I keep forgiving Windows Phone's shortcomings, and keep telling myself that MS will do something to remove the disadvantages the platform has. That the benefits of sticking it out with Windows Phone outweigh the negatives.
But you know what? Android and iOS are quickly implementing the benefits WP has faster than Microsoft fixes the short comings.

In a month it'll be 4 years for WP and we STILL don't have gapless playback for crying out loud. Uservoice posts are mostly ignored even with tens of thousands of votes. I don't know about you people, but the last time something I genuinely wanted that was added was Cortana, and most of her updates since her release have been novelties at best, with very little expanded functionality. The last feature before her? I don't even remember.
It's not like I've been sitting here and grumbling to myself, either. I've made dozens of posts on Uservoice. I've used the feedback features within the phone. I know I'm not the only one who has.

I've had three Windows Phones, and I don't regret owning them. But I honestly can't see myself buying a fourth, and I've already stopped pushing people to take a look at it. Even Nokia's cameras are becoming less of a selling point. The best of the bunch was the 1020, and there's no confirmed announcement of a successor. The flagship of the year was cancelled.
I look at the Lumia 930 and 1520 and, besides a bump in screen real estate and the improved cameras, maybe some slightly faster loading times; I see ZERO reason to get either of them.

People joke that if you want the best mobile Microsoft experience, buy an iDevice. I always disliked that line of thought. But I'm slowly coming to realise, especially with recent app updates and releases for iOS as well as Android, that it's not a joke anymore. It's a sad, cruel reality. It just doesn't pay to be brand loyal to Microsoft. Why should anyone else even consider swapping to the platform?

I'm know I'm rambling now, I can't even get my thoughts straight I'm so frustrated. But really, I feel like if things carry on as they are now, the dream of a unified OS, of cross compatible devices... it doesn't matter. Because what's the point of a dream if it never comes true?

/melodrama

 

[Jorge Holguin]

I don't doubt that Windows Phone is progressing however would you care to enlighten me with the features of Windows 10 that will doom Android and iOS?

By features we have enough; let's remember the complain hasn't' been the lack of feature is the 'lack' of apps. Many iPhone users won't change even if apples sell them a piece of rock with the apple logo on it; that is a fact. So I would say there is a 10 to 20% of iPhone users that are no blinded by Apple[and maybe more] and in the Android side the % is greater. The Android market is so saturated that people are going to get tired of it and will look for something different. Samsung lost 60% profit.

 

[psoham777]

I don't doubt that Windows Phone is progressing however would you care to enlighten me with the features of Windows 10 that will doom Android and iOS?

If MS told about the upcoming features of WP 10, then this thread would've been totally useless. It's still useless, though some of them might not consider it.

 

[psoham777]

What do you mean by comeback? Windows Phone was never near the top. What comeback is it supposed to make?

Every single year, the same stuff. 2012 will be the year for WP, and then, 2013 will be the year for Microsoft and then 2014 will be the year for Microsoft...and you know how it goes.

Every. Single. Year. The same thing happens WP never thrives.

Sure it'll gain a little bit of marketshare here and there, but no year has yet to come in favour of the "massive growth" for Windows Phone that people keep on talking about.

You are talking about an OS which is already#3, & soon with decreasing iPhone sales& increasing WP sales, it'll be #2.

 

[KhawarNadeem]

People joke that if you want the best mobile Microsoft experience, buy an iDevice. I always disliked that line of thought. But I'm slowly coming to realise, especially with recent app updates and releases for iOS as well as Android, that it's not a joke anymore. It's a sad, cruel reality. It just doesn't pay to be brand loyal to Microsoft. Why should anyone else even consider swapping to the platform?

I'm know I'm rambling now, I can't even get my thoughts straight I'm so frustrated. But really, I feel like if things carry on as they are now, the dream of a unified OS, of cross compatible devices... it doesn't matter. Because what's the point of a dream if it never comes true?

/melodrama

Really, though, how much does it pay to be a brand loyalist to Apple, just for comparison? Every subsequent iPhone they make is more of the same: slightly bigger screen, a faster CPU, somewhat improved camera, slightly improved battery life, and so forth.... And if they get novel things like fingerprint scanners we get things like Glance Screens which are just as rare. In the core OS itself, iOS and WP8 break even in features and novelties.

So really, it all comes down to apps. Software. Microsoft is supposed to the best software company in the world. They have far too much experience to keep making these mistakes. I like to think that if Microsoft would have started out with the NT kernel since WP7, there would have been a LOT more happy customers. Apple had a huge app lead on Android, but Android caught up in due time...

And besides the US, iOS doesn't have a huge marketshare to boast of. It just has loyal customers who are willing to put up with (until recently) small, lower-res displays, and antenna issues, and bending issues, lower battery runtimes, and aluminium chipping issues and big ugly bezels. WP users don't want any compromises; they're the exact opposite of those iSheep, but just as bad. :/

 

[Jorge Holguin]

I agree with you, but there is a flip side to the idea. Microsoft might have been after whatever patents came with the deal, like Google with Motorola. Or, buying the devices division might have been the cheapest and/or easiest way to get out of the contract Microsoft had with Nokia.

When that deal was announce it was clear from the beginning that it was to cover patents, a Consortium was made by MS and others if I remember. The Nokia deal doesn't involve Nokia's patents portfolio it was the hardware business that was acquired.

 

[EssThree]

I don't think it pays to be brand loyal to anyone really, for the exact reasons you state.

I would like to clarify though that I don't want to buy an iPhone. I don't want to buy an Android. I love Windows Phone. I love the UI. I love how the operating system functions in general. But MS isn't showing us any reason why we should invest ourselves in another 2 year contract.

My contract is up in December. I'm going to try and hold out with my (now buggy, for reasons I can't fathom thanks to the Cyan update) Lumia 920 until maybe January and cross my fingers that MS does SOMETHING, ANYTHING. But damn, it's hard.

Jesus my posts sound really crazy dramatic. Definitely the definition of first world problems. But there you go, that's how I feel!

 

[KhawarNadeem]

I don't think it pays to be brand loyal to anyone really, for the exact reasons you state.

I would like to clarify though that I don't want to buy an iPhone. I don't want to buy an Android. I love Windows Phone. I love the UI. I love how the operating system functions in general. But MS isn't showing us any reason why we should invest ourselves in another 2 year contract.

My contract is up in December. I'm going to try and hold out with my (now buggy, for reasons I can't fathom thanks to the Cyan update) Lumia 920 until maybe January and cross my fingers that MS does SOMETHING, ANYTHING. But damn, it's hard.

Jesus my posts sound really crazy dramatic. Definitely the definition of first world problems. But there you go, that's how I feel!

Hahah. Dramatic indeed but I do think a lot of users are in the same boat as you are. I completely understand what you're saying.

In my country there aren't carriers selling subsidized devices, we have to buy outright, so we can always sell the device and get something else. I've run into a lot of things that I thought WP would do better than the rest but doesn't. The lack of apps is another issue. But the OS is just so darn PRETTY and minimalist and I have become strangely addicted to Glance. It's a confusing state of affairs, this love-hate relationship. *sigh*