Is lack of apps the real WP problem?

[alphaswift]

I was an early adopter for the 950 (Nov '15). W10M at launch was a disaster. Love the operating environment when it worked properly. I had all the apps I needed. After about 6 months, I got tired of the OS problems and went to a Galaxy S7. While I am not a big fan of Android, it worked. Recently, I was using the late RS2 builds on my 950 and was happy that the OS was finally what it should have been 18 months ago. However, the problem is now app availability. The biggest miss on apps was my bank, TD, announcing they were dropping support for W10M. Plus, my Microsoft Band 2 strap broke once too many times and realized that there are essentially no wearable options if you don't like Fitbit. I switched back to my S7 this weekend. I *really* like W10M and my 950. Right now, there's just no future in it. I wish Microsoft would announce some kind of long term commitment to W10M with new phones, an Android app bridge (there's no fixing the W10 app problem) and a Band 3. Oh, and stop selling the S8 in their stores.

 

[ealkalai]

I am really satisfied with the OS. The major players already have an app in the store. My main struggle is with the smaller companies that are creating apps only for android and iOS. New banks, smart bikes, smart devices, or any type of startup will most probably not have any app for Windows 10. As a customer I feel excluded and until now it's the company to blame. But on the other hand is up to Microsoft to motivate all these developers to create applications for the Windows ecosystem.

 

[ssgklu]

Yes. I switched to Android because of the app Gap.

 

[sholokov]

Yes for many. Not really for me. What I use is available on W10M. For me, the only thing it doesn't have is a game I play, Game of War. So I've kept a $100 Galaxy Tab at home for that.

 

[BB_Nicky86]

The lack of apps is just a small problem.

Has W10M improved since it launched - yes
Does it even compare to WP8.1 - NO

W10M is still very buggy in many ways and the app selection is ever shrinking. When you look at Windows 10 for PC it's stable, works, I've yet to have computer bluescreen or reboot as many times as my phone does. Let alone when I press the pwr button to turn on 950XL on it never responds 1/4 of the time. I don't have hat problem with my Desktop nor my Venue 8 Pro and they are both on fast ring insiders which in theory should make them unstable. I don't dare try that with my phone, it has enough problems on the current released OS.

Before you say I'm comparing apples to oranges - you are incorrect. The core of both operating systems is the same. Why is there such a huge divide between the two? What happened to this unified system because for some reason it feels the gap between PC and Mobile is ever growing.

I have been faithful and in love with the platform since WP7. With all the changes (Many good ones) there just seems to be the need for something better, more stable, more feature rich. With Microsoft Stores selling a S8 Microsoft edition while the Microsoft Store in Toronto has only the HP Elite X3 on display (hidden in the back inside a shelf) tells me where mobile is going. The road for W10M is coming to an end.

I don't want it to end, but maybe it's time to face the music.

 

[Jason Gilbert]

It wasn't the lack of apps that caused me to leave W10 for Android, it was the buggy OS that struggled to perform basic features, like being able to reliably attach photos to emails and texts. Also, Chrome on a high-end Android (GS7 Edge for me) is MUCH better than Edge.

 

[muvig]

You left out
Removal of features/apps (here maps)
Not listening to feedback
Making cosmetic updates/changes eg square to circle on contacts
cortana made regional sensitive
MS apps made better on other platforms than on wp
the list is endless......

 

[thinkitthrough]

I've been on WP8.1 & W10M for two years, came from Android, spouse uses iPhone.

The lack of apps is not a huge problem for me personally, and IMO way too much is made of it, but it certainly keeps me from recommending W10M to the vast majority of friends/relatives who currently use an iPhone or Android phone. One thing I actually greatly appreciate with the W10M app ecosystem is that compared to Android and iOS there ARE way fewer apps from which to choose...so on one hand MISSING apps are a downer, but the FEWER NUMBER OF A GIVEN APP is a blessing.

Even more problematic than the perceived W10M "app gap", IMO, is the complete lack of Verizon availability and support for modern W10M devices.

 

[muvig]

as for me apps that i mostly use are there, my most loss was HERE Maps and HERE Drive

 

[Jonathan Harris1]

I own a Huawei Mate 8 and a 950XL. I have always preferred the Windows Phone OS over Android. I don't know why that is, but for me it just works the way I like an OS to work.

But I stopped using the 950XL about six months back, simply because the apps available on Android (and that I actually use) were not available on WP.

And so it is that I have thrown in my lot with Android - not because of the OS, but because of app availability on the platform. And that's so sad for me, knowing that MS is really at the behest of app developers (or lack thereof).

Is the situation ever likely to change? I really hope so, because every day I wish I could go back to my WP.

Mart

For me, I could do with being a little less social and not having the ability to snapchat and all those things. The thing that is most wrong with Windows Mobile is not gathering the support of OEM partners. OEMs want to at least be able to customize their experience and the fact that MS did not provide this, in my opinion, is why they have and will continue to fail in mobile. There is nothing to distinguish the user experience from phone to phone. And no a handful of apps here or there is not enough.

 

[marcoslai]

I own a Huawei Mate 8 and a 950XL. I have always preferred the Windows Phone OS over Android. I don't know why that is, but for me it just works the way I like an OS to work.

But I stopped using the 950XL about six months back, simply because the apps available on Android (and that I actually use) were not available on WP.

And so it is that I have thrown in my lot with Android - not because of the OS, but because of app availability on the platform. And that's so sad for me, knowing that MS is really at the behest of app developers (or lack thereof).

Is the situation ever likely to change? I really hope so, because every day I wish I could go back to my WP.

Mart

I have a 950,it was my main gadget,I like its QHD screen and camera,and that's all. Lack of apps is terrible,Facebook app took thousand years to get a minor update,while on my Oneplus 3T,it always on the edge. WM10 is a boring OS,I never take it out from my pocket more than 3 times a day unless message arrived. Now it is my second device mainly on photo shooting,Android give me everything I want. Plenty of topic said lack of app shouldn't be a problem on WM10,I think they got paid from MS for these bull****. On mobile gadgets,app is everything,don't tell me WM10 OS is good enough,WM10 is still a craps today.

 

[DiLioPi]

Yes, lack of apps is a problem. I have been holding so long and the reason I kept my 950 XL is because it's a superb business phone. It has everything I need to do my job. Plus the beautiful OS, security (that my company supports), Outlook, Calendar, Skype for Business, Slack, Office apps and others. That's about it though, once I get home and kids wanted to head out to hunt Pokemon, I can't take my Lumia.

So, I inherited Galaxy S5 from my wife when she got upgraded Android. SGS5 works well for leisure because: Pokemon GO, my bank apps (Key Bank, BECU, Discover, etc.), personal financial apps (Mint, Fidelity, etc.), smart home controls (SmartThings, Sonos, Ring, Ecobee, etc.), and possibly other shopping apps (eBay, Amazon, OfferUp, KeyRing, etc.).

And just yesterday, I am trying for SGS5 to be my main phone now since my company only supports native email client in 2 manufacturers of Android phones which Samsung being one of them. It's been a day so far and I think it would work. I turned off my 950 XL now just to be sure so I won't pick it up in a habit.

I sure do miss the beautiful interface of the Lumia, but I am tired of carrying two phones at all times. I even thought about picking up the new SGS8+ but I might settle with SGS7E just to get by with the full hope that MS will announce the mythical phone in the Fall (in time for Redstone 3).

 

[TheZeeMan]

For me, it's not lack of apps, but more so the quality of them. I am just getting tired of it. I use uber a lot and it's getting worse and worse. Location can never pinpoint me exactly like it can on Android/iPhone and my drivers end up at wrong addresses, and if I ever want to just put in a name of place? Not with the windows version, I have to actually google the address and then either remember it or copy and paste it from edge which is like a new game that you almost always fail at. It's so daunting. I also use iheart radio a lot, it's just garbage compared to the other versions. So even though I tried to hang on as long as possible, I'm just done. Waiting for my tmobile store to get a 7+ in stock, which go figure, they are always sold out of, but they still have plenty of idols.

 

[pitoka]

It's not just a matter of lack of apps it's also a matter of lack of devices. The only reason I'm still using Windows Phone is the Lumia 950 which still has one of the most outstanding cameras around. But in the mean time, Lumias are no longer being produced and the few third party devices on the market are inferior.

 

[Joerg Poetzsch]

I assume, this is a rhetoric question to keep at least the discussion about the OS alive.

Of course, it's not just either the apps or the OS. It's both, and more, and all interrelated: countless restarts of the OS (and when it seemed to be a good OS that people liked, it was "reinvented" from scratch, and it took years to almost get back to the old good level). A device policy disaster that eliminated Nokia and shortly after that its well perceived Lumias - at a time, when it seemed that eventually there was a raise in sales and market share, and signs that things eventually would change to the better. Then a switch to magic "business clients" and one (in words: ONE) "flagship" phone that crashes when you try to take a photo. Years of talks about a magic surface phone that could come - or perhaps not. And (not to forget) - a firm commitment from Microsoft to the OS. That is the worst part: remember MS declared a firm commitment to Windows RT months before they shut it down? if it interested anyone, it would make a pretty good soap.

Looking back it seems that Microsoft loves to build things up with the hands, and while turning around to the next thing, they tear it down with the butt. Uups! Just to demoralize and upset developers, OS users, phone producers and tell them: spend time and money on us, we sure will burn all your efforts, sooner or later, and when we think, we feel like it.

To answer: no, its not the apps. Its an overall bad joke.

 

[fhm]

I have the 950Xl and all the apps I need. I have an old S4 with lots of apps I don't use, can't get rid of, no updates, no memory left to update it anyway, and the battery is good for 4 hours max and swollen like it's going to catch fire. No more Samsung for me.

I'm hoping for a Surface Phone that runs real programs, not silly little Android apps.

 

[JW888]

Yes, definitely.

 

[doubledeej]

I quit using my 950 XL as my primary phone for a few main reasons, none of which were due to third party apps:

* Features that I used frequently stopped working: text messages being read aloud via Bluetooth (options are still there, but refuse to work), and spoken driving directions, but most significantly app notifications have never worked for me on Windows 10 at all. MS seems to be doing nothing to fix those either.

* Features that I relied upon never making it into Windows 10, such as automatically going to Vibrate mode during appointments on the calendar

* Features that were announced but never materialized, such as tap-to-pay via NFC.

* The discontinuation of the Microsoft Band.

The base platform has to work and be solid before apps are even a consideration. In my book Microsoft screwed it up for me, not the app developers. I can deal with the lack of apps, but I can't deal with a phone that doesn't do what it is supposed to do.

 

[tushar_kp]

I also have preferred Windows over Android as an OS. But yes, app gap is the real problem..

 

[_Haitian]

It's more than the app gap. I made the switch to an iPhone when they ditched the Band 2 and there was no notification from 950 to Fitbit Blaze (but it should be here this month. GATT "issues" with MS) but it works with the iPhone.

What shocked me the most, was how fast and stable the apps where.

Take the Xbox app for instance, it just launches faster and right from the get go, on the bottom you get the volume and remote controller right away. With the 950, your lucky if it connects to the app then you have to navigate to get to the volume control and that's if it shows up too.

I'm so annoyed of having to change but now I just want something that works with me and not me working for it. I LOVE all of my MS products, but the Band 2 was the last straw for me and I am going to go to the Samsung S8 Microsoft Edition the moment it is available as I do loving my Continuum that I use it religiously since ditching my old clunky Dell Studio 17 home laptop.

So my set now, on the go will be Surface Pro 4 and Samsung S8 Microsoft Edition .

At home. Dell OptiPlex 3020 and Xbox One for TV. Bedroom and Office Samsung S8 Microsoft Edition with DeX.

Sorry MS. I just want things to work with me and without having to battle for it. Maybe in the future they will come out with something that has everything that I need and the support from third parties. If that happens, I'll happily get back to that beautiful live tile screen that I miss sooooooo much.