Live thoughts on the Oct 6 Event from an Android Central Moderator

[Aquila]

Live thoughts of Microsoft Event:

Spoiler Alert ? If you haven?t heard of these products, they?re mentioned.

From an Android User. Note: I?m a fan of Windows and Windows 10 on desktop, I have a pretty decent gaming PC and I love tech. I currently use connected home devices, an Android TV, a wearable, 2 phones, a tablet, 2 laptops and 2 desktop pc devices.

As a near total stranger to the Surface and Windows Phone devices (I know what they are), this is my take (live reactions), uncensored and unedited, on the Microsoft Event on 10/6. So without further preliminaries, let?s just dive right in:

Windows 10 ? 10 weeks of Windows 10 ? on 110 million devices.
Xbox talks to Windows 10?
Windows 10 is increasing Windows market share on PCs? Developer revenue is going up ? that?s awesome. Netflix app over website is also awesome.
Facebook is going to build universal apps for Windows.
WTF are universal apps? Other people are going to make apps too.
Enterprise likes Windows 10, especially security. Upgrading is going better/faster than prior versions. Do most users still use XP or Windows 7?
Yay new gadgets! Lots of OEM partnerships, that?s coming soon ? but today is Microsoft devices. Cool ? what you got? You?re going to reinvent a category?
Guy on stage considers the Surface to be a tablet.

Xbox One ? consoles are going to get upgraded in Q4 for Windows 10 and getting legacy support ? GOOD JOB!!!!
New ?elite gaming controller? ? works on PC. Cool  I still use my Nvidia Shield controller and it works pretty well, but I?d probably buy this.
Graphics on these game trailers are awesome. What?s Xbox graphics like in real life? On par with PC yet?

HoloLens ? ok, let?s talk about it. What is it? Oh, that?s cool as hell. I?m not going to wear that goofy thing but the tech is awesome. That guy?s hair is pretty stupid. He should get a haircut. Uh? you guys showed the camera man. Ok, Project X Ray. ROBOT INVASION!?! AWESOME! Go do stuff, guy!  That guy just grew a holographic arm. He?s the Green Lantern!
I stand corrected? I will wear this goofy thing. Why is everything so slow? DIVE DUDE! GET OUT OF THEWAY! Here, give me that glowy thing and I?ll hulk smash these robots. Dan, you?re awesome. Someone should buy you a beer. Guy on stage, your haircut is HORRIBLE. Go fix that.
Ok HoloLens is cool. I want to play with that. $3k. Hmm.

Microsoft Band ? This thing sucks. Check out Android Wear. Sorry, but being this far behind isn?t ok. There?s nothing new here, it?s available for Preorder at $249. I?m not clear on if this device is OS agnostic or not.

Surface & Lumia ? Iconic MS devices for productivity. He just said it is a tablet again. Surface created 2 in 1?s, market is growing sales have doubled. K. Guy wants Lumia to be as successful as Surface. New guy is a much better speaker.

Lumia ? Emphasizing security and updates. Dude, deliver on both of those points. Always connected antenna and liquid cooling. There are two antennas, two is important because? (ok get to the point) ? no point. Weird. What?s this about Windows 10 not going to legacy devices?
5.2 and 5.7? devices, both AMOLED. Lots of focus on desktop experience, not a lot of focus on whether or not it is a good mobile device. That?s weird?
Camera sounds pretty cool, good specs. Auto backup of photos and videos in the cloud.
Continuum looks pretty awesome. Microsoft display dock uses USB C, provides access to keyboard, mouse, monitor. Apps look fantastic on full monitor. They keep emphasizing that it LOOKS the same and they are independent experiences. Universal apps are apparently coded to switch between OS?s. I really like this feature.
Bezels on phone look pretty bad but overall I think the devices look sharp. Much better than the crazy colors of prior lumias. $549 for the 950 and $649 for the 950XL. I?ll have to think about those prices.
They also have a cheaper version for the budget market. Lumia 550, under $200.
Are these phones online only unlocked or available through cariers?

Surface ? Focus on productivity. Portability, check. Cloud, check. Is there an LTE version? Nice example using 3D CAD and the stylus. They?re going to reinvent the category they reinvented? Lots of focus on components, this is a cool video. Not sure I buy it is faster than a MacBook by 50%. What is the comparison to the macbook pro?
4th Generation ? larger screen in the same area, less bezels. What?s the resolution? Yeah, I can do the math ? but ? just say it? Pixelsense technology ? marketing mumbojumbo?
G5 chipset ? optimizes pen, touch ? etc. Stylus has an eraser? assuming that one doesn?t. Stylus is included, nice touch. All year battery life is a good idea. I love the magnetic pen storage. That?s cool. The content grabbing feature of the pen to one note is awesome. This guy seems completely oblivious to the other products on the market.
Music writing app is fantastic. Great demo, I like it  Ok, I?m bored with the pen.
Surface Pro 4 is 30% faster than Surface Pro 3. He?s not going to compare it to any tablet, they?re not in the same class. THANK YOU! That?s my argument! Compare to Macbook Air. SP4 is 50% faster than MacBook Air. 1 TB storage is huge, 16 GB RAM. Wow. A guy on window?s central wanted a laptop with 16GB without discrete GPU. This might be it.
Improved keyboard, better spacing, and backwards compatible. Larger trackpad, not sure why it is red but looks like something I?d want to use. I?m a fulltime student, this would be a great convertible for school.
Random little girl is excited that she got her password right. lol
SP4 has fingerprint reader and face authentication.
$900 starting price. Hmm? that?s a bit high, but I get it. The specs justify it and for a laptop that?s somewhat reasonable. As a tablet, that?s over the top. But they?re clarifying their position.

SurfaceBook ? Surface Laptop not convertible? Surfacebook? Nvidia onboard, backlit keyboard, sleek looking device, larger screen ? ?the ultimate laptop?. Ok, redefining some things: 13.5? screen, 6 million pixels at 267 DPI. Has pixelsense, same touch and pen capabilities. The hinge looks weird as hell.
Quiet keyboard ? I prefer mechanical, but apparently stealth mode typing is good. They love the glass trackpads.
Nvidia, GDDR5 RAM, 12 hour battery life. League of Legends! But wait, that?s not graphics intensive ?
This is not a gaming laptop, despite the shout out to the game and Nvidia, this is not going to compete on gaming. 2x faster than macbook pro. Not sure what exactly he?s referring to.
Data transfer speed looks awesome. Why demo a video of a game? Demo the game?
$1499 ? lol, you derped a little bit MS. I?m sorry, but I don?t trust you on this one. I?m sure that it is great, but this when you?re peeking into gaming machines, there?s a little more to it.
Watching same video again. Yay Nvidia! Still same video? why are we watching it again? Oh? the screen is detachable. So it is a surface pro pro? The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Pro Book! But the GPU is in the base? that means the keyboard?
The MOST POWERFUL LAPTOP On the PLANET! (he keeps saying this, it?s funny  no clue what that?s based on).
Pulling the screen off is awesome, I want to try that with my boss?s laptop.
Nothing tells me about the quality of laptops like people kayaking ?

Conclusion ? guy with no hair, people know who he is. A phone that transcends screens, a tablet that blah blah ? MS is making progress. They want me to move from needing windows to choosing windows. Windows 10 is doing well so far. This guy doesn?t know how much people hate Bing. That?s sad. I want to tell him but he?d cry.  Sad face.
It is time for a new chapter of Windows 10! New gadgets! HURRAY! Lots of stuff on preorder today, shipping later. Pretty standard. People are the hub of data experience ? screen size needs to go away and Windows 10 should be on all of them. Unified platform. Out of everyone on the stage, this is the guy I?d most want to talk to about device philosophy.
Stop saying, ?magical?.
Do you realize that this entire event transpired without mentioning Google or any of Google?s products? That?s weird ? because a LOT of people are hoping to get Google services on Windows Phones.
Developing markets ? phones can be first and only computing experience, Windows phone can be both a phone and PC as needed ? value proposition.
Xbox gaming experience extended to the PC.

Time to say bye, hey you guys did a great job presenting. It seemed a little over the top and fantastical, but I get that?s marketing and you have a solid product line up to be proud of. Good work!

PS, not buying your phone but Surface Pro 4 looks interesting. And so does PC gaming controller.

 

[ven07]

Android Wear doesn't support WP, MS band does support android phones.. A win for me

 

[worldspy99]

MS Band is OS agnostic and it has way more sensors than Android Wear!

 

[Aquila]

Good to know

Nexus 6 Assassin Edition. Android Central Moderator, Gonfaloniere

 

[worldspy99]

Universal apps = one app that can run on desktop/laptop, tablet and mobile.
Here is what Zuckerberg supposedly said:
“Facebook will be building all new universal Windows apps for Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.”

My take on it:
A new Instagram app for Windows 10, whoah! That app hasn't been updated in nearly 2 years!

 

[Aquila]

Overall I liked the presentation, not sure I agree on the strategy directionally but the strategy that they have is being well executed on.

Nexus 6 Assassin Edition. Android Central Moderator, Gonfaloniere

 

[troylytle]

Thank you assassin droid. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your play by play. Lol'd through most of it.

 

[boneycat]

I appreciate your take on it Assassin. It's always good to hear another's point of view.

 

[worldspy99]

Overall I liked the presentation, not sure I agree on the strategy directionally but the strategy that they have is being well executed on.

Nexus 6 Assassin Edition. Android Central Moderator, Gonfaloniere

I concur, it seems like in a long time they have their act together. Almost looked like a presentation from the fruit stand with a few zingers!
My favorite one from Panos Panay
"It's kind of funny, there's a pencil out there without an eraser."

 

[goldenpipes]

I hope Facebook messenger isn't an app. I hope it plugs into Windows 10 native messaging app.

Like it was on Windows Phone 7. It was fantastic to have all the chats in one place and one thread for each person.

 

[Aquila]

That display dock thing was pretty neat too. Weird that it is USB C only, although I'm sure there is a reason - but I'm hoping that doesn't mean that it isn't backwards compatible to other phones that can run the Windows 10 software. That may be the "hey if you want all of Windows 10, upgrade now" kick in the pants.

 

[Aquila]

I hope Facebook messenger isn't an app. I hope it plugs into Windows 10 native messaging app.

Like it was on Windows Phone 7. It was fantastic to have all the chats in one place and one thread for each person.

It sounds like Facebook Messenger, Facebook and Instagram are being made into Universal Apps which make me assume that they will be segregated from other services. That said, isn't it something that Microsoft could do to grab your messages from the feed and incorporate them whether you have that app installed or not?

 

[KarateDad]

Sorry, only new phones with new chipsets support the full continuum and the dock.

That display dock thing was pretty neat too. Weird that it is USB C only, although I'm sure there is a reason - but I'm hoping that doesn't mean that it isn't backwards compatible to other phones that can run the Windows 10 software. That may be the "hey if you want all of Windows 10, upgrade now" kick in the pants.

 

[KarateDad]

Random little girl is excited that she got her password right. lol

No, she was happy because Hello worked, and when she walked up to it, it automatically logged her in. No password required.

 

[Aquila]

No, she was happy because Hello worked, and when she walked up to it, it automatically logged her in. No password required.

I missed what "Hello" is.

 

[troylytle]

Windows Hello is a biometric verification method that doesn't require use of a password.

 

[_Emi_]

and why should people care what you say in a pro-windows forum?

do you have better hair that the one on the presentation? wow, congratulations.
but honestly if you don't even know what "universal apps" are or "windows hello" then why are you even writing this? or why you can't look it up since Windows 10 includes them and that's why they are big talks about it since more than a year ago.
and there is a reason why Xbox One will run windows 10 and it's not because it's a cool pretty name for it.

Did you not get tired of writing stuff nobody really cares and dumb comments on someone's hair and what technology it offers and complaining about how premium Microsoft costs?
there is a reason and space for other oems to give premium and cheap hardware, if you wanted Microsoft Surface book to cost $100 you are really cluless. I am sure you jumped with crappy google glasses and loved the price of google pixel.

You don't even know what Surface band is, or what it does. so why comment on that?
no please, next time just watch the event and don't post crap.

 

[920Walker]

AD, curious what you're studying. Engineering?

 

[Aquila]

and why should people care what you say in a pro-windows forum?

do you have better hair that the one on the presentation? wow, congratulations.
but honestly if you don't even know what "universal apps" are or "windows hello" then why are you even writing this? or why you can't look it up since Windows 10 includes them and that's why they are big talks about it since more than a year ago.
and there is a reason why Xbox One will run windows 10 and it's not because it's a cool pretty name for it.

Did you not get tired of writing stuff nobody really cares and dumb comments on someone's hair and what technology it offers and complaining about how premium Microsoft costs?
there is a reason and space for other oems to give premium and cheap hardware, if you wanted Microsoft Surface book to cost $100 you are really cluless. I am sure you jumped with crappy google glasses and loved the price of google pixel.

You don't even know what Surface band is, or what it does. so why comment on that?
no please, next time just watch the event and don't post crap.

I was writing this from the outside perspective of someone who knows little to none about what Microsoft wanted to do here. That perspective is different from how ardent fans would read it.

Why did you feel the need to come tear down a thread where we're having a bit of fun and sharing in the enthusiasm of the day? The exercise here is to record reactions, not to analyze the presentation. Doing research and editing would violate that concept and I was very clear that it is uncensored and unedited.

Also, this isn't a "pro windows forum". This is the windows centric arm of the mobile nations family, another arm of which I lead the moderator team on. It is perfectly acceptable for me to come here and talk about windows, just as it acceptable for you to come over and talk about your thoughts of new android products on my site, Android Central. Conversation doesn't have to be praise, it just has to be respectful and productive.

I'm not trolling here and I think it is important to get an outsider's perspective on what is probably the most important launch of the year for your platform. I'm sorry if you didn't like it, feel free to not respond and not re-read it.

Nexus 6 Assassin Edition. Android Central Moderator, Gonfaloniere

 

[Aquila]

AD, curious what you're studying. Engineering?

Right now I'm still an undergrad, majoring in pure math and will follow that up with applied math and applied physics in grad school. I have roughly 12 years of school left.

Nexus 6 Assassin Edition. Android Central Moderator, Gonfaloniere