I see what you're saying. The problem is that everyone here is a Windows fan, but we all have different user needs that, for the moment, can or can't be filled by W10M depending on who you are. On one side, you have people like me who use lots of apps because they are convenient and often times quick and efficient at getting things done. It doesn't mean that I spend all my time in Facebook or Instagram or Snapchat. It just means that I like having apps. Nothing at all wrong with that. However, if you bring up the lack of apps in these threads, you are immediately labeled as being a social media junkie and it's implied that you're opinion is somehow less than the opinions of people who don't need or care to use apps. These people say things like they are more business minded or do more productive work. On the flip side, whenever I see people defend W10M by saying that they don't use apps or that you can use the browser as an app replacement, I think that they are just grabbing at straws in defense of an OS that has clearly lost the consumer market. I'm just as guilty as the other person. My point is, no matter how we describe our experiences with Windows phones, the numbers don't lie at the moment. The entire population of us would barely fill a large city compared to the populations of Android and Apple users. All of us that are still here are letting that fact and the fact that our expectations have been severely let down by MS get to us. When people get frustrated and desperate they choose sides and become even more convinced that their opinion is the right one. The forum here, like the current state of political affairs in the world, is demonstrating this behavior all the time. Truth is, MS can't afford to listen to us. They have to base their decision on the trajectory of Android's app store. They have to be studying human behavior. Asking questions about why apps are so popular, are there any dislikes about Apps, what can possibly replace an app? And it can't be the browser. Browsing is a web term. The young people that I teach have no use for browsers outside of my classroom, and those kiddos are MS's primary target if they go after consumers. Besides, apps always were convenient replacements for browsers. So the issues here in the forum are really moot. We don't have an app store as good as the competing mobile OSs do and nobody here has the solution if it only includes their own needs, wants, and usage habits...or those of whichever side they are on. MS has to meet all of our needs in order to compete, and they just haven't done that yet. The only thing we can do is wait and see what happens.
Its kind of interesting the comparison between windows 10 and android apps.
I work with both OSs. Actually app wise they both have strengths. MS apps, Cortana, anything remotely connected to the stylus is better on windows. If you were an artist for example, you'd be better with windows 10 mobile by far. Many areas are similar. Even specialty apps like music writing, or games, there are enough decent games to get one by.
For my mi band 2, there are more apps on android, but they are pretty buggy, and not that helpful. The one on windows works just as well as anything else. A lot of smart devices have third party apps.
Then there are things like banking apps, or snapchat, or Spotify, where there are noticeable absences. In that whether current windows 10, or android would suit you does depend quite a bit on ones needs, and which apps, you personally use.
The main reason, really we use apps over browsers is the tiny touch screen interface, and the speed on mobile networks. Apps are a little quicker, even on desktops, and the UI's tend to be better refined. Theoretically, as network speeds increase, and web coding improves, the difference disappates. For example, on my tablet I run the Spotify web app, the youtube web app etc, and they all run just as well as any other app. Any average person using my tablet would have no idea they were web apps and not regular apps really.
I think whats really going to replace small screen touch apps however is multiple - bigger screen possibilitys via augmented reality and device convergence. Its slow to take off convergence, but there is an everyday reason not to have six devices that all do similar things in the family home; Money, the awkawardness of syncing, cloud use, set-up. I honestly believe that will slowly drive device convergence into the mainstream. People, at heart, want two or maybe three devices, not one of every catergory. As pragmatism kicks in over wow factor, it'll make more sense to buy a device with more than one role.
And bigger screen apps, and scalable apps can be more complex. People use less apps, more full browser on a desktop. I use UWPs even on desktop, but I'd never use one for this site for example. Windows tabbing, full desktop sites, more involved UI - all those things emerge as you scale to bigger screen. Simply projecting a smartphone screen onto your wall, or 50 inch monitor, isn't going to cut anyone's sandwich.
And device convergence for consumers plays in on the console too, and project scopio- between desktop gaming, and xbox, Microsoft actually dominates the gaming space. Bringing those together, and with onecore and the UWP platform proper - that's a window into mainstream consumers lives for mindshare and windows 10.
The other thing that will drive the death of small screen apps, and indeed some existing profit models, like freemium advertising as a serious money spinner- voice. Neither of these things is as far off mainstream adoption as say, VR, AR, or foldable screens. Convergence and voice control - they are tangibly close.
I also see us nearing the "peak" of smartphones. Where profits start to thin. I can imagine some serious effort from the other big players into new frontiers too, when this begins. Look at the Samsung tab, and the ipad pro (or the new plain "ipad") for examples of what it looks like when major players start to loose sales.
I don't see small screen touch apps as an eternal advantage, at all, anymore than sybian apps, or terminal/dos programs. Things will always move. What matters is consumer buzz, and the money call to developers. Fortunately there are some good ways for MS to address the app gap, via bigger screened cheaper cellular connected devices with windows on arm, and windows cloud.
Ultimately though, technology has become a fashion. Be ahead, or be square.
When voice takes over, people will sit enviously and curiously on the bus, as they did with smartphones in 2008. Same with folding screens, at, vr. Kids, the kids you talk about don't really care about how things are achieved - they care about how their "leader" peers are achieving it, those early tech adopters. If one kid is playing with the lego, the other kid wants to. People are the same, at a kind of basic level.
You want the boom adoption profits, and those early tech saavy kids attention, you don't really just want "more apps", you want something even if its limited, with a bit of flair. iPhone when it came out, didn't even have an app store. Amazon spot etc are selling, and they are basically useless novelty devices (especially compared to what voice should be capable of in a few years). Honestly those home devices are mostly a gimmick, as is the curved Samsung screen.
Its not banking apps that drives consumerism, really. Smartphone users will talk passionately about devices meeting peoples needs - but we don't really need smartphones. Theres a "toy meets convenience" factor that plays as big as any lifechanging tool qualities, probably bigger.
It's the cult of consumerism.
In the meantime, use a windows smartphone, don't use a windows smartphone. It's all good, it's just a tool. Use bing if you don't wanna give money to google. Android itself isn't googles profit model. Or throw all your advertising ears at google, if you hate MS. Follow what you believe and don't let the little things bother you.
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