Disclaimer: This is purely opinion with some facts sprinkled in.
I actually love windows mobile, but it no longer loves me. I’ve had a windowsphone since Verizon took their good old time releasing the HTC trophy. That was fresh and actually cool compared to my aging OG Droid with the slider keyboard. Anyone that remembers those days when the people hub was awesome and the camera functionality was blazingly fast and the UI was sexy had a feeling that windows phone was something special. I converted many people in the early days to WP7 and most of them picked up a WP8 on their respective carrier. When WP8 was launched, I jumped over to AT&T so I could pick up the 920. At that point, I had 3 other family members join me on my plan with the best phone of the time.
WP8 was the start and end of something great. We saw lots of good things and many not so good. NFC payments never really came. Xbox music was a disaster. Apps came and apps went. People hub integration started to get weak until it no longer worked. The integrated Skype feature was short lived and poor. System apps (mail, people,phone, messaging) never got updates that were really needed. I can go on and onabout WP8, lots to like and lots to frown over.
Fast forward to the launch of Windows mobile 10. I believe in the concept of the mobile initiative. I think if they can pull off all the architectural feats needed to make it work it will be the best OS on the market. MS should have let WP8 live on with minor improvements for at least a year instead of pushing windows 10 mobile into the market. They could have released the 950/950xl with wp8.1 with the option to upgrade to be a beta tester, my guess is they would have sold more. I was an early adopter on the XL and I have mostly had a negative experience. My wife completely hates it. The other 4 people on my plan which consists of 3 950s and one XL really miss the apps. My parents have had 2 vehicles now where they couldn’t take advantage of core features because there was no app. The fact than an app is needed is a different argument, but it didn’tmake them happy that they couldn’t easily remote start their vehicle. My dad threw in the towel and is waiting for his android device now. In the days of 8.1 I could honestly tell people how much easier windows was over android, but I can’t do that either anymore. I could also tell them how much smoother the OS was over android, but again, can’t do that anymore. Most updated apps have a consistent enough feel.
I’ve been using android on an S8+ for a little over a week now and I haven’t missed much from Windows mobile. There are those that say android will lag after some time but my 950xl will lag some times. There are those that say the battery life will be horrible, on the S8+ it’s not (16 hours plus with some heavy usage and still over 20% left, the XL would have been long dead). There are those that will say you’ll have to factory reset to make android work again, I’ve had to do the same with mobile 10.
My take on android is the same as it is with Windows not on arm, you get what you pay for when it comes to hardware. The 300-400 dollar laptop is not as good of an experience as the high end devices. Now this is the one plus windows mobile has on android and even IOS is that it scales very nicely. A custom rom can be built for whatever hardware it’s running on, but that is rarely done, instead it’s about building more features in at the expense of performance.
Another area windows mobile really shines and probably the number one thing I miss is global theme ability. I HATE bright white backgrounds and there are lots of them in the Samsung rom. Granted MS has not been very consistent with theme support in their own apps, but 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] party app makers always seem to bring it.
Maybe it’s just me but the keyboard went downhill in mobile 10. I like that I can pick whatever I want in android. I like that I can use a password manager.
SMS/MMS/Skype has been a disaster on mobile 10. This experience alone has helped push me away. On 7 and8 the experience was so fluid and that was completely destroyed. I’m using Textra on android and I like the experience that gives over the stock messaging. Skype works better on android!
Wallet on mobile 10 has been okay for me. My primary debt/credit cards were usable and the feature was reliable after some early hiccups. Android pay accepts EVERY one of my cards though. Android pay needs work in the app, it’s like it was done by the same person for both. No way to sort cards.
Iris scanner has been a pain I lived with on mobile 10. It’s FAST on the S8 and I can see if I’m holding the phone wrong which is a huge plus. (I gave feedback on this, never to be resolved)
Start screen: Yes, I miss square tiles on windows, but there is a decent replacement that the developer can make nearly perfect with some tweaks. My home screen is a nice vertical scroll with low energy widgets. Even the icons for some apps will flip and show the notification content, others show the count. Swipe to the right and then I have the vertical list of apps (this is what needs work, there’s no jump list). MS dropped the ball on interactive/exploding tiles IMO. Maybe this is coming at build this year. I think this would make the live tiles much more useful both on mobile and on desktop where I think they are useless currently. Power users don’t open their start window more than for a few seconds.
Overall look and feel of android to windows in my opinion android is better once you are past the launcher. MS destroyed the design ideas in apps, neon may bring some nice UI ideas back but nothing compares to early metro and even its later revision.
Apps: Yeah…. I wasn’t an app user on windows 10 because I couldn’t be one……. All of my bank/creditcards have an app. I can now take advantage of local store/restaurant deals. I can watch any TV I want and Chromecast has been a nice cheap addition. Push bullet solves the remote texting problem and it’s actually reliable unlike skype. Supposedly skype on android will beable to sync SMS soon though. I don’t care about games or the silly little apps. My 3 year old loves to play with the fun camera things but other than that my phone is all business. I never could get completely out of the google apps while on windows. My entire office team relies on gchat. I lived with IM+ for years and it was sufficient, but I reset my phone a few months back and IM+ pro no longer showed in the store. It’s nice having a good app for something you heavily use. There have been a number of apps I used that went away.
Stability: So far, I’d say one is no better or worse. Windows 10 mobile hasn’t won my heart for stability and speed like 8.1 did. I’ve had a few app crashes and my 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] party launcher would hang a bit. I think MS just hides OS level crashes a little nicer than android.
I’m using most MS services and while there is room forimprovement in all of the apps, most offer a good experience.
Continuum/Dex: I don’t care, right now this is a pipe dream. I think the continuum experience was/is not a good one. I have a dock sitting on my desk as I type this and from time to time I’d plug into it and switch my monitor input to try it out. I guess it’s okay if I HAD to use it, but they have a long way to go. I have no doubt this will be a killer feature in a couple releases, but the 950xl experience is poor IMO. I’m not even going to bother buying the DEX hardware.
I’m a software developer with most of my experience on the MS Stack. I’ve tinkered with UWP andwp7/8 dev (I don’t have time to play at home unfortunately). The MS stack in my opinion is the best out there. I live in visual studio and visual studio code, nothing comes close to those products. MS can win developers over, but they won’t do it unless they have a really really good cross platform approach. Right now, Xamarmin is good, but not what is needed (My opinion) as it doesn’t help UWP properly. I think there is a plan for that to change which is why they bought them. I’m hoping xamarmin gets modified to essentially take the UWP environment as is to the other platforms. As a developer, I try to cut MS some slack. There are pieces of functionality in Windows that is probably tied to a very small team and they can only work so fast to re-architect so others can extend on it.
I’m hoping for a surface pro like movement for mobile. That would bring me back to the platform but I won’t jump in at the beginning again. I’ve been burnt too many times by either a change of plans or dropped support. I would buy a device that has a nice docking solution to a larger portable display if the x86 emulation is smooth enough, but sadly I would want the device to be useful while not docked. I’ve moved from being a cheerleader for MS to being very cautiously optimistic. Actually, I’ve been leaning more towards a pessimist though. I’ve been putting off moving away from mobile due to the monetary investment I had in windows hardware. My wife must suffer for sometime before we can afford to replace her phone.
One thing is certain, I’ll never leave windows on the desktop! I know everyone’s mileage is different when it comes to the usefulness of a device. I’ve given MS 6 years and they’ve given me some good years in return, but windows 10 is just not for me anymore.
I actually love windows mobile, but it no longer loves me. I’ve had a windowsphone since Verizon took their good old time releasing the HTC trophy. That was fresh and actually cool compared to my aging OG Droid with the slider keyboard. Anyone that remembers those days when the people hub was awesome and the camera functionality was blazingly fast and the UI was sexy had a feeling that windows phone was something special. I converted many people in the early days to WP7 and most of them picked up a WP8 on their respective carrier. When WP8 was launched, I jumped over to AT&T so I could pick up the 920. At that point, I had 3 other family members join me on my plan with the best phone of the time.
WP8 was the start and end of something great. We saw lots of good things and many not so good. NFC payments never really came. Xbox music was a disaster. Apps came and apps went. People hub integration started to get weak until it no longer worked. The integrated Skype feature was short lived and poor. System apps (mail, people,phone, messaging) never got updates that were really needed. I can go on and onabout WP8, lots to like and lots to frown over.
Fast forward to the launch of Windows mobile 10. I believe in the concept of the mobile initiative. I think if they can pull off all the architectural feats needed to make it work it will be the best OS on the market. MS should have let WP8 live on with minor improvements for at least a year instead of pushing windows 10 mobile into the market. They could have released the 950/950xl with wp8.1 with the option to upgrade to be a beta tester, my guess is they would have sold more. I was an early adopter on the XL and I have mostly had a negative experience. My wife completely hates it. The other 4 people on my plan which consists of 3 950s and one XL really miss the apps. My parents have had 2 vehicles now where they couldn’t take advantage of core features because there was no app. The fact than an app is needed is a different argument, but it didn’tmake them happy that they couldn’t easily remote start their vehicle. My dad threw in the towel and is waiting for his android device now. In the days of 8.1 I could honestly tell people how much easier windows was over android, but I can’t do that either anymore. I could also tell them how much smoother the OS was over android, but again, can’t do that anymore. Most updated apps have a consistent enough feel.
I’ve been using android on an S8+ for a little over a week now and I haven’t missed much from Windows mobile. There are those that say android will lag after some time but my 950xl will lag some times. There are those that say the battery life will be horrible, on the S8+ it’s not (16 hours plus with some heavy usage and still over 20% left, the XL would have been long dead). There are those that will say you’ll have to factory reset to make android work again, I’ve had to do the same with mobile 10.
My take on android is the same as it is with Windows not on arm, you get what you pay for when it comes to hardware. The 300-400 dollar laptop is not as good of an experience as the high end devices. Now this is the one plus windows mobile has on android and even IOS is that it scales very nicely. A custom rom can be built for whatever hardware it’s running on, but that is rarely done, instead it’s about building more features in at the expense of performance.
Another area windows mobile really shines and probably the number one thing I miss is global theme ability. I HATE bright white backgrounds and there are lots of them in the Samsung rom. Granted MS has not been very consistent with theme support in their own apps, but 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] party app makers always seem to bring it.
Maybe it’s just me but the keyboard went downhill in mobile 10. I like that I can pick whatever I want in android. I like that I can use a password manager.
SMS/MMS/Skype has been a disaster on mobile 10. This experience alone has helped push me away. On 7 and8 the experience was so fluid and that was completely destroyed. I’m using Textra on android and I like the experience that gives over the stock messaging. Skype works better on android!
Wallet on mobile 10 has been okay for me. My primary debt/credit cards were usable and the feature was reliable after some early hiccups. Android pay accepts EVERY one of my cards though. Android pay needs work in the app, it’s like it was done by the same person for both. No way to sort cards.
Iris scanner has been a pain I lived with on mobile 10. It’s FAST on the S8 and I can see if I’m holding the phone wrong which is a huge plus. (I gave feedback on this, never to be resolved)
Start screen: Yes, I miss square tiles on windows, but there is a decent replacement that the developer can make nearly perfect with some tweaks. My home screen is a nice vertical scroll with low energy widgets. Even the icons for some apps will flip and show the notification content, others show the count. Swipe to the right and then I have the vertical list of apps (this is what needs work, there’s no jump list). MS dropped the ball on interactive/exploding tiles IMO. Maybe this is coming at build this year. I think this would make the live tiles much more useful both on mobile and on desktop where I think they are useless currently. Power users don’t open their start window more than for a few seconds.
Overall look and feel of android to windows in my opinion android is better once you are past the launcher. MS destroyed the design ideas in apps, neon may bring some nice UI ideas back but nothing compares to early metro and even its later revision.
Apps: Yeah…. I wasn’t an app user on windows 10 because I couldn’t be one……. All of my bank/creditcards have an app. I can now take advantage of local store/restaurant deals. I can watch any TV I want and Chromecast has been a nice cheap addition. Push bullet solves the remote texting problem and it’s actually reliable unlike skype. Supposedly skype on android will beable to sync SMS soon though. I don’t care about games or the silly little apps. My 3 year old loves to play with the fun camera things but other than that my phone is all business. I never could get completely out of the google apps while on windows. My entire office team relies on gchat. I lived with IM+ for years and it was sufficient, but I reset my phone a few months back and IM+ pro no longer showed in the store. It’s nice having a good app for something you heavily use. There have been a number of apps I used that went away.
Stability: So far, I’d say one is no better or worse. Windows 10 mobile hasn’t won my heart for stability and speed like 8.1 did. I’ve had a few app crashes and my 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] party launcher would hang a bit. I think MS just hides OS level crashes a little nicer than android.
I’m using most MS services and while there is room forimprovement in all of the apps, most offer a good experience.
Continuum/Dex: I don’t care, right now this is a pipe dream. I think the continuum experience was/is not a good one. I have a dock sitting on my desk as I type this and from time to time I’d plug into it and switch my monitor input to try it out. I guess it’s okay if I HAD to use it, but they have a long way to go. I have no doubt this will be a killer feature in a couple releases, but the 950xl experience is poor IMO. I’m not even going to bother buying the DEX hardware.
I’m a software developer with most of my experience on the MS Stack. I’ve tinkered with UWP andwp7/8 dev (I don’t have time to play at home unfortunately). The MS stack in my opinion is the best out there. I live in visual studio and visual studio code, nothing comes close to those products. MS can win developers over, but they won’t do it unless they have a really really good cross platform approach. Right now, Xamarmin is good, but not what is needed (My opinion) as it doesn’t help UWP properly. I think there is a plan for that to change which is why they bought them. I’m hoping xamarmin gets modified to essentially take the UWP environment as is to the other platforms. As a developer, I try to cut MS some slack. There are pieces of functionality in Windows that is probably tied to a very small team and they can only work so fast to re-architect so others can extend on it.
I’m hoping for a surface pro like movement for mobile. That would bring me back to the platform but I won’t jump in at the beginning again. I’ve been burnt too many times by either a change of plans or dropped support. I would buy a device that has a nice docking solution to a larger portable display if the x86 emulation is smooth enough, but sadly I would want the device to be useful while not docked. I’ve moved from being a cheerleader for MS to being very cautiously optimistic. Actually, I’ve been leaning more towards a pessimist though. I’ve been putting off moving away from mobile due to the monetary investment I had in windows hardware. My wife must suffer for sometime before we can afford to replace her phone.
One thing is certain, I’ll never leave windows on the desktop! I know everyone’s mileage is different when it comes to the usefulness of a device. I’ve given MS 6 years and they’ve given me some good years in return, but windows 10 is just not for me anymore.
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The apps are designed for phones, in that, it doesn't really scale at all. Scale in terms of screen ratios perhaps. But scale in terms of adaptive UI, not at all. I guess the OS itself can, if its made to. But the software has the same issue win32 legacy apps often do on small screens.
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