One heck of a week for W10 Mobile. What's everyone feeling?

[pjhenry1216]

I'd love to stick with Windows Phone, but part of me thinks they're letting Windows 10 Mobile as it is today die out before introducing something new. I feel like they're trying to avoid kicking everyone to the curb like they did with the Windows 7 to 8 transition. So instead of kicking folks to the curb, they're just letting the car run out of gas so we gotta get out and start walking on our own.

I'll say this much, if it ends up that Samsung DeX is compatible in anyway with Continuum docks (like the HP Lapdock & Deskdock, or MS's Continuum dock), that will make it a very tempting offer.

 

[PF Mail]

I am one with WP; WP is with me; I am one with WP; WP is with me;...

It sounds like that you need a hard rest...

 

[adorabledc]

WM10 is DEAD IN THE WATER - a sunk ship that the sharks above (Android and Apple) don't even care about as a threat to their market share and profits.

eg. I was using the Lumia 640 for a year to beta test it. Hardware had so much potential for the price point.

But, update after update, even simple things like the camera went from great quality and speed to so-so and sometimes crashed (huh? Just how much re-coding is going on behind the scenes of a simple camera app to make it crash??) Edge couldn't handle some sites correctly, like Wikipedia, when the fonts were set to 125%+ under accessibility, even after months and months of waiting after reporting the issue. Groove couldn't come up with a Folders view despite asking time and time again.

All Microsoft seemed to do was to either put in more useless features - like epub reading mode in Edge when epub apps were already in the store - change icons in the settings just to change and add icons - and ignore really simple things.

Like if I only have internet on my phone, and try to setup my phone with my microsoft account, it now wants to send a two-factor to my microsoft email. BUT, I can't access Edge to get online to check and verify, because it won't let me pass, so I'm now stuck. If I don't do this, there's no way to RESTORE my saved account settings and such back to the phone after I skip the initial login verfication - ie. Microsoft is SO dumb, you can't add an account after the initial setup to restore a phone using just the phone?!? So now, I'm forced to find a computer to log in to my Microsoft email simply to setup my phone after a reset/etc. where I want to restore my phone info from backup.

And in the end, promises that are so easy, like Android apps on WP ala Blackberry, were not kept. Heck, you know when XDA folks are installing Android OS onto WPhones that it can be done even at the OS, rather than app level, so what's keeping one of the biggest IT companies in the world with supposidly brilliant programmers away from expanding their market share instantly to all interested users in the world? The dumb CEO in charge...

Finally, the thing that killed it for me was the lack of apps and apps being pulled from the market.
Whether it's something as simple as Flickr, Pinterest, Chase, etc, or more complex, it's sad that WP didn't even bother to emulate Android compatiblity ala Blackberry. It would have been so simple, but the dumb Microsoft CEO refused, and that was the end of that.

$40 Lumia 640 got kicked out, a $80 LG G2 brought in. And startling?
1. Same size, but G2 has a bigger 5.2" screen in the same body vs 5"
2. 13MP camera vs 8MP.
3. Faster 800 processor vs 401.
4. 4x the memory.
5. Everything Android runs on the LG G2 whereas few apps run on the 640.

Basically, same price range, but far, far better, more useful, feature-packed, etc.

And more useful! MICROSOFT must be the DUMBEST ===PHONE===maker on the planet if it can't put a dialpad button on the home screen like every other phone on the planet. WP is the only stupid OS where I must press several icons/choices to get to the dialpad. Somehow, the lame programmers at Microsoft thinks every contact is already in my contacts list, or I want to add every business/unknown/infrequently used contact to my contacts, and thinks that is good enough to have as an icon from my home page. INSTEAD OF A SIMPLE DIALPAD ICON!?!??!?!??!?!

WP died for me because every time I dug into this app, that feature, this setting, it was a Wth!?!? moment. Things that have been in other phone OSs for decade+ were missing in WP.

The latest WP update has done nothing to correct the many problems I've noted, so it's definitely end of the road for WP period, IMO.

 

[EdwinSinVan]

Can't wait for the Build conference. They just got to announce something....

 

[gzerokai]

The only way MS is gonna get W10M going again is by introducing their own device and this time stay committed to it. I have a BLU WIN HD LTE which has similar hardware as the Lumia phones which are due to receive the creators update yet for some reason its not included on the list of approved devices. The phone is only 2 years old so i don't see why it shouldn't get it. Aside from that and the app gap i still like windows mobile ...

 

[Drael646464]

Well, I don't use windows phone but I can say this. Creators update pro/home on x86/x64 has a "phone call" app. It has "mobile hotspot" in the action menu. It has "SMS/MMS" settings under settings.

AND last year Microsoft announced windows 10 on ARM, and demo'd it. Rumours of redstone 3 being the last win 10 mobile update. Do the math.

Seems pretty clear to me windows 10 mobile is going to be replaced with windows 10 on ARM. Should probably be announced or release end of year. If you have a mobile with decent RAM, you'll likely be able to upgrade. I see no reason not, unless the drivers are different.

But I suspect any updates to windows 10 mobile ATM, are simply Microsoft refining the UI, for the windows 10 on ARM release. For the one OS to rule them all, they keep promising.

I'm sure those of you with recent devices will enjoy full windows anyway. It's boss on a tablet.

So yeah, definitely cleaning the board for a fresh start. "Mobile PC" is coming.

 

[Drael646464]

The Galaxy S8 MS Edition was a really low blow. Not because the hardware is bad. Heck, I would argue that the only real shortcoming that phone has right now is Android itself, but that's a different matter. Still, MS could have at least told us something, anything, before going nuclear on user confidence again.

Nah, its quite typical for MS and Samsung to work together (Graphene screen, DeX applications, Samsungs past win phones, and new hybrid). They are pretty close as companies. They have a long history of it. People using MS apps on other platforms, simply makes coming over to the win 10 platform easier.

Microsoft apps come on the regular s8 too.

I mean, you want google docs or something to become the standard? Over half of the words computing devices are mobiles. 88% of those are android. It would be silly for MS not to make some strides in that space, as it is.

Last thing I want is MS to be like apple, where it tries to control its customers and wall them in.

That won't fly in the IoT, OSs will have to find ways to play together. OS's and software that don't "play nice" will die long term.

But never fear, the whole thing is getting a re-do, in the form of windows 10 on arm, no doubt. I wonder what the device it'll be demo'd on is. Probably the coveted "surface phone", although with MS you can never be quite sure what FF they'll try next.

 

[Curtis Webb]

I gotta say, I'm extremely pissed. I invested in my first Windows Phone years ago, when WP7.5 debuted. I stuck with it until W10 with my last phone being the 950XL. What disappoints me, is that they took Nokia's hardware, which was absolutely amazing, camera, video recording, four microphones to capture the best audio, and they abandoned it. They took the best of the best, and ruined it, by refusing to market it and get the apps they needed to compete with Apple and Android. I loved my camera on the 950XL, absolute BEST photos I've ever had with a phone, nothing could compete. Microsoft totally left it to the waste side, again. This trend happens a lot with MS, only because they enter the market after the fact. Unless they get the apps to compete, they will never be able to compete with mobile. I know they know this. Introducing a product category that people don't know they need, but want, is a way to get them back in the game, but abandoning a market because they can't get a simple app seems like an embarrassing defeat. My 950XL was destroyed last year, out of my hands, and instead of getting another one, I opted for a really nice SONY phone. I figured if I'm going to spend $400, I might as well get a phone that is useful. I hated the fact I had to compromise an amazing camera to get what I needed. MS had the hardware for sure, they didn't have the apps. Shame on MS for not pursing such a simple market. For shame.

 

[lumia_kiwi]

Agreed! I was given an android work phone. I only used it for 6 months, it was useless. My main gripe was with the contacts app and the swipe keyboard for messaging or emails. The android OS just didn't work for me so I went back to my 950 which is just more fluid and does all that I want, which couldn't be said for the android OS. Sure there isn't the apps but just work around it.

 

[Drael646464]

Agreed! I was given an android work phone. I only used it for 6 months, it was useless. My main gripe was with the contacts app and the swipe keyboard for messaging or emails. The android OS just didn't work for me so I went back to my 950 which is just more fluid and does all that I want, which couldn't be said for the android OS. Sure there isn't the apps but just work around it.

There's more UWP apps in the windows store than 2 years ago and it's still growing.

But when windows 10 on arm comes (which it will soon, should be out late this year I believe), it won't matter as much anyway because you'll have win32 (and because of it, also things like chrome extensions).

No doubt Microsoft will make some kind of announcement at the build conference.

I don't get why windows mobile users are complaining about apps and development, I have plenty of recent good UWPs loaded on my tablet.

Maybe its because someone like WhatsApp or facebook have stopped supporting? There will be chrome extensions for anything like that soon enough.

You also get more regular updates than android users, despite that it'll all be likely ditched and replaced by full windows. Blackberry users wish for that kind of follow through.

 

[Cosmin Petrenciuc]

Well when I bought my first Windows Phone, a HTC Radar with WP7.5, I did that because I wanted to be different. I didn't want to use Android or IOS like most of the other consumers. And of course I was attracted by the OS efficiency and fluidity. When Microsoft rebooted the platform I got over the frustration and give them a second chance with a Nokia Lumia 1020. When they rebooted the platform a second time I forgave Microsoft again and give them another chance with a Lumia 950 XL. I still like very much the UI and the integration with the Windows 10 on my home laptop and my laptop from work.
What I feel now in regards of the future of this OS. Well I wanted to be different and I think I am. Microsoft is sending mixed and ambiguous messages about its intentions about smartphones. My friends and colleagues regards me as a strange guy when we talk about smartphone OS choices. In the past I had arguments to back up my choice. Now, with Microsoft's ambiguity, I'm not feeling too combative. Because Microsoft has injected its cloud services into Android and IOS too I can't really say that I prefer Windows 10 Mobile because I have Cortana and Office and a strong integration between my smartphone and my computer. I can have at least parts of that with Android too. And Android lately has become pretty stable and has been optimized for efficiency, I think.
What I think about how Microsoft is handling this crisis? Well, not good at all I'm afraid. Microsoft is like a woman forever waiting for a knight in a shining armor on a white horse to come and marry her. But while waiting and waiting she becomes old, and wrinkled, and nobody will ever want to marry her. She should either accept a normal man that will treat her good and support her, or go to monastery and be finished with that dilema.

 

[SunToucher]

I will continue to use my windows 950XL phone, as my daily driver. When MS rolls out their new devices that can make cellular calls as well as complete other task that windows 10 provides, I will then purchase that, if it suits my needs. That's my thought on that. As to what I feel, it's just another week in tech land. The landscape changes hourly in relation to technology and the next best thing. This week is not really different than what happened last week, just the names changed.

 

[RbrtSfrn]

Confused and want to have an answer about where and when can I invest in future Phone technology. Will that be sPhone (like "super phone" or "surface phone") on W10 or to go on other type of OS.

 

[Raghavendra Dandin]

We all knew this day would come. I made my switch to Android this Jan as my primary device. I still have Lumia 730 around. I'm gonna miss the regular updates. Eagerly waiting for the next mobile device or whatever they are working on. I love my new phone but it's just not the same.

I have always been a WP user across all WP7- 7.5 - 7.8 - 8 - 8.1 - 10. It's sad that I had to let go.

Sorry WP ??????

 

[Drael646464]

Confused ?????? and want to have an answer about where and when can I invest in future Phone technology. Will that be sPhone (like "super phone" or "surface phone") on W10 or to go on other type of OS.

If you have the creators update on tablet or PC....Go into apps, under apps find "Phone". Under the action centre, find "Mobile Hotspot" (or network settings). Under settings>privacy find "Call history". Under privacy messaging find "Let apps read or send SMS/MMS".

There is your answer as to what is happening to windows on phones. It's going to be called "Mobile PC", a unified platform using "Windows 10 on ARM". Current Windows 10 Mobile will be scrapped.

Most likely the patent that MS has filed for a phone keyboard case, will be saved for the release, and the surface phone will be released along side the new OS.

It's also possible they'll develop some means of flashing android devices over to windows 10. Much less certain, but there has to be some reason why they developed that for the Mi 4.

 

[Vinayaka Pai]

Everything that I loved about WP8 is taken off to make the UI similar to Android. The only thing now unique to the Windows Mobile UI is the Start Screen. And as far as I know, this only unique feature of Windows Mobile UI has not been improved at all after the launch of Windows 10 on Mobile. If Microsoft brings more uniqueness to their UI, then I'll use Windows Phones. If most of it is going to look like Android, then I'll rather use Android. Start Screen is great but it's not worth to sacrifice using the apps for just one unique thing.

 

[tsanov]

Day after day, one by one my favorite apps stops working and this is very sad for me. My first smartphone was Windows Phone and I really love the OS, but smartphone without apps is just a phone. It is difficult to change, because neither Android nor the iOS are so beautiful and fast even on low-end devices. The time to change occurs for me, because I received iPhone. I'm still together with Microsoft and their services. It is written much, but I still can not understand why their applications are superior to other operating systems.

Most sad is that Microsoft kills great phones like Lumia 930 and 1520 with lack of support and all these bugs in the Windows 10 mobile.

 

[johnh3]

My main device is since some time a android/Sony. But still use a Lumia 550 as a extra phone with a sim card in it. I have no issues with Windows 10 Mobile now. But the problem are as before the app support, Spotify will not implement new features to their app in Windows as an example.

I would like Microsoft to speak out about their plans for the platform and phones. Not as now they barely mention anything about Windows 10 Mobile.

 

[Ervin Balogh]

Steve Ballmer should come back!

 

[JakeCherry97]

I feel sad about Windows Phones. Last year i gave Android another chance. What a waste of money and time. Now when i'm about to get Windows Phone i hear that it will be killed off. OMG why... :crying: I wish to see Surface Phone this year as it's MS last chance to shine on Mobile market.
Unfortunately, in times of Android domination it's very hard to get good phone, unless you buy flagships.