Rant : What is your Plan B?

[libra89]

Curious to know, did you continue to use MS services on the iPhone, or have you moved over to Google/Apple's services?

I pretty much only use MS services. I use OneDrive for photo backup, and Outlook for my mail. As for my device backups, I periodically backup my iPhone using iTunes. Also on the original setup, I used Outlook for my contacts out the gate so my iCloud is not used for anything. I use Apple Maps because it's already on the phone, and I have my search preference set to use Bing in Safari, and also for Siri. As for Cortana, she's not as good on iPhone but she still tells me if my team loses or wins, which is nice too.

Oh, I use Outlook Calendar and not the one built into the iPhone.

The iPhone makes all of this easy, aside from the Cortana thing, which is disappointing but it is what it is, I guess.

 

[AnkitGondalia]

MS was actually on the right track for sometime, offering to make ROMs for cheap (er) Android phones like the Mi3, wonder why that didn't take off.


W10 optimized - I put the blame squarely on MS, for requiring a third time to get things right. If you have 1% market share, you cannot afford to re-launch your OS from scratch every year and then expect apps to be modified immediately.

I doubt MS expects to compare with Android/iOS numbers anymore. The best case would be if they maintain a niche market share and peak out around 6-8% in the next few years (Guy can dream, right?). Ideally devs wouldn't be interested, but UWP is what makes this interesting, people wouldn't develop for WM, they will develop for W10.

The next year would be quite interesting.

They never planned releasing rom for mi3. Mi4 was there target device but they still messed up by releasing rom only for 4g varients. What about non availability of phones in market.. Im using a lumia 720 and want to upgrade to a windows device which has atleast 2gb of ram and a powerful processor at an affordable price which is still not available.. :/
I dont want to buy 650 as it is costly where i live and the processor is weak

 

[TheJoester09]

Wow! Never knew Marshmallow was that bad.

Well, also keep in mind that I've been using Windows Phone/Mobile since WP7 (well really since WM5, but anything before 7 is irrelevant to this point), so I know the system backwards and forwards. I can't say the same for Android, and the some of the workflows just confused me. Plus I had to fight through to slows downs, freeze ups, and app crashes that inevitably come with Android. It just wasn't for me.

 

[DavidinCT]

I would be giving up these things, moving from Windows 10 to iOS

1. Superb OneDrive integration-Seamless auto-upload of images and deleting images from the phone as well as OneDrive at the same time. iCloud is pathetic in comparison, I regularly share OneDrive albums with people via the web, you can't do that on iCloud
2. Outlook - Windows 10's stock email app is better than the stock iOS email app any day. Yes, I can use the Outlook Mail client on iOS, but using an app is not the same thing. It doesn't do background sync of emails as well
3. Live Tiles - I think this is the area where iOS is most lacking. The Home screen is useless and a waste of space on big screen phones.
4. Wireless Charging - I have three wireless chargers at home, one in my car and one at office. All that investment would go to waste
5. Glance - Unlocking your phone each time to check for notifications is such a waste of time and battery
6. Money - I have a 950XL. To replace it with an iPhone (Plus variant) with at least 64Gb of memory would cost almost twice as much
7. Loss if integration with Windows 10 on the desktop and iPhone

What I would be gaining

Do the rest of you have a Plan B?

Yea, I have had a plan B for a while. I dont like iOS at all (my wife has one and I hate the device plus I hate Apple), so I have LG G4 that I have been getting used to, I swap week to week with my ICON, I love Windows Phone but, I feel your pain. The G4 is a really nice phone for what it is and has a premium feel to it.

1. On Android, The ONE DRIVE app, allows you to upload all your photos/videos, just like on Windows Phone. I see no change, infact they all go to the same folder as my WP pictures. I dont see a problem on this aspect at all (not sure on the iOS version)
2.Outlook on Android is actually pretty nice but, I'll agree the "10" verson is better but, pretty close on Android.
3. Live Tiles - Not much you can do about that, Android and iOS will just give the Number on your icon...
4. Wireless Charging - I know on my LG G4 that didn't come with Wireless charging, for about $5-10 I can buy a sticker that will give me wireless charging (10 min install). I know there is an options for some other Android or iOS models. So it might be able to be done. So, you might not have to change all your chargers

If you want iOS, your going to pay for it, so money is your choice.

Windows 10 phone wont just STOP working. Even if Microsoft kills it the phone will work for years to come. The ONLY time it truly cant be used is when your services are no longer supported (for example Exchange email, or web browser not able to view pages, or apps are unusable any more).

I have a old Windows Mobile 6.5 phone... About 6 months ago, I needed a temp phone while I had an issue with one of my phones, so for a week, I used it. I was able to connect to an Exchange 2010 server, I was geting email, texts, even the facebook app worked had some issues.

So, it's not going to just DIE one day, Microsoft kills it you can use it for years to come, if you can live with the lack of more apps...

 

[slooksterpsv]

DavidinCT. There's a reason why I'd choose to go iOS over Android if W10M fails - and Ubuntu Phones never come to the US =/ - the reason is.... updates.

My biggest frustration with the android eco-system and Google, albeit I do love their services, is that there is no way to get an inexpensive phone and receive updates. For example, BLU has 57 phones alone for the Android series, and I'm not even talking about the discontinued ones. Do you get OS updates? Rarely. I think the 5 phones they list as getting Kitkat were the only ones to ever get updates on their phone. Even some of the better BLU phones, higher-end, don't get Cyagenmod - or other custom ROMS. So you're left with a device you may have paid oodles for, just for... 1 iteration of Android.

My Lumia 521, it's 2 years old, I had 8.0, 8.1, and put a 10 TP on it. Not many manufacturers do Windows Phone, but some of them have updated - yes even BLU. Granted most of the better ways to get upgrades is to go through Microsoft on the Lumia line, but they kept their phones up to date most of the time. Finally, Windows Phones aren't as expensive as some of the Android ones.

iOS, granted you may get 2-3 revisions of iOS, and the hardware is generally only good for about... 1 1/2 - 3 years, but that's not bad versus the Android market. Windows Phone, is very similar. The price though.... that's where it hurts.

Overall my point is, for price point, Windows you can actually upgrade lower-end devices, Android you have to buy either directly from Google or a high-end from Samsung, LG, etc. no inexpensive ones, and iOS, they're expensive overall.

 

[wplee]

I wouldn't switch. I don't use that many apps (Only Whatsapp/Facebook/Uber). Paid a lot for the 950XL, then the Mozo leather backs and just pre-ordered the wood backs last week.

I am quite happy with how everything works with the MS ecosystem. The 950XL takes great photos, they upload seamlessly to OneDrive and deleting photos from the Photos app deletes it from both the phone and OneDrive. Email is also great (I use Outlook Premium), so overall I am happy.

Now is actually quite an exciting time for WM. I keep switching between Redstone and Threshold builds every week.

I am sure MS wouldn't ditch WM anytime soon, but with so much negativity in the press, developers can easily be swayed.

Ah yep, if you have a Lumia 950XL then I wouldn't switch either. The camera is going to stay flagship quality for at least a couple of years and If you have the premium backs then your setup is already plenty good enough compared to the competition.

The only thing your missing out on is Apps & compatibility with 3rd party services such as Android Auto/ Apple Car Play & Apple/Android pay etc.
The Apps will come, that I am certain. Once Windows 10 hits 500m installs (this year?) only a foolish developer would ignore the Windows Store. I wouldn't worry about the bad press either, yes Windows Phone 8.1 is dead but 10 Mobile is just getting started. While Windows exists on Desktop there will always be a mobile version.

I do believe that a lesson here however is not to invest too much in one platform in the future. My brother-in-law wanted to leave iPhone for the S7 but told me he couldn't because he didn't want to lose the fortune he'd spent on iTunes music. I had to explain that he could take it with him via Google Play Music / export, but its another lesson.

I now have OneDrive and Google Drive, Outlook and Gmail and plan on getting a basic iPod Touch for my gaming/snapchat etc with Apple account. This way I don't feel locked in to one company for a decade and enjoy the best of both (three) worlds. I do like Microsoft, but at the end of the day they are a multibillion dollar company and it helps to remember this when it comes to brand loyalty dilemmas.

 

[Summer_Moon]

I would go Ubuntu phone. I seem to always go for the ones that are not mainstream and as soon as I switch to them they usually end up dying along the way - Palm Garnet OS, Palm WebOS (hate HP...), BlackBerry, etc. So if Windows Mobile went the same way I'd go to Ubuntu and wait for it to die lol.

 

[XToro]

I've been using Windows phones for well over a decade and had the Motorola MPX220 running Windows Mobile 2003 when it first came out. I took a short break because I got a free Blackberry that lasted a few years. But got right back in with Windows 7 on my Lumia 800. I've stuck it out this far, and I'm pretty sure WM would have to completely and officially die for me to stop using it. But if it did, then here's hoping the Ubuntu Phone makes some headway eventually. I would love to have a Linux phone over iOS or Android. I use Kubuntu on my PC's at home, with Win10 dualboot setup for some games.

 

[Zeem Frostmaw]

Playing along with the possibility - albeit an incredibly distant possibility - that Microsoft stops making Windows mobile devices and cuts off licensing to stop anyone else making them and ends support for Windows 10 Mobile, releasing their absolute final update...

... I'd honestly still probably just use my current Windows smartphone until something appears that's good enough to truly convince me to leave the platform. The 950 does all I need right now - it has power, plays a selection of excellent games, can connect to all the messaging services I need (except Discord I guess but that's still in it's infancy anyway) and has a worthwhile productivity suite.

Android or iOS will need to do something very impressive to make me cut my losses and start fresh on a new system.

Thing is, whatever that next big thing is, I think Microsoft will be joining that race.

 

[Jason Gilbert]

I activated Plan B a few weeks ago and bought a Galaxy S7 Edge. Here are my brief thoughts:

-Camera: Amazing on the S7E. The first Android phone that can compete with high-end Lumias. Bonus is that the camera is super fast and Google photos now syncs on Drive just as well as WP does on OneDrive.
-Battery life: Also amazing. I don't know how it is on a 905/950Xl, but my L830 was clearly worse on W10.
-Browser: Chrome rocks. With Edge, rendering was spotty and embedded videos were a 50-50 proposition.
-Apps: Yeah, there's more on Android, but I'm not sure how many more that I need. However some of the big ones work a lot better on Android, including maps and navigation. There are also a few that I like better on WP. (Craigslist app, MSN news, Nextgen Reader vs. Feedly.) Still, I recently had a minor fender bender and it was really nice to have my insurance company's app on my phone.
-Email and Calendar: This is the one area in which I think Windows (both mobile and desktop) are clearly better, especially for those of us tied to an Exchange account at work. I have been able to get S7E set up so that it's OK (using Outlook for Android), but managing 4 email accounts is still a pain, and it never was with Windows. This is the one area where Windows shines, particularly because of live tiles.
-Overall system performance: The S7E is smooth and perfect with everything. I had horrible problems with the 830 on W10, and before I bought my Android I went to the MS store and played with a 950 for a while. It was better than my 830, but it still had a lot "resuming" and "loading" issues. It still wouldn't attach the URL from the news app to a text message. Little things like that are really what made me leave.

So I'm happy with Plan B, but I still miss the Windows email management tools. I'll be interested to see what comes of Continuum (I've tried it, it's interesting but half-baked at this point), and I'm also waiting to see what Google does with Android apps on a Chrome OS. (The prospect of a Chromebook with full MS Office apps is tantalizing.) I think MS has a good vision of the future, but after dealing with W10 on a phone, I'm not sure they can pull it off.

 

[tlassen]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience. I'm a fellow S7 owner as well, and it's the best Android phone I've ever had. And I've been an Android user since 2011 since the DROID2. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that you should check out the app Nine on Android for your Microsoft Exchange needs. It is the BEST app I've seen and well worth the money. Nothing compares to its Exchange features for an email app.

 

[lowbar31]

I've been having the same thoughts about a backup. It's not easy. The only smartphone I've ever owned has been MS going back to Windows Phone 7.0. I had an Android tablet and wasn't impressed and I hate Apple's my way or the highway philosophy. I really like the idea of Windows across all platforms. It just makes so much sense. Apps are not a big deal for me although I did choose Wells Fargo for a bank because they have a Windows Phone app. The app gap is not a deal breaker for me but admit there are 3 or 4 I would like to see on my phone. My frustrations now are the ungodly delays in updates. WM10 has been out for some time now but AT&T doesn't appear to be aware of it. It is also getting harder to find wireless charging on a reasonably priced phone and that is a big deal to me. I have a company issued Lumia 830 and if I had to buy a phone on my own now I would get a Lumia 830 off of eBay. There are some good deals there. The MS 650 would meet my needs but alas, no wireless charging. If I had to buy a non Windows smartphone now it would probably the iPhone SE. Why they refuse put a micro SD card reader on it is beyond me. Long live Windows Phone.

 

[realwarder]

There is no Plan B. All my data is with Microsoft. If I was to get a Google phone, they'd have all my contacts and life. Same with Apple. What would I get? Access to apps I don't need. I like the security of what I have today.

Plan C might be a flip phone and tablet with Windows 10 on it?

I have to say that moving from a 830/640 to 950 has revolutionized the Windows 10 experience on mobile. It is no longer slow and things like the camera are instant. Apps stay in memory etc. Anyone saying they jumped to the latest iPhone or Android phone and find it so quick really need to have tried a 950xl first. An iPhone 4 user jumping to a 950xl would be saying how fast Edge is and how instant apps run etc. Just putting things in perspective to those amazed with say an S7.

I'm excited to see what Microsoft are going to bring to the table and I think it's even faster and more unified PC/mobile which I'm looking forward to.

 

[Jason Gilbert]

Thanks for the reminder. I had used it for while on my old Android tablet. I never really got to like it, but that may have been the tablet running Android 4.something. I'll give it another shot.

 

[etad putta]

Android smartwatch Finow X5

 

[msft_tinkering]

I was on Verizon with an Icon, but 2 years on with no new flagship in sight, I switched to a Nexus 6p on Project Fi.

I lost live tiles which bites and widgets aren't even close to filling that void.

I don't use ANY Google apps. I have a Gmail account so that I could access the Play store, but I don't use it for anything. All the other google apps are there and updated, but I have no use for them at all. If I could fully uninstall them without rooting the device, I would.

OneDrive for photos works okay, but the integration between the camera & OneDrive only allows for upload of full rez picture.
Outlook for android works okay, and just got a calendar fix.
The MSN Apps (News, Money, Weather) aren't as good as the Win10 versions, but they work.
All of the Office mobile apps are available.
I don't miss wireless charging because USB-C charging is freakishly fast.
Yeah, the 6p wasn't cheap, but I can use it on any carrier in the world.
You have to be more explicit about what you want to do when connecting a Nexus to W10. Android just defaults to charging, you have to tell it you're going to transfer files.

I don't like the dialer, I don't like the sms app & I think the emjos are just bad.

Let's be clear this IS plan B. If the 950 were on Verizon I probably wouldn't have switched. So until MSFT figures out what they're doing I'll just continue to use this very nice piece of hardware and it's "meh" OS.

 

[Krystianpants]

Well if wireless charging is such a big feature iphone 7 will support it. It may even be better than anything else out there since they control the hardware/soc/accessories. They may even do something great with battery since that's still a part of phone hardware that is a big incentive to users. And people will buy it because it will be different. It will have an AMOLED screen which they will market in a great way. It will give incentive to switch.

Next, I think people need to open their minds a little bit and not dump "Windows Mobile" with "Windows phone". Windows mobile can have a very broad range of devices and it will never die as long as OEMs are using it.

Now what makes a phone, a phone? Cellular connectivity. The ability to talk to people. There's nothing more to it. You can have a flip phone, you can have a very basic unit and it will be considered a phone. Smart Phones are computers with the ability to make phone calls. The only problem is that they are limited to their input/output. So it's that limitation that keeps them from becoming true computers. But what if you could design computers with the ability to make phone calls? Why should these powerful mobile devices have such limits imposed on them? These limits only force us to buy additional hardware that essentially can do the same thing but without that phone connectivity. Microsoft sees that these things are powerful and as these mobile versions of computers gain more and more power, they are still limited to how they can be used. You're still getting the same thing but more power. The same apps but with more power. If you could truly create a device that removes the limitations and lets you do whatever you want on it you now have something different. You may have to put down some more money to get the device, but you save by not having to have to buy all these other devices that essentially have similar power but a different input/output method. So this is really Microsoft's goal.

Now we know that some things just require so much power that these devices can't handle it. But do average consumers have this requirement? Does the average consumer need their mobile device to play insanely realistic graphic games? Does the average consumer require a photo editing suite for making powerful edits and changes? No. So there will always be the niche market for gamers/photographers/animators. And these will be the powerful pc's/devices that will continue to sell to that market.

The question is, can Microsoft turn these devices into these powerful machines? I think it's possible. The reason I think it's possible is because of the surface book. In tablet mode you have your basic processor that is powerful enough to get things done. Then you snap it into a dock and your now able to use not only the chip right in the tablet but a more powerful chip that sits in the dock itself. So the question is, what is stopping Microsoft and OEM partners from creating "extensions" for these powerful devices. What if there were various flavours of docks that would let you connect your phone to them and all of a sudden you have a method of playing powerful games and doing real photo editing work? Shrink the PC into an add-on accessory. And what if this add-on accessory can slip into your xbox to give it more power as well? It's a wild concept but I don't think it's that far fetched. It's also so much cleaner because you don't need this big case sitting by your desk taking up room. You don't need to buy a new console because you decided you want your game to look and perform better.

The concept of mobility has strong appeal. The truly mobile device should be able to do anything. When you don't need the extra power, you don't have to have it. You can continue using it with built in input/output. But if you need to, you have the accessories to let you extend the screen size change the input method and generally make use of what your device is already capable of doing but it was never implemented.

So windows phone is dead because it is just another simple device that lets you make phone calls and entertain yourself with. This market is already over-saturated. You can't get millions of users to just dump what works for them and move over to something else that practically does the same thing. Developers are the same, they know that this will never happen. Only those who are ignored in these large saturated markets can take their chances in the small market. And that's why the apps never really came to windows phone. It's just another smart phone.

So think about what windows mobile is really about. Think about why MS is taking their sweet time trying to create something different. Imagine Google kept pouring money into Google+. It will never take over facebook. There's nothing to distinguish it and users are already comfortable where they are. They have built up networks on it and starting all over just doesn't make sense.

The 950/950xl really were the "phones" for the fans. Why? Because they let fans get a small glimpse into the future of mobile computing. And it's not finished and there are problems, but fans know this. They know it's the first iteration of things to come. OEMs are in the same boat. They will not make money off these continuum devices at this point in time. They will simply be getting their foot into a new market and learn along the way. Even when the anniversary update comes and phones like HP elite X3 come out, it will still not be the final vision. It will be the first set of devices that bring awareness into what the future will hold. And it will not gain a massive market share but there will always be people who buy them. And people who don't buy these devices will become more aware of their existence and what they are offering. But of course this will not mean they will jump on it. A level of reluctance will ensue while a small percentage of users adopt. And like the surface line started off weak, these will be in the same boat, if not worse. But MS has learned a lot over the years getting into these market segments and creating/tweaking hardware. They now have more knowledge and experience to be able to create better devices. And they will take their time working on what they really want to show off while these other devices gain a bit of awareness. Change is not something that happens over night. Look at the battle Tesla has been going through. Years later and we are seeing more adoption and even other car manufacturers are starting to see this as the future.

With all that said, unless you like to be a first adopter and deal with all the pitfalls, you should not waste your money thinking about the future. Simply use it for your current needs. If you buy something, and it meets your needs, don't worry about what will happen X number of years from now. X number of years from now you can make another purchasing decision that meets your needs at the time.

As far as you mentioning journalists. They are switching to devices that meet their needs. It's really that simple. They also get paid to get as many people as possible to read their articles, so of course they will make them jump at you. A great example is the recent articles about how surface phone may not happen because Intel canceled their Atom line. Think about that for a moment. Do you think a large corporation that has been partnered with Intel for so many years was not aware of this happening? Do you think they just sit back idly and wait for Intel to produce things they can put in their devices? No, they work together on identifying the best paths for the future. MS never had any plans to put Atom in these "surface phones". It's really the bloggers/journalists that put this into peoples' heads. Whatever MS is doing, no one knows but MS. Why didn't any of these journalists/bloggers predict the Surface book? All they do is post their own opinions based on their own misguided knowledge.

I love my Lumia 950XL. It does what I need it to do. So I got my money's worth. I didn't buy it because of what it may become, I bought it for what it is. And honestly, it blew through my expectations. I didn't think that all these new apps would be coming out supporting continuum. I figured it would be nice to use the Microsoft provided apps. I knew about the 1 full screen app limitation, I knew that Edge was not going to be running really well on it since it barely runs well on my powerful PC. I didn't know that these new redstone builds would introduce all these cool things to my phone. And so I get what I bought plus I'm getting even more cool stuff on top of that. I read the reviews for the phone, I wasn't going in expecting a miracle. I used my money how I wanted to use my money.

 

[Jazmac]

Use whatever you want. I like Windows Phone 10 but at the same time, I have things to get done so I get the tools for that. If balmer had not sat on his butt then pick fights with google and IOS, this thread wouldn't exist.

 

[mggm100]

However, I must admit that the doom and gloom being spread by various news outlets recently has gotten to me. First Tom Warren, then Paul Thurrot and now Mary Jo-Foley have pronounced the death of Windows Mobile. Note that these people are not news trolls, but long time Microsoft evangelists (Especially Paul and Mary) who have championed the cause of MS for 2 decades now. I can either hope for them to be horribly wrong, or hope that their predictions don't actually kill Windows Mobile (Devs thinking, if these people have jumped ship, why should we stick around?). Now the death of Intel's Atom and the Surface Phone looks even more distant now.

It bothered me for a bit too, but I'm over it now. I got over it very quickly after looking around to see what's new in the Android world. (I came to WP from Android 2 years ago). There is some beautiful hardware available, but the things that bothered me about Android don't seem to have changed. iOS is out of the question for me because I just don't like using it.

In Mary Jo Foley's case it's a Verizon problem, not a WM problem. She doesn't want to switch carriers.

I'm going to enjoy the 950 for a couple of years and not make any decisions about switching until I'm ready for something new.

 

[DavidinCT]

Use whatever you want. I like Windows Phone 10 but at the same time, I have things to get done so I get the tools for that. If balmer had not sat on his butt then pick fights with google and IOS, this thread wouldn't exist.

Agreed on this. What ever you buy, it will do for the most part what you need. What I mean is, You can get email, you can get texts, you can browse the web, you can do GPS navi, you can get apps, you can do even more.

So, if your choice is Windows 10 Mobile, WP 8.1, Android (one of the many flavors), or iOS, they will all do what most people want.

Even a camera, all will take a picture, some better than others but, they still will look good for the most part depending on your tastes...

My LG G4 takes almost as good if not better than my ICON did....it's impressive.