Save Windows (Phones)

[fatclue_98]

I'll throw my hat in the ring thusly. I think we can all agree that the OS itself is light enough to be able to run on even low-spec'd devices so that being said, releasing hardware with killer battery life and excellent cameras would be a good start. But I feel there's something not being talked about and that is feature parity. What good is a fingerprint scanner that only unlocks the phone? Make it so it logs on to apps like the competition. What good is having NFC if there isn't widespread mobile payment support and even less NFC printing support? That's just hardware-related feature parity, let's delve into the world of apps where Microsoft has historically been lacking. It's irritating when a simple app like CamScanner on Windows can't export to Dropbox, Box or anything other than OneDrive. It's bad enough that there are few apps and some popular ones that left, it's made worse when they don't offer a pound-for-pound comparison.

I don't think I'm asking for much in the way of resource outlay to bring the platform commensurate with the others. It could signal a return of some users on a daily basis, myself included.

 

[naddy6969]

We may as well discuss ways to save the Titanic. Both have already gone down. Both are way beyond “saving”.

 

[John Tumminaro]

I was one of the last people to admit that Windows Phone was truly dead. I defected to the Google Pixel back in November of 2016 due to lack of apps, not so great (but improving) battery on my Nokia Lumia Icon running W10M and lack of new phones on Verizon. I was also sick of Microsoft's failing to deliver on anything it promised to save Windows Phone. Aside from the battery life and lack of apps, I still say Windows 10 Mobile is the best operating system to ever exist for phone. If you knew how to use Windows 10, then this phone was easy to figure out. It was so seamless to move between the phone, tablet, laptop and desktop thanks to the unified interface and well connected environment. All the things that Apple users brag about, the Windows environment could do and do it better. Now I feel that my phone is cut off from my computers and I feel that I have to use the not so great Google environment to link everything together now. It is such a shame. Windows 10 Mobile had so much potential and it was killed before it could show it. If Microsoft made one last ditch effort to save Windows Phone right now and was looking for suggestions, here are mine:

1.) Modernise Windows 10 Mobile. Everything feature-wise that Android and Apple are doing, W10M needs to follow suite. The meat is there. They just need to advance it by the 2 years where they seemed to have left off in 2015. It needs to be smooth, intuitive and elegant. Cortana could also use a make over and some love as well.

2.) Release the Surface Phone. Microsoft underestimated the "shiny factor" of a standardised iconic phone. There was too much number soup going on with the Nokia phones and which mobile service carried what. People don't want plastic generic looking garbage with confusing model numbers like 820, 821, 925, 928 etc, they want names like Galaxy, Pixel and iPhone. The only number that should be in the name is the generation number. People want high quality and class from a phone wrapped in aluminium and glass. The Icon was kind of that phone, but the fall short nature of WP8 and lack of apps let it down. The iPhone and Galaxy are not just phones, they are also fashion statements and the Surface Phone needs to be fashionable as well. It also needs to be packed with enough features to make the the mobile techies drool. Things like a great high res screen, a great camera, SD card reader, fingerprint reader, great speakers, long battery life, water proofing, wireless charging/interface are just some of the things this phone needs to have.

3.) Drop the ARM on said Surface Phone. Take advantage of the x86 capabilities of W10M. I wish the Intel Atom x3 or something like it was still around. This would further unify the environment especially in Continuum. How cool would it be to be able to run a starter version of Windows 10 in Continuum that was capable of running any software that windows could run within reason of the phones hardware. This would also make the phone a must for the Enterprise environment as well.

4.) Unified App Store. Unified apps over the entire Windows 10 environment including XBox. Hardware horsepower and interface limitations should be the only factors if it is compatible or not. Since everything would be running on x86, app development would be easier for the entire Windows 10 environment.

5.) Make it easy to port apps from Android and iPhone to run on said Unified App Store while encouraging developers to develop apps. If the app development portion fails, the Surface Phone will fail. In fact, this should be started along with the Unified App Store before the phone is released. Dangle this godly Surface Phone over the peoples heads while getting them excited for it to hopefully create more incentive.

6.) Stop lying to people. Stop promising features and upgrades and getting everyone excited for them, then quietly sweeping them under the rug. If you promise it, then deliver it.

7.) Advertise Windows Phone as the "must-have" for anyone using Surface, XBox and Windows 10. Advertise how it seamlessly works in the environment and how Windows phone is no longer the generic app-less phone it once was.

8.) Get with the times. Phones have moved beyond just interfacing with its respective OS environment. Cars, devices and homes are getting smart and Microsoft is far behind in interfacing with them and needs to get caught up. If I can't do things like change the temperature of my Nest, cast Rick and Morty to my TV, or pull up Google maps on my car's navigation system, then there are going to be problems.

9.) Work with accessory manufacturers. Some people like to clad their phones with bling. Others, like me, protect their investments with Otterboxes. The Surface Phone will need to have these accessories at ready upon it's release.

Those are just a couple of my thoughts. It felt good to get them off my chest. But unfortunately, it will not change anything. Microsoft has declare defeat and there is nothing we can do. If Microsoft does reintroduce an epic phone under the Surface banner that has all the features and apps of my Pixel, I would definitely come back. The meat of Windows 10 Mobile is just that much better than Android.

 

[badtzbuzz]

1. Build killer device, focused on organizing ones life....
2. Gain support from core social media Apps for support
3. Buy up all the spare virtual carrier network bandwidth
4. Group sale of device, Mobile OS, with Project-Fi like service for half the price of Project Fi service.

 

[Kevin Rush]

Please save Windows mobile Phone.

 

[SvenJ]

Since this is pretty pie in the sky, I would go back to 2007 and appear to Balmer as the ghost of XMas future and show him what can be done with a $500 phone with no keyboard, no apps and one carrier. (Not faulting him on this. He wasn't alone in the assessment and hindsight is 20-20) I would prevent the biannual burn and rebuild concept of the mobile division. I would pay whoever did Apple's marketing twice what Apple was paying them, and I would put some actual commitment behind mobile. They treated it like a hobby, with great ideas, but no follow through. They did this to themselves.

 

[kevon skat pedersen]

Well first of all, I would probably go back in time. Back to when there was something left to salvage.

Then I would actively leverage all the cross platform strengths better. I would have people make casual games for the Xbox where there is actually a market for them, but make them available on windows phone too. They "tried" to do this - but people don't buy fruit ninja when it costs 10-20 bucks. They do when it's free, or costs 1-2.

And then of course fix those small things where apps came in other platforms first, or in more feature full versions..

 

[Philip Bondzie]

What I will do is go back to those phones abandoned by nadella n upgrade them with wild specs. Eg,the 1020s n 1520s are such wild phones.

 

[Jag s]

You need to focus on Corporate Business, you let slip when Blackberry exited. You have a great OS and with all the Continuum features you can offer a great experience all round. Market like Apple do, focus on getting the Corporates back even Giving away phones, For the Consumer Market you need to get a wider App range so partner with Google/Apple and make all their apps available on Windows, make a killer phone that has a cheaper price point then your competitors have but all the functionality and more. But if you commit .. STAY COMMITTED don't Give UP.

 

[Belagyi]

Windows 10 mobile was the best OS I've ever used ( lumia 950xl ).
We use our smartphones mainly for the internet and only partly for telephony.
There are only 5-6 apps we regularly use. Taking this into consideration,
there is no reason to save windows 10 mobile. Microsoft should build a
pocketable, telephony able PC, running full windows 10.

 

[Geez63]

Everyone suggests a W10m phone running android, what about developing W10M as an android app which launches with all the Microsoft apps included?

 

[tgp]

Everyone suggests a W10m phone running android, what about developing W10M as an android app which launches with all the Microsoft apps included?

I'm trying to think through the logistics of this. So every time I want to open OneNote, I also am launching Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, Skype for Business, Microsoft Authenticator, Edge, Xbox, Office Lens, Cortana, Microsoft To-Do, Bing Search, Microsoft Translator, Teams, Groove, Skype, Intune... well, you get the idea.

 

[aximtreo]

I'll throw my hat in the ring thusly. I think we can all agree that the OS itself is light enough to be able to run on even low-spec'd devices so that being said, releasing hardware with killer battery life and excellent cameras would be a good start. But I feel there's something not being talked about and that is feature parity. What good is a fingerprint scanner that only unlocks the phone? Make it so it logs on to apps like the competition. What good is having NFC if there isn't widespread mobile payment support and even less NFC printing support? That's just hardware-related feature parity, let's delve into the world of apps where Microsoft has historically been lacking. It's irritating when a simple app like CamScanner on Windows can't export to Dropbox, Box or anything other than OneDrive. It's bad enough that there are few apps and some popular ones that left, it's made worse when they don't offer a pound-for-pound comparison.

I don't think I'm asking for much in the way of resource outlay to bring the platform commensurate with the others. It could signal a return of some users on a daily basis, myself included.

Interesting set of ideas. On the surface it would require minimal $ outlay and it would give a reasonably fast data set to see if going forward is worth the effort and investment. Got to start somewhere and this seems a good way to do it.

No one has mentioned building windows shell for iPhones and iPads. Not sure how possible it would be but being an iPhone user the thing I hate the most about the OS is the fixed Icons and dead looking the screens are.

 

[Martin Plamondon]

At this point the only viable solution is with Windows on ARM. Give it an interface that is Windows Phone UI but have the Continuum mode with full desktop and real Win32 app support (not centennial, real outside the store Win32 apps).
The foldable screen Microsoft submitted patents for would be the best approach.

 

[Rupert Holmes]

Did what I could. I voted my shares against him.

 

[Rupert Holmes]

All I wanted was a faster 1020. I have yet to find a phone with a camera that meets my needs better than the 1020.

 

[anonius]

Saving Windows Phone was necessary from the moment the new tiled interface was introduced, but not because of the lack of user, from itself! Interface is what we see first and this what has to be improved in that pretty, but mainly disfunctional user interface, which I personally struggle with it till this moment. I wrote this already many times on different Windows Central posts, first time years ago, after using it for a few weeks on first HTC windows phone with tiled interface. Here we go again in point by point MUST DO list:
1) Every tile has to have name below or on the tile!!!! This names should be editable by user, just like shortcuts on Windows Desktop.
2) One should be able to use dark font color when background color is light, eg. it is impossible right now to see what is on the screen when background is yellow and font is by default white.
3) The tiles have to many sizes and at some point it is counterproductive to attach more of them. This creates long display difficult to scroll downward and remember where the tile was. Introduce "pages" of tiles, like Android and Apple have, they may be changed by scrolling down or sideways, but this mechanism must be built into interface.
4) The whole interface moves to easily and is too sensitive to the touch. Accidental touch in my hand or even my pocket moves tiles around. "repairing" the original position may take long time and sometimes, for less skilfull user, is simply impossible. The interface must be "dummy" safe, by introducing eg. a "lock" application, which immobilizes position of tiles untill "unlocking" it. his does not mean we need a password to do it. It is only to lock in place the whole damned thing called tiles.
5) Getting things done with Settings is too complicated. Mostly because there is too many things which we need to search for not knowing what they are. A very difficult task even with Bing/Cortana help. Someone has to create a simple logical list of things which need to have an easy access to every user. I understand it, it is Windows 10 on cell phone and all Settings are there, but cell phone is still not a desktop computer and can have two kinds of settings apps, those easy ones for everyday users and those for people who want to dablle more inside the system.
6) Applications. I never missed them, but I understand why are they missed by so many people. They are an easy entrance to achieve something on the web in much simplified way. So, these is a valid point, but, if Edge browser had a cousin? See next
7) Make a browser which is really able to display web info correctly and transparently on the small phone screen. A browser which scales pages to the screen size first of all. Not like the present one. Then the need for thousands of web serving applications will disappear. Every "favorite" could be made as a tile and saved to the list of applications and/or to the screen tile.
8) Make window phones available in phone stores. Many times I entered TMob store to look at windows phone and salesmen didn't even know what is Windows Phone at the time when promotion was going on for Alcatel phone. It is insane. Same ATT stores. I do not talk here about smaller vendors who depend on Android only.

Every time a new updated comes to my Lumia 950 I am fearing that some nice features will disappear, like live photos did, and now my friends with iPhones show live photos which I used to have for the past 2 years and don't have anymore, why?

Too many whys, too many question marks, specially, why does it take so much effort to built a reliable phone (not like my Lumia 950 or 950XL), more like Lumia 1020, and it is possible to build Surface tablet or XBOX One X? Cost return? Please, illuminate me.

 

[ucyimDa_Ruler]

So many different answers that won't help. So many folks are keen on creating a "Me too" platform which from the get-go Windows Phone was not. I believe insiders ruined the WP experience by always comparing it to those other platforms which inturn started that fast descent.

Here's what we never got from Microsoft.

1. Commitment. Never has Microsoft openly committed to pushing and supporting the platform. Without this, developers will not hop on board. They recently openly committed to pushing the XBOX platform which will bring in more Indie developers and more publishers. Great! Should have done this with WP.
2. Priority. This means stop releasing applications for other platforms first.
3. Roadmap. I've never seen one, except a general one where it was a line part of a bigger picture. This was the only product line that didn't have an exclusive road map. Sure it was part of Windows. But let's see integration points or unique experiences tailored strictly for WP.
4. UWP. Not sure where to start but this is a big problem.

 

[the_moesiah]

Everyone suggests a W10m phone running android, what about developing W10M as an android app which launches with all the Microsoft apps included?

You're basically describing a W10M launcher. There are several that already, and most are absolute garbage. There are a few that are okay, but none are a great substitution. I would love to see an official W10M launcher from Microsoft.

 

[final_fantasy781]

I disagree with your statement "Relying on android is not the way to go, if ever."

The thing is, everybody is jumping the "Android Bandwagon. And by everybody I mean developers. There doesn't seem to be enough developers to developer for Android + iOS + Windows 10 (UWA). If any other company wants to make a new device, they can only chose to make Android. Maybe Microsoft will re-enter the device game later, but for now its only Android.

Something HAS to change. Right now, if you don't fork Android and get popular apps like YouTube, Gmail, your device won't go anywhere. That is way too much power to say whether a new device or OS should live or die. That has to change and soon. That's what Microsoft should focus on

So, if you don't go Android, you're already dead in the water.