So, Oct. 6th event over. Best product launches by any company ever?

[o4komodo]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Don't forget HST! 13% tax which puts the phone at $960! The harmonized tax was developed to help businesses and hurt consumers.

Damn I forgot about that... Unless you're in Edmonton then it's not too too bad (5% which equates to $900)

 

[bitcrazed]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

So you ignored the moment when Brian logged into the phone using Hello? Perhaps it happened so quickly that you didn't notice?

 

[Thallanor]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

I expected Panay to demo the Windows Hello on the new Lumias. Just to give an indication about how quickly it unlocks the phone. Now, there is no way of knowing that because the hands-on devices kept there for the press won't have Windows Hello enabled.

Didn't Brian demo how quickly Windows Hello recognized him and unlocked his phone before he started the Continuum demo?

 

[Thallanor]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

The phone portion was a joke.

Did they even mention wireless charging or the removable back? They mentioned that the camera is great but they didn't demo it. They didn't show us this wonderful 4k video the camera records. I would have liked to see a completely wireless Continuum demo. Does the miracast Continuum implementation lag? Can you get work done with it? Can you game with it?

One thing I need from a laptop is the ability to transfer files from an SD card to a hard drive. It seems silly to lug a laptop around just for that. Can I do that with Continuum? WTF MSFT?! If I can do an SD card transfer and verify with Continuum it will kill the need for the WD My Passport Wireless overpriced drive. That is such a common scenario for me. I'm on a trip. I get back to where I'm staying for the night. Now I have to offload pictures and videos. I really don't want to take a laptop just to do that.

I'm not certain of Continuum is even supported wirelessly. Granted, you can use Miracast streaming, but I'm not sure if that is part of the official Continuum spec. Most of what I've read, the dock is a part of the requirements.

As far as transferring documents from an SD card to a hard drive, first I think it's a bit unfair to assume Microsoft will demo every potential act someone might attempt in the OS, but secondly, I cannot see why it would not work. As it is now, you can use the file manager to transfer files from the phone to an SD card or vice-versa, and the drives are just showing up as additional ones in the OS, so I can't imagine why you couldn't do this.

 

[DMCarver]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

So what are you going to bring to the hotel with continuum? A monitor and keyboard?

 

[Thallanor]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

And...the price up here in Canada is too much: $850 for the XL.

Given what I've seen today, and other factors related to phone, I'm fairly certain I'll be moving on to another platform when I tire of my 830.

For those that are excited, I'll never disparage that. But, personally I'm quite disappointed and unimpressed.

Given that Apple's _lowest_ cost entry to the smartphone realm at the moment is $899 CAD - and that's for the smaller 6s, not the 6s plus - I don't think that $850 is completely unrealistic. Are there specific features that you absolutely require on the 950XL that couldn't be satisfied on the 950, the 550, or even the rumoured 750? The 550 might be too entry level, I admit, but for less than $200 unlocked, it's hard to complain about that.

 

[Thallanor]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Face it. These guys left so much out.

You'd better get on the horn with Microsoft before their next presentation so that you can provide them a list of your requirements to ensure they receive adequate airtime.

 

[Thallanor]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

An assumption.
An assumption.
You must be new here.
So they chose to do cheesy cheer leading instead of introducing and explaining features? Nice use of time.
Which is why you started your post with a bunch of assumptions instead of facts?
The majority of Apple's revenue comes from phones. My advice is if you want to play in that market... you may want to get a little more serious about what you are doing.

Your attitude is so poisonous that this will be the last response. If you want some personalized time with a phone, become a reporter and go review it at the event itself. Until then, slapping people with "you're new here" or "that's an assumption" is just childish at best. If you want your questions to be taken seriously - and if you honestly, truly hoped for someone at Microsoft to somehow read this and take heed - then grow up. No one here is going to tolerate being told to grow up, and no corporation is going to give someone the light of day because you give the attitude that nothing will ever truly satisfy you. Just like an Apple keynote, with you, there will always be "just one more thing."

 

[Great deal]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

So what are you going to bring to the hotel with continuum? A monitor and keyboard?

Dont forget the mouse and dock lol - Continuum is a nice thought, in practice I think its ahead of its time and not many will use this feature.

 

[Thallanor]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

They didn't show off the hardware on the phone properly.
They didn't talk about in details about the camera or even demo it.
They didn't talk about the battery
They didn't talk about the memory
They didn't talk about FFC
They didn't talk about or Demo Iris scanner
They didn't demo or talk about Wireless Charging.

What demo of the hardware would have been suitable? A benchmark? They showed the OS running and showed how well it ran numerous apps. I'm not sure what sort of hardware demo you would have wanted.
Details of the camera were given, though I agree, a demo would have been nice.
The memory would be similar to the hardware... I'm not sure what you'd want demoed with it.
And the near-infrared iris scanner _was_ demoed.
I'm pretty sure that these presentations are lined up in such a way that they know what most are looking for. Start going into benchmarks, etc. and you delve into "old Microsoft" keynotes... numbers, numbers, numbers. Yes, many want them. But most don't. This is to showcase hardware, not drill down into the nitty gritty where you risk half the viewers ending up snoring.

 

[Thallanor]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Fast a few years ago maybe, but it's extremely slow compared to the GS6 or iPhone 6 or 6S. He stopped talking and it took a sec for it to unlock.

I think that Windows Hello will be even slower for me because of my fat head and how long it'll take it to find my eyes, let alone read them.

 

[Thallanor]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Continuum is an unknown as quite frankly I cant see anyone taking a dock as well as a phone with them, you may as well take a SP4 and your phone and get a better experience.

I think that the assumption is that you have the dock setup somewhere at the home or the office, otherwise you'd also be toting around a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

 

[Thallanor]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

1) I need to get over the price. At $850 in Canada, the XL is not cheap.
2) MS needs to prove that the OS is ready. I'm not convinced it will be in the short-term.
3) I'll need to see some reviews from sources I trust that give the hardware and software, at least, a passing grade.
4) Accessories need to be readily available. They've failed horribly at this in the past. I'm not shopping on Ebay.

I believe the price will also decrease quickly. I bought my 1520 only 3 months after it was released, and paid $350 for it, when new it was closer to the 950 in terms of price. This is compared to some phones, like iPhones, where the only drop seems to be right before a new model is released.
I'm with you on #2. I do like where W10M is heading, but they're hitting crunch time and while the OS as a service means regular updates, I shouldn't have to wait until 6 months after release before major bugs are quashed. There are still some major ones that have been reported by Insiders for the last 4-5 builds that still exist. Not entirely confidence-inspiring.
As for #4, I find it so hit and miss. And a lot of it is in my head. Personally, for a rugged case, I want an Otterbox or something similar from a brand name. Some people prefer first-party apps, I prefer first-party accessories. (And given how clumsy some of the accessories are from off-brands, that is fair.) I wanted a rugged case for my 1520 so I bought one from Kungpow Heavy Industries or something and it's probably 3/4 lead (I guess that softens the blows when dropped) and while it does the trick, it just doesn't have the same fit and finish as, say, an Otterbox. (Ignoring the fact that almost every Otterbox I've bought for employees at work has eventually broken the belt clip.)

 

[o4komodo]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

So what are you going to bring to the hotel with continuum? A monitor and keyboard?

Most decent hotels have an HDMI capable TV---so monitor not needed.
Keyboard still needed... BUT anyone who travels knows that bringing around a laptop can be cumbersome with security.
Instead you are given a chance to lug around a tiny dock and a travel keyboard.
Granted you can't use these features while on an airplane but the convenience is most certainly there.

What would be amazing to see is when hotels, libraries, schools and businesses already have a Continuum dock hooked up.
How amazing would it be for a professor to just lug around his phone instead of a laptop to perform his/her lectures?

The amazing thing about the Windows ecosystem is that most of your work is saved to the cloud automatically. Which means whatever work you do on your phone would be synced and loaded onto your laptop and vice versa.

Continuum is still in it's early stages of adoption so we obviously won't see how useful it can be just yet---but knowing we have that capability to work effortlessly is pretty amazing to me.

Dont forget the mouse and dock lol - Continuum is a nice thought, in practice I think its ahead of its time and not many will use this feature.

Actually there's a video that shows you can use the phone as a touchpad! Although it would definitely be more intuitive with an actual mouse.

 

[Thallanor]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Lol. Have you seen a White House press briefing? If you can't sit through a two and a half hour Microsoft event where Continuum and the Surface Book are introduced you need to take some ADHD pills and find another career.

And this has already been addressed. They could have cut out all the cheesy cheerleading and eliminated most of the stupid philosophy stuff. They wasted so much time trying to be cute. Just show us the products!

I suppose it is a good thing that most of us here are not Whitehouse press reporters.

Personally, I found the philosophy portion to be important. More than hardware, more than software, it's nice to know that Microsoft finally "gets it." Products come and go, but knowing a company is on the right track in terms of philosophy is a lot more important long-term.

 

[Thallanor]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Why no one question MS decision to sell an unfinished phone?
Assuming the phones will start selling on the 30th November, they have less than 2 months to finish the OS.
Transporting times? Testings?...Maybe less than a month to finish it up.
Or MS intention is to let the new user be a part of the Insider?

Windows 10 RTM hit OEMs before it was released to the public too. It sounds to reason that when it's their own product that this will be the case.
I feel it's less "they're getting pre-release" and more "the final release is coming out a month after RTM."

This makes me even more nervous about their ability to quash the last of the bugs and hammer out more performance improvements in that amount of time though.

 

[andrew2280]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

I didn't watch this live but in the replay of the steam that I watched the demo with continuum showed unlocking the phone with Windows Hello (Iris scanning). Later they showed the surface being unlocked using fingerprint and iris scanning.

 

[Jakoh]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Well they had bigger fish to fry. Where was Joe Belfiore?

 

[Krystianpants]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

So what are you going to bring to the hotel with continuum? A monitor and keyboard?

There's actually hundreds of portable monitors that have HDMI, run on usb power, etc.. You can get a pretty nice one.

One quick example:

 

[ttsoldier]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

I did not want benchmarks...

If you were satisfied with what was demo, then hats off to you.

To each his own. I'm not going to get into a back and forth discussion about this,