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

[mikepalma]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

My take: We don't really care about phones, only new feature is continuum. Hoe about tap to pay? Not gonna convert many iOS or androiders

 

[Krystianpants]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

You are wrong it took longer than 2 seconds! And Daniel said the same with his hands on comments. And nothing should be assumed when you only have less than 3% of the market. You need to remind people. It's called MARKETING!!!! and they lost a huge opportunity or the product was not up to snuff. WM10 is taking longer than they thought and that's what killed the phone presentation. Rather than be embarrassed on stage just breeze through the info which I'm sure the carriers knew of this and are reluctant to get on the bandwagon right now until they see more or a complete OS product.

They only had 90 minutes! they went past that time too! Look at all the stuff they had to do in that 90 minutes. And yes surface book would obviously get the most time as it is going to sell like ape nuts. The phones will not be out till November, probably late november. So give it some time. You saw the hardware, it looks much nicer than the renders and now the software is being built up to snuff. Things will come together. Microsoft is renewed. Satya is not Steve. He has done so much in such a short period of time that it's considered almost unbelievable.

 

[a5cent]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

[NOTE]This thread is about the October 6th event.

This thread is not about any particular phone, whether features are good or bad, or whether continuum is worthwhile. There are plenty of other, more appropriate threads for such discussions.

Please keep this thread on topic. Failing that it will be closed.[/NOTE]

 

[jdballard]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

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

Disappointed in what? What wasn't impressive? (Not being snarky or a jerk...really am curious.) The specs are pretty high end. They mentioned most of what hadn't been leaked. They could have done a few more demos of things but there was only so much time. And for the specs, isn't the price pretty good compared to the high end Samsung or Apple devices?

The initial reports I've seen are that the phone feels pretty good in the hand.

I can see that the app situation, as usual, isn't great. I'll be curious to see if the universal apps moves the needle. I'm not holding my breath, though.

 

[jdballard]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

They didn't show off the hardware on the phone properly.
They didn't talk about or Demo Iris scanner

Sure.. We all know it's there. We know the specs, ya. But what about people who don't? What about users who do not follow leaks?? They would not have all the information. They might look and think... "HA. My s6 has wireless charging and the new lumia does not"

At about 41:30 they did demo the Iris scanner.

As for not talking about the specs, they've been leaked and I'd be willing to bet that most of the people who don't follow leaks and don't know the leaked specs weren't watching today. Today was for enthusiasts who are caught up on what's happening and journalists. The masses will find out when the read an article someone else wrote or they actually go into a store. Just my theory...

 

[jdballard]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Where was Joe Belfiore?

I actually wondered this myself. I was very surprised not to see him.

 

[hagjohn]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Is it just me or does it seem like Microsoft really doesn't care too much about its phone divison?
I was hoping to get a lot more info and demos but I feel like all they really showed was continuum.

They didn't talk about the os on the other hardware, so why should they have on the phone? I think they did a fine job and I'm pretty excited about getting a new phone. I've been thinking about going back to iPhone but I'm really leaning towards 950 XL because of continuum. I was just at a hotel last weekend. I could have hooked my phone up to the tv and could have worked on it instead of bringing a tablet or laptop. Imagine how surprised your iPhone and Android friends would be.

 

[hagjohn]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

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

Hotels have TV's, don't they? Just plug your continuum box into it. You would have to bring a (travel) keyboard and mouse.

 

[Johnny Tremaine]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Hotels have TV's, don't they? Just plug your continuum box into it. You would have to bring a (travel) keyboard and mouse.

At that point, you may as well just pack a slim ultrabook or.......a Surface.
Continuum is definitely interesting technology, but to me it's still a matter of a solution looking for a problem.

 

[Robert Rathbun]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

I had the 950 XL and 950 in my hands in New York and I am planning to buy the 950 XL. Clearly they plan on invading spaces where people cannot afford both a high end phone and laptop with a single high end phone.

Seeing the phone in action working as a fully functional PC was pretty damn impressive considering the market space it fills. I am invested heavily in Microsoft and I see these new devices penetrating the business market spaces with bleed over into others.

I can see it now in lower incomes houses, Dad can I use your phone to do my homework and surf the web?

 

[Thallanor]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

I had the 950 XL and 950 in my hands in New York and I am planning to buy the 950 XL. Clearly they plan on invading spaces where people cannot afford both a high end phone and laptop with a single high end phone.

I was considering this too, at the speech at the end of the presentation. It makes a somewhat compelling argument there, though I did have to wonder if in such countries, would the 950 even be affordable? I mean... it's not bad here. But in other regions, $550 is a lot to spend. Still though, I thought of this too. It makes me hopeful.

 

[ExTrAbUtTa]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

I didn't get to read all responses so, this opinion may have been voiced...

As a whole, this event was more than good, it was literally the best press event MS has held in a VERY long time. If you look at this event as a whole, the confidence in what they were selling and the devices, no doubt you would (or at least should) agree it was better than anything previously. As for the phone section, yes it was light on details, but was mainly aimed at the biggest differentiator for the Windows phone devices. That being Continuum.

Lets be completely honest with ourselves, we ALL know where MS stands in the grand scheme of things with their phone efforts. Its NOT looking good. Well, its physically looking good, but from a business perspective and market share, its bad. MS is using the phones so they always have a "complete" in house solution for...... Businesses. This is their focus. Even the Surface Book is squarely aimed at professionals with the "fans", us benefitting from their efforts and being excited about the hardware. Microsoft's current position is much more focused for the long play. Get your services into the hands of everyone, make all eyes see them, make them accessible across the board. Wisely, MS is back to what got them into a dominant position in their early years.... software. Because honestly the hardware is nothing without it.

So, for the new Lumia phones, MS showing off Continuum wasn't necessarily for you and me (and I mean a majority of the US market), but emerging markets. A large majority of people have high-end phones, with equally high-end computers. The idea of Continuum isn't necessarily something, a big part of this community would be using. We all have a lot of different computers or even Surfaces next to our phones. Some businesses now could very well use this feature, when rolling out a mass of devices to their employees. The less means, less management, cost and upkeep. For emerging markets, areas where things like money or the ability to have multiple devices, isn't really an option. A phone with the ability to dock and become more productive is an intriguing idea. One that I think if properly marketed and targeted would work very well.

Our own love of Windows phone, we want Microsoft to drop the hammer and produce amazing pieces of hardware. We want all the bells and whistles. We want something that's beyond or on par, in all aspects to phones like the iPhone 6S or Galaxy lineup. That's all very good, but look closer and see where they did do exactly this... the Surface line. That's where the money is coming, that needs to take off and keep going. The Surface Book and Surface Pro 4, the Band 2... I mean these all are extremely high quality with some, if not the best features. This is where Microsoft is focused, but they do have a focus on their phone efforts. Its just now more focused to areas where they can expand and work alongside their current premium devices. When this foundation is laid and becomes viable, THEN we will see things like maybe a Surface phone of a Lumina 1020 successor.

 

[Omar9399]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Don't forget the Lumia 550

Panay "this is Lumia 550"
Now move on to surface.

Seriously Microsoft?

Apple can talk about **** for hours Did they rented the place for an hour??

 

[houkoholic]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Oh come on don't be a hypocrite - people were whinging so loudly when MS were making and announcing budget phones, now that Panos don't bother talking about another budget phone you complain? It's a freaking entry level 5 series Lumia that won't be turning heads for those wanting flagships nor generate ANY press interest, why bother?

 

[Omar9399]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Oh come on don't be a hypocrite - people were whinging so loudly when MS were making and announcing budget phones, now that Panos don't bother talking about another budget phone you complain? It's a freaking entry level 5 series Lumia that won't be turning heads for those wanting flagships nor generate ANY press interest, why bother?

How about a camera demo/atleast one detail about each spec for 950/950xl?

 

[houkoholic]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

How about a camera demo/atleast one detail about each spec for 950/950xl?

What did they not talk about? They demoed Continuum and Windows Hello, he talked about liquid cooling, dual smart antenna, he talked about 4K video recording. He talked about 5th generation OIS and triple RGB LED flash, OLED screen, Glance support. They mentioned all the check box spec items but spent the most time on the stuff that they innovated in (liquid cooling, Continuum, dual antenna, Windows Hello) but leave all the "me too" stuff that competitors in Android already has out. I don't think that is a problem at all, in fact that's the smart thing to do.

If you look over the entire event, even Pano's baby products like Surface do not go into technical details - he basically skipped all the detail specs that are just evolutionary, and when it is stuff that MS actually innovated in he drops some numbers and then quickly go into "what this means to you" mode. This was true for the 950/XL as well. Also a camera demo on stage is completely pointless, especially since everyone there gets to test it themselves afterwards!

 

[MishuRO]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

If you browse a tech website prior to the MSFT devices event, 4 out of 5 articles would have been the umptieth recap of Lumia 950 and 950XL leaks. Hell, this website lived out of that leak for months, presenting it over and over and over and OVER again. WTF did you expect MSFT to do on stage? Say the same stuff AGAIN pretending is new?
If you watched the presentation and feel anyway but PUMPED, then I have two questions for you: what were you smoking at the time? and Are you willing to share?

 

[savagelizards]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Wireless charging does nothing to make my Icon better.

It works okay, but I have to use it constantly because the battery is too small. If they had scrapped the wireless charging, they could have sized the battery so it might last a full day between charges. I would rather have a phone that holds a charge so I can do what I want than have a phone that dies whenever I am away from the office and my wireless charger.

On that end, show me a phone with a 3340 mAh battery like the 950XL and I don't need to hear about wireless charging.

But Continuum is clearly a killer feature. And that liquid cooling - tell me more. And please... tell me when I can buy one of these phones and use it on Verizon!

 

[sinisfree]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

They dont show any exicting and usefull universal apps. They fail.

 

[psiu_glen]

Re: Really underwhelmed with the event

Wireless charging does nothing to make my Icon better.

It works okay, but I have to use it constantly because the battery is too small. If they had scrapped the wireless charging, they could have sized the battery so it might last a full day between charges. I would rather have a phone that holds a charge so I can do what I want than have a phone that dies whenever I am away from the office and my wireless charger.

On that end, show me a phone with a 3340 mAh battery like the 950XL and I don't need to hear about wireless charging.

But Continuum is clearly a killer feature. And that liquid cooling - tell me more. And please... tell me when I can buy one of these phones and use it on Verizon!

Wireless charging adds, in a practical sense, nothing to the size of the phone. It is a flat coil, maybe 1-2 mm thick and only a couple cm^2.

Lumia 920. Qi. Fat.
Lumia 925. Qi-pins. Skinny. But users shoehorned the coil in with no problems.
Lumia 928. Qi. Specced out like 920, but thinner, lighter.
IIRC, Lumia 1020, Qi-pins, users shoehorned the coil in again.
Lumia 1520, world. Qi. Big battery.
Lumia AT&T. No Qi, pins for their alternate, same battery.

Piles of Android phones with removable backs. Sold with basic covers, add NFC/Qi later if desired.

The 929/930 is just a not very well designed phone with a too small battery. I recall reading somewhere that the screen was an older generation and power hungry, which really doesn't help