Switching platforms? | Thinking of leaving?...comment here!

[Tim Stone]

I made my primary line an iPhone6+ over a year ago. Then I put my Icon on a personal line, and maintained it for many months. I carried both for awhile, and then two weeks ago finally dropped the personal line. Now I use the iPhone 6+ 100% of the time. I keep watching insider updates on the Icon, and do enjoy the UI more.

The "app gap" is just way too significant, and it appears to be growing. Sadly, it is also growing in Win 10. For example, I prefer my news feeds in apps for the layout. Unfortunately, major newspapers now only have the website version available in Windows 10 ( ie. NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times ). Those versions are often hard to read, and isolate articles. The companies simply don't address the Win 10 platform and previously offered apps have been dropped. The same goes for banking and other activities that have apps only for ios and Android.

The bottom line was simple. I need to be productive, and must use the tools that enable to accomplish my daily tasks. If Microsoft can ever attract the interest of those major firms to once again offer their products in the Windows platform, I'll be waiting to make the shift. If not, I'll continue on with the alternatives.

 

[Joseph Avena]

Fully agree, that along with the unfinished OS leaves it to wait...

 

[Saikat Halder]

you answered it very nicely. yes I am a consultant, business user, mail, office 365, chat and mobile photography are my main concerns. it would have been great, if like 8.1 wm 10 had been stable, how long will it take for wm 10 to become stable??
and yes xiaomi is a great phone with lot of innovation in 4 axis OIS, then sony camera, better display and most importantly, in a country like india they r selling the phone at 300$ around...so it is a great deal, where as L 950 is $ 550, so I am waiting here to get a good 2nd hand deal with L 950 along with waiting for mi 5 for a hands on experience. I am not able decide as of now what to do, I never used android before and i loved the lumia camera, lets see what happens, also it would be great if MS releases some mid range good Lumia phones like 750/850....I did not like the specs of 650...its too basic in 2016 february...dont knwo whats the strategy of MS!!!

Read many comments in last 5 days in this forum, sad to see that more than 50% of the total comments are negative and ppl saying that are going to change their OS and phone.

 

[sheldon cohn]

The nice thing about Window phones is dual SIM capabilities, 1 SIM for personal and 1 for
other, such as business. I have friends who are doctors and they been carrying 2 phones,
I showed them my Microsoft 950 XL with dual SIM slots.. The 950 XL uses Continuum where
in your case you can use the computer monitor, with the keyboard and mouse to edit your
files. The window techs creating the software for the phones are coming up with a lot of
nice things for the Windows phone. I say don't give up so quick.

 

[savagelizards]

you answered it very nicely. yes I am a consultant, business user, mail, office 365, chat and mobile photography are my main concerns. it would have been great, if like 8.1 wm 10 had been stable, how long will it take for wm 10 to become stable??
and yes xiaomi is a great phone with lot of innovation in 4 axis OIS, then sony camera, better display and most importantly, in a country like india they r selling the phone at 300$ around...so it is a great deal, where as L 950 is $ 550, so I am waiting here to get a good 2nd hand deal with L 950 along with waiting for mi 5 for a hands on experience. I am not able decide as of now what to do, I never used android before and i loved the lumia camera, lets see what happens, also it would be great if MS releases some mid range good Lumia phones like 750/850....I did not like the specs of 650...its too basic in 2016 february...dont knwo whats the strategy of MS!!!

Read many comments in last 5 days in this forum, sad to see that more than 50% of the total comments are negative and ppl saying that are going to change their OS and phone.

I don't want to be negative. I loved my Icon, and I don't want to move, but I am on Verizon and the choices are nil. Two years after the Icon was released, they don't offer a windows phone with better specs. My phone is really long in the tooth, but Microsoft has no relation with Verizon and I can't move carriers due to coverage. I am down to playing to an inside straight, hoping that the surface phone is both real and headed to Verizon.

I don't think I can go back to Android at this point. I left the Google ecosystem specifically because their privacy policies were so bad. I can't imagine willingly returning. And the iPhone seems so fragile and iOS too limiting. I like my windows phone, even if I have to use the mobile web more often and miss some of the popular apps. I just don't know if there's ever going to be a flagship W10m product supported by Verizon. My screen is cracked and I have long ago been eligible for an upgrade. I am just hanging on as long as I can waiting to see what happens next. If my phone gives up the ghost, I guess I am headed to Apple, but only kicking and screaming.

 

[Queen Kong1]

I dont mind android, what i don't like is the 3rd party Adds to Apps that pop up, I cant stand all that. You don't see that on WP

 

[Jose_Vasquez]

I broke my 1320, so i think its time to test Android lollipop, I'm regret. I miss WP

 

[schlubadub]

Re: just want to say goodbye and thanks for all the help and advice.

Unfortunately, my 950 continues to give me issues so I'm not sure what I will do.

What issues are you having with your 950? I bought mine yesterday

I bought a crappy ASUS Android phone to manage my home and will get an Android tablet since there aren't apps for my Surface Pro 3, either. :/

Why not install BlueStacks or equivalent? I use that on my SP3 without issue.

 

[libra89]

I broke my 1320, so i think its time to test Android lollipop, I'm regret. I miss WP

Why try Lollipop when you can try Marshmallow? Marshmallow has some cool features in it.

 

[Saikat Halder]

yes I think if some one for the time being wants to use android marsmallow then the cheapest best option is xiaomi mi 5, also the advantage is MS might release a ROM for one plus 2, and xiaomi mi 5, so if u dont want to use android anymore u can switch back to wp 10 in the same phone. I also wanted lumia 950, but holding the decision as of now, becz of bugs in wp 10 also price of 950 is out of my budget hence waiting...may b i will buy mi 5 and try android for some days n if i dont like android which i am sure i will not then i will download wp 10 in mi 5...i am in india btw.

 

[Jason Gilbert]

Grim reading on this thread, but I get it. I just rolled my 830 back to 8.1 to get the firmware update and I'm amazed at how much better 8.1 is compared to the latest W10 build. More responsive, no crashes, and my battery life is probably twice what it was on W10. I think the app gap is getting better with UWP, but W10 has otherwise been a flop for phones.



I'll be replacing the 830 this summer, and at this point I'm strongly considering a Nexus device. I have enjoyed WP since my 900, but the bottom line is that Android has improved a lot since then and Windows has gotten worse, at least with W10 as it stands now.

 

[mattybsrs]

I'm on the fence. I've been out of contract for well over a year, but just can't seem to leave WP behind. I'm enjoying W10, but as others have said the app gap is beginning to be too great to ignore. Undecided on iOS or Android, but I'll wait to see what Apple has in store for the iPhone 7 and Microsoft with its Surface line before I make the call.

 

[chenhogi]

Grim reading on this thread, but I get it. I just rolled my 830 back to 8.1 to get the firmware update and I'm amazed at how much better 8.1 is compared to the latest W10 build. More responsive, no crashes, and my battery life is probably twice what it was on W10. I think the app gap is getting better with UWP, but W10 has otherwise been a flop for phones.



I'll be replacing the 830 this summer, and at this point I'm strongly considering a Nexus device. I have enjoyed WP since my 900, but the bottom line is that Android has improved a lot since then and Windows has gotten worse, at least with W10 as it stands now.

Fully agreed with this. My daily driver is a 930 with 8.1, and I love it. It is a gorgeous OS, very smooth, capacitive buttons, and - above all - live tiles. The Start/live tiles UI is amazing and unparalleled.

I installed W10M on my old 920, and it is frankly garbage. It is painfully slow and despite being close to public release still very buggy. Perhaps it will perform better on my 930, but I don't know how people are happy with W10M on low specification phones.

I was given an LG G4 to mess around with for a few days, and whilst Android has improved greatly, it is still a visual mess. I hate that app icons come in different shapes, and widgets are still a mess from a UI perspective.

iPhone will probably be my choice should I give up on WP, but it is just so boring. Microsoft came up with a truly innovative OS with WP 7 and 8, and it is a shame that the masses never took to it.

 

[RoarinRow]

I'm still carrying two phones. Main driver is my L640 with Windows 10 Fast Insiders Edition because and only because of Cortana and her ability to read my text messages while I have Bluetooth on such as when I am driving. My second phone is the iPhone 6 because of everything else, i.e. apps for my home automation, banking, music, etc. But the app gap is getting old fast. Thinking of upgrading my L640 to the 950. I could really tell the difference with the slower process/less RAM. I grab my iPhone because it is faster to get to the Home screen (thumb scanner vs. 4 digit PIN).

 

[Christopher Kendalls]

Bring the 435 to AT&T.

Interesting thing about Groove Music; on Android it has the dark theme. I think that is the only Microsoft app on Android with the dark theme. Anyway, the store rating isn't much better than it is in the Windows Store. I will say this; playlists populate on the Android app flawlessly every time. On WP 8.1, it takes days, weeks, or months to see all of your playlists in Xbox Music. Plus the cache is never really addressed, so I can actually listen to music I've uploaded to OneDrive, and deleted from OneDrive well over 6 months ago because it is still cached to internal memory on the phone. That might actually be a good thing; synchronization is definitely a lot better on the Android app.

For that reason alone I'm tempted to purchase a cheap Windows 10 phone, that, and the fact that you can finally store maps on the SD card. Although I'm told that Outlook still does not save email drafts periodically.

If anyone is reading this, has the Podcasts app improved in Windows 10? Background downloading isn't an issue for me but seeing results for Podcasts I can't actually subscribe to is.

 

[Jonnie LasVegas]

settings Everywhere, apps with 1 star rating are in their store too ,its faster to use wp, start screen in wp is so much better and informative.

Typical. It really sounds like you're just making things up. You leave no real reason, you just try to reflect a couple of Windows Phone problems onto iPhone.

Wow, they have apps with low ratings too, as does everybody. But at least they have a good selection of apps that are frequently updated! They also don't have to use the excuse that the OS and apps are all in beta. As a dev this all gives me ZERO CONFIDENCE in MS's commitment to their mobile platform.

Don't get me wrong I love look of W10M, but face facts; Microsoft is ridiculously behind in mobile and may never catch up. If they ever get a stable OS put together (don't hold your breath on that one) and get the apps available and frequently updated, I'd be back. But I don't have to worry about that, now do I.

 

[Vladimir Ka]

I don't want to be negative. I loved my Icon, and I don't want to move, but I am on Verizon and the choices are nil. Two years after the Icon was released, they don't offer a windows phone with better specs. My phone is really long in the tooth, but Microsoft has no relation with Verizon and I can't move carriers due to coverage. I am down to playing to an inside straight, hoping that the surface phone is both real and headed to Verizon.

Cant' you can go buy it at MS store outright, no ties to the provider?
If you eventually get a "free" upgrade from Verizon, pick up an iPhone and sell it on Kijiji to get all the money back

 

[Laura Knotek]

Cant' you can go buy it at MS store outright, no ties to the provider?
If you eventually get a "free" upgrade from Verizon, pick up an iPhone and sell it on Kijiji to get all the money back

The 950 and 950 XL don't support Verizon.

 

[Vladimir Ka]

The 950 and 950 XL don't support Verizon.

Oh..
Or Verizon doesnt support 950s Tell them to upgrade their network to proper bands!

 

[Guytronic]

Oh..
Or Verizon doesnt support 950s Tell them to upgrade their network to proper bands!

Nobody tells Verizon what to do