Things missing vs other platforms that keeps me from coming back

[Nogitsune Micah]

This is a very good point that is often glossed over. There is a reason these companies don't like third party apps. As much as we might think Starbucks etc are being asses, they have to protect their liability and they can only reasonably do that in house.

I'd go with that logic and even understand if they weren't turning away developers I.e Rudy who offered to build the app for them. So no, it's hard to be understanding when you do whatever it takes so people can not use your app

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

While I appreciate the myriad of ways I can use my phone, at the end of the day, I need my phone to be a phone first and foremost, and WP has not let me down. I actually followed Nokia, and I liked what they did with Symbian. I've tried Android and I hate the words force close with a passion! And too many sheeple have iPhone, I'm not the following type.

Love this post

 

[Smuroh]

Everyone keeps saying limited apps but i think it pretty much boils down to personal preference, but i am curious as to what apps are missing that seems to be a deal breaker.

 

[Laura Knotek]

I'd go with that logic and even understand if they weren't turning away developers I.e Rudy who offered to build the app for them. So no, it's hard to be understanding when you do whatever it takes so people can not use your app

The problem is that they would need to support the app after introducing it. App support would not be something provided by a part-time developer if we're talking about a major global corporation.

 

[Nogitsune Micah]

Everyone keeps saying limited apps but i think it pretty much boils down to personal preference, but i am curious as to what apps are missing that seems to be a deal breaker.

Usually snapchat(though adults over 25 saying they need this app, usually make me chuckle)

Certain high profile games such as clash of clans I think it's called and a few others.

Then there is bank apps or home automation apps.

And sadly, google apps. When I saw google screwed over windows users repeatedly I made sure to leave google apps alone personally.

In fact it seems that you would just use the native experience of the OS. I know not feasible for some fun but when I used android I used google services, got smart and moved to windows and now use Microsoft services and if I used apple I'd want to keep it first party and use their services.

The app gap doesn't bother me because one, windows phone serves my needs and if I feel the need to follow a trend I have this lame android tablet that I can sir in bed with and voila, it negates the need to change my OS experience. I just extended it by unfortunately being slightly more agnostic (or tainted it as I say) lol.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Everyone keeps saying limited apps but i think it pretty much boils down to personal preference, but i am curious as to what apps are missing that seems to be a deal breaker.

It is personal preference as is everything. What phone you purchase to what apps you use to what ecosystem you get into. It's all personal preference mixed with a bit of peer pressure and wanting to have the 'latest' whatever.

For many there's a few 'big' apps that are missing and for others it's banking apps. Add in payment apps and smartwear devices to the mix of things.

So what app gap a person has usually boils down to what they're interested in and how much they link their everyday lives to their phone.

Then, as I've pointed out, it's the potential to try an app. Lots of businesses release apps and WM usually doesn't have an app made for it. Then there are services that make apps as well. The list goes on.

It really boils down to the user on how much they do with their phone and what they might want to do with their phone. Everyone is different and everyone has different needs and desires.

You can't really blanket the 'app gap' to anyone on thing. App gap means different things to different people. For many the gap is there and stops them from wanting to use WM.

 

[Hoangboy]

The ugly truth is, we love this OS so much but in the end we have to leave it.

I love this OS, but the strategy of Nokia and MS are just chaos.

When Nokia became innovative with body design, the OS from MS was just **** (remember the 1020 with the underpower dualcore SoC).

When the OS were good enough (8.1), Nokia suffer their painful slow dead, camera look like **** from low to mid range (1320), upper mid range devices were over priced (830), and the shinning star suffer the pre and after-effect of the MS-Nokia merging.(1520)

After the merging, design are completely not beautiful enough to attract user, and the long awaited OS kill them all.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Everyone keeps saying limited apps but i think it pretty much boils down to personal preference, but i am curious as to what apps are missing that seems to be a deal breaker.

My wife has an iPhone. She's in love with my 950xl but she doesn't want to switch platforms because there is no banking app for her bank or for the bank her office uses. Also, there is no shopping app for the grocery store we go to. It may seem silly but that's her preference. The point I'm trying to make is that what makes something a 'deal breaker' will always come down to personal preference.

 

[hussamdamen]

I feel the same way. Ever since I bought the 920 and then 1020 and I'm in love with this phone. I was a BRAND ADVOCATE. I would go into argument with my friends on which is the best phone and I used to do it with passion.

But eventually I felt, like if I'm gonna defend the brand more than the brand itself, then we have a problem. I want proper facebook, Youtube, Instagram, twitter apps. I don't want to wait a couple of years for every flagship model phones to be launched and sure as hell I do not want to spend months waiting for the phone to reach the middle east.

And even when it reaches here, It is not available everywhere and I end up have to go from store to store to find it

I eventually caved and bought an iPhone which I hate but what other choice do I have? If Microsoft does not want to step up and finish what they started, then to hell with them.

 

[Matt Dargis]

You can pin any Page to your start screen and most of them work better than the APP, Facebook is one of them, you might not get a live tile but I can live with that. I just cant do Android on my phone it bogs down after a while and just feels cluttered and all that bloatware you can't get rid of. I'm more diapointed in the choice of Windows phones.

Problem with web pages is you usually have to log in every time you go. And, the Edge browser is really bad.

I've had Windows Phones since WP 7. They really need to clean up w10m and get more big name apps, or I'm gone. Samsung, LG, Googles Nexus line and Motorola are making really good phones. That I would take over a w10m phone.
Only reason I've stayed with MS is because no matter how long you own a WP, it never started to lag or needed reset (restarted). Android's usually always do, and I can't stand Apple.

w10m is turning into a crappy Android phone. laggy apps, Garbage browser, needs rebooted often, and sometimes just reboots by itself. Not to mention an all plastic flagship that cost over $600.

 

[dlalonde]

Everyone keeps saying limited apps but i think it pretty much boils down to personal preference, but i am curious as to what apps are missing that seems to be a deal breaker.

As some replied already, it all depends. At the end of the day, it all goes back to general availability. The fact is that everyone will want THEIR favorite app on the platform they use. We could name you a few like Snapchat, the Google apps, a proper Instagram app while it was still fashionable, newspapers, banking and so one. But no matter what people want, the one thing they have in common is that it's most likely they will not find what they want in the Windows Store. It all boils down to that, general availability on any app people could need.

 

[dlalonde]

I'm really happy of the way this thread is going! I will be so bold as to add a statement directed at Microsoft even if they're not going to read it. This is just what I would like to tell them.

Dear Microsoft,

Windows 10 Mobile is awesome. Your services are getting better and better and you have a great opportunity to beat Google Apps with your own genuine original Office Web Apps. You've been trying to get into the mobile game for the past 6 years and you were already late. Your competitors are way ahead of you. But Windows 10 Mobile, although it needs polishing off, has the potential to not only surpass your competition, but actually make people adopt your platform.

The key is apps. Get app devs on board. Deal with the companies that won't make apps for your platform. You're a multi-billion dollar company! You can do it.

You have a dedicated fanbase. Don't turn your back on us and make this fanbase grow!

Yes I know that it sounds a bit dramatic but I don't care :wink:

 

[phlamethrowre]

MSFT can't even get Facebook to write an official app for W10M. They had to write there own since no mobile platform can exist in 2016 without a FB app.

 

[anon(6078578)]

Usually snapchat(though adults over 25 saying they need this app, usually make me chuckle)

Certain high profile games such as clash of clans I think it's called and a few others.

Then there is bank apps or home automation apps.

And sadly, google apps. When I saw google screwed over windows users repeatedly I made sure to leave google apps alone personally.

In fact it seems that you would just use the native experience of the OS. I know not feasible for some fun but when I used android I used google services, got smart and moved to windows and now use Microsoft services and if I used apple I'd want to keep it first party and use their services.

The app gap doesn't bother me because one, windows phone serves my needs and if I feel the need to follow a trend I have this lame android tablet that I can sir in bed with and voila, it negates the need to change my OS experience. I just extended it by unfortunately being slightly more agnostic (or tainted it as I say) lol.

Having a separate tablet tablet certainly makes the app gap more bearable. In fact it's currently the only way I can use my Misfit activity tracker. I use it with my iPad. This works because it's not something I need to have continuously synced.

It would be different though if it was a smart watch which does due to notifications. Thankfully I don't currently see the need for a smart watch as it's overkill for my purposes, but who knows in the future? Plus, of course, it's not just my needs that I need to think about.

 

[groady-ho baluzy]

Having bought and jumped into android for the 1st time via nexus 6p I've found that having apps for banking, home, work and social invaluable. I still have a icon and 735 but honestly lately their not getting used much except to play with.
I love WM but damn android has made my mobile experience so much easier through apps. MS really does need to address this and fast to draw a new user base and satisfy current users.

 

[anon(6078578)]

The key is apps. Get app devs on board. Deal with the companies that won't make apps for your platform. You're a multi-billion dollar company! You can do it.

But hasn't Microsoft already been burned by that? I guess they would need to at least have a contract with them for a couple of years to guarantee they update their apps once they have built them.

Maybe the price is simply too high even for a multibillion dollar company as I am sure those app companies are not going to do it as a favor and will want top dollar.

What may be seen as pocket change to Microsoft by you and me, might not be viewed as such by shareholders who may see it as simply throwing good money after bad. The cost for one app might not be much in the scheme of things but multiply that by many and I could see it soon become a significant sum!

 

[Chintan Gohel]

This is a strange situation compared with a few years back. In the past everything was done in the browser. I had a nokia 2700c which had opera mini. I used that for facebook, email, news, searching, research, music downloads, image downloads, attachment downloads etc.

But now; now we have apps for every little function and feature, for every needed and imagined use. I want to control the alarm of my house using an app. I want to check my balance in my bank account using an app. I want to buy coffee using an app. Or pizza or get some service using apps.

How did people get to that point? There are apps I have seen which just seem to fuel the need for being lazy.

Then there are those that force you to be checking your phone every minute for the new post or the new tweet. Those tweets can wait, those emails can wait, those instagram photos can wait.

The situation now is that almost every internet dependent activity you want to do on a phone is through an app. While ironically on a laptop every internet dependent activity is done through a browser (chrome OS)

 

[anon(6078578)]

This is a strange situation compared with a few years back. In the past everything was done in the browser. I had a nokia 2700c which had opera mini. I used that for facebook, email, news, searching, research, music downloads, image downloads, attachment downloads etc.

But now; now we have apps for every little function and feature, for every needed and imagined use. I want to control the alarm of my house using an app. I want to check my balance in my bank account using an app. I want to buy coffee using an app. Or pizza or get some service using apps.

How did people get to that point? There are apps I have seen which just seem to fuel the need for being lazy.

Then there are those that force you to be checking your phone every minute for the new post or the new tweet. Those tweets can wait, those emails can wait, those instagram photos can wait.

The situation now is that almost every internet dependent activity you want to do on a phone is through an app. While ironically on a laptop every internet dependent activity is done through a browser (chrome OS)

I think the worst example of needing an app for everything was the time my wife wanted to print off a quick photo at a photo kiosk in Walmart.

I remember a while back you could simply Bluetooth the photo across to the kiosk. It had been a while since we'd done this so when I tried to do the same with my Lumia 640, I found it would not let me do anything at all until I downloaded their app first and of course it was iOS and Android only.

I guess somewhere along the line they decided even Bluetooth was too complicated for customers to use without an app doing it for them.

Of course I could've just inserted the memory card but that involves dismantling my phone and so again loses the convenience factor.

 

[Ten Four]

The situation now is that almost every internet dependent activity you want to do on a phone is through an app. While ironically on a laptop every internet dependent activity is done through a browser (chrome OS)

I agree that the way of the future will be in the cloud and not these stupid local apps. Personally, I think Chromebooks are probably the best computing device for most people to purchase and use at home, and I bet they would also cover a lot of business uses. A Chromephone is the future. It will just be a tool to connect you to the cloud that will be everywhere and in everything. I suspect that's what Microsoft is thinking long-term. Phones are yesterday's big thing. They are trying to leap ahead and find the next big thing.

 

[N_LaRUE]

This is a strange situation compared with a few years back. In the past everything was done in the browser. I had a nokia 2700c which had opera mini. I used that for facebook, email, news, searching, research, music downloads, image downloads, attachment downloads etc.

But now; now we have apps for every little function and feature, for every needed and imagined use. I want to control the alarm of my house using an app. I want to check my balance in my bank account using an app. I want to buy coffee using an app. Or pizza or get some service using apps.

How did people get to that point? There are apps I have seen which just seem to fuel the need for being lazy.

Then there are those that force you to be checking your phone every minute for the new post or the new tweet. Those tweets can wait, those emails can wait, those instagram photos can wait.

The situation now is that almost every internet dependent activity you want to do on a phone is through an app. While ironically on a laptop every internet dependent activity is done through a browser (chrome OS)

Everything on a phone is an app, technically. No different than a computer.

Though web interface is nice, not all websites are mobile friendly and some lack functionality and security. Those are the biggest issues with using web interface.

Of course, not all apps are great either. Some can be slightly malicious and some can be a drain on the battery (Facebook for example).

The main point though is that apps are easier to use than your typical web interface which is why they are popular. I know a lot of people point to Apple as being the culprit in making apps popular but the truth is, a smartphone is a small computer and to use one you need apps.

WP started with more 'integrated' apps in the OS but found this to be cumbersome when it came to upgrading, so that's why apps rule more than any other reason. They easy to upgrade, easy to use, and offer better security on the whole.