My impression of Windows 10 mobile...
After using Windows 10 mobile (build 10586), I just wanted to share my opinion.
First of all, I'm now using a Lumia 830, purchased when it was released. I'm overall happy with the phone, despite the slight low specs on the processor. I came from iPhone 4, then Moto G and now Windows Phone.
Overall, I find Windows 10 is a pleasure to use. It is buttery smooth, and aesthetically very pleasing, with fast and smooth animations from the home screen, in the phone app, messaging app and multi tasking. The text has been made smaller in most areas, which means more room and less scrolling. It is stable enough in my opinion for a main driver phone. The only issues I get in terms of reliability is an occasional flicker on the screen (goes blank for 0.5s then returns, maybe once a day), and a couple of apps that don't seem to work properly (FlightRadar being one of them).
Battery life appears to have improved too, and I'm loving the new swipe down options with up to 16 tiles of shortcuts. Cortana is getting better all the time, and the integration with Windows 10 on my PC allows me to text, call and receive data between the two screens with ease.
The OS is impressive, fast, fluid and very capable.
BUT... Here's the one thing that Microsoft needs to do now to make the Windows Phone platform take off: allow the system to run iOS or Android app without delay. While the app selection is somewhat better (the native Facebook app in W10 is miles ahead of the WP8 version), there are still too many titles missing, or very basic apps that show a poor effort on behalf of the developers. My biggest misses: Nest Thermostat (alternatives are very poor), Glympse (again, there, but too basic and unstable), BBC News (simply not there), and, sorry guys, Grindr. Yes of course there are third party apps (thank goodness for MetroTube!), but too often, these apps don't run the full set of options found in native apps or break when the official app changes its API.
When I compare the app quality to my (still occasionally switched on) Moto G, it's always behind on the Windows platform. I believe Microsoft should hurry and allow easy porting of apps over, even if it means losing some features such as live tiles... Once the apps are there, and on par with competing platforms, Windows Phone can truly take off. Once it reaches a significant market share (more than 10%), I believe developers will then take the time to upgrade their apps specifically for WP to take advantage of the platform's offering such as Cortana integration and Live Tiles.
A friend of mine wanted a new phone, and likes the look of mine and Windows Phone, but I simply couldn't recommend the 950 for him, as I know he'll miss quantity and quality of apps too much.
Windows Phone is brilliant and very close to reaching market popularity in my opinion, it just needs the app issue sorted, once and for all, and new quality hardware (more metal, less plastic) in the pipeline!
Thank you for reading. :wink: