Official apps. F'ing official apps. That's the thing these guys are overlooking.
I've been using a 925 for 6 months - though I've been following the platform since WP7 days, so one could call me a WP enthusiast for some level. I just love my phone, and the reaction of people who are unfamiliar to WP. When I draw it out of my pocket, start messing around the start screen, noticing the "What's that ?" look from other people, sometimes I catch myself unintentionally giving that Bruce Willis smirk. Following are some of my experiences with non-WP people, and my humble conclusions.
"You know what, I guess this is actually better than the iPhone."
This buddy of mine (a less tech-savvy guy) was once studying the phone, checking out the design, unlocking Bing lock screen, scrolling down the start screen - no purpose, just wandering around the OS - and after a brief pause he said this exact phrase. By the way, he's not even an iPhone user.
"Holy! That display..."
This is an iPhone user, a techy guy. We were in broad daylight outside, so I believe the auto-brightness delivered all. He was so interested that he asked to have a look and played around, holding it towards sunlight while giving me the exact Obama-Not-Bad face.
"Is this better than the iPhone ?"
This girl is not the sharpest tool in the shed, I don't think if she can tell an HTC from a Samsung, but knows the iCrap inside out. Not apple-fan, but uses iPhone because everyone else does. I simply answered "What's "better", to be clear ?" Not surprisingly she was stunned and gave me a gibberish answer through her hardly sufficient reasoning.
For the easy users, WP is full of charm. They instantly notice something's different: the performance, crisp design, beautiful colors, so they do take WP seriously.
Up one level, you get into these guys: The moderates. They know their devices, try apps, discover all the capability of the apps, and this is exactly the point where WP starts crippling.
Facebook - I don't even have an account, I never had. But when I check out the reviews on the Store, I see a bunch of people blaming Nokia and MS for the atrocity. And you know what, most of them says "Goddamn the day I decided to switch to WP" or "Get a Windows Phone they said, it's better they said".
The phone usage of these people are relatively basic. they do not care how much RAM they have or OS security. They spend half their time on Twitter and Facebook, check in at a ****ty bar, Instagram their drinks, Tweet another one or two, and it's done. This is a daily routine with 5 apps. All 5 crippled. Not to mention YouTube - and FFS Google, stop being a jerk.
This applies to WhatsApp, Linkedin and all the other major, cross-platform apps. Personally, I'd like to note that the Linkedin functionality is a terrbile joke, couple of weeks ago they published an update, saying "You can now change your profile picture" - God please take these guys to your heavens right now. And don't let me started on WhatsApp, obviously.
A user switching from iOS or Android should not think "Well, Facebook is a little weird in here". They have to think "Wow, Facebook is better on this phone!" This is how they grade the OS, the phone, everything - I know this is a ridiculous reasoning, and I'm so sick of it, but these users are much more, WAY more than the number of us people on this forum.
So Microsoft, for the love of anything that is holy, stop going for Nokia 948 HyperIcon X+ SE. Actually, drop everything and have these apps fixed. I don't know how, and I can guess it could be difficult, but I'm pretty sure that you are not aggressive enough. The functionality of these apps must be the top priority for WP roadmap. They harm the platform, spoil user experience, and create an incredibly misleading, subjective word-of-mouth.
Pay these companies, hire their developers, pay more - anything. I know you have the money, I know you have the finest optics and displays around, so I don't think it's about the money.
Sincerely, some random guy.
I've been using a 925 for 6 months - though I've been following the platform since WP7 days, so one could call me a WP enthusiast for some level. I just love my phone, and the reaction of people who are unfamiliar to WP. When I draw it out of my pocket, start messing around the start screen, noticing the "What's that ?" look from other people, sometimes I catch myself unintentionally giving that Bruce Willis smirk. Following are some of my experiences with non-WP people, and my humble conclusions.
"You know what, I guess this is actually better than the iPhone."
This buddy of mine (a less tech-savvy guy) was once studying the phone, checking out the design, unlocking Bing lock screen, scrolling down the start screen - no purpose, just wandering around the OS - and after a brief pause he said this exact phrase. By the way, he's not even an iPhone user.
"Holy! That display..."
This is an iPhone user, a techy guy. We were in broad daylight outside, so I believe the auto-brightness delivered all. He was so interested that he asked to have a look and played around, holding it towards sunlight while giving me the exact Obama-Not-Bad face.
"Is this better than the iPhone ?"
This girl is not the sharpest tool in the shed, I don't think if she can tell an HTC from a Samsung, but knows the iCrap inside out. Not apple-fan, but uses iPhone because everyone else does. I simply answered "What's "better", to be clear ?" Not surprisingly she was stunned and gave me a gibberish answer through her hardly sufficient reasoning.
For the easy users, WP is full of charm. They instantly notice something's different: the performance, crisp design, beautiful colors, so they do take WP seriously.
Up one level, you get into these guys: The moderates. They know their devices, try apps, discover all the capability of the apps, and this is exactly the point where WP starts crippling.
Facebook - I don't even have an account, I never had. But when I check out the reviews on the Store, I see a bunch of people blaming Nokia and MS for the atrocity. And you know what, most of them says "Goddamn the day I decided to switch to WP" or "Get a Windows Phone they said, it's better they said".
The phone usage of these people are relatively basic. they do not care how much RAM they have or OS security. They spend half their time on Twitter and Facebook, check in at a ****ty bar, Instagram their drinks, Tweet another one or two, and it's done. This is a daily routine with 5 apps. All 5 crippled. Not to mention YouTube - and FFS Google, stop being a jerk.
This applies to WhatsApp, Linkedin and all the other major, cross-platform apps. Personally, I'd like to note that the Linkedin functionality is a terrbile joke, couple of weeks ago they published an update, saying "You can now change your profile picture" - God please take these guys to your heavens right now. And don't let me started on WhatsApp, obviously.
A user switching from iOS or Android should not think "Well, Facebook is a little weird in here". They have to think "Wow, Facebook is better on this phone!" This is how they grade the OS, the phone, everything - I know this is a ridiculous reasoning, and I'm so sick of it, but these users are much more, WAY more than the number of us people on this forum.
So Microsoft, for the love of anything that is holy, stop going for Nokia 948 HyperIcon X+ SE. Actually, drop everything and have these apps fixed. I don't know how, and I can guess it could be difficult, but I'm pretty sure that you are not aggressive enough. The functionality of these apps must be the top priority for WP roadmap. They harm the platform, spoil user experience, and create an incredibly misleading, subjective word-of-mouth.
Pay these companies, hire their developers, pay more - anything. I know you have the money, I know you have the finest optics and displays around, so I don't think it's about the money.
Sincerely, some random guy.
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