Why Continuum failed?

[anon(5340153)]

What is funny is Samsung and possibly Huawei I read too are following suit with a desktop like experience on Android. Why would this be unless they believe it has potential? It is like anything pioneered for the first time. Those pioneering technology now do not always reap the benefits of it, rather others do who learn from those pioneering from their mistakes or example.

Not sure about Huawei, but Samsung is famous for throwing everything at the wall and see what sticks.

 

[kr1ssr0ck]

Continuum hasn't failed. If I'm not mistaken, they just had an app become compatible with it recently. But if anything, MS consumer products do poorly BECAUSE MICROSOFT DOESN'T ADVERTISE THEM!

 

[Groover1971]

I have actually used Continuum on my TV. I have a Wireless Adapter and a Bluetooth keyboard with trackpad just for Continuum next to my TV. And since Office Mobile is always on my phone, I don't have to pay for it. It's handy to have available and it works.

 

[Eric Tay]

Continuum on the Lumia 950XL was laggy. It is much better on the Elite X3. However, Continuum is a very niche feature used by a very specific group of people.

It didn't fail at all. It could benefit from more features but W10mo is on maintenance mode.

And since the next iteration CShell is canned, it's unlikely Continuum will continue to be enhanced unless there's enough demand, like Onedrive Placeholder.

 

[thomasthomaslai]

don't think it's a failure in a sense that's this feature works better and better won't go away and just bake in mobile OSs. (Android/iOS/Windows)

It didn't work cuz the user still need a set of Keyboard / Monitor / Mouse. This will work if eventually with foldable display, projection, ..etc.

 

[fatclue_98]

TLDR: I don't find Continuum as a necessity in the real world.

Continuum while an awesome concept and in theory it's an innovation but in real life its plain stupid. There are no actual scenario I could think where I need to dock my phone on a readily available mouse, keyboard, and monitor setup so I could glaze upon the Word documents I fully prepared moments before, in a full desktop UI. Aren't Laptops, Tablets or Desktops good enough already to be just their own thing. I'm not gonna spend my hard earned cash on a phone with mouse, monitor, keyboard and docking station and lug those around with me all the time. Who does that? Not to mention with lack of apps Windows 10 isn't the best ecosystem for Continuum. It's feasible in Android hence they're doing it but I doubt many people will embrace it even I won't and I'm a tech nerd.

There are a lot more apps that run on Continuum than there are for DeX. Take away the Microsoft apps and DeX has only a handful. Now, just because you don’t see the need doesn’t make it “plain stupid”. That description is reserved for the blissfully ignorant.

 

[Stiv X]

Continuum is not the problem. The problem is you need a windows mobile device to use it. There are not that many or there. Launch a surface phone with continuum and it will gain traction

 

[nate0]

Not sure about Huawei, but Samsung is famous for throwing everything at the wall and see what sticks.

ha! There is truth in that. Good reminder. Huawei's goal from my perspective is sales in volume.

 

[nate0]

Not to mention with lack of apps Windows 10 isn't the best ecosystem for Continuum. It's feasible in Android hence they're doing it but I doubt many people will embrace it even I won't and I'm a tech nerd.

1. Actually it is. Except in the current state it only runs Universal apps found from the store available for mobile. Andromeda aims to change that. We have to remember that continuum is a stepping stone or piece of the pie to make the whole of Windows work across multiple scenarios places and devices.

2. Android might have an ecosystem of apps, but Dex only works on a Samsung, and is limited to that Samsung specific device as of now. I am not confident enough to know how dex works organically, but from my initial perspective I suspect the UI layer over top of the Android OS has a lot to do with it. Meaning Samsung Dex is a home brewed solution to run only on Samung devices probably aiming to run their own apps out of their store. This is good in one way which means any Android phone maker could implement it if they chose to build it out.

Continnum on the other hand is only limited to hardware (in most cases) at the moment. And is there for the taking to use if an OEM wants to utilize it (Much like HP did). As long as the hw is capable it works (SD 617, 808, 810, 8?? etc) see here. If a maker wants it as a feature then they need only to make a device that is capable to run it. Alcatel never drove home the continuum feature, even though it supports it, nobody really saw that device for that. The Alcatel Idol 4s to me stands out as an odd ball device. No OEM FW/SW support, bad camera, horrible customer support, VR is half baked from what I've read, but it is shiny, thin and has awesome speakers. IMO It was a poor execution at the last effort for a consumer flagship running Windows 10 mobile.

 

[raycpl]

One thing they should have done from the very start though is include the dock in the same box as the phones, swallowed the loss by not increasing the price of the handset and defiantly not have it as a $100+ accessory sold separately.

That's absolutely spot on, to package it as one. After I got my 950XL, I had to wait 6 months before the shop had the display hub in stock. During that time, I was hobbling along by projecting to laptop/monitors & using USB-OTG adaptors to have use of keyboards & mouse. Not very elegant, nor smooth

I use Continuum a lot.
In my office, all computers services are locked to local network, and Internet access is restricted.

Using continuum/950XL combo enable me to bypass that and make working life more bearable!!

... !

 

[Great deal]

Because in the REAL WORLD when you take out the first adopters who will try and believe in anything new, Continuum is a waste of time, most people in the workplace use real desktop apps, not half-baked windows 10 apps. The way to use desktop apps via Continuum is too long and convoluted, just take a real laptop or use a Blackberry Keyone!

 

[chriswiss]

Failure is relative and an opinion. As a product manager I find myself in a constant struggle when it comes to developing a new or innovative solution or idea. We ask ourselves, "is the market ready this", "is the user ready this"... Many times we don't have that answer until we try it out with a customer, but even trying it out means we have to develop and build it. I could potentially see MS product team was in the same scenario. Is the market ready, are customers ready to use this, you don't know what you don't know. I also fully believe MS has a strategy in place to merge the power of a pc, with the convenience of a phone. This could have been part of that strategy. Failure to those not in the know, or for those that scratch their head in disbelief, but maybe not a failure to the product team developing the strategy or to those who can see past it's 1st gen flaws.

My dock is in my home office and i use it with 950 usually to do quick bites of work, research, or email. I would much rather dock my phone than to pull out my laptop in many of these situations. It's not my daily driver, but i use it daily. I can also say that almost everyone that sees me use it are blown away by it.

For me its a total success.

 

[Asc aris]

I would hate to be working at Microsoft right now as a dev. With all the hard work put into projects just to get it unexpectedly cancelled, never to see the light of day anymore. And you never know when you'll get the axe. Moral must be very low.

No, not at all! Didn't you see what Mr. Nadella wrote in his self-congratulatory book? Microsoft has its groove back (Interesting choice of words, right?). I really rolled my eyes at that one when I read it (not the book itself, but the report of what it said).

This has been a problem at MS for years. MS giveth, and MS taketh away... often with not much time in between for a product to demonstrate whether it will sink or swim. Their commitment to any product or platform should never be assumed, and no doubt this is a part of the reason that the app gap in the Windows Store continued to exist for all the years there has been a Windows Store. They've shot themselves in the foot so many times that they don't even have any foot left to shoot.

Whether Continuum has failed or not depends on the definition of "failed." If the goal was to sell Windows 10 phones, I don't think anyone could argue that it failed. If the goal was to inspire third party devs to go out and write apps for Windows Store, it seems like it failed there too. If you're judging it strictly by capability, I don't know whether it is or not for lack of information.

 

[RalphEllis]

It's not a failure. It is just another Microsoft pre-success story in Mobile. Just ask Nadella.

 

[SlideWRX]

I know a number of people with 950's/xl and not one of them, myself included, has ever EVER used it. Why would you? it was far too limited and terrible to bother with.

So ya declared it limited/terrible/dead without actually using it. Or seeing a friend using it. Brilliant.

I tried it, with a lapdock cobbled together from an old Motorola Atrix lapdock setup. Worked well. plug in the phone, a voila, a desktop. Play some World of tanks blitz with keyboard & mouse. browse internet. However, that brings me to why it failed for me; Edge. It never got extensions. The 950 is a nice phone, but without ad-blocking many sites came to a crawl. I'd say 90% of my home use is web browser based.

I can definitely see it working in some work environments. Ultimately, it just wasn't supported worth a damn.

 

[fatclue_98]

So ya declared it limited/terrible/dead without actually using it. Or seeing a friend using it. Brilliant.

I tried it, with a lapdock cobbled together from an old Motorola Atrix lapdock setup. Worked well. plug in the phone, a voila, a desktop. Play some World of tanks blitz with keyboard & mouse. browse internet. However, that brings me to why it failed for me; Edge. It never got extensions. The 950 is a nice phone, but without ad-blocking many sites came to a crawl. I'd say 90% of my home use is web browser based.

I can definitely see it working in some work environments. Ultimately, it just wasn't supported worth a damn.

Don’t you love it when people spread snit just for the sake of mob mentality without any knowledge of the subject? Kinda like having Stevie Wonder judge a wet t-shirt contest. The girl with the most cheers wins without looking at her.

 

[lazybum131]

Continuum is a good idea, but Microsoft failed to iterate and improve upon it. If they hadn't retrenched, Continuum should have been on v3 by now with a Lumia 960 and 970 with improvements along the way. And then W10m could have been smoothly replaced with Windows 10 on ARM and CShell providing a big jump in usability with the ability to run x86 apps in desktop mode.

If they were serious about promoting and supporting the feature, the 650 shouldn't have been released. It should have been a mid-range 750 with a Snapdragon 617 and 2-3GB of ram that supported Continuum for $250-350, a low enough price to actually entice people to try it out and move some units instead of leaving it as a high-end feature. And with volume, there may have actually been pressure on app developers to update apps to support it.

 

[matt john2]

There are a lot more apps that run on Continuum than there are for DeX. Take away the Microsoft apps and DeX has only a handful. Now, just because you don’t see the need doesn’t make it “plain stupid”. That description is reserved for the blissfully ignorant.

I own a smartphone, a laptop, few desktop PCs and a Surface 3. Go ahead and make up a reason where I really need to get a very specific smartphone to run continuum on just so I could run those few Continuum apps in a big screen. Only reason I could think of is when I just want to toy around with it. Other devices already solved my day to day problems that Continuum is "trying to solve".
Just so people know the Linux community are building similar concept but their version is I think will be more successful implementation of Continuum, why? Because it actually runs on full Linux OS meaning it can run any Linux applications, that's what Continuum should've been.

 

[tgp]

I own a smartphone, a laptop, few desktop PCs and a Surface 3. Go ahead and make up a reason where I really need to get a very specific smartphone to run continuum on just so I could run those few Continuum apps in a big screen. Only reason I could think of is when I just want to toy around with it. Other devices already solved my day to day problems that Continuum is "trying to solve".
Just so people know the Linux community are building similar concept but their version is I think will be more successful implementation of Continuum, why? Because it actually runs on full Linux OS meaning it can run any Linux applications, that's what Continuum should've been.

Any product will fulfill the needs of somebody. Continuum happens to work for fatclue_98. True, he might have requirements that almost nobody else has. Or, he might have even shaped his workflow around Continuum's capabilities. But it works, for him.

The problem is that there aren't enough of him, making Continuum not needed by enough people to make it viable for Microsoft. It seems that Continuum is, for the most part, a solution looking for a problem.

 

[fatclue_98]

I own a smartphone, a laptop, few desktop PCs and a Surface 3. Go ahead and make up a reason where I really need to get a very specific smartphone to run continuum on just so I could run those few Continuum apps in a big screen. Only reason I could think of is when I just want to toy around with it. Other devices already solved my day to day problems that Continuum is "trying to solve".
Just so people know the Linux community are building similar concept but their version is I think will be more successful implementation of Continuum, why? Because it actually runs on full Linux OS meaning it can run any Linux applications, that's what Continuum should've been.

I mentioned this on another thread so it saves me from having to make it up. My office is upstairs while my engineering, estimating, purchasing and project managers are downstairs. All I have to do is unplug my phone off a dock and plug into their monitors. A phone and a dock is infinitely easier and lighter to lug around than a laptop or full desktop don't you think? For security purposes my files and my boss's files are on a separate server. My charges don't have access to my stuff so sharing can be a chore. Enter Continuum.

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