Would you honestly buy another Microsoft Mobile?

[QuadraFX]

One more thing, what is killing Microsoft and WP (and Xbox, I think) is that Microsoft is pretending to be a "global" company, while it gives the best features / deals / promotions to US customers only. If they opened wide with their policy to entire world, they would gain a lot of new, happy customers. "US only" policy is not too beneficial, I think....

 

[jib19]

One more thing, what is killing Microsoft and WP (and Xbox, I think) is that Microsoft is pretending to be a "global" company, while it gives the best features / deals / promotions to US customers only. If they opened wide with their policy to entire world, they would gain a lot of new, happy customers. "US only" policy is not too beneficial, I think....

yep, definitely true. they keep trying the same thing again and again and again... while they enjoy a fair amount of success in Europe, they keep offering devices at very low prices only in the US and their share keeps at 3% for the last 4 years. This IS a bit annoying to be honest...

 

[mariusmuntean]

I also tested win10 on my previous 1520 and while the performance was good for a still beta OS, the entire way it is going was not good for me. The windows camera app which besides being a total crap, removed the lumia camera app for most lumia models: why remove a working app when the other is not yet finished?? clever MS..or not; the fact that it looks like a stripped down OS from the desktop which is not what I want, it gives the idea of a cost reduction policy to avoid designing the UX/UI separately. Yes the core is meant to be one as they said, one windows, but the UI should have been adapted to a mobile experience on a phone; the first party apps on it still look awfully made, lagging horribly, especially the Store app; Apps from the store are barely updated, have less features and the overall design of them is way behind Android and IOS. Not to mention the updates that come once with every season compared to other platforms where apps get updated at least every two weeks.
The entire UI looks distorted, out of place like it was never meant to be like this, but was left as it is because of...lack of interest to deliver something good.

 

[mariusmuntean]

I honestly do not believe these will ever happen. Ever since WP7 Microsoft played it all like this, and after so much fails and disappointments who can trust them anymore?
WP7.5 ->WP8 ditch and run
Surface RT ->Win10 ditch and run
WP8.1 sleep issue on 925 and 1020 took them months to solve although users were screaming their phones do not work, they cannot use them. Someone at MS cared? Nope.
Their absolutely terrible customer call support, you can get much better support in your issue by calling randomly a phone number than calling them.

All these translate into one thing: Quality which in all it's aspects: SW,HW,OS support,Customer Support it's missing badly.

 

[mikepalma]

IPhone 7 plus next year, when my 1520 dies

 

[Vishca]

I currently own a 930 and am running the preview, the 950 Xl is larger than I need, so don't have a desperate desire to upgrade yet.I did however love the OS but it now looks so different,I have mixed feelings about what MS are doing. I buy my phones unlocked to avoid contracts and freedom to move around so my trusty 930 is good enough for now. The renders showing up are not enough to tempt me and I like the build of the 930.

 

[mariusmuntean]

IPhone 7 plus next year, when my 1520 dies

As I am an ex-owner of a gorgeous yellow 1520, you will have a long way with it. It's a very reliable device, looks great, performs great. Everyone sees this, but Microsoft who says that the device is old )) LOL WTF??? yes an old device that looks stunning is more appealing than the last two trashcans 950 and 950xl we have seen leaked. Lumia 1520 and 930 with WP8.1 for now is a good choice. W10 just ruins them up.

 

[cre8tivspirit]

I've decided, after a lot of thought, to make the switch to the Samsung Note 5. I'll definitely miss the Live Tiles but that just isn't enough to keep me around. I've been a WP user and supporter since the beginning and I've loved the experience, most of the time. I don't feel comfortable with W10 Mobile and I'm just not that impressed with what has been leaked about the 950 and 950XL. Another reason for my decision is apps. While there have been a lot of good 3rd party apps created to make up for what the original developers have not given to WP, there is still a large gap that hasn't been filled or the developer has thrown together a less than usable app just to say there is one. One for me is my bible app. The iPhone and Android versions of the app are fully featured while the WP app barely functions. I've had several conversations with the developer about this and they are aware of the WP app's shortcomings but because of the very small market share of WP OS, they are unwilling to invest more money into keeping up with the development. This seems to be a common theme and it's growing worse. Since my company doesn't use/allow WiFi or allow very much internet access outside of company business, I rely heavily on my phone and it's apps for most of the things I do throughout the day, including work. I plan to keep an eye on the W10 progress and my hope is to eventually come back to Windows for my mobile experience. We'll just have to see. As for why I chose the Note 5 over a different Android device, it was the built in stylus and excellent note taking abilities. For me, it's something that I use a lot, which is why I also use a Surface Pro, except at work for the reasons I mentioned earlier. It's not a gimmick for me. An eye scanner, to me, is a gimmick. I want form and functionality from my mobile device. Let's face it, these have become way more than just phones.

 

[Ian Too]

Good luck with your Note 5. Be careful not to insert the stylus in the wrong way as it breaks a sensor and disables the note taking ability you want. This happened to Leo Laporte of This Week in Tech.

I would want to see the iris scanner in action, before I wrote it off as a gimmick.

Incidentally, you can set one of your quick action buttons in WM10 to launch OneNote.

 

[LiquidLearner]

The Iris scanner isn't any more of a gimmick than the fingerprint scanner. Which has turned out to be substantially more useful than I expected it would have been.

That said, I switched to the Note 5. The idea that being able to break the stylus being a deal breaker is silly to me. You'd have to push on the pointed end to do it. How could you fail to notice that?

Anyway, my reasons for switching are as follows:
- Tired of waiting on the next awesome phone from MS. I had the Icon for 18 months and I was just throwing extra money Verizon's way for the Edge program.
- The Lumia 950/XL won't come to Verizon. Even if it supports the VZW networks, I'm not buying a phone outright. Sorry.
- App gap is getting more and more annoying. Losing Chase was a big one. It's been nice getting every app I thought might be useful before.
- MS services allow me to continue to use what I'm used to without a major shift in workflow. Outlook, Cortana, HERE maps, Office, OneDrive. It all works great on Android.

And the Note 5 is a sexy phone. It's lighter than my Icon, looks sharp, battery life is substantially better. I also haven't gotten any of the lag I used to get in Android back in the day, at least after the first 24 hours. That first 24 hours while it was updating all the apps and I was busily installing away you definitely noticed a slow down. But I'm surprised by just how happy I am with the phone. I will buy another Windows Mobile device I imagine. But it'll be next year once MS hopefully has everything back and flowing. Hopefully OEMs will make some compelling devices and we'll see the Surface line of x86 phones. But until then, I figured I'd give Android another serious shot. And so far, I have not been disappointed.

 

[fdruid]

Definitely, and I'm looking forward to the new flagships and WM10 and the improvements the future will bring. And I'm glad to make use of the Windows 10 ecosystem.

Unlike the OP, I don't miss any apps (having an app for my bank wouldn't make me decide which smartphone to get, really), etc. I think it's just that the OP doesn't like WM. Which is fine, variety is good, but it is a great OS.
And regarding the 930, I think it's a great phone, but I didn't buy it at the time and with the WM10 flagships in the horizon it didn't make sense to get it. But I'd buy it gladly if the situation was different.

I don't know why people who don't like WM feel the need to come here and persuade people who do like it to leave it or complain about it.

 

[psiu_glen]

I will likely switch platforms altogether. When WP 7 came out, it blew me away and I switched from Android to using the Trophy as soon as Verizon picked it up.

Went to a 928 after that, which I still use regularly for browsing and indoor photography. Dat xenon. Dat low light

(ooh picked up a 520 with a year of Xbox Music in there somewhere...let the music pass lapse and don't really use the 520 much)

The Icon is my currently active Verizon device, but it is fairly disappointing. The camera isn't as strong indoors (either in lowlight or with flash) and battery and storage are complaints. However, it's screen still has deep luscious blacks, because..

None of my Lumia's have moved past WP8 - by choice. 8.1 was the beginning of the end to me, and W10M...no thanks.

But hey, my new Nokia Pureview 808 rocks! Bright red, micro-HDMI out, standard TV-out, micro-SD, USB OTG, double capacitor xenon flash (twice as bright as the 928/1020 module), FM receive and transmit, remote shutter release. Love it as a super camera/nav/media/feature phone.

Anyway, looks like MS is going into a trailing and copy the leaders mode, rather than any real innovation of their own. A shame, but expected once you've used their products and services for a while.

Will ride the devices I have as long as possible, and hopefully by then someone else will be pushing a new innovative platform to get attached to for a brief, but passionate fling.

(I feel you, webOS and BB10 owners)

 

[mohit9206]

Will i buy another Windows Phone?
I used to have a Nokia Lumia 520 and currently use a Motorola Moto E.
My next phone needs to have 16gb internal storage with expandable memory ,2gb ram(android) or 1gb ram (Windows 10), 4G LTE, a decent camera, a 4-4.7 inch 720p display within a budget of $120.
Now from what information i have, Microsoft will have 2 phones in each price segment which means there will be 2 budget phones. If their specs match my requirements within $120 then surely Windows Phone will be considered.
But honestly what are the chances that Microsoft will provide such specs at around $100? Will their budget phones have 4G LTE, 16gb storage and a decent 720p display ? If they do then great, if not then too bad. Its all about getting maximum value for money. Doesn't matter if its Windows or Android, i just want fantastic value.

 

[griesmonkey]

I gave this another shot with the 640XL. While I like the phone itself, and the battery life, the google apps I greatly miss. Google calendar that my wife and I use is too valuable. No third party app creates appointment/reminders very well. Ends up double booking times with the same thing. I'm waiting on the Note 5 Active to make this switch. This will give me time to actually put WM10 on the 640XL to give it a fair shake before I switch. Keep it as a backup phone too. Not to mention facebook and twitter haven't been updated in 3 years. I use them too frequently for my business not to be able to get all the functions in WM.

 

[Lych]

Yes, definitely. I'm in the MS ecosystem and the phone is perfectly capable of doing what I want it to. WP 8.1 is a solid OS (although I admit to not liking all of the animations for example). It is pretty stable and fast, and most importantly: does what I want it to do. Windows Phone 10 is another issue. It is indeed beta and hasn't been released yet, so no idea why you would bring that up. Whatever the reason, I'll reserve judgement until I have the finished product in my hands.

My bank probably doesn't have an app for the OS, but I probably wouldn't even bother to use it anyhow. They have an online page and that's more than enough for me. I wouldn't want to deal with my account related stuff on a mobile anyway, and I never really understood why this is such a dealbreaker for some.

Cortana and her settings... well, I'm on US and I liked her ever since we got her. Then again I have absolutely zero experience with her regional variants. I'd argue that Siri is just as horrible in his/her other language iterations but this is really a matter of personal taste/sympathy.

As for going without google: I still use if for work (some devices I got were android for example), and other than that the only google service I didn't ditch was youtube. I get by just fine and can't say I miss it. I didn't start today though and I admit that it was a pretty horrible experience in the beginning, but it has evolved a lot since then and I am quite happy with it now.
If I had to name something I genuinely don't like, it would probably be the maps app. It's always a bit slower than I'd like and address recognition could be improved a lot outside the US. It is visibly better than it was about two years ago, but I feel it still has a way to go to be truly useful. This is something that IMHO google does way better.

Due to my work I have used various iPhone models and a few Android devices as well for prolonged periods and none of them convinced me to want to jump ship. If I HAD TO, I'd probably just go Sailfish or something similar.

 

[Joao Bento]

I will stay in the platform if my current Lumia gets updated to Windows 10.
When i switch phones the price and os updates are key points to me and this is the reason i went to Microsoft. If they ditch me and i stay stuck in Windows Phone 8.1 i am not sure what will happen when i change smartphone .

i had Android, I switched and although the amount of apps is not the same in Windows store it serves my everyday needs except for the banking apps. Plus the OS is fluid and not hungry in terms of resources. So ideal for me . And i get the OS updates which is something i cannot say for na android phone like the Samsung ones

 

[Jezza]

I haven't owned anything resembling a Nokia since the N95, but I am due to return following the release of the 950 (yes, I know it's not a Nokia, but it kind of is). Following on from my N95, my entry into smart phones went as follows:

1. iPhone (2G)
2. iPhone 3GS
3 iPhone 4S
4. Samsung Galaxy S4

Now, after each of those phones, my 'wants' and 'desires' for what a phone can do has evolved. When I left iOS behind, it was not only out of boredom for a locked down and limited UI, it was because I became frustrated with the lack of flexibility to expand the storage capacity of my 16gb phone without paying out a big sum on top of the original cost of the phone, even then the storage wasn't removable and neither was the battery. When Apple announced the iPhone 5, I saw sense that they weren't innovating as much as dangling a carrot in front of their users each year with small increments in added features, they were guiding users by the hand and applying limitations which really annoyed me. The point I decided to change is when the layout of the phone was expanded by one extra row of icons and they had now moved the headphone jack to the bottom of the phone, when they could have simply left it where it was and made the speaker at the bottom bigger and louder. After holding the phone, I was less than impressed, I became frustrated with the limitations of the Apple range and moved to Android.

The reason I chose a Galaxy S4 at the time was simply because of the amount of flexibility, not only with the Android software, but with the hardware. I could use SD cards to move from device to device, I could remove the battery and I could use OTG (Something that will be coming to W10M in the form of USB dual role) to connect my Xbox controller, as well as USB sticks etc. There was also loads of third party support for the phone, I had no trouble getting a large battery to expand my standby time. I was happy with the phone, despite having some technical issues with the Android software locking up and having to have the phone sent for repair twice, it seemed like the ideal choice for me. I'm still using the phone now. However, after reviewing my next option for my following upgrade, Samsung obviously decided to look at Apple's successful business model and they have now started with the limitations and gimmicks, cue the Galaxy S6.

When I look at the Galaxy S6, I simply see another fragile poster child for the Android platform, much like the iPhone is for iOS. Whilst the phone may look nice upon first glance, I dare anyone to drop it and see if it survives unscathed, whilst it might not get a crack in the screen, I have no doubt the shiny metal trim will have few scratches when it's picked up, making all that fine detailing that everyone is craving for in the new Windows Phone flagship absolutely irrelevant. This is why I'm getting frustrated with people complaining that the 950/940/Talkman doesn't "look" like a flagship device, but fail to understand the practicality of something that looks shiny that would be best suited in a case in the longrun. When I compare the S6 to the S4, I see a phone that is full of limitations with no expandable memory and no removable battery. Add to the amount of battery draining apps I have had running on the S4, as well as the bloatware that has been slowing it down, I've also grown bored of Android's inefficiency, despite the flexibility of the OS.

After having used my my girlfriends Lumia 640 and lurking this site for many months, I've come to the conclusion that Windows Phone is where I'm headed next. I'm an Xbox One and Windows 10 PC user, so maintaining some consistency across my devices has contributed to my research of Windows 10 mobile. I admit the platform itself is still missing some features and various apps, but the idea of having cross platform Xbox support, setting reminders on Cortana on my PC to sync with my phone, using continuum via the miracast feature on my Xbox, having what is usually regarded as the best quality camera on the market for both image and sound recording, a rugged enough design that is less likely to break after a fall, as well as a very nice UI, just sounds good to me. So, yes, I will be getting a Windows Phone next.

 

[lunta]

Yes!

I have used Nokia since their phones looked more like a suitcase than a handphone. I was super happy with my WP7 Lumia for a long time, but after MS revealed that it wouldn't receive WP8 update, and finally killed Skype on WP7.8 I got so pissed of that I promised myself that that was the last one, ever. They wouldn't cheat me again.

After a while, the time came to change the phone and I got an Android phone. I read all possible reviews before the purchase that very mostly really positive, but I was utterly disappointed about the phone. First of all, Android is very heavy OS, even on really fast quadro core CPU with tons of memory the real life speed is much much worse than a slowest single core running Windows Phone. User interface was not intuitive, camera was crappy in all possible ways, battery life awful, mostly because of apps freezing in background running at 100% CPU without any notification. Android itself was very annoying with so stupid limitation in writing to sd-card for only preinstalled apps! Oh, the list would be pages long.

I suffered this crap for a few weeks and got a new Lumia 1020 and was so happy. The perfect phone for me, again. I would love to see WP have as much apps as iOS and Adroid do, but franky I personally don't need so much of them. I have a powerfull laptop to do all other things.

 

[zdenekvanik]

I am hesitant to be honest.
I was looking forward to the next WP flagships but the design is not very appealing to me and I am not convinced about Windows 10 mobile either (running preview on Lumia 920).
Problem is that other platforms are even worse, Android is laggy no matter the device - though the Blackberry Venice could change my view. iOS looks good but in comparison to WP it is very static.

So after all it is just choosing between lesser evils for me.

 

[jomarr]

I'm due an upgrade and I'm leaning towards the iPhone 6s.

Only one thing has made me to switch and it's Groove. I honestly couldn't stand that app.

Duplicates playlists
Won't scan for new music
Won't display both album art and artist photo
Won't scrobble to last fm
Still displays songs that were removed

The app is basically a pile of garbage. I'm taking a hiatus and moving back to ios until Microsoft fixes its music app. I will go back in a freaking heartbeat if a great music app is present. No other alternatives are good or decent either.

Right now, I'm 100 % out.

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