Ever since Windows 10 was launched, I have remained cautiously optimistic about the future of Windows 10 Mobile. Sure, devs have been losing interest in the platform, but
However, I must admit that the doom and gloom being spread by various news outlets recently has gotten to me. First Tom Warren, then Paul Thurrot and now Mary Jo-Foley have pronounced the death of Windows Mobile. Note that these people are not news trolls, but long time Microsoft evangelists (Especially Paul and Mary) who have championed the cause of MS for 2 decades now. I can either hope for them to be horribly wrong, or hope that their predictions don't actually kill Windows Mobile (Devs thinking, if these people have jumped ship, why should we stick around?). Now the death of Intel's Atom and the Surface Phone looks even more distant now.
I started thinking over the weekend, if Windows 10 Mobile were to die, what would I do? We know MS wouldn't kill it off soon, for me death is remaining apps (Whatsapp, FB etc) leaving, too and making the phone all but useless.
Me, I would stick around as much as possible, as I am more entrenched in Microsoft's Ecosystem, rather than apps. If worst comes to worst, I would probably jump to iOS, as I cannot stand Google or Android.
I would be giving up these things, moving from Windows 10 to iOS
What I would be gaining
Do the rest of you have a Plan B?
- With UWP, devs have the incentive of developing not for WM10, but for Windows 10
- Windows is the only OS that scales across all form factors AND CPU architecture
However, I must admit that the doom and gloom being spread by various news outlets recently has gotten to me. First Tom Warren, then Paul Thurrot and now Mary Jo-Foley have pronounced the death of Windows Mobile. Note that these people are not news trolls, but long time Microsoft evangelists (Especially Paul and Mary) who have championed the cause of MS for 2 decades now. I can either hope for them to be horribly wrong, or hope that their predictions don't actually kill Windows Mobile (Devs thinking, if these people have jumped ship, why should we stick around?). Now the death of Intel's Atom and the Surface Phone looks even more distant now.
I started thinking over the weekend, if Windows 10 Mobile were to die, what would I do? We know MS wouldn't kill it off soon, for me death is remaining apps (Whatsapp, FB etc) leaving, too and making the phone all but useless.
Me, I would stick around as much as possible, as I am more entrenched in Microsoft's Ecosystem, rather than apps. If worst comes to worst, I would probably jump to iOS, as I cannot stand Google or Android.
I would be giving up these things, moving from Windows 10 to iOS
- Superb OneDrive integration-Seamless auto-upload of images and deleting images from the phone as well as OneDrive at the same time. iCloud is pathetic in comparison, I regularly share OneDrive albums with people via the web, you can't do that on iCloud
- Outlook - Windows 10's stock email app is better than the stock iOS email app any day. Yes, I can use the Outlook Mail client on iOS, but using an app is not the same thing. It doesn't do background sync of emails as well
- Live Tiles - I think this is the area where iOS is most lacking. The Home screen is useless and a waste of space on big screen phones.
- Wireless Charging - I have three wireless chargers at home, one in my car and one at office. All that investment would go to waste
- Glance - Unlocking your phone each time to check for notifications is such a waste of time and battery
- Money - I have a 950XL. To replace it with an iPhone (Plus variant) with at least 64Gb of memory would cost almost twice as much
- Loss if integration with Windows 10 on the desktop and iPhone
What I would be gaining
- Much better camera app with true burst. No, picking frames from videos or that horrible implementation of burst on W10 Mobile cannot even come close to iOS
- Apps - Even though I don't use many apps, maybe once I am able to use them, I would?
Do the rest of you have a Plan B?