Video: Can you use Windows Phone in 2018?

[libra89]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLYuRWQiE_I

This video was posted today and I thought that I would be disappointed but I actually ended up surprised. Thoughts?

Edit: 7/27/18 - So he shared his experience, and I am suprised again! Check it out here:
https://forums.windowscentral.com/showthread.php?t=475604&p=3754280&viewfull=1#post3754280

 

[Elky64]

Thanks for sharing...

My only real surprise is that the reviewer is going to attempt using it as his daily driver for the next week LOL. As for his question "are we missing out by not using WP10" - sure we are (to a degree), yet IMO the negatives far outweigh the positives in today's world. For those who are minimalists and only require the bare minimum then they should do just fine.

Hearing the setup process, updates, etc weren't phased much (if at all) by the bump in specs was kind of expected since we found our 950 in those areas, really didn't shine either over our 830/650.

And like the BlackBerry's K1/K2 with its keyboard is going to cater to a niche market/chosen few, think the same goes for continuum yet the latter is worse off due to Microsoft throwing in the towel.

Will admit I do miss the platform to a degree yet we know fully well those feelings will be short-lived due to the OS lacking finesse, stability and consistency - and that's not even taking into account the app gap. I'd surely have taken the plunge on the Elite 3 a while back if, only if, Microsoft wasn't so steadfast at keeping it ridiculously priced here in Canada. Showing OOS now but if it were available today at a drastically reduced price it's much too little too late as we've come to our senses.

 

[AgentTheGreat]

See that Excel crash? That's what was wrong with W10M from the very beginning. Believe it or not the first released version of it was way, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay worse, back when Microsoft still had a plan to stay in the phone business.

I remember I couldn't believe a giant software company like Microsoft would release a flagship device like the 950 with that non OS.

 

[aximtreo]

Good memories.

 

[Drael646464]

Let's hope they did every software update before even starting, because otherwise it's a mess.

 

[libra89]

Let's hope they did every software update before even starting, because otherwise it's a mess.

He did do an update in the video, which he admitted that it took a while (which is true).

 

[libra89]

Thanks for sharing...

My only real surprise is that the reviewer is going to attempt using it as his daily driver for the next week LOL. As for his question "are we missing out by not using WP10" - sure we are (to a degree), yet IMO the negatives far outweigh the positives in today's world. For those who are minimalists and only require the bare minimum then they should do just fine.

Hearing the setup process, updates, etc weren't phased much (if at all) by the bump in specs was kind of expected since we found our 950 in those areas, really didn't shine either over our 830/650.

And like the BlackBerry's K1/K2 with its keyboard is going to cater to a niche market/chosen few, think the same goes for continuum yet the latter is worse off due to Microsoft throwing in the towel.

Will admit I do miss the platform to a degree yet we know fully well those feelings will be short-lived due to the OS lacking finesse, stability and consistency - and that's not even taking into account the app gap. I'd surely have taken the plunge on the Elite 3 a while back if, only if, Microsoft wasn't so steadfast at keeping it ridiculously priced here in Canada. Showing OOS now but if it were available today at a drastically reduced price it's much too little too late as we've come to our senses.

Yeah, I'm with you on being surprised by that. I'll love to see how he fares out. I totally agree with you on the minimum stuff with using it. I get you on that point though, it is hard to justify spending so much for it now.

See that Excel crash? That's what was wrong with W10M from the very beginning. Believe it or not the first released version of it was way, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay worse, back when Microsoft still had a plan to stay in the phone business.

I remember I couldn't believe a giant software company like Microsoft would release a flagship device like the 950 with that non OS.

Yeah that crash is very embarrassing. I'll take your word for it on its performance.

 

[nate0]

@libra89
thanks for sharing this. Gonna go view this on youtube in a min to see the comments...

Ya that Excel crash was most likely OS related. Updates can take forever...is funny how tuned he is to expect everything to be like Android or even iOS. Same is for folks going from W10M...we want certain things to be there on Android and iOS...vice versa.

Hope he knows about the version of office on the Continuum enabled devices. I think they start asking for an O365 subscription after 90 days or something.

 

[Drael646464]

See that Excel crash? That's what was wrong with W10M from the very beginning. Believe it or not the first released version of it was way, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay worse, back when Microsoft still had a plan to stay in the phone business.

I remember I couldn't believe a giant software company like Microsoft would release a flagship device like the 950 with that non OS.

Assuming that video was in temporal order, that was the first release essentially, because they didn't run a single update until after that crash. If anyone's used on a non-updated phone, that really shouldn't surprise anyone its a mess - the Bluetooth plays up, things crash, it resets.

 

[AgentTheGreat]

Assuming that video was in temporal order, that was the first release essentially, because they didn't run a single update until after that crash. If anyone's used on a non-updated phone, that really shouldn't surprise anyone its a mess - the Bluetooth plays up, things crash, it resets.

A brand new device taken out of box and started up has to function properly.
Updates are for those issues you didn't catch during extensive testing; stuff that comes out after you release your product to a giant number of users. Expecting an already installed app to run on a device that passed QC is pretty basic.

I can't remember encountering something like this even once on a Windows Phone 8.1 device. That's called quality. And this failure just goes on to corroborate in what a disastrous state W10M was released, and while it did get better, it didn't come even close to the stability of WP8.1.

To this day (tested yesterday with my friend) W10M's Cortana on a 1520 cannot be counted on. Lags, hangs, doesn't respond while my 1320's Cortana does what it is expected with great accuracy.

 

[Drael646464]

A brand new device taken out of box and started up has to function properly.
Updates are for those issues you didn't catch during extensive testing; stuff that comes out after you release your product to a giant number of users. Expecting an already installed app to run on a device that passed QC is pretty basic.

I can't remember encountering something like this even once on a Windows Phone 8.1 device. That's called quality. And this failure just goes on to corroborate in what a disastrous state W10M was released, and while it did get better, it didn't come even close to the stability of WP8.1.

To this day (tested yesterday with my friend) W10M's Cortana on a 1520 cannot be counted on. Lags, hangs, doesn't respond while my 1320's Cortana does what it is expected with great accuracy.

I certainly wouldn't claim it's without flaws to this day. And it runs especially badly on the non-modern common devices (x3, lumia 650+).

Although android apps certainly do hang from time to time too, and android can also lag because of it's memory management scheme - likewise it's UI is scattered, and inconsistent from version to version, and it's apps and games are riddled with ads. It's smoother on the whole, but it kind of comes across as the device equivilant of broadcast TV. iOS is probably better objectively in the app area, and also UI except for some weird oddities (although is also experiences crashes and it's hella locked down).

So I do get what you are saying, but I am not sure anything is truely ideal. Indeed it's kind of odd that we now have this user expectation that nothing ever breaks and works instantly. In the technical world of computing, that's actually pretty much impossible. Instead you get trade offs between new features and stability and speed. Clearly MSFT went for the wrong balance, but it's still kind of a weird quirk of end users expectations of technology.

 

[AgentTheGreat]

So I do get what you are saying, but I am not sure anything is truely ideal. Indeed it's kind of odd that we now have this user expectation that nothing ever breaks and works instantly. In the technical world of computing, that's actually pretty much impossible. Instead you get trade offs between new features and stability and speed. Clearly MSFT went for the wrong balance, but it's still kind of a weird quirk of end users expectations of technology.

No one is expecting everything to never break down and work instantly. And I am involved in the technical world of computing, so I know how the whole thing works.
But it's a false dichotomy to say either nothing breaks down or "things break down everywhere". There are degrees to this, and I claim W10M was one of the worst, WP and iOS are one of the best, and Android is somewhere in the middle.

As I said, this was one of the issues W10M was riddled with from the beginning, which means compared to the "standard" amount of bugs and issues it was too much.

A look at how W10M is designed can give you a clear idea of how unfinished it is. Just the other day I was testing its Store's payment area for an app and I was faced with such a mess of a dialog, where even the scrollbar was almost in the middle going over other elements!
These are just signs of how Microsoft messed up; it's not a single issue of just Excel crashing on one device. It's a pattern.

 

[fatclue_98]

They should put a disclaimer: Any new Windows phone needs the Store app updated immediately or thoughts of violence will soon creep in.

 

[Elky64]

These are just signs of how Microsoft messed up; it's not a single issue of just Excel crashing on one device. It's a pattern.

The pattern I see is Microsoft has mastered the art of inconsistency and instability w/W10, mobile and PC. Finding personally there to be a huge disconnect in these two areas when comparing 10 to any non-Windows device I use.

 

[Elky64]

They should put a disclaimer: Any new Windows phone needs the Store app updated immediately or thoughts of violence will soon creep in.

Think the store itself needs that disclaimer (on live tile). Can't count the amount times, after opening it, that I've gone from calm, mild mannered to shaking and spouting obscenities LOL.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

They should put a disclaimer: Any new Windows phone needs the Store app updated immediately or thoughts of violence will soon creep in.

OT but has the Store disappeared from the app list on your WM10 or W10 Pro? It has on my devices. I don't know how long ago because Store is still a live tile on my phone and in the task bar on my PC.

Interestingly, the option of removing those is there. I wonder how you could access the Store if you delete the tile or task bar item?

 

[libra89]

A brand new device taken out of box and started up has to function properly.
Updates are for those issues you didn't catch during extensive testing; stuff that comes out after you release your product to a giant number of users. Expecting an already installed app to run on a device that passed QC is pretty basic.

I can't remember encountering something like this even once on a Windows Phone 8.1 device. That's called quality. And this failure just goes on to corroborate in what a disastrous state W10M was released, and while it did get better, it didn't come even close to the stability of WP8.1.

To this day (tested yesterday with my friend) W10M's Cortana on a 1520 cannot be counted on. Lags, hangs, doesn't respond while my 1320's Cortana does what it is expected with great accuracy.

Well said. I remember trying and setting up 8.1 on several phones (yep I tried several) and it worked fine without even doing the update. If this was a mainstream device, there would be a lot of noise over the lack of stability. I'm not even sure I would even want to use it, because isn't the main point for it to work? My dad has had his 640 since August 2015 and it is still on 8.1. He would have told me if it had issues, which it has only acted up like 2 times in a span of nearly 3 years.

At this point, I can't imagine giving him Windows 10 Mobile, he would be mad at me. Besides, his only extra app is WhatsApp which he uses daily.

 

[libra89]

@libra89
thanks for sharing this. Gonna go view this on youtube in a min to see the comments...

Ya that Excel crash was most likely OS related. Updates can take forever...is funny how tuned he is to expect everything to be like Android or even iOS. Same is for folks going from W10M...we want certain things to be there on Android and iOS...vice versa.

Hope he knows about the version of office on the Continuum enabled devices. I think they start asking for an O365 subscription after 90 days or something.

You're so right about the expectations. I can relate to that myself. In my first year of transition, I went through a lot of phones to find a simplistic experience like this platform. There was a point in time when that was one of the things I was looking for. I eventually realized that I should stop using that as a base to look for.

I'm guessing he doesn't know, I actually forgot about that myself.

 

[fatclue_98]

OT but has the Store disappeared from the app list on your WM10 or W10 Pro? It has on my devices. I don't know how long ago because Store is still a live tile on my phone and in the task bar on my PC.

Interestingly, the option of removing those is there. I wonder how you could access the Store if you delete the tile or task bar item?

I've never heard of that but I'm not surprised, really. As for accessing apps without the Store app, when viewing on Edge it gives you the option to "view in the app".

 

[Axeelant]

I still use it, to this day. My daily L930 is now almost 4 years old and started to die on me 2 days ago (doesn't charge, by cable or wirelessly). Now I am looking for another phone, W10M ofc.
This OS still does everything I need it to do, sometimes it just takes a little bit longer.