Whether to stick with Windows 10 mobiles...

[SanPedroUK]

My current Lumia 930, which is the best phone I've ever owned, has developed a screen fault (horrible green spot that is enlarging by the day and slowly covering the entire screen. seems it's a not uncommon fault that both MS and Nokia refuse to admit is a design/manufacturing fault). So I'm in the market for a new phone.

Anyhoo, whilst I've enjoyed using my Windows phones I'm concerned that they will never take off in a meaningful way. I know it's unlikely they will ever grow their mobile busness as large as Apple/Android, but I still find the app situation frustrating. I cycle a lot and the most popular cycling app 'Starva' is nowhere to be seen, plus banking and finance apps and others are absent.

Given that development of universal apps across all Windows 10 devices should give developers an easier time, is there anybody else out there thinking (like me) 'right, I give MS another X months and then I'm outta here'.

The OS is maturing nicely and there are some great choices for Win 10 devices out there inc laptops and hybrid devices which Apple and Android simply don't have. So it makes sense for me to stick with Windows, but my phone is my most used device and I'm finding some aspects of it limiting.

Does anyone here expect (or know) if there will be a more serious output of Windows 10 mobile apps and devices any time soon?

BTW... I can't quite decide between a 650 and a 640XL. Is there much difference in the performance between the two? And will the OLED screen on the 650 suffer the same fate as the one on my 930, which I'm convinced is down to overheating when using HereDrive.

 

[etphoto]

Although some might claim to have one, no one has a crystal ball on what the app future for Windows 10. I "believe" the universal app idea is a good one but I have no clue if its going parlay into the apps everyone wants. Personally, I'm sticking with the platform.

Sent from my Surface 3

 

[anon(9538491)]

This sums it all up?

Still, so far I haven't seen the lack of apps, at least for my needs, parking app (let's me check if the current location is a paid park, also make payments), banking app, messaging, email...

 

[Mad Cabbie]

How can we tell you what to do? As intelligent beings (sic) we have the capacity to make our own choices. You have to make your own bud.

My opinion would be that things are beginning to move in the right direction. OEM's now appearing, app development companies being taken under the wing, with capabilities to make one for all apps and the continued development of the OS. Maybe the insider program wasn't such a good idea with many downloading then ******** and moaning on these boards, but not reporting bugs to MS.

There are my thoughts, but at the end of the day, it is your call. Which ever you chose, be happy!

 

[jeetu4444]

All depends what u looking for...iam very happy with my lumia 950 ds

 

[Mad Cabbie]

All depends what u looking for...iam very happy with my lumia 950 ds

I love my 950xl! What a device! First liquid Cooled phone I've personally had

 

[Ray Adams]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/dgtak9c0ccwu80s/screen_2016-02-24_15-01-16.jpg

This sums it all up?

Still, so far I haven't seen the lack of apps, at least for my needs, parking app (let's me check if the current location is a paid park, also make payments), banking app, messaging, email...

OMG! I am a developer for all 3 mobile platforms and I can say that XCode (for iOs) is most awful product ever created by human! I even think it was created by someone from the dark side of the moon.
Android Studio much better, but none of these two IDE can be near as good as Visual Studio! If your hands were grown from the arse, none IDE will suite your needs.

But I can agree that documentation is not good right now for Universal platform. And the whole platform is not as good as others.
If you develop apps using .NET (not store apps), you have almost all the powers of the Windows, but UW is about 30% of features available for .NET. Even though .NET is quite limited if compared to native C++, just imagine how UW is limited.

 

[dda_k]

I think you must give it a time, Windows 10 and universal apps is somethig unique and it will catch on sooner or later it's a no brainer + continiuum kicking in, as a student with 1 pc at home and 3 TV is like a holy savior himself as I could finally do my homeworks without arguing that I need a PC. Anyway Windows 10 will catch on. Also I'm leaving android as soon as my contract ends, hate the design, hate the static icons, widgets feel pointless as I use only 1 screen and just don't see the point of more screens as you have app menu, android only caught on because it was cheap.

Posted via Samsung Galaxy S6 but still love for Windows.

 

[libra89]

I would say why not get a new Windows Phone to watch w10m, or see if you can get the 930 repaired but get a midrange Android to give it a test run.

 

[SanPedroUK]

I think I'll give Windows mobile another year. There does seem to be more interesting stuff coming out for Windows than there has been in a long time. It's good to see companies like HP, Vaio and Acer investing time and effort into some decent products. I'm very impressed with the upcoming HP X3 as this could really be a single device for everything, assuming you buy into the docking systems. I could see something like this attracting a lot of business users. The wireless connection to the 'dumb terminal' laptop is a stroke of genius, assuming it's priced reasonably. Great to have built in mobile wireless connectivity in a laptop... no need for tethering any more.

I think I'll go for the 650, for now, and see how the app and device situation develops over the next year. Which is when my existing laptop will most likely need replacing. I notice that desktop apps won't run on Windows mobile... so does anyone think the likes of Adobe would repurpose their products as universal windows apps? Would be nice to be able to run PS on a phone hooked up to a screen.

 

[lumiauser]

Its about an year ago, I bought a L730 & my wifey got a Moto G 2nd gen. Well, when I use her phone now, it feels awfully slow and response time feel like ages compared to my Lumia. Mind you, data in her phone and 16GBSD card is hardly about 50%; whereas its more than 80% in my L730. Yet, its as fluidic as day one! And not to mention the beautiful display and battery life of Lumia. Have been trying to convince myself for an Android but have dropped the idea when ever I use an Android.

 

[SanPedroUK]

Its about an year ago, I bought a L730 & my wifey got a Moto G 2nd gen. Well, when I use her phone now, it feels awfully slow and response time feel like ages compared to my Lumia. Mind you, data in her phone and 16GBSD card is hardly about 50%; whereas its more than 80% in my L730. Yet, its as fluidic as day one! And not to mention the beautiful display and battery life of Lumia. Have been trying to convince myself for an Android but have dropped the idea when ever I use an Android.

LOL... this sounds similar to my son's experience with an LG G3. Very nicely specced phone but he finds it increasingly laggy. Sometimes taking many, many seconds to perform a particular function that should be done without a blink. Not an issue I've experienced with my 930 in the same period of time. Just the screen is now almost useless in daylight.

 

[pankaj981]

The only superior platform IMO as far as overall UX is concerned is iOS hands down. App quality is great because of developer interest and it gets stuff done easily.

@OP: It's a matter of patience. You could try moving onto another platform if you really aren't getting with what you need from your smart phone. And then there are certain compromises due to the so called app-gap. I did explore moving onto android for a while but from what I get from reviews online, the stock Nexus devices have show stopping battery drain bugs. Now if a stock OS has issues then I doubt the stability of the platform.

@the poster above ranting about VS: You got be kidding me. VS is hands down one of the most developer friendly IDEs available out there. Documentation...yes it's still lacking as Microsoft is still building the libraries for UWP, it'll mature eventually (check MSDN libraries for example).

 

[anon(9538491)]

@the poster above ranting about VS: You got be kidding me. VS is hands down one of the most developer friendly IDEs available out there. Documentation...yes it's still lacking as Microsoft is still building the libraries for UWP, it'll mature eventually (check MSDN libraries for example).

Wasn't ranting, I am no developer, was merely presenting a perceptive not from my view, but from someone who's currently in the making of a project for 3 mobile platforms (Android, iOS and W10M), but I have seen many developers (similar to the one I have posted) talking about the difficulty of making apps for the universal platform.

Plus, he wasn't complaining about VS, he was just pointing out that he always worked with VS, the rest of the talk is completely different.