What would it take to become a solid contender?

[cubanaso]

In my opinion if windows phone truly wants to knock out blackberry out of the game and become the #3 mobile os they need to come out with a solid physical keyboard phone and finally update windows phone to fully support landscape mode. We have many user that still depend on a physical keyboard for their daily needs and blackberry 10 will provide that. Windows phone can too and do it much better. I have always wanted one of Nokias phones with the physical keyboard. It's a shame that they haven't come out with any. We need to continue to differentiate and offer more options. Android has essentially given up on physical keyboards and only creating them for their budget phones. IPhone has never provided that option. Blackberry has a dedicated following that depends on this type of phone.
Sent from Lumia 920

 

[martinmc78]

Youve got to remember blackberry was originally for email and bbm which at the time was a requirement for a physical keyboard and gave them the market dominance and made them so popular. Blackberry have only kept the keyboard to keep legacy users happy and thats all the keyboard serves. Apple, Android and MS have all realised that the touchscreen real estate is what matters today and what sells phones.

Let blackberry keep the physical keyboards as it still serves their purposes, I dont think adding physical keyboards would do anything to help WP - adding half a keyboard would ruin the live tile experience with 50% less screen and a slide out keyboard only adds to the bulk - and these days its all about bigger, thinner, lighter.

In my opinion WP8 will only ever be a solid contender in two situations
1. Apple or Android have a major mis-step not unlike BBM outage that caused Blackberry users to flee in droves.
2. WP8 starts getting truly killer cross platform games - Skulls of the Shogun is a good start - but port a AAA gaming title thats got multi platform playability something from one of the Microsoft exclusive heavy hitters.

 

[cubanaso]

I agree that MSFT needs to put a stronger emphasis on cross platform gaming. But you can't argue the usefulness of a slide out keyboard for typing long emails, using office apps, and ofcourse gaming. More screen real-estate for the things that matter.
Sent from Lumia 920

 

[martinmc78]

I agree that MSFT needs to put a stronger emphasis on cross platform gaming. But you can't argue the usefulness of a slide out keyboard for typing long emails, using office apps, and ofcourse gaming. More screen real-estate for the things that matter.
Sent from Lumia 920

I cant remember the last time i typed a long email on my phone. Actually I'm lying it was a few days before i got my surface. Ive always got both with me and my phone now serves for calls texts, social network updates, photos, small mods to office docs, killing time with a few games and internet sharing for my surface. If im on the go im not going to stop what im doing and write a long email on my phone. I send a quick response then follow it up when ive got 5 minutes to sit down with my surface and compose the email properly. Ive fully bought into the 3 screens philosophy and its working like a dream for me at the moment

 

[SnailUK]

For me its pretty simple.

Apps.

Microsoft has tried throwing money at developers to make apps for WP, and its not worked, so they should take a different approach.

I personally hate the idea of plain iOS ports, but if thats the only way to get an app on WP, then so be it. Microsoft should take the source for big name apps, and do the conversion themselves, but do it for the whole Windows family, Windows 8, Windows Phone 8, and the Tablets.

Or as another alternative, get a couple of design teams, to do the metro redesign of popular apps. Give the developers of the apps the designs, all the icons etc. Show the devs how beautiful their apps would be on WP/W8.

 

[conanheath]

I liked my BBs physical keyboard just like a lot of people, but it has nothing on WP8 keyboard layout. MS with a physical keyboard isn't going to give them a breakthrough in the market. What MS needs to do is get off their collective a$$es and get the little things fixed that aggravate people on a daily basis. People all have different wants and needs. I see posts all the time where this person wants this and somebody else says "No, that isn't needed, we need this." Options, options, options. Right now, its all the little things they are missing that all the others have that disappoint people daily. MS can call it a "minimalist" approach all they want but its just unsupported options. Take the calendar, its an after though that was thrown in last minute with no redeeming qualities. Needs a lot of work just to make it useable. Just one example but MS needs to focus on getting key features into OS that make peoples life easier. I want a phone that auto turns on WiFi when I'm in certain areas so I don't have to remember. I want a phone where I can store office files locally and find them daily without Skydrive. I want to have my alarm clock set to 30, but not have an email come through at night and wake me up. MS needs to focus on the small things first. MS went middle of the road with OS features but it doesn't stand out in any area and make it a must have. They will get the small things fixed, I have no doubt, but its hard to recommend to people when a lot of options just aren't there.

 

[eric12341]

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