PC Magazine : 950 & 950XL Beautiful But Doomed

[CygnusOrion]

Wake up MSFT


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They are awake. Did you see the Lumia Continuum demo - that was awesome. Now imagine a Surface Phone running x86 processor, no limitations. Coming spring 2016...

The sleeper has awoken!

 

[CygnusOrion]

In the end the app gap & eco system deficit is what dooms these phones, not any hardware deficiency they have(they don't).

Until MS address those 2 things + adds 1 killer unique feature + makes it available on all carriers + promises direct updates....

 

[SpartanJet]

App gap and microsoft's exclusives are so frustrating. Not that I was going to upgrade to a phone that has the Snapdragon 810 when there will be phones within the month using the 820 (Just upgraded to an iPhone anyway from my Note) but as a T-Mobile customer I don't even have the option. I realize that the rumor is the phone is not an ATT exclusive but still they should have got ALL the carriers involved by this time there is ZERO excuse for them to have only talked with ATT at this point.

I had literally waited 2 years for an updated Microsoft phone, glad I didn't wait any longer maybe one day Microsoft will actually put as much effort into their phones as they do their Surface Pro line.

 

[Jazmac]

App gap and microsoft's exclusives are so frustrating. Not that I was going to upgrade to a phone that has the Snapdragon 810 when there will be phones within the month using the 820 (Just upgraded to an iPhone anyway from my Note) but as a T-Mobile customer I don't even have the option. I realize that the rumor is the phone is not an ATT exclusive but still they should have got ALL the carriers involved by this time there is ZERO excuse for them to have only talked with ATT at this point.

I had literally waited 2 years for an updated Microsoft phone, glad I didn't wait any longer maybe one day Microsoft will actually put as much effort into their phones as they do their Surface Pro line.

TMo and Verizon don't like windows phones because those carriers are ONLY interested in the fast buck. Neither care about what those of us that want it. Why is this news to you? You talk like Microsoft isn't interested in selling phones so they build for one carrier and hope for the best.

 

[CygnusOrion]

Hopefully Nadella is learning from previous CEO mistakes and is slowly but surely fixing everything that needs to changed. October 6th was proof that he is making those changes.

 

[Jazmac]

Actually, it's not really the OS. It's the apps that available for the OS. As far as the capability of the OS, I will still rank WebOS above almost everything that is out now, but people are dependent on apps and that's the name of the game.

I wouldn't. I'd rate it above android but not IOS and certainly not Windows 10 Mobile. But I get it, you never forget your first love.

 

[the1]

I wouldn't. I'd rate it above android but not IOS and certainly not Windows 10 Mobile. But I get it, you never forget your first love.

Actually no, it was far from my first jump into smartphones. Had a Sidekick in 2003 and thought I was the man. I went from Sidekick I > Nokia 6820 > Blackberry 7100i > Blackberry 8100/HTC SDA/MDA > Blackberry 8800 > T-Mobile G1 > Droid Incredible > Samsung Galaxy S1 > Galaxy Nexus > Droid DNA > LG G3 > Lumia 928 > Lumia 1520/Blackberry Z10

I've only used WebOS on the Touchpad and as far as the functionality of the OS and it's interface, it's one of the best that I've used. Just think about everything that was pilfered when HP gave up on WebOS. Gesture based, card system with social media integration. Yeah, as an OS, it was the truth, but again, it's all about apps and not really the functionality of the OS.

 

[the1]

The Microsoft Kin is tied for the biggest bust in smartphone history. Ballmer ended up getting fired over that. Why is Bezos still safe?

Because millions of people still shop at Amazon, the phone was a bust but the tablets and FireTV still sale pretty good, he's the founder.... *shrugs* lol

 

[the1]

]
Founder > Employee #30. LOL

But in all seriousness, I think that Amazon was toying with the whole phone bit. I think they were testing their hand and saw where they stood.

 

[Heron_Kusanagi]

They are beautiful.

They could be doomed too because of what Panos Panay and the Surface team will likely do next, which is to push x86 phones that can really push the Continuum experience to its logical end, a x86 phone that can run universal apps in phone mode, but with the display dock, a full on W10 desktop experience with legacy support.

 

[Steve Adams]

Ahah okay more paid-for doom and gloom.

Nail head.....meet hammer!

Apple trying to discredit Microsoft. Its funny that there were no news stories about all the new awesome Microsoft offerings. Again, apple pays all these people and organizations to hype their products.

MS is the best out right now. hands down.

 

[Steve Adams]

As to the "app gap" once project Astoria gets up and running, you WILL see that close greatly. Think about it, I think win10 is on over 100 million devices right now? Think about the profits for the ease of tossing your app into "the project", easily developing your app for w10 and putting it in the store. Its a no brainer. Then your app is available for computers, tablets, phones all in one simple step.

Lets say you have an app for 99 cents, 1 million of those users download that app, that's a million dollars in the business that was not there before. More if you develop a free app and advertising on it. before there were not enough users of the windows store to make it worthwhile to develop a completely different app for the windows systems. Now, its MUCH easier, and you are going to an extremely larger user base. Windows/Microsoft nailed it this time!

I will say the MS store will grow tremendously in 2016. You will see most of the apps you use come to windows because there is just such a large user base in all form factors.

 

[Visa Declined]

Think about it, I think win10 is on over 100 million devices right now? Think about the profits for the ease of tossing your app into "the project", easily developing your app for w10 and putting it in the store. Its a no brainer. Then your app is available for computers, tablets, phones all in one simple step.

Those 100 Million you're speaking of are desktop users, how many of those are actually using Windows apps from the store? You're assuming all of them do, but you really shouldn't be looking at it that way.

 

[rollindice]

Here is link to the article, apparently the author of the article is talking about carrier support

Hands On With the Lumia 950, 950 XL: Beautiful But Doomed | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

and it's not even clear yet really if it's exclusive to AT&T , seeing all sorts of reports online. People will blog all sorts of crap.

 

[cxily]

I think the point of using them as a PC in developing market will be key.

 

[pankaj981]

I think the point of using them as a PC in developing market will be key.

You can get a decent PC and a decent phone combined which costs the same as the 950. If you think Continuum would drive the sales of these devices in developing markets then your analysis may be slightly off. Continuum may be great for enterprises but not the biggest selling factor in developing markets.

 

[Krystianpants]

If anyone actually read the article, the author said it was DOOMED BECAUSE OF THE AT&T EXCLUSIVE. Which in fact it is not.

 

[Krystianpants]

They are beautiful.

They could be doomed too because of what Panos Panay and the Surface team will likely do next, which is to push x86 phones that can really push the Continuum experience to its logical end, a x86 phone that can run universal apps in phone mode, but with the display dock, a full on W10 desktop experience with legacy support.

It won't really need the x86 if enough universal apps are created. But, MS will only release phones on a yearly basis so don't expect a new one till next year this time.

 

[Krystianpants]

Those 100 Million you're speaking of are desktop users, how many of those are actually using Windows apps from the store? You're assuming all of them do, but you really shouldn't be looking at it that way.

Actually their stats show lots of people are using the store. They want to get rid of W32 apps. This is why the developer tools offer conversion tools as well. In fact, anyone who has a w32 app is better off posting it on the store. This provides more exposure than someone searching on the web.

 

[fdalbor]

Jeff Bezos? Amazon does a lotta things right but smartphones is not one of them. Have we forgotten what a disaster the Fire phone was?

I picked one up for 100$ as a backup to my Windows phone. Not a bad phone at all but the marketing was terrible.