Windows 10 Mobile Needs To Be Put Out of Its Misery (betanews.com) 180
From a column on BetaNews: It's time for Microsoft to pull the plug. Windows 10 Mobile has been on life support for a long time, and the software giant is only making things worse by not giving it the mercy killing it deserves. It may sound harsh, but there's no future for Windows on smartphones in its current state. Microsoft wants to keep the door open to future developments but, let's face it, when it decided to sell Samsung's new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ through its stores it basically sealed its own platform's fate. There is no turning back from this. We know it and its fans know it too. [...] Really, the only reason I can see Microsoft developing Windows 10 Mobile -- or Windows on smartphones -- further is to give its fans the illusion that something could happen. One day. Someday. Eventually. Maybe. Hopefully. If all the stars align. And Apple and Google and all the other successful vendors are wiped out from the face of the Earth. Hey, it could happen!
Yes! (Score:5, Funny)
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"So, not only did I lose my vacation pictures, but I was also without my cell phone for the rest of vacation. I've had an iPhone 4s for 3-4 years now, and I've never had something like that happen. "
All smartphones are subject to total data loss under worst-case conditions, but there probably wasn't a Dropbox version you could have had running on your Blackberry to save your pictures as they were shot.
Windows 10 Mobile is a Benchwarmer (Score:3, Interesting)
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...and/or one that can work with Xbox content. It would would be silly to overlook the mobile games market when there's already a lot of Microsoft platform gamers. To assume the only "consoles" that exist are Xbox, Nintendo and Playstation leaves a lot of money on the table.
If developing for more than one of the device types that Windows 10 runs on really does not require a huge incremental effort, then MS should release one of their machines every now and then, and hope that a new handheld format becomes m
XBOX Phone? (Score:2)
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I was thinking more in the lines of having devices and games that can make it worthwhile playing on Xbox (mobile) and Xbox (living room) together. If Nintendo can release their mobile/living room console, Microsoft might be in a good position to do similar.
Anyway, this is all Microsoft's problem, not mine :)
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Re:Windows 10 Mobile is a Benchwarmer (Score:5, Interesting)
That's roughly what people have been saying since Windows CE. That Microsoft would *eventually*, *very soon* swoop in and eat everyone's lunch in the mobile computer space. And when *cough* *cough* analysts failed in their predictions, they claimed that Microsoft just put the project in the back burner for later. You just wait and see, next generation is going to be awesome.
The fact of the matter is that, since then, Nokia rose and fell, Blackberry dominated and then became a shell of its former self, the iPhone set the new standard for what a mobile device is supposed to "be" for a decade and beyond, Android spreads like a virus and people are putting tiny computers into watches that nobody wants or needs. Oh, and Apple removed the headphone jack.
Microsoft had plenty of opportunities to "do something about it", but all of their mobile products have been pretty half-assed so far.
This indicates that they don't really have a clue on how to tackle the mobile space.
Replace ALL the Microsoft top managers? ReactOS? (Score:5, Insightful)
That's the underlying problem. Apparently Microsoft top managers are socially and mentally extremely limited.
If you were a top manager of a software development company, would you do things that caused stories like this article to be written? Network World, Aug. 4, 2015: Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. [networkworld.com] Quote from that story: "Buried in the service agreement is permission to poke through everything on your PC."
The abusiveness of many of the features of Windows 10 are like a multi-billion-dollar advertising campaign that very effectively says, "Dislike Microsoft products".
The answer? Replace ALL the Microsoft top managers, in my opinion. Does anyone else have an idea that would fix the problems at Microsoft?
Another solution: All countries and the U.S. could support ReactOS [reactos.org] so that the Windows OS can be eliminated. No company should be allowed to have a virtual monopoly!
Companies that are routinely abusive should be re-organized or eliminated.
All countries and the U.N. (Score:2)
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The answer? Replace ALL the Microsoft top managers, in my opinion. Does anyone else have an idea that would fix the problems at Microsoft?
I still smell collusion. Microsoft was found to have violated its monopoly position, then Ashcroft announces that there will be no punishment. Gates puts his funding into a foundation where later administrations can't get at it easily, just in case a people's candidate somehow makes it into office, and runs around the globe pushing Big Pharma IP law while he was massively personally invested in Big Pharma. Microsoft develops the ultra-spyware OS and gives it away for free. I don't think Microsoft would be a
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Does anyone else have an idea that would fix the problems at Microsoft?
Stop using Microsoft, and the problems with Microsoft automatically fix themselves. It's amazing how well computers work when you don't allow Microsoft to touch them.
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This indicates that they don't really have a clue on how to tackle the mobile space.
Actually, acquiring Nokia's Lumia line was their greatest mistake: they didn't have a clue. Part of the fault was Nokia's as well: they had a plethora of phones in their lineup, compared to Apple w/ just 2 or 3 models per generation, or Samsung w/ something similar. Their numbering scheme left one w/ no clue of what is right for them. Do you want something to just text? Or play games? Or take great photos? What exactly? And those releases, like Lumia Denim, or Lumia Cyan, or so on - what exactly is
Re: Windows 10 Mobile is a Benchwarmer (Score:2)
Well, they already have an arm variant of win10 that can run native x86 desktop apps in emulation. It's only a matter of time before they ditch continuum and windows mobile and make a phone interface mode for Windows 10.
At least then the HP Elite X3 design would make a lot more sense (especially with some sort of laptop conversion dock a la Motorola atrix)
I like my Windows Phone (Score:3, Interesting)
But I can't make a straight-faced recommendation that anyone else get one because of the lack of apps available. It's a great choice if you don't want to be spied on :-)
When this thing finally breaks, I can't see getting another one.
Re:I like my Windows Phone (Score:5, Informative)
Indeed. There's nothing wrong with the OS, in fact it's a joy to use, the UI being superior to both IOS and Android. But yes, the lack of apps is the killer. And, as usual, it's Microsoft's half-assed dedication to the platform throughout its lifetime that is the cause. They had a chance to save it by adding Android app support, but.. no.
The final straw for me was my new car. The infotainment system supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Development of the Windows Phone equivalent apparently ceased over two years ago.
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My car supports neither of these, but it does include an iPod player, which if connected via USB, can play anything I have on my iPhone or iPad. The bluetooth allows me to do the song skipping from my steering wheel if the Lumia is connected, but not see the names of all the songs I switch across (Android is totally unrecognized as far as the screen goes, and can't be controlled from the steering wheel).
It's a shame, b'cos I've collected close to 100 music videos on my laptop, that play on both Android a
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It's a great choice if you don't want to be spied on :-)
How did the word "don't" make its way in there?
Such insight! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Such insight! (Score:5, Insightful)
Whether you personally enjoy your Microsoft phone or not, it makes absolutely no sense for Microsoft to keep trying to exist in a space in which they have proven that they cannot compete. It's just costing them money. They have always been shit at it, it has never made them any money, and it never will.
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Microsoft has not been that successful. They've blown enormous amounts of money on many different things, and if they were a normal company would have been out of business by now. They're "successful" because they can keep milking the Windows OS and Office cash cows endlessly, and keep trying (usually in vain) to move into other markets. How many billions did they spend on Xbox before that became profitable? Did they ever even make much of a profit on it? How many billions did they spend on Windows Pho
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Any business would be thrilled to offer products that people need instead of products that people want for the time being.
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Any business would be thrilled to offer products that people need instead of products that people want for the time being.
Sure, as long as they got let off by Ashcroft (under Bush) after the DoJ found that they had abused their monopoly position in basically every way possible, any business would be thrilled to be in that position. But every customer would like to get out from under their thumb.
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Oh sure. I'm sure a lot of the public is hung up on a 10 year old corporate legal case. That's it. You nailed it.
I'm drawing you a map of how we got where we are today. The public only knows that Windows is a pain in their ass and that they would prefer not to see it again, unless maybe they managed to hang on to Windows 7. I went out and bought a copy of Win 7 Pro shortly before the whole Win 10 debacle, and I'm still using it happily for those things for which I can use it. There are lots of things for which I still need to use Linux because Windows is hopeless, but there are still applications I want to run which a
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Face it, MS simply does not make products that people are excited to go out and buy (at least since Win95, over 20 years ago),
As a gamer, I was excited by Windows 7. As a long-time geek, I can think of about five or six Microsoft programs which delivered on their promises. There's DOS (which didn't promise much but was stable enough for industrial control), Windows 95/98, Flight Simulator, Word since 5.1 for Mac and since about Office 97 on PC, and Windows 7.
Alas, Windows 10. We know ye too well.
That said, I'm all in favor of them continuing to pour money into Windows 10 Phone, and in fact ramping it up enormously, perhaps even just giving the phones away and paying people to use them.
ObligatoryHowMuchWouldItCostEtc. I can probably live with less apps, but I'd have to get paid at least enough to cover a so-called "unlim
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It was Balmer who insisted on pouring massive resources into Windows Mobile, and what we've seen over the last few years, even after his departure, is that strategy. But the shift towards supporting other mobile OSs indicates that the current CEO is not suffering under the same delusions Ballmer was, and is more interested in making sure that the all-important Microsoft Backoffice isn't supplanted, in particular, by Google's mobile offerings. It's as many have long suspected, Windows is far less important t
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I'm sure that "looking pathetic" is a key factor in their decision making, Mr. Trump.
A better word would have been "incompetent". Just like Trump looks incompetent when you find out he's buried in debt.
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I'd say the fact that MS has ported its flagship software to other platforms makes it very clear that even Redmond knows full well that Windows Mobile is dead in the water. They'll keep a toe in the water by their resolve to support Windows on ARM, so at that point they could, if they wanted to, likely move back into mobile if they felt there was the least bit of hope, but every signal I see suggests that they know they cannot win the mobile OS war, and are going to stop trying.
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it makes absolutely no sense for Microsoft to keep trying to exist in a space in which they have proven that they cannot compete. It's just costing them money. They have always been shit at it, it has never made them any money, and it never will.
Which is precisely why I want them to make more phones! ;)
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Maybe there's some sort of weird tax loophole... you know, stuff like claiming all their profits in Ireland and keeping a bunch of R&D money sinks in the US so they can transfer profits back without incurring US taxes...
At this point, operating mobile at a loss can't be accidental...
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Platform popularity is important, not for the self-esteem of the user, but for attracting developers and their products to said platform.
Part of what makes Android, iOS, and Windows on desktop so successful is their robust software ecosystems, which is a frustrating "chicken and egg problem" for anyone looking to break into that market. The Windows store, and *especially* the store for Windows phone, has never been able to replicate that success. They probably would have done so had they not first soured
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Such insight! Such a well thought out opinion piece. After reading it, I realized that Mr. Bamburic is right. How can I use a product knowing that so many other people don't? What will people think about my choice of phone? What an incredible loser I must be for using a relatively unpopular gadget. I'm running out today to replace my Windows 10 phone.
I too have a Lumia 550, amongst my other phones. But there are things that keep it from being a first choice: I use it as a travel phone.
First of all, if you use the phones for things beyond basic calling, you have to check whether the apps for that exist or not. There are no professional VOIP packages that exist for this phone, and it's only recently that it got video calling courtesy WhatsApp. If the people you talk to like to FaceTime, Snapchat, et al, you are SOL w/ any Windows phone. While they
It's what they do (Score:3)
MS provides support for its products even when they have signally failed in the marketplace, like Win 10 Mobile. Contrarily folks bitch when they DON'T provide patches for old out-of-support software -- there's a current furore over a security hole in Win2003R2 Server which MS isn't patching since they stopped support for that particular version over two years ago.
Regular Win 10 runs perfectly well on phone-sized systems such as tablets without the hardware limitations of phones two generations back (ARM CPUs with one or two cores, limited memory, limited storage etc.) so Win 10 Mobile isn't really needed but there are still customers out there who do use it. It will reach EOL and support will eventually be terminated but there's no rush.
Locking it out killed Windows RT. (Score:2)
Windows RT was killed off the moment Microsoft decided it would run store apps only. .NET applications, but Microsoft just said no.
It could have run native desktop applications built for ARM or
Even today, nobody gives a crap about the Microsoft store, and nobody is buying apps on it.
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Alternatively it should not have included a desktop at all.
It made it a cheapo thing that only runs Internet Explorer and Office, like your dad's Packard Bell with 128MB RAM and Windows XP.
Making it tablet-only would have made it, well, a tablet. Like, if you're building a bicycle, try not to put a steering wheel, handbrake and windshield wiper to lure in people used to a car.
Had they made their tablet a tablet, they might even have appealed to people who had no intention of running Windows 8 (and now 10) o
Strange take on an MS product (Score:2)
Yes, because when Microsoft decides to support your platform, that's a great assurance of (a) your platform's longevity and (b) how they will never compete against it. They couldn't start adding features to the Galaxys sold through their store that start winning the battle against Google for control of Android!
Also, unlike Google, MS has really good support for failed products. It
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Building something on a Google web service is fine as long as it's one of the really successful ones: search, Gmail, etc. But if there's any question that it might not be around in a few years, don't do it.
Analysts/Pundits (Score:5, Interesting)
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The important thing for people to keep in mind when they are saying that Microsoft should just give up is that we're approaching the time that there will no longer be separate mobile / tablet / PC form factors with separate OS etc.
You'll have one platform that runs across them all and adapts to your current needs: phone while moving, dock for desktop, maybe a bluetooth type connection to a tablet when needed.
So absolutely Microsoft will try again in this space. Only this time it will be a phone running full
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In theory, Microsoft has this ability as it is. They've done a great job of unifying the higher level parts of Windows 10 (and yes, I have my complaints about Windows 10). If Intel came out with a low-powered SOC with a radio, x86 Phone could happen. I totally agree that Samsung will ultimately lose. They are going to pull a Sony so hard, and this is coming from someone who likes Sony enough to still seek out their phones at full price.
You're right, Microsoft are already most of the way there and I am sure they are hoping the next attempt will be the one that finally puts it all together.
The latest rumors I saw indicated they may be using an ARM chip able to run x86.
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Windows on Phone *is* beyond saving, but ... (Score:2, Interesting)
... only because MS could never convince PHONE app developers that it was worth using. It always was a bit player, and has become irrelevant given the Google-Apple ownership of the market.
Full disclosure: I do have a Windows phone. For the most part, I like it.
What's special about Windows on a phone?
Primarily, the user interface. As much as the tile orientation stinks on a desktop or non-touch laptop, it makes great sense and works very well on a phone. Better, really, than the way stock or most phone maker
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but Windows runs acceptably in half the RAM of Android. Which is funny because in the non-Mobile world it's the other way around (Linux runs decently in half the RAM of Windows).
So why is this anyway? Does anyone know?
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Might be all the crapware (on Android). Worse, it's Java crapware, and phones can't swap to disk. .NET and Metro are better than Google's Java, Chrome and whatever it is that "Play Services" does.
Maybe
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How many mobile OSs (Score:3)
How many mobile operating systems has Microsoft released over the years, each one incompatible with the last? They've been doing it since the Palm III era at least.
How would I read Slashdot (Score:2)
Ho hum locked down piece of crap.... (Score:2)
Totally opposite opinion! (Score:2)
Microsoft has done a poor job of making phones but they got a lot of good designs after they bought Nokia's phone making division. Yes, they are losing a lot of money on making these devices but I think they need to totally rededicate themselves to building a new phone to put on the market. Doing this will undoubtedly cost them even more money and other parts of Microsoft may even possibly suffer as a result but it's for the greater good. We are talking about how best to destroy Microsoft, right? ;)
Retarded (Score:4, Insightful)
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Did you just compare Windows Mobile to Mercedes cars? Are you aware that Mercedes cars are both desirable and very much a commercially successful product?
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I know a lot of companies who prefer windows mobile
No, you don't. Surveys (in the form of hardware sales) have shown that the number of companies that prefer Windows Mobile is statistically insignificant.
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You only get to say you're in the game when you at least get up to the plate. Thus far, Windows mobile offerings, from the first until now, haven't even got there. Yes, Microsoft has near-infinite resources to keep throwing new mobile offerings out there, but so what? Blackberry still has boatloads of cash, and even it has pretty much declared defeat.
It's nice you have faith in MS. I do not, nor apparently does much of the market.
not that bad! (Score:2)
i had a windows phone (80 bucks at target) wasn't a bad OS, mainly just a lack of apps and such.
not sure why it gets all the hate, it seemed at least as usable android.
(definitely miss webOS on my old palm pre though, that was great.)
I'd prefer they expanded it. (Score:2)
I would actually like a windows phone. I'm an Android man, and the options for Windows phones on t-mobile sucks compared to my Nexus 6P, which I'll probably run for 4 or so years like I did the last phone I had. That said, when I bought this phone, I wanted to try a Win10 phone. I enjoyed playing with my friend's and it seems it has a really good thing I would enjoy more if Android had such an option: integration.
I can shoehorn my own set of services for one or two aspects of this, but the same apps on m
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I can shoehorn my own set of services for one or two aspects of this, but the same apps on my desktop, a similar experience if I suddenly use my phone as a desktop when docked, the use of XAML for development. Man, now I'm tempted to look at my abysmal options again.
One problem is that Windows on the desktop is married to x86. If you put an x86 in a phone, it will punch your battery in the nuts. If you run x86 code on an ARM, it will run like you punched it in the nuts.
Another problem is that Windows is a flaky, heavy, baroque bastard. I'm sitting at Win7 right now, I use it daily and it's actually fairly reliable. But I have the same problem with it that in fact I had with CyanogenMod on my Moto G 2014, but don't have with Lineage OS. They must have fixed whatever bug
Everyone else doesn it (Score:2)
So why would Microsoft not make its own skin for Android? It's not merely trivial, but it's already been done, almost [google.com]. Or maybe closer [google.com]. Or even by somebody else [google.com].
Its because of the tablets (Score:2)
Most the of Win10 tables are using the same or similar processors. So compiling a mobile phone version for teh same code base is relatively easy. The only real difference is the drivers and couple of apps to dial a phone and take text messages. Its all part of Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform So Microsoft pays $1-2 million dollars in developers and testers to keep a product running and keep the door open for the next big thing.
I look forward to a full version of Win10 on a RaspberryPi like platfor
Can't ignore phone market (Score:2)
I know Microsoft is coming out with a phone that will have the docking features to turn it into a desktop but more importantly will run Win32 desktop apps natively.
I think this could be the way for them to get a foothole into the market from the business side where companies could give employees phones that double as their work computer.
Still, it's quite a dumb idea to try to sell a Samsung product running Android in their own store that c
Michael Dell and Apple (Score:2)
Well... (Score:2)
It's dying already, but Microsoft doesn't NEED to put anything out of it's misery...
The truth is that despite Windows Mobile completely failing to compete against Android or iOS, they did manage to get a bit of the low end market, particularly in a few developing countries.
You know, I had a Lumia 1020, and despite all it's pitfalls and problems (which was why I jumped to Android right after it), it still is a perfectly functional phone.
Apps are either abandoned, outdated or alternative versions because devs
Windows 10 [~] Needs To Be... (Score:2)
An Operating System should not be used as an Advertisement Delivery System.
What about the other five of us using WM10? (Score:2)
How about give (Score:2)
Windows 10 a death sentence!!! What a steaming pile of shit! do we go into all the problems with that POS! WIndows 7 was the LAST stable version of Windows I've used. But thank god for Wine - it lets me run all the Windows apps on Linux I really need....
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Besides, think of the backlash they would get from people who DID buy Win10 phones.
Everybody loves to hate Microsoft and in this case, they're hating Microsoft for supporting a platform beyond it's commercial lifespan, upto it's support lifespan.
Evil Microsoft!
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"think of the backlash they would get from people who DID buy Win10 phones."
All 6 of them.
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Five. Bob in San Francisco chucked his in the Bay and went and bought an iPhone. He wanted to be a proper hipster again.
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I'd very much like to be the 7th. I have a Windows 8 phone (not enough memory for Win10). I've owned an Android, and I much prefer the Windows OS on the phone (and I get along just fine without all those Android-only apps, thank you). I would really like to have a Win10 phone. There are used ones for sale, but I'm hesitant to buy sight unseen.
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Yes there is, They are maintaining extra code to do this. It costs developers, time, money, it complicates the app store, etc.
I have no problem with vanity projects. If MicroSoft wants to spend $100 million a year to keep windows mobile around, that is there business.
They are not doing it for their user base which is essentially a rounding error.
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It would be a recompile, from what I can see. The code base is common, but Windows 10 Mobile so far is ARM based, so they would have to maintain separate binaries.
At this point, for any ARM based stuff that they have, they should include the capability of downloading and running stuff from any of the Android based stores - be it Google, Amazon or Samsung
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runs the same "windows apps (non win32 variety)"
You mean, is there any person outside Microsoft's own marketing team who opens the Windows Store on purpose?
The Store isn't even a solution, it's a problem looking for one. And cpl. Hicks has a good suggestion.
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Except it does not. Have a look at the app store - you can see tumble weeds blowing through. Even big name apps are just not there.
I think a big part of the problem is that Windows Phone app and Windows Tablet apps are different things, running on different CPUs, with different UI etc. Of course you can write a unified app, but the unified apps only work on Windows 10, which came out when the downturn was already in full swing.
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While this is true, if you look at the phone's app store, you'll find some common phone apps, such as Yelp!, Fandango, Shazam, which are there on Windows Phone/Mobile, but not there on the desktop. So I'm not sure that if the phone was based on, say, an Atom, that it would have been better supported.
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It's quite nice too.
My girlfriend had one through work for a while, there were no apps, but it could browse the internet quite well, was an inexpensive phone, pretty darned thin, and had a real all day battery.
At a time when that was impressive, I'm surprised it didn't take off, there are plenty of people that just want internet, GPS, and a camera.
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If it's anything like the Windows 6 Mobile it's a severely lobotomized variant of the real deal.
Microsoft should have let Windows Mobile 6 be the last version and not try to waste energy on a futile business.
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I completely agree. Even if Microsoft has shown itself to be incompetent in running its phone line, that doesn't mean that no one else can.
Like I've often said, for business & work related stuff, particularly in a Windows 10 environment, this is a good phone to have. If one doesn't have to have Pokemon Go, one can certainly use this phone in the work environment. If they share the OneDrive account, files can easily be synced b/w the phone & laptop. Similarly, one could take notes in OneNote o
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Just as bad IMHO.
It won't fly. Android is far too entrenched. Like windows mobile, Ubuntu is years late.
The only viable mobile OS's are Android and iOS.
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And iOS is only large in the USA. If the current trend continues, the market share of iOS will be in the single digits soon.
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iOS is popular in many other places.
Market share is not everything. It is no use having 90% of a market and not being able to make money.
Apple gets the majority of profits from smartphones. Those making low end androids can't keep on doing that forever.
I see room for both. That would spur at least some form of competition. The last thing we want is a return to the days when Windows had 95%+ of the Desktop market.
It stagnated something rotten.
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is coming out soon.
But how readily will Grandma take to apt-getting her apps? I see a lot of family IT desperate phone calls in our future.
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"Windows 10 needs to die" --
Actually, if you read the headline, it said 'Windows 10 Mobile needs to...
I disagree w/ it, but there is a great difference b/w that, and Windows 10, which is generally assumed to mean the desktop version of the OS.
So much for "journalism." Even Dice managed to run this site better than that
I agree w/ you on this. The number of tech related articles are really at a minimum: bulk of it is about the environment, politics and social networking.
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but people shy away from it because "oh this app I don't need in my life is not available! Guess I have to get the less secure platform that is android!"
It's funny you say that, because that's the exact same argument that Windows (PC OS) users make for why people should stick with Windows on the desktop, and avoid Linux.
So which is it? Are apps important or aren't they? If they are, then Windows Phone is a terrible choice. It's not just silly games or other such apps, it's things like secure banking apps
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Christ, if anything, Windows 10, desktop or mobile, has to be one of the most counterintuitive interfaces. It's clunky and inelegant. To each their own, I suppose, but I truly don't like my Windows 10 tablet very much, but seeing as I don't want to fork out $400+ for a decent 8 inch tablet, I do use it. I installed Nox on it so I can run the FBreader app, seeing as it doesn't like the writers are ever going to produce a decent Windows version with sync.
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Despite all the marketing messages claiming otherwise, Windows Phone is quite different from Windows Tablet. I think Windows Phone has a decent and simple UI, while the tablet UI is just a bit confusing.
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Microsoft has fans? Who knew?
For that matter, who are they? MS employees and stockholders don't count.
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don't go near Server 2016 then.
Yes, Server 2008R2 was just about perfect. Then they went and messed ther UI up by adding huge amounts of whitespace and moving things to totally crazy places.
There have been a very large number of times that I've wanted to stangle the person responsible for the UI Mangling. They have no concept of 'Ease of Use' whatsoever.
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This is something that both Google & Microsoft have fixed recently: Google since Lollipop, and Microsoft since Windows 10 Mobile. Even with the old Windows 8 phones, there were a few that couldn't be upgraded to 10, like the Lumia Icon. Not just that, on those older phones w/ Windows Phone 8 or Android Honeycomb or KitKat, since the upgrade was a carrier responsibility, those devices ended up as abandonware. Like my old Verizon Ellipsis 7, which I ultimately upgraded to a 10.
Any Windows 10 Mobile
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The Windows app store has to be the worst of signal to noise ratio. There are damned few apps of any kind, and most are just fucking awful. I'll take my chances with the iTunes or Google Play stores, simply because there's actual selection.