-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Windows Phone 8.1 |OT| Update 1
- Thread starter brotkasten
- Start date
So the 630 of my GF is dying and she's rather angry about it - but she does not want another OS. She is a light phone user so apps do not matter that much. I am thinking of getting her a used Lumia, what's the recommended entry point for W10 Lumia? There are some cheap 830s around.
For me it's the opposit. Phone (950) is eh... OS is still more attractive to me.
For me it's the opposit. Phone (950) is eh... OS is still more attractive to me.
It doesn't.
What could change things if this rumoured modular OS leads to devices that are phones as well as tablets/full PC's.
And I use change very loosely. It won't ever mean a "revival" of Windows on phones, not even to the 10% it once had in Europe. But it could lead to viable niche devices for business and enthusiasts. Viable enough for MS and some OEM's to support it and to be relevant enough to warrant developer support.
That's the best they can hope for and even that is not likely. It's not impossible, though.
brotkasten
Member
It still won't have any apps. I've been hearing a ton about progressive web apps for a while now and apparently they're at a point now where they want to crawl the web for these apps and put it up their store themselves. That's just sad.
This is exactly the problem. Like camajise said, they are quitters and I hate it. If it doesn't work out of the gate, it gets dropped hard. The problem is that most of the times it doesn't work, because they always get to 90% of the way and give up right before the finish line. The foundation is there, you can see it's great and then it gets half-assed right at the end. Combine that with their awful messaging and there's no real reason for a regular consumer to get any Microsoft product over Google's and Apple's products. That said, it's "good" to see that Google is on the same trajectory, when it comes to their consumer products and hardware.
But how would that change the market in any capacity? I'm not getting any USP out of it. I'm not seeing anything that isn't already there, at least not for the consumer and without consumers, you won't get any dev support.
For consumers, there's not really a draw. For businesses and professionals, there could be.
The USP for them is that neither Android, iOS or Chrome are really ready to cater to business needs.
I wouldn't expect great dev support either, but paired with desktop Windows it could be relevant enough to slightly increase dev support from the current situation on W10.
Again, this won't compete with iOS or Android phones. It can't. It's far too late for that. But it's just possible that there could be enough of a niche market to make it viable.
The decision to kill the android bridge continues to baffle. If they would have allowed every android app to flood the store I might've stuck with WP. Having a usable Discord app would've been enough. They are just too busy shooting themselves in the foot to make a successful mobile platform.
iirc, it was buggy as hell and caused slowdown of the phone with time. I only ever tried with one app (BB-8 remote), and it never really worked anyway. I think they decided it wasn't worth the hassle.
I think, lastflowers worked on the android bridge, so he might have some insider info. (or was it the IE desktop to mobile sync he worked on, was it both?)
frontieruk
Member
So you got an authentic Android experience?
Steelyuhas
Member
Yep, I admittedly don't know a ton about PWA, but it would appear that MSFT may be willing to more or less abandon the idea of UWP in favor of PWA...?
Apparently, it more or less did damage over time to the OS by having the Android subset in there. It's a shame they couldn't figure it out though, it would have kept me on WP for a while longer at least. The apps on Android are largely wildly better than they ever were on WP, but I'm not in love with the OS itself (performance clearly degrades significantly over time for me).
When Android can move out of KitKat and Lollipop as the starting base for its programs, things will change, a lot more so if Oreo can become standard since it forces manufacturers drivers to not rely on kernel, which will mean faster updates.
Right now, these OSes are Google's Windows XP.
Hopefully Nadella who is now firmly positioned as head can change that.
Anyone read that PR piece?
https://www.fastcompany.com/40457458/satya-nadella-rewrites-microsofts-code
Right now, these OSes are Google's Windows XP.
Hopefully Nadella who is now firmly positioned as head can change that.
Anyone read that PR piece?
https://www.fastcompany.com/40457458/satya-nadella-rewrites-microsofts-code
Astral/H3X
Member
It's pretty funny honestly; all of the non-Windows things MS does suck because they don't stick with anything, and they just burn all their good ideas to the ground because oops it kinda sorta did not work. But Windows itself has become this unchanging monolith of way too much baggage; they really need their "OS X" equivalent where they just start over and have legacy support be emulation. I guess Windows 8/.1/10 were supposed to be that sort of idea but it hasn't really panned out that way so far (even though I love the modern app's design language, at least in 10 where they aren't afraid to have more than 2 buttons).
Definitely not getting my hopes up and Ive more or less moved on. I'm loving my S8. Only niggles are contacts and Groove issues. Groove is not long for this world for me and I will be switching to Spotify.
I wish MS wasn't so slow and wouldn't squander opportunities. I would likely use Cortana, but still can't get officially in Canada on Android. Cortana has bugged me for a long time.
I still really like the Surface hardware and Xbox. I miss my Band a lot as well.
I wish MS wasn't so slow and wouldn't squander opportunities. I would likely use Cortana, but still can't get officially in Canada on Android. Cortana has bugged me for a long time.
I still really like the Surface hardware and Xbox. I miss my Band a lot as well.
frontieruk
Member
You know all that Andromeda talk for phones and my first thought was actually bring back the band.
I'm ready for the Surface Phone. Currently on the S8+ and while it's nice having apps, I'd much rather have better hardware/OS. I have an ipod that I use as my musical device so if I need the apps I can get them there. I recognize I'm probably the only one with an ipod nowadays.
Yeah, most of us are on Zune's.
I lost my Zune HD while running. Never been so depressed about losing a piece of tech...
Had mine stolen, and yes I was very heartbroken
Astral/H3X
Member
Gotdamn is your phone on fire!?
I mean two hours of actually using it with the screen on. About 6 hours after I fully charged. Lumia 650. Usually it takes twice as long to get to 20%.
frontieruk
Member
I'm looking for a new battery for mine, at least you can't stare at yours longingly
Steelyuhas
Member
I've switched between Groove and Spotify a few different times just to experience both of them. I just switched back to Spotify mostly because I was frustrated with the Groove app on Android, which is a shame cause it's great on Windows.
My Groove pass is up in October. Going to see how the next few weeks ago. So far I'm happy with the update. I like being able to have the artist image.
Yeah killing groove has severely shortened how long I can hold out with the 950. Spotify by all accounts is terrible on WP10. I was able to do it because internet, email/calendar and groove was 1st class with good solutions for twitter, podcasts and whatsapp. That makes up 99% of my phone use.
Problem is that there is no good alternative.
iPhone - no headphone jack, tired design, lack of OLED unless £££
Samsung - bloat, lack of software updates
Other android - doesn't work with my corp email (I think)
Pixel 2 - looking like no headphone jack
Essential - poor camera, no headphone jack
Oneplus - camera poor
Problem is that there is no good alternative.
iPhone - no headphone jack, tired design, lack of OLED unless £££
Samsung - bloat, lack of software updates
Other android - doesn't work with my corp email (I think)
Pixel 2 - looking like no headphone jack
Essential - poor camera, no headphone jack
Oneplus - camera poor
I've been using the S8 since April and it has been great other than issues with contacts. My brother is going to jump to the Note8 since he has finally had it.
Yeah feel like its going to be S8 or V30
brotkasten
Member
Just saw the headline and had a good chuckle.
If I learned one thing over the years, it's to never invest a penny into any of Microsoft consumer services, ever. Xbox might be the exception, but even then I'd have to find a reason to use it first, but that's down to personal preference.
Don't buy movies, music or heck, books on the Store. It makes no sense for Microsoft to sell any of that and as a consumer it makes no sense to buy it from them. Microsoft might abandon that ship anytime, whenever they feel like it.
I simply do not trust this company with any of their consumer ventures anymore. If there's no enterprise hook, it's not going to last.
I had bought a few music albums this year from the store so I went to go download them on my S8 and found half the album was no longer available to download even though I purchased it. Luckily I powered up my 950xl and I still had the files on there so I can upload them to OneDrive. Going to be super nervous about buying anymore TV shows or movies.
Halo and Forza as well as friends keep me on Xbox.
frontieruk
Member
Well guess thats made my decision to use Apple Music easier.
The Faceless Master
Member
LostMyNarbles
Member
I know the platform is kind of dead at the moment, but I figured I would throw it out there that the Alcatel Idol 4S is on sale at the Microsoft Store for $200. I feel like if you don't expect much out of your phone (Given the limited apps) that is an insanely good price given the hardware packed inside of it.
Specs for reference:
Snapdragon 820
4GB RAM
64GB Storage with MicroSD Support
5.5" Full HD AMOLED Display
3,000 mAh Battery with Quick Charge 3.0
Dual Front-Facing Speakers (And a Headphone Jack!)
Fingerprint Scanner
Continuum Support and Crappy VR headset included.
21MP/8MP Camera's.
Specs for reference:
Snapdragon 820
4GB RAM
64GB Storage with MicroSD Support
5.5" Full HD AMOLED Display
3,000 mAh Battery with Quick Charge 3.0
Dual Front-Facing Speakers (And a Headphone Jack!)
Fingerprint Scanner
Continuum Support and Crappy VR headset included.
21MP/8MP Camera's.
VanMardigan
has calmed down a bit.
I stopped buying movies on my Xbox more than a year ago but I own some and I'm mad that I'll probably lose them. Thankfully the Disney movies already synced over to my iTunes account.
Hmm good to know...but still...Bixby.
Tbh I feel like the S8 will be the only choice dictated by support by corporate IT
I'm not surprised they're stopping the subscription model for Groove, but that they're not even selling music at all anymore is weird.
This truly is the end of an era. Zune and the Zune pass got me on the MS train and made me want a Microsoft phone. 10 years on it's over.
My gf was really upset by the news, it's starting to sink in for her that all MS consumer products are being phased out.
It sucks. I really don't want to move to Android, but what option is there.
The question is what's next (beyond movies). Xbox? Windows? I wouldn't be shocked anymore.
Nadella is great for their Enterprise stuff, but consumer MS is dead.
This truly is the end of an era. Zune and the Zune pass got me on the MS train and made me want a Microsoft phone. 10 years on it's over.
My gf was really upset by the news, it's starting to sink in for her that all MS consumer products are being phased out.
It sucks. I really don't want to move to Android, but what option is there.
The question is what's next (beyond movies). Xbox? Windows? I wouldn't be shocked anymore.
Nadella is great for their Enterprise stuff, but consumer MS is dead.
Wow, consumer MS is basically dead. All that's really left is Xbox, Movies/TV, and Surface.
Honestly since last year I've been slowly moving all my services over to Google, and I've found the experience much better. The only things I've really stuck around for is Xbox, Office365 (because I get it free while in school), and Movies & TV (because I already have a huge collection there).
Really worried for my Movie/TV collection now. I have hundreds of dollars sunk into their Movies/TV ecosystem. How safe is Google's Movie and TV ecosystem? iTunes seems to have tons more content-wise, but I have no Apple products so it seems pointless to move over to that platform.
Honestly since last year I've been slowly moving all my services over to Google, and I've found the experience much better. The only things I've really stuck around for is Xbox, Office365 (because I get it free while in school), and Movies & TV (because I already have a huge collection there).
Really worried for my Movie/TV collection now. I have hundreds of dollars sunk into their Movies/TV ecosystem. How safe is Google's Movie and TV ecosystem? iTunes seems to have tons more content-wise, but I have no Apple products so it seems pointless to move over to that platform.
Trying to think how many years I've been using Groove /Zune Music. It was always funny seeing people just discover music services like Apple Music like it was something new.
Not sure I want to get anymore digital TV shows and movies. Im not going iTunes so is Google the only option for this in Cananda. I would like to see MS say something about the Music and TV service.
Not sure I want to get anymore digital TV shows and movies. Im not going iTunes so is Google the only option for this in Cananda. I would like to see MS say something about the Music and TV service.
Astral/H3X
Member
So, if I have a large collection of locally stored, probably not on Spotify music, what's my best bet on Android? Play Music?
Astral/H3X
Member
It's like 50/50 at this point.
juliushandle
Member
Guess we'll never see a surface phone unless it runs Android.
Since WP7 launch for me...(2010)
I'd like to see some usage numbers for Cortana. In theory, hundreds of millions of people have access to Cortana across Windows, Xbox, Windows Phone, Cortana on Android, and those speakers. Unfortunately for Microsoft, virtually no one actually uses it...
In a typical Microsoft fashion, they now will somehow integrate it with Alexa, wasting time so people will be able to not use Cortana on another platform.
And there's really not much they can do about this without a credible mobile platform of their own. Even if Cortana was better than the competition, barely anyone would deviate from their platform's default voice assistant.