Windows 10 Mobile Needs to Be Put out of Its Misery

Megalith

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Most people who have actually used Windows 10 Mobile seem to admire it, but there is really no arguing the fact that the mobile OS is doing terribly in terms of adoption. This guy argues that Microsoft might as well kill it off officially, especially after their decision to showcase Samsung’s shiny new phones in its stores, which is like raising a white flag of sorts.

…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. I used to be a Windows Phone user and liked the platform, but that was in a time when it still had a chance to gain ground on iOS. Windows Phone could never realistically catch up to Android, but it could give iPhones a run for their money. That did not happen.
 
I'm heavily involved in app development. With its current (abysmal) market share - there is no way in the world a paying customer would opt for a MSFT Mobile app. There is simply a tiny market - where is your ROI? The only time in the last 8 years I've been asked to estimate a Windows mobile project was for a company that made their employees use the devices for work. I believe it was Pepsi's workforce that delivered soda to restaurants. In that case, it makes sense.
I think MSFT should abandon the platform and keep developing software for iOS and Android devices. They should admit defeat and move on.
 
MS need to make it free, and installable on any modern rooted Android phone. If they wont or cant do that, then kill it with fire.

Then maybe we won't have to suffer such terrible looking 2 color UIs on our desktops anymore.
 
I was a Windows Phone 7 day 1 adopter (November 2010) with a Samsung Focus after using an iPhone 3G it was refreshing and fast. Picked up WCF and Windows Phone 7 development over a few weekends (I was already a C# developer) and made 10+ apps for Windows Phone over the years. The problem was it took forever for major updates between 7->8->10, they needed to rapid fire major updates. I had virtually every highend Lumia up to the 950 XL, but I switched to a Nexus 6P last summer and haven't looked back. While I do miss some of the integration into Groove Music and some of the UI elements being less clunky than Android, it just isn't viable anymore.
 
MS need to make it free, and installable on any modern rooted Android phone. If they wont or cant do that, then kill it with fire.

Then maybe we won't have to suffer such terrible looking 2 color UIs on our desktops anymore.

The kind of user that roots an Android phone doesn't want a broken, buggy, app-less, fischer price tiled mess of a mobile OS within 100 miles of their phone, nevermind one like Wmobile that's locked down.

Wmobile's real problem is MS never really tried. To say they phoned in their mobile efforts would be an understatement. Never built killer, innovative, must-have apps. Just sort of shuffled down the hall like Ballmer looking for toilet paper.

The bigger problem is now the worst parts of Wmobile are hanging around Windows 10 like a cancer. Not even good enough for phones store apps and ugly monocolor tiles. The byproduct of winmo departmental infighting and unimagination lives on in 10.
 
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I don't think I've ever seen a Windows Phone being used by someone in the wild.

It's kinda sad since I played with them at the Microsoft Store and at a glance they aren't bad. I like the interface, it's pretty smooth, and there wasn't anything really "eww" about it. There was just nothing to do outside of the stock apps. There's no Pokemon Go etc., and only weird third party knockoffs of social apps outside of Facebook and Twitter. I think stuff like Google actively proclaiming they weren't gonna do any WP apps sort of neutered any chance of the platform going anywhere. It reminds me of when EA said they weren't gonna do Dreamcast games, and the Dreamcast market share promptly imploded.

MS got in to a very competitive market too late, and being MS, they had no idea what they were doing and nobody wanted to risk any resources on them while they were wildly flailing around.
 
The kind of user that roots an Android phone doesn't want a broken, buggy, app-less, fischer price tiled mess of a (locked down) mobile OS within 100 miles of their phone.

Wmobile's real problem is MS never really tried. To say they phoned in their mobile efforts would be an understatement. Never built killer, innovative, must-have apps. Just sort of shuffled down the hall like Ballmer looking for toilet paper.

The bigger problem is now the worst parts of Wmobile are hanging around Windows 10 like a cancer. Not even good enough for phones store apps and ugly monocolor tiles. The legacy mobile byproduct of departmental infighting and unimagination lives on in 10.

Lol. If that's your opinion of Windows phone / mobile, then obviously you've never used it. There is a reason time and time again when you ask someone who actually used it, why they would gladly hang on to their phone even with one or two short comings like missing apps.



This is yet another pointless article because the guy who wrote it doesn't get the point. Microsoft has pulled out of the phone market for now. They stopped selling the 950 and 950XL so them picking up the S8 has no real affect because they never had their own phones side by side with Samsung's. Microsoft still makes money selling Android phones, so having something in their store is better than nothing.

Windows mobile however is far more than phones. The OS is going to stick around to see where it fits into the IoT market. Go look around and you'll still see windows mobile out in the market today. That PDA that FedEx uses? That's Windows Mobile. The scan gun that is in warehouses? Windows mobile. There is still another market out there which Microsoft could sell products for.
 
I reckon what helped ruin adoption was the dislike for the same look on the desktop.
Windows 10 sealed its fate, especially after the aggressive methods used to downgrade PCs.

If they had not ruined the desktop experience there wouldnt have been a backlash.
Serves them right.
 
I still use Lumia 950 with Windows 10 Mobile and it's great. Much better then Android or iPhone UIs. But missing apps is killing it so I probably switching to Android soon :(
 
I keep creepy uncle Google at a safe distance, and iOS feels like a prison cell of an OS, to me. I finally dropped BlackBerry a year ago (BB10 was a great OS, it just came too late to save RIM's image), in favor of, essentially, the only remaining option: Windows 10 Mobile.

I seldom hear criticisms of the OS from anyone who's actually used it (granted, not a large demographic). Once I got acclimated and configured things to my liking, I found myself wanting for little. Since I'm not a big app user, outside of staple & core apps, I'm more than happy to stick with it. With Surface Phone rumors stubbornly refusing to die, I'm hoping MS is going to stick with it, too.

Otherwise: Help me LineageOS, you're my only hope...
 
I would try Win10 mobile in a heartbeat if I could get it on hardware in line with my G4 (or better). I planned on grabbing a Lumia 950XL (lurve that heatpipe), but they disappeared before coming down to what I would spend to play around. I have seen enough Surfaces in use that I'm interested, and hope that the Surface phone rumor is true.
 
I'm heavily involved in app development. With its current (abysmal) market share - there is no way in the world a paying customer would opt for a MSFT Mobile app. There is simply a tiny market - where is your ROI? The only time in the last 8 years I've been asked to estimate a Windows mobile project was for a company that made their employees use the devices for work. I believe it was Pepsi's workforce that delivered soda to restaurants. In that case, it makes sense.
I think MSFT should abandon the platform and keep developing software for iOS and Android devices. They should admit defeat and move on.

with windows 10 being one ecosystem, you should be able to make an app that runs on windows 10 console (Xbox one), windows 10 desktop and windows 10 mobile. Seems like a good range to me.

I don't think I've ever seen a Windows Phone being used by someone in the wild.

It's kinda sad since I played with them at the Microsoft Store and at a glance they aren't bad. I like the interface, it's pretty smooth, and there wasn't anything really "eww" about it. There was just nothing to do outside of the stock apps. There's no Pokemon Go etc., and only weird third party knockoffs of social apps outside of Facebook and Twitter. I think stuff like Google actively proclaiming they weren't gonna do any WP apps sort of neutered any chance of the platform going anywhere. It reminds me of when EA said they weren't gonna do Dreamcast games, and the Dreamcast market share promptly imploded.

MS got in to a very competitive market too late, and being MS, they had no idea what they were doing and nobody wanted to risk any resources on them while they were wildly flailing around.

Microsoft's issue is that they are Microsoft. Under any other name they would / could do better. Hardware wise I have never had a better phone.

not only does Google not want to make any WP apps but they actively preventing anyone from making any. Microsoft kept trying to make a YouTube app and Google would realize what they were doing and shutting off their API access. Which after awhile Microsoft just said fuck it and released a YouTube "app" that just forwards you to the YouTube page in edge.
 
Just like with their "PC gaming" initiatives, Microsoft talked a big game about windows phone and then when it didn't produce immediate profits they left it twisting in the wind. They either needed to put all their money and effort into development and marketing for the platform or abandon it and leave it to others that will. The other players brought their A game and are entrenched, a mediocre effort was never going to gain them market share.
 
I still use Lumia 950 with Windows 10 Mobile and it's great. Much better then Android or iPhone UIs. But missing apps is killing it so I probably switching to Android soon :(
Not me with my 640 it use less when try Brower the web and crash really easy to point where force to restart
 
There is nothing stopping MS from adopting Android... and putting a MS skin on it. Nothing other then pride anyway.

Android is still open source... MS has inserted themselves into enough open source projects lately that at this point it would only be logical. They have 100s of MS android apps at this point. The work is 95% done... get a Android version of Edge running and create their own Linux mobile desktop. They don't have to run the google store... run the same base and hardware and all those third party android apps could be converted over to be sold via the MS store with almost nothing but a simple repack.

Then they can go and create proper Ext4 support for Win 10... and in the next few years replace their own Windows kernel and file system. At some point Windows is going to be running the Linux kernel and 99% of their customers wouldn't even know the difference. MS reduces their overhead on R&D... and can slash their Windows staff down to UI and Desktop developers. Still even if they don't ever go that far... running Android as the base of their mobile OS would solve a lot all of their mobile issues. WinDroid would likely sell well if Nokia designed some nice hardware to launch it.
 
Sorry but, why should they abandon those who still use it? I am on a Lumia 950 and 650, why should I run out and spend many hundreds of dollars on another phone when what I have works great? I guess the PS4 and XBox One should be abandoned as well since it cannot directly compete with the PC, right?
 
Sorry but, why should they abandon those who still use it? I am on a Lumia 950 and 650, why should I run out and spend many hundreds of dollars on another phone when what I have works great? I guess the PS4 and XBox One should be abandoned as well since it cannot directly compete with the PC, right?

Cmon, you know that was a dumb comparison. PS4/Xbox have a huge marketshare of the gaming market, windows phones are nonexistent.
 
I don't think I've ever seen a Windows Phone being used by someone in the wild.

It's kinda sad since I played with them at the Microsoft Store and at a glance they aren't bad. I like the interface, it's pretty smooth, and there wasn't anything really "eww" about it. There was just nothing to do outside of the stock apps. There's no Pokemon Go etc., and only weird third party knockoffs of social apps outside of Facebook and Twitter. I think stuff like Google actively proclaiming they weren't gonna do any WP apps sort of neutered any chance of the platform going anywhere. It reminds me of when EA said they weren't gonna do Dreamcast games, and the Dreamcast market share promptly imploded.

MS got in to a very competitive market too late, and being MS, they had no idea what they were doing and nobody wanted to risk any resources on them while they were wildly flailing around.

Thank you for reminding me of Google's stance. One day, if I have to switch, it will be iOS since they did not try to kill off the competition with anti competitive practices.
 
It sucks because it had SO much potential, but the app market just murdered the phone. I used the Lumia 920 for a year, and it was such a great device, but I had to make so many compromises to use it. No bank app, awful RSS reader, Twitter was garbage, no Gmail app (or proper Gmail support in the Outlook app), no Google Maps, Reddit was non-existant (hence the need for an RSS app), etc etc. People try to argue that it's gotten better, but the majority of banking apps on there now are in Asian & Middle Eastern countries. I think the US has BoA, US Bank and Chase.

ManofGod that wasn't really Google's fault, there's just NO customer base. Hell, their iOS apps are debatably better than their Android Apps. MICROSOFT'S apps are better for iOS and Android than for WP. I'm fully convinced that WP is just a bitch and a half to program for, because even the simplest of apps feels like shit on it.
 
Thank you for reminding me of Google's stance. One day, if I have to switch, it will be iOS since they did not try to kill off the competition with anti competitive practices.

So lets get this straight: Google not feeling obligated to prop up and do the heavy lifting for MS's app-less, barely existing mobile OS by creating apps for it.. means they were being "anticompetitive"... And then Google having the nerve to take issue with Microsoft reverse engineering a YouTube client, complete with Google's trademarked logo, and advertisements bypassed by default.. How anticompetitive of them. After all Microsoft legal never gets involved within milliseconds at the slightest whiff of anyone reverse engineering their trademarked work or API's.

And lets not forget Microsoft's "scroogled" FUD campaign that didn't really help matters - like asking someone to do you a favor after you punch them in the face.

Forgive me if I don't break out of the little violin for a monolithic multibilliondollar megacorp that wrote the fucking book on anticompetitive practices, what with decades of PC desktop monopoly through API lockins, strong arm tactics of IHV's and OEMs, and threats to cut off any vendor that dared provide an alternate Linux install option at time of purchase.

It's funny, Microsoft never developed an MS Office for Linux like they did for Mac. But that's been just fine to the MS cultists, usually to the tune of "LOL the year of Linux?"

Karma's a bitch, no?
 
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So lets get this straight: Google not feeling obligated to prop up and do the heavy lifting for MS's app-less, barely existing mobile OS by creating apps for it.. means they were being "anticompetitive"... And then Google having the nerve to take issue with Microsoft reverse engineering a YouTube client, complete with Google's trademarked logo, and advertisements bypassed by default.. How anticompetitive of them. After all Microsoft legal never gets involved within milliseconds at the slightest whiff of anyone reverse engineering their trademarked work or API's.

Forgive me if I don't break out of the little violin for a monolithic multibilliondollar megacorp that wrote the fucking book on anticompetitive practices, what with decades of PC desktop monopoly through API lockins, strong arm tactics of IHV's and OEMs, and threats to cut off any vendor that dared provide an alternate Linux install option at time of purchase.

It's funny, Microsoft never developed an MS Office for Linux like they did for Mac. But that's been just fine to the MS cultists, usually to the tune of "LOL the year of Linux?"

Karma's a bitch, no?

Dude, they entirely blocked the apps from even being used on Windows Mobile and also actively hobbled their programs on it. Justify much? Oh well, you want to use Droid, enjoy, I am using what works for me as long as it exists. If it becomes no longer available, I will then use a iPhone, used, of course or refurbished.
 
I loved my Windows 7 phone, which still operates perfectly today. I now have my Lumia 929 going on 3+ years and it is great. Cant say I have had a single app issue, but then again I don't use that many, just games. Groove had a bit of a learning curve over the previous Zune but works fine. Against all other family members, wife's as mine are using windows phones, my windows phones have held up far better OS wise than their Android and iOS ie: slowdowns. As I mentioned first, my win7 phone still runs fast and nimble where their 2+years on their phones shows drastic slowdowns, probably why upgrades always seem so blazing fast.
 
When MS announced they were abandoning Windows 6.5x in favor of WP7 it was game over. For all practical purposes WP 8.1 is what WP 7 should have been. I use WP 8.1 on a Lumia 640 (OBD2 code reader) and a Lumia 950 with WM 10 on it as my daily phone. Has all the apps I use and works just fine. WP 7 sucked a major donkey nut.
 
I genuinely wanted to try Windows Mobile, because I'm getting annoyed with Android. My user experience with Android has left me feeling like I cannot trust a carrier or a manufacturer to not totally choke the phone with their garbage and bloated apps. So I end up rooting and using a custom ROM that doesn't have carrier or manufacturer bloat on it in order to have the fast working phone I wanted in the first place. Experience base: Samsung Epic 4G, Motorola Photon Q, Samsung Galaxy S5.

I will gladly share my experience if anyone's interested, but the short and sweet of it is, I am ready for a serious third player in the smartphone game. My wife loves her iPhone 7 Plus, but I simply just don't care for iOS at all. It has nothing to do with it being an Apple product. I don't care for the UI, there didn't seem to be any "must have" apps that stood out, and it seems like my wife is at Sprint or Apple's mercy whenever something is wrong with her phone and that doesn't sit well with me at all. One such incident left her with a phone that couldn't make or receive calls for almost two days, while I could. (and yes the bill was paid; a full week before the incident)

Come on Smartphone Player Three! I know you are out there!
 
I think exactly the opposite the problem MS has is that they have not yet since windows mobile stuck with an idea, every time we turn around they are giving up or throwing out a system and starting a new one. Good luck getting developers to want to program for your platform, good luck getting traction. They need to just take windows 10 phone and keep improving it and use their billions and billions in cash reserves to keep at it. Eventually it will get really good like most MS products that takes some generations to get traction. MS is NOT apple they do not make smash hit day 1 products. MS takes time and constant pressure to make a successful product.

People who say MS should abandon the platform are not thinking long term. Ask yourself what exactly is the long term play for MS without a windows phone OS? Sooner or later something like a phone is going to take over the market or at the very least be the killer product that allows a company like google or apple to break the strangle hold MS has on the desktop / laptop space. MS needs to do the opposite, they need to seriously ramp up their phone efforts. You cannot afford to lose all access to the phone market or those that have the access will start taking over your market. For MS that includes office, and a lot of plays in enterprise.

MS totally screwed up the phone market and they will have to buy their way back into it. They cannot afford to not do that. If it cost 40 billion it cost 40 billion but they better get back in.


Thank you for reminding me of Google's stance. One day, if I have to switch, it will be iOS since they did not try to kill off the competition with anti competitive practices.

lol apple absolutely tries to kill off competition pretty much nothing on ios works anywhere else if apple can help it without destroying profits. Case in point imessage which does not exist for android. In fact even sending and receiving foreign characters between android and iPhone didn't work last time I checked. Apple thinks people will just buy iphones if they cant talk with their friends. Any company can and will try to kill their competition by any means possible if they can. The only reason that doesn't happen more is because in certain spaces the company cannot do that without killing their market share. For instance apple cant take iTunes off windows or millions of music sales will disappear. Likewise google couldn't stop providing gmail or google search to windows computers. But in the case of windows phone both companies actively make sure none of their services work to make sure MS cannot get traction in the space.
 
I'd gladly take a great Windows phone on Verizon. Who cares if I can't play a turd of a game like Pokeman Go. Had a HTC One M8 windows phone and loved it. Loaded Win 10 and liked it but none of the stock HTC apps worked on 10.
 
I had a Lumia 640 for a while. Bought it when AT&T had them as Go Phones for $100. Used it daily for about 2 weeks and went back to my HTC One M8 (Android Version). Honestly it was a great device, but all I do on my phone is text and make phone calls. I have all of 8 apps on my current phone the S7. I liked the phone and the only thing I really need to do is backup SMS messages from the ex-wife in the event I need them later. It would do it but it isn't exactly easy to go back and look at the logs. ChompSMS makes it really easy to back them up to Google Drive, Dropbox, or One Drive.
 
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I just added a third line to my Cricket plan and they gave me a Lumia 640 for free. Had WP8 on it, and the first thing I did was update it to WP10, since Microsoft controls the updating instead of the carrier. Hell of a nice upgrade, and it's a quite an outstanding and clean GUI, imo.

It's really quite a shame that WP didn't catch on.
 
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I just added a third line to my Cricket plan and they gave me a Lumia 650 for free. Had WP8 on it, and the first thing I did was update it to WP10, since Microsoft controls the updating instead of the carrier. Hell of a nice upgrade, and it's a quite an outstanding and clean GUI, imo.

It's really quite a shame that WP didn't catch on.

That is strange considering a Lumia 650 is released with Windows 10 Mobile, not 8. I have one that I bought in December as a backup phone and it had WM10 on it out of the box. The phone feel nice in my hand, I just wish it had 2GB of ram instead of the 1GB it comes with.
 
Have 4 lumia 640's on w10 and couldn't be happier. They were super cheap and work great. I do wish it would have caught on more though. I'll never pay more than 60 bucks for a (half decent) phone again! That's nuts. I'll sooner go without!
 
Eh, I never updated to WP10, so whether they "kill" WP10 or not won't impact me. I occasionally I miss Android, but not too often.
 
That is strange considering a Lumia 650 is released with Windows 10 Mobile, not 8. I have one that I bought in December as a backup phone and it had WM10 on it out of the box. The phone feel nice in my hand, I just wish it had 2GB of ram instead of the 1GB it comes with.

Shit...typo. 640, not 650.
 
I just added a third line to my Cricket plan and they gave me a Lumia 640 for free. Had WP8 on it, and the first thing I did was update it to WP10, since Microsoft controls the updating instead of the carrier. Hell of a nice upgrade, and it's a quite an outstanding and clean GUI, imo.

It's really quite a shame that WP didn't catch on.

I don't care for MS much but I have to agree that it's a bad thing that Windows Phone did not catch on. For a first smartphone I got my mother a Lumia 635 a while back and I think it was $35. I knew that Windows Phone was basically dead in the water but the price was right and I knew she wasn't going to need every app under the sun like some people. I still think it was a great choice and the OS and interface works well for a phone.

Personally, I think Android and iOS need more competition and with the way things were I believe Windows Phone was a good third choice.
 
Dude, they entirely blocked the apps from even being used on Windows Mobile and also actively hobbled their programs on it. Justify much? Oh well, you want to use Droid, enjoy, I am using what works for me as long as it exists. If it becomes no longer available, I will then use a iPhone, used, of course or refurbished.

Again standard MS practice for 20+ years now. Karma really is a bitch. I shed no tears for MS.

Enjoy your current Nokia I'm sure it will last you another few years. I hope you consider the new Android running Nokias that are shipping by the time you need a new unit. Good chance it won't look much different then the UI you have now... it will just have a proper back end and very likely actual non MS software support. Perhaps. If MS isn't completely stupid the best option for them is to switch to the same Open/Closed system Google has been using... use the same open source back end and the only real difference at that point is whos closed source UI and Store you wanna have.
 
Dude, they entirely blocked the apps from even being used on Windows Mobile and also actively hobbled their programs on it. Justify much? Oh well, you want to use Droid, enjoy, I am using what works for me as long as it exists. If it becomes no longer available, I will then use a iPhone, used, of course or refurbished.

Kind of like releasing a web based MS Office suite and making it run so poorly under Linux it's almost unusable, but the second you change the User Agent to Windows all of a sudden everything works fine? But apparently that was a mistake?

Then we have the fact that MS Office can't seem to save a . Docx file, the default standard under MS Office, in a way that it can be read 100% without issue on any other Office suite even though .docx is an ISO standard - Meaning compatibility issues should be non existent?

As others have rightfully stated, karma's a bitch. There's no way you can proclaim Microsoft's innocence regarding ruthless practices.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Microsoft
 
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Be damned but I hate windows 10 mobile (as a lumia 950 owner, wife did not dig into it and now I have to use it). I need a smartphone for 3 things – calls, internet and movies. Calling itself is fine but no possibility of favorites on desktop (front, home screen or whatever its called) is irritating and missed calls are not always registered instantly. Internet is fine (it feels slower than wife'es htc m8 and I miss chrome). Movies... one thing I always thought no phone would ever struggle with... This POS can not play like 90% of my library (anime with subtitles in MKV container) with no viable alternative in windows store. I have far less issues with LG optimux 2x (7 year old smartphone). As a plus windows store has no quality software available over at android (boy oh boy, do I miss mx player).
 
Thank you for reminding me of Google's stance. One day, if I have to switch, it will be iOS since they did not try to kill off the competition with anti competitive practices.
Seriously...Talking about hating on anti-competitive and using an MS phone.
 
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