NYPD Scraps 36,000 Windows Phones

FrgMstr

FrgMstr

Just Plain Mean
Staff member
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Given the dominance and support for both iPhones and Android based phones in the market, who in the hell thinks it is a good idea to go with Windows Phones? That said, I have heard great things about Windows phones from people that actually own those. However they have been telling me that apps support gets smaller and smaller by the day. And it looks like the NYPD is in that same boat. It is reported that they will be moving to iPhones.

The New York Police Department is being forced to scrap 36,000 Windows Phones bought just two years ago as part of a $160M mobility project. The move has been forced by Microsoft’s decision to cease support for the platform as of last month.
 
lol and microsoft makes out like a bandit with the 160m dollars and won't be held accountable for it.
 
Loved my windows phone more than stupid bloated trash iOS and Android. Cortana was leaps and bounds ahead of both for actual functionality. Incoming text message, Read or Ignore over bluetooth in my 10 year old car. Android I need to install 2 different fuggin apps to be able to voice send a text and have one read to me, too bad it doesn't work with my bluetooth now.

Battery life was much better, responsiveness of touch and the keyboard was nicer to use,10GB wasn't used for the OS, not nearly as many app crashes. The only thing Android does better is entertain my 7 year old, games galore for kids.
 
shad0w4life said:
Android I need to install 2 different fuggin apps to be able to voice send a text and have one read to me, too bad it doesn't work with my bluetooth now.
Click to expand...

Been doing that for a few years now on Android with Google Now/Assistant, which is native on all Android phones, on my 12 year old car with BT as well. I can do everything in my car hands free; navigate to any POI/address/contact, listen to specific stations/artists/albums/songs (on the Play Music app at least), send messages over SMS or Hangouts, call any contact or business, open specific applications, etc., all without touching my phone.

Google's Assistant has pretty much beat any other digital assistant overall in the few comparison tests I've seen on Youtube as well, with Siri being a somewhat close 2nd.
 
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  1. App store quality doesn't matter at all. The apps they need for duty should be supported in house; They can play games on their personal phones
  2. MS only dropped support of the WP 8.1 OS, not the phones themselves. They could upgrade to 10 and obviously NYPD themselves decided that wasn't worth the trouble
  3. Two years is a decent lifespan for consumer devices without extra hardening. They may have used special cases but even still not bad. Low availability of replacement hardware is probably a big factor at this point

All that said can't say I blame the NYPD either. MS keeps acting like they have a plan for a mobile strategy but its been two years since they have done anything worth mentioning. They need to stop being coy and put out a roadmap

EDIT: fixed #2 to make sense, more on #3
 
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Well smartphones electronics and batteries do die in time. I tried to hold onto my Iphone 4 and later 5S as long as possible and both bit it eventually. I can't see NYC expecting to use Microsoft phones for 5 yrs solid they would have mostly stopped working. I suspect they already have a decent size failure rate in just 2 yrs. So I am not surprised at all that they would move up. However, why are they buying phones? Just pay a pittance phone use fee in their checks and tell everone get your own.
 
Windows Phone OS is a great OS. Easy to use, fast, looks nice, does what you want easily. Complete lack of support. From app developers, Microsoft, carriers, retailers, manufacturers... It never made it big, but it wasn't strictly due to low market share. Verizon tried pushing me to an iPhone instead of a Windows Phone multiple times. They have no real 'flagship' model, and when they did it was discontinued quickly. The Store had a lot of shit (Windows Store still does) that MS never really cleaned up. Retailers put in on the back shelf like the retarded phone. It was never going to be successful. They started fine, Microsoft helping dev's, carrier support was decent (not great), and they had a few good models (Nokia Icon was good, but short lived). Then, it just went to shit.

As much as I loved those phones, I went to an iPhone. No regrets.
 
Ur_Mom said:
Windows Phone OS is a great OS. Easy to use, fast, looks nice, does what you want easily. Complete lack of support. From app developers, Microsoft, carriers, retailers, manufacturers... It never made it big, but it wasn't strictly due to low market share. Verizon tried pushing me to an iPhone instead of a Windows Phone multiple times. They have no real 'flagship' model, and when they did it was discontinued quickly. The Store had a lot of shit (Windows Store still does) that MS never really cleaned up. Retailers put in on the back shelf like the retarded phone. It was never going to be successful. They started fine, Microsoft helping dev's, carrier support was decent (not great), and they had a few good models (Nokia Icon was good, but short lived). Then, it just went to shit.

As much as I loved those phones, I went to an iPhone. No regrets.
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^ this. I agree with your statement regarding the OS. I had a windows phone for quite some time. I am a professional C# developer and I do a lot of stuff for the windows platform for various clients, it seemed like a good choice at the time given what I do. I loved the interface... It was snappy, and simple, and far more usable than (vanilla) android or ios's default interfaces in my opinion. But MS dropped the ball by not keeping the shit out of the windows store, giving any incentive for major players that already had apps in the windows store to actually keep their apps. Every banking app that I used in windows phone was eventually discontinued. Not only that but Google was actively sabotaging any and all apps on the windows platform that interact with its services. That was the nail in the coffin for the platform in my opinion, which is sad because I still would take Windows 10 Phone over any android device, if I could still use ALL of the services I currently use. It is partially for this reason that I started moving most of my daily activities off Googles platform in general, although I am currently (begrudgingly) using an android phone.

The irony of this whole situation is that Microsoft actually makes almost all of their mobile apps for Android and iPhone, while both of them intentionally flip the finger to Microsoft. Who's the evil corporations now?
 
Anyone going to be pooling money for the next police auction to pick up these used phones? You know.. not that I would assume a PD tech support group would less than fastidious to wipe each and every one clean.
 
Windows Phone OS is a piece of garbage. The gui was spartan at best, lacked customization of android. Their app store is laughable. I tossed mine in the trash, thats how badly it sucked.
 
What kind of lifespan did they build into the contract? did they seriously expect phones out in the hands of a police force 40+ hours a week to last past 2 years anyway?
 
from time to time, ive had windows phone since Mobile 6.1. I really liked the interface on windows phone 7+ but the apps werent there to support my needs / wants. I would of loved to keep the nokia 1020 if i could of just used my google apps without having to run them through a web browser...
 
shad0w4life said:
Loved my windows phone more than stupid bloated trash iOS and Android. Cortana was leaps and bounds ahead of both for actual functionality. Incoming text message, Read or Ignore over bluetooth in my 10 year old car. Android I need to install 2 different fuggin apps to be able to voice send a text and have one read to me, too bad it doesn't work with my bluetooth now.

Battery life was much better, responsiveness of touch and the keyboard was nicer to use,10GB wasn't used for the OS, not nearly as many app crashes. The only thing Android does better is entertain my 7 year old, games galore for kids.
Click to expand...

I agree with everything said above 100%. I am still using an HTC8X as a primary phone, although I am well aware I am at the end. My boss will need to pry this thing away from me when the time comes. I have been through the ringer (as a user and administrator) of Blackberrys, iOS, Androids, etc. That Windows phone is the best business device I have ever used....hands down. I get so sick of the whiny people who always throw out that app store argument. I need my phone to do my job. I don't need Candy Crush or Facebook nonsense on my phone. (It's like that old Blackberry ad that says "I don't need a toy, I need a tool.") What I need is cell phone capability and best-of-class MS Exchange integration. Nothing does that better than a Windows phone.

Windows 8.x may have been an abortion on the desktop, but the interface just works on a phone.
 
toast0 said:
I heard you have to scrap iPhones when the new ones are released, so two years is pretty good longevity.
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...what? I'm not one to defend iPhones, but you have 5 year old iPhones still running strong. Anything older is missing LTE bands.
 
modi123 said:
Anyone going to be pooling money for the next police auction to pick up these used phones? You know.. not that I would assume a PD tech support group would less than fastidious to wipe each and every one clean.
Click to expand...

I do IT for several Police Departments. When we do phone refreshes, if I did not do a full cleanse before dumping the phones on MuniciBID or some other disposal/sale method, I'd get fired and probably lose my state security credentials and never work in Government again. No doubt, my company would get sued as well.
 
One good thing I can say about the Windows phone is that it is the most secure of all smartphones.
The ones based on Windows 8 and newer
 
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what did they spend the rest of the $160m on?

at best, these phones were only worth $10m altogether
 
When BLU HD LTE Win8/10 phones were available, they were a sub $200, good-enough, smart phone that were sold with no contract and had dual-SIM capabilities.... this was perfect for field users that abuse/lose their phones regularly, but still needed the ability to get emails and do the rest. The OS had some issues, 10 was definitely better, but left out some useful features previously included. The biggest gripe was people who were too stubborn to learn the GUI... so sad, it wasn't very hard.
 
Kdawg said:
what did they spend the rest of the $160m on?

at best, these phones were only worth $10m altogether
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Why let little details get in the way of a good headline?

One thing left out is that they may still be using a MS designed or supported backend and porting the WP app to iOS probably isn't too hard either - MS has done a lot of work on multi-OS IDEs
 
I really liked my Nokia 1520. Then as apps I used became unsupported and fewer and fewer newer apps made for it I was starting to think about switching. Then one day I dropped it and cracked the screen and that was that.
 
Availability could be a large part of the change. We have not been able to source any of the more potent Windows phones for 4-5 months now out here... so we (my company) has flipped back to iOS.
 
I believe the problem Microsoft has with the Windows Phone is the same problem it has with much of its other businesses. Who is the core customer of this? Microsoft does Enterprise the right way. If they targeted and marketed towards business, it would be a success. Microsoft has always had problems with traditional consumers (except for XBOX). Granted, consumer and business are not mutually exclusive as there is some bleed over, but trying to cater to both results in confusion. There is lots of information floating around that Microsoft will give the phone one more shot. I think the odds of this were fairly high; especially when one of the ARM chip manufactures (I think it was Qualcom) created a version of their processor that could run native Windows x86 code via a hardware emulator. That means full blown Windows on the phone and perfect situation for it to be the ultimate Enterprise business device. Problems arose when Intel got pissed as they saw this as potentially impeding their ability to sell processors (especially in the server market. Can you imaging a several hundred core Snadragon server running in a data center running Windows Server/Azure??!!?) and threatened lawsuits on patents, etc. If this issue with Intel gets resolved, I bet we see one more last gasp at a Windows Phone. Otherwise it might be over.

I have 3 950XL's in the household and they are awesome. I do have a Droid phone and have obviously messed with iPhones and I prefer the Windows phone by orders of magnitude over all the others.
 
H2R2P2 said:
If this issue with Intel gets resolved, I bet we see one more last gasp at a Windows Phone. Otherwise it might be over.
Click to expand...

It would seem that whatever future there is for Windows on phones will be exactly that, Windows, not mobile or phone or otherwise, running phones. It's not going to save Windows phones, they're going to be niche regardless, but I think there's enough of a market there to carve out a decent and loyal niche if done well enough.

H2R2P2 said:
I have 3 950XL's in the household and they are awesome. I do have a Droid phone and have obviously messed with iPhones and I prefer the Windows phone by orders of magnitude over all the others.
Click to expand...

Still sporting my Lumia 950 and honestly it does what I need from a phone. Thinking about getting a Note 8 but the prices of these top end phones is getting a bit silly. Telephony, GPS, web browser and tethering is all I must have on phone currently so I'm fine for now but the app situation for Windows phone is untenable longer term unfortunately unless something does change.
 
They are not the only ones...

Where I work our windows phones were replaced with iPhones (for those that still needed/used it(
 
I absolutely love my windows phone, it workd much better than any android I have ever used. Fast and intuitive with a great feature set and I can get a solid 3 days off one charge with moderate usage. I only hope mine holds out until the next gen of Windows mobile products. I will not ever be owning any Apple product, used their crap for years in project management and have always hated it. Best thing I ever did was to quit the company I worked for that insisted it was the bees knees.
 
shad0w4life said:
Loved my windows phone more than stupid bloated trash iOS and Android. Cortana was leaps and bounds ahead of both for actual functionality. Incoming text message, Read or Ignore over bluetooth in my 10 year old car. Android I need to install 2 different fuggin apps to be able to voice send a text and have one read to me, too bad it doesn't work with my bluetooth now.

Battery life was much better, responsiveness of touch and the keyboard was nicer to use,10GB wasn't used for the OS, not nearly as many app crashes. The only thing Android does better is entertain my 7 year old, games galore for kids.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you havent used a flagship Android phone...ever, really, but at least not in the past 3 years.
 
Never had a windows phone so I can't comment. I stuck with android since it was a breath of fresh air getting away from windows and the app choices are endless and always runs fantastic for me. Anyone who complains about bloat just root your phone and install a custom build, problem solved.

iphone I've played around with other people's and they are nice, but eh I don't know. I'm good.
 
Parja said:
Our corporate HQ in Germany does. Fortunately, our CIO here in the states told them to suck a dick and we'd be using iPhones.

They fuckin' hate 'em, though. I heard from one of my counterparts that their Windows phones don't even handle automatically switching timezones.
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going to call bullshit on the time zone stuff. I have had two windows phones and they have always switched just fine crossing time zones.
 
heatlesssun said:
IStill sporting my Lumia 950 and honestly it does what I need from a phone. Thinking about getting a Note 8 but the prices of these top end phones is getting a bit silly. Telephony, GPS, web browser and tethering is all I must have on phone currently so I'm fine for now but the app situation for Windows phone is untenable longer term unfortunately unless something does change.
Click to expand...

You raise part of the issue I was referring to. I dont view my computer as a "phone"; although it can technically perform all the same communication that a "phone" can do. I also equally dont see my cell phone as a "computer". Havign said this, there *ARE* people who their phone functions as their computer and vice versa. I feel the fact Apps have become the standard on smart phones is a mistake (and I blame Apple for this BTW). The mere idea of users thinking they need to install "google" or "linked in" or "uber" in order to use it is ridiculous. Properly designed client-server/thin client use case scenarios should use HTML 5. Apple essentially seized on the fact the mobile marketplace at the time didnt have a mobile first strategy and took ownership/control via the apps to provide a usable user experience without having to depend on anyone else to fix anything.

I predict this whole cell phone "app" idea is going to collapse under its own weight. I agree the next Windows phone will be a niche item targeted to the Enterprise (which it should be) intiially. But if I am right and the app market collapses, Microsoft could be in a really good situation if they have an open, yet securable phone platform.
 
yup me too. just did a trip two time zones away. as soon as i disabled airplane mode and it established signal it updated. my cheapo blu phone with 8.1 does everything i need it to. i got tired of fucking with android and like the simplicity.
 
shad0w4life said:
Loved my windows phone more than stupid bloated trash iOS and Android. Cortana was leaps and bounds ahead of both for actual functionality. Incoming text message, Read or Ignore over bluetooth in my 10 year old car. Android I need to install 2 different fuggin apps to be able to voice send a text and have one read to me, too bad it doesn't work with my bluetooth now.

Battery life was much better, responsiveness of touch and the keyboard was nicer to use,10GB wasn't used for the OS, not nearly as many app crashes. The only thing Android does better is entertain my 7 year old, games galore for kids.
Click to expand...

Windows phone rocked with 8. Windows mobile 10 was really buggy to me on my lumia 950. I ended up replacing the phone due to how buggy it was. It sucks too as the google pixel phone I got to replace it is no where near as nice. Windows mobile was fast, had a great home screen, and is something I wish had done better.
 
I remember I owned T‑Mobile Dash that come with Windows till I replace for Blackberry and never look back.
 
ZenDragon said:
The irony of this whole situation is that Microsoft actually makes almost all of their mobile apps for Android and iPhone, while both of them intentionally flip the finger to Microsoft. Who's the evil corporations now?
Click to expand...
For the same reason that your beloved Microsoft doesnt have Office for Linux. In case you don't get it, is the lack of market share.
 
thats really fucking dumb, theyre expensive, old, and not even wheatherproof, i wonder how much bribe was involved in this decision.
 
36,000 phones x $1000 = $36,000,000.
$50mo x 36,000 x 12mo = 21,600,000 x 2 = roughly 43mil

so they spent 180mil to get < 80mil worth of services. That is some fine phone shopping Lou.
 
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