my thoughts after getting a droid

[toaf]

ok, so i had to jump ship (semi/kinda/sorta)

while i love my 1020 even with win 10 on it.
my 8 year old daughter and her love for fancy toys has made me get a droid

the apps (useful normal apps) are about the same.

but I think the apps for toys, trinkets, and gadgets are whats killing our beloved phone the most.

the gizmo gadget made me jump ship. a cell watch for kids.

NOW I WILL KNOW when she is at a stinky boys house

 

[GreyFox7]

MS should just give away phones to grow market share and use services for making a little money. Without a game changer the game wont change.

 

[toaf]

ya, my hope... is them being able to talk the developers into doing the tiny bit of work i hear they have to do to convert IOS to windows now.

 

[strangenov]

Is there a reason why there is what seems to be a lack of development/lack of developers on board for Windows Mobile Support.

I owned a 635 and 640.

I also own a Galaxy Note 4, Note 5, S6 and LG G4 from the android camp.

And from the iphone camp I own a 6 plus.

MS seems to have the worst app support/development. It's pretty much garbage. Google and Android seem to be neck and neck. Although, MS seems to be on point with their OS in terms of smoothness and lag. Android was always the worst with Lag. Even last year when I bought the Note 4 that had 3GB of ram it still would lag like no other. Absolute garbage! Surprised to say the Note 5 and S6 are the first devices I've used from android that have no lad/stutter. The LG G4 is probably one of the smoothest devices that I've ever used.

And the iphone has always been a smooth experience in terms of the UI from my experience. Owned the iPhone 5 before this iPhone 6 Plus.

But yeah, what's up with MS development?

 

[GreyFox7]

Is there a reason why there is what seems to be a lack of development/lack of developers on board for Windows Mobile Support.

I owned a 635 and 640.

I also own a Galaxy Note 4, Note 5, S6 and LG G4 from the android camp.

And from the iphone camp I own a 6 plus.

MS seems to have the worst app support/development. It's pretty much garbage. Google and Android seem to be neck and neck. Although, MS seems to be on point with their OS in terms of smoothness and lag. Android was always the worst with Lag. Even last year when I bought the Note 4 that had 3GB of ram it still would lag like no other. Absolute garbage! Surprised to say the Note 5 and S6 are the first devices I've used from android that have no lad/stutter. The LG G4 is probably one of the smoothest devices that I've ever used.

And the iphone has always been a smooth experience in terms of the UI from my experience. Owned the iPhone 5 before this iPhone 6 Plus.

But yeah, what's up with MS development?

Chicken and Egg situation.
Not enough users so no Apps developed. No Apps available keeps users from adopting the platform. It's a vicious circle that feeds on itself.

 

[strangenov]

Hmmm, so why bother making more devices. I just don't get the reasoning here. I mean, I DO get it, if you stop developing devices then the entire thing will just dry up and die. But then again, you can only stoke a dead fire so much, know what I'm saying?

The 640 was an amazing device when it came to the UI. I would buy this again...

 

[GreyFox7]

Hmmm, so why bother making more devices. I just don't get the reasoning here. I mean, I DO get it, if you stop developing devices then the entire thing will just dry up and die. But then again, you can only stoke a dead fire so much, know what I'm saying?

The 640 was an amazing device when it came to the UI.

What actually catches on and what doesn't is not always as clear or obvious as one might think so they keep throwing stuff at the wall to see if something will stick. The payoff for persistence in theory would be greater than the investment so they stay the course.

 

[Athol Hill]

What actually catches on and what doesn't is not always as clear or obvious as one might think so they keep throwing stuff at the wall to see if something will stick. The payoff for persistence in theory would be greater than the investment so they stay the course.

I disagree. If you are doing to keep throwing stuff, you have to at least make sure it's different. If you keep throwing the same stuff at the wall and it doesn't stick, throwing more isn't going to do much.

I think Microsoft needs to take a different direction or at least modify their approach in the way they have with the Surface Book and Surface Pro. They need something that differentiates them and garners the "wow" factor. Whether it's hardware or software, it needs to be something.

 

[strangenov]

I disagree. If you are doing to keep throwing stuff, you have to at least make sure it's different. If you keep throwing the same stuff at the wall and it doesn't stick, throwing more isn't going to do much.

I think Microsoft needs to take a different direction or at least modify their approach in the way they have with the Surface Book and Surface Pro. They need something that differentiates them and garners the "wow" factor. Whether it's hardware or software, it needs to be something.

You know, I agree with this. Microsoft is so behind the game when it comes to mobile. Throwing stuff at the wall doesn't really matter at this point. I think at this point in the game it's a sinking ship no matter how you look at it.

You have to look at the following...

HARDWARE, SOFTWARE, APP SELECTION.

Hardware, nothing they can do is going to turn any heads that's not already happening. Add an S-Pen of some sort like the surface? Already done with the Note series and they do it flawlessly. So it's kind of hard to do anything outstanding in terms of hardware.

Software - Windows already has software nailed down. Their UI is smooth as butter which is one of the biggest problems android had since the beginning. It's sad that Android is finally buttery smooth only after how many years!!!

App Selection - As Grey and I were discussing, it's kind of hard for developers to get behind this it seems. And it seems like that's always going to be the case since the two big players are iOS and Android OS.

So what else is there really to do.... Is Microsoft really making any money of their mobile devices? Any data on that anywhere?

 

[jason10mm]

I still don't see why MS hasn't taken on the "app gap" by the horns and ended it. Despite the "hundreds of thousands of apps" claims, 97% of them are just absolute trash that should be culled from the marketplace (this goes for all OS marketplaces). There are probably only a few dozen apps that virtually everyone uses, MS should just go after them. Things like instagram, facebook, snapchat, and twitter. Major banking apps. Leading social stuff. The top games. While MS will not be the third OS icon listed for every app, they could be right there with OS and android for the ones that matter. Granted, hard to guess what will be transiently popular like the sphero BB-8 toy, amazon echo, or "smart home" apps, but MS needs to be proactive in getting and managing these apps and advertising that they are doing so. I can only imagine that they think they will win with the universal app thing, but most apps don't really have a PC version, only mobile, so I don't see why this would change with Win10.

 

[kojack]

The app gap is not microsofts problem. Its developers. This will close in the next year with the growth of universal apps. Plus project islandwood working now. The dev's for apple apps can easily port their app to w10 universal with little fuss. Its going to be an exciting year or so for MS/Mobile. I seriously had to leave Windows Central. Between the constant whining by users, and apple fans over there shouting at me and as soon as I would rebute I get banned. Nah. I am done there. I will just look at the front page for news. and Then come here. Seems that there are much more mature users here.

 

[GreyFox7]

The app gap is not microsofts problem. Its developers. This will close in the next year with the growth of universal apps. Plus project islandwood working now. The dev's for apple apps can easily port their app to w10 universal with little fuss. Its going to be an exciting year or so for MS/Mobile. I seriously had to leave Windows Central. Between the constant whining by users, and apple fans over there shouting at me and as soon as I would rebute I get banned. Nah. I am done there. I will just look at the front page for news. and Then come here. Seems that there are much more mature users here.

I don't know if even a small effort is viewed as worthwhile for developers if there's no money in it. i.e. its all about the money. so a forklift of money from MS to produce and maintain apps is one way to get there in lieu of App Store or advertisement revenue. Perhaps monthly or quarterly payments for an App properly functioning and maintained. or MS could write all the Apps themselves but this route is fraught with peril.

What I'm saying is if APP X makes Y dollars on iOS per quarter then MS pays them an agreed upon amount proportional to that revenue to make and maintain the equivalent Universal App. As the Windows platform APP revenue increases the offset payment from MS decreases and also remains proportional to iOS revenues (so if the APP is no longer making the same money on iOS the MS payment declines). In this way developers will get guaranteed revenue proportional to other revenues generated by their APP and the money issue is solved. [I use the word proportional as a negotiated amount between MS and the APP owner which could be less than or equal to 100%.]

I don't see this approach as a whole lot different than Intel subsidizing the use of Atom SoCs in mobile devices.