Actually, WP7 came out in 2010, and excluding a few new API's it's been about 2.5 years since there was a useful update. Call me bitter, but the Xbox One announcement really pissed me off at Microsoft.
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Do you think Microsoft has a chance?
- Thread starter Fandroid98
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Actually, WP7 came out in 2010, and excluding a few new API's it's been about 2.5 years since there was a useful update. Call me bitter, but the Xbox One announcement really pissed me off at Microsoft.
Lumias are great phones. Microsoft should have focused on their OS instead of wasting time on surface crap etc and let the OEMs handle the hardware side instead.
More apps and an update to add the missing stuff (separate media volumes, scrubbing, notification center etc) and the OS will be great.
I don't like the tiles on home screen though.
More apps and an update to add the missing stuff (separate media volumes, scrubbing, notification center etc) and the OS will be great.
I don't like the tiles on home screen though.
Microsoft is Microsoft's worst enemy by far IMO. They have something that Apple doesn't have, both market share of their OS which users are familiar with and a REAL OS on a tablet, the problem is that MS has made so many mistakes.
1) Releasing Windows RT, it's a mistake to compete with iOS directly like this, especially when your ecosystem is far inferior, they also fragmented the market heavily and really confused consumers, bad move.
2) Not concentrating on Atom powered Windows. These tablets run the FULL version of Windows, good and bad, but have the same battery life, weight, size, form factor, etc of an ipad. Instead they concentrated on the utter junk that is Windows RT, and on the Surface Pro, a tablet which is a horrible tablet, and a subpar laptop. Instead they let the OEM's have the Atom picnic, and they screwed it up releasing them very very late and making the windows 8 launch look stupid with only RT there. In addition driver support from the OEM's is poor at best, although I'm not sure whether to blame the OEM's or MS for this.
3) Releasing Windows 8 and Metro half baked. MS should have either 1) concentrated on making the desktop finger friendly and never released Metro, OR 2) finished Metro properly so it was a full OS and ditched the desktop. Now you have confusion among consumers, which do I use? when? how? why?
4) Really really stupid interface/program decisions. Metro start screen is just a huge mish mash of ALL your programs and subprograms, there is an anemic attempt at organization with being able to group programs, but the reality is you can easily have hundreds of programs you have to scroll through, not very intuitive. Simple completely DUH solution? Folders?!?! I mean even iOS and Android have folders which allow you to organize your desktop somehow, and the entire concept of windows is based on being able to organize things into folders and subfolders. This same stupid concept carries over to Internet Explorer with their system for pinning favorites, once again they are just haphazardly thrown into a pinning page so you have literally have hundreds of pinned sites with no options for organization. Just simply baffling.
MS seems to be concentrating on the wrong stuff, one of the first things they NEED to be concentrating on is the scaling, high resolution on a small tablet screen is awful in windows, especially when you try to use the desktop or any legacy program. This is hamstringing one of the most powerful features Windows tablets have over every other tablet on the market.
It's just stupid stuff like this that I cannot fathom and why I say Microsoft is Microsoft's biggest enemy. IMO I think there are a lot of consumers out there who have suffered with iOS these last few years because it was the only tablet, but would have preferred a real OS. Certainly there are a lot of users who are happy with a consumption tablet like the ipad, and will be always happy with that as I'm sure Apple will always have a huge market share, especially in light of their beautiful hardware pedigree. But I still think there is a very healthy market for consumers who want more than just a consumption tablet.
I don't think it's too late, if MS can get a Haswell and/or Baytrail Surface Pro 2 out by this holiday season, and if they can fix their scaling issues and make Windows 8 truly usable on a tablet they stand a chance to really increase their market share. Apple has already tipped their hand with iOS7 and it's clear they are only interested in superficial changes, certainly they are not even considering something crazy like OSx on a tablet, even Android is rapidly passing them by each passing day in functionality.
1) Releasing Windows RT, it's a mistake to compete with iOS directly like this, especially when your ecosystem is far inferior, they also fragmented the market heavily and really confused consumers, bad move.
2) Not concentrating on Atom powered Windows. These tablets run the FULL version of Windows, good and bad, but have the same battery life, weight, size, form factor, etc of an ipad. Instead they concentrated on the utter junk that is Windows RT, and on the Surface Pro, a tablet which is a horrible tablet, and a subpar laptop. Instead they let the OEM's have the Atom picnic, and they screwed it up releasing them very very late and making the windows 8 launch look stupid with only RT there. In addition driver support from the OEM's is poor at best, although I'm not sure whether to blame the OEM's or MS for this.
3) Releasing Windows 8 and Metro half baked. MS should have either 1) concentrated on making the desktop finger friendly and never released Metro, OR 2) finished Metro properly so it was a full OS and ditched the desktop. Now you have confusion among consumers, which do I use? when? how? why?
4) Really really stupid interface/program decisions. Metro start screen is just a huge mish mash of ALL your programs and subprograms, there is an anemic attempt at organization with being able to group programs, but the reality is you can easily have hundreds of programs you have to scroll through, not very intuitive. Simple completely DUH solution? Folders?!?! I mean even iOS and Android have folders which allow you to organize your desktop somehow, and the entire concept of windows is based on being able to organize things into folders and subfolders. This same stupid concept carries over to Internet Explorer with their system for pinning favorites, once again they are just haphazardly thrown into a pinning page so you have literally have hundreds of pinned sites with no options for organization. Just simply baffling.
MS seems to be concentrating on the wrong stuff, one of the first things they NEED to be concentrating on is the scaling, high resolution on a small tablet screen is awful in windows, especially when you try to use the desktop or any legacy program. This is hamstringing one of the most powerful features Windows tablets have over every other tablet on the market.
It's just stupid stuff like this that I cannot fathom and why I say Microsoft is Microsoft's biggest enemy. IMO I think there are a lot of consumers out there who have suffered with iOS these last few years because it was the only tablet, but would have preferred a real OS. Certainly there are a lot of users who are happy with a consumption tablet like the ipad, and will be always happy with that as I'm sure Apple will always have a huge market share, especially in light of their beautiful hardware pedigree. But I still think there is a very healthy market for consumers who want more than just a consumption tablet.
I don't think it's too late, if MS can get a Haswell and/or Baytrail Surface Pro 2 out by this holiday season, and if they can fix their scaling issues and make Windows 8 truly usable on a tablet they stand a chance to really increase their market share. Apple has already tipped their hand with iOS7 and it's clear they are only interested in superficial changes, certainly they are not even considering something crazy like OSx on a tablet, even Android is rapidly passing them by each passing day in functionality.
That came very quick too. At least they are showing they can react to customer feedback fast.
lol, its amazing how the Xbox One went from "no buy" to "ok, let's see if i want this or PS4" in the minds of many just because MS decided to not go through their stupid restrictive policies.
At least someone is not an idiot in Redmond. Kudos to them for listening.
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Agree 100%. I also want a full OS on tablet and while MS seems to be the company which can do it, they are also wasting their time with stupid decisions. C'mon Ballmer, stop looking at Cook every single time for an inspiration.
After I got burned from buying a Zune HD I made a rule to myself, never to buy hardware, until an adequate software library for it exists. That was promised to Zune HD buyers, and it never came. It's also promised to Surface owners, but has yet to come. I'm referring to software designed specifically for the tablet, not desktop programs.
But it's sort of a Catch-22 for them. You need a good software library for the hardware to sell well, but it takes a large user base to get enough developers to create a large library of software.
But it's sort of a Catch-22 for them. You need a good software library for the hardware to sell well, but it takes a large user base to get enough developers to create a large library of software.
Still not buying it. Microsoft left a sour taste in my mouth. It's just pathetic that they retracted it after all the backlash
A chance? Sure. Just not a very good one IMO.
It doesn't really matter what advantages the OS has over iOS and Android. WebOS and the Blackberry Playbook had advantages, and look what has happened to them. The fact is that the average consumer is not very tech literate. They don't read up on functionality. They don't research their options in depth. Their decisions are made based on their own perceptions, which in turn are influenced by things like marketing and gossip.
It doesn't really matter what advantages the OS has over iOS and Android. WebOS and the Blackberry Playbook had advantages, and look what has happened to them. The fact is that the average consumer is not very tech literate. They don't read up on functionality. They don't research their options in depth. Their decisions are made based on their own perceptions, which in turn are influenced by things like marketing and gossip.
The biggest icon of Windows Phone is the Metro GUI, getting rid of that would be like Apple getting rid of the dock in OS X.
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Nokia on Android? No thanks, Windows Phone/Lumia is now Nokias image in most peoples eyes. It would also introduce lots of lag. Windows Phone is the fastest and most stable mobile OS I have ever used, with iOS in second.
The problem is that most people still consider Microsoft as that big, "evil" corporate monster. I asked someone in my class why don't they use Bing instead of Google and they said "Eww, it's Microsoft, I'd prefer to use good software", while Google is the one who does all the "evil" monitoring of your computer activities - It's practically their business.
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Hmmm, is it "Pull your facts out of the fairy's ass" day? Everybody I know with a Windows Phone loves to use them and how much better and fresh the UI is compared to the other "stale" OSes, the majority of people actually like Metro.
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Hmmm, is it "Pull your facts out of the fairy's ass" day? Everybody I know with a Windows Phone loves to use them and how much better and fresh the UI is compared to the other "stale" OSes, the majority of people actually like Metro.
Windows Phone's market share is tiny. Only the very few that liked Windows Phone will have them, so yes, of course they'll say it's fresh and better.
You do know that just because someone doesn't have/use Windows Phone or Windows 8 doesn't mean that they don't like the Metro UI - Here's an example.
Windows Phone has more than doubled it's market share in a year and has the most year-over-year growth and Nokia alone has shipped over 20 million Windows Phone devices.
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The biggest icon of Windows Phone is the Metro GUI, getting rid of that would be like Apple getting rid of the dock in OS X.
Trust me, nobody will miss it. I don't have a W8 tablet, but I do have an 11 inch Asus W8 touchscreen notebook. The gestures, email app, and onscreen keyboard is nice, but that's about it. Apps are slow, updating apps are a crap shoot, and things are harder to organize than it looks. I'm on desktop mode 95% of the time now. W8 desktop mode works great with a touch screen. I wouldn't be able to function on W8 RT.
MS should take a note from Ubuntu OS and just make it's desktop geared more towards touch/tablet instead of Metro. Leave the tiles UI for WP instead.
I was on about Windows Phone not Windows 8. I agree with you about Windows 8 though, I spend all my time in Desktop mode.
Yes they do stand a chance. Nokia makes equivalent hardware to Apple, and is trying to win the battles they know they can win (unique industrial design, camera and video recorder).
I do not think Microsoft will be on Apple or Android's status, but maybe if they can convince the enterprise business to go mostly Microsoft they could be. Otherwise, taking Blackberry's place as the #3 phone software with 10-15% marketshare I don't think is too out of reach in 3-4 years.
I do not think Microsoft will be on Apple or Android's status, but maybe if they can convince the enterprise business to go mostly Microsoft they could be. Otherwise, taking Blackberry's place as the #3 phone software with 10-15% marketshare I don't think is too out of reach in 3-4 years.
It's stable because there's to possibly go wrong.
Why can't Nokia make Android devices? If bottom feeder makers like HTC/Huawei, etc make Android devices and be (some what) successful, why not? Nokia has the best camera technology in the business. That would their x factor.
And the Android lag issue is so overblown. I've owned so many Android devices over the years and the last time any Android lagged was almost 3 years ago with my POS Atrix.
Nokia is a large fish in a small pond with Microsoft.
Nokia is an average sized fish in a large ocean with Android.
Ok guys lets just put it like this , the samsung galaxy 1 , not the 4, just samsung galaxy 1 has more features than windows phone that are comming in the future have. Lets not make something very obvious a debate becuase there honestly is none. And this is comming from a microsoft ex-lover.
The fact that Windows Phone Mobile marketshare is growing a lot and has come a long way, with Nokia making up a majority of the phones that are being sold with Windows, I think Nokia is playing it smart by going with Microsoft. If Windows Phone stalls, they can simply go to Android. No sense in throwing the exclusivity (the only other Windows phone worth getting is the HTC, and even then there's not much reason to get anything other than Nokia).
Microsoft is fighting an uphill battle at this point, but let's see how it turns out. Nobody can deny that Nokia is in a much better position with Microsoft now than it was a couple years ago.
I dug my Lumia 920 out of the drawer and tried once again to get the music player working in some sort of way to rate and get play counts for my music.
6 hours later and 3 different media managers i am still unable to get it to work properly. What a joke.
6 hours later and 3 different media managers i am still unable to get it to work properly. What a joke.
I've tried Windows Phone for a year. I hated it. I think Microsoft has a lot to work on if they want to catch up with iOS and Android. But I think its already too late for them imo
I think Microsoft is pretty much stagnant at this point as long as Steve Balmer is in charge. Yes, they will dominate the enterprise with offerings like Exchange, Sharepoint, AD, and Office but slowly the landscape is changing. PCs really are dying and you can see it. Everyone and their grandmothers are buying tablets and phones that have nothing to do with Microsoft. This behavior is already slowly moving into the enterprise as well. It will only continue.
To be honest, there really is no compelling reason to buy a Surface or Windows Phone over Android or iOS. Microsoft's commercials pretty much admit this as they have no true message to entice you. Instead you see for the surface a bunch of click it and dancing crap commercials because they have no feature that stands out above the competition. Look at the Windows Phone commercials. You see wedding fights and low light camera goodness. That is it! That is the best they can do because those products are subpar. Geeks and fanboys eat it up to feel unique but you really are throwing money down the drain. Ask the Windows Phone 7 users that got left behind.
Microsoft Office used to be the best thing Microsoft had going for it and in some ways it still is. Now in the post PC era, people are realizing that they can live without Office and are finding alternatives to get it done. Microsoft again missed a golden opportunity to keep Office relevant by bringing it years earlier to the competitions mobile platforms. Now, they can't even use it to entice you to buy a Surface or Windows Phone because noone really cares anymore.
Microsoft needs new leadership so they can refocus. They will continue to get by producing half ass products that generate revenue but they will no longer be the industry titan they once were back in the 90s-early 2000s. They still have a chance to turn the Titanic around but I doubt they will.
To be honest, there really is no compelling reason to buy a Surface or Windows Phone over Android or iOS. Microsoft's commercials pretty much admit this as they have no true message to entice you. Instead you see for the surface a bunch of click it and dancing crap commercials because they have no feature that stands out above the competition. Look at the Windows Phone commercials. You see wedding fights and low light camera goodness. That is it! That is the best they can do because those products are subpar. Geeks and fanboys eat it up to feel unique but you really are throwing money down the drain. Ask the Windows Phone 7 users that got left behind.
Microsoft Office used to be the best thing Microsoft had going for it and in some ways it still is. Now in the post PC era, people are realizing that they can live without Office and are finding alternatives to get it done. Microsoft again missed a golden opportunity to keep Office relevant by bringing it years earlier to the competitions mobile platforms. Now, they can't even use it to entice you to buy a Surface or Windows Phone because noone really cares anymore.
Microsoft needs new leadership so they can refocus. They will continue to get by producing half ass products that generate revenue but they will no longer be the industry titan they once were back in the 90s-early 2000s. They still have a chance to turn the Titanic around but I doubt they will.
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