#Goodbye Windows Phone
In late 2010, I entered into the world of smart phones not by purchasing an iPhone, but buying into the Microsoft ecosystem with a Samsung Focus running Windows Phone 7. That probably doesn’t surprise you considering my background with Microsoft technologies and products; however, despite what many people think, I’m not a blind Microsoft follower.
I chose Windows Phone for primarily one reason: the UI. I love the Metro (yes, I still call it that) design, and I had since using a Zune. I owned a Zune, but it wasn’t my first portable MP3 player. I purchased a Zune because of the issues I had with my 2nd-gen iPod Nano. Unlike iPod, the Zune’s OS was stable, and I was pleasantly surprised by the superior sound quality. So when it came time to purchase my first smart phone, I chose Microsoft based upon my personal experience. And I wasn’t disappointed.
That’s not to say that Windows Phone didn’t (and still doesn’t) have issues; it obviously has a lot. First and foremost is the app gap. Die hards of the platform say Microsoft isn’t responsible for the apps available on the platform. While they’re right to some extent, they are also wrong. Microsoft hasn’t given developers any incentives to write apps for the platform. In fact, they’ve done the exact opposite. There have been three major versions of Windows Phone, and each of those versions has been a complete reset of the platform. Microsoft has scared developers away.
That leads us to the next problem: with every reset, Microsoft has taken away or botched the good features from the previous versions. WP7 had wireless sync (a good wireless sync) and a fantastic media player. WP8 dropped the former and butchered the latter. WP8 improved mail support. Windows 10 for Phone (which I’ll call WP10) replaces the excellent built-in mail client with a very bad version of Outlook. Of course, there are other issues (especially with WP10).
The die hards advise you to just wait. Wait for this app; it might be coming. Wait for this feature. Wait for Microsoft to fix that or this. I’ve been told to wait for missing features in WP10; they’re coming, we just don’t know when. Wait and see if companies that have pulled their apps write a universal app… You get the idea: just wait.
I’ve been waiting half a decade, but I’ll wait no longer. Today, I ordered an iPhone. Am I happy? I guess. It is the standard, at least in the USA. No more waiting for apps. No more drastic platform resets. No more worrying if the phone I have in my pocket will be supported in the future.
But there are certain things that I will most definitely miss: live tiles, notifications on the lock screen, and, most importantly, superb cloud integration. WP automatically syncs a lot of data to the cloud—to the point that switching to a new WP device is painless.
So why did I switch? Despite Microsoft insistence on building and support Windows Phone, their actions tell a different tale. Some recent examples:
- No high end phones in two years
- The cuts to the OneDrive Camera Roll perk
- The botched launch of the Lumia 950 and 950XL devices in the USA (only one is available on one carrier)
I think the Lumia 950 and 950XL are the last phones Microsoft will release. That makes me sad on some level because Windows Phone is a really good OS. I’ll miss it.
gg.