[More like opinion than review] Windows 10 Mobile is not going to be successful anytime soon

[HighRabbit]

 

Hello guys, I hope that opinions are welcome here as well as reviews? If I'm wrong, please corrrect me before I'm getting banned . I have copied the whole article from my blog (except images and text under them) here, so you can simply scroll down and read. However, if you enjoy full experience of reading, you can read the same text in my blog, here. I must mention that is only an opinion, not a review. And I might be wrong about this. Also, I'm not saying that W10 Mobile won't success at all, I just say it won't happen soon. So keep that in mind, enjoy reading, and comment! 

Microsoft has recently launched its new mobile operating system or simply an update for Windows Phone 8 – Windows 10 Mobile. At first glance you could say that it looks cool – it has Continuum, universal apps, improved user interface, new Microsoft Edge browser, and so on. You’d say, it’s quite a big update and Microsoft should be back to the mobile game soon. You are not right. Windows 10 Mobile is not going to give Microsoft any more market share anytime soon and let me tell you why.

Microsoft cannot catch up with the hardware

Nokia Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, two new flagship devices with Windows 10 Mobile, were launched in 2015 November. Both these devices have pretty similar specs – QHD AMOLED screen, 3 GB of RAM, Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 (Lumia 950) or 810 (Lumia 950 XL) processor along with 32 gigs of expandable storage. These specs sound really good for a 2015 flagship device, but the problem is that 2015 has almost ended. It doesn’t mean that Snapdragon 808 and 810 will instantly become obsolete, but we are going to get new devices with Snapdragon 820, Samsung’s Exynos 8890 or/and MediaTek Helio X20 processors including 4 gigs of RAM pretty soon. Microsoft really won’t launch a new flagship just a few months after they have launched Lumia 950 with 950 XL because that would be stupid.

That wouldn’t be a huge deal for Apple or even Samsung as these companies have loyal fans and most of their buyers do not really look at the specsheet, but keep in mind that at least for the moment almost every potential Microsoft’s flagship’s buyer is a geek or tech enthusiast. And tech enthusiasts want to have the newest, the greatest, the fastest and Microsoft is not able to provide that. The only thing that Microsoft could do is lowering the price a lot. Only then they will be able to retrieve at least some interest.

Windows 10 Mobile is still buggy as hell

I haven’t tried Windows 10 Mobile myself yet (although Microsoft has promised me that I will get my review unit soon), but I have seen some reviews of Lumia 950/950 XL, for example, the one by Michael Fisher, and they are all telling the same – Windows 10 Mobile is incredibly buggy.

I loved Windows Phone 7 for its stability, performance and perfectionism and back in the time, I was thinking that Windows Phone will become a major player in the mobile market because of this reason. Well, that didn’t happen probably because nobody was updated to Windows Phone 8. The other problem with Windows Phone 8 was those stability issues. Some WP8 phones, especially the low-end ones, were (and still are) incredibly laggy and unstable because of unknown reasons. The reason why I praised Windows Phone 7 so much was not common anymore.

But Windows 10 Mobile?.. Why it stutters, lags and crashes on high-end hardware? Why loading apps sometimes takes so long? Why it’s less optimized for mobile than it was? Why the Windows 10 Mobile on 950/950XL looks like it’s still on a beta stage? A good start is half way to success, a bad start is half way to Firefox operating system’s destiny.

Microsoft won’t attract Android or iOS users with so few apps

For the moment, Windows 10 Mobile has the same number of apps as the Windows Phone 8. Maybe even a bit less. I know that Microsoft is working on making Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile more attractive for developers, but Windows 10 Mobile is not going to catch up with the apps coming year (and maybe never, who knows?), that is simply impossible.

As people buy smartphones because of apps, they won’t buy Windows 10 Mobile devices. People need Snapchat, usable Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, YouTube apps! Oh, where are games? Where are premium apps and games that we have on iOS or Android? Oh, developers don’t make them because nobody buys them because most Windows Phone users are Lumia 630/530 users and they don’t have money for premium apps? Yes. Ppeople don’t buy premium Windows Phone devices because there are way too few apps on this OS? Exactly. Microsoft is in a closed circuit. Nobody buys Windows phones because nobody creates apps. Nobody creates apps because nobody buys phones.

Microsoft is in a very difficult situation with apps. I don’t know if they can solve the problem. Making Windows run Android apps is not a solution. It would ruin Microsoft’s ecosystem, nobody would make native Windows apps as there would be almost no point in doing that. That would also make Windows look stupid as there would be inconsistency between Windows 10 Mobile and Android’s apps designs.

What should Microsoft do? I don’t know. I hope that this Microsoft’s idea of unified OS with unified apps will help them to attract developers. Otherwise, Windows 10 Mobile will only attract Windows Phone’s fans.

Windows 10 Mobile is not going to be successful anytime soon. But let’s give it some more time.

Microsoft Windows 10 Mobile looks quite bad right now and I can guarantee you that it is not going to be successful anytime soon because Microsoft has been doing too many things wrong. They are always saying to us “Wait a little bit more.” They keep us waiting. We expected Windows 10 Mobile to be something amazing and we got almost the same thing under a different layer.

However, let’s give it more time. I said the same about the Windows Phone 7, 7.5, 8, and 8.1. But I’m saying that again. However, this is probably the last time I’m saying this, because if Microsoft will not get back on their feet now, they will never do. Microsoft, we are patiently waiting. But one day our patience might be over and you will have to back off. If you will not catch up with the hardware, give us appealing pricing, solve the bugs including the sluggishness of the OS and if you won’t bring us apps, we won’t bring you the money, we won’t buy the devices and you will have to go with Palm and Mozilla.

[QueenDemetria]

I'm running out of chances with Windows Phone. I've been using it for many years now(since Mango ayy, technically before that even), but the platform isn't going anywhere. Sure its improved over the years, buts its still playing catch-up to other ecosystems. As of right now I am staying with my 925, but of I can get a killer deal on a 640 I would get one, but this is mostly because I can tell my 925 is on its last update(I really don't see Microsoft putting WP 11 or 10.1 on it, cause of age and architecture). I sure hope Microsoft gets with it, if not oh well, not much of a loss at this point.

[chicksoup]

I don't disagree with what you are saying, but you could have waited until you used it yourself. This post does not say anything about anything really

[HighRabbit]

I don't disagree with what you are saying, but you could have waited until you used it yourself. This post does not say anything about anything really

I could, but the problem with Windows 10 Mobile is that the problems are so big that you can easily notice them without even trying the OS. That's why almost nobody wants to try it. That was my point.