Microsoft should be ashamed of this

[andrewducker]

From.

[Poll #1769786]

Comments

[andrewducker]

It is always dangerous to assume that Microsoft has been knocked entirely out of a market - but the MS/Nokia tie-up is going to have to pay off _really_ well for them to make a comeback any time soon. Halving the number of phones they sold in a market that grew by over 50% is almost impressive.

[steer.livejournal.com]

A few years ago you might have assumed Nokia unassailable -- mind you note that Symbian still outsells ios which surprises me. I imagine these figures would look different if you converted units to price since ios typically more expensive than android which is more expensive than symbian.

Also remember that MS makes $$$ from every android phone sold without having to lift a finger.

[recycled-sales.livejournal.com]

Seems to me they're doing the exact opposite of what Google are doing - bringing out hundreds of new phones every month.

Everytime I go on Engadget or Gizmodo there's a new Android device either being announced or released. That sort of momentum means that odds are when someone is buying a new phone they can pickup either 'the latest' Android phone, or an older WinMo device.

Having played around with a friend's Samsung WinMo device though, I'm really impressed. The device was slick and smooth, really easy to use and the keyboard was fantastic. If they can sort out their app store it can only get better.

One thing that's stopping me buying one, is that after a year of iPhone ownership I'm tied into an ecosystem that I've dropped probably about £70 into for apps. That's harder to leave than it sounds.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, WinMo does actually look good. But I'm not prepared to buy a phone that makes you go through an app store to buy/install apps, and then filters said app store.

Which knocks both Windows and iPhone off my list.

(I have bought into the Android ecosystem, but not so much that I couldn't switch phones if there was a compelling reason to do so.)

[anton-p-nym.livejournal.com]

I don't have a mobile phone, but if I do get a smartphone in the near future I'd be strongly tempted to go with a Windows Phone... alas, yes, it is tied into its own infrastructure but given that I already subscribe to Xbox Live and Zune it's an infrastructure I already have ties to. WP would also integrate very well into the Windows network I have at home.

WP on Nokia hardware would be even more tempting.

-- Steve can resist, though; his resolve is bolstered by Canada's decidedly unenlightened mobile market with some of the world's highest data plan charges. Alexander Graham Bell must be rolling in his grave...

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

I've been using a device running the developer build of the next release of WP7, code-named Mango, for the last couple of weeks, and I'm cautiously impressed. Social media integration is good and unobtrusive, and the platform is responsive - and above all fast.

I'll need to see more apps to try out the multitasking and the new agent-based live tiles, but they do seem to have the right balance between business and consumer in an intuitive user interface.

[andrewducker]

It does look shiny.

I won't be getting one though - too locked down for me.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Same level of locked-downedness as Android these days, thanks to the work the Chevron-WP7 guys are doing!

[dougs.livejournal.com]

I'm currently on Windows Mobile 6.5, which gives me both what I need and what I want.

What I need is native support for Active Sync to an Exchange server that actually works properly. Lots of people claim to offer this.

What I want is a platform that's not locked down, that doesn't mantate a single source/channel for additional apps. Progressively fewer people seem to offer this.

I'll stick with my WM6.5 phone for now.

[andrewducker]

I'm still waiting to see what comes out of that. The tool was taken down wasn't it? If it's built into Mango, and allows me to load anything I like, then I'd definitely be more interested.

[andrewhickey.livejournal.com]

Bear in mind that I hate telephone calls, so don't own a mobile at all, and that I won't buy a tablet until I can find one that runs a completely free OS (Android would be fine, but everything I've seen is Android + proprietary crapware).

[andrewducker]

I'm very tempted, with my next phone, to buy it outright, so that I don't get Orange's rubbish on it.

Not so sure about the HTC stuff - Sense works fine for me, and I replaced the Launcher anyway. I might go for one of the Google ones that doesn't have any of the manufacturer stuff on it at all.

[recycled-sales.livejournal.com]

I do get frustrated about the features that my phone doesn't have, simply because they're 'pay-walled' by Apple/ Orange. But compared to phones I've had before there's enough benefits to outweigh the few negatives.

Whether I'll feel the same way further down the line I don't know. But my usage scenario doesn't often rely on features that are blocked by Apple.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

I wanted a POSSIBLY on question 1, they're good at come backs and have damn near infinite resources.

I'm getting a Windows Phone 7 today, mostly for play purposes but I have heard a LOT of good things from former iPhone users who work over the water and are converts.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Today's Google move and the sheer horror we've had with Android for the Renovation app suggests that Google have had quite enough of dealing with the wild west of app development.

Not to name drop too much, but I did point out to Andy Rubin himself, shortly after their launch, that I didn't think the strategy of letting the app market prevent fragmentation would work.

It hasn't.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

All the problems with had with the Reno app were HTC induced crapware around Sense UI blocking JavaScript from running properly.

Be warned.

[andrewducker]

Let me know what you think of it.

[andrewducker]

Having read your recent updates I'm very sympathetic to your plight!

I'm not sure how much of a problem OS version fragmentation is - this indicates that 90% of people are on 2.1 or 2.2:
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/48384.php

As for differing screen sizes, form factors, etc. I'm all in favour of them. I'd hate for people to all be locked into one type of phone.

Or were you thinking of something else?

[andrewducker]

Oooh - do you have more details?

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Well, yes. 2.1 and 2.2 are just the start of it. We're seeing browser variations and platform variations at a codec and software level between versions of 2.2...

It took us 2 weeks recently to come up with a video encoding that played seamlessly on all the 2.2's we tested on because of slight codec variations.

The problem with an open platform is there is no end to the mischief that a determined OEM can get up to and will.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Well, as far as we can tell, the Sencha JavaScript library and the Sense UI don't place nicely in the device. I can only assume that HTC used some browser calls themselves to run the Sense UI and the two libraries conflicted to the point of rendering Sencha unusable on the phone.

There was an update yesterday which seems to have solved the problem, but it was pretty frustrating.

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Another consideration - you can have two ostensibly identical HTC 2.2 based Android phones but one is running on a 550 MHz processor and the other on a 1GHz dual core Snapdragon one...

It's not hard to see the impact that will have on performance.

[andrewducker]

Yeah, it looks like Sense meddles in the middle of stuff. That's very frustrating.

[andrewducker]

Right, bog-standard Googlephone it is then!

Actually, I need to check that a bog-standard one will synchronise Facebook phone numbers to my contact list. If it does, then I'll be happy with that.

[andrewducker]

Yes, but one will be significantly cheaper than the other. If people want to have slower computers for less money then I'm not about to tell them they have to buy a really fast one (no more than I'd tell them that they had to buy a faster PC).

What might be nice is a way of saying "This app requires XXXX MIPS to run." or equivalent, so that they weren't able to download it in the first place.