[newsreader]

I own a Lumia 925, my wife owns a Lumia 640, and we use a Lumia 520 as our home line. I realize that Windows has a small share of the mobile phone market in the US but everybody that I've ever met that owns a Windows phone is pretty happy with their purchase -- I am. Apple phones are too expensive for my budget, and I tried helping a family member with his Android device and quickly realized I had made the right decision buying a Windows phone. I'm looking forward to see how the new OS (Windows 10) works on my devices.

[pavlov]

I was a fan of the original Windows Phone 7 and since then used WP for years (until work requirements caused me to switch mostly to other platforms).

I've been trying the Windows 10 betas on a fairly high-end Lumia (1520), and I just can't understand what Microsoft is doing. The entire system has apparently been rewritten using the "Universal" APIs (the same thing as Windows RT/10 basically).

That must have sounded great on paper, but the reality is baffling. Everything that was working great in WP8 has been replaced with half-assed implementations that feel more like second-rate Android OEM apps.

Worse, there don't seem to be any new features in Windows 10 Mobile that could offset the pain of the UI downgrade... Except that weird new mode where you can connect your phone to a keyboard, mouse and display and use Windows Universal apps that way. Is there a single Windows Phone user that asked for that?!

I loved Windows Phone 7 because it was a holistically designed system that made perfect sense on a phone. All that seems to be gone in Windows 10 Mobile, replaced by Microsoft's traditional "Windows everywhere!" platform strategy bloopers.

[pavedwalden]

>>Is there a single Windows Phone user that asked for that?!

This guy! https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9851687

[xorcist]

WP8 was also a rewrite, for exactly the same reasons. It wasn't great, but if it was kept stable for long enough then maybe partners would eventually come back to build that ecosystem.

I guess the reason for this constant rewrite-itis is that Microsoft is still really, really strong on the corporate desktop side, and they desperately need some way to leverage that on mobile. Otherwise they are just too far behind to avoid being yet another OEM.

As you said, it probably looked good on paper. They do have deep pockets however, and probably afford both one and two more rewrites and still compete. They've done it before.

[dspillett]

> Is there a single Windows Phone user that asked for that?!

Sounds like a wonderful feature to me.

One of the things that annoys me about Windows Phone currently is that it won't play with bluetooth keyboards (like the android phone I use as my backup device does). Sometimes when travelling it is useful to be able to rattle off some messages longer than are convenient to write with the on-screen keyboard without needing to have my tablet or laptop with me (OK so I need to be carrying the little bluetooth keyboard with me, but that takes less room when folded away than the laptop or tablet).

Using it as a mini PC is going further, but in a way that I might also find useful. Hopefully in going further they have not neglected the simpler use case on their way past though...

[anonymfus]

Bluetooth keyboards are supported since 8.1 Update 2.

[dspillett]

That I'd not picked up on, thanks for the heads-up. I'll give it a try next time I have some "fiddle time" going spare.

[joshuapants]

> I've been trying the Windows 10 betas on a fairly high-end Lumia (1520), and I just can't understand what Microsoft is doing. The entire system has apparently been rewritten using the "Universal" APIs (the same thing as Windows RT/10 basically).

It's worth noting that Windows Phone 10 (or whatever the current name is) is not being released alongside desktop Windows 10. It'll be released at least a few months later, so I would expect a lot more polish and cohesiveness moving forward.

[josh2600]

The simple problem at Microsoft and at most large organizations is that stock options and bonuses are paid out for new features, not fixing existing bugs.

[luuio]

Source?

[keithnoizu]

Annual Commitments. There are tons of half complete projects and tooling pieces that are finished enough to check off the annual commitment objective. I constantly got nagged for tweaking and improving a backend system shim layer for transporting test data between systems instead of adding new check mark mission complete items to my list.

I'm not sure what it like under the current review system but I very much perceived this to be an issue when I was there. I'd even seen large top level objectives altered purely because it was too far along in the year when they were proposed and making those changes would have impacted another groups ability to make their commitments. Some groups in microsoft are great but there are some systemic problems over there.

[s73v3r]

One of the big promises of Windows Phone was that you'd be able to use the same apps as on your desktop, so in a way, yeah, they kinda did.

[rsync]

"I've been trying the Windows 10 betas on a fairly high-end Lumia (1520)"

Do I read this to mean that older WP phones that ran WP7, etc., can then be reloaded by the end user to use other WP OSs, such as WP10 ?

That seems surprising to me for some reason. Did you have to root it, or the equivalent of rooting ?

What else could you load on a phone like this ?

[pavlov]

This is the only part of Windows 10 Mobile that Microsoft is doing right. Practically all Windows Phone 8 devices -- even the 89 euro ultra-cheapies like Lumia 520 -- can be upgraded to 10 without rooting or any other special tricks.

Currently it requires you to install a "Windows Insider" app, but the final version will presumably be available as a regular OTA upgrade just like 8.x updates.

[paulsnar]

You can't on WP7 or older devices because of kernel incompatibilities. But pretty much everything that can run WP8 can be upgraded to the official WP10 beta through OTA.

[VOYD]

I asked for that.

[pavlov]

What's the use case? Where do you have a display, keyboard and mouse but no computer attached and no laptop at hand?

I never have this problem where I'd want to blow up my phone onto a bigger screen (with full mouse-based editing capabilities). But I guess it might be more common than I imagine.

[DanBC]

When I look at what I was doing with a computer in 1993, and what I mostly want to do with a computer today, it should be really easy to do with a phone.

It's kind of weird to me that my phone is so massively powerful but gets used only for a bit of web-browsing and light game playing.

It doesn't feel like a 21st century solution.

[pavlov]

But does that mean you should do everything on your phone?

The 1993 computer probably cost at least 2000 USD. Today, you can get a phone, a laptop, a desktop computer, a tablet and a smartwatch for less than that. That's five devices with different form factors!

Is there really a group of users whose single device is a phone and they want to connect that to PC-style peripherals?

[GFischer]

I am currently recommending Lumias for a specific user group - non-technical users that need WhatsApp, maps and light browsing, and are on a tight budget.

A cheap Windows phone outperforms a cheap Android phone significantly (and is apparently much easier to learn the UI for that user group), and these users cannot afford an iPhone.

They lose out on the Android ecosystem and the Apple experience, but I currently believe they're the best choice at that price point (100 dollars or so). Of course, those things vary, if a new Android version is significantly better on low-end hardware I'll probably go back to recommending them (mostly because all apps in my country are Android-first).

[Someone1234]

If you go straight to China there are some "acceptable" Android phones for the sub-$50 price point. However when you compare that to the Nokia Lumia 635 which is $30-40 (often with $10 carrier discount, $50 unlocked) you get an incredible phone for almost no money at all.

I actually held one at a Microsoft store the other day, and the thing is extremely responsive and feels very premium. It is lacking a few things people just take for granted like a front facing camera, but regardless it is a huge bargain if you're shopping in the low end market.

I won't be giving up my $500 phone tomorrow, but respect where it is due to some of the Lumia phones.

[jkestner]

With such cheap Windows phones, I wonder if there's still a possibility that Microsoft can use them to make real revenue on services, or if offering those same services on the other mobile platforms is enough.

What again, in a Services, Services, Services Microsoft, is the point of a third-place mobile platform?

[arrrg]

Android phones have been a nightmare for me from a support point of view and for certain user groups Windows phones can – is my hypothesis – be a much, much more enjoyable experience.

My dad has some Samsung Galaxy (probably a couple generations old at this point) and doesn’t like it and doesn’t use it much beyond actually making phone calls (he even hates writing text messages). My mom has the simplest of the simple Nokia Lumias (also a generation or two old now) and she uses it all the time for all sorts of things. Browsing the web, communicating via SMS, Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, reading email, making phone calls, taking photos (and sending those to people with exactly the messenging app she wants to use). She is able to achieve all this without ever needing help and the phone never gives her the feeling that she is not in control.

Sure, part of that may be differing attitudes of my parents towards technology (my mom has certainly a slightly greater ability to get used to and comfortable with newfangled tech), but I do think Windows phone is very friendly towards people. It’s very sparse, but if it does what you need to do then that’s a plus and it helps you feel in control.

[sgt]

I have a similar experience with family members buying Android phones. For a long time I was the go-to guy for support issues, mostly Android related. Most of the time, it's simply because they didn't find it intuitive enough (I cannot say Android at least on the Samsung devices) is very user friendly.

After a long struggle I got most of them over to iOS and now the less-computer-literate appears to figure out their own issues. I'd reckon the experience would be similar with Windows phones, as I've heard good things about it in terms of user friendliness.

[prapam2]

Eveery UI is difficult for first time users. My 60+ years old dad is comfortable using Android. I even had hard time adjusting to Macbook workflow coming from windows laptops.

[smackfu]

Yeah, we bought a 635 for my fiance's mom's first smart phone. The home screen has big obvious buttons that are a pretty ideal fit for her level of computer familiarity.

Plus, when she lost it after a couple of months, it was only $75 to replace.

[austenallred]

Theoretically that should be a really large user group. Especially outside of the US.

[tluyben2]

I have some Lumia's (for work) and while I go in really liking them, I end up with a lot of small annoyances. I should really write them down in a blog post, but the endresult is that I pick up my Android (s4 with swappable battery) or iPhone and actually never touch the Lumia's again.

The way MS (or someone else!) would get me on board is when I can walk into the office, put my phone on my inductive loading plate, automatically triggering my monitoring to flick on and pairing with my mouse + keyboard, showing me, on the big screen, another (desktop) representation of the OS I use on the phone. I know some companies (and MS with Windows 10) are working towards that as I saw in demos, but it's still clunky and not what you want yet while the phones are fast enough (I often connect the above to my OpenPandora and work straight on it for days on end; most high end phones are a lot more capable than the OpenPandora...).

[mmcconnell1618]

They demonstrated this exact scenario at this year's Build conference:

http://techcrunch.com/2015/04/29/microsoft-announces-continu...

[nothrabannosir]

No need for the phone to be smart enough if it can just virtualize itself in a host laptop / computer. Not saying this is a good idea, but the phones not being fast enough is not all bad; what I need mostly from my phone is the files and content. The apps I could run locally.

[shyn3]

Get a BlackBerry and install Blend on your laptop/tablet.

[timrichard]

Counter anecdata...

I often drop in to a local bar, and tend to be the troubleshooter for older folks with new smartphones. I've helped out on quite a variety of devices, but my heart always sank when I bumped into the guy with a Lumia that his daughter had given him. I can't remember every instance, but I can remember turning him away in frustration with outcomes like "sorry, I've no idea why the browser won't remember your login details".

I ran into many frustrating problems with that device that I didn't find with iOS and Android (even super-cheap Android). I was extremely relieved when he rocked up one day with an iPhone, and very gladly set it up with all the apps he needed.

[paganel]

Not sure why you're getting downvotted, over here in Europe the Lumia phones are pretty popular.

[trimbo]

I Googled stats to verify this claim and you're right. Last fall, Windows Phone was on par with iPhone sales in some European countries, and in fact beat Apple in Italy (TIL)

http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/29/kantar-september-2014/

Though it sounds like some of those fortunes are turning since the iPhone 6

http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/05/06/iphone-marketshare...

[BrianEatWorld]

Poland is an even more interesting story as Windows Phone has close to 20% market share.

http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-is-windows-phone-outselling...

[MatthiasP]

They are popular in some parts of Europe because of the Lumia (Nokia) brand, not because of Windows phone.

[Someone1234]

The two things are inseparable at this point. So I don't really understand the distinction you're making, it isn't as if people buying a Lumia don't know it will be running Windows Mobile.

[Grue3]

No, I would bet most people buy them because it's a Nokia, regardless of the OS. Case in point, my mother who seems to only buy Nokias because they used to be the best brand. I told her to buy an Android phone and she somehow found and bought a Nokia Android phone (I didn't even know they existed). It had some weird Metro skin too so that it looks like a Windows Phone but is actually an Android.

[ZenoArrow]

> "I told her to buy an Android phone and she somehow found and bought a Nokia Android phone (I didn't even know they existed). It had some weird Metro skin too so that it looks like a Windows Phone but is actually an Android."

I think you're referring to one of the Nokia X devices:

http://www.microsoft.com/en/mobile/phones/nokia-x/

[vetinari]

Many don't. They are buying Lumias, because they always bought Nokia. They haven't got the memo yet, that it's no longer Nokia.

[frik]

Maybe in some (northern) parts that still remember the Nokia brand. Otherwise, Android and iOS are the really big players, with Android being number one in Europe followed by a strong iOS. WinPhone, Blackberry, FirefoxOS, JellyOS, etc. are of little interest for the average joe buyer.

[newsreader]

I'm getting downvoted? Sounds like a bad thing but I'm not concerned. I'm a Hacker News reader and hardly ever write comments. I'll be fine. Thanks for the heads up...

[bostonpete]

Our of curiosity, what got you buying MS phones? My sense was that by the time they had a decent phone available, most people were too invested in Android or iOS to readily consider a change. Were you a late adopter of smart phones or did you make the switch at some point?

[Joeri]

I was using a galaxy s2 but got frustrated with android (usability and stability issues). My wife bought a lumia 710 to replace an aging blackberry, and I was very impressed with the usability. A bit later, when they did a deal on the lumia 920, i bought it, and over two years later I'm still on the same phone. Very happy with it. I'm waiting for them to release a proper high end phone again to upgrade my 920.

Microsoft made three key mistakes with windows phone after the acquisition. The first was stopping the development of high-end models. No high end model means no evangelists which in turn means price is the only thing you can compete on. The lack of profit in the lumia division is a consequence of chasing after the bottom of the market. I'm convinced windows phone is good enough to win at the high end, but microsoft had to show up first, and they mostly didn't. They made some bone-headed decisions like releasing the high end 930/icon without the one lumia-only feature (glance), while shipping that feature on low end devices.

The second thing they did wrong was messing with the OS itself to make it more android-like (getting rid of hubs and panorama views, introducing hamburger menus, app-ifying the social integration, etc...). Every change made the OS less attractive to people already using it, while doing nothing to convince those who weren't, because those people needed apps which weren't there. Oh, yeah, that's the third and worst thing they did wrong: radically mismanaging the windows app store, both towards the users as towards the developers.

[dagw]

I'm not the original poster, but I bought a Lumia 925 out of pure nerdy curiosity. I'd tried iOS, I'd tried Android and just wanted to see what else was out there. And I have to say it's pretty fine piece of hardware running a pretty great OS.

All that being said, I'm probably going back to Android for my next phone, simply because WP keeps lagging further and further behind when it comes to apps. If WP had the same apps as Android I'd probably buy a new Windows Phone.

[romanovcode]

AFAIK WP will be able to run Android apps on next release which is coming this summer.

[s73v3r]

The developers of said apps will still have to upload them to Microsoft's store.

[0xFFC]

I think most of developer will do , When they see such huge opportunity .

[s73v3r]

Windows phone has a minuscule marketshare. Where is this "huge opportunity"?

Remember, Blackberry did the same thing, and it didn't help them at all.

[macintux]

Huge opportunity? Such a huge opportunity that even Microsoft seems to be giving up on the platform?

[guiomie]

I bought a MS phone because my nexus 4 kept crashing with the latest upgrades. The battery would last max 6 hours, using the camera had a 50% chance of restarting the OS, the touch functionality of the screen would work 50% of the time after reboot, when the battery was under 25%, the phone would act eradically ... etc. As for iphone, too expensive. I got my lumia for 60$ on amazon without contract.

[asyncwords]

Personally, I switched over to Windows Phone from a Nexus 4 after I bought a generic Windows 8 tablet and started using the live tiles. In my opinion, compared to the iOS and Android "grid of icons", live tiles are just superior in every way. I'm honestly surprised that neither Google nor Apple have copied Microsoft here.

[amaks]

Android doesn't have only grids of icons. Clearly, you haven't used it much if at all.

[asyncwords]

I'm using a brand new LG G4 as my daily driver, and I own two Nexus 7s. You're going to have a hard time convincing me that the Android widgets I can set up on my G4 [1] compare in any way to the live tiles on a Windows Phone [2]. I recognize that this is all subjective, though.

[1]: http://i.imgur.com/jimMDvp.png

[2]: http://i.imgur.com/vMjhP9b.jpg

[unprepare]

After reviewing both images, i honestly don't see what you mean.

You're comparing 3 widgets to 24 tiles But honestly, i see more information displayed in the android screenshot.

Both images display calendar events and weather

android also displays a couple emails, weather for the next two days

windows also displays part of a facebook post

Is there something specific that live tiles do that you do not belive android is capable of doing? edit: formatting

[asyncwords]

Again, this is all subjective, but I'll try to explain why I prefer live tiles over Android's widgets.

1. Android widgets are huge, I can fit maybe 4-5 widgets on one page of the Android desktop. More than that, they become so scrunched that you can't get any information out of them. This is compounded by the fact that some widgets only allow a certain size unless you download 3rd-party launchers.

2. Widget design is largely up to the app developer, and a lot of widgets are ugly (subjective) or at least don't match the other widgets you have them grouped with.

3. Widgets try to be interactive, and I can't tell you how frustrated it makes me when I'm scrolling across the desktops to look at widgets and I accidentally cross an item off of a todo list, or scroll through my list of emails instead of continuing on to the next desktop.

To me, the Android (and iPhone) home screens feel lifeless and dead when compared to a Windows Phone. On WP, my live tiles are always flipping around and displaying the latest emails, tweets, facebook posts, news articles, pictures from my camera roll, etc. The Windows Phone start screen displays all of that information to me at a glance, and I can pick and choose what to do next based on the summary that I see on my start screen. On Android, though, I have to actively search for that information by going from app to app.

[BrianEatWorld]

The UI was what got me hooked. I was coming off of an iPhone and loved the Windows Phone home screen. Once you get hooked on live tiles, its hard to go back.

[newsreader]

My first smart phone was an HTC Radar running Windows 7 which was later upgraded to 7.5. My second windows phone is my current phone which is a Lumia 925. I immediately fell in love with this phone because of the camera quality (pictures and videos). My phone is going on three years and it still takes better pictures than most Android and Apple phones except maybe for the newest Apple and/or high end Android devices. I bought my wife a Lumia 520 when they became available and she immediately was able to use it -- now she owns a 640. I never owned an Android or an Apple device but most of my immediate family and close friends own one or the other giving me a chance to compare features. To this day I haven't found a reason to switch. I have tested my phone against high end Android devices and my phone is more responsive and the picture quality is always better to the point where I'm constantly being asked to share my pictures. If I can find a better phone for the same amount of money I spent for my phone ($150.00 refurbished) I will buy it.

[Systemic33]

- Class-best camera (Lumia 930)

- Coherent UI

- Useful "home" screen.

- Cheap

I usually describe it as the nice UI and design from Apple with the cost of an Android.

[probably_wrong]

Here's my experience: my first smartphone was a Nokia with Windows Phone 7, which I bought when my Nokia N95 was too broken to be used in public. It lasted for around 6 months until it fell off my pocket and cracked, because changing the screen was just as expensive as a new phone.

I was pretty mad at some issues (the camera would hang the phone under certain circumstances, dev tools were painful, Zune as a requirement for sync), so I got myself an Android phone. That one lasted a couple years, until the USB connector broke - since the battery was non-removable, there was no way for me to keep using it.

After having experienced both, I have to say: the experience in Windows Phone feels much smoother than Android. Yes, the development tools are still annoying, but using the phone itself has a nicer "feeling" to it.

I now have the cheapest WP 8 I could find, and so far I'm happy with it. It also seems to be more resistant to drops than its older brother.

[berns]

Free offline maps and navigation for anywhere in the world.

[microtonal]

FYI: the Nokia Here map is now on Android as well. Including free offline maps:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.here.app.m...

[thaumasiotes]

I use osmand for free offline maps and navigation anywhere in the world. Should I be doing something different? How does this make Windows Phone special?

[berns]

I was answering the question of what made me choose a Microsoft phone. Offline maps has always been a strong differentiator of Nokia, now the owner of Navteq. I can't comment on the quality and extension of Open Street Maps. I gather that you are a satisfied user of osmand, so I recommend that you don't do anything different.

[thaumasiotes]

Eh, I'm satisfied as to use in the US. The quality of the mapping they have for China is pretty bad... but I kind of figured it wouldn't be great from any other (english-language) provider either. Google Maps is better in some ways, but hard to access and still terrible at things like street addresses.

[keithpeter]

Anecdote: Friend of sister wanted new phone that could take decent pictures and do Web/FB stuff. Nice man in shop suggested a lower end Lumia. Friend of sister very happy, especially with camera, which indeed produces excellent snaps.

I see quite a few WinPhone screens on my daily round in UK.

[Keyframe]

I had a WP7 Samsung Omnia awhile ago. WP was an excellent, performant, and snappy to use. It was really nice and everyone that saw it liked it. However, almost no apps (that I needed), app store full of crapware (borderline malware), and slow OS updates eventually led me to Android. No regrets.

[anoncow]

Indian Windows phone admirer here. Loved the developer preview program. Frequent updates to the OS made me feel wanted as a user. The transition from WP 8 to WP 8.1 was especially noteworthy. Sadly I lost my Lumia 1320 and switched to a cheaper Android. Would like to go back and try Win 10, but the lack of new devices makes me apprehensive.

[pjmlp]

I got a 630 to play around with WinRT and C++/CX development.

It is quite quite, specially if one compares the whole development experience with the Android wild west (e.g. NDK experience).

Sadly it has only catched on in countries as alternative to Android, where the majority of the population is not able to afford iPhones even on subsided contracts.

Their decision to provide Android and iOS bridges in WP 10 will eventually backfire in OS/2 style.

[at-fates-hands]

I own a Lumia icon and have been really happy with it. The cut on Windows Phone is the amount of apps available. Since they are such a small share of the market, developers aren't keen to build for the platform - even though its completely wide open right now with little if no competition.

If Windows Phone had closer to the amount of apps Android and IOS have in their stores, the phones would be doing much better. Nokia makes a solid handset and the Windows Phone platform is the first not to copy Apple's design.

As for Windows 10 on Windows Phone - I was using the developer preview for a few days and its still really really buggy. It does have tremendous potential though and I'm looking forward to seeing them work out some of the bugs, there are a ton of really cool things coming:

http://www.cnet.com/products/microsoft-windows-10-mobile/

[deskamess]

Work phone is a Nokia 710, running WP 7.5 .... a no nonsense simple working phone with great battery life. Informative tiles and a clean UI. I am sure WP8/Cortana would be a great improvement. Dropped it in water a week ago and it is recovering... screen is still drying out.

For personal use I have a Nexus4 and use it for camera/apps (Google Authenticator)/Google ecosystem. I prefer the simplicity of the Nokia/WP7 but for some things the Android is necessary. If Google ever ported their apps and services (Youtube, etc) to a Windows Phone I would switch.. or MS needs to create a nice equivalent.

[jkestner]

Too bad you were able to recover the phone - Cortana is great, for the intelligent assistant part as much as the voice interface.

[bad_user]

For a different experience, I received a Lumia 640 as a gift, but I gave it away, as the experience was inferior to Android. I tried liking it for about 2-3 weeks, but eventually I gave up. My wife then tried to use it and gave up as well.

For example I don't like the design of the front-screen with the animated tiles. I find them to be very distracting and I prefer Android's model - static icons plus widgets for whenever I feel the need for some shiny stuff, but widgets don't survive for long. The notifications experience on Android is of course superior. That flat design in Windows Phone has also been annoying as it doesn't give clues on what can be touched. And as far as the experience goes, the new material design in Android kicks ass IMHO. The only serious usability issue it has are the up-front permissions system, but they are fixing that in the next version.

The other issue I had is a lack of control. Microsoft went the Apple way in restricting their phones. So apparently with my Lumia I had to ask permission from my operator in order to do tethering. I've never met an Android phone that disallowed tethering based on the whims of these operators. Google Play is also superior, even to the iTunes Store IMHO, but beyond that, I like how Android lets me install apps from third-party sources if I want it - it's just a configuration change and this Apple-style grandfathering doesn't work so well for Microsoft - their store is filled with shit, malware and trademark infringing apps. I also tried being a good citizen in Microsoft's store and tried reporting a scammy app for trademark infringement - they asked for "papers" to prove I'm the rights holder.

There's also one pet peeve I have with Microsoft - so Windows Phone still doesn't support CalDAV / CardDAV, insisting of course on Microsoft's own proprietary Exchange. You also can't change Bing's search as the default (at least in the version I had). Android doesn't do CalDAV / CardDAV by default, but you've got providers available. And Android also lets you change most things, like the search interface. Great going Microsoft, you've changed a lot.

As for the apps available, there is no contest. Like Google Maps / Waze in combination with Google Now are awesome. Nokia's Here is pretty cool, but lo and behold, they've released it for Android as well. The experience with most popular services like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube is inferior on Windows Phone. Even Skype seems to suck less on my Android.

In terms of hardware, the Lumia phones have a good price, but I want phones with good resolution. Couldn't find a high-end phone like the ones made by LG. And for a good price-quality ratio, in Android land you can also go with the Nexus devices, or OnePlus One. You can still find Nexus 5 devices and they've got a better price and better hardware than those Lumia devices.

[Someone1234]

I'm an Android user. None of your points are incorrect, but they also all apply to Android:

- Gmail receives preferential treatment

- Google cannot be removed as a search engine (inc. Google Now)

- Android can be restricted from tethering (and operators do do that).

- Google dropped CalDAV support.

None of which are "breaking" issues on Android. In fact I won't leave Android just for Google Maps (w/Waze integration), Google Now, the number of apps on the play store, and future things like Google Car (so I can drive my car's nav system with my phone).

[bad_user]

- I'm using FastMail, works just as well

- on Android you can have providers, I'm using this for CalDAV, which works well: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.dmfs.calda...

- you can replace the search interface, I'm using Firefox Search or DuckDuckGo interchangeably with Google's Search depending on my mood. If you have them installed, it makes you first pick the default when doing the search gesture. Google Now is not customizable, but then again it's just an app.

[magicalist]

> Google cannot be removed as a search engine (inc. Google Now)

The swipe up gesture for search/google now is easily replaced (e.g. just install Firefox and you get asked via intent if you want to use Firefox search instead). The search bar and the swipe from the left gesture can't be removed from the Google Now launcher as far as I know, but it's trivial to replace the launcher itself (just install one and the next time you hit 'home' it'll ask you which launcher you want to use).

[liotier]

Google's is not the only Android distribution. Try Cyanogenmod - I have been running it for years and I therefore have Android without a single byte of Google's binaries on it.

[Grazester]

Cyanogemod is an inferior implementation of Android(pure Android as on the Nexus devices). It is very unstable and I am not the only one that has stability issues. It was across the board, not limited to a single device.

[heywire]

> I've never met an Android phone that disallowed tethering based on the whims of these operators.

My Galaxy S4 on AT&T did not allow me to turn on tethering until I switched to a plan which included it.

[oaktowner]

Yup. Moto X did the same thing. Love the phone, but I don't love the AT&T aspects of it.

[ForEnglandJames]

While we're trotting out anecdotes, I have heard and experienced only the opposite.

One friend in particular who was given a windows phone by his large, seattle-based employer (ahem) had no end of trouble. The UI was great, but basic functionality was terrible. The thing could never handle SMS--we had to call him constantly, just to let him know what was going on, then we all would sporadically receive 4-5 texts from him that made no sense out of context. It was a nightmare.

[jonlucc]

Often with devices of small market share, the people who purchase them are the people most likely to be happy with their purchase. That said, I think the WinPhone platform is very good, but suffers by not commanding the influence over app-makers.

[amaks]

Are you sure Windows 10 will be compatible with your devices? Prior history of new Windows Phone OS releases proves otherwise.

[newsreader]

I'm not 100% sure but it is listed in the following website:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/preview-supported...

I'll probably be shopping for a new phone if it's not...

[ChuckMcM]

It is ironic that my daughter bougth a Lumia 640 in Ohio because you couldn't get them on the west coast. They have sold out in pretty much every location. I expect mostly because Microsoft has not made very many of them to begin with, but they seem to be the most popular phone yet.

I'm sad that there wasn't a way to recapitalize the Nokia phone business and re-release it into the wild.

[judah]

Lumia 925 user here. I really liked Windows 8.1. I've been trying the Windows 10 phone betas for a few months now, and the pain has been excruciating: lots of busted apps, bugs, battery life issues, missing functionality.

It seems to me Windows 10 Phone is at least several months away from stable.

[kirk21]

The phones are great but quite heavy + thick (at least the phones I saw).

[chiph]

A coworker just noticed that - my Nokia is about the same weight as his larger Android phone.

In my case, the phone isn't thick enough. I had problems with it slipping out of my pocket (I once went back to the car looking for it to find it on the ground getting rained on), so I added grippy skateboard tape on the back.

If I change phones, I'd do it again. Why not just buy a case? Because to get a grippy case, they're too grippy and will hold onto the cloth in my pocket when taking it out. The skateboard tape is "just right".

Someone ought to produce & sell grip-tape with die-cut patterns in it. Peace-symbol, happy face, Totoro, etc.

[electricarc]

My mom finds it easy compared to Android.

[batou]

Lumia 640 here.

Nothing bad to say. No regrets.

[jonknee]

Fascinating. Do you work for Microsoft or live in the Seattle area?

[newsreader]

The answer is NO to both questions. I don't see what's fascinating about my comment. I live in Tucson AZ and I work in the IT department as an Applications Developer. My department has 30+ employees and I only know of four other people in my department that own Windows Phones.

[jonknee]

It's fascinating to me because I've never come across such a fan of Windows Phone. The Windows Phone users I have come across have gotten them through work (at MS or related contractors).

[newsreader]

I never considered myself to be a WP fan but I can see how I can be perceived as one. My initial decision to buy a WP was mostly driven by cost (my first phone HTC Radar was free after the rebate) and my current phone is a refurbished Lumia 925 ($150.00). I’m just not the type of person that’s willing to spend $500+ on a phone that has features I will probably never use. Like I said IMO Windows Phones give you the best value per dollar spent – an opinion that apparently is also shared by many of those making comments on this thread.

[aikah]

> I had made the right decision buying a Windows phone

No you didn't. Soon your device and its os will be discontinued, WP is a huge failure and it's over. You don't fire next to 8000 people when your product is a success.

[newsreader]

When that happens - if it happens - I will buy a different phone. I feel that my investment has already paid off with the amount of great quality pictures and videos I have accumulated.