MS dramatically scaling down Windows Phone business

Discussion in 'Tablets and Smart Phones' started by alanm, Jul 9, 2015.

  1. alanm

    alanm Ancient Guru

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    Sad.. but looks like WP may be living on borrowed time.

    https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/win...is-scaling-back-on-windows-phone-dramatically

    A Few Thoughts On Microsoft’s Massive Writedown
     
  2. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    As much as I love the Lumia phones and Windows Phone in general, even I'm already looking at abandoning ship....
     
  3. Corrupt^

    Corrupt^ Ancient Guru

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    To little and to late (to the mobile party) basically.
     
  4. Extraordinary

    Extraordinary Guest

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    I already did, sold my 625 a few weeks ago, S5 is my main phone now
     

  5. alanm

    alanm Ancient Guru

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    The shocking thing is, android smartphones (aside from Samsung, Huwaei and Xiaomi) are not doing well either. Although android phones have around 80% share of smartphone market, they've only took in 11% of its overall profits. Apple profits took up the 89% remainder. So Apple doing exceptionally well while the others (aside from the 3 mentioned above) are not. This is probably the most competitive business there is, but competition is mainly between android phones vs one other. Apple has its own special niche where it is largely immune from this competition it seems.

    http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/26/apple-eating-all-the-profits/#.zvmch4:Q5ax
     
  6. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    I've got my 635 and 640. I like both. Unfortunately, the app selection is mostly "me too" apps, which is fine on Android and iOS but really hurts Windows Phone. Android has just about every app you could want. Windows Phone barely has any still. I prefer the Windows Phone UI and it's simplicity. Android has just become overly complicated as features have been added. I am considering switching to either an S5, S6 or LG G4 though. Of course, I might just hold off for now and see if Ubuntu Touch based phones ever make it to the US.....
     
  7. Extraordinary

    Extraordinary Guest

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    I miss the fluidness of WP, everything (Apps) felt like it was part of the OS, there was a constant throughout the whole OS, but not enough customisation, control, and like you say, apps are basically cr4p

    If you go for a Galaxy, I'd suggest the S5, the S6 seems riddled with problems, low battery life, no external storage, people on XDA who upgraded from S5 to S6 for a quick way to get Droid 5.1, are regretting it already

    Really enjoying my S5 though, camera takes extremely nice pics, whole phone is really quick, smooth (Lollipop) and I get about 2-3 days battery with moderate use
     
  8. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    Battery life for the 640 is horrid. I get a day out of it. I got 3 days out of my 635 with the same usage.

    I'm leaning towards the S5. I had an S4 before but the wife broke it. I really like the LG G4 as well. The only detractor for it is the 5.5" screen. I really don't need something that large. The S5 has a 5.1" screen, which is more appealing.

    Like I said, I'm considering just holding off and seeing if an Ubuntu Touch based phone ever makes it to the US. I don't really want Android again and Ubuntu Touch is Linux, which I'm migrating my computers to anyway.
     
  9. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    I'm really not keen on Samsung phones, had nothing but bad experiences with them. The G4 is a fantastic piece of kit though.

    Not at all surprised to see this happening with Microsoft, they've not got a great track record when it comes to hardware.
     
  10. BangTail

    BangTail Guest

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    I hope WX can breathe some new life into WP tbh.

    I like my S5 (tried the S6 Edge and hated it, what a piece of crap) but I much prefer the fluid feel of WP over Android.

    I'm still planning on going to the 940 when it releases.
     

  11. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    Microsoft was doing fine back in the days of the PDA. They should have stuck with it and pushed things further. Backing out and trying to return years later was a mistake. Gimping the KinOne and KinTwo how they did was a major misstep that did a lot of damage. It's just been 1 stupid mistake after another.

    Screen size aside, the LG G4 is more what I'm leaning towards. After an S3 that randomly choose to fail, 2 Samsung flip phones that never functioned properly, a Galaxy Tab 3 8.0" that was (for all intents and purposes) unsupported, a pair of Samsung cable boxes that were bricked by firmware updates, 2 Samsung blu-ray players that were essentially bricked by firmware updates and 2 Samsung monitors that randomly chose to fail when graphics cards were replaced. I'm really not a fan of Samsung these days. I really liked the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 though. Both of which were produced by LG. I've had 5 LG phones thus far and really liked all 5. The Nexus 4 and 5 as well as an LG flip phone all suffered failures but LG replaced all 3 without any hassle at all. Samsung has hung up on me or transferred me around departments every time one of their products has had an issue.

    I really want to wait for an Ubuntu Touch phone though. I'm considering flashing my Nexus 4 to Ubuntu Touch since there's a supported rom available for it.
     
  12. nick0323

    nick0323 Maha Guru

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    Microsoft still aim to make 6 phones a year according to WPCentral. You have to ask yourself...do you really need 20,000 staff in the phone division? No you don't is the correct answer hence restructuring. Shares have gone up 30% or so since Nadella took over and I'm sure Windows 10 Mobile will be a success.
     
  13. lucidus

    lucidus Ancient Guru

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    It would've been Ballmer's MS to put in all the work in Windows 10 and then suddenly dump Windows phone. It's probably things like redundancies. awful for the affected families though.
     
  14. Darkest

    Darkest Guest

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    I bet it wont.

    Microsoft has struggled to break into a market dominated by Iphones and Android devices. Cutting staff wont solve that, did they need that many in their phone division? Probably not, but cutting down isn't going to magic out a profit either.

    Microsoft has a bad track record when it comes to hardware. They're going nowhere with their phones, nothing will turn around and they'll make little to no ground. Same as their console division, they take on long term projects and sometimes it just doesn't work out.
     
    Last edited: Jul 10, 2015
  15. EspHack

    EspHack Ancient Guru

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    ^the surface pro 3 is doing fine, they will keep pushing just like they always do, same happened with xbox and even bing now is considered fairly successful, wp will take its place somewhere and people will move on to criticizing the "band"

    I think Microsoft just kind of loves challenges, that's their way of doing things, and nadella keeps saying retreat is not an option for wp

    btw this "scaling down" message can get misinterpreted, it means less models, not less phones in volume, its the same if they ship 200 of 5 models vs 1000 of 1 model, but the latter seems more logical to me doesn't it?
     

  16. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    I went ahead and picked up the LG G4. Amazing phone so far. Very smooth. There was only a $50 difference in price between the G4 and S5. Couldn't justify $550 for the S5 when the G4 was only $600...
     
  17. xIcarus

    xIcarus Guest

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    It's a great phone. The only turnoff for me is those soft buttons. I much prefer hardware buttons. Use it well.

    What I like about the LG is their UI. It looks sooo damn good, should teach Samsung a lesson or two. That's why I'm running CM12 on my S5. I miss the features of touchwiz.. But The fluidity and customizability of the CM made it better in my book.
     
  18. thatguy91

    thatguy91 Guest

    The S5 etc are a completely different target market. The 640 is a upper-low end device. The battery use is surprising seeing as it used the same processor and graphics as the 635. Maybe a firmware update and Windows 10 Phone when it comes out will help with that.

    Microsoft were a bit silly with the 640. The CPU is basically the same, albeit a fractionally different variation of the one in the 635, variation of the Snapdragon 400. They could have used a Snapdragon 410 processor which is based on ARMv8 (not ARMv7), is 64-bit, has better graphics, and for all intents and purposes is the direct successor to the 400. The price should be around the same as well.

    The 640 replacement will probably be using that, when they should be using the Snapdragon 415 or 425 :) (they weren't out in time for the 640, but the Snapdragon 410 definitely was).
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 10, 2015
  19. sykozis

    sykozis Ancient Guru

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    I've had the phone since about 9:00pm last night. So far, so good. The phone is very responsive and fluid. We'll see how it fares over time. I'm a really big fan of the ability to tap the screen to wake the phone. I'm really liking the UI so far as well.

    I'm aware the phones are intended for different markets. I simply buy what I like. I don't buy a "high-end" phone just because it's a "high-end" phone. When I go to buy a new phone, I buy what I like. The 635 did everything I needed a "smart phone" to do. I bought the 640 because it had the same capabilities as the 635 but with a bigger, better screen. Unfortunately, it started to have issues with the screen. Some portions of the screen were more responsive than others and some portions of the screen were not responsive enough. It made for a bad experience. Now I have an LG G4. I can deal with having to charge a phone nightly, but I can't deal with a screen that doesn't function properly.
     
  20. krisby

    krisby Guest

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    No sad news for me. I had an HTC WM6.5 five years ago, it was a good phone, and I thought it was better at the time because android was in its infancy, but since then, I've had android after android and the phones and OS just get better and better.

    I have a Lumia something bollocks forced on me at work and I hate it with a passion. The look and feel of WP is dreadful, it is slow, the camera is useless, apps are tosh, I have nothing good to say about it except the 4 day battery life is good. I believe my work got a cheap deal to replace all our phones, Nokia E5s and various Android models with the Nokias, but I really don't see the appear of the OS and how it could win anyone away from Android or iOS.

    Thankfully my LG G2 is the anti-Lumia, and serves me well.
     

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