2015 the year WP8 goes down the drain?

[threegee]

Well.. the new Microsoft doesn't seem that different from the old Microsoft.  A few times during 2014 I'd been tempted to buy a Windows Phone 8 device at an aggressive promotional price, but stalled and ultimately went for something else.  What made me hesitate was generally the fact that the device was blighted with only 512MB of RAM or (and it's mostly the or) the long history of Microsoft prematurely abandoning its many failed platforms.  Yeah, I've still got a fair number of manufacturer-abandoned MS NBT devices in boxes somewhere, but happily was able to completely dodge Windows RT.  That's not an easy dodge for someone who has always been into extreme portability, and a sucker for any new gismo.

 

All I see now is moans from people who gave MS another chance on the strength of the (now abandoned too) Nokia name.  Great hardware is useless if it's welded to dead end software. So, I really don't care how good that 40 megapixel camera on the Lumia 1020 is, and how intuitive the operating system, it's surely going the way of just about every other offering from a company that - at core - can't properly relate to its customers. One that struggled to do so in far less competitive days.  Can a leading software corporation that always had problems innovating fast enough (and simply relied on total market dominance) ever hope to rescue a hardware one that went down because it was similarly blighted?

 

My advice: WP8 - avoid at any price!  In a year or so (when you've forgotten this post even existed) you'll be congratulating yourself that you were so percipient.  Think I'm wrong here?

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Thank you for that sir, looks like a bleak year for some.

Even thought the WP8 allows for larger screen devices to be connected I will be carrying on as normal with my Desktop PC, with 19" screen, for some time.

How will I manage in capture the beauty of the countryside without 40 megapixels? Just continue using my eyes + Specsavers lens and live in my world. As Joan Jett & The Blackhearts would sing - Oh, woe is me I don't got no money All I got's a name The future's lookin' hazy But who can I blame! 

 

Please never allow old codgers, like me, to bring you down to their level. Keep looking, moving and progressing ever forward. Even though we are blind to the benefits that will evolve from it don't ever give up.

 

 

 

[Maggie/915]

What lap top should we buy in 2015.?

Accepting we have two useless lap tops because of windows 98 or XP not sure which!

They still do CDs or play DVDs but they are not supported on the internet.

[threegee]

What lap top should we buy in 2015.?

 

Horses for courses Maggie.  Really depends what you need it to do.  Don't assume you even need a laptop these days.  Tell me if you have any Windows™ software you absolutely need to run?  I mean things like an accountancy package that you've already invested weeks of your time in.  There are often cheaper, faster, easier alternatives to battling Windoze(zz)!

 

Ongoing cost of ownership can be as important as the device itself.  At the present time I think that many people aren't just running the wrong model for what they are doing, but also the wrong type of device, and the wrong operating system - all because they are follow the herd, or don't bother to ask someone who had no vested interest in selling something!

 

CD's are very 20th century!

[Maggie/915]

We do not need a lap top other than for flash drive and certain sites.

The old ones do the job .

Cds may become important again when the whole Internet becomes non viable threegee.

After all it is easily hacked and therefore could just as easily be shut down.

The company's selling items seem suspect.

Data selling has become very important.

Everyone is after your name and e mail.

It is therefore worth money to companies

[threegee]

Don't worry about network integrity Maggie, Ive got TOi (The Other internet) just about ready to roll.  It's hack, and even electromagnetic pulse proof.  Got a few teething problems due to spuggies perching on the waxed string, but I'm training some of the local moggies to patrol the network on quadcopters.

 

 

We can't promise to match normal ISP speeds any time soon, but we do have a protocol to transmit your old 78's faithfully (including all the needle jumps and scratches).  So, please don't turn any more into flowerpots!

 

------------------------

 

Seriously: Have a look at a Chromebook (there used to be several models).  The great thing is that Google will keep it fully up-to-date and virus free for you, and you won't need to shell out serious money for applications.

 

https://play.google.com/store/devices/details?id=chromebook_acer_c720_black_wifi_2gb

 

 

[Maggie/915]

Will look at your suggestion threegee.

Thank you.

I like the idea of the waxed string, spuggies and patrolling cats.

[Christopher Doyle]

Back to the windows phone, i was an iPhone guy for a good long while, but the battery life (and the task of trying to replace one! WOW apple!) got me down.

 

I went back to a simple T+C phone (texts and calls) for a while, but gave in as i did not realise how much i relied on aps to tell e the weather, tides and even if i got an email.

 

I too went in for the deals and got a WP. (Even though I KNEW i wanted an android...)

 

Lets not mention the lack of popular aps available for it, or any of the tech specs...

 

With my nokia, you can't even add a personal text tone.

 

I still remember my first nokia. Even with that you could use the keypad to create a ring"tone" (because thats all it was, keypad tones!) to be personal.

 

What the hell is nokia/WP thinking removing such a simple pleasure of having your phone shout "Would the man with the twelve inch ***** please answer his text!" whenever a loved one wants to track your location?

 

And... the litmus test: 

 

Me: Son, I' getting a new phone for Christmas, do you want my old one?

Son: Sure! What kind is it?

Me: Nokia Windows Phone.

Son: Er.... (walks away shaking head)

[mercuryg]

I no longer use a phone, just a tablet. There are so many ways of communicating with people without making a phone call (which of course is handy for me) that I find a phone redundant.

[threegee]

Microsoft to cut 7,800 jobs, take $7.6B charge as phone woes drag on

 

http://www.cnet.com/news/microsoft-reportedly-plans-another-major-round-of-job-cuts/

 

...that means Microsoft paid too much for Nokia's phone business based on how the unit is performing now, and the company wants to write off some of the now "worthless" assets.

 

Microsoft isn't giving up on mobile phones, but rather is still finding its way.

 

Bye bye Ballmer; bye bye Elop - you were both utter disasters, and totally undeserving of your obscene remunerations!

 

There is hope for (real) Windows in the mobile phone space though, once Intel starts shipping 14nm Atoms with on chip LTE.  Only then will Microsoft have the leverage to acquire real market share.  The proposition of phones that run desktop code at decent speeds will be the game changer.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Errrrr.......

 

[mercuryg]

I'm frankly quite surprised at the continued efforts of competing mobile operating systems; it makes no sense. The mobile market is mature enough now to follow the automobile world where manufacturers routinely work together for the sake of efficiency and cost-effectiveness, and I doubt the consumer market can sustain more than a couple of rival systems. Apple is firmly established and has its many followers, and Android is perfectly adequate for the everyday user. Microsoft was always fighting a losing battle. The once volatile 'tech' market is surely settling down.

[threegee]

Quote

The demise of Microsoft’s mobile phone ambitions came today [yesterday] in a complex transaction that seemed both sudden and yet inevitable.

And now, even the biggest Windows Phones fans (yes, they exist!) cannot ignore reality.

Microsoft’s feature phones are dead. Windows Phone is on life support. The end is nigh.

Microsoft is selling its feature phone business (a legacy of the Nokia handset business it bought) to a Foxconn subsidiary. Meanwhile, Microsoft is also licensing the Nokia name for handsets back to Nokia, which has set up a new company that will make feature phones, Android-based smartphones, and tablets.

http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/18/stick-a-fork-in-em-windows-phones-are-done/

OK, so the inevitable took a tad longer - as it often does. Just hope no one here got lumbered with one in a fire sale "promo"; I was tempted at one time.