Microsoft has always treated its Windows Surface Phone with many surprises, but now news has surfaced that points to rumors that the company itself is now planning to eliminate some devices for a foldable tablet with the official retirement of the Lumia lineup.
We recently reported news about the HP Elite X3, and users say it’s the best Windows phone to date, and not even a Lumia can match its performance. It’s kind of ironic that the number one Windows phone is not manufactured by Microsoft, but Redmond itself said on several occasions that it plans to work with partners on building “great devices.”
But despite the HP Elite X3 being a hardware monster, the software side of the device is simply dragging it down, and I’m saying this as a big fan of Windows phones. It’s nearly impossible to come from Android or iOS and be happy with Windows phones (although I’ve personally seen people doing this, but you can count them on the fingers of one hand), and there are three main reasons for this.
Spoiler alert: Windows phone fans aren’t going to like this, but as always, head to the comment section if you think I’m wrong. I’m preparing my argument bag as we speak, so let’s have a conversation.
News of Buggy operating system
Windows 10 Mobile phone has improved a lot since the first preview builds were released a long time ago, but after using it for so long on the Lumia 950 XL and then on the HP Elite X3, it’s more than obvious that it still has a long way to go before it becomes a strong rival to Android and iOS.
Bugs are still there, and it goes without saying that these easily ruin the experience with a powerful phone like the HP Elite X3. The “Resuming” bug is still there, and so are crashes that occur every once in a while when using various apps.
I have been using Windows 10 Mobile for 2 years now and I have been very satisfied with its performance and capabilities. Aside from the infamous lack of 3rd party apps (that I don’t use) what shortcomings have you experienced with Windows 10 Mobile compared to the iOS and Android experience?
One of the things I like most about Windows 10 Mobile is that it serves me well as an at-a-glance notepad. I put all kinds of notes on the tiles and don’t have to open apps to read them. I also use it that way for the calendar, alarms, and email. It’s all just right there on the home screen. I do not believe this is currently possible on iOS and Android.
I’ve been using my 950XL for 9 months (Since late Feb 2016) and after it’s first major update have had zero issues with it. It’s solid, fast and just works and works. I’m very happy to have left Android. As an IT pro, who has been working with this stuff for a long time, I don’t understand the sturm & drang over this OS. It essentially works like my other Windows 10 devices. Could it be that I do not play games on any of my devices, which could exercise the hardware more than the normal business apps I use daily? I can’t answer that. But for the serious work I do daily, I have absolutely zero complaints.
I’ve been using windows phones for about two years now and that was out of necessity due to office suite running better on these phones than any other and the price was better, I don’t like paying 700 for a phone, I got my windows phone from Microsoft for 150, does everything I need it to do. App’s? Apps seem to be dying, I use apps less and less, most websites are mobile optimized and I can get full function on my windows phone and I see that trend continuing. Plus apps just cram up your storage and drag your battery down. I do hate to see that Microsoft will eliminate the lumia phones that were affordable, as mentioned I don’t like to pay 700 for a phone but if I have to I will because I have never been a fan of Apple, and Samsung just got to be more than I needed with their Galaxy phones which I used for many years starting with the first Galaxy which I purchased when I left being a Blackberry user. Why didn’t Microsoft buy Blackberry instead of Nokia? That seems like a better fit since Microsoft is largely an enterprise level company and Blackberry to this day is still a champion of governments for their encryption abilities and they were synonymous with productivity prior to Apple dominating the smartphone landscape but Apple in my opinion is not a business or government phone its a fancy consumer device as is most Android devices although the higher end Android devices in combination with Google Docs is a fairly productive and worthy business phone, especially with their mapping. But I’ll stick with Windows phones now, I like the simple OS, three main screens makes it easy to navigate, Android is hit or miss depending on the manufacturer and what their spin on the OS is, I particularly dislike several major brands versions of Android and the calling features some of them use make it difficult to simply answer the phone. I hope Microsoft doesn’t allow other manufacturers to start screwing with their OS for phones when it has taken them forever to finally get this close to being where they should have been ten years ago when the then CEO was not Bill Gates that much is obvious, the new CEO of Microsoft has a good vision for the company and their productivity suite is still the best although google docs will get the job done for most people it is as far behind Office as Windows phones OS is behind Android in terms of absolute ability. But the new surface phone looks like it will erase that divide in one fast swoop, but I do not see the surface phone or Microsoft ever gaining more than 10% of the market without an entry level phone to attract young users and indoctrinate them to the Microsoft universe.
While we do not understand everything going on with Windows Mobile and Microsoft, I’m confident that the Surface phone, if it ever comes about will include at least two must have features that either do those things way better than anyone else or include must have things that nobody has thought off.
If I could afford the new Surface Studio I would buy one for me and my wife, but for now their are other priorities. Both of us rock the Microsoft 950 and are VERY satisfied with it’s performance and availability of apps that are must have’s for us. Everything else would fall under convenient occasionally.
But the if and when the Surface phone arrives, we will be waiting in line at a Microsoft store to pick one up and I have zero doubt that we will be very happy with it. Phones are within our price range with cash at any time.
Windows mobile has been really OK for me and I have been using it since the start of the insider program. I don’t play games on my phone. The surface pro changed the tablet experience running win 32 apps for me because most apps. wrt phones apps that I do like have a browser equivalent like banking apps. If windows phones use an intel chipset I think the app problem will not be there for me.
There are some issues if your running insider builds, but that’s expected and they have been minor with the insider builds. To me it’s the best tech today running across all my four devices.
My work phone is an iPhone, simply due to mandated corporate requirements/standards, but my personal phone is a Lumia 950. Because of this, I have been able to do side-by-side comparisons of many functions and apps, which have only cemented my opinion further than the Windows Phone is the superior business phone, and still an excellent consumer phone too. I have Windows 10 on my desktop PC, my tablet (Surface Pro 3), and my phone, and I love how seamlessly and smoothly everything just works together. The sheer enterprise-level power of all three devices simply can’t be beat. Even though the iPhone is technically my business phone, I still use Skype for Business to talk with colleagues on my personal Lumia, simply because it just works better than on the iPhone. If I could do that for email too, I would, but corporate policy does not currently support anything but iPhones, much to my dismay (and the dismay of many others, too). I am currently pushing to change this, since every other aspect and system in the company is all Windows-based anyway.
I have a Windows Lumia 650 and have been waiting for more than two years for an upgrade to Windows 10. The Windows Upgrade Advisor is a joke!
Reluctantly, having been a MS supporter and user since 1978, I think it is time to switch to an Apple phone.
If you’re really a MS supporter and user, and you’re now ready to get a new phone, why are you still waiting to upgrade your Lumia 650? Just ditch your old phone, get either the Lumia 950 or the new HP Elite X3 and you will have the latest Windows 10! 🙄
Microsoft Lumia 650 comes with Windows 10 Mobile out of the box. It’s a lower end phone but works very well. I’ve had it since February 2016 and been quite satisfied with it.
I have two windows phones. One I updated to windows 10.
I prefer the phone I have with windows 8. Simpler to use and when you pin a website to the desktop it shows the site nicely, where as windows 10 simply shows a blue tile with an E. that is bad.
Also I have a windows 8 Nokia tablet that I prefer to my window 10 tablets. Much easier to use and pin sites.
My wife has a windows 8 Nokia 1520 which is much better for business than the I.phone she had.
Me too. I have a Lumia 920 with Win 10 mobile. I would suggest to be patient. I think that it will be worth the wait. Anything good typically takes time and MS I think knows this :)
I am very happy with my Windows Phone. I have encountered VERY few buggy situations using these phones, compared to the numerous problems I’ve had with my Android phones. (At least one of my Androids’ manuals suggested that it was advisable to power down the phone every few days for most reliable operation.) In all the years I owned my Lumia 925 and my Lumina 950, I have only needed to restart the phone due to system or application problems maybe half a dozen times
My wife, who has always had problems with any electrical device she uses lovers her Lumina for its reliability.
In my opinion, the Windows mobile did not capture the following that Android and iPhones had, chiefly because it is primarily a smart phone and not a game box with a telephone built into it.
PDWhite,
You nailed it. “It’s not a game box with a phone built into it.”
Seems to me the windows phones only obstacle to over coming its lack of market share is the brainwashed public and its inevitable resistance to change. I have used widows phones since their first windows 7 phone. My 83 year old father uses an apple, so as you can imagine I am constantly working on that phone to get what he needs done i.e. resetting passwords downloading apps and connecting it to blue tooth devices. All in all not a bad device, but the windows system blows it away. I had the lumia 950xl with one major problem, could never get mobile hotspot to work. After the second replacement and 11 months they finally refunded my money. That being said, I have been on an Motorola Pure X running Android for the last three months. Everything works, but to be honest the interface just lacks and in my opinion is childish. You can’t even see on the app tiles things like how many text messages or how many unread emails. You have to enter the app to see if you have a new text or email. Yes you can turn on notifications, but that is so annoying after a week of android notifications I felt like I had PTSD. The only app I use that I can not get on windows is the Magic Jack App, I am sure this is due to Microsoft’s imperial history of not playing well with anyone that competes with something they want to offer, in this case skype to landlines and cell phones.
So as a person that has used all three phones, yes windows has some bugs, but if your serious about a business device it blows android and apple away.
If I were a CEO of any corporations I would fire any I.T. director that has the company using only apple devices, simply put this is a decision being made and justified by I.T. directors that just want the lasts IPhone for free to play there games and run their entertainment apps, while the workers of the corporations trying to get business done have to suffer through apples short comings.
I for one want to get off my android and back to windows, but at this point I will wait for the surface phone to come out.
I just recently switched from a 950xl to an iPhone 7plus. I switched from iphone to windows 4 years ago for the Nokia 1520. i loved it but broke the phone so then went to the 950. I also loved the 950 though it is too boxy. I have to say the Windows Phone simply has a better, more intuitive and flexible interface than iOS. Additionally i have had far more problems with iOS crashing than I ever did with my 1520 or 950. That said, the app issue finally forced me to move back to Apple. The reality is there are simply too few apps, and it has recently felt that no one is porting to Windows any more, or if they do the apps are of inferior quality and rarely updated. Until this issue is solved a kick as Surface Phone will still have major issues gaining traction. I would love one but will need to see the app issue addressed somehow. I know a full fledged windows as rumored may be one step in that direction, but I am not sure that will solve the problem.
Bought the 950 for my daughter who had a iPhone and she loves it. I have used pretty much all the Samsung galaxy and iPhones till I switched to the Lumina 1050. It was the best phone and operating system I had used. Bought the 950xl for myself shortly after It came out and loved it. My wife has been a long time iPhone user and convinced me to by the s7 edge for all the apps I was missing on my windows phone. Got it and went through all the apps and found the only app I was really missing was Snapchat. The phone was very glitchy so I was asking myself do I really want to use this phone for one app…I DONT THINK SO! Returned the phone and back to my 950xl and couldn’t be happier. In the end windows is superior to any other operating system.
I totally agree with the majority of comments already posted. I LOVE my 950, I loved my 1020, too! I only upgraded because I wanted the latest. I’ve found that most of the apps I want are available now, though that was an issue earlier on. I simply don’t understand why the employees in phone stores don’t explain the benefits of this great phone OS!
I’ve been using a Lumia 950XL for the past year or so and had no problems at all with it.
The few apps I need are all there. Can’t wait for the Surface phone!!
950XL rules! I got two. one for my dad. We use the Cricket $45 8GB per month plan, and we both attach to 50 inch monitors with the HD-500 docks, and a few wireless display adapters spread around the house. I have all the apps I need, now that Bank of America is back, and when I travel I have a Kangaroo 4GB, in case I have some legacy apps, or I can teamviewer to the family i7 on FIOS for torrents. Also, Myfreecams runs fine on all devices and its nice to be part of the Microsoft eco system, with favorites, Onenote and OneDrive all syncing up.
I was so miffed when the works changed my Erickson for an IPhone I decided to by my own phone and went for the Lumia 930 and now have the Microsoft 950XL and what can I say, other than it was the easiest decision I ever made. I needed a real working tool and the 950XL fits the bill perfectly easy to work with easy to setup and sync’s easily with all my other devices of which I have many.
Apps are not a problem to me, all what I need and use on a regular basis are available either via app or mobile website.
I get fed up with people with android and IPhones coming up to me to show me an app that they will use once just to show someone, for it to never be used again and having to wait while they spend an age scrolling through there other one a day apps, of which I must say you sound just like one of those people.
If you wish you compare iOS or Android I think you should be looking more closely at Smyths or Toysrus
Amazing, only one Windows detractor here.
Not surprising, I am also a very happy 950XL owner and it is simply the best phone I have ever had.
I have had it now since they came out and have never had a single problem with it. Mind you my phone is a communications machine not a games machine, I use it for what it was meant for so the ‘app gap’ has never been a problem for me because every app I need, or am ever likely to need, is already available.
I cannot wait for the Surface phone to surface (pun intended) and I will be the first in line to pick one up.
Myself and a friend both love the 950xl, but it is buggy, my battery doubled in size and it seems impossible to get any response from Ms, car phone warehouse had no interest in helping, last phone was a 920 had it since initial launch, been using windows phones since the HTC phones with 320×240 screens were high end,Windows 10 is the first time I’ve been disappointed,its great but buggy, although I have to use a other device , an android device, its also buggy, things crash, it happens I accept that, but the overheating with the 950 xl the 950 we also have seems awesome and has few issues, but the xl, constantly gets hot, turns off for no reason,poor support, I want to buy a surface phone but put off after the support experience with the 950 xl.. Been looking at the hp, but the camera is what really draws me to the 950
In terms of user interface and performance, my Lumia phone is better than the other 3 offerings. I have been using the Windows phone pretty much since Windows mobile was introduced.
Yes, there is a lack of apps that those on other platforms mostly don’t use anymore. I have not missed them,
I will move the Surface phone when it is available.
I went from a windows 6.5 phone to a 7.0 to an 8.0, waited and waited for Verizon to allow 8.1. Then switched to ATT to buy the 950. Works fine for me and Cortana can accurately (almost flawlessly) recognize my speech.
For all those windows Fans on the site, 5 different incompatible OS moves by Microsoft during the smartphone introduction to mainstream is inexcusable.
That is why the low market share. Thankfully, Win10 will be around a lot longer. Having one unified OS for all devices should allow Win10 to build a stable strong ecosystem. But not sure that will translate to a big smartphone market share.
I have an active 950XL, iPhone 6, and Galaxy S4 (the latter two are free services from work and freedompop). I don’t use the Android - other than having access to apps, it’s menu-heavy and frustrating to use because the interface isn’t streamlined. It’s just a backup for me.
iPhone is great for all the garbage tasks I have (games, random unnecessary social media), but it is awful for typing, which is weird because it used to be the best for me. To get physical feature parity it requires a hefty battery pack with Qi charging and a micro USB port. This makes the phone bulky just to get feature parity with the other two phones. At least it’s quick and has access to about any random app you might need on occasion.
My Win10m phone does everything that’s important, and the interface excels at quickly moving around and getting what I need at a glance. Installed apps are the easiest to find on it since it can hold the most icons on the start screen and the app list is way better than the messy panels the other two use. The ease at jumping between my desktop, surface, and phone is great with OneDrive, Cortana, and other features.
I used the Lumina 1520 for several years and really loved the phone and the Windows 10 operating system. The battery got to the point where it would only hold a charge for a few hours, so I switched to an android phone because of the lack of apps. It’s gotten to the point where is really is an issue. My t-stat, security system, bank, food store and on and on are unavailable on Windows mobile.
The Windows mobile OS is so much better than android, it’s just a shame Microsoft can’t gain any traction. The tile UI is very user-friendly, and android has nothing like it. I want a Surface phone, but without solid app support, I don’t know…
Right now, I have 3 cell phones.
My carrier absolutely refuses to carry a Windows phone. Since they are the only carrier here in my rural area that has a good signal, I reluctantly have to carry a droid.
Last September, I bought an Alcatel Fierce XL (W10) from another carrier knowing that they didn’t even have service where I live. I love it.
After going into numerous big red stores in the last year or so looking a Lumia 735 and being laughed at, I finally went into a store over Christmas where the sales person gladly showed me the Lumia 735. I bought it on the spot. The carrier does have fair coverage where I live but not good enough for me to only have service with them.
So, right now, I have 2 Windows phones that have poor service and a droid,
I’m going to drop one of them, just haven’t made up my mind yet on which one, but I’m leaning on keeping the 735, and of course I’ll have to keep the droid unless my carrier & MS can get together on a CDMA phone and push them.
Here’s my point.
If MS can’t get its act together on phones, they should change leadership.
Focusing on a possible Surface Phone that will be the “ultimate mobile device” sounds good and I’ll buy one, even if it won’t even work where I live.
But MS needs to continue to offer MS branded low end devices too if they want to further develop a loyal customer base that will continue to support their products.
Lumia’s failed because carriers and sales persons in stores weren’t on board.
They were a great line and MS made a fatal error ditching them.
Why not ditch the folks who allowed them to fail?
I had an iPhone and then switched to an Android HTC. I liked the phone, so when the new HTC for windows came out I got that. I liked the phone and had a loyalty to Microsoft. After two years I missed having some apps that were either unavailable or discontinued for windows phone. Now I have an iPhone and it’s great and all but there are a lot of features on windows phone I miss. The start screen, list of apps, ability to save documents and pdfs without having to use iBooks and i-everything else. Also the voice recognition on iPhone is kinda crappy. Basically I miss windows phone.
Your article is giving bad information. The Windows OS is not buggy, at least not as bad as you portray. The Windows OS is superior to the iOS or aOS. I’m ready for the Surface phone.
I’ve been using Windows 10 mobile for over a year and I don’t see any bugs. I love it!
I love my l umia icon and have not been able to enjoy the newer phone because I’m in Verizon hell. Verizon just refuses CDM so I’m stuck because of my cheap unlimitted data plan which can’t be beat if I change to AT&T. ($39). Sigh, its either pay more monthly or move to Android.
I am using the Lumia 950. This is a very good stable phone. I am going to upgrade to the Surface phone when it becomes available. The windows 10 OS is better than Android or IOS. The Windows 10 OS is easy to use and is very convenient operating system.
Bugs are a feature of every os….thats y they give updates….question is how many times do u see your device having performance issues?? To be frank….having used all the 3 os’s ….i can say with confidence windows 10 after a series of updates has blown away the other two in terms of performance and i have encountered maybe a half dozen times of my phone freezing at the most…..its easy to use, fast, productive, a great camera, flawless keyboard, one of the best digital assistants ( its catching up on google now…beware google, cortana’s coming!! �?�)…..the best in class music player in groove music, no lags…and the only app i missed in windows was a food ordering app here….�?�…but seriously it would be nice from microsoft to release a patch to activate the volte in india….thats the only thing i feel is missing….and we are missing it bad….
The best phone for me is the Lumia 650xl all you have to do is upgrade to windows 10 I use a wecast to connect to a monitor an 1 by one Bluetooth keyboard and a Microsoft Bluetooth mouse and for on the go a mobile tablet stand.
You don’t have to spend hundreds of pounds as you get 95% of what continum and any future surface phone can do right now here today on a trusty ol 640 xl.
Don’t wait for the future the future is now you can turn your phone into a mobile computer.
Use the file explorer app to navigate as is more like on the pc and its so nice using the mouse to copy and paste between tabs and applications you don’t need continum you can do it a lot cheaper on the 640xl.
As for the app gap the store isn’t empty and you can do almost anything in the browser saving bookmarks in folders is a fast way to be productive windows 10 mobile is getting more stable and better but it’s market share is almost none existent and Microsoft supports most of its apps on iOS and android devices these days so a lot of users will reluctantly jump ship.
If the surface phone does eventually surface, would like it or one of its variants to sport a 5.0 or 5.2 inch screen for ease of use & portability of the device as larger than that is likely to appeal to the mainstream phablet users and the elderly.
A removal back like those on some of the latest Lumia phones would be great. Hope MS also comes up with a fix to the overheating issue currently experienced by windows phone users even from a few minutes of use as the much awaited surface phone sees the light of day….
Well if it EVER shows up it will be DOA if Microsoft doesn’t stop fluckin around and add CDMA support. They pissed a lot of customers off that expected to upgrade to the 950’s when they found out there was no CDMA support. How is it iphone & roid both support GSM and CDMA but now Microsoft’s great Windows 10 mobile does not?
The MSFT platform needs current apps that are regularly updated to survive. It’s not all about the hardware. The hardware is like having a car that does a great quarter mile and not much else. It needs to be the complete package.
I keep hearing about the ‘Surface phone’ with all the magic hardware and foldable keyboards etc.. blah, blah…. and think, ‘what’s the point?’ If the apps aren’t there and not as good as Android.
Even just having two phones to offer like the 650 and 950ST or XL and two different price points with great app support, I don’t see what the problem is. W10 is now mature.
I gave my daughter the 640 WM8.1 and she loved it. However, she moved back to IOS due to one app and the camera was lacking some features. The fact that we couldn’t update the phone to w10 after trying several times, she just gave up and went back to Apple.
So close and yet so far.