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Bill Gates switches to Android phone

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Bill Gates switches to Android phone

#81

Post by fenwick67 »

perseusprime11 wrote: post #60

The lack of a Youtube App from Google killed the Windows Phone. https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/microsoft_on_the_issues/...

It's insane to me that there haven't been any anti-trust lawsuits against Google for this kind of crap they pull.

More examples:

* Deceptive ads all over the web telling people to switch to Chrome

* You can't use any other search engine but Google from Chrome on Android

* The insane amount of Google integration on stock Android

Google has almost total control over a typical internet user's experience

Re: Bill Gates switches to Android phone

#82

Post by drzaiusapelord »

discreditable wrote: post #76
Divver wrote: post #42

Before I joined Apple I was at Microsoft and I did use a Windows Phone. It was a Lumia 1520. And honestly the OS was rock solid and worked great (unlike my experience with the Lenovo Windows work laptop I was given which would keep blue-screening after going into hibernate for more than 5 minutes. I ended up switching to a SurfaceBook once that was available and it worked perfectly. Amazing laptop. Like a MacBook Pro…

> Lenovo Windows work laptop I was given which would keep blue-screening after going into hibernate for more than 5 minutes. It amazes me that every model Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga I've worked with (four generations now) has some issue along this line. Every refresh requires some driver troubleshooting on my part to find the one that fixes machines that sleep and don't wake up.

Outside of their business line, Lenovo completely phones it in. I never recommend Lenovo for consumers. Heck, even their think-series laptops and desktops often have critical bios and driver updates shortly after release that need to be installed or the machine will bluescreen, lock up, drop wifi, etc.

At work, I only buy Thinkpads and Think-series PCs after they've aged 6+ months. I can't imagine how people get by being early adopters. We early adopted a Carbon laptop once. Borderline unusable wifi and trackpad. It took 6-12 months for Lenovo to release the updates that fixed these issues, and even then the trackpad never felt right to me (misses taps, misses drags, fails to detect two fingers, etc.)

Re: Bill Gates switches to Android phone

#83

Post by mustacheemperor »

jasonmaydie wrote: post #5
qubex wrote: post #2

The total failure of Windows Phone to gain acceptance in the market is a huge pity. I have a Lumina 950 as a secondary device (for loading with a local SIM while abroad) and it’s a solid performer with a polished OS, refreshingly ’different’ UI, and excellent basics (build quality, call quality, and battery life). The basic, core apps I ’need’ in this role are available (WhatsApp, Facebook/Messenger, Twitter, & ceter…

Every major version was a new os. Their phone strategy was terrible and lacked commitment. It didn't help that it was started by one CEO and abandoned midway through by the next CEO.

>Every major version was a new os

I can report this is exactly what drove me from the platform. I adopted Windows Phone out the gate and received a never-ending litany of supportive emails, oneDrive bonuses, etc. There were missing features, but early adopters were promised they were coming and I think most of us thought the experience was worth compromising for early on. Then Windows Phone "7.5" released barely a year after I'd bought my phone, included most of the features early adopters had begged for, and didn't support any of the phones people had already bought. Soon some apps didn't work without 7.5 either. It felt like we all got flipped the bird for taking a risk on Microsoft's platform and I switched to Android. Every aspect of it felt dishonest and disingenuous - "7.5" implies an incremental release, and in terms of features it really should have been one. I have no idea if they just couldn't hack it on the weaker early devices or if MS honestly thought we were all going to run out and buy Nokias immediately. I mean, I nearly did a year later when they were $1...

Re: Bill Gates switches to Android phone

#84

Post by Clubber »

ansible wrote: post #53
Clubber wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was really hoping to have a full Windows 10 phone that ran x86-64 apps and you could then dock and use like a regular computer. I think Intel scuttled that idea when they dropped the mobile chip though. It could have been a game changer.

I've liked that sort of idea, but not really as it has been currently implemented. What I really want is just some way to maintain my 'working state' wherever I go. When I'm in front of a desk, I'll want to make best use of multiple screens, higher-speed networking and storage. And when mobile (on a phone or tablet) I still want to maintain my context, at least in terms of what I've been looking at on the browser, in…

>I still want to maintain my context, at least in terms of what I've been looking at on the browser, in email, etc.

That's Apple's strategy with their continuity technology.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204681

Re: Bill Gates switches to Android phone

#86

Post by drzaiusapelord »

bmsleight_ wrote: post #43

Wow, I guess 10 years ago - if I said Mr Gates would be walking around with a Linux device as his most often used 'computer' - no one would have believed me. What next ?

Its not like he had much choice. Adopting Apple, his historic competitor, would have been too much of an ego bruising for him. Linux is more neutral to MS anyway. MS never had a lock on the server market that linux is successful in. The home computer front has always been under attack by Apple with varying results. Especially today where owning an Apple computer isn't just for 'designers.' Pretty much every college student has one.

Re: Bill Gates switches to Android phone

#87

Post by drzaiusapelord »

notzorbo3 wrote: post #21
Jedd wrote: post #11

There's a mild delight in noting that Microsoft failed to break into someone else's platform stranglehold. Personally I wasn't sad to see it fail to obtain a place in the market. Disclaimer -- I've never used a Microsoft phone. Indeed, I only know one person that had one - and even then it was an employer decision. Nor have I ever heard anyone wish out loud that their phone was more like their Microsoft Windows compu…

> Nor have I ever heard anyone wish out loud that their phone was more like their Microsoft Windows computer The one place I want microsoft to succeed is smartphones. Android spies on basically everything you do. Both android and iOS are vendor lock-in in a way we've never seen before. Compared to the current smartphone OS offerings, Windows was (and is) an incredibly open platform.

>The one place I want microsoft to succeed is smartphones.

Someone tell this guy about Win10 telemetry and store app tracking.

Re: Bill Gates switches to Android phone

#88

Post by IgorPartola »

Spivak wrote: post #65
vbezhenar wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

May be your Android is underpowered? It's not an excuse, of course. My iPhone 4S might lag for a few seconds between receiving tap and displaying an action. Modern iPhone (or iPhone 4S with iOS 6) responded instantly. Or it could indicate some kind of hardware problem, where driver is causing delay somewhere in the stack, for example very slow SD-card or something similar.

It doesn't really have to do with the power of the device, it's just that once you hit the call button the UI hangs until the call starts before switching to 'calling view' rather than acknowledging the user's intent immediately. It's certainly more noticeable on slower phones but it's fundamentally a UX problem.

Funny. I have the exact same issue with iPhones. Just got an iPhone 8 and it still has it. Something about phone calls is just funky I guess.

Re: Bill Gates switches to Android phone

#89

Post by discreditable »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #82
discreditable wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Lenovo Windows work laptop I was given which would keep blue-screening after going into hibernate for more than 5 minutes. It amazes me that every model Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga I've worked with (four generations now) has some issue along this line. Every refresh requires some driver troubleshooting on my part to find the one that fixes machines that sleep and don't wake up.

Outside of their business line, Lenovo completely phones it in. I never recommend Lenovo for consumers. Heck, even their think-series laptops and desktops often have critical bios and driver updates shortly after release that need to be installed or the machine will bluescreen, lock up, drop wifi, etc. At work, I only buy Thinkpads and Think-series PCs after they've aged 6+ months. I can't imagine how people get by b…

Their business line is what I was referring to. I've never worked with their consumer line.

Every generation has some variety of stupid power management issue. Their 2014 & 2015 model ThinkPad Yoga both had a problem where there was some fault with the system board that frequently caused the trackpad to stop working after sleep/wake. Fix was to replace the system board. The 2014-2017 models have all had sleep/wake bugs that involved a driver and/or BIOS updates to resolve later (often not completely). It doesn't help either that they regularly leave critical drivers out of their SCCM packages.

Re: Bill Gates switches to Android phone

#90

Post by KGIII »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #55
KGIII wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Acer, HP, and Alcatel still make them. Microsoft doesn't make any and Windows Phone 8 is dead, I think.

In fact, it sounds like a Verizon model of the HP Elite x3 is launch-imminent. I'm hearing mid-October.

Yeah, I may end up switching to Verizon, though I'm not sure how happy they will be. US Cellular owns the towers near me and Verizon has an agreement to share towers with them. However, Verizon recently cut about 12,500 people off because they were using non-Verizon towers too often. (This made some news sites and the municipalities are less than impressed.)

US Cellular doesn't like to activate non-branded phones, though I guess they have started doing some. They share the same tech so I don't know of any technical limitations that would prevent it.

I will need to replace mine. It is running 8 (.1 maybe?) and I guess it can be upgraded but I'd rather not risk it and it is getting long in the tooth.

I should add that I'm in an unusual position where I don't even carry my cell phone very often. I often even forget to bring it with me. I don't depend on it, am not chained to it, and it frequently goes without attention for days or weeks at a time. I don't actually install anything on it. The stock apps do everything I want to do, and more. Right now, I think it's in the cab of the tractor, though it might be in the car.

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