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We Need to Break the Mobile Duopoly

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Re: We Need to Break the Mobile Duopoly

#41

Post by aceperry »

jarcane wrote: post #16
msturgill wrote: post #4

Windows Phone is not that bad. Google has done a good job trying to starve WP users of their services, but I think we can all survive without Hangouts (Telegram, etc) and Google Voice (who cares anymore) at this point.

WinPhone8.x is a fantastic mobile OS. The interface is great. I've dealt with some bugs since switching to the developer preview, but that's to be expected, and my experience running production code was always rock solid. But the app situation is abominable, and getting worse. The Xbox program seems to have been all but abandoned. Microsoft seems to have largely given up even monitoring the app store; half the top/ne…

Part of the problem with the app situation is due to MS themselves. They've treated the independent developer as a second class citizen, compared to large corporations. Large companies get access to undocumented apis and much more consideration and technical support than indie devs. It's easy to see that indie devs are second class citizens in the MS app space.

Re: We Need to Break the Mobile Duopoly

#42

Post by drapper »

V-2 wrote: post #20
jarcane wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WinPhone8.x is a fantastic mobile OS. The interface is great. I've dealt with some bugs since switching to the developer preview, but that's to be expected, and my experience running production code was always rock solid. But the app situation is abominable, and getting worse. The Xbox program seems to have been all but abandoned. Microsoft seems to have largely given up even monitoring the app store; half the top/ne…

If they cared to see their app ecosystem grow, they wouldn't charge developers 100$ (which is actually 1$ more than this greedy evil empire of Apple does :)) for a licence you need even to install your app on your own darn phone

It's actually 19$ for individual developers nowadays: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/jj8634...

Re: We Need to Break the Mobile Duopoly

#44

Post by aceperry »

aen0 wrote: post #19
msturgill wrote: post #4

Windows Phone is not that bad. Google has done a good job trying to starve WP users of their services, but I think we can all survive without Hangouts (Telegram, etc) and Google Voice (who cares anymore) at this point.

I'm been using a Windows Phone for 1 month (from iOS). Surprisingly, the pure OS part is not bad at all (even with some perks like BT aptX, default maps app with offline mode). Store is missing a bit of stuff (mostly first class games) but I was able to find a replacement for everything else. And one thing huge (IMO): the performance/price is pretty amazing with the low/mid level entry Lumia. (I have the Lumia 735, i…

I'm amazed that anyone going from an iphone would find the Windows phone to be acceptable. I would agree that the price/performance is pretty good for the low end Lumias. I have the 530 which I got for only $35, half off during the last Christmas season. I would not have paid full price for that phone though. Windows phones actually lost marketshare during 2014, so they had a fire sale at the end of the year.

Re: We Need to Break the Mobile Duopoly

#45

Post by asdkl234890 »

The web is your 3rd mobile OS.

Sure the developing world still needs very cheap phones, and they require software close to the hardware.

But in the developed world phones and tables get closer to a full PC every day. They basically are tiny PCs.

And exactly how the web made Windows and OSX, and Linux less interesting, so it will make the mobile OSs less interesting.

Because even if you can't get close to the hardware, and might require user permissions to access hardware features, still a java script and HTML5 based web app can do almost anything you want on mobile hardware. History keeps repeating itself.

Re: We Need to Break the Mobile Duopoly

#46

Post by aceperry »

s_kilk wrote: post #22
msturgill wrote: post #4

Windows Phone is not that bad. Google has done a good job trying to starve WP users of their services, but I think we can all survive without Hangouts (Telegram, etc) and Google Voice (who cares anymore) at this point.

It's not the worst certainly, but after a few months of daily use I concluded that the OS was mostly tuned for the show-room (read mobile-phone store) rather than actual use. It was slick, with really pleasing touches all over the place, but I felt the core functionality was lacking.

I don't think WP lacks core functionality. It's the best looking phone OS today IMHO. But the design limits you to using only a few apps before it gets unwieldy. It's suitable for the casual smartphone user, not the power user.

Re: We Need to Break the Mobile Duopoly

#47

Post by V-2 »

aceperry wrote: post #36
V-2 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they cared to see their app ecosystem grow, they wouldn't charge developers 100$ (which is actually 1$ more than this greedy evil empire of Apple does :)) for a licence you need even to install your app on your own darn phone

MS has changed that screwed up situation to a new store model. IIRC, it's now only $20/year I think, and that includes the ability to produce apps all across the windows landscape, desktop, xbox, etc. Originally, they copied the Apple store model, charged $100 like Apple. The policies were also pretty similiar to Apple's policies.

Good to know. Thanks for the update. Bad taste remained, but better late than never I guess...

Re: We Need to Break the Mobile Duopoly

#48

Post by reddotX »

DiabloD3 wrote: post #2

I'm not sure what the article is asking for exactly, we've had a third OS for quite some time. We had Blackberry, iOS, and Android; now we have legitimate Windows Phone adoption, iOS, and Android; and if one of those three should die, we have FirefoxOS to fill in the gap.

+ Ubuntu phone, Jolla, Tizen

Re: We Need to Break the Mobile Duopoly

#50

Post by [deleted] »

minthd wrote: post #32
V-2 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they cared to see their app ecosystem grow, they wouldn't charge developers 100$ (which is actually 1$ more than this greedy evil empire of Apple does :)) for a licence you need even to install your app on your own darn phone

Really ? Their OS really shines in low cost devices aimed at the developing world(it's supposed to be much better and cheaper than whatever android can achieve). I would imagine a $100 is a substantial barrier for developers there.

[deleted]
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