What Windows 10 Needs For Me To Stop Carrying An Android Device…

I’ve gone on and on about the failings of Windows Phone 8.1 over the past year. I’ve poked a bit of fun at the omissions of the OS and the Apps that are missing, but there is something that I never say – even when I am carrying a device like the HTC One M9… I miss Windows Phone.

As amazing as Android is, and don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t like it, or it doesn’t work, it just doesn’t have something that clicks with me. I love the additional Apps for services like Klout, Wordpress and a few others, but I can work around most of those via mobile sites or programs like Windows Live Writer on my Dell Venue Pro. Even with all those extra Apps, a monstrously great device and a ‘perfect’ setup, Android isn’t right for me.

You see, I use my phone primarily as a communications device. That may shock some, but in order of importance, I need a camera, an emailing machine, a texting machine and a PDF reader. That encompasses about 85% of my daily usage. While my M9 does a good job with this, it isn’t as good as my Lumia devices, or even the M8 for Windows. The Windows Phone OS just does a better job of ‘working’ for what I need.

The problem is this, I can’t do everything I want with my Windows Phone either. While it’s a smaller portion of my day, that 5-10% of features is pretty much a deal breaker. For one, something as simple as printing an email can’t be done. Access to Google services, like Drive, which my company uses daily, is practically non-existent. Another common issue that I have is that I feel that Microsoft is putting more effort into my Android Apps than my Windows Apps right now. I know that sounds crazy, but have you seen Bing Torque? It’s freaking amazing!

Now, if Microsoft would just get down to brass tacks here and make my phone work like my Venue 8 Pro, but add the dialer and messaging apps, I think I would be the happiest guy on the planet. I can wirelessly print documents. I can edit photos with the killer OneDrive App. I can read PDF’s in the multiple readers that are available and most of all, there’s no file system problems when trying to upload from a “real” browser. This get’s over that nasty ‘youtube’ issue that seems to plague many users.

So, if you are listening Mr. Microsoft, let’s get this started already, ok? There’s no real reason why Windows and Windows for Mobile should be much different any longer. These 4”-6” devices all have plenty of power to run this OS, I mean my Dell isn’t much more powerful than my Lumia 1520, so… Yeah… Anyways, lets get bringing these awesome services to the forefront and make a phone that uses them well. Bring the mobiles to Windows 10 and not a cut version of Windows 10 to mobiles. Believe me, we will pay $500-1000 for a 5” full Windows 10 device that runs EXE’s and universal Apps. We will, we promise… Now just get this done, ok?

Why Windows Phone Needs More Lumia 810’s

Probably the most important feature used on a smartphone today is the camera. Sure, gaming is great, but sharing those photos over social media channels is really where the action is at. When rise of Windows Phone, however small it was, it happened when Microsoft was pushing their Lumia 1020, 920, 810 and 925. Three of these devices featured the PureView camera and an amazing photographic experience. The lone “non-PureView” device in the bunch was the iPhone looking Lumia 810.

The 810 by all means was a mid-range handset sold by T-Mobile USA with a price tag that made it seem premium. The $600 price point was tops in the game for T-Mobile, competing with the iPhone and Samsung with all their guns blazing. Still that little engine that could stared them down with it’s 4.3” display and non-LTE radios and hacked away at their market share.

The baby 1.2GHz Dual Core processor had that little guy running fast enough to keep up with anything you could throw at it and the 8GB of internal storage was amplified by an onboard Micro SD slot. But that wasn’t the best part of the Lumia 810, not by a long shot. The 810 featured a camera as close to those PureView monsters as it could, without actually being one. Zeiss lenses, dedicated camera button and the full suite of Nokia software made the 810 a dominant Windows Phone device.

Then just 6 short months later, the device disappeared from stores and fell to $400, then $300, then went EOL on T-Mobile’s website. The 810 was gone and so was the support for it. Since then, the 8xx series hasn’t seen much action. Sure there’s the current release 830, but It’s much more of a stop gap than a serious phone. It was a slightly lesser version of the 930 that filled a space between the 635 and the 930 (that just for the record is still not available in the US).

For Windows Phone (or Windows for Mobile or whatever you want to call it right now) to succeed, Microsoft has to figure out their market. The 5xx series is so saturated that it confuses people. The 630/635/640 debacle has us all frustrated too. Then you throw in the 640XL for good measure and things get even worse. What really needs to happen is a nice defined entry level Lumia 6xx series and that lower cost phablet that is the same device with a bigger body. Then you go to the 8xx series, which is currently filled by the 830, and scale back the specs to lower the price a touch. Finally, you move on to the dreaded conversation of the 9xx series devices.

With a proper 9xx series follow up to the 920/925, the flagship could be re-established. While it may not be the best phone out there, just throwing a $700 device at the market with a stellar camera, simple OS and all thing things that make a Lumia different will at least get people talking again. Come in with a lower spec, but still very strong camera offering in the Lumia 840 at the $300 price point would solidify that with users as well. This would be the type of device that carriers could give away with contracts. Moving downward, the $100 Lumia 640 would fill the gap in the no-contract/replacement phone market just fine.

Right now, there’s just no option to purchase a great Windows Phone for a decent amount of money. Sure there’s the HTC One M8 which I love, but missing out on all of the ‘Lumia Exclusive’ software is a deal killer for many. The 1520 is gorgeous, but it’s too large for way too many people out there, so that’s a niche market as well. For now, your choices in normal sized Lumia’s are limited to the 530, 630 or 830. It’s time to set that bar back to normal and bring back the mid-rage to the mix. Give me that Lumia 810 again. That mid-range is what you need to set apart the higher end and the entry level handsets. Until you get that back in place, confusion will reign.

Would You Let Your Carrier Put Ads On Your Phone For Reduced Cost Service?

Advertising. We all hate to see it everywhere, but it’s always just a blink away. Websites, pop-ups, billboards, everywhere we look there’s an advertisement for something. Of course, one of the worst offenders to this plague is mobile advertising. Games and websites are loaded with them. Some ads even push them to your devices when you aren’t looking. One such recent App that did this made an interesting thought appear – would you let your carrier put ads on your device for reduced cost or even free service?

It’s been reported that the average person unlocks their cellphone 110 times a day. 110 times! This would mean that at $.002 an ad, a cell company could generate $6.60 a month in just simple display ads. If this was applied to a plan like PTel Mobile’s $25 unlimited plan, that would bring the cost down below $19 a month.Of course, if you unlocked your phone more often, you would generate more income. Unlocking 150 times a day brings that up to $9 a month. A simple increase of $.001 (a tenth of a penny) brings the total up to $13.50 a month – or over half that plan .

While advertising may be obtrusive, annoying and just a bit painful sometimes, getting paid to see them really might make them a bit more fun. Using your browsing history, a small amount of data and targeted marketing, this could be a way for the cell companies (or maybe a new MVNO?) to offer unbelievable deals on their products. A simple banner ad displaying on the bottom of your lock screen or even just at the top of the screen when you use certain features of your device (maybe the music player?) could generate enough cash to give you a major discount on that expensive service plan.

What are your thoughts, would you let your phone company push ads to you in order to save $5, $10 or even $20 a month on your bill? Imaging that family of 5 getting a $100 a month discount?

HTC Confirms Windows 10 For The One M8–Or Almost Does

If there is one thing that has been great about the way that Microsoft has handlled Windows Phone in the past, it would have to be the transparency at how updates would or wouldn’t be handled in the future. For better or worse, upgrade or non-upgrade information has come quickly through the channels (thanks Joe Belifore) and has been pretty accurate. While it was confirmed a while back that almost all the Lumia line of devices would be getting the Windows 10 for Mobiles update, third party devices like the Samsung ATIV, HTC One and various others have remained very quiet about their upgrade plans.

It looks like HTC is the first to break their silence about their upgrade plans for their One M8 for Windows, and the emphasis on that should be ‘looks’. The HTC US twitter account posted a vague answer to the question online revealing that their flagship Windows device will be getting software updates for 2 years after it’s launch.

Since the device launched in August of last year, this would mean that HTC will continue developing updates for the M8 as far out as July of 2016. While many would see this as great news, those in the know (Hello 8X users!) are reading more into this than the rest. HTC has a bumpy history of getting those promised updates through carriers and on to devices. In fact, Microsoft themselves promised 2 years of updates to multiple devices only to have them come up well short of that mark. The most notable failure in this chain was the Nokia Lumia 810 on T-Mobile. After 6 months, T-Mobile canned the struggling device and support for it stopped shortly there after.

Even so, with HTC’s comment, one would have to assume that the device maker will be pushing the update to carriers as quickly as possible. It’s doubtful that there will be a timetable like the Android updates feature, but it should be considered good news for M8 users no matter how you look at it. It will also be interesting to see if Microsoft continues their plans to push a non-reversible Windows 10 for Mobiles update path for Android devices as well. If the support is this good, there’s no doubt that Microsoft could start winning over Android devices one user at a time.

Source: https://twitter.com/HTCUSA/status/585817374630219776

Does Microsoft Need A Flagship Device?

We have now hit the 8th month since the last major Windows Phone flagship hit in the US and nearly a year since the last of them hit world wide markets. The last flagship to hit the market, the HTC One M8 for Windows. The last world wide release was the Lumia Icon/930. Since then, it’s been nothing but 400, 500 and 600 devices, along with a smattering of 800 series phones. Nothing that rivaled the powerhouses that were the Lumia 1520 or 1020, or even the 920 for that matter. It’s been all quite from Redmond and their newly acquired smartphone line.

Even at World Mobile Congress, Microsoft only threw out the Lumia 640 and 640XL. Both devices are fully capable and come at a very sweet price point. This move prompted the tech industry to ask, “When do we get our flagship?” More blogs and writers took it a step further and stated to demand to know. A simple answer of, “This fall, after Windows 10 comes out,” was all they got. As funny as I find this, my bigger question is, “Why does Microsoft need to release a flagship device?”

In reality, the M8 is way too powerful for Windows. It runs it like a dream, but there just isn’t much there to run. There’s no SnapChat, Klout, very few mobile banking solutions and the worst part – the shrinking body of Apps that continues to get smaller and smaller as developers give up their time to other platforms that are gaining in user base. Frankly, I don’t blame them one bit, but at the same time, this is where Microsoft should be putting their resources. We saw what they could do with YouTube, and it was gorgeous.

Imagine if Microsoft publishes Windows 10, that runs smooth as silk on a Lumia 635 (sub $50 price range without contract) and could save you $100’s every month in phone rentals and data charges. Honestly, it’s a perfect scenario for most users, but a nightmare for carriers. It would create a flood of users bolting for MVNO’s that would offer $35 plans with smaller data caps and no taxes and fees. It would be a nightmare for the networks that support them. Of course, it also just shows how heavily inflated the carriers are with their stores, sales people and ‘support’ staff.

While I would love to see a new flagship device, I would rather see more devices come to market in the lower to middle ranges that would sway people to trying Windows to start with. BLU Products already has a good selection of lower range and mid range Windows devices. The $150 price point of the BLU Win HD makes it a very solid choice for new buyers. Unfortunately, the great news ends there. Since Microsoft has their ‘Lumia Exclusive’ stamp on so many Apps, the third party devices now seem like stepchildren to the Windows lineup. This is what needs to change most of all.

In fact, I pulled my M8 out of the drawer and did a quick count… 212… 212 Apps that I have had on various Windows Phone’s in the past are not compatible with my M8. 40-50 of these Apps were ‘Lumia Exclusives’ and another 40 of them are just no longer compatible. The bleeding needs to stop or the 3rd party makers will walk. Open up your Apps and get Windows growing Microsoft. You aren’t Apple and you don’t have a monopoly on any OS at this point. Get with it.

I’ll just bring this to a close right now. Microsoft does NOT need a flagship device. Microsoft needs to get the Apps that people want and to stop losing those that people use. Bringing in the power developers like Rudy Hyun and the game makers is a great start, but opening up the catalogs for everyone would be subject of the greatest importance to every user on the planet. They could come out with an all metal Lumia with a 50MP camera, 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM, but it will still fall flat because Instagram sucks, Tumblr has a data leak of epic proportions and I can’t find how to share a video on anything but Facebook now. Oh, and by the way, without Play To access, I can’t even stream music to my home theater… Thanks for the new phone though Microsoft, the camera is awesome and the photos take up all my OneDrive space now!

For now, leave me out of the flagship debate and put my vote towards getting some Apps finished up. You seem to have quite a few really good programmers there, think you can have a few of them start coding some vicious stuff for sharing videos, controlling home audio and maybe even – wait for it – blog from it? Oh yea, I went there… Maybe this fall though… Maybe this fall?

Do You Kindle? April Is Your Month To Start!

There is something special about turning a paper page in a book. Of course, between the laptop, a few files and a lunch, cramming yet anything else in your work bag is sometimes impossible. This is where the Amazon Kindle App comes in handy. The Kindle App works with your existing phone or tablet and allows you access to your entire Kindle library anywhere you go. The best part, it works with the phone you carry in your pocket already, so you have nothing else to buy, or carry with you.

When you team your Kindle App with a service like BookBub, you get an entirely new reading experience that you will never have to pay for. BookBub highlights discounted and free titles from sources like Google Play and Amazon so you can expand your library completely free. They may be older titles or new, breakout writers that don’t have a big name yet, but being able to read for free is a serious money saver deal for most people. The Kindle App doesn’t restrict where you can access your free content either. The App is available on every major platform in the world including: Android, iOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry OS.

There’s nothing magical about the Kindle App. It is a very straight forward reader that uses WhisperSync technology to keep your readers at the same point. If you start on your tablet at home and read some on your phone while riding the train to work, your tablet will pick right back up where you left off when you arrived at your destination earlier in the day. If you aren’t ‘Kindling’ already, you owe it to yourself to check out the Kindle App for your mobile device. It is a free App that is available to download from the link below.

 

Source: Kindle App

Why Do I Need A Computer To Keep Blogging?

Dear Microsoft,

Here is another one of my silly letter style posts to you. I know, you probably never read them, but hopefully some users will start retweeting this posts and start getting some momentum behind this stuff and we can get some of them done. If not, at least I feel a bit better having put these thoughts down to reflect on later – and to say I told you so.

Today’s session is all about blogging and your lack of options for doing so. Right now, I am writing this from one of the most powerful blogging tools ever to hit the planet, your very own Windows Live Writer. I’m using a version from 2012 on my Acer Netbook running Windows 8.1. I have Linux loaded on to another partition because the processor is barely strong enough to run Windows well, but it does work great for blogging. I also run this program on my desktop and my tablet. It is simply amazing. Wordpress, Blogger, virtually anything I throw at it, it takes it down and publishes my posts. I love this program.

Which is why this pains me so much to say… I blog from my Android phone on the go. Yes, with my Windows Phone, I am limited to posting by email, which sucks. With my HTC M7, I can post using the great Wordpress App, the Blogger App and a few dozen other – not so great options. It’s a little annoying. So, there it is – I’m carrying an Android device to blog for my Windows Phone blog because you don’t give me a choice.

It’s obvious that you know amazing software from the fact that you created Live Writer. Seriously, good software is hard to come by for Windows Phone. Using a Windows Phone next to an Android device is a bit sad when it comes to the user experience. Everything Windows Phone does, it does better, but the gap is so large in functionality that it’s just not an easy move to make for anyone. Even me, that has been back to Windows Phone since day one, has issues with the lack of support that Windows Phone is getting and has gotten.

It’s time. Windows 10 is right around the corner. The test builds are coming out and things are looking good. It’s time to push those Apps to the store and get people excited about them. Publish a version of Office that makes us proud. Bring us a blogging program (or enable Word to do it!) that makes me want to leave my Android at home. Open up the archives and return to what made you great – software. Go back to being the best at what you do and create things that make your better.

I know you’re already on this path, but the path is going far to slowly for everyone involved. It’s time to make the change. It’s time to get us the software we need to have on our Windows Phones. I know we’re just 3% of your world wide smartphone market, but we are a powerful 3% and we can help you make Windows #1 all over again. It wasn’t that long ago that Windows ruled the mobile world with Symbian. It can again, but only if you help us do it. Make us the Apps we need and we will make it happen. Start with the Live series as an extension of Office and see how well bloggers respond. We will win them back by just making our OS the best mobile blogging solution on the planet. Then everyone can read all about the best OS on the planet.

Thanks!
Ron