Windows Mobile or Android: WinMo is better than you think! Choosing the best OS for a smartphone: Windows Phone or Android File system - where are my files
Prevalence and selection
The most common mobile operating system today is Android. This mobile operating system from Google has conquered the market, being installed on 75% of the planet's gadgets. Windows Mobile, the brainchild of Microsoft, flaunts only 12% of gadgets. And it's not just that the system is more popular, Android is installed on most new smartphones released. All new modelsthat have Windows Mobile on their board can be memorized, when you can’t count.
To choose an Android smartphone, you will have at least two dozen options, in the case of Windows - no more than 10.
The main distributor of Windows Mobile is Nokia, which is also owned by Microsoft. Other manufacturing companies produce models with "windows" as a variety, concentrating their production on the "green robot".
Availability
Those Windows smartphones that are on sale today, by price, are in the same niche as similar TOP Android models. We are talking about ordinary smartphones in the middle segment.
If we take into account the cheap Chinese products of gadgets, which in overwhelming quantities have Android pre-installed, then they are several times cheaper than Windows-based smartphones, but the quality of the former is much inferior.
Number of applications
About 125 thousand applications are placed in the Windows Store, only 105 thousand are available for Russians from this list. But in the app store for Android - Google Play, 700 thousand applications are available. Therefore, if you are an amateur or plan to install a large number of applications: programs and games, then on Google Play they are offered for every taste, and in the Windows Store their choice is very limited.
Most applications: various services, websites, networks, TV and radio companies and games - are developed for Google Play and the AppStore (iOS store), but many of them do not have versions for the Windows Store. The more applications you can install, the livelier and more interesting your smartphone will be.
Convenience
Convenience is a subjective factor, so the site's journalists will share their personal impressions of these two mobile operating systems.
Mobile is simple to disgrace, the desktop is a tile, each of which is a shortcut to the application. A few minutes will be enough for adaptation in the system. As for the Android mobile OS, it looks more like the computer version of Windows we are used to, with a regular desktop and application icons. This is not to say that Android is complex - no, but it will take a little more time to master it than for “tiles”.
Again, the more you can install a variety of applications, the easier it will be for you to work with the gadget. And Android in its arsenal has a lot of such applications. Android is quite a flexible OS, so you can do pretty much whatever you want with it.
Windows is closed source, so this mobile OS is not suitable for active users. But for those who put security and protection in the first place, it is worth choosing Windows.
Android is also convenient in that a large number of sites and forums are devoted to this mobile system, which have answers to all the questions of beginners, as well as manuals for troubleshooting problems with the system and device operation.
Stability
The stability of the mobile OS is a very relative concept. It all depends on how you will use your gadget: if both are stable for calls and SMS, if you actively use it, an unexpected “bug” can come out for both, although to a greater extent for Android.
However, due to its popularity, Android has a big drawback - vulnerability to viruses. Many viruses and spyware have already been written for this mobile OS, and anyone can pick up one of them, and quite easily. For the most part, such pest programs do not bring much harm, but you still have to get an antivirus program. Because of the closed source code, there are no viruses in Windows Background.
What is better?
Summing up all of the above, the conclusion is unequivocal - Android is better than Windows, gaining a confident advantage in the race.
The “window system” is suitable for those smartphone users who love simplicity, and their main tasks are: calls and SMS, Internet access, reading news and weather forecasts, and the ability to install a couple of applications. "Green Robot" is suitable for active users who want to get the most out of a smartphone.
You can visually compare the operation of smartphones of both mobile operating systems: Android L and Windows Phone 8.1 by watching the video below.
Windows 10 Mobile is a version of Windows 10 designed for mobile devices with screen sizes up to nine inches. Its main feature: synchronization with the desktop version of Windows, the launch of new "universal" applications, as well as the ability to connect devices to an external display and use a smartphone as a PC with mouse and keyboard support
A little background
The first version of the OS was released in December 2015. Windows 10 Mobile was a “glimmer of hope” for all Windows Phone owners. With the release of a new version of the mobile OS, Microsoft began to “shower” users with promises that many “were seduced” by (including the author of this article).
I own a Microsoft Lumia 535 with Windows 10 Mobile preinstalled (I've been using the device for 3 years). During the use, I had a certain opinion about the smartphone and the OS as a whole, so I decided to tell readers about the relevance of this platform today.
My first impressions of the purchased smartphone are not entirely objective and a little naive:
To compare and understand the issue, you can imagine any device of 2015 on iOS and Android, and this is one generation with the Apple iPhone 6S and 6S Plus, Google Nexus 5X and 6P, Samsung Galaxy S6. And most likely, such smartphones are still fully operational (questions can only be about the battery, but they are solved by replacing the battery with a new one). But what happens to a typical smartphone in 2015 on Windows 10 Mobile?
Device Support
The first disappointment that Windows 10 Mobile brought was that it did not support all devices. The minimum system requirements were as follows: 1 GB of RAM, a screen resolution of 960 × 540 pixels or higher, the presence of a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor: 208, 210, 615, 617, 625, 808, 810, 820 or 835. This meant that budget Lumia with 512 GB of RAM could not receive an official update (although some users managed to somehow replace the smartphone data and install updates).
Windows App Store
The Windows App Store is a complete disappointment and the situation has not changed in any way from 2015 to the present day: applications and games are sorely lacking. Existing ones are not updated by developers, and new ones are simply not made by anyone.
The store is full of all sorts of "slag", which is not moderated in any way. There are paid applications, the purchase of which is meaningless. Apps from Microsoft and hits of 2015-2016 for Android hang in the tops of the store.
At the moment, the applications show the possibility of updating, but refuse to update (perpetual download), although this problem may be related specifically to my Microsoft Lumia 535 smartphone.
Beginning of work
Getting started with a smartphone is a living hell. On Android and iOS, the user registers one account, which applies to all devices. Microsoft decided to “stand out from the crowd” and offers the owners of their devices to register two Outlook accounts and one Xbox, and all this in order to be able to download and install any applications and games from the Windows store. “What are two Outlook accounts for?” - you ask. And I will answer: “For Microsoft family”. One is “parental” and is tied to a PC, the second is “children's” and is designed for a smartphone, a kind of “innovation” in the field of synchronizing a PC with a smartphone and.
OS shell
The interface is nice and minimalistic. Like it or not, but here Microsoft did not fail with its tile design. You can display any installed applications on the main screen, and some of them support the display of additional information. The second screen contains a list of a bunch of applications that are not convenient to use at first, but you get used to them later. There is also an alphabetical search, which is a good solution for this shell, but in my case, after the next firmware update, the Russian font “broke” (see the last screenshot).
Firmware update
At the moment, this process hangs at 1% load, as a result of which the device is not updated. Especially funny is the description of all the updates to Windows 10 Mobile, with which “your device will work even better.”
Using a smartphone while charging
This is one of the many factors that will make users lose a lot of nerves. The bottom line is that when charging a smartphone, it is impossible to use it. The screen takes on a life of its own, one touch turns into three, a swipe down opens a bunch of apps (the problem may be related to a certain model or batch of smartphones, but that doesn't make it any easier for me).
Compatible with other accessories
In the age of smartwatches, fitness trackers, and add-on plug-ins that can be easily used with iOS and Android smartphones, this problem is more relevant than ever. There are a limited number of smartwatches that support Windows 10 Mobile: , Fitbit Surge, Agent Smart Watch, i'm Watch (all discontinued).
To date, no manufacturer of current smart watches supports Windows 10 Mobile. On the Internet, you can find official fitness trackers from Microsoft: Microsoft Band and Microsoft Band 2, which are also discontinued and are not supported by the company. But with smartphones on Windows, they should work. The choice, as you can see, is small ...
VPN
A very useful feature these days. Especially relevant for Ukraine and Russia. There are free applications that allow you to use VPN on Windows 10 Mobile, but they are absolutely not functional. The only ones left are apps that offer VPN services for a monthly subscription of $20 or more.
Browsers and popular apps
The story about all kinds of applications is not over yet. Browsers on WP10 are a sore subject. Of the normally working, there are only two: Microsoft Edge and UC Browser. Unfortunately, they do not have sufficient functionality of modern browsers. Surfing web pages occurs with freezes and freezes. There are not enough applications from Google: Maps, YouTube, Google Play Music and so on.
It is also worth mentioning popular applications. Messengers, they are present in the Microsoft store and almost everything, but updates from developers are extremely rare and not always on time, or even not received at all.
A sore subject is bank customers, who for the most part do not exist or they exist, but unofficial, from third-party developers. Whether it is worth trusting your banking data to such decisions is a rhetorical question.
In general, the store does not have many official applications of stores, operators, sites. There is a severe shortage of photo editors and games. As for audio and video players, the standard ones are enough. Readers can be found without problems, although they, for the most part, will be analogues of Android applications.
P.S. Fortunately, in the middle of last year, the Steam client was released for Windows 10 Mobile, if you know what I mean, fellow pirates.
Preinstalled Applications
Upon initial purchase of a smartphone, the user is greeted with a number of useful programs from Microsoft: Food, Health and Fitness, Maps, camera apps, Weather, Mail, Sports, News, Word, OneDrive, and so on. It would seem that at least these applications can be used without problems? But not everything is as rosy as we would like ...
Separately, it is worth talking about the Office software package. They are made really high quality and convenient, but after a year they require the purchase of a paid subscription. The maps are also well done, but only relevant for Europe.
Gameloft Hub is the official application of the game developer (I could not ignore this application). It contains 5 games from Gameloft, which are ports from java. And everything is either donated or paid. What Microsoft was guided by when creating and integrating this application into new (once) smartphones is not clear.
The screenshots of the gameplay speak for themselves - this is some wild junk:
One-handed mode
Functionality that developers have added in later versions of Windows 10 Mobile. Perhaps a useful feature for flagship Lumia with a large screen size. On Microsoft Lumia 535, it is implemented “crookedly”. The developers made sure that the user could scroll only half of the screen, but the content in this mode is not always displayed correctly.
Eventually
The author does not recommend taking smartphones running Windows 10 Mobile. Even if it seems to you that the hardware is quite good, and the price is tempting. Better turn your attention to Android devices for a similar cost. They may not be so cool at first glance, but at least you can use all popular services on them without problems and wasted nerves.
Smartphones "soft", in our time, can only perform the functions of dialers and media players. Especially sorry for users who have purchased flagships from Microsoft. Yes, they got the ability to use a smartphone as a PC using a docking station, but an abandoned proprietary OS will make you regret such an acquisition more than once.
This material is difficult to write correctly. After reading more than a dozen reviews of mobile Windows 10, I came across approaches that are radically different: from the usual description of menus and their capabilities to a deep analysis of system codes from the point of view of developers and programmers. I wanted to approach this review a little differently, from other positions. Describe not only what the user gets today, but also where the development of the system can go, what ideas are embedded in it and what they can result in in the end. One cannot exist without the other, and therefore, in addition to descriptive, specific points with illustrations taken from Lumia devices, I will need to deviate to the side and describe what is not on this platform, but is present on the modern market. Why? The answer is obvious, the Windows 10 Mobile platform does not exist in a vacuum, but competes for the attention of the buyer with systems such as Android / iOS. And only by understanding these differences will it be possible to break out of the trap of Microsoft's worldview, which prefers to describe only what exists within their systems, but not to pay attention to competitors.
Reasons for Windows 10 Mobile - a clean slate for the third time
We already live in a post-PC market where the majority of web browsing is done on mobile devices rather than personal computers, be it home systems or laptops. The irony lies in the fact that one of the pioneers of this direction and the company that accurately predicted the development of events, but made a slight mistake in the dates, was Microsoft Corporation. She never had a shortage of visionaries, people who could predict the development of the market and give accurate forecasts. The problem was in making predictions, putting them into practice, and building a mobile version of Windows. There has always been one approach that can be called dominant within Microsoft, it has not changed for the last decade or even more. The mobile operating system should be a copy of the desktop system and give the user a similar experience. So, when Windows Mobile appeared, users were convinced that it was ideologically the same system as on their computer, look, it even has a Start button! Many people bought devices on Windows Mobile to realize that they are nothing like their computers, are not compatible with them at all or are almost incompatible and belong to a completely different class of portable devices. Nevertheless, at the dawn of the smartphone market, the role of Windows Mobile was quite serious, this system influenced the development of Symbian, its ideology was considered by many as promising.
But Microsoft made a number of serious mistakes, building a business model on cooperation with Chinese manufacturers that created Windows Mobile smartphones, the company launched the process of destroying its platform. Noticeable unit sales, programmers who rushed to create applications - everything whispered about the success of the undertaking. But the trouble came from those same Chinese who, in the battle between themselves, gave up on quality, as a result, the platform became associated with powerful, but buggy devices. The same Symbian lost functionally, developed not so fast, but it was guaranteed to work. The direction of Windows Mobile has become a kind of cursed place inside Microsoft, there was no person who would present a clear and detailed development plan. More precisely, there were too many such people, and each had his own plan of salvation. They, as in Krylov's fable, each pulled Windows Mobile in their own direction. And the result was that the company suddenly realized that they were losing the market and could lose the race for the consumer. It was at the starting point of Android's growth, around 2009, when the system first showed its potential and it became obvious even to die-hard naysayers. And at that moment, Microsoft's throwing began, which did not end even today, the first zeroing of the company's mobile platform took place - the appearance of Windows Phone.
By and large, Windows Phone has become Microsoft's anti-crisis plan, a response to the conquest of the market by iOS / Android. In 2010, at a congress in Barcelona, the company showed Windows Phone as an animated screensaver on dummies of future phones, no system existed, it had to be created in the coming months. We were all shown pictures that had nothing under them, and the choice of tools for developers, code for the mobile OS was chaotic, it was designed on the knee, just to have time to share the pie in the form of end users. The only task that was set within Microsoft was to meet the deadlines, in a state of time pressure, the creation of the system could not be properly planned. The first devices in the Lumia series from Nokia had many problems, each of which was fixed along the way, the most serious errors were fixed in the first few months of sales, and the “little things” were finished off for about a year.
But within Microsoft, already in the first months of Windows Phone 7's life on the market, there was an understanding that this system was built incorrectly and that the kernel needed to be reworked, switching to source code similar to the desktop version of Windows NT. In the future, this would make it possible to create the same applications for different branches of Windows, with minimal differences and labor costs. The decision was controversial, as the company's PR and advertising for the new platform promised that users would receive updates. But instead, a year later, the market received Windows Phone 8, and enthusiasts and pioneers of the new system received version 7.5, in which they added external similarity with 8, but the key features were missing. Many people felt cheated, as once again Microsoft has reset its mobile platform and started its life from a new point.
I want to draw your attention to the fact that all these years at Microsoft, the idea that the mobile system should be similar to the desktop OS has not disappeared anywhere. With persistence worthy of a better application, the company implanted in phones an interface that few could call successful, it was unusual (Metro UI in the original name or tiles), but from the point of view of ergonomics, not the best.
The change in company management, the lack of spectacular success in the field of Windows Phone, the murder of the tablet version of Windows RT - all these events took place during the existence of Windows Phone 8.x. And they showed inside Microsoft a simple thing: the system that the company created is not viable without iron subsidies, when it is sold below cost and only therefore has 3% of the world market. Billion-dollar marketing investments, the purchase of Nokia's mobile division - nothing made Windows Phone a success. The problems only got worse. And what was the next step? At Microsoft, they did what they are already accustomed to doing - they decided to start life from scratch.
The advent of Windows 10 Mobile is a reset of the impasse of Windows Phone 8.x, when the system did not receive any noticeable sales, and the few developers who wrote software for it constantly felt like outcasts. There was an opinion that those who are unable to create software for Andorid / iOS can write it for Windows Phone, where the quality of programs does not play a big role, since these programs are few and users are eager for them. On lack of fish and cancer, fish, as they say in our area.
Such a parameter as the cost of owning Windows Phone for the end user was noticeably higher than for Android / iOS, since in the absence of competition between programs, any price could be set for them. For example, Microsoft paid for the development of the official Instagram client for Windows Phone, it was shown at one of the press conferences, and it seemed that this was the turning point when everyone would start writing for this platform. But it didn't work out. Moreover, in 2016 the official Instagram client for Windows 10 Mobile is still in beta status! It does not have most of the settings available on other platforms, there is no support for working with video. The best alternative product 6tag does not work with all filters, and you will have to pay 119 rubles to work with video. This is just a small touch that shows the state of affairs with software for Windows Phone.
Microsoft realized that they had lost the battle for the mobile device market and went into loss minimization mode. The arrival of Windows 10 Mobile is an attempt to capitalize on the key event of 2015, the release of the Windows desktop version, which was number ten. Part of the Windows desktop success was to jump-start and support mobile device sales, until the company came up with a new plan and reset this direction once again to start everything from scratch.
In early 2015, when they showed Windows 10 Mobile, Microsoft told a very interesting thing - the launch of the system will take place later than the release of desktop Windows 10. Why? The answer was obvious - all forces are thrown at the main product, and they will try to finalize it in a short time. From October, after the launch of desktop Windows 10, most of the programmers will switch to finalizing Windows 10 Mobile, and in a couple of months it will be brought to mind. Even then, these words confused me, it turned out that Microsoft reduced the priority of the mobile OS to the minimum.
But at the same time they announced the Windows Insider program, which allowed anyone to become a beta tester of the mobile system. Fans of Windows Phone perceived this as a good attitude of the company towards them, pragmatists from business - as a reduction in development costs, shifting tests to the shoulders of end users. Which always leads to negative results, since testing must take place within the company, and only then can they give an adequate result.
Unfortunately, the number of innovations for end users that were shown at the beginning of 2015 for mobile Windows turned out to be so meager that it caused confusion. In my material, I described them and expressed bewilderment how you can wait almost a year to release such an update on the market.
Already at the time of the announcement, the system looked archaic, and the speed of development of Windows Phone compared to other systems was lower. In fact, Windows Phone not only remained a catching-up system, but iOS/Android began to catch up with it, and over the past five years, Microsoft has not been able to close this gap, or at least close it.
Initially, Microsoft plans to update almost the entire Lumia line to Windows 10 in November 2015, then the deadline was postponed to November, and then to early 2016. This is because internally the company is aware that the current version of Windows 10 Mobile can hardly be called a beta version, it is unstable, has many problems and flaws, and even against the backdrop of Windows Phone 7, it amazes with a number of problems. The company could not but release its flagships on Windows 10 Mobile, they were put into production, components were purchased for them. But at the same time, Microsoft is trying to minimize the damage from launching raw products as much as possible. So, the company does not distribute devices for tests if the publications and journalists do not agree that they will not mention the minuses, but will focus only on the positive aspects. However, no one warns Lumia buyers that the system is flawed and cannot be called out of beta.
Unfortunately, the classic situation for Microsoft is repeated, the company will not be able to develop Windows 10 Mobile in 2016, as all efforts will be spent on fixing bugs and working on firmware. This means that Microsoft needs to minimize the number of phones sold, as the company has already officially announced, the model range of 2016 will be minimal and represented by several models. Eliminate iron subsidies, since there is no more competition for market share, why sell a raw product that will scare away users? And preparing for life from scratch, which will be Surface Phone, although the name of this product can be anything.
It turns out that Windows 10 Mobile is another, another page in the history of the mobile platform from Microsoft, which can be considered a passing and temporary one. The company does not build any serious plans for this system, to some extent they want to forget it as soon as possible in order to start building the “correct” system for the new time. But many people do not know this, do not understand and can buy a Lumia smartphone. Let's take a look at the system itself and what it offers to its users today. Let's move on to the description of the Windows 10 Mobile interface.
Windows 10 Mobile tiles and UI features
The originality of the Windows 10 Mobile interface is hard to deny, the main screen consists of tiles of different sizes, you can choose a small square, a larger square, a rectangle. You need to hold the tile for the icons to appear, and you can also pin the tile to the screen.
The screen has a vertical orientation, that is, the tiles need to be scrolled down. You never know how many tiles you have in total, the screen can be conditionally infinite. Considering that most of the necessary applications can easily be placed on the main screen, this does not cause any problems. Everything you need can be posted here.
Unfortunately, when it comes to customization, Windows 10 lags far behind today's platforms in that you can't customize the color of individual tiles - only choose a color scheme for everyone. This can be confusing for those who are not familiar with the system and are used to WhatsApp having a green icon. On my phone, for example, the default color for all tiles is blue, and the WhatsApp icon is the same color.
Does this confuse people who are used to WhatsApp being green? Definitely. But this also creates certain difficulties for software developers; when advertising and promoting your application, you cannot achieve the uniformity that you expect. Why is this done in Windows? Apparently, they thought that the icons might be too colorful. Or they just didn't have time to do it, I don't know. But the fact remains, you won’t be able to customize everything for yourself. And the experience of other systems and the vast world outside of Windows should be forgotten - here the icons will be in the color that you have chosen or for you.
In the "Options" section, you can also choose whether to show more tiles or less, this setting adjusts the same size. There is a choice of wallpapers and tile transparency, interestingly, compared to Windows Phone 8.x, wallpapers appeared both on the central screen and in the application list.
Now an amazing moment that remains a mystery to me. In desktop Windows, many functions have been duplicated in different menus so that the user can change the setting in a matter of seconds. In mobile Windows, everything is different, to change the wallpaper, change the color of the tiles, you need to go to the settings (this section is called "Settings"). Not very logical and not very convenient. But, apparently, the developers proceeded from the assumption that it is not necessary to adjust the color of tiles and wallpapers so often. There is a certain logic in this.
Unfortunately, toggling the more/less tiles mode messes up the grouping of tiles on the screen when there are a lot of them. They suddenly line up not in three vertical rows, as before, but in two. It is possible that this glitch will be removed later, but it looks strange, the system does not remember the previous state.
Many of the tiles are animated and show information, for example, the mail tile scrolls through the headers of new emails, there is a circle with the number of new messages. This is quite simple and informative, but this approach is rather an exception. In most cases, the information is displayed randomly, and there is no system in it, that is, you cannot assess at a glance what you missed or what happened. For example, news shows headlines, changing them one after another. Something similar was in widgets at the very beginning of the development of Android, then the system evolved, but this did not happen in Windows.
I don’t presume to evaluate what the tile looks like for the end user, you can get used to it and even fall in love with it. Evaluating UI design is a matter of taste, everyone will have their own opinion. I would like to dwell on how this UI manifests itself in work.
In standby mode for phones with AMOLED screens, it is possible to display information from certain applications, such as the calendar. On a black background, white inscriptions burn brightly, for example, this may be a message that your friend has a birthday. You are free to choose the applications that will display information here. Plus icons of missed events and time are shown.
This screen operation is convenient and allows you not to take the phone in hand to see what was happening while you were doing other things. In lock mode, when you have not yet got inside the device, you can see information from other applications, such as Twitter - as a rule, this is one entry. Therefore, it can be considered more of a design element than something useful and really helping to navigate the flow of information.
The vertical orientation of the interface is due to the fact that the list of applications (swipe to the left) is better displayed this way. You see applications sorted alphabetically, there is a search bar at the top or a letter selection, then you can jump to a specific section. The irony is that for users outside the US who use two languages, the alphabet goes like this - first the local layout, then the English one.
That is, the English language is almost always on the second screen, it turns out that you need to scroll the screen and only then select the desired letter. Ergonomics is manifested in such trifles, and in Windows 10 Mobile it is lame on all fours. It felt like an army of Microsoft programmers were working on individual features and applications, but there was no chief architect to explain and show how all these parts should work together.
At the top of the list are the latest apps you have installed on your device.
By analogy with Android and iOS, Windows 10 has a curtain for notifications and quick activation of certain functions. You drag the screen down, 4 icons appear, each of which you can customize to your liking by choosing what you need from a list predefined by the manufacturer. You can expand the icons, then a 4x4 matrix will appear, but in a large matrix for three new rows, you can no longer select functions, they are determined by the manufacturer.
Notifications in the curtain are grouped by programs, you can disable their display here for each application. For SMS / MMS there is a quick response from the curtain, just type the text, and you can immediately send it.
Some notifications do not make any sense, for example, after a system update, this is reported in the blind. Clicking on the notification does not show any information, i.e. it is a dead end. There are a fair number of such messages, and why they are needed is decidedly unclear.
Those who use the phone actively and who do not have enough space on the first screen can create folders for icons, just drag one icon to another and they will be grouped in a folder. When you click on the folder below, a window opens with all the icons, but there are no inscriptions with the names of the applications. But you can give a name to your folder.
The vertical orientation of the main screen and menu plays a cruel joke with the phone, because modern devices may well work in landscape orientation, this is how you watch videos. For example, I'm starting to watch a video, but I don't want to see the credits, so I want to drag the scroll bar to fast-forward the video. The slider is at the left edge, but instead of rewinding, a curtain pops out. Why? It's simple, it is tied to a vertical UI, and the curtain does not change orientation - landscape in the video player, vertical in the curtain. Brain blow!
It remains to say that the buttons are made on-screen, and to call them, you need to pull from the bottom up. In many applications, they automatically disappear, do not take up space on the screen. But in some cases, for example, when calling video playback from another application, they remain on the screen and are constantly lit. Which also raises questions.
The buttons are as follows - return back (long press the list of recent applications), the central house from Microsoft (exit to the main menu), search.
A short line about multitasking, in the last running applications, only seven windows are shown, from the list they can be closed individually or all together.
For me, the last seven applications are an anachronism, since I'm used to displaying dozens of applications, even if some of them have long been unloaded from memory and it will take time to launch them (which is almost always imperceptible). Moreover, on Windows 10, even "running" applications sometimes require restoring the state, and this takes the same time as on other platforms. The restriction is stupid and annoying.
In each phone, important information for me is the battery charge, not only its graphical display, but also the percentage, and I would like to see this information in the status bar, choose the possibility of such a display (there is on almost all Android smartphones, as well as on iOS) . In Windows 10, to see the battery percentage, you need to pull the shutter down. It's damn inconvenient. And then someone will quite rightly say that I find fault and you can evaluate the charge by the icon. Of course it is. But I would like to get the same convenience that I see on other systems.
In general, I have a distrust of how the various progress bars are shown in Windows 10, they were written by some schoolchildren. This is best seen in the example of downloading apps from the Microsoft App Store. For example, you have an application that takes 10 MB, downloaded about 8 MB, how much do you think the download indicator will be painted over? Common sense suggests that it will be about 80 percent, visually the same story as with a battery. It's a pity, but usually it's half! I specially experimented, and it turned out that almost always the loading indicator lags behind what the system shows in the same window. How it can be, I don't know - the feeling that Windows 10 draws information about the boot with a long delay and does not immediately show it in the graphic element.
Now a nitpick that can be safely ignored. When updating the system software, gears spin on the screen, one larger and one smaller. Exactly the same arbitrary display of progress under them. But it finishes a trifle that is contrary to common sense, the gears do not mesh with each other. They spin in the air, each on its own. Finding a more accurate metaphor for Windows 10 Mobile is hard, the company did it itself.
All felt-tip pens are different in taste and color, but Windows 10 Mobile is distinguished by numerous roughness in the interface, which were laid down at the design stage of Windows Phone. The system is saved by the absence of a large number of applications and users who can be called “heavy”, those who squeeze every last drop out of modern smartphones. Compared to Android/iOS, Windows 10 Mobile has much more limited customization options, from widgets to other aspects of the system. A matter of taste, but for me this is an indicator of predestination, the lack of flexibility of the system. It cannot be customized, although in the same Android you can change literally any element of the system.
File system - where are my files?
Microsoft has a lot of experience in developing desktop systems, but for their mobile OS they borrowed a lot from iOS and did it thoughtlessly. For example, I can't help thinking that by taking Apple's approach to the file system, Microsoft shot itself in the foot. The device has an explorer (file manager) that shows the following folders:
- Video
- The documents
- Downloads
- Images
- Ringtones
- Music
And it doesn't show anything else. At all. For example, if you decide that it's 2016 and you can download a torrent from where you can download videos, music or something similar to your device, then get ready for the first surprise. By default, the torrent client will download everything to its own folder, which is not visible from the file manager. You will not see these files! They can only be viewed from a torrent client! It was 2016...
Let's remember how it works on Android, you upload files anywhere, and in the player they become visible immediately, you don't even think where they are saved. You just press a button and start watching or listening to them. Voila. In Windows 10 Mobile, this is an impossible operation, something that comes from the distant future.
Further more. You may have a dozen video players, but only the one that is preinstalled on the phone will open from the torrent client. Surprise! The "Video" application cheerfully announces that "the videos that are copied from the PC will be shown here." We live in a post-PC world, what kind of computers are you talking about? I want to download videos to my device directly and be able to open them with regular tools and without dancing with a tambourine.
But that's not the Microsoft way, is it? If you think video is the lucky exception, forget it. With ringtones the same story, do you remember the folder of the same name? Accordingly, the file must be in it, otherwise you will not be able to select it, you simply will not see it. How you could shoot yourself in the foot like that, I don't know. But those people who believe that such an approach is convenient, I have doubts about the adequacy. These are unreal dances with a tambourine, and out of the blue.
Microsoft Edge is the fastest browser on the planet
With Internet Explorer, Microsoft did not work out, a heavy legacy of the past, bad karma and a loss to its main competitor in the face of Chrome. The way out was found in Microsoft's simple way, it is necessary to rename the "unsuccessful" product, and after that it will become "successful". This is how Microsoft Edge was born, the latest generation browser that has the same icon as its predecessor.
Microsoft followed the Blackberry path and competed in virtual parrots, providing benchmark data that proves that EDGE is best compatible with HTML5, works faster than competitors, in a word, is a work of art. I would add modern art, since the browser does not have any advantages over its counterparts in the face of Safari or Chrome.
Let's start with simple and understandable things, this is the browser UI. At the bottom of the page is a line for entering the address, as well as search. On the left is the windows icon, it never displays the number of windows you have "open". In Chrome, you always see how many windows you have, which is nice and useful. For example, when I reach 70-80 windows, I close them in order, usually I have 10-15 working tabs.
By double tapping, the page and the text on it adapt to the screen, in one column. Unfortunately, this does not happen very quickly, and even on simple pages. The second disadvantage, noticed on different devices (Lumia 550/950/950 XL), by default, when adjusted to the screen width, the font becomes small, not very readable. The feeling that the developers forgot about the complaints in the 8th version of the system and simply spit on all subsequent fixes. Here again it is small and inconvenient to read. You can adjust by hand, but this is an extra step.
Unfortunately, the browser renders pages slowly, it is impossible to call it fast. And this happens with any site, there are no exceptions.
When you access the page again, it should load again! The phone does not keep a cache, which creates certain delays, and if you do not have a network, then it is impossible to view the page. There is a very convenient "Reading List" function, you leave pages for later, they have a large icon, a brief description. Probably, someone will decide that the pages in this list are stored in the phone's memory and can be called up even without the Internet? But this is not so, on the plane I looked at the screen saver that there was no connection. What is the deep meaning of the function, I'm not very clear. Additional bookmarks and nothing more.
Favorites usually, you can synchronize it with your desktop PC running Windows 10, which will please users of this system. But there is no possibility of synchronization with more popular browsers.
Search engines for Russia have Bing, the default is Yandex, but no Google. This is surprising, since in the outside world EDGE masquerades as Google Chrome, and does not present itself under its own name. This sometimes leads to very funny consequences, for example, when calling a link from the Windows 10 system application on the phone to download MS Outlook, the Play Store opened in the browser with the corresponding Android application. The error is very rare, but revealing and funny.
Unfortunately, no one except Microsoft develops decent browsers for Windows Phone, you won't find Chrome or Safari here. As a consequence, in the absence of alternatives, you will be tied to this browser. One hope is that someday they will finish it, increase performance, add a data cache. At the time of writing the review, the EDGE browser is also one of the most energy-intensive applications, it consumes the battery with a bang. Fans of the system from Microsoft are already coming up with options on how to avoid this, for example, you can disable the browser from running in the background or manually close it after work. Comfortable? It's Windows!
The Microsoft App Store, the cost of programs and their features
The app store design has been redesigned in the style of the previous version of Android, tiles have been abandoned in each of the views, now it is something in between. Again, this is a taste that does not deserve attention, another thing is the quantity and quality of applications, as well as their capabilities.
I am used to the fact that on Android / iOS you can find many programs that perform the same functions, they differ from each other both in features and in design. If in the past on Android many programs were crooked in terms of following Google's design wishes, this has hardly been observed in the last year. They all look about the same style and are perceived the same, on iOS, Apple has achieved this from developers much earlier.
The state of Windows 10 and third-party programs can be described simply: who is in the woods, who is for firewood. No uniformity can be traced even remotely, the program settings are randomly scattered across different menus, as well as the font size, the arrangement of elements and other “little things” differ. All together creates a feeling of slovenliness of the system, you never know and are not sure how the application that you download from the store will look like.
Historically, third-party developers, both large companies and small players, have not wanted to create software for Windows Phone. Microsoft had to pay for the adaptation of existing programs, but very quickly at MS they realized that they would go down the drain if they gave everyone money for it. The path was a dead end. Moreover, the complexity of programming for Windows Phone was rejected by developers, plus a small number of users, most of whom are not ready to pay for applications, since they use phones for calls and SMS, but not as modern smartphones. All this created the conditions when the struggle for the number of applications in the Microsoft store began, when it was necessary to catch up with other systems. And this led to disastrous results, the store turned into a garbage dump that lives its own life, different from the life of the entire planet.
So, in the store you can find programs that were created on the knee in a couple of hours to show how to program! For example, this is one of the video players that I stumbled upon by accident. And the creator is not at all shy about this and added this information to the description of the program.
But these are flowers, berries begin at the moment when you are trying to find something, searching the app store almost never gives an adequate result. Descriptions for programs are so crooked that many of them drop out of the search, you will not be able to find them unless you know the exact name. Not cool.
Despite the fact that there are program charts, you can find not so much interesting software in them. See what the top 10 apps look like on Android, iOS and Windows 10 Mobile and feel the difference.
Windows 10 Mobile
I will give a simple example from life. I like to play different games on the road, I prefer the widespread tower defense genre. There are more than a dozen great games on iOS/Android, they are almost the same on both platforms, and the total number of toys in this genre is in the hundreds or something, if not more. How many games of this genre are on Windows 10? Exactly one, according to a search query in the Microsoft store.
As I mentioned above, many free programs from other platforms are not available on Windows 10 or have severely reduced functionality. For example, the same Instagram is in beta, there is no support for videos and many effects, as well as editing tools. In the alternative and best 6tag client, you will have to pay 119 rubles for the opportunity to work with video.
The main complaint about the software for Windows 10 Mobile is that it has no alternative, there are no different versions of programs. But even more depressing is the fact that the software itself is extremely simple, to match the system. By the standards of the world of modern operating systems, this is some kind of stone age. I tried to remember at least one program that on Windows 10 Mobile would be superior in its characteristics to similar software on iOS / Android, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not do it.
Moreover, MIcrosoft considers its own operating system to be so miserable and limited in its capabilities that they create software for their services primarily for iOS / Android, this is the trend of the last year. Interestingly, software for foreign systems is the first to receive features that will appear on Windows 10 Mobile in a year or not at all. That is, a natural question arises, what is the advantage of the operating system from Microsoft, if all branded services are available in the best quality on iOS / Android? For Microsoft fans, this fact is very painful, they try to come up with many excuses to shield the company. But all I see here is that development for other systems is so much easier that even Microsoft proves it with their software. What could be the best anti-advertising for Windows 10 Mobile?
And this is another indirect indication of where the company is going and why it is going to abandon the current version of the system in favor of the usual Windows 10 running on Intel processors.
Microsoft Outlook - mail on the "top ten"
Many of my friends like MS Outlook on a personal computer so much that they install some version of Windows on their MacBook and use mail in this particular environment. Mobile Outlook did not inherit all the features from the older one, but it did not become an ugly duckling either. The mobile version of mail from MS got the ability to attach files to letters from OneDrive, other programs, but not from the file system, which is actually not there for the user. The engine has added formatting of letters, as in MS Word, which is not bad, many HTML pages open in the MS EDGE window. There were even gestures when you can swipe certain messages in the menu and set an action for them (check the box or archive - this is the default, but you can set other actions). There is a unified mailbox, but there is no filter system, which can upset someone. But there is good integration with the calendar, when events can be entered into it with a few touches. Another thing is that there is simply nothing unusual or differentiating this program from the standard GMail on Android.
Navigation online and offline, Here maps
For me, the quality of navigation is measured not only by the drawing of maps, but also by the number of POIs by which you can search for certain objects. In Here, the number of points that are available both online and offline is not very large, and their relevance leaves much to be desired, the same Google Maps is a cut above. In the US, I used Here navigation for a week, compared with Google Maps, and all the time I realized that without such insurance I would often miss when the stores are open, where they are located, and the routes would be far from optimal. The main reason is that cards can improve when they are used by a large number of people, and here it simply does not. The only plus is the ability to download maps of different regions for offline navigation (free of charge).
Universal Apps, or UWP
Microsoft decided to fight the lack of quality apps for mobile devices by creating a platform for universal applications (UWP).
Developers with a minimum number of changes can create their applications for different devices, and the user gets virtually the same application on each of the devices. Comfortable? Undoubtedly. The problem here is exactly the same as before. Many Windows desktop software creators are not represented in any way on mobile platforms, which means that they cannot be the source of such software. But those developers who are active on iOS / Android will almost never create applications for Windows, because they do not see this market. Isolated cases of universal applications show that they are created either by Microsoft itself or by large companies. As a rule, such applications are not too complicated when it comes to third-party developers.
All sorts of things and some impressions
It so happened that Microsoft began to actively release its key applications for iOS / Android, for example, this concerns the office suite, that is, now these applications are more functional on foreign platforms. Marvelous? Not that word. And there is no reason to get them as part of Windows 10 Mobile, except for the cost of a subscription, which may differ in the future, now it is zero everywhere. I don’t see much point in describing this software, it is well known.
As well as stopping at MS Groove, TV and Cinema, News and Finance applications. They are all standard and familiar, they have both positive and negative features, but they cannot have any decisive influence on the choice of system.
Almost two months since the Lumia 950, several OS updates received in that time, and a conclusion that many will not like. The system remains raw. It gets to the unimaginable, the Photos app (album) suddenly starts consuming power like crazy, about 7% battery per hour. In half a day, the phone is discharged to zero, and the only thing left for me is irritation. The error is well known, documented, and they promise to fix it in the near future, in a month or two.
I like the fact that now at least you can get the GMail phone book, pull up contacts from the cloud from Google, no crutches are needed. But I don’t like at all that the applications live an independent life, and the system is assembled from separate bricks that they didn’t bother to bring to a common denominator.
Of the funny, but typical errors for Windows 10 Mobile, I can remember the alarm clock. If you miss your alarm in the morning, if you don't touch your phone, you'll know the next morning that you missed it twice. That is, first you will be shown a new alarm, and then the missed old one. It doesn't fit in my mind. The system does not replace with a new event something that has already passed and has not received a user response. I don't care what happened to the alarm yesterday, I already missed it, and I don't need it. Why show it a second time? Especially since the alarm is set to the same time throughout the week.
Another point that is very annoying is the constant offers to restart the phone, as it thinks that the SIM card or its settings have changed. There were no changes, and after a reboot everything starts all over again. A floating glitch, it happened that he was gone for a week, and then he again appears and annoys.
The system turned out to be very raw, moreover, many things that worked in Windows Phone 8.1 are missing here or do not work correctly. And this is a clear step backwards, which cannot be corrected in any way. For example, for the "People" tab, all social accounts associated with a person's name have been removed; now they cannot be viewed from the bookmark, as before.
This system is great for budget devices that make calls, write SMS, and sometimes use other functions. But it is impossible to call it a full-fledged and modern platform for a smartphone. Of course, everyone can have their own opinion here, but even after waiting a couple of months since the start of Lumia 550/950/950 XL sales, I did not wait for a stable version of Windows 10 Mobile and fixing minor and serious errors. The reason is that the system is not actively developed and de facto has already been abandoned, it is a living dead. Of course, many of its elements will form the basis of the next version, even today Windows build numbers do not differ in any way between the mobile and desktop versions, in the future the unification will become even greater. It was possible to delve into individual details, but this is not necessary. What is described above is enough to appreciate what Windows 10 Mobile is capable of and what it cannot do and will never learn. At the moment, the demand for Windows 10 Mobile smartphones is at a historical minimum for Windows Phone, sales of three Lumia models are so low that with the same Lumia 950 they give the Lumia 550 to the load and completely free of charge. And here it should be noted that the devices have normal hardware, but everything rests on the system itself, which the market and consumers on it have not accepted. And there is simply nothing to add to this, the share of Windows Phone in the world has fallen to the level of 1 percent and continues to decline. It's not even the "Other" category anymore, but less. In the first quarter of 2016, third place after Android and iOS, oddly enough, will take Tizen, sales of a month and a half speak of this with all clarity.
P.S. Reviews of Lumia 950/550 will appear one of these days, in which I will focus on my impressions of the hardware and the devices themselves.
Android- "hot" telephone platform, the market share of which is growing rapidly. Devices on this operating system are praised on the Internet.
It's amazing how much Android has progressed in a relatively short time and how well the platform has penetrated the market. Windows Mobile scolded for not too frequent updates, which give spiteful critics a reason to call it an outdated mobile platform.
Let's stop being critical and compare the two platforms. We note right away: WinMo is better than people think about it. If you compare WinMo and Android in terms of their main uses, the results may surprise you.
When we talk about what makes a good smartphone, the key features are usually mentioned. The ability to run multiple applications at the same time, or multitasking, always comes first in such reasoning. The number of programs available for a particular platform is also an important issue. We also evaluate the user interface of mobile platforms. We can not forget about integration with a desktop computer.
Let's take a look at these main areas and compare how Android and Windows Mobile perform in them.
multitasking
Android is often praised for its ability to run multiple programs at the same time. Our experience with Android devices confirms this boast: the OS does a great job of allocating resources for each running task, and each program, even when running in the background, gets as many resources as it needs to work well and quickly.
But Windows Mobile is an excellent multi-tasking platform, and for some reason this is rarely mentioned. Probably because this has always been WinMo's strong point. The operating system from Microsoft has no problems with programs running in the background - in fact, it was designed with this in mind. WinMo automatically adjusts memory allocation based on the needs of each application, and if memory starts to run out, the OS will automatically end background tasks. The user rarely pays attention to these actions of the system, and he should not do so.
Multitasking in WinMo has been criticized for a long time due to the shortcomings of the close programs option. When you close a program, by default it is not unloaded from memory, but continues to run in the background. Some users are not ready for this behavior of the system and consider it unjustified. Of course, application developers can build the close option into the programs themselves, but many people think that it should be active in the operating system by default.
But let's see, Android works exactly the same way! When the user exits the program by launching another one, the first application continues to run in the background. In the same way, developers should make a button to completely close the program when exiting it. Anyone who has been using an Android phone for more than five minutes can launch Task Manager and see for themselves. You will most likely see 20 or more tasks running in the background, but not like in WinMo.
Generally speaking, WinMo has a big advantage over Android in one aspect of multitasking, namely how the OS deals with applications installed by the user. WinMo allows you to install programs to system memory (ROM), which can be hundreds of megabytes in size, or to external memory on (SD, microSD or miniSD memory cards). This allows you to install an almost unlimited number of programs on Windows phones.
Android has a significant limitation when it comes to installing custom apps. They can only be installed in system memory, which is only 256 MB even on the latest and most sophisticated Droid Android smartphone. When system memory becomes full, additional programs cannot be installed. Not enough memory even to install a good game. Until this shortcoming is corrected, Android will remain quite flawed in this direction.
Bottom line: Windows Mobile has a big advantage.
Number of programs available
Everyone has heard that there are more than 10,000 apps available in the Android Market, and this is an outstanding achievement, especially given the short time since the platform was launched. This is without a doubt an advantage that Android has earned quickly. Although there are only a fraction of the apps for Android that are available for the iPhone, there are still good enough programs for all the needs of users.
Microsoft has been a latecomer to the "App Store" game and its Marketplace has just launched. So far, there are not so many programs, which is not surprising, given the novelty of the site. But not everyone realizes that there are already tens of thousands of applications for Windows Mobile.
The advantage of the App Store is that all programs are collected in one place, which makes it easier to find them. Applications for Windows Mobile have always been sold through different channels, so users had to make some effort to find the right program.
Programs have already been created for WinMo that cover almost every need imaginable. It only takes a little searching and you'll be surprised at the amount of software you can buy and the quality of it. Most WinMo developers have been releasing their programs for a long time, developing them along with changes in the OS. This means that the programs have already got rid of their childhood problems and become perfect.
The Android browser is said to be much better than the latest version of Mobile Internet Explorer. This is a fair statement, and many see it as a great advantage of the Android platform. But for Windows Mobile, there are plenty of good browsers from third-party apps, and the quality of the built-in browser doesn't really matter to users.
Opera Mobile 10 is a great mobile browser that's no different from other good browsers on other platforms, and it's completely free for Windows mobile device users. It's so exclusive that HTC uses it as the default browser on their WM communicators. This shows the quantity and quality of applications available for the WinMo platform. While we've only covered the browser, there are many other programs from different categories that can be said the same. It is always possible to find a good WinMo program that suits the needs of the user.
Bottom line: Windows Mobile has the edge, but Android is rapidly shrinking it
Interface
It is worth joining the chorus of those who lament the outdated user interface of mobile devices on Windows Mobile. The lack of innovation in UI design shows how old it is, and Android currently wins in this regard.
The main difference between the interfaces of the two platforms is that Android is a new OS, thanks to which it has been adapted for finger control. It is easier to work with and looks more modern. That is why the Android interface is often called the best compared to the WinMo interface.
If you compare the two interfaces, you will realize that they are both simple shortcut launchers. Application icons are placed on the launcher screen and serve to quickly launch programs and perform necessary tasks. Android is easier and more convenient to interact with, so if we take the out-of-the-box interface capabilities as a basis, Android should be given the championship.
However, it is unfair to compare interfaces without comparing third party alternatives. "Default" Android is quite simple, like the interface of the WinMo-communicator, just pulled out of the box. The real fun starts when we start installing skins from third party vendors like HTC Sense which turns Android into a very efficient interface.
HTC has also been releasing its own interface for WinMo phones for a long time, for example, the latest version of Sense installed on HD2 is simply amazing. It does on WinMo what it does on Android - it adds a highly customizable OS look and feel that looks and works the way users want. HTC Sense works the same on both platforms and is optimized to take advantage of each platform. As a result, a phone with Sense on WinMo is just as good as an Android phone with the same skin.
The advantage that WinMo has over Android is again related to third-party software. Skins are available that turn a WinMo smartphone into a user's dream with an easily customizable interface. For example, for several years now there has been a Spb Mobile Shell, the latest version of which is for WinMo what Sense is for Android. The difference is that Mobile Shell can be installed separately, while HTC Sense is already installed on the smartphone upon purchase. This means that the owners of WinMo devices have the opportunity to install a complex interface on them and configure it in the way that is convenient for them.
Bottom line: advantage for Windows Mobile.
Desktop integration
Many buyers are waiting, or rather even want to integrate their phones with desktop computers. They want an easy way to sync contacts, calendar, tasks, and email with their familiar desktop environment. For millions, this means syncing your phone with Outlook on the "big" computer.
Windows Mobile wins in this aspect. It's designed from the ground up to be in sync with Exchange Server and Outlook. Synchronization of Mobile Outlook with its desktop version works with a bang.
On the other hand, buyers who work on a large computer with Google services will no doubt find that Android is more suitable for them, since devices based on Google's mobile OS have built-in the ability to work with services from the California giant.
Outcome: draw. It all depends on what the user is working with - Outlook or Google services
Summary
The more topical platform is no doubt Android, but Windows Mobile still has a lot to offer users. If Microsoft continues to develop its product, it will not be easy for Google to beat the competition in the mobile platform market.
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Let's say that Android and iOS didn't please you, after which you turned your attention to the third in the list of mobile OS: Windows Phone OS. In this article, we will tell you about the possible reasons for the transition, the advantages of WP8 over the rest, and in other articles about how to make the transition smooth and painless. However, we will also have benefits for switching to other operating systems - for the sake of completeness.
10 reasons to switch to Windows Phone
Undoubtedly, each OS has its advantages and disadvantages, and the debate about and disadvantages of Windows Phone has not subsided since its introduction a few years ago. During this time, Microsoft's OS has taken a solid third place in the global OS rankings and continues to slowly move up, leaving less and less chance for less successful competitors.
As for the target audience of this operating system, it can be divided into two types: those who came to the world of smartphones just yesterday, and those who switched to it from other mobile operating systems for a number of reasons, some of which have become critical. It is about them, the second, that we will talk about today. (note: the author of this article himself switched to Windows Phone several years ago, so this article partially describes his own experience).
Today we will talk not so much about the advantages of Windows Phone as such (we have already talked about them), but about the reasons for switching to it from iOS or Android. If you are tired of enduring glitches, lags and exorbitant Android appetite or the closeness and high cost of iOS devices - maybe it's time to consider something else? Although, of course, some reasons will intersect with the clear advantages of the OS from Microsoft (just in case, we note that neither the author nor the editors are trying to ignore the shortcomings of Windows Phone, which, of course, it has, it's just a topic for another article) .
Reason one: space
This is probably the least popular reason among geeks: here we are talking about those people who already know everything at the level they need about the other two operating systems and want to try something new. This decision is supported, at least, by the fact that the ideology of the Windows Phone OS is different from those of Apple and Google: both in terms of the user interface and work “inside”.
For such people, the transition will be given most smoothly, since everything new will be perceived with interest and as a reason to dig. And if there is sufficient experience of interaction with different ecosystems, then there will be no problems at all. Although at first something may seem uncomfortable.
Reason two: the agony of choice
How many Android smartphones will you try to choose from? Hundreds? Thousand? Tens of thousands? If you buy in a Chinese store, then the latter will be the most correct; but even if you even just go to the nearest hypermarket, then from the abundance you will have a “video data buffer overflow”, which cunning sellers will not fail to take advantage of to impose on you a product that “needs to be sold at all costs”.
The same can be said about app stores. Apple and Google are proud that their stores have more than a million different programs, brag about these numbers in every possible way ... Microsoft, on the other hand, is much more modest: recently it was reported about 400 thousand applications in the Windows Phone Store, which is almost three times less than in each of the two other "stores".
In fact, for everyday tasks it is convenient and you can find almost everything. How is the installation of the desired application in the App Store from Google and Apple? You determine what you want from an application, and then install one, another, fifth, tenth, twentieth (that is, literally 20) - until you finally find something that is really what you need. If you find it at all. Finally, the application you need may cost an inadequate amount of money.
The Windows Phone Store has a lot fewer apps, so picking up something you need is much easier when viewed from this point of view: therefore, fewer is also a plus. Another plus is that since there are quite a few smartphones and tablets on WP8, the score goes literally to dozens, and the configuration is quite similar for most of them, it will be much easier to choose a device for yourself. The entire "gentleman's set" of applications (camera, readers, games, listening to music, watching videos, working with documents, etc.) is presented on the Windows Phone platform, and almost all of this is available by default on any WP smartphone. Moreover, many programs are made even better than their Android counterparts, especially free ones. Let's say all decent audio players on Android cost money (especially those that can play music by directory, not just playlists), but there are many more free ones on WP.
Reason three: almost everything always works on WP
With smartphones on Windows Phone, it is quite difficult to find an application that does not work specifically on your device. Difficult, but possible - and this is more likely to be an exception to the rule, which you can "complain" in the app store. The same can be roughly said about the iPhone with iOS, but it can never be said about Android. The closed platform from Microsoft also has its advantages compared to Android: it is much more difficult for a variety of slag to stake out a place under the sun.
In addition, Windows Phone already includes a fairly large number of functions (not just applications, as mentioned in the previous paragraph) by default, for the implementation of which Android requires additional programs to be installed. And they work as they should, because they come as part of the operating system.
Reason Four: Dislike for Apple
No matter what anyone says, but the ideology of the OS from Apple and Microsoft is similar in many respects (closeness of the OS, careful selection of applications, a high level of hardware compatibility, etc.). But for many reasons, Apple has earned both the love of fans and the dislike (to put it mildly) of opponents. Mostly for the unreasonably high price for both accessories and many applications.
Meanwhile, the whole world sits on Windows (everyone already knows about the share of this OS in the world), and with the release of Windows 10, Microsoft, which is going to combine all versions of its OS under one “roof”, will make everything even more unified.
And yes, formally Windows Phone will cease to exist with the release of Windows 10 - that is (again - formally) this will be the same OS, with changes and additions, but it will be called (at least as it is known today) Windows 10 (Mobile ); in fact, everything will remain as it is, that is, normally.
Reason five: speed
Thanks to the same closed platform, as well as Microsoft's strict requirements for the hardware configuration of each smartphone, the speed of work is always at a high level. The smoothness of the interface, launching programs, switching between applications, and other operations always go smoothly and quickly, which cannot be said about Android, which has long been tired of competition for “better” interface frills.
Finally, the main argument "for speed" is the intelligent work with RAM, which automatically unloads rarely used or unused applications from RAM, giving priority to frequently used ones. This allows you to work comfortably both on a smartphone with 512 megabytes of RAM, and with 1 GB, not to mention two, which, by the way, is still the ceiling - and not to say that it was not enough. Because even on 1 gigabyte everything flies, including games, and 2 GB is needed only for heavy dynamic races, shooters or The Sims.
Reason Six: Metro UI
The tiled interface may not be the most comfortable on a desktop with a mouse, as everyone is used to the good old Start menu, but for touchscreen devices it works just fine. If on iOS and Android the interface ideology is approximately the same (desktop - shortcut bar - list of applications), then the tiles of the main desktop and the second screen on the right with an alphabetical list of applications are actually very convenient.
Moreover, it cannot be said that the interface on iOS and Android is much worse) no, it is just different, it may be more convenient for someone there, and for someone here. In general, an amateur, but still very convenient to have tiles (three different sizes) of frequently used functions and applications on the Windows Phone desktop.
Reason eight: old devices do not work much worse than new ones
This can literally be called a knockout for Android smartphones, because three-year-old Android smartphones are no longer able, for the most part, not only to be updated (for a reason called “the manufacturer doesn’t care”), but even to work correctly. Why? Because progress has not kept pace with the appetite of Android, and 1 GB of RAM with 4 GB of internal memory today is not only not enough, but also frankly not enough. Very little.
In contrast to this, we can cite HTC Mozart - one of the first WP-smartphones over 3.5 years old, which is still fully functional even today, despite the seemingly ridiculous 576 MB of RAM and the "pathetic" 8 GB of internal memory. Yes, Microsoft stopped supporting the seventh version of Windows Phone, rolling out the latest version 7.8 a year and a half ago, but even today you can easily find the right application that supports this version of the OS and even works without brakes. Again, the personal experience of the author of this article, who became one of the first owners of Mozart and still is.
To summarize, we can conclude the following: old smartphones on WP7.8 fully satisfy the basic needs, and allow even a little more, if you don’t get carried away and don’t install super-mega-3D games and “heavy” applications that require large resources. With The Sims and Asphalt 8, for example, Mozart and his peers will definitely not cope.
Reason nine: regular navigation system
This will be a rather highly specialized plus, and it will primarily apply to Nokia / Microsoft phones, which are always equipped with a powerful standard HERE navigation system, which allows you to save a lot on individual navigators.
Maps are downloaded and work offline (and online can be turned on for information about traffic jams, and the system lays the route immediately depending on the current congestion of the routes), there are voice assistants in many languages (and in Russian, yes), the interface does not slow down (like almost everything on Windows Phone), and maps are updated quite often. Perhaps for some this will be a significant advantage. Since the "Navitels" and others like them were no longer scolded only by the lazy. Very lazy.
Reason ten: no viruses
Unlike the desktop version of Windows and Android for a long time, there are no viruses in Windows Phone, and the reason for this is not only the low popularity of this mobile OS (the "Elusive Jack" factor), but also because it is quite difficult for them to penetrate there. It's no secret that Android viruses penetrate primarily through fake apps and phishing mobile sites - and with Windows Phone, as with iOS, this channel cannot be said to be popular.
In fact, both the closeness of the source code and a reliable security system play a role here.
Not a reason but a plus
It would be possible to attribute the proprietary "cloud" Microsoft OneDrive to the pluses, and free 7-15 GB of space, which are given to everyone; but this is no longer an argument today, since both Apple and Google, and many others, can boast of such a “bun”.
And in the end I will tell
Of course, this OS also has disadvantages, but the pluses are quite significant, as it seems to me. Two and a half years ago I bought a Nokia Lumia 820: this is my second phone on Windows Phone, it is still actively used, the third battery has already been bought (due to the heavy workload of the device by me), and I have not needed everyday Android for a long time, although there is a second Android smartphone and a Nexus tablet. But the main device is this “three-year-old” Lumia 820 (and it will be three years since its release), which works as fast and well as after purchase.
Of course, something will change in the upcoming Windows 10 ecosystem, but as they say, we'll wait and see.
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