So What?
I’m reading WMPowerUser last night (big fan), I see Surur ripping on the Android ICS update being hellish. So hellish in fact that the NoDo fiasco looks heavenly. Next up on my RSS scrolling medley is some comScore thing showing Windows Phone no longer going sideways but now losing more and more market share (Anthony disagrees). Surur’s post and the commenting volume suddenly made more sense to me, the WinPho crowd’s obsession with ripping on Android roughly as much as they pat each other on the ass about having the best phone the world never heard of but will any day now.
He notes that the only phones to get ICS thus far belong to the Nexus line, the so-called (and aptly-called) development phones that people who cared about getting the absolute latest development from Google should buy rather than some Motorola phone with a locked bootloader. There seems to be a market, as you people surely know, for phones with locked bootloaders. Google made that clear from the first Nexus that it would get a head start in receiving updates. The flagship Google phone, the torch carrier. Though the Galaxy Nexus may be an exception to the otherwise low popularity because it’s being pushed hard and is, frankly, pretty awesome from what I’ve read, the lack of popularity of the Nexus phones tells me what I already know about the Android crowd overall, that for the most part, with exception to the subset that is so obsessed with their phones they make blogs about them (me) and modify the kernels and so on, is that they’re content with Froyo or Gingerbread or whatever they’ve got and aren’t salivating nearly as much for the next update as the WinPho crowd does for their NoDo and their Mango and Tango and Apollo to strike finally. Which they probably will continue to do in an orderly fashion like Mango, which was impressively executed.
Why could that be, the different attitudes? Are Android consumers just dumb sheep relative to WinPho consumers? I don’t think so. Here’s what I think: Google phones, not unlike the desires of consumers, come in all shapes and sizes. There are hundreds of them. Among the shapes and sizes are the first-in-line update traits of the Nexus phones. People have the option to buy that phone anywhere. But for so many, just being able to run Google Maps Navigation, which can be done on 98% of Android phones in consumer hands (for which there still is no equivalent on WinPho, just an honorable mention), is fabulous enough. Google detached many of their updated applications from Android updates so that those stuck on 2.2 could still run the new Google Voice client. I’m struggling to come up with what I remember not being able to do on 2.1 that I can now that’s so huge, all I’m coming up is vector imaging on Google Maps and hotspots without having to do an XDA trick, maybe a speed boost that I didn’t need badly. Not to say Google doesn’t do amazing jobs over and over with the firmware development but my phone not only does everything, it feels like I’m running out of things I can imagine doing on my phone that I cannot already do on what is now not the current platform for my model.
We just simply don’t need updates the way you people do. You need them so bad that you figure we do too and because we don’t get them in lockstep that we’re getting shafted and we don’t even know it because we’re stupid sheep. That’s what you think, is it not? We also don’t need to seize onto random flaws you have with your platform and beat it for years, like Photosynth. And for those of us who love our updates and waiting second or further back in line is not an option, we can get a Nexus on any carrier. Pretty sweet phone by the way. Google does not withhold all of the next platform’s new stuff from the eventual rollout. Our phones do everything, yours do not, so of course it’s a bigger deal to you. Yes, the Mango rollout went well, I owe two people money for betting against it. Yes your phones are remarkably appealing. Yes Navigon probably gets the job done. Yes I think I heard you’ve got some Google Voice-like service and might, just might, get Skype one day, yes you got Netflix first, yes you in general seem to have more passion about your phones on sites like this and WMPU at least.
Also, we’re not desperate with our self-esteem hinging on it for Android’s market share to grow, whereas you clearly are. As a result of having that need, the prospect of the next huge and wildly-hyped-about update you’re going to get you’ll staple on a ton of hope that it may finally usher in the success Windows Phone deserves. You have market share envy, big time. Though you do a good job pretending you don’t have spec envy.
Me, I own and use every day the Nexus One and the Nexus S. Up until the ICS availability I would flash nighties every morning practically. Once the next nightly became ICS, I stopped flashing in spite of my obsession with my phone. The reason I stopped was because I love these damn Nexus phones so much and I intend to get the Galaxy Nexus (outright) and when I get it I want the change to be more dramatic, so I haven’t flashed ICS, I haven’t even watched a single Youtube demo. I bet you know more about ICS than I do. Also, my phone does pretty much everything with Gingerbread, not a severe incentive to flash other than curiosity. I don’t have Google News ICS as a feed on my RSS, I don’t even know what the situation is regarding some poor rollout, I don’t know the changelog bulletpoints, I am just so damn psyched about my impending acquisition that I don’t want to spoil any part of the surprise. But I could if I wanted. Not sure how I’m going to pay for it, maybe now’s a good time to finally get, or try to get, myself a credit card.
My chief complaint with you, and I admit I was this way but have since recovered to a commendable degree, is that you can’t fight the good fight of telling yourselves that you’ll hit the big leagues one day without wishing legal death on HTC for still making Android phones, for wishing Microsoft would kill Android by reneging on some ActiveSync contract or suing Google and every single company that gets in bed with Google for all these patents you are convinced are totally legit (without reading them), using the word fragmentation in reference to Android like it’s your job, bringing up Android on practically half of the WMPU URLs that exist (see for yourself). In fact you have been thirteen times more likely on a given thread to bring up Android than Phandroid users and writers bring up Windows Phone in a given thread, or 21 more times as likely than those on AndroidPolice. Double those numbers and that’s how much Google is mentioned on WMPU. Explain that to me please.
Why do I read WMPU, you ask. Well, it’s a good site and you guys have so much fire in your bellies. Click here to pop WMPU into your Google Reader. 🙂
Once in a while I skim through a thread and I find one of you saying “hey guys c’mon what does it matter whether or not WP becomes popular – we have our awesome phones, let’s just enjoy them and forget about the other guys.” Though not exactly competitive, I would call that an enlightened perspective. Wish I could comment…
And whereas you would tell me to try out a WP so that I can see the light (I did actually, fabulous phone), maybe you could try out that perspective and stop breaking Android users’ balls all the time, calling us sheep and tossing around the F word so liberally. The number of smartphone users is escalating every day, and whether they step toward Apple, Google or Microsoft, it’s a step in the right direction, isn’t it? Blackberry,… well, different story – think we all can agree on that.
I just made some good points, feel free to admit it. Seriously though, it’s high time WinPho gets the market share love it has earned. Good luck in 2012 — and that, folks, is from the heart.
Doug Simmons
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About The Author
Doug Simmons
Biographical info.. hmm. I have a history of not being able to strike the balance between what is "safe" to put into these forms and what is, in my mind at least, funny. Can't do it.
I go by many names and one, according to some, is WP fanboy. The truth is that I prefer Windows Phone to the other good alternatives. I like that Microsoft took control of the process as much they could without actually building the hardware themselves. I like that they partnered with Nokia, who when combined with Microsoft’s vision of rapidly opening retail stores, form the basis of a de facto hardware maker.
Android, spamdroid, as far as I am concerned. I very rarely click on something concerning Android. In fact I am much more inclined to mock and antagonize the iPhone loving crowd. I get the appeal of Android-different strokes for different folks-and leave Android users to their enjoyment.
WMPUser has an inferiority complex. Do I want to see Windows Phone be discovered as the breath of fresh air that it is? Of course, do I do daily counts of the marketshare? Hecks no. You see I happen to see Microsoft for exactly who they are, a company in transition but one that recognizes the importance of the mobile space.
I haven’t played with ICS yet to make any type of grandiose statement about it but what I can say is that any OS would have to be pretty darn great to make me even consider switching from Windows Phone.
So lets do this as my final pillar thoughts on Android and iOS. Android is available wherever you are for however much you can afford. Most non-techie users like their Androids but not exactly sheep that won’t consider other platforms as long as they can pick up where they left off with their favorite apps & games.
iOS users make me want to throw up on them. Yes not just throw up but specifically in their general direction. I want them to be down wind of someone who hasn’t bathed in a month-my wife included. The very fact that my wife had the audacity to proclaim her iPhone 4 which hasn’t even been updated to iOS5 is better than my Titan says enough. You know what else I hate, not dislike, about Apple? The fact everyone gives Jobs all the credit in the world for creating a phone that in his original concept was flawed. The 3rd party app developers have made the iPhone what it is. Yet when was the last time you ever heard anyone from Cupertino credit those same devs for the success of the platform. Android doesn’t restrict devs because they know their importance. Microsoft has sanctioned a team of 3rd party devs to create an unlock tool. Apple-presses charges against anyone who dares flex their tech skills.
In summary-Android I get, Apple I hate though i appreciate the user experience-Windows Phone I love and look forward to continued awesomeness rolling down the pike. Windows Phone with dual core chips? Heaven just got a little bit better.
Only one resolution for 2012. To no longer waste time reading articles about Windows Phone gaining/losing market share, when/why it will succeed/fail, etc., etc. I don’t own any MS stock so frankly, I don’t give a damn. I bought into the Microsoft ecosystem long ago and will continue to be a fanboy till they, or I cease to exist. If they build it, I will buy it.
Generalizing here, but if you want to use another platform, good for you. Just don’t try to push it on me, because “you” think it’s better. And I promise to do the same (except maybe in staff notify threads, which can get funny as hell). Everyone has choices, and hopefully they can make informed decisions for their own personal reasons, without being led by a ring in their nose to the most popular or best selling platform.
We all make good and bad choices in life almost every day. If I have made a bad choice, it’s my problem and I have to live with it. No one to blame but me. Enough said.
As long as analysts keep lumping Windows Mobile and Kin in with Windows Phone, of course it will appear that Windows Phone is going down. In truth, it’s two dead platforms in Windows Mobile and Kin that are falling off the face of the earth. Stop lumping two platforms that are no longer developed, sold, or supported in with Windows Phone. It tells me nothing about how Windows Phone is actually doing, and is only telling me WM and Kin are responsible for the drop.
I’m not suggesting WP is growing substantially. But I’d like legitimate info and not this BS spin.
I pretty much agree with Doug completely, except:
Comscore is a composite of WP and WM. WP is probably not being purchased as fast as WM is dying off.
I have tried Android. One miserable year with an HTC Desire, which was not much different than my miserable year with the Blackjack II, but definitely prettier.
I don’t know about other people, but I want WP7 to increase its marketshare for longevity and relevancy.
Just to clarify: I know the BJII was WM6.1. I hated that OS so damn much that it was my reason for the switch to Android.
See that’s where you lose me Joe. Who’s lumping in users of the Kin and Windows Mobile, and even if they were, and then they stopped, would that increase or decrease the number of Microsoft-device users? Seems to me such figures would be working to your advantage. And if you say that because of Windows Mobile attrition (no one’s using the Kin anymore) it’s drawing down the apparent market share ascent of Windows Phone, in order to do that, those Windows Mobile users would have to be disproportionately more inclined to want to get the hell away from Microsoft than the average consumer. I would bet that’s not true, rather that they are more likely than a random person to stay loyal to Microsoft and go out and buy a Windows Phone, thereby pushing this from a zero sum thing to helping your figures. You left out Zune users by the way, though they’re pretty much all gone.
The figures Surur and I use make the distinction. It is in his interests and mine to get the best data available whether it makes Windows Phone or Android look good or bad. He and I have had our share of time to get a feel for these various analysts who chime in, we have our Facebook scraping to compare that against, if he’s like me he has non-WP-heavy but somewhat regular websites with server logs against which to compare this data we try to pick up and Joe the most flattering data I have on Windows Phone is that its user base has plateaued since Thanksgiving. It is flat. How the hell are you flat over this period of all times?
And while it’s been really flat since the middle of October, the number of users of Blackberries, Androids and iPhones has gone up 15%.
Blackberry usership went up 7% in that period yet they lost 1.2% in market share. And the number of Windows Phone users on Facebook is so small relative to Blackberry that the decimals don’t go out far enough to try to offer you their percentage loss of market share. Given how low it already was, a 15% gain for the competition bleeds off into margin of error territory, though these analysts, and I don’t know what they’re using, are offering you bleak numbers too if this whole Facebook scraping thing just sounds like a bunch of amateur BS to you.
Joe, if I were you I wouldn’t be angry about statistics painting a falsely bad picture, instead either angry about the bad picture which I’d acknowledge as indeed being bad or decide, as I try to get across to you in my article, to shrug it off.
Joe, still hung up on the numbers and lumps. Hate those lumps.
Gotta ask you Joe, what do you expect when one platform’s offering a phone with dual cores and 1280×720 resolution and LTE and the other is sticking with 800×480 and lowering their standards to the megahertz level? Apparently, that’s among the things consumers care about, hardware, no matter how smooth and fruity the tiles are.
I’m telling you, write Microsoft and convince them to dump huge huge boxes of free Windows Phones with unlimited prepaid sims in homeless shelters in the major cities. That is so absurd that no one would shut up about Windows Phone and you’d get at least a slight bump on the charts. Also, you’re doing a good deed I suppose. Why is that a bad idea if you are serious about increasing your market share and can afford to do it?
Man, if you are gonna be apologetic to the ways ICs is being shat out then you are going far beyond being a fanboy. I remember you (or I think I do) making the biggest stink NoDo, and Mango as well as how “bad” WP is doing.
There is no way you can act as if an OS that was introduced almost a year ago being in the hands of so few users being ok.
It’s fine to like android as much as you do… Hell, I feel the same about my WP, and truthfull I felt that “mango” was cried over, bitched about and complained for way to fuggin’ much. But sweet Hay-Soos, you can’t be serious.
And I know this arguement is lost on Android folks now, but all the talk about the dual core this ‘n thats, and all the hardware specs that seem to be brag-worthy truly do mean dick to the AVERAGE consumer.
If it mattered, apple would be force feeding (human centepede style) to their sheep.
You of all people know that all that stuff does little more than kill the battery that isn’t sufficient enough to handle it. I challenge you to tell me ANY android device opertates better, smoother, more fluidly than any WP device. and from there we can talk about how much that has mattered so far.
No I’m not taking the apple zombie approach of “if my favorite don’t make it I don’t need it”. I’m simply saying if it doesn’t improve the device it means very little.
You know it.
I’m not making excuses here, but this is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. And the way(s) MS is going about this with WIndows 8, W8 Tablets, WP, XBox you can see where their going.
Like it, or agree with it or not, but it’s true.
They have been wrongly accused of not offering features with their phones, but they built more into WP faster than any other OS did. So C’mon dude…
Marathon, right.. and you’re running, and accelerating, in the opposite direction.
So we’ve got the just you wait until this or that happens guy, that’s good. Also doubling as the multicore processors and other technological advancements are actually a bad thing, specifically with respect to the battery guy. And doubling as the expert on whether the average consumer compares things like GHz and resolution figures on sales description labels when buying a phone, figures those people are too dumb to even care about something that is totally misleading anyway so they just go by who had the better commercials.
Also doubling as the fanatic of extraordinary patience, one flop after another from Microsoft, yet still hanging in there with the wait for the next thing lines.
I don’t know how ICS is being shat out (shitted?), other than different looking icons I have no idea what to expect from it. I’ve been pretty busy lately and have been tuned out of this scene. I’ve been using my phones, yes, but I’ve been avoiding ICS information. All I know is that Surur jumped all over it which caught my attention as he got fired up about some Android thing that I don’t even care about around the time some pretty ugly, even uglier than usual, sales estimates have been released, during a time you all thought it would be exploding finally with Nokia and Mango and the Titan and whatever else.
Back to the battery and what I assume you’re referring to, more cores and ram, from where I’m sitting you’re on the losing side of that debate. I bet you’ll change your tune when you finally get phone with a processor from this decade.
Doubling as a guy who thinks he and the people who bought the same thing he did are better than all the other people (“sheep”). Sean, I’m not a dumb guy and I know a phone that suits me when I’ve used two of its predecessors and loved the hell out of both of them. Don’t be lobbing names at me.
And as for being an ICS apologist, I didn’t even read the damn wikipedia page yet, didn’t spend more than half a minute on google.com/nexus, I don’t know dick about ICS so how could .. ahh nevermind.
So, you’ve got a prediction that as soon as Microsoft invokes the number 8 and uses a similar name for its various products it will turn things upside down and then you go on to tell me that regardless of whether I agree with your … out-on-a-limb forecast, “it’s true.” Those are the rules, huh.
C’mon yourself, dude.
All I read is that grapes are sour. You are content with your phone without ICS but did the OEM/ Google look like they care about the millions of current android users who spent their money to buy a phone and are now left with no option but to spend more money if they *want* to be able get the latest thing on their devices. I don’t think so and that’s what sets MS and Apple in a separate discussion. This, my friend, isn’t even in the same context.
All I read is that grapes are sour. You are content with your phone without ICS but did the OEM/ Google look like they care about the millions of current android users who spent their money to buy a phone and are now left with no option but to spend more money if they wantk to be able get the latest thing on their devices. I don’t think so and that’s what sets MS and Apple in a separate discussion. This, my friend, isn’t even in the same context.
Wait till what happens? What have you SEEN as opposed to hoped for, outta WP that makes you think they wont do anything to their phones?
Im perfectly happy with WP as it is, but judging from the way it’s gone so far it will be updated. Should I not expect that?
Oh wait, you’re still sure it’s gonna fall to pieces and fade away, huh?
Multi core, and all that? Once again, if it happens it happens. If not so what. I’ll say it again does your multi-core android device handle the OS better than the single-core, archaic, left in the dust, so last century WP Devices?
Nope, it don’t.
And lets be totally honest here… WP has been out a little over a year. In that same time that android or ios was out what did it look like, come with, have going for it, how did it REALLY operate, etc?
I gotta ask you, what are these flops that MS keeps putting out? You’re one who cries that the loudest but offer absolutely NOTHING to truly back it up.
Being tired, I will just let it fly. WP and Berries started out as productivity devices. The consumer market today has been inundated with those who feel their only measure of self-esteem seems to be having an icon for Twit, Face, texting and taking pics and sending them. They are fixated on the number of contacts and providing them in real time that they are “taking a dump”. Driven like lemmings with the need to be “in Touch”, to be “in the Know” and part of the “Scene”.
As for droid, they see the long term investment in knowing who you are, what you are doing, where you are and most importantly what you are spending your money on. The money is in marketing. The quality of the experience is not an issue, they realize the user in this market is ignorant and inexperienced. And I am not impressed with their attitude toward those startups and successful companies; they tend to confront them with the “Horse Head in your Bed” proposition. Either let us buy you or well with destroy you. Examples: Groupon, Facebook, and just recently the online travel community. For Google, $$ is their definition of innovation.
For the average consumer, technical depth is overcome by the need to a have shiny object in their hand so they fit it with their social surrounding. This is a match made in heaven. Just tell them you have more than one processor….wow! and that you have a zillion of apps (that provide access to malware, a mired of redundancies, and of course the “fart”. And that is all that is required to suck in the “technobats”. When I see all these kiddies running around I really do wonder if they know what version of OS they are using and even worse, that their shiny little toy can get an update.
Google learned from Microsoft one important lesson, keep piling on the $$$ to the lobbyists.
As for Apple, basically the same approach to the consumer (technobats), give a them shiny pretty package and built in obsolescence. As long as you lock them in to their ecosystem. AOL tried that, for those of you that remember. Of all the people that I know that have their shiny toys, they are cracked and their ears are killing them. Elaboration: for the $$ they charge would Gorilla glass been too much of a sacrifice in revenues. And those earbuds, if you can call them that. My God, I am sure they could have been used during the Spanish Inquisition. And let me not forget iTunes, besides being a pain to use, and you can forget importing your music, is there a better Trojan Horse software out there to take over your PC. Well maybe Google Bar which our friends at Adobe always try to inject onto your PC by moving around the OptOut check box. And now that I am on Adobe, if you let their stuff onto your shiny device, you better have a REAL unlimited data plan since you seem to be downloading fixes more often than you are actually using the software.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
Doug:
WM6.5 was horrific, was bleeding marketshare BEFORE WP7 was released. Now that it is out and WM6.5 has been cut off at the source, the numbers are dwindling faster than WP7 can catch up to. Windows Mobile went from 42% in 2007 to 15% in 2009. It was dying, and it was dying fast.
Spec envy is for morons. Dual core and LTE and huge high res screens spell death for batteries, and some of the current Android offerings prove it. You can say whatever you want to disprove that, but the old adage that “Dual cores save power!” is a ridiculous argument, given that they compare year old single core procs to new dual cores.
Performance is performance, the slow-animated transitions (as you call em) are cut significantly by the new devices, and when the next round of devices hits (Q1-Q2 this year) it’ll be reduced further, making the experience not just as fluid, but even faster.
After seeing ICS on a Galaxy SII Skyrocket last night for myself, I can conclude that ICS runs better than Froyo or Gingerbread, but even last night the dude had to eject his battery because the phone locked up on him, and there’s still that patented Android delay in just about every touch action.
So, take what you want. I just feel like we need to clear the air here. I’m glad ya like Android, but there’s a few things you seem to be confused about Doug. That’s why I’m here, to give ya a big man hug and talk things over with ya.
(Full disclosure here, I write for WMPU)
I personally don’t give a toss whos marketshare is doing what, it makes no difference.
I do think however, the way updates are handled by Android is interesting.
Because it’s so “open”, OEMs and operators close it down as they like and the loser is the consumer, you can be sold Android that’s years out of date and since most people aren’t massively in touch with the tech world, they’ll assume “Android” is the latest and greatest (since the ads almost always mention it…).
WP7 by contrast (unless you developer unlock and pay Microsoft) is always the latest. WP7 sacrifices OEM friendly ness (“You must have these specs”) and carrier friendlyness (“You’ll release the update when we want”) for the benefit of the user. You still get the choice (to some extent) in hardware, but with the knowledge that WP7 is always the same and always the latest.
The reason for limited market share isn’t the platform itself, but the way Microsoft value toe end user more than the customer (operators and OEMs in this case).
I’m waiting for the day where all networks run like GiffGaff, and recognise the fact they’re basically a provider of a pipeline not of a lifestyle and then consumers can be free to choose the platform and device they want.
Marketshare is a silly thing to argue over, but it isn’t “nothing”.
A userbase can determine high profile apps, profitability, and longevity. You know, the things you want.
So, companies stimulating the economy is a bad thing Ashish?
Ohh snap.
Hey, looking at the latest Facebook data, Windows Phone did pretty well, relatively speaking, with a delta new user bump twice as large, proportionately, as the Christmas bump the others got. Meaning instead of 150 new non-WinPho-using smartphone users on Facebook for every one WinPho, this time about one in seventy something. That could be some traction.
On the other hand, it had an even bigger proportional bump around Thanksgiving and then quickly nestled back down.
But still, kudos.
As long as the platform is adding users to the user base thats a positive. You can throw all kinds of numbers against the wall but at the end of the day more users means more licenses sold and bigger user base to attract devs.
Microsoft has long money. I know people think that doesn’t matter but it does. They recognize the need to be relevant in the mobile space too. Sure they may not throw caution to the wind and move with the turns of the wind but that would mean disaster to me.
At the end of the day Windows Phone is here to stay for the foreseeable future, is a success based on user experience ratings and is beginning to gain more traction in tech circles. The consumer base will continue to grow (there is 20x more people within 25 miles of me using WP than it was 6 months ago.)
Lets be real, the year long absense of any new phone releases made any real market gain an impossibility. Now that the phones will be coming out more regularly we’ll see what gives. By the way the couple million of Windows Phone users who spent their money help stimulate the economy too right?
I have no desire to use any other mobile OS aside from comparative & research purposes. I hope people using Android and iOS feel the same. To each their own and the more the merrier.
Ya know, I would love to see accurate data on all these “new” Android activations. Just looking at the people this know with them and how many times they’ve had issues, our had to return/exchange I can’t help but wonder if a larger number of the new android activations are people string replacement devices.
Doug – stimulating economy by getting ignored and cheated by the OEMs in the first place? You are confusing capitalism with extortion, I guess. How does Apple look in comparison to Android?
If you’re asking how they compare in terms of resisting carrier crap, Apple looks terrific. Might be worth noting that if not having carriers pee on your phone you can always get a Nexus (with exception to Verizon managing to strip of Google Wallet). So just as you have an option for a pure phone the way Steve intended it to be, you’ve got a new Google counterpart about once a year.
Not an LTE kind of guy kind of guy (Verizon, DoCoMo)? No problem, you can tune into HSPA+ if your carrier has 850/900/1700/1900/2100MHz plus WCDMA on 850/900/1800/1900, so more like six bands of serious goodness I suppose, with the option to buy the LTE versions. The HSPA+ radio is 21Mbps, whereas AT&T’s 4G iphone is about half that (theoretically). How many phones you touch that can glide full speed from AT&T to T-Mobile?
The radio on this thing characterizes the rest of the hardware of this phone relative to the counterparts of the iPhone. And there isn’t any carrier crap either. Also the glass, it’s a little concave which is totally sweet, seriously.
So even though I’ll have to buy it outright, I cannot resist, gotta have this thing even though I ought to spend that money on other things, like nothing, and I just don’t see how that’s extortion on the part of OEMs. They’re competing like crazy to make the best phone and they take turns, though lately usually Samsung, figuring it out and hold the title briefly. Meanwhile, Android the platform and the software that you can use with it continues, as it’s always had, to get better.
Where’s the problem?
And l3v3y, I think it’s cool that you’ve got your insight and theories, but maybe add that there simply is no room for another contender in the market.
Ashish, I hear you that you like the latest on your device whether you got a sort of normal looking one or the one with the speakers and the kickstand, but note that, unless you want to count NoDo, during the period that there have been only one noticeably significant update to your phone there have been four* for mine. Google is more prolific.
On top of that, imagine one day you wake up and it hits you Damn, I just have to run Ubuntu Linux on my Google phone even though it’s pretty Linux-like as it is! No problem big guy, you can do that by dropping something on the SD card. Fire it on wifi, get yourself a static IP, set your Linksys to use its IP as the DMZ, load it up with Apache, SQLite and PHP, export all the data off mobilitydigest, redirect the A record to point at the phone and badabing, who knows what the hell will happen.
Can’t do that on Windows Phone. Lack of choice in many things, from running Windows 95 to changing keyboards, is part of the whole simplicity thing they’re going for. That’s a great get-the-job-done-in-a-sexy-smooth-way kind of phone, but not the phone for me. Though the word is more applicable to Microsoft’s legal tactics, I’ll settle for Android pusher extortion.
But Apple… Steve, gotta hand it to him, he had a real pair, to answer your question.
All four update for YOU* didn’t bump the version to 3.5 – I went from 7.0 to 7.5 in one significant update. That has to count for something.
How many other Android users were able to get those updates? Is everyone looking to run a data center on a phone? No would be the answer. But, when there is an update to the OS that my phone runs, I would like to be able to update my phone and not buy a new phone every time there is a new update.
You are content with the latest and greatest Android and the ROMs that you flash – can every Android user do that? Are they willing/capable? Should they be hunting for a ROM? Should I change my phone if that cool app I cannot live without doesn’t work on my phone?
Wrong Ashish, I actually did run Honeycomb on my Nexus S.
I did that while you were pretending to multitasking, I did that when the images you uploaded were scaled down by force (why might they do that, carrier ass kissing? ..), I did that while you weren’t (and still aren’t) recording in 720p (I was able to do this on my first nexus released in Jan ’10), I did this while you were misinterpreting sweet splash screens for fast processing, while your apps were too sandboxed from each other, while you not only had to pay to sideload but pay per phone not the tool, I did that while you were hunting for your new apps buried down your alphabetical list view you couldn’t manipulate, did it while you had no decent included navigation app, while you couldn’t create hotspots…
Seems like to make an amazing wp update all they need to do is ease up a bit on the simplicity restrictions. Google has already done that a long time ago.
The list of things I need or want to do makes Google Nexus phones perfect for me. Android, unless you actually believe you’re just so damned smart and are surrounded by sheep, is overall a more appealing platform backed by a more appealing company backed by other appealing companies, a few of which we share, who go full throttle on Android. Not even Nokia is going anywhere near full throttle on wp. They hedged that bet.
Android gets the best hardware. But good for you that your developers only have to deal with one low resolution. Good for you that you can play XBox. I am glad you love your phone and the company behind the platform and the while hating another for being successful,harping on updates. You must love Windows Update, great stuff.
Anyway what I’m trying to say is not that windows phone sucks; rather that you suck and are digitally myopic.
Just for the record I do record in 720p. Jump list for fast access to apps. Bing maps is good it just doesn’t have same voice navigation as Google maps.
In an era where carriers are scaling back data plans Microsoft has a terrific solution. No need to share full resolution to social media sites. The full res versions can sync when you get home wirelessly and automatically. It would’ve been to the carriers benefit to keep photos full size so they can charge for data overage.
Different platforms for different mindsets. As long as choice is present it doesn’t matter.
So what if the marketshare seems small for know, at least i am assured of timely updates of my investment. So what if i cant run linux flash roms easily, because the user experience of wp7 satisfied alot of users, unlike in android im always chasing that kind of level of user satisfaction, no wonder im always looking for new roms posted for my dhd and asus transformer.
Echoos lang.
Surur has absolutely no life, damn near EVERY friggin hour of the day he is posting “stories” on WMPU.
Most of these “stories” carry subtle digs about android eg the current Laptopmag vote of the Lumia 900 vs Razr Maxx he writes…..
“the Lumia 900 yet to be released anywhere vs the some disposable Android phone.”
or he pathetically writes to the authors of angry birds to tell them WP owners would “gladly” pay $2 more per application than “other platforms”, the then goes on to tell blatant lies to same, saying
“nokias phones are outselling every other phone in Europe”
Yes he did actually say that………….
You know what the worst thing about WMPU is, if you actually state a FACT that shows WP7 in bad light your comment will be deleted or worse, you will be banned from WMPU.
I actually do feel sorry for him, he seems to have no life outside WMPU, every *little* detail about WP7 is a “story” to him…………………what a sad man 🙁
Gary
@L3v5y
“WP7 by contrast (unless you developer unlock and pay Microsoft) is always the latest. WP7 sacrifices OEM friendly ness (“You must have these specs”) and carrier friendlyness (“You’ll release the update when we want”) for the benefit of the user. You still get the choice (to some extent) in hardware, but with the knowledge that WP7 is always the same and always the latest.”
You know, that is the dummest thing I’ve read in a long time
Even with 1.3% market share WP is starting to fragment (which WILL happen), your comment is like saying
On todays news, Microsoft has laid down OEM requirements for Windows 8, only ONE processor is supported (single core) and 256Mb ram etc etc
PS what about the loads of WP users who aren’t getting updates from their carriers…………….
your post is a POS mate