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I just got a Microsoft Lumia 640 XL which came with Windows Phone 8.1 with an eventual free upgrade to Windows Phone 10. Despite the modest specs (1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 x4, 1GB of RAM), it feels much, MUCH more responsive than previous phones I've had, such as the HTC One, iPhone 5c, LG G3, Galaxy Note 4... Even with all the bloatware removed on those phones! I can't believe critics are rating Windows Phone down just because of a lack of "store app" selections; This is what a Phone O/S should be!

I got no complaints on my 635. The only reason I *might* ditch WP is I have no real need of a phone in the first place...otherwise that 950 or whatevers coming in the 7/800s would be mighty tempting.

Hard to believe that my Lumia 930 is over a year old! It still feels like it's still a new phone... Served me well as a smartphone for heavy Internet use, and did I mention the camera?

Windows 10 can't come soon enough to it, though. All the new stuff makes me want it, but, nah, I think I'm not going Insider any time soon. I prefer to have a working phone.

Noinoi wrote:

Windows 10 can't come soon enough to it, though. All the new stuff makes me want it, but, nah, I think I'm not going Insider any time soon. I prefer to have a working phone.

no kidding I feel like I'm torturing myself for nothing every time a preview build comes out

I mean they're great and all now, but they're still a gigantic waste of time until release...

I was on a WP for over 2 years and still have a Lumia 635 that I use as a GPS. I really really hope they succeed, but I fear they are doomed to follow the Zune. It's too bad because Windows Phone OS is so much better than the alternatives.
I reluctantly switched to the iPhone 6 about 6 months ago and would happily go back to WP if they had a great device on Verizon.

Savyg wrote:

Noinoi wrote:

Windows 10 can't come soon enough to it, though. All the new stuff makes me want it, but, nah, I think I'm not going Insider any time soon. I prefer to have a working phone.

no kidding I feel like I'm torturing myself for nothing every time a preview build comes out

I mean they're great and all now, but they're still a gigantic waste of time until release...

Somehow I think when Windows 10 is released officially for the Lumia 930/Icon/1520, that's when Windows 10 is no longer still beta-quality. I hope that is the case...

Noinoi wrote:

Somehow I think when Windows 10 is released officially for the Lumia 930/Icon/1520, that's when Windows 10 is no longer still beta-quality. I hope that is the case...

Only real problem I've had with the later builds is sticking apps on SD cards (in other words, don't do it.)

Perhaps they're working on that or perhaps it's fixed already, but I at least am avoiding it for a long time.

After using iOS 9 for a few months, I still prefer the way WP8.x does certain things. The OS itself is well-built and efficient, and all the first-party apps are pretty decent. My issues are nearly all related to the bumbling dipsh*ts in management, and how they've repeatedly fumbled everything related to the mobile OS.

Surprisingly, MS actually managed to make a good decision recently; bypassing carriers for future WP10 updates and sending them direct to phones. This means that WP10 should hopefully avoid the fragmentation/slow updates/abandonment, and resulting security issues that plague Android. I'm not quite sure how the higher-ups at MS managed to make the right choice here, but it's probably something that happened by accident. Most likely they were attempting to reach some other bizarre goal that makes no sense, and managed to stumble into the right decision purely by chance.

My Android 5.1 phone just received a new patch for the Stagefright exploit only half a year after it was revealed.

I'm running Win10 on my Lumina 1520 and it runs very with no major issues. I really like the new OS. I was thinking about getting the new 950XL but the phone is running so well I think I'll wait to see if the rumored surface phone appears next year.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

My Android 5.1 phone just received a new patch for the Stagefright exploit only half a year after it was revealed.

I'm pretty sure my new Android tablet (which hasn't gone past 5.0 yet) will never get one, heh.

...that's pretty much why I've decided Android is only worthwhile on cheap tablets, because they can't seem to get the 'phone' part right at all.

I just picked up a Lumia 930 (used) that the seller had put Windows10 on. Few small issues, but small enough I can just skip over.

Some of my iOS/Android fans were going on about the apps to which I responded that *most* of the functionality that apps provide I can get from the website.

Oh, I don't have a Facebook app? Facebook.com
No youtube app? Youtube.com

Saves on space, cuts down on shoddy programming and the potential of apps datamining you.

ultima_trev wrote:

I just got a Microsoft Lumia 640 XL which came with Windows Phone 8.1 with an eventual free upgrade to Windows Phone 10. Despite the modest specs (1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 x4, 1GB of RAM), it feels much, MUCH more responsive than previous phones I've had, such as the HTC One, iPhone 5c, LG G3, Galaxy Note 4... Even with all the bloatware removed on those phones! I can't believe critics are rating Windows Phone down just because of a lack of "store app" selections; This is what a Phone O/S should be!

I've been using a Samsung ATIV SE for about two years... it started with Windows 8 and then upgraded to Windows 8.1 over the summer.

On the one hand, I agree with you regarding performance... it is by far the smoothest and fastest phone I've ever owned; and I really like the interface. The whole layout of the start screen, the actual apps, etc are just excellent. Cortana is pretty cool - much better than Siri in my opinion.

But the support just isn't there. First off, the obvious... there are just far too few good apps for Windows Phone, and what apps there are seem far too often to have been simply thrown together. I suppose if all you need are the basics it might be okay. For me, the lack of any decent navigation apps is a pretty big negative. I've seen a lot of web pages that don't work nearly as well as they do on Apple or Android phones; and some that don't work at all.

Additionally, the hardware support is hit or miss. The upgrade to 8.1 on mine was delayed for almost a year because of firmware issues, and once it arrived was buggy for a few months. I suppose those sorts of things happen, but the annoying part is that MS puts almost no effort whatsoever into supporting those kinds of issues.

As someone else mentioned, it's basically the Zune all over again. Enormous potential but ultimately no support.

ultima_trev wrote:

On the one hand, I agree with you regarding performance... it is by far the smoothest and fastest phone I've ever owned; and I really like the interface. The whole layout of the start screen, the actual apps, etc are just excellent. Cortana is pretty cool - much better than Siri in my opinion.

But the support just isn't there. First off, the obvious... there are just far too few good apps for Windows Phone, and what apps there are seem far too often to have been simply thrown together. I suppose if all you need are the basics it might be okay. For me, the lack of any decent navigation apps is a pretty big negative. I've seen a lot of web pages that don't work nearly as well as they do on Apple or Android phones; and some that don't work at all.

Additionally, the hardware support is hit or miss. The upgrade to 8.1 on mine was delayed for almost a year because of firmware issues, and once it arrived was buggy for a few months. I suppose those sorts of things happen, but the annoying part is that MS puts almost no effort whatsoever into supporting those kinds of issues.

As someone else mentioned, it's basically the Zune all over again. Enormous potential but ultimately no support.

This is my impression after several years of Windows Phones (I currently have the Icon). When they work, they run very well. However, support always ends up being "just wait for the next release" which takes forever. All the major apps are there, but while they often work at launch, some fall into oblivion and never get updated.

Additionally, Microsoft will announce these fantastic features that take forever to launch, if they ever make it to launch. The upgrade cycle is so slow that by the time I get a single update, my fiancee's iPhone has received 3 or 4 notable updates.

I'm so torn. I love the platform, I love the vision of Windows Phone, it does certain things really well, but it just falls flat in a few other aspects. When it comes time to upgrade, I don't want to move to Android (ALL of my friends' Android phones end up slower and bloated after a year or don't remain updated), I don't want to move to iOS (solid update system but no back button, lack of widgets/live tiles, sometimes harder to do certain things because they're buried in some app instead of the OS, vendor lock-in, etc), but I might have to.

I bought a Lumia 640 just this past week, for playing around. For $53, I wanted something to just try out Windows phone with (note: work insists I use a provided iPhone 6 during the day; weekends, I switch to a Google Nexus 6).

The 640 at fifty bucks is very impressive. Think about when the first two LTE Android phones were released (the HTC Thunderbolt and the Droid Bionic) on Verizon, and what they cost ($200-500 depending on contract). Then look at the following for the above price:

1GB RAM
8GB storage (upgradeable through microSD; I had a spare 8GB and added it)
Front and rear cameras
5" 720P IPS LCD display
Removable 2500mAh battery
knock-knock wake screen

Cortana is easly a match for Siri for a lot less money (Siri has improved, but I have yet to be impressed compared to Cortana or Google Now). I haven't upgraded to WP10 through Insider (which I played with on a previous Lumia 635) because I've read enough reports to see it's not ready yet, but 8.1 works well. It fits well in the hand

My only dislikes are Microsoft's continued privacy invasion (if you don't know where to turn things off, all your data are belong to them) and that it uses a Micro-SIM (my other two phones use Nano-SIMS; you have to be careful with a SIM adapter, or you'll rip apart the SIM slot, something I found with the $30 Lumia 635 that I'd been playing with). Yeah, app diversity could be improved too, but if I was on a budget, this phone is certainly a match for the Moto G in all areas but the apps...and yeah, I'm missing not having Google Hangouts and some of their stuff, due to Google's hatorade on the WinMo platform.

RickyTick wrote:

I was on a WP for over 2 years and still have a Lumia 635 that I use as a GPS. I really really hope they succeed, but I fear they are doomed to follow the Zune. It's too bad because Windows Phone OS is so much better than the alternatives.
I reluctantly switched to the iPhone 6 about 6 months ago and would happily go back to WP if they had a great device on Verizon.

I've heard the Zune was technically superior to the iPod in regards to sound quality, but Microsoft had a terrible marketing department which ultimately led to people ignoring the Zune.

confusedpenguin wrote:

I've heard the Zune was technically superior to the iPod in regards to sound quality, but Microsoft had a terrible marketing department which ultimately led to people ignoring the Zune.

The entire Zune line has (had?) excellent sound quality. My 120GB hard-drive version died several years ago, but our 3 64GB HDs are still running strong. When they go, though, I'm likely moving into the high-end portable units instead of slumming with iAnything.

And yes, the marketing was terrible, complete with a dysfunctional online music purchase system. Since I don't buy online and just rip CDs to it, that's never bothered me.

ultima_trev wrote:

I can't believe critics are rating Windows Phone down just because of a lack of "store app" selections

For the vast majority of superphone users the apps are the main draw.

ultima_trev wrote:

Despite the modest specs (1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 x4, 1GB of RAM), it feels much, MUCH more responsive than previous phones I've had

I'm curious how responsive the phone will be once you update to Windows 10.

I own a Sony Z Ultra and Nokia Lumia 920, hands down 920 is superior. Its fast, its a no nonsense phone.

Captain Ned wrote:

And yes, the marketing was terrible

You don't say:

"I want to squirt you a picture of my kids. You want to squirt me back a video of your vacation. That’s a software experience."

The fact that the original Zune was the colour of a turd did not help.

confusedpenguin wrote:

I've heard the Zune was technically superior to the iPod in regards to sound quality, but Microsoft had a terrible marketing department which ultimately led to people ignoring the Zune.

Can you squirt me a url to an article that documents this superiority?

Jigar wrote:

its a no nonsense phone.

What does that even mean? Just a browser and email?

End User wrote:

ultima_trev wrote:

Despite the modest specs (1.2 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 x4, 1GB of RAM), it feels much, MUCH more responsive than previous phones I've had

I'm curious how responsive the phone will be once you update to Windows 10.

I am as well, but if that first WP10 update has to come through the carrier, it could be a long long time (if ever). My old HTC 8X took 10 months to get the 8.0 -> 8.1 update through Verizon.

confusedpenguin wrote:

I've heard the Zune was technically superior to the iPod in regards to sound quality, but Microsoft had a terrible marketing department which ultimately led to people ignoring the Zune.

I can't say it was or was not technically superior, but is was a great piece of hardware, and so are the Windows Phones that I've used. Nonetheless, the phones are headed down the same path as the Zune. Too bad really.

End User wrote:

Can you squirt me a url to an article that documents this superiority?

No, but side-to-side comparison I once did a few years ago with an iPod Classic, the same headphones, and the same uncompressed files came out in favor of the Zune. iDevices can maintain better quality on AAC coding at equally compressed bitrates compared to MP3, but since I only ever use lossless or 320 kbps, that advantage is lost on me.

One thing's for sure, though, the headphones that came with the first Zunes (long since sold out and unobtainium) were miles above anything Apple ever bundled with an iWhoozit.

Captain Ned wrote:

One thing's for sure, though, the headphones that came with the first Zunes (long since sold out and unobtainium) were miles above anything Apple ever bundled with an iWhoozit.

In my experience, most bundled headphones are horrible. Back in the day (long, long ago, we're talking original Walkman era...), my "go to" portable headphone brand was Audio-Technica. These days it's Sennheiser; even their more affordable models (like the PX-100 II) have better bass, crisper highs, and an overall smoother sound than pretty much anything else close to their price range.

Still loving my Sansa Clip+ too. Just ordered a replacement 128GB micro-SD card for it (which appears to have arrived in today's mail), as the previous one suddenly stopped allowing writes.

(Sorry for furthering this thread derail...)

Captain Ned wrote:

were miles above anything Apple ever bundled with an iWhoozit.

I'm no audophile but it has been ages since I have used Apple supplied earbuds.

End User wrote:

I'm curious how responsive the phone will be once you update to Windows 10.

not too bad. have a 200 phone, and it's decent. smooth still. the s4's aren't great, still work though, but the 200's are still good.

Pville_Piper wrote:

I'm running Win10 on my Lumina 1520 and it runs very with no major issues. I really like the new OS. I was thinking about getting the new 950XL but the phone is running so well I think I'll wait to see if the rumored surface phone appears next year.

i wouldn't get a 950. not enough difference with our 1520's.

RickyTick wrote:

I can't say it was or was not technically superior, but is was a great piece of hardware, and so are the Windows Phones that I've used. Nonetheless, the phones are headed down the same path as the Zune. Too bad really.

I really don't understand this train of thought. Zune (for software upgrades) had what...a few **** apps? I don't remember any (free or otherwise) major OS upgrades to it.

WP may not have a strong marketshare but it has a MUCH stronger first party focus than Zune ever had, and has been massively improving since WP7. And if Project Astoria or whatever the other platform development bridges work, the app issue might be mitigated somewhat.

We'll have to see how that all plays out, though. Right now it's just talk...but it's proof enough they are taking it FAR more seriously than Zune.

sweatshopking wrote:

Pville_Piper wrote:

I'm running Win10 on my Lumina 1520 and it runs very with no major issues. I really like the new OS. I was thinking about getting the new 950XL but the phone is running so well I think I'll wait to see if the rumored surface phone appears next year.

i wouldn't get a 950. not enough difference with our 1520's.

Quite right. The both have next to zero apps.