Microsoft Acquires Nokia $7.2B

[BBMme]

And now there are talks about acquiring BlackBerry.
Posted via RS Mobile

[StylinRed]

Originally Posted by !Yaminashi

I knew one guy that used a windows mobile device.
Unfortunately I could never test it out because it constantly rebooted itself

Originally Posted by MarkyMark

Is Windows phone more popular in other parts of the world because I've never met one person that's used one
Posted via RS Mobile

Originally Posted by mos_skeeto

My last 3 phones were Android, iOS and Windows Mobile and I prefer both iOS and Windows over Android.

Just to be very clear Windows Mobile ≠ Windows Phone they're completely different

Windows Mobile on the Left and Windows Phone on the Right



As for popularity Windows Phone is gaining ground in some eastern european countries and south america they're even ahead of Apple in many of those areas but that's only because its the low-end/mid-tier Lumia devices which are catching sales and the Iphone is too expensive

In terms of Windows Phone sales globally they sold 7million phones last quarter that's still about half the number that Nokia Symbian phones were selling at when they announced the death of Symbian so go figure, but sales are increasing thanks to the budget devices/nokia name not sure if that will continue now as Microsoft doesnt have the Nokia name and only "lumia" and "asha" and Ballmer has said they'll be coming up with a new name for their devices a "shorter name" http://mynokiablog.com/2013/09/03/ba...-nokia-lumias/



Oh and to add icing to the cake Stephen Elop was already on a short list for the next Microsoft CEO after this sale his names moved to the top of the list (in terms of speculation anyway)

[dangonay]

^ I think Nokia will place a strong 3rd behind Android and iOS. Blackberry is the one I think that will hurt the most from this deal. We don't need half a dozen mobile operating systems and my money is on Nokia/MS before Blackberry (too bad since I have friends who work there).

Originally Posted by trancehead

interesting thing is with china is that over 90% of mobile devices being sold today are running Android. like Dangonay brought up, (im not sure of the percentage on this one) but %X of these devices come bundled with a Chinese market place for apps rather than Google Play

The fact that Androids VP Hugo Barra just left Google for Xiaomi last week sure adds fuel to the fire. Who better to help Xiaomi bring a custom version of Android to the Chinese market (perhaps a forked version) than a former VP of Android from Google?

[StylinRed]

stumbled on this thought it was interesting considering it's not exactly old (2007)



same year first iphone appeared and the n95

[dangonay]

^ One billion would be more impressive if they were smartphones and not those $49 candy bar phones they sold in droves.

[twitchyzero]

Nokia was considering Android for plan B prior to the MS buyout
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/0...eid=auto&_r=3&

[willystyle]

^At the time, I thought that Nokia could really give Samsung a run for the money, if they chose Android over Windows Phone. Too late now.

[StylinRed]

Originally Posted by twitchyzero

Nokia was considering Android for plan B prior to the MS buyout
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/0...eid=auto&_r=3&

Old news to nokia fans, there were actually leaks from insiders back then showing android installed on nokia devices but people thought they were fake there was also information leaked conveying that Nokia was considering Android but it didn't fit in with their device designs etc (which is complete bullshit since android is basically symbian&maemo)

all that android business changed though once Stephen Elop became CEO his goal from the start (as he recently admitted) was to get WP on all Nok phones

anyway I was a major fan of Nok and symbian (as many of you know) but I would have loved to have had Android on Nokia devices if they were set on killing off Symbian because Android so closely matched Symbian and especially Maemo so it would make adoption almost seamless especially since Nokia could skin android



Anyway now its just the waiting game for Nok stock to plateau, sell everything off and then wait for a suitable Android phone and then im done with Nokia :/
I was hoping Honami would be it but prototype camera samples suck

[bcrdukes]

Re: Maemo/MeeGo

I was hoping Nokia would hold on to Maemo/MeeGo a little longer than to put it on the back burner (or sold off.) I have yet to have a bad experience with this OS on the Nokia N9. Stable, fast and isn't bloated with garbage.

[willystyle]

Anyone actually like Windows Phone?

I've gotten a chance to play with it on many occasions, but I just can't seem to find the Metro UI appealing at all.

[mos_skeeto]

I love it. In some ways I like it more than iOS. It's fast and slick.

I had one for a few months and what I thought was killing it was application support. Some apps are unavailable. When they are, I found that even ported apps don't have the same features or get regular updates like its android or iOS couterpart.

It's been a while since I used a Win Phone. Hopefully it's better now with developer intensive to develop for RT and Win 8.

[bcrdukes]

Never been a huge fan of apps in general (prefer functionality such as phone calls, SMS, email) but I like Windows Phone overall in comparison to say iOS.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by willystyle

Anyone actually like Windows Phone?

I've gotten a chance to play with it on many occasions, but I just can't seem to find the Metro UI appealing at all.

The Metro UI may not work well on a PC, or even a laptop with a touch screen, but on a phone, the interface actually works quite well. The built in first party apps have a pretty snappy response. It's just that aesthetically, it isn't as pretty and we are too used to the iOS / Android v4+ interface.

But mos_skeeto has it spot on -- it's the apps ecosystem (or rather, the lack of a one) that is killing the platform.

[yray]

I love it... Wp 7.0 all the way to 8.0

I think I was one of the first to have wp7.0

Originally Posted by ScizzMoney

Not gonna lie. Never ever did I think that sentence would be typed.

Zune was decent for wp7.5 for loading music into it (wifi loading was awesome) and backing up. Better than the xbox music crap they have for wp8, can't control songs in comp with a UI, have to do things through windows explorer. Back up through skydrive

[SkinnyPupp]

I actually would love to try Windows 8 for a while... But how can I say no the the Nexus 4? Nothing comes close to being such a good deal

[dangonay]

^ It is a great deal, which is what loss leaders usually are.
Posted via RS Mobile

[Bonka]

Originally Posted by willystyle

Anyone actually like Windows Phone?

I've gotten a chance to play with it on many occasions, but I just can't seem to find the Metro UI appealing at all.

Originally Posted by mos_skeeto

I love it. In some ways I like it more than iOS. It's fast and slick.

I had one for a few months and what I thought was killing it was application support. Some apps are unavailable. When they are, I found that even ported apps don't have the same features or get regular updates like its android or iOS couterpart.

It's been a while since I used a Win Phone. Hopefully it's better now with developer intensive to develop for RT and Win 8.

I'm using W8 and find it is great to use for my purposes (email, calls, text, office). I love the out of the box fluidity of the UI and personally like the LiveTiles feature. Perhaps it's because I'm not much of an App guy either but it does have all the apps I use (Netflix, YT, RSS, TuneIn).

The OS is rather unpolished; headings and titles do not re-size and run off the screen due to their use of oversized fonts and having to back out of programs to shut them down. Several built-in programs almost seem like an afterthought a la the horrible music/video player linked through Xbox and the calendar where the month view shows appointments in Latin.

[dasani604]

Originally Posted by Bonka

I'm using W8 and find it is great to use for my purposes (email, calls, text, office). I love the out of the box fluidity of the UI and personally like the LiveTiles feature. Perhaps it's because I'm not much of an App guy either but it does have all the apps I use (Netflix, YT, RSS, TuneIn).

The OS is rather unpolished; headings and titles do not re-size and run off the screen due to their use of oversized fonts and having to back out of programs to shut them down. Several built-in programs almost seem like an afterthought a la the horrible music/video player linked through Xbox and the calendar where the month view shows appointments in Latin.

I have a W8 phone as well. Same thoughts, for my usage it's fine. Using a Nokia, the camera is awesome for a phone. The lack of apps is usually not a daily concern but when it is, I would wish I had an iPhone (due to most apps being produced for iOS).

Prior to the Microsoft acquisition, Nokia was extremely fast with updates and pushed them at least on a monthly basis (for their apps). Looking at Microsoft's past history with update speeds, a strong consensus amongst those in the Windows Phone community is that updates and new features will be much slower.

[bcrdukes]

^
While I don't use a WP8 phone, I felt that updates for my Nokia N9 and E71 (prior to Microsoft's takeover) they were on the ball when it came to bugs/fixes/patches etc. But when Microsoft took over, they fizzled off.

[StylinRed]

Nokia has been pushing msft to come out with updates but msft is really lagging to the point that nokia released their own fw patch called Amber recently to add some updates and fix some bugs

but now that msft is taking over i expect pace to drop back down to msfts level which isn't going to release windows phone 8.# until next year


as for Windows Phone, I hate it it looks ugggggggglly to me if they gave users more ability to customize the tile colours or transparencies even that would be a huge welcome but nope -_-
wallpapers even if it were windows 8 start screen like wallpapers that would be very much welcomed


in fact a supposed former ex-nokia employee vented about how he hates WindowsPhones UI/UX on reddit recently (its getting quite a few headlines)

http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comm...xhs0?context=3



the paragraph i relate with is quoted below

Thirdly (and this is my favorite pet peeve): the WP design language is directly opposite to Gestalt rules. The UI should use color, weight and visual cues to guide the eye and to assert a visual hierarchy. You need to be able to form an overview and the location of the most critical functions of the phone with a quick glance. This is usually done using color, continuity, contrast, focal points etc. WP disregards all of this. If you look at the live tiles, there are useless animations, complete disregard of visual cues and the focal points are all over the place. Why is the Red Bull app colored, thus stealing my attention, while the more important phone and message icons are not? Why is the Xbox Live tile green by default, making it the only one to stand out? Is the UI suggesting it’s really the most vital app of my phone? Why are the tiles moving without input, making it exceptionally difficult to form an overview of what I’m seeing? Why are my eyes being constantly guided to non-essential parts of the UI? Thanks to these things, the UI is crowded and it’s difficult to form a visual hierarchy of what I’m seeing. In most cases there’s also no distinction between call to action elements and plain text, making guiding the user through visual cues difficult.

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by dangonay

^ It is a great deal, which is what loss leaders usually are.
Posted via RS Mobile

I know, it's great when the manufacturers do things that are good for consumers, isn't it

[dangonay]

^ If you believe Google is selling the Nexus 4 at a cheap price because it cares about consumers then I've got a bridge for sale you might like.

The low price of the Nexus 4 is unsustainable. This is why there are always limited quantities available and quick sell outs. So it's good for "some" consumers who were lucky enough to snag one but it's not good for all consumers as Google would never produce enough to make it a mainstream device.
Posted via RS Mobile

[dasani604]

Originally Posted by StylinRed

Nokia has been pushing msft to come out with updates but msft is really lagging to the point that nokia released their own fw patch called Amber recently to add some updates and fix some bugs

but now that msft is taking over i expect pace to drop back down to msfts level which isn't going to release windows phone 8.# until next year


as for Windows Phone, I hate it it looks ugggggggglly to me if they gave users more ability to customize the tile colours or transparencies even that would be a huge welcome but nope -_-
wallpapers even if it were windows 8 start screen like wallpapers that would be very much welcomed


in fact a supposed former ex-nokia employee vented about how he hates WindowsPhones UI/UX on reddit recently (its getting quite a few headlines)

slaizer comments on Nokia was testing Android on Lumias before Microsoft sale



the paragraph i relate with is quoted below

I think it's fine in term of pretty/ugly appeal, but I may be biased since I favour the live tiles for my photo album/contacts. Everything else I could care less.

What he says about UI/UX, I agree. It's cumbersome to scroll down and extremely annoying to switch wifi/bluetooth on/off; although, I know you can download battery apps which have options to act as shortcuts. Folders would be very useful too.

Originally Posted by dangonay

^ If you believe Google is selling the Nexus 4 at a cheap price because it cares about consumers then I've got a bridge for sale you might like.

The low price of the Nexus 4 is unsustainable. This is why there are always limited quantities available and quick sell outs. So it's good for "some" consumers who were lucky enough to snag one but it's not good for all consumers as Google would never produce enough to make it a mainstream device.
Posted via RS Mobile

Limited quantities available and quick sell-outs usually occur when they're first released or when they want to end the product. Correct me if I'm wrong, but last Christmas was perfectly fine. Other than those periods, I have not heard news or seen the Nexus 4 being sold out.

I do agree with you on it never being a mainstream device. It's a great bargain but it's just not everybody's ideal phone. Samsung Note x/Samsung Galaxy Sx have been stealing the thunder away from Nexus phones despite their higher prices. Credit is due to their marketing vs. the non-existent marketing of Google. However, I'm assuming the sales of the Nexus phones aren't a big concern for Google.

[R5x]

Originally Posted by dangonay

^ If you believe Google is selling the Nexus 4 at a cheap price because it cares about consumers then I've got a bridge for sale you might like.

The low price of the Nexus 4 is unsustainable. This is why there are always limited quantities available and quick sell outs. So it's good for "some" consumers who were lucky enough to snag one but it's not good for all consumers as Google would never produce enough to make it a mainstream device.
Posted via RS Mobile

The Nexus 4 stock situation was terrible at launch but was resolved by February (3 months after launch). Your statement is kind of overblown as there was not always limited availabilities and quick sellouts. It was never intended as a mainstream device and Google knew this. As far as the lucky consumers that snagged one, it was incredibly easy after the initial problems if a consumer was patient enough.

I know you're an iOS developer so your biases and preferences are well known, but objectively I'm just wondering if you've ever used an Android or Windows Phone product from a consumer point of view as an actual "daily driver"; especially a Nexus 4-level product and up for Android. The actual experience has been great for me coming from an iOS device and same with people I know. From my small sample size of friends, I haven't really had any that switched from iOS to Android then complained about a specific app that they MUST have that was on iOS and not on Android which forced them to switch back to an iPhone. They were always either ported (eventually) or an alternative exists.

It just sounds like the majority of your arguments against Android are aimed from a developer's point of view (which as I understand it from your posts, the Android development is inferior to iOS). I know I would totally try a Windows Phone for my next phone if the OS were improved and apps were available. Just wondering if objectively you would too?

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by dangonay

^ If you believe Google is selling the Nexus 4 at a cheap price because it cares about consumers then I've got a bridge for sale you might like.

The low price of the Nexus 4 is unsustainable. This is why there are always limited quantities available and quick sell outs. So it's good for "some" consumers who were lucky enough to snag one but it's not good for all consumers as Google would never produce enough to make it a mainstream device.
Posted via RS Mobile

It doesn't matter WHY they are doing it. It is still good for consumers, which is all I said. All that matters to me is that I can get a phone with good specifications for $250 brand new. I don't have to wait in line or put a down payment or anything. I don't have to sign an idiotic contract. I just go to google.com/nexus4 and order one, and it is shipped within a week.