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Windows 10 Phones

I wasn't that excited about this until I read more about it.

Apparently, while it might be called "Windows 10 Mobile" the idea is that the phone runs exactly the same OS as the desktop.

You can also use a wireless keyboard and mouse, so it would finally be possible to type out documents while, say, on a train, with a proper keyboard. If you have a big screen mobile then you effectively have a pocket computer. One that can "run anything".

Then when you get where you're going you can connect it to a projector and use it to display your presentation. No laptop required.

Clearly this is of much more interest to business users which is the niche Microsoft have gone for.

My iPhone has become hard to live with because of the constant stream of updates to fix Apple's bugs, which tend to introduce more than they fix. Perhaps Steve Jobs had more influence than I might have imagined. I suspect that, had Steve had my experience of the iOS10 upgrade, the entire testing division might well have been sacked and replaced. Hence looking around for an alternative.

This does genuinely useful things that the iPhone can't do and this would seem to resolve the issue that there aren't "any apps" on the Windows platform.

Any thoughts?

Anyone have one - is it good?
 
I'm betting the Win10 Phone development will be delayed, while they work on the Win10 Vacuum cleaner; which they are certain will be a sure-fire hit cos Win10 really, REALLY sucks!
 
I've also been interested in this, although there are certain limitations. For example, you can currently only use the Windows 10 Store apps and that's partly due to the CPU choice being a Snapdragon. Also a lot of people find that the full-OS mode (I think it's called Continuum) runs out of memory far too easily, which limits your work options. But if you do get one then go for the top end Microsoft Lumia 950 XL as the extra power will help.

However if you own a decent Android phone then Google around, because it's sometimes possible to use the wireless (mirror) display feature with a keyboard and mouse attached to the device at the same time. In landscape mode and with the right Android app (there are a few that help to support a more 'Desktop' experience) then you can get reasonably close to the same setup.
 
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I think that settles it - it's £299 on Amazon. Added to Wish List..

Bit of a shame about the apps; on a desktop the Metro style apps were a bit of a disaster. For an OS called "Windows" you get applications that don't run in, er, windows. OK for a low powered device like a tablet which doesn't exactly lend itself to multi-tasking but it doesn't really work in the desktop environment.

I've retired the iPhone and gone back to my old Windows phone (which can't be used for audiobooks since you can't store them on the SD card, an early Windows mobile design flaw - it just runs out of memory very quickly) and it's like greased lightning and everything works.

Oh, and joy of joys, when you plug it into the PC you can drag things to and from it without having to open a piece of bloatware (iTunes) which since iOS10 won't connect to the iPhone anyway (which is why I can't regress it back to iOS 9.3). It used to show up as a device in "My Computer", but it hasn't done that since some other iOS update. Apple, what on earth are you doing.

So far as I can see the only disadvantage with a Windows phone (for me anyway, I don't use social media) is that it probably won't run Google Maps. I'm tempted to leave the iPhone in the car and use it as an audiobook player and sat nav.
 
Which specific Windows Phone do you have Mark and how's the battery life?
 
This one is an old Huawei one, still with Windows Phone 7, I think.

It's biggest USP is that the battery is huge (despite the phone still being very light) and when new it would last for up to four days on a single charge. Now, it's about two days.

The browser is absolutely useless for any very new sites and the processor is slow. But it's about four years old; even so, while the browser struggles, the rest of the thing flies along like lightning.

Must admit I'd missed the "live tiles" thing, just being able to have the visual cue of some icons being larger than others makes a difference and I find it more attractive to look at than the slightly fussy Apple rounded icons.

All I really need from a smart phone is a clock, alarm, timer, email, browser, maybe Shazam, a music player, and the Audible app, and the ability to go for about two days on one charge.

And for it not to railroad me into installing updates that break things time and time again or introduce horrendous security flaws. But then since this will probably be one of the last Windows phones before they give up and leave the market again I doubt there's much chance of that :)
 
I dont know how well it works, but several Xiaomi phones can be ROM'ed to run Win10, and I think one comes with Win10 as standard (Mi4).

If they can run Win10, there is a good chance they can run Win8/8.1, and that someone has a custom ROM to make it so.
 
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