Microsoft Admits Windows Phone is Basically Dead

[convergent]

As for the first smartphone thing. Here's my Motorola A1000 from 2004. I had the A900 too that came out 2 years before even that. And a Nokia n95 which was a Smartphone too.

Touchscreen. 3G. Apps. Video Calling. Stylus. ARM OMAP processor. Transflash (microSD) card. Front and rear facing cameras. AGPS.

;-)

View attachment 724695

http://www.s21.com/motorola-a1000.htm

I've got a box full of older ones still in their original boxes (total packrat). I think I've got a Samsung SPH-i300 and Kyocera 6035 in there which were both released in 2001. The Kyocera 7135 was one of my favorite early devices. Sadly I no longer have one of them. I think my oldest Windows was an XDA variant from around 2002. But going way back, one device I wish I had hung onto was the HP 200LX... the real "pocket computer" running MS DOS. I think that was released in 1994. Wasn't a phone though.

 

[rjohnstone]

Have to hand it to Apple for pushing hardware forward, too. Who remembers the mobile phone world before the "Retina" display? 320x240, 640x480, and if you were lucky 800x480 resolutions were the norm, even on higher-end devices.

Despite using other phones for years prior to getting an iPhone, I always envied those high-res screens when all I could get was 800x480 no matter how much I would have been willing to spend on competing hardware.

I wouldn't call it a pushing hardware forward.
Display makers were already beginning production of HD 1280x720 (720p) panels before the iPhone 4 was announced.
Apple beat 'em to the punch, so to speak, by a few months due to their differing release cycles.
Companies like Samsung were on a beginning of the year release schedule as opposed to Apple's fall(Q4) release schedule.

Retina (960x640) was an oddball resolution. When you combined it's small screen size at 3.5" with that resolution, it looked really good. Put that same resolution onto a larger 4" screen like their competitors were using and it looked average.
That's why Samsung Display was working on HD AMOLED panels. The 800x640 resolution looked horrid on their larger displays.
I still have a Galaxy S2 in my stash of old phones with an 800x640 AMOLED panel and it's not bad, but not really sharp.

LG made the IPS "Retina" display for the iPhone 4, but could not use it in their own phones for obvious contractual reasons.

 

[BornAgainMac]

I still think he’s missing the point. Software is everything.

So he missed the point twice. I wonder how many times his buddies trolled him that link with his comment about the iPhone and that it doesn't have a keyboard.

 

[convergent]

And now the next chapter of Windows mobile starts tomorrow with the release of Fall Creators Update for Windows 10. If you have an Android device, you can download the Microsoft Launcher which has hooks to Fall Creators Update to provide functionality similar to Apple's continuity. Its a nice launcher and I've moved to it on my Note 8. Pieces of the puzzle continue to come together with OneNote, this launcher, Windows 10. While Microsoft is getting out of the handset business, there is a lot they can do to bring the Microsoft experience to an Android handset.

https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft-launcher-android-announced

https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewansp...d-launcher-edge-browser-new-app/#1ec462b36e33