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Ask HN: How many of you are using windows phone?

1 points by roryisok ↗ HN
I still use windows phone 8.1, for a number of reasons. It just works, lack of apps means I don't get distracted, and I love pinning things. Also I'm cheap and can't be bothered to upgrade.

Increasingly I feel like the last person on HN with a Windows Phone. Am I?

5 comments

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ocdtrekkie
I am carrying a 2014-era Lumia Icon/929 on Verizon and I love it more than any Android I've ever carried. It runs Windows 10 Mobile, and until this month, had the latest possible version of Windows 10. Unfortunately, Microsoft has decided to drop the 929 from the Creator's Update and beyond, so I'll need to either switch carriers or switch platforms in the near future.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet. I won't carry an iOS or Android device, and third party options are getting pretty slim. The HP Elite x3 on AT&T looks like a really nice option, but I am hesitant to commit that much money and a carrier switch on a platform Microsoft has been silent on their plans for.

ausimian
I was a long time user until yesterday. Due to working at MSFT, I had been on the 7/8 windows phone train for a few years with a few devices, latterly a 925.

I'm not a power user, I don't use social media apps, just a few daily texts, a bit of browsing, music and podcasts. I also liked the simplicity of the UI.

Ultimately, I got tired of the crappy inbuilt podcast app and lack of decent alternatives. My wife bought me a second hand apple 5s which arrived yesterday.

I already miss the 'swipey keyboard'.

roryisok
Perfect opportunity to build your own podcast app. Out of interest, what did you dislike about the built in one and the alternatives?
ausimian
1. It took too long to start. 2. Navigating between specific pages of the app was slow. 3. It would sometimes get into a bad state if a podcast failed during streaming, requiring a restart of the app. 4. More generally, the audio stack seemed a little bit flakey. Very occasionally switching between music and podcasts would crash the phone.
roryisok
Well, number 4 sounds like more of an OS problem really =/ I guess there's no app that could have fixed that for you.

Is it better on the iphone? I tried to switch a while back but didn't do my homework, bought an iphone 4 and though it was a nice little handset it was limited to iOS 7 I think, and most apps wouldn't install. that was my one and only foray into iphones