I bought my first smartphone in 2011. Microsoft had just released Windows Phone 7 and at the time I thought it seemed like a compelling alternative to iOS and Android. Of course, that was not the way things went. My HTC Radar 4 met en early end when I accidently left it in a pair of jeans that went into the washing machine. The power was still on, but it never returned to actual use.
My next phone was the Lumia 800. I really liked the hardware design, and it just a mucj better product than the HTC. It was still a small screen, however, at the time it seemed to fit any need I might have. Of course, this was before the days of Netflix. The Lumia 800 never died on me. Come to think of it, I might still have it round somewhere and it probably still works.
A co-worker of mine bought a Lumia 920, but soon lost interest and switched back to Android. I bought it from him at a good price. This was the first big screen phone I owned and I liked it a lot. The hard ware was very nice and the build quality was even better than the Lumia 800. It ran Windows Phone 8.1 and was actually pretty nice. For a while there, the platform seemed to have a future. However, I started experiencing problems, especially with the wifi, which seemed to work poorly at my house. When the flash finally went bust after being dropped on the bathroom floor I converted it into a play phone for the kids.
My current phone is the Lumia 930, the best phone I have ever owned. I have had for little over a year and I have been very happy with it. It has taken a beating at the hands of my youngest son, but it has served me pretty well up to now. The quality of the device is very good and seemed like a good upgrade from the 920.
So what happened? Well, to be honest I believe that WIndows Phone as a consumer product is dead. There was not enough market traction and about a year ago Microsoft trimmed the department, lessening the investment in the system substantially. This means that there has been no updates to the system at all over the past year or so. Add to that the lack of apps and the sad outlook pretty much seals the deal.
The question is which way to go now? iOS or Android? Right now I am leaning towards iOS, simply because it looks good. Furthermore, it will match the Macbook Air I’ll be getting next that my inner consumer is going crazy. The Android platform does however offer some compelling features that are pretty cool. I don’t use a lot of Google services though, so I am not confident in how Android handles other services.