4 ms·
Most reviews for this phone were out 1 month ago. Theverge took its time. Continuum is the most promising feature of the phone. It actually becomes a "real" co
by rloc 11y ago
Most reviews for this phone were out 1 month ago. Theverge took its time.
Continuum is the most promising feature of the phone. It actually becomes a "real" computer, even though this is just the start.
I think Microsoft is doing the right thing lately by leveraging its strength, the desktop.
Reviewers are always blaming the ecosystem. But imagine the future when smartphones get more powerful and the Win32 windows app can be distributed through the Windows Store (this will arrive at some point). The phone would naturally gain the ability to run a win32 app when plugged to a screen.
The phone would run both Win10 Universal apps and any old windows app that's been there since the early ages of the PC era. The ecosystem would become suddenly a lot better and the phone more interesting.
- mistermann 11y agoIt would be kind of funny if in a few years the stars align and MS's monopoly on the desktop somehow leapfrogs them into the front on phones.
- emehrkay 11y ago> It actually becomes a "real" computer, I don't think that it does, not like the first few versions of the Ubuntu Phone became a real Gnome desktop. This Windows phone's desktop mode seems like a larger screen with mouse/keyboard support. Can it handle more than one app at a time? Still impressive as hell though and I agree with it being the future of devices.
- sjmulder 11y agoYou get multitasking, the taskbar and windowing. It's unforunate that there are so few apps. Microsoft made a good effort with Office, now imagine getting Visual Studio on there. That would rock.
- protomyth 11y agoThe "Windows Continuum" is what I have wanted from a PDA / smart phone since the Newton. I really would love something I could carry with me and then dock to get the big screen experience. I do wish it was OS X (not iOS or at least not a locked iOS), but this is a step closer.
- rloc 11y agoMe too but my feeling is that Apple is putting more resources on iOS and is betting on it to gain more usage over Mac OS for most users. The release of the iPad pro is the most recent sign of that trend. The Mac app store is not that successful which is not very surprising as it requires devs to invest in a new app with a completely different set of competencies. iOS and the iPhone are Apple cash cow presently. That's why Microsoft strategy makes sense to me. They have a chance at least. We'll see.
- protomyth 11y agoYeah, I know its pretty over for OS X despite what Apple says. The quality of the "California" series has been horrible with networking, constant sandbox problems, and Finder errors that should have been caught on day 1 of testing. It just makes me queasy every time I have to open Console and look at all the errors scrolling by. I just hate not having a Terminal if I plug into a monitor. Or maybe I'm just bummed that I am going to end up learning Swift (I really don't like it) replace a language I enjoy (Objective-C). Won't be the first time I've programmed in something I dislike to get the results I want. I sometimes wonder if a Cocoa 2 evolution of the desktop to bring the Cocoa & Cocoa Touch back together, although I believe the Mac App Store is problematic for entirely different reasons.
- MichaelGG 11y agoWin32 apps suck at touch and always have. MS has had pen and then touch devices out via OEMs for over a decade. Trying to close a browser window via a 16px "x" is terrible on a 12" laptop; but on a phone? Your phone running full Win32 APIs probably isn't the great boon it'd otherwise be. Likewise Windows tablets have not gotten much traction in the past (or present) -- you simply must have a pen and most likely a Bluetooth keyboard to properly use them. I bought a few, tried to use them, gave them to people -- Android devices just blow them away. The real touch apps --- Metro -- are pretty terrible (slow, even MS's own Metro calc takes seconds to load.) And of course mean rewriting a lot of things.