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Which is really unfortunate. I can't blame Microsoft for it, but the app-gap between WP/WinMo 10 and Android is getting untenable for me. I'm thinking about sw

Which is really unfortunate. I can't blame Microsoft for it, but the app-gap between WP/WinMo 10 and Android is getting untenable for me. I'm thinking about switching back, not because I think Android is better (I don't think it is at all), but simply because I'm starting to feel left out when all my family and friends are using, e.g., SnapChat to keep in touch and I...can't. It particularly riles me up that there were perfectly functional third-party Windows Phone Snapchat apps, but Snapchat demanded that they be removed and still (evidently) declined to make a WP app. Not to pick on Snapchat, it's not an uncommon story. If I could even just download the Snapchat APK and sideload it on my Windows phone, that'd be enough for me. But I can't, since Astoria got killed.

wangchow 10y ago
Honestly I use the app-gap as a feature. Not having the fluff is great because snapchat is making people illiterate. We went from real words to abbreviations to no words and minimal attention span. On the other hand now that Uber and bank of america have a universal app it feels more complete.
- twblalock 10y ago
  Missing "fluff" is not the problem. The problem is this: When the next killer app comes out, whatever it is, you may want to use it -- but it is very unlikely to be available on Windows Phone.
  - wangchow 10y ago
    However, want and need are very different. I may desire an app, but not having it can make me better off. For instance, look here at the selfie deaths: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_selfie-related_injuries_and_deaths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_selfie-related_injurie... This may seem ridiculous but that's what these apps are doing to people. :)
    - jpttsn 10y ago
      Interesting attitude. People kill themselves with toasters too. Would that dissuade you from using one?
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- jhoechtl 10y ago
  Why the downvote? This is a legit and conscious comment
  - tedunangst 10y ago
    It's unlikely that the absence of snapchat on Windows phone will improve literacy.
  - colemickens 10y ago
    Some person doesn't like Snapchat. Their dislike of Snapchat and inability to install it on their phone due to choice of platform has absolutely nothing to do with, and absolutely no influence on what phones other people buy or what apps they install on it. I have an Android phone and it doesn't have Snapchat on it. I also have friends with varieties of phones, and Snapchat, and they're very intelligent. It's donwvoted because it's a pointless "get off my lawn comment" that says nothing other than "I look down on all Snapchat users".
- azinman2 10y ago
  Are you really trying to defend less choice?
  - criddell 10y ago
    When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
    - tedunangst 10y ago
      More like, when life gives you lemons, criticize the intelligence of people who have apples.
GauntletWizard 10y ago
There's a couple really good reasons why they can't do that, trademark, PR and user trust. They need to defend their trademark, or it will be genericized. Not that that's a big deal, but it can be a thing. More importantly, if the windows store is filled with crappy snapchat apps, it hurts their brand. If they release an update that breaks those apps, it hurts their brand. It's a no-win situation. Then there's hacks of third party apps, that are spun as being Snapchat's problem: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/01/tech/social-media/snapchat-hack/ http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/01/tech/social-media/snapchat-hac... Snapchat is in a particularly bad position for the last bit, because what they're selling is fundamentally a lie, and having that lie exposed hurt them a lot.
criddell 10y ago
Can you explain what it is about the operating system that makes a big difference? I have a mix of Android and iOS devices and I really don't have a preference. I never sit down with my tablet to use Android, it's to see the Snapchat my daughter sent me or to play Sequence or to check my email. Likewise I'll pick up my iPod touch when I want to listen to a podcast, browse Instagram, or use Find My Friends. There are hardware differences that make me use one device for it's camera or more reliable bluetooth, but I don't really associate that with the operating system. Do you use a Windows Phone device because of the operating system or because (for example) it has an excellent camera or does something special with your XBox?
- Amezarak 10y ago
  Sure. There are a couple things. Some of them may be be pretty petty, and some of them are something you can get in Android but aren't that way out of the box. - app organization. One swipe and I'm looking at an alphabetized list of apps I can jump to by letter. This is huge to me, so much easier to find and identify an app versus a 2d grid dominated by icons. - live tiles. My email tile shows me unread emails, photo tile shows pictures, calendar shows appointments, etc. Small thing but makes life a little simpler and makes my home screen look nice. - settings are organized and laid out in what seems to me to be a much cleaner and logical way. I think this may have regressed some in win 10. - maps are offline by default. Saves on data and helps out a lot when going through poor signal areas, which I do a lot. - Cortana is super awesome, ime works better than google now. - I can deny apps individual permissions. - OneDrive integration. I didn't use OneDrive prior to buying the phone but since it was auto installed on my win computers i started using it and its very convenient. A lot of it just all the minor usability and ui struggles just aren't there. To me it's a lot more polished and easy to use. I may have bad taste. :)
  - corndoge 10y ago
    - solved by any launcher - solved by any launcher - cannot comment - gmaps handles this automatically - cannot comment - baked into android since L - gdrive Nearly usability and UI struggles are easily solved with a custom launcher.
int_19h 10y ago
It feels to me that, with the kernel emulation in place, a third party can now step in to provide reasonable Android emulation on top of that. I mean, unless Android uses kernels with some custom syscalls, it should be usable, right? Now it's a question of recreating the userspace on top of that. I would imagine that many pieces would just fall in naturally, while others (most things to do with UI) would probably require rewriting to properly integrate with the Windows desktop... but it's still doable.
- acqq 10y ago
  But do the potential users on the PC really need anything more than https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlueStacks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlueStacks or http://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-emulators-for-pc-655308/ http://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-emulators-for-p...
  - int_19h 10y ago
    They probably don't, but I suspect that using WSL would significantly improve performance. In fact, it's probably one of the existing vendors of products like BlueStacks that will eventually do so.
dingo_bat 10y ago
Snap chat on android is also horrible.

wangchow 10y ago

Honestly I use the app-gap as a feature. Not having the fluff is great because snapchat is making people illiterate. We went from real words to abbreviations to no words and minimal attention span. On the other hand now that Uber and bank of america have a universal app it feels more complete.

twblalock 10y ago
Missing "fluff" is not the problem. The problem is this: When the next killer app comes out, whatever it is, you may want to use it -- but it is very unlikely to be available on Windows Phone.
- wangchow 10y ago
  However, want and need are very different. I may desire an app, but not having it can make me better off. For instance, look here at the selfie deaths: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_selfie-related_injuries_and_deaths https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_selfie-related_injurie... This may seem ridiculous but that's what these apps are doing to people. :)
  - jpttsn 10y ago
    Interesting attitude. People kill themselves with toasters too. Would that dissuade you from using one?
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
jhoechtl 10y ago
Why the downvote? This is a legit and conscious comment
- tedunangst 10y ago
  It's unlikely that the absence of snapchat on Windows phone will improve literacy.
- colemickens 10y ago
  Some person doesn't like Snapchat. Their dislike of Snapchat and inability to install it on their phone due to choice of platform has absolutely nothing to do with, and absolutely no influence on what phones other people buy or what apps they install on it. I have an Android phone and it doesn't have Snapchat on it. I also have friends with varieties of phones, and Snapchat, and they're very intelligent. It's donwvoted because it's a pointless "get off my lawn comment" that says nothing other than "I look down on all Snapchat users".
azinman2 10y ago
Are you really trying to defend less choice?
- criddell 10y ago
  When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!
  - tedunangst 10y ago
    More like, when life gives you lemons, criticize the intelligence of people who have apples.

GauntletWizard 10y ago

There's a couple really good reasons why they can't do that, trademark, PR and user trust. They need to defend their trademark, or it will be genericized. Not that that's a big deal, but it can be a thing. More importantly, if the windows store is filled with crappy snapchat apps, it hurts their brand. If they release an update that breaks those apps, it hurts their brand. It's a no-win situation. Then there's hacks of third party apps, that are spun as being Snapchat's problem: http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/01/tech/social-media/snapchat-hack/ http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/01/tech/social-media/snapchat-hac... Snapchat is in a particularly bad position for the last bit, because what they're selling is fundamentally a lie, and having that lie exposed hurt them a lot.

criddell 10y ago

Can you explain what it is about the operating system that makes a big difference? I have a mix of Android and iOS devices and I really don't have a preference. I never sit down with my tablet to use Android, it's to see the Snapchat my daughter sent me or to play Sequence or to check my email. Likewise I'll pick up my iPod touch when I want to listen to a podcast, browse Instagram, or use Find My Friends. There are hardware differences that make me use one device for it's camera or more reliable bluetooth, but I don't really associate that with the operating system. Do you use a Windows Phone device because of the operating system or because (for example) it has an excellent camera or does something special with your XBox?

Amezarak 10y ago
Sure. There are a couple things. Some of them may be be pretty petty, and some of them are something you can get in Android but aren't that way out of the box. - app organization. One swipe and I'm looking at an alphabetized list of apps I can jump to by letter. This is huge to me, so much easier to find and identify an app versus a 2d grid dominated by icons. - live tiles. My email tile shows me unread emails, photo tile shows pictures, calendar shows appointments, etc. Small thing but makes life a little simpler and makes my home screen look nice. - settings are organized and laid out in what seems to me to be a much cleaner and logical way. I think this may have regressed some in win 10. - maps are offline by default. Saves on data and helps out a lot when going through poor signal areas, which I do a lot. - Cortana is super awesome, ime works better than google now. - I can deny apps individual permissions. - OneDrive integration. I didn't use OneDrive prior to buying the phone but since it was auto installed on my win computers i started using it and its very convenient. A lot of it just all the minor usability and ui struggles just aren't there. To me it's a lot more polished and easy to use. I may have bad taste. :)
- corndoge 10y ago
  - solved by any launcher - solved by any launcher - cannot comment - gmaps handles this automatically - cannot comment - baked into android since L - gdrive Nearly usability and UI struggles are easily solved with a custom launcher.

int_19h 10y ago

It feels to me that, with the kernel emulation in place, a third party can now step in to provide reasonable Android emulation on top of that. I mean, unless Android uses kernels with some custom syscalls, it should be usable, right? Now it's a question of recreating the userspace on top of that. I would imagine that many pieces would just fall in naturally, while others (most things to do with UI) would probably require rewriting to properly integrate with the Windows desktop... but it's still doable.

acqq 10y ago
But do the potential users on the PC really need anything more than https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlueStacks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlueStacks or http://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-emulators-for-pc-655308/ http://www.androidauthority.com/best-android-emulators-for-p...
- int_19h 10y ago
  They probably don't, but I suspect that using WSL would significantly improve performance. In fact, it's probably one of the existing vendors of products like BlueStacks that will eventually do so.

dingo_bat 10y ago

Snap chat on android is also horrible.