It's a shame to say goodbye to Windows Phone (WP), although it's not surprising. I have a Windows phone and think the Windows Phone OS is probably the best thi

It's a shame to say goodbye to Windows Phone (WP), although it's not surprising. I have a Windows phone and think the Windows Phone OS is probably the best thing that Microsoft has designed. Their desktop apps and operating systems have a reputation for being clunky and clumsy to use (which I agree with), but Windows Phone (starting with version 7) was a surprisingly well-designed mobile operating system. Yes, WP lacked features compared to Android and iOS, but that simplicity was also arguably a strength (although they started over-complicating the home screen in Windows Phone 10 in my opinion). The other nice thing about Windows Phone was that it was actually different from both Android and iOS. That too made for a refreshing change. Instead of the generic grid-of-icons approach, you had tiles of different sizes that could display app updates. Finally, I was impressed by the visual design philosophy behind Windows Phone when it first launched. The designers took inspiration from wayfinding and airport and metro signage. That made sense for a mobile phone - you quickly glance at your phone multiple times a day, often while you're on the move. You need clear, large type to make this easy. The designers seemed to have purposefully chosen to emphasize type for this reason over the more icon-based approach of iOS and Android, although this sadly seemed to diminish somewhat with Windows Phone 10.