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Oh, no, we were still on Windows Phone 6.0 at that point. I've still got the device pictured in this article: https://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communic

Oh, no, we were still on Windows Phone 6.0 at that point. I've still got the device pictured in this article: https://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/mobile-computing/tablets/free-windows-mobile-6-0-upgrades-from-htc-154314 https://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobi... But ignore the device, and notice how the UI looks at lot like a Windows PC desktop of era. Now imagine that against even the earliest of iPhones. Ballmer going on about how the iPhone was going to fail sure aged well. Later versions of Windows Phone would improve on it in a big way, as you point out, but by then it was way too late. Perhaps if they poured more money into it as you suggest, but Microsoft was already paying devs to port their apps, and there were still big holes in the app lineup.

bombcar 4y ago
I think the killer was just how many times they changed what "Windows Phone" was, and they were major breaking changes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mobile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mobile My friend had a Windows Phone 7 device, which was 90000% different from what you have in every way, and not compatible, either. Then they trashed that and tried something else that looked similar but was completely different. Just an entirely broken strategy. You can't kill your few supporters every single generation! It would have been like OS X not being able to run applications from System 7/8/9 or dropping PPC applications entirely on the x86 Macs.
- actionfromafar 4y ago
  They had some developers going with Phone 7, half intrigued by the slickness of the 7 OS on the Nokia. (I think it was Nokia?) It didn't help that MS did weird things to Nokia, MSs reputation wasn't very good back then for other reasons too. The Ballmer memos were still recent. Phone 7 was really nice though, way faster than iOS as I recall it and with some cool tiles on the home screen. Then they changed so apps made for 7 didn't work with 8. That was it, the little developer base they had just packed up and left.
  - smaudet 4y ago
    Their UI strategy was super weird, ever used Xamarin? Let's just say it was like they hired a college grad to build it for a summer, then they built a heavy wrapper around Android UI libraries...so weird. I think they were trying to pull a "dev on all platforms" but only years late to the game and with no real value proposition, other than supporting a vanishing small portion of users...
  - endemic 4y ago
    Yeah, the unique Metro UI and good-looking Nokia phones had me interested. Though it wasn't enough for me to actually pony up the cash to buy one. Guess that was part of the problem!
- sylens 4y ago
  Yes, they had a bit of momentum behind Windows Phone 7 and they threw it all away with the breaking change for Windows Phone 8. And that was it for that platform.
guestbest 4y ago
Windows ce 6 phone? They haven’t been made since 2009, I believe. They topped out at 256meg of ram, if I remember correctly with the last models before everyone switched to Android 2 point something. Can it do 4g? I know 2g has been shut down and 3g is on its last legs if any carriers even support it. Those wince models cant even do WPA2 for Wi-Fi. How do you set it up as an internet device? I’m genuinely curious since the software is so out of date I can’t even get it setup with visual studio 2008 on an xp computer to develop apps for it. Their are so many hoops to jump through and it maybe that the usb doesn’t work with it in the end that I gave up.
- mikestew 4y ago
  You might be confusing my use of "still <have> the device" with "used in the last ten years". I don't even know if the thing will boot anymore. I'm not a collector, I just don't throw things away anywhere near as quickly as I should. Free to a good home (as in, you won't just tie it in the backyard and never pay attention to it) if anyone has a hankering for an old HTC Advantage. Great machine in the day, I even edited Word docs on it (albeit, painfully), but I wouldn't let it anywhere near an Internet connection.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    It'll probably boot just fine, and yeah, I wouldn't take it online, but old hardware is like hobbits - difficult to daunt or kill. It's like the cell network wouldn't even connect (though if it is old enough it might).
  - guestbest 4y ago
    HTC made the best wince devices. The best thing about the platform was the built in handwriting recognition on every wince device regardless of manufacturer which was designed by the same develops who worked on the Apple Newton handwriting software. It was just more buried on some devices. Of course, Microsoft killed this with windows phone 7. Just a different era

bombcar 4y ago

I think the killer was just how many times they changed what "Windows Phone" was, and they were major breaking changes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mobile https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mobile My friend had a Windows Phone 7 device, which was 90000% different from what you have in every way, and not compatible, either. Then they trashed that and tried something else that looked similar but was completely different. Just an entirely broken strategy. You can't kill your few supporters every single generation! It would have been like OS X not being able to run applications from System 7/8/9 or dropping PPC applications entirely on the x86 Macs.

actionfromafar 4y ago
They had some developers going with Phone 7, half intrigued by the slickness of the 7 OS on the Nokia. (I think it was Nokia?) It didn't help that MS did weird things to Nokia, MSs reputation wasn't very good back then for other reasons too. The Ballmer memos were still recent. Phone 7 was really nice though, way faster than iOS as I recall it and with some cool tiles on the home screen. Then they changed so apps made for 7 didn't work with 8. That was it, the little developer base they had just packed up and left.
- smaudet 4y ago
  Their UI strategy was super weird, ever used Xamarin? Let's just say it was like they hired a college grad to build it for a summer, then they built a heavy wrapper around Android UI libraries...so weird. I think they were trying to pull a "dev on all platforms" but only years late to the game and with no real value proposition, other than supporting a vanishing small portion of users...
- endemic 4y ago
  Yeah, the unique Metro UI and good-looking Nokia phones had me interested. Though it wasn't enough for me to actually pony up the cash to buy one. Guess that was part of the problem!
sylens 4y ago
Yes, they had a bit of momentum behind Windows Phone 7 and they threw it all away with the breaking change for Windows Phone 8. And that was it for that platform.

guestbest 4y ago

Windows ce 6 phone? They haven’t been made since 2009, I believe. They topped out at 256meg of ram, if I remember correctly with the last models before everyone switched to Android 2 point something. Can it do 4g? I know 2g has been shut down and 3g is on its last legs if any carriers even support it. Those wince models cant even do WPA2 for Wi-Fi. How do you set it up as an internet device? I’m genuinely curious since the software is so out of date I can’t even get it setup with visual studio 2008 on an xp computer to develop apps for it. Their are so many hoops to jump through and it maybe that the usb doesn’t work with it in the end that I gave up.

mikestew 4y ago
You might be confusing my use of "still <have> the device" with "used in the last ten years". I don't even know if the thing will boot anymore. I'm not a collector, I just don't throw things away anywhere near as quickly as I should. Free to a good home (as in, you won't just tie it in the backyard and never pay attention to it) if anyone has a hankering for an old HTC Advantage. Great machine in the day, I even edited Word docs on it (albeit, painfully), but I wouldn't let it anywhere near an Internet connection.
- bombcar 4y ago
  It'll probably boot just fine, and yeah, I wouldn't take it online, but old hardware is like hobbits - difficult to daunt or kill. It's like the cell network wouldn't even connect (though if it is old enough it might).
- guestbest 4y ago
  HTC made the best wince devices. The best thing about the platform was the built in handwriting recognition on every wince device regardless of manufacturer which was designed by the same develops who worked on the Apple Newton handwriting software. It was just more buried on some devices. Of course, Microsoft killed this with windows phone 7. Just a different era