Why i'm abandoning Windows Phone

[jakem1]

One example is keeping wifi on when the phone is locked. I don't know if they fixed that on WP8 but even if, it took bloody ages!

WiFi stays on when the phone is locked in WP8.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

I read that the new YouTube app and Facebook beta will eventually be released for WP7 so all hope isn't lost. However, the same can't be said for other WP8-only apps. It's up to the developer to support WP7 and it's unfortunate that most of them are abandoning ship.

[fusi0n]

You made some good points.. I feel like their OS lacks a lot of flexibility that I enjoy with Android to much

[BajiRav]

Sorry you had to jump ship but I kinda understand. I love the platform and my Lumia 800 but if I had to upgrade I'd really have to think it through whether I wanna stay or switch to an iPhone (or maybe a Nexus).

Sadly there's a lot of basic features still missing to the OS. I can't think of many now, but they're there. One example is keeping wifi on when the phone is locked. I don't know if they fixed that on WP8 but even if, it took bloody ages! And it's still there on 7 and probably always will be :(

Apps are ok, altho updates take ages to be released, like the Foursquare app that's been promised or this Facebook update. Most games are missing. On 7 they had the lack of native code to blame, but now that's gone and the problem is still there.

That said I love a lot of things about Windows Phone, like how smooth and clean the interface is and how so many services are integrated as well but it still needs a lot of work and I'm not sure I wanna keep being a beta tester (yup, Nokia, it's NOT over).

By the way, the updated Facebook app should be coming to 7.8 too :)

Wifi is an option in WP8 now. Updated Facebook and Youtube apps are coming to 7.8 (I think foursquare too).

I kind of understand the apps are lacking argument but when my only real option is something Android*, I'd rather go with Windows Phone.

*I have used an iPhone and iPhone hasn't excited me since iPhone 3G.

[DeadEndAccount]

For me I moved to Windows and went the full monty; Windows laptop, Windows desktop and Windows Phone 8 - the show shebang. Putting aside the issue of the desktop/laptop (I've since moved back to Mac) the biggest issue was with the Nokia Lumia 920 and the persistent freezes that would result in the phone freezing and I would have to force a reset and this would happen randomly - there was no patter of "if I use this functionality" or "if I do this in that order then there is a freeze" but rather these freezes were random and occurring 2-3 times per day. I tried everything from re-loading Windows Phone 8 onto the phone via Nokia Care Suite through to stripping off all non-core parts of the operating system (all the software I could uninstall I did so) and it still occurred. For me in the end I went back to iPhone simply because for me the iPhone is like McDonalds - it is never bad but it isn't world breaking when it comes to cutting edge features, it just works. Sure, I could take my chances and go to the local fish 'n chip shop but if I'm out of town I'd sooner not take my chances with an unknown quantity.

As for why I didn't go for Android - not a single Android vendor (outside of the Nexus range which has only just become available in my country) is willing to support their hardware long term with timely updates without the carriers sticking their nose in where it doesn't belong. Until there is a law passed that prohibits carriers from prohibiting handset vendors from releasing updates without their approval then it appears that the best option for me is to stick with an iPhone.

[epk]

Wifi is an option in WP8 now. Updated Facebook and Youtube apps are coming to 7.8 (I think foursquare too). I kind of understand the apps are lacking argument but when my only real option is something Android*, I'd rather go with Windows Phone. *I have used an iPhone and iPhone hasn't excited me since iPhone 3G.

iPhones while not exciting are very reliable. I've only played with some that my friends own and there was always zero lag. Also the OS is very secure and there's simply loads of apps, most of which are high quality. To be honest I think I'd most likely stay with WP than go Android as well.

[M_Lyons10]

I have a feeling that money is the issue as to why WP7 users are being abandoned. MS wants to sell more Windows phones but feel the cost of upping WP7 users to WP8 would be too much, though i could be wrong. Anyways, When i was first interested in smartphones, i only wanted an android phone since i heard the name. The others didn't appeal to me.

Windows Phone 7 was unfortunately not upgradeableto Windows Phone 8 for technical reasons, nothing more.

Moving to the Windows kernel was no small feat and had ramifications. In this case, I agree with Microsoft's decision (Though being on a Trophy I was not able to upgrade yet either), they chose to focus on keeping the performance as good as it can be rather than push out an update tat makes the phone slow and clunky...

I'm sticking with Windows Phone because I don't want to switch over to Google services besides Youtube.

Same here. Probably upgrading to the 928 when it comes out next week.

[srprimeaux]

I'm so torn when it comes to Windows Phone. I love the interface and the overall integration with Office & social networks. But the fact that apps come to the platform last, if at all, is disheartening. And there's seemingly no effort on Microsoft's (or Nokia's for that matter) to create a Windows Phone that competes with something like the Nexus 4 (i.e., no contract, decent specs, low price). I'd love the idea of having another Windows Phone (I use to own the Lumia 710), but the realization that having one would be compromising on app availability and third-party device integration like cases, docks, etc... really puts actually owning one into perspective.

I don't know how long I am going to sit on the fence. I'd love to go all out and buy a Windows Phone again, a Surface Pro, and dive into Microsoft's ecosystem ... but I'm holding off to see what Google has up its sleeve for I/O. If they come out and really impress me, I'm going to have to stay glued to my Nexus 4 (which I really like) and turn more of my attention into migrating to Google's ecosystem.

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

I'm in the same situation as you OP.

I bought a HTC Mozart about 7 months ago and was running it with Windows Phone 7.5, and recently got it upgraded to 7.8.

There's been a few things that have bugged me about Windows Phone in the time I've had it, and I'm coming to the realisation it's not for me.. and that I'm most likely to go back to Android. A few specific areas of annoyance:

* Ecosystem - of course. There just aren't as many apps. Fed up of seeing something new advertised, then realising I run Windows Phone, and that I'm unlikely to be able to get a Windows Phone version.

* Prior to buying it, everyone told me how fast Windows Phone is. I've not found that. In fact I've found it irritatingly slow launching and doing stuff in applications like Spotify and Facebook. Facebook takes about 5-6 seconds to launch. Spotify drives me insane when I accidentally exit the app then immediately reload it, and sit staring at a 'Resuming' screen..

* Stupid one this but it drives me crazy. No 'drag' bar on audio apps - like Spotify, and various podcast utilities I've tried. You're unable to drag the progress bar on audio tracks to skip into them - why? Seems such a basic feature - why is it missing.

* I expected it to be better on battery life than Android.. it seems no better. I barely get a day out of mine even with light usage. Turning off the data connection, and location services helps immensely though - can go up to like 3 days or so which is good.

* I don't particularly like the live tile home screen.. I don't find any apps present any useful information to me on that screen.

* The Metro style was a novelty to me at first.. but I got to be honest, it just grates with me now.

As soon as I can afford to buy something else, I will. Sorry - I gave it a good go, and have to hand it to Microsoft as Windows Phone 7 was such a spectacular improvement over the previous versions.. but development just seems too slow and developers just aren't doing their bit. They need to put more resource / developers into it.

[jasonon]

I am very excited to upgrade to Windows Phone 8 with the Lumia 928! Lots of people have said the same, perhaps Verizon will have a line on Thursday...

[Ars Lykaion]

Windows Phone 7 was unfortunately not upgradeableto Windows Phone 8 for technical reasons, nothing more.

If that's true, then it doesn't really inspire a lot of confidence in the scalability and performance of the WP kernel, especially when Android and iOS can run just fine on single-core chipsets with 512MB RAM (or 256MB, in the case of the iPhone 3GS).

[+LogicalApex MVC]

I won't be able to write a long explanation, but I too ditched Windows Phone. It wasn't a small feat for me when I did it as I had only owned Microsoft smartphone OS based devices for the duration of my smartphone career up until the change (it all started with the T-Mobile (USA) MDA back in 2005). To be honest, I really wasn't happy when Microsoft ditched Windows Mobile and I thought it was a bad move at the time. I liked the advancements enough (and was a bit fanboy driven as well) to try really hard to buy into Windows Phone.

Ultimately, I ended up leaving for good when I got my Nexus 4 in March. I no longer have any intention of returning so Microsoft will have to try hard to convince me to look at them again.

Windows Phone is a decent OS in the realm of what it does. They managed to do a very good job of delivering a very stable and solid UI experience out of the box. They worked hard to make sure users had a unique experience that felt like it was very well polished and it shows. The problem isn't with the OS itself as much as it is with Microsoft. They really don't understand the market and until they do they won't have any real chance at success. They say whatever they think customers want to hear at the time and hope we'll suffer from amnesia an hour later.

For instance, one of the major reasons I was against Windows Phone compared to Windows Mobile was the loss of device variability. Microsoft put a hard limit on what manufacturers could ship and they told me the reasoning was that so they could guarantee updates. Not leaving us with the situation I didn't like on the Android side of the fence (and had plagued Windows Mobile) where updates were released and your device was left in the cold. Microsoft pushed this hard even going as far as claiming they had obtained Apple level rights at carriers (carriers would all release updates at the same time and not be able to block them). We learned eventually that this was a strong lie. Microsoft had trouble delivering updates for all devices and slowly updates were skipped on carriers and eventually never delivered. This lie extended to devices like the Lumia 900 where they dropped it hard within the first couple of months of release. People like to downplay this, but I think this move alone is the single biggest reason Windows Phone is struggling still. The Lumia 900 got a LOT of attention and Microsoft burned it hard and fast.

Then there were the large number of missing features (no VPN, no notification center, outdated IE (pre-WP8), small screen resolutions, and many more) and Microsoft only released lackluster updates that seemed to ignore the community at large. Why is there no notification center in Windows Phone? This was a constant feature request on release and we're on the 3rd year without it. The same is true of VPN support and which has been a constant request. I got tired of only seeing any release at all once a year and even then getting features that just didn't seem to address customer complaints.

And more, but I already exceeded my time allotment.

I'm on Android and I'm pretty happy with my experience. I feel like I'm back to what I loved about Windows Mobile and the pain points have been cleaned up (the UI is now snappy and appealing to the eye along with the update story solved for Nexus owners like me). Not to mention the bigger ecosystem and etc...

If that's true, then it doesn't really inspire a lot of confidence in the scalability and performance of the WP kernel, especially when Android and iOS can run just fine on single-core chipsets with 512MB RAM (or 256MB, in the case of the iPhone 3GS).

That excuse is a bunch of trash. Microsoft has to many broken promises on Windows Phone it is just insane. Lets look at Windows Phone 8, for instance, and we can ask them where is the enthusiasts program they promised users? Where are the early development builds they promised developers?...

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

That excuse is a bunch of trash. Microsoft has to many broken promises on Windows Phone it is just insane. Lets look at Windows Phone 8, for instance, and we can ask them where is the enthusiasts program they promised users? Where are the early development builds they promised developers?...

In a way I think you've got the same feelings about them as I have - they're doing the Microsoft thing of wanting to exist in a particular market, but simply not investing enough resource into doing it - then wondering why it isn't paying off. Evidently they need more developers working on Windows Phone, a more aggressive release cycle (even if just to push minor updates to the OS), and more dialogue with the user community to find out what it is they want.

[thechronic]

YES Microsoft may appear to have a valid reason for not upgrading my device to Windows Phone 8 but the truth is, i don't know if Microsoft will repeat the same process after Windows Phone 8 and leave owners of the latest devices in the lurch, unable to upgrade for better features.

And personally i cannot see why a Lumia 800 which matched up with some mid range android devices, shouldn't be enjoying the latest and greatest. I bought the device on some reasonably good logic and a bit of faith. It was only released november 2011. I bought it beginning of 2012. A year later and it's pretty much a flash looking paper weight yet people can't see why i'm leaving Windows Phone?

[ScottKin]

People, let's take a common-sense look at this, shall we?

Back in January, I switched from a perfectly-serviceable LG Vortex Android phone to a Nokia Lumia 822 running Windows Phone 8. Nice phone, Carl Zeiss camera lens, 16GB Storage.

I paid US$0.00 for this phone through Verizon on a 2-year contract. I have had zero connection troubles and 4G LTE connection 98% of the time. This phone *is* a bit thicker than a 920, but since I paid NOTHING out-of-pocket when I left the store, I consider it a win.

To the WP7 users who switched because you complained about WP7: what kept you from getting a free or nearly-free WP8 phone that would have resolved the issues you had with WP7? The apps I have for WP8 are far-and-above cleaner, faster and of much better quality, IMHO, than their Android equivalents. I *do* miss Instagram, but that will be resolved soon and I actually don't miss it *that* much, enough to sour my WP8 experience.

P.S. In regards to Windows Phone 8 updates....I just got one - so much for the WP8 "upgrade naysayers"

[ScottKin]

YES Microsoft may appear to have a valid reason for not upgrading my device to Windows Phone 8 but the truth is, i don't know if Microsoft will repeat the same process after Windows Phone 8 and leave owners of the latest devices in the lurch, unable to upgrade for better features.

And personally i cannot see why a Lumia 800 which matched up with some mid range android devices, shouldn't be enjoying the latest and greatest. I bought the device on some reasonably good logic and a bit of faith. It was only released november 2011. I bought it beginning of 2012. A year later and it's pretty much a flash looking paper weight yet people can't see why i'm leaving Windows Phone?

I can see why you're abandoning that particular phone - but that's a reason based on older technology on the hardware and it's lack of feature-support for WP8. Should I expect to run Windows 8 on my 2000-era Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop? No. Should we then expect WP8 to run on a significantly lower-spec Lumia 800 than WP8 is spec'ed to run on?

Really.

[ScottKin]

That excuse is a bunch of trash. Microsoft has to many broken promises on Windows Phone it is just insane. Lets look at Windows Phone 8, for instance, and we can ask them where is the enthusiasts program they promised users? Where are the early development builds they promised developers?...

IIRC, The "Enthusiast" program was *never* confirmed by Microsoft outside of that video - of course, that doesn't mean that they won't offer that in the future.

[MikeChipshop Member]

I have to say first that the platform itself is fantastic. It's stable, it's well designed in my opinion but i feel i must abandon ship and switch back to Android.

Windows Phone 7.8 of course has been replaced by Windows Phone 8. My Lumia 800 device is missing out on certain releases that are only available for Windows Phone 8 for example the new Facebook beta and Temple Run.

The device should be capable of running such apps so why am i being left out? I've only had it since the beginning of last year!

Windows Phone 8 has more apps but it doesn't seem that there are many major releases to choose from there either.

I'm sad to leave Windows Phone. I hope that in 12 months time when i'm due to upgrade again that the situation has changed. I just can't be doing with this anymore.

Anyone else abandoned ship or perhaps just switched to Windows Phone?

I kind of had the opposite issue.

My 8X cracked so i sent it back for repair. The whole time i had it i loved it but couldn't help thinking i was missing out on my old Android phone. While my 8X was in repair i borrowed my GF's S3 and you know what? By the time i got my fixed 8X back and used it, i was in love with it again. Just seemed so much more modern and usable than Android. I've no kept the 8X even though i was 100% sure i was going to flog it and pick up a new Android phone.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

I can see why you're abandoning that particular phone - but that's a reason based on older technology on the hardware and it's lack of feature-support for WP8. Should I expect to run Windows 8 on my 2000-era Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop? No. Should we then expect WP8 to run on a significantly lower-spec Lumia 800 than WP8 is spec'ed to run on?

Really.

No one expects you to be able to run Windows 8 on your 13 year old laptop. But that isn't the comparison we're making here is it? A Lumia 900 isn't 13 years old... No, it isn't even "old" in technology years by the time Windows Phone 8 hit the shelves 6 months later. Microsoft promised Apple style updates as the reason for limiting Windows Phone to older hardware and they failed to deliver on that. They then re-made that promise to Windows Phone 8 users and we'll see if they break it again.

The reason this was a very damaging mistake for Microsoft is you don't **** on your early adopters. They are the ones who push your platform into the hands of everyone else. Even if you buy the line that Microsoft is selling about why they couldn't do the upgrade you should understand how bad of a decision it was. The Lumia 900 was the most popular Windows Phone when it came out in the US by far and then MS killed all of those users who were effectively second stage early adopters.

People, let's take a common-sense look at this, shall we?

Back in January, I switched from a perfectly-serviceable LG Vortex Android phone to a Nokia Lumia 822 running Windows Phone 8. Nice phone, Carl Zeiss camera lens, 16GB Storage.

I paid US$0.00 for this phone through Verizon on a 2-year contract. I have had zero connection troubles and 4G LTE connection 98% of the time. This phone *is* a bit thicker than a 920, but since I paid NOTHING out-of-pocket when I left the store, I consider it a win.

To the WP7 users who switched because you complained about WP7: what kept you from getting a free or nearly-free WP8 phone that would have resolved the issues you had with WP7? The apps I have for WP8 are far-and-above cleaner, faster and of much better quality, IMHO, than their Android equivalents. I *do* miss Instagram, but that will be resolved soon and I actually don't miss it *that* much, enough to sour my WP8 experience.

P.S. In regards to Windows Phone 8 updates....I just got one - so much for the WP8 "upgrade naysayers"

Just because a phone is "free" after contract doesn't mean it is free. You are paying for the phone still...

Since I purchase all of my phones out of pocket I went from my Lumia 900 to the Nexus 4. I liked Windows Phone, but I am very tired of Microsoft's broken promises for the platform and their lack of respect for their customers.

In a way I think you've got the same feelings about them as I have - they're doing the Microsoft thing of wanting to exist in a particular market, but simply not investing enough resource into doing it - then wondering why it isn't paying off. Evidently they need more developers working on Windows Phone, a more aggressive release cycle (even if just to push minor updates to the OS), and more dialogue with the user community to find out what it is they want.

Yeah It is very much a shame. The stuff that they needed to do when Windows Phone launched weren't massive, but I think they may have waited too long. Android (and it is rumored iOS too) have now caught up and cleaned up the UI and performance problems. Taking the good things from Windows Phone and putting them into their platforms while Microsoft struggles to do the basic things to maintain user interest. I mean Windows Phone 8 doesn't even feel like it is a major update to an average platform user. The only thing those users will know is they can't get the newest apps unless they have it...

[BajiRav]

If that's true, then it doesn't really inspire a lot of confidence in the scalability and performance of the WP kernel, especially when Android and iOS can run just fine on single-core chipsets with 512MB RAM (or 256MB, in the case of the iPhone 3GS).

I am not going to defend what Microsoft did but what you are saying is not the same scenario. As far as I know, iOS and Android have never gone through a kernel change.

No one expects you to be able to run Windows 8 on your 13 year old laptop. But that isn't the comparison we're making here is it? A Lumia 900 isn't 13 years old... No, it isn't even "old" in technology years by the time Windows Phone 8 hit the shelves 6 months later. Microsoft promised Apple style updates as the reason for limiting Windows Phone to older hardware and they failed to deliver on that. They then re-made that promise to Windows Phone 8 users and we'll see if they break it again.

The reason this was a very damaging mistake for Microsoft is you don't **** on your early adopters. They are the ones who push your platform into the hands of everyone else. Even if you buy the line that Microsoft is selling about why they couldn't do the upgrade you should understand how bad of a decision it was. The Lumia 900 was the most popular Windows Phone when it came out in the US by far and then MS killed all of those users who were effectively second stage early adopters.

Just because a phone is "free" after contract doesn't mean it is free. You are paying for the phone still...

Since I purchase all of my phones out of pocket I went from my Lumia 900 to the Nexus 4. I liked Windows Phone, but I am very tired of Microsoft's broken promises for the platform and their lack of respect for their customers.

Yeah It is very much a shame. The stuff that they needed to do when Windows Phone launched weren't massive, but I think they may have waited too long. Android (and it is rumored iOS too) have now caught up and cleaned up the UI and performance problems. Taking the good things from Windows Phone and putting them into their platforms while Microsoft struggles to do the basic things to maintain user interest. I mean Windows Phone 8 doesn't even feel like it is a major update to an average platform user. The only thing those users will know is they can't get the newest apps unless they have it...

Yeah it's a shame if you buy phones outright. Android hasn't cleaned up UI problems. :/ They've only added more horsepower (my experience from using a friend's S3).

[BajiRav]

To add more fuel to the fire: My brother-in-law recently (less than 3 weeks ago) bought a Lumia 920, he uses his phone heavily for business purposes (lots of emails, document review etc.) and today I found out something completely asinine about the Microsoft Office support on WP8.

You cannot edit the "older" but still most commonly used office formats .DOC and .XLS on WP8. This apparently was always the case but I never knew about it since I don't use office much beyond viewing docs on my phone.

This is really insane and amazing stupid on Microsoft's part. For those of who saying he should move on use latest file formats - he has. He uses Office 2007 at home and his own office (lawyer) but he can't help it if someone sends him files in older formats. I am just glad that I did not recommend him for buying it otherwise :laugh:

I love my Lumia 920 and it fits my needs but Microsoft has dropped a ball in so many cases like this.

[thechronic]

but that's a reason based on older technology on the hardware and it's lack of feature-support for WP8.

it's about what, 18 months old now? the lumia 900 was released january 2012 and thats only about 14 months old. its wrong!! Compare that with my Iphone 3GS or my Xperia Mini Pro that i had. both of which have access to decent apps still!

[Ars Lykaion]

I am not going to defend what Microsoft did but what you are saying is not the same scenario. As far as I know, iOS and Android have never gone through a kernel change.

FWIW, Android 2.3 to 4.0 was just as complex a change as WP7 to WP8 was, if not more. I had an Android phone that shipped with Gingerbread, but decided to give WP7 a shot. Six months later, with no upgrade path to WP8 and a stable ICS upgrade being released for my old Android device, I switched back to Android as my main mobile OS and devoted some time to learning about the OS and how to tinker with it. I'm now running Jelly Bean 4.2, and with a high-end microSD card + some minor tweaks (zRam, swap, mild overclocking, some scripts, CyanogenMod, a custom kernel) my 2-year-old device is still running all the latest apps and performing well enough for my needs. The latest trick I learned was how to mount the microSD as internal storage, immediately giving me an extra 14 GB for my apps for just a $20 microSD card. You can even force a semi-implementation of iOS/WP's multitasking model on Android (it's an app called Greenify that lets you choose which apps to hibernate when they're not actively running), letting you install tons of apps even on old hardware without experiencing slowdowns.

It's really difficult to get bored with Android when it seems so infinitely extensible. I'm not a geek by any standard, but I can follow sets of clearly-written instructions, and that's enough for me to run the latest iteration of Android and continue tweaking my device to run at its very limits to keep abreast of recent developments. People running an iPhone 3GS would probably be in a similar situation with iOS 6 still being supported on their device, while on the other hand my Windows Phone is less than a year old and already stuck with an obsolete version of the OS that's incapable of running many of the newer apps even though it's actually got better hardware specs than my Android phone. Go figure.

[thechronic]

All the platform needs is 1) Better Apps 2) Missing features introduced and i'll run straight back to it like a fat kid chasing cake (or something :p )

[+LogicalApex MVC]

Yeah it's a shame if you buy phones outright. Android hasn't cleaned up UI problems. :/ They've only added more horsepower (my experience from using a friend's S3).

Yeah Android still has its warts. My brother gave me an S3 and I had to flash a custom rom on it because the TouchWiz UI to me was just an absolute mess. I couldn't stand looking at it or using it. The stock Android UI in 4.2.2 I have running on my Nexus is very nice though. I love the UI.

I still miss the way Windows Phone is beautifully executed and certain things just make sense (like I am not a fan of the way Android handles the back stack, for instance.), but the pros outweigh the cons for me on Android.

I know I'm not representative of the whole market, but I saw a mass exodus among my early adopter friends and myself after the WP7-WP8 upgrade debacle. Even if the technical reasons were legitimate Microsoft really weren't in a position to make that adjustment in the way they did. They weren't in a position to make their early adopters feel like they had bet on the wrong platform and, even worse, that Microsoft wasn't planning on keeping its promises to them.

As Windows Phone 7 users were getting hardware that was a year or more older than other platforms and they were fine with that because they were expecting Microsoft to keep their word. The centerpiece being the updates. A major thing constantly touted among early WP users were the Apple like update experience that MS was promising without the need to resort to custom ROMs like you have to on Android.

I think MS would have done better to delay the Kernel change and bake in more features if the technical reasons are legitimate. As burning those initial users killed everything they worked to gain between WP7 and WP8 for both users and developers (as developers were forced into an awkward position of supporting either WP7 or WP8 or somehow doing both).

It was crazy to me because I still feel their decision to burn WM6 users with WP7 was what propelled Android to be as popular as it is and to see them repeat that with WP7 was just crazy to me.

Just an example, the defacto Android hacker site, XDA-Developers, was set up for Windows Mobile hacking and power users. There was a huge exodus of WM power users and hackers to Android when MS burned the gates on that reboot. Seems they never learn though... You need some power users in your court. Average users don't know what they want as all of the smartphones are too complicated. The power users are the sales force that is most important. MS keeps forgetting this.