I don't have an issue with Microsoft releasing an android phone.
My issue is that this phone has 1gb ram and front facing camera for the price of Lumia 520. I'll need to fork out at least twice that amount to get the equivalent hardware spec in windows phone.
I don't get what's so new. The entire Motorola line has front facing camera, doesn't it? Yep, the one phone of the line that fits this price has only 512MB of RAM, for 1GB you'll have to pay a bit more... But the pricing on the article is not official yet. Those things always increase a bit on release, and I doubt other companies will keep their pricing static until there.
Just because Samsung has bad market segmentation. it does not mean everybody else does.
20 times this. Sounds like they're already burying Windows Phone (which would really suck, since it's way better than Android IMO, especially since 8.1).
I doubt they are burying it, I rather assume they are just going to continue with it - and I think this phone is an indicator of a business strategy to simply expand, not only by using android but also by using the name 'Nokia' which still means a lot.
> I doubt they are burying it, I rather assume they are just going to continue with it
I'd love to agree but still it hurts ,when one looks at the specs,dont you think?and if that phone is really successfull, what's next? this phone obviously cant run Windows Phone apps,so why did I get all these IDEs and Sdks on windows to produce apps for Windows Phone? I'd like MS to make it clear what is the strategy here.
I'm pretty sure this is the remains of a Nokia strategy of not getting too deep into Microsoft.
The release of X2 should probably be viewed in a similar light as the release of the N9, which was a platform that basically got axed on release by Nokia, because of Elop wanting to change direction to Windows as the main platform. But that decision came too late to halt the release of the N9, just like the finalization of the Nokia sale probably was too late for MS to halt the release of this one.
Hmm, just wondering. Why do you think windows phone is better than android?
Android is easy to hack about with, custom roms, the source is open and out there (most of it anyway)and generally has great usibility.
Most people who buy a phone don't really care about hackability, open source and custom roms. I own both a WP and a Nexus 5 and frankly, usability and consistency is better on the WP. I prefer Android for the reasons you stated, but you need to understand most people don't think about it that way.
For me, it's because Windows Phone is more task-oriented than app-oriented. There's a "flow" to the interface that just jives with my way of working on mobile.
To be sure, Android is more powerful in many ways, but with my Windows phone I can do all the same things I did on Android: SSH into my servers, VNC to support clients, etc. I'm missing a few games and novelty apps, but I don't use my phone as a gaming platform or toy, I use it to get work done.
And even on a fairly modern Android phone running JB, I've more than once had the same old issue I've always had on Android: If a call comes in when it's low on free RAM, there is simply no way to answer as the screen doesn't respond to taps. This has been the case on every Android phone I've used since 1.5 on a Motorola Cliq. Android is great when you need a mobile computer, but not so much when you need a mission critical device.
Usability. I strongly disagree that Android has much of that, and I suspect that a great many Android users simply don't know any better. Windows Phone really is that much better.
Rant: My first smartphone was a Lumia, and then when it broke i went to a Sony Xperia (with a rather clean Android 4.3 on it).
I never even realized how well-designed WP was until I went to Android. Examples:
- Operation. Nearly all of WP is easy to operate with just a thumb, single-handed. All important controls are either near the bottom or reachable by swiping. On Android, I have to reach to the top for all kinds of stuff. It's simply, apparently, an Android design pattern to put a bar with buttons on the top, as far away from my hand as possible. This is plainly ridiculous. On WP, there's a clear relationship between "how important is this action" and "how close is it to the bottom". As it should be.
- Consistency. All well-designed WP apps work the same. Swipe left/right for different screens/tabs, touch the left-side of an item for select-boxes, operations on the bottom and more operations by selecting "...". This is the same nearly everywhere, both for built-in apps and for most well-designed apps from the store.
- Cleanliness and clarity. The Xperia forced me to choose a home screen background picture, making it very difficult to read text and icons. I google-image-searched a "black.png" to work around this, but still, it's cluttered by default, and you need to do work to clean it up. Similarly, most good apps are really clean and uncluttered. I get the info I want to see or manipulate, no bullshit bells and whistles.
- Quick. WP's live tiles are a perfect middle ground for me between bloated Android widgets and app-icons-only like in iPhone. My homescreen only contains the stuff i do often, with bigger buttons for stuff i do more. All this, without cluttering the UI like doing something similar on Android would do (by hand-dragging around a combination of widgets and icons).
Needless to say, I went back to Windows Phone (anyone want to buy a Sony Xperia SP, btw?). Upgraded to WP 8.1, which added:
- The best mobile calendar app I've ever seen. The week view is simply amazing [1].
- Fix for every single thing I want that Android had and WP hadn't: better volume controls, action center for notifications and quick access to settings, stuff like that.
I'm well aware that none of the above includes the things you mention: customizability, open source, etc. WP indeed doesn't have that - it's much more like iOS in that respect. I thought I'd miss this, but with 8.1 fixing all the issues I had with WP, I realize that actually I don't want customizability, I want the thing to work great out of the box.
You only need customization if what you start with sucks.
On the hackability aspect though, WP app development is a very smooth experience compared to Android app dev (assuming you have a Windows computer ready somewhere). The API is very well designed and documented, and the tools are great (assuming you can stand Visual Studio).
This is one of the things I hate about the >4" screens, the interfaces were all designed with things being reachable, but now, I with large hands even, can't do it.
My issue is that this phone has 1gb ram and front facing camera for the price of Lumia 520. I'll need to fork out at least twice that amount to get the equivalent hardware spec in windows phone.