As I write this, Microsoft’s Lumia 950 isn’t quite available at AT&T just yet. We know it’s arriving soon, though. The Big Blue carrier already confirmed as much, and the reviews are starting to slip out into the wild ahead of the public launch. I’m excited about the Lumia 950 (and, by extension, the Lumia 950 XL) because, while it’s clearly a stopgap phone, I still think it’s a powerful device worthy to herald in the arrival of Windows 10 Mobile.
This new (mobile) operating system is different from Microsoft’s last attempt, going so far as to skip Windows Phone 9 altogether and simply opt for the universal transition to Windows 10. Of course, this is a route that Microsoft was always going to take, something that they’ve been forecasting for years now. Ever since the arrival of Windows Phone 8 all those years ago, in fact.
The company has made it clear that they’ve wanted their platforms on similar ground, so that the experience from the phone to the computer, and even the Xbox video game console, was similar, if not outright the same. Some folks want that experience (I’m one of them, to an extent), and so I’ve been looking forward to Microsoft achieving that dream right from the start.
But, is the Lumia 950 enough to get someone to switch?
On paper it probably is, with its high-end specifications. It might not have that brilliant of a design, but that won’t matter to some folks (and I imagine that there are many out there that actually like it). Even the fact it’s plastic, and clearly a byproduct from Nokia’s days as a Windows Phone firehose, probably won’t matter. The Lumia 950 is a powerful device running a very, very capable (mobile) operating system.
But is it enough? For me, personally, someone that has been waiting in the wings to switch completely over to Microsoft’s products, it still isn’t. On a very real level, I want to buy the Lumia 950 and enjoy my time with it.
But I know I won’t, and it’s for the same exact reasons I never stuck around Windows Phone for long.
Microsoft is making it easier to build apps for Windows, and the company is not keeping it a secret that it wants to make it easy to port apps from iOS to its own operating system, but if the past is any indicator, none of that is going to matter. There are already some big names making universal apps for Windows 10, including Facebook, and it’s likely that many others will follow. After all, there are millions of people using Windows 10 now — but on their PC, and not on their phone.
It isn’t likely that the Lumia 950, or even Windows 10 for that matter, will be enough to convince hundreds of thousands of people to drop their Android or iOS device and make the switch, and it’s for the reasons I’m not doing it: The apps aren’t there just yet, so no matter how much I want the phone or the OS, it doesn’t matter. I’m not ready to give up the apps, or even access to apps that are coming down the pipe that I haven’t even heard of.
But I’m curious to know if you’re skipping Windows 10 Mobile right now for the same reasons. Or, on the other end of the spectrum, you’re gearing up to buy the Lumia 950 to match whatever Windows 10 computer you’re using what made you go that route? Let me know!
