End of an Era – My Windows Phones and Me

In 2005, what seems like forever ago, I was using an HP iPAQ 6515 phone. This phone ran the Windows Mobile 2003 SE operating system. It had a plastic screen protector that flipped up and out of the way (and cam off quite easily) as well as a stylus. The screen layout could be customized, custom ROMs could be used, memory cards could be inserted and removed and finally bigger batteries could be placed inside the case as it could be opened. In some ways this was a kind of golden age for phones where you could customize everything about the phone. It was also from the day and age when GoDaddy certificates had to be imported into a phone in order for it to work with them. Yes. Imported.

Over the next few years, Windows phones were in competition with Blackberry, Treos, Palm and others. No iPhone existed back then. Microsoft had a viable product lie that worked. Blackberry, at least to me, was the only competition that really mattered.
Fast forward to 2019 (Today) and the world has changed drastically. We have iPhone and Android. Windows Phones and Blackberries barely make a dent in the market. If you want an app on a phone, you need access to iTunes or the Google Play store. 99.9% of new apps never make it to Windows Stores. Heck, for years Microsoft ignore the platform, essentially killing it off. That is quite the irony of the situation. I believe Microsoft killed off their own phone by failing to work with their own ecosystem and making apps and features for other platforms before even considering Windows.
Why am I writing this today? Well, I just switch my phone and I am on a new platform for the first time in over 10 years. I can tell you that it is quite a shock. The platform I chose was Android on my Samsung S9. To be honest I think there are a lot of things I am pleased about – of course this could be because I had a Nokia Icon from 4.5 years ago (that is another story in and of itself). However I have also found a lot of annoyances that I at least knew ahead of time which is why I wanted so long to make this change.

My Old Phones
What I Like
Apps – While I am NOT an app guy, I need a few basics – to do, music, camera, Teams, Skype, etc. I am able to get native apps and not some third party knockoff screen scraper apps. Which is what I expected. Oh and having updated apps is a bonus as well – Teams, Skype, Weather Channel, etc.
Battery Life – my old phone would stay powered for about an hour or so while I used it normally. A lot of that is due to the age of the phone, but the batter never lasted an entire day without charge. Now with my s9 I am hitting over 36 hours without a full charge and my battery is at 25%. I am using it more because I am constantly playing with settings and apps to get my phone to fit with my workflow.
Speed – again, probably related to the new hardware and not aging hardware of my Windows Phone.
Screen – simply put – beautiful.
Tethering – it just works. Easy to set up, no issues at all.
Headphone jack – also, it works. My old phone has had a non-function jack since 2017.
What I Don’t Like
Before I list anything, take any of these observations with a grain of salt. I am switching platforms after 13 years, so this does not lend to an apples to apples kind of change. Also, I am still learning about the phone’s capabilities.
Email – So this is the big one for me. This feature alone held me from switching to a new platform and phone for the past two years. On my Windows phone I have three email accounts. For two of them I have 12 email subfolders pinned to my Home Page for the phone. I do this because I have rules that separate out MVP emails, Boy Scout Emails, Script Notification emails and more. Thus these pinned folders give me insight into all that is going on email wise at a glance. The new phone however does not appear to have any way to do this. This is the one app I live in. I have lived with this feature for 4+ years and it has enhanced my work flow I believe. At the moment I am struggling with how to handle it. If I ever find a solution, I will post it here, but I am not so confident I will at this point.
No Live Tiles – Found this to be rather interesting on the Windows Phone, but Android does not have this feature as far as I can tell.
Notifications – Still trying to get a handle on how these should show on the screen (locked or otherwise). Probably my newness to the platform.
Final Thoughts
In the end I am generally happy with the change. A very long battery life, native apps and generally faster/newer device makes for a better mobile experience. If I can fix the email issue, I will be 100% satisfied with the change. For those still on Windows Phones, I understand why you haven’t changed yet. However Microsoft has signed your phones death warrant. I lasted as long as I could, but Microsoft has moved on and apps I need for supporting Office 365 users and basic business function are near useless. If Microsoft considers a new phone platform that has all the features I cannot find on Android, I will consider it. Otherwise I am done. In the end, it is a phone and a business device.