I’m no longer part of the one percent.
It took me almost two years longer than my Microsoft-watching colleagues Ed Bott and Tom Warren, but I’ve given up using Windows Phones as my daily driver.
As of about a month ago, I’m now sporting a Nexus 6P (made by Huawei). I’m still on Verizon. But my Lumia Icon is now in a desk drawer.
I didn’t come to this decision lightly. I actually really liked Windows Phone and figured I’d be one of the last to go down with the ship — which currently has roughly one percent market share. Many Microsoft employees no longer use Windows Phones (and not just in the name of “research”). If few Softies believe in the platform, why should the rest of us?
Windows 10 Mobile, in many ways, feels like a step backwards from Windows Phone 8.X, feature-wise, especially on existing Windows Phone handsets that can’t take advantage of Windows Hello and Continuum. Yet I was sticking with Windows Phone/Windows Mobile because I use Windows PCs, many Windows services (OneDrive, Groove, Outlook.com, Office 365) and Windows Phones seem custom-made for a Microsoft-centric user like me.
For those wondering why I didn’t go iPhone, I am not interested in Apple products, as I have a deep-seated personal dislike of all things Apple-related. I don’t want to be affiliated with the Apple user community. Other than a relatively brief fling with the iPad, I haven’t purchased any Apple hardware, software or services. This is a personal bias/choice. I think differently than many of my tech press colleagues. I am a PC.
Android was and is another story. I know many worry about Google scraping our information and using it to keep its search/ad juggernaut rolling. But I feel like we’ve all largely given up our privacy for the sake of convenience these days, regardless of platform. (Scroogledcampaigns and vendor privacy promises won’t sway me on this, so don’t bother sending them.)
So when my Windows Weekly cohost Paul Thurrott offered me a chance to try one of the Google phones — the Nexus 5X — a couple months ago, I decided it might be a good way to test the growing number of Microsoft apps and services on Android (some of which aren’t available at all for Windows Phone). I simply put my Verizon SIM from my Icon into the Nexus 5X and I became a first-time “Android Pro” user.
