Why Android? Why Now?
I've talked about this a bit already. And it has probably been clear if you read my other posts on the topic that I don't find Android to be some magical, rosy, super solution. In fact, on the whole, if you consider it JUST from the standpoint of the OS and developer story I still Windows Phone is winning.
The obvious problems are that, if you don't take just those two pieces and instead take the full experience into consideration, then Android is a clear winner. Furthermore, while Android is still not (in my opinion) the better operating system, it IS adopting and even out-delivering on Microsoft's designs and I don't think it will be long until they surpass them. They are even actively working on their dev story with recent updates to Android studio.
But, it isn't just about the whole experience. In fact, as a developer, that developer side of the thing is actually VERY important for me. I'm also well invested in the eco-system. And while Microsoft is certainly not anti-Android, many of their Android apps are far from as polished as their Windows Phone alternatives. In fact, they probably all are. I haven't encountered one yet that I felt was either equal too or better.
For me, the decision stemmed from the decision to drop support for the HTC One M8 for Windows 10. It isn't that isolated incident. That was just the straw that broke the camels back. To get an understanding, you need to go back in time.
On Windows Phone 7's launch day (that's right, DAY ONE, immediately when my carrier's doors opened) I bought an HTC Surround. I was upgrading from an aging BB Curve and it was marvelous. I was an early adopter on what I knew was a brand new platform. I never really expected it to last (support-wise) until the next major OS upgrade. At the time, that was honestly a rare occurrence anywhere. I was pleased as a pig in shit to have a phone that would effectively allow me to write Silverlight code, and which produced sexy looking modern applications that were quite performant.
A year and a bit in, I decided I wanted something a little nicer. Something which might stand the test of time when it came to upgrades. So I bought a Nokia Lumia 800. It wasn't right when the phone launched, but not too long after. And just 2 months after that... Windows Phone 8 was announced and I discovered I had made a mistake. I was understanding, but also felt a little burnt. Nokia was, after all, a "special" OEM partnership and had even claimed earlier that these devices WOULD get the upgrade.
But, I could also see how a shift to the Windows 8 core might be beneficial to the platform as a whole and could understand how such a shift may not work great with older hardware.
So, I bought an HTC 8X. It died within 2 weeks. Not the platforms fault. So I got a Samsung Ativ S. Great little phone. Again, I was early in the WP8 life cycle. By the time WP10 mobile even appeared in beta form that phone had to be 2 years old. By now, closer to 3. I knew there was a chance it wouldn't get Windows 10, in fact, I had written it off.
I bought a Lumia 1020 used for dirt cheap. Surely this phone would get it. It had 2GB RAM and a pretty damn fast dual core processor. It got Insider builds. Early builds were slow, but got better at the time. By the end it was still passable in my opinion, and everything seemed to work. But the performance wasn't ideal. I could understand either making the update optional or pulling it. Being that it was, once again, a Nokia phone and this time a flagship phone (even if an old one) it would have been nice to keep it supported.
Burned again, but then I restored that one back to WP8 so clearly I feel it was the right move on some level.
Lastly is the HTC One M8. It is a 2GB RAM phone with 32GB internal storage and a quad core processor. It doesn't have the crazy 41MP camera to deal with that the 1020 had. In fact, it is just run of the mill, flagship phone components. I don't think I had a single Windows 10 build that ran bad on it. But, the kicker is, I got the device as a development device from a Microsoft accelerator session.
The phone was literally provided for the EXPRESS PURPOSE OF WINDOWS 10 MOBILE DEVELOPMENT. ... and they've kicked it off the list of supported Windows 10 mobile devices.
If you're counting along with me... that is 6 phones. SIX PHONES. None of which got the next major phone update. 2 of which were flagship phones from Nokia and one of which was a flagship phone promoted by Microsoft for Windows developers. Roughly half of the phones were early devices in their respective OS cycles and the other half were well after OS launch. In one case less than a year before the next OS was announced. Oh, and you can add a 7th, my wife's Lumia 925.
Basically, at every step rumours have leaked or even official statements have been made that all phones would get the next major upgrade, or that some large subsection would. And every time those promises have disappeared or been drastically cut back.
I'll still do UWP dev. If I make a consumer facing app, I may even publish it for phones. But my testing will probably be emulator only. I simply won't buy another Windows Phone for the foreseeable future.
My Nexus 6P shipped with Marshmallow and is already running the beta for Android N. The app selection and quality is better. And I that by Android O, if Microsoft hasn't recovered, that Android will have even beaten them at the OS game.
From a dev story perspective, I'll probably leverage Xamarin now that it is part of VS. But, Java really is close enough to C# that if UI design in Android gets better that I could see myself going that route as well.
So, that is the why and why now.
The obvious problems are that, if you don't take just those two pieces and instead take the full experience into consideration, then Android is a clear winner. Furthermore, while Android is still not (in my opinion) the better operating system, it IS adopting and even out-delivering on Microsoft's designs and I don't think it will be long until they surpass them. They are even actively working on their dev story with recent updates to Android studio.
But, it isn't just about the whole experience. In fact, as a developer, that developer side of the thing is actually VERY important for me. I'm also well invested in the eco-system. And while Microsoft is certainly not anti-Android, many of their Android apps are far from as polished as their Windows Phone alternatives. In fact, they probably all are. I haven't encountered one yet that I felt was either equal too or better.
For me, the decision stemmed from the decision to drop support for the HTC One M8 for Windows 10. It isn't that isolated incident. That was just the straw that broke the camels back. To get an understanding, you need to go back in time.
On Windows Phone 7's launch day (that's right, DAY ONE, immediately when my carrier's doors opened) I bought an HTC Surround. I was upgrading from an aging BB Curve and it was marvelous. I was an early adopter on what I knew was a brand new platform. I never really expected it to last (support-wise) until the next major OS upgrade. At the time, that was honestly a rare occurrence anywhere. I was pleased as a pig in shit to have a phone that would effectively allow me to write Silverlight code, and which produced sexy looking modern applications that were quite performant.
A year and a bit in, I decided I wanted something a little nicer. Something which might stand the test of time when it came to upgrades. So I bought a Nokia Lumia 800. It wasn't right when the phone launched, but not too long after. And just 2 months after that... Windows Phone 8 was announced and I discovered I had made a mistake. I was understanding, but also felt a little burnt. Nokia was, after all, a "special" OEM partnership and had even claimed earlier that these devices WOULD get the upgrade.
But, I could also see how a shift to the Windows 8 core might be beneficial to the platform as a whole and could understand how such a shift may not work great with older hardware.
So, I bought an HTC 8X. It died within 2 weeks. Not the platforms fault. So I got a Samsung Ativ S. Great little phone. Again, I was early in the WP8 life cycle. By the time WP10 mobile even appeared in beta form that phone had to be 2 years old. By now, closer to 3. I knew there was a chance it wouldn't get Windows 10, in fact, I had written it off.
I bought a Lumia 1020 used for dirt cheap. Surely this phone would get it. It had 2GB RAM and a pretty damn fast dual core processor. It got Insider builds. Early builds were slow, but got better at the time. By the end it was still passable in my opinion, and everything seemed to work. But the performance wasn't ideal. I could understand either making the update optional or pulling it. Being that it was, once again, a Nokia phone and this time a flagship phone (even if an old one) it would have been nice to keep it supported.
Burned again, but then I restored that one back to WP8 so clearly I feel it was the right move on some level.
Lastly is the HTC One M8. It is a 2GB RAM phone with 32GB internal storage and a quad core processor. It doesn't have the crazy 41MP camera to deal with that the 1020 had. In fact, it is just run of the mill, flagship phone components. I don't think I had a single Windows 10 build that ran bad on it. But, the kicker is, I got the device as a development device from a Microsoft accelerator session.
The phone was literally provided for the EXPRESS PURPOSE OF WINDOWS 10 MOBILE DEVELOPMENT. ... and they've kicked it off the list of supported Windows 10 mobile devices.
If you're counting along with me... that is 6 phones. SIX PHONES. None of which got the next major phone update. 2 of which were flagship phones from Nokia and one of which was a flagship phone promoted by Microsoft for Windows developers. Roughly half of the phones were early devices in their respective OS cycles and the other half were well after OS launch. In one case less than a year before the next OS was announced. Oh, and you can add a 7th, my wife's Lumia 925.
Basically, at every step rumours have leaked or even official statements have been made that all phones would get the next major upgrade, or that some large subsection would. And every time those promises have disappeared or been drastically cut back.
I'll still do UWP dev. If I make a consumer facing app, I may even publish it for phones. But my testing will probably be emulator only. I simply won't buy another Windows Phone for the foreseeable future.
My Nexus 6P shipped with Marshmallow and is already running the beta for Android N. The app selection and quality is better. And I that by Android O, if Microsoft hasn't recovered, that Android will have even beaten them at the OS game.
From a dev story perspective, I'll probably leverage Xamarin now that it is part of VS. But, Java really is close enough to C# that if UI design in Android gets better that I could see myself going that route as well.
So, that is the why and why now.
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