Four months ago I used a Galaxy S4 as my daily driver for a week in order to try out all of the Microsoft services that are available on the Android platform.
During the course of that week I really enjoyed being able to use apps from my bank, insurance company, two factor authentication apps and first party apps for social media posting and streaming.
After that week I came away having decided I wanted to try Android out for a longer period of time and on flagship hardware. So I went to my local AT&T store and picked up the newly released LG G4. I was wavering between it or the Galaxy S6 and decided on the G4 because it was offering a spare battery, charging case and a 32GB microSD card.
The G4 is a solid device but with the length of my days, usually 5:00 AM to 11:00 PM, a single battery charge does not last me so I am glad to have the free spare battery. The camera on this device is also tremendous and manual mode provides all kinds of possibilities when it comes to taking shots in all kinds of lighting conditions.
However, this is not about the hardware – it is about the apps.
For a few weeks now I have been contemplating the new Windows 10 Mobile hardware coming from Microsoft. There is no doubt the hardware specs for the Lumia 950 and 950 XL premium devices, which I got to spend a little time with in NYC two weeks ago, are top of the line. The Continuum feature and the Microsoft Display Dock add to the compelling case for Windows 10 Mobile on the hardware side.
However, this is not about the hardware – it is about the apps.
This past weekend the former purveyor of content here at the SuperSite for Windows, Paul Thurrott, wrote a piece entitled Only Android Can Save Windows Phone and nailed the fact that it is all about the apps and not just the big names either.
I was one of those Windows Phone user that always fought back at the term app gap whenever I would hear it. The vast majority of the time people were talking about the popular apps for various services and sites. Even when Windows Phone finally received apps for these same things they were almost always inferior and never able to support the entire spectrum of abilities their Android and iOS counterparts could.
Then I spent a week using nothing but Android apps and discovering I could do so many things that I simply could not do easily or conveniently on Windows Phone. It was an eye opener to really understand just what as possible when mobile apps were readily available for niche things like my bank, insurance company and tools to help me maintain the security of my various accounts throughout the day.
It was such an eye opener that I went out the next week and picked up an LG G4 Android based device under a 12-month agreement with AT&T Next while I waited to see what happened with Windows 10 Mobile. Over the last few weeks I have been trying to imagine what it would be like to give up those conveniences by moving back to Windows 10 Mobile as my daily driver with the availability of the new 950 devices.
Well, I am not thrilled about the prospect at all.
Thus – I have arrived at this mobile crossroads – and I am not sure what direction I will take on the path - but it is leaning towards sticking with my G4.
As Paul mentioned in his piece on this, there is a Windows Bridge for Android which has also been known as Project Astoria – its former codename. This technology would let developers easily port their Android apps to the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) and allow them to run on Windows 10 desktops and mobile devices.
He also mentioned the leaked build of Windows 10 Mobile from over the summer that actually allowed users to run Android apps by side loading their APKs onto the handsets where they ran in a virtual sandbox of sorts.
Either of these capabilities could be the answer for the survival of Windows 10 Mobile.
Microsoft is building solid 1st party hardware for Windows 10 Mobile and they are made to take advantage of unique features in the OS. From Continuum and Windows Hello security features, the Lumia handsets from Microsoft are offering hardware/OS based features that no one in mobile can match right now.
The OS itself, while currently rough around some of the edges in its final stages of development, is my preferred choice because of the integration I get being on a Windows based platform. While I can access OneDrive, Outlook.com, Office Mobile and other Microsoft services on my G4, I would prefer to do that natively on a Windows 10 based handset.
If the push could be made to bring Android apps to Windows 10 Mobile and the security concerns can be properly addressed, then it could very well convince others to come over to Windows 10 Mobile.
Then it does become all about the hardware – because the app issue is taken care of – and we all know Lumia hardware is top notch stuff.
