For all my protestations that Windows 10 Mobile still has relevance in the mobile world of 2017 - and it does, albeit not across the board, with genuine USPs - and despite some more unique selling points for some of the hardware (Lumia 950 imaging, Elite x3 durability, IDOL 4 Pro speakers), it has to be acknowledged that there's an element of 'Not Quite As Good' across the board in terms of the actual interface with real world users. Let me explain...
In advance of part 2 of my Alcatel IDOL 4 Pro review, covering its imaging, here's a taster, with a quick head to head against the champion Lumia 950 XL. You can guess the outcome, of course, but the much newer device acquits itself well enough, given the lack of imaging smarts - the IDOL 4 Pro's main focus is on media, and I'll come to that in a future review part.
With tech media now into its fourth year of 'pronouncing Windows Phone as dead', with even some Windows phone (note lower case 'p') enthusiasts now transitioning over to Android OS, and with mass market favourite applications like Snapchat still unavailable for Microsoft's platform, the headline question is more relevant than ever. And the curious thing is that for some people the answer is "Yes". Let me explain...
For logistics reasons, we've split our applications directory for Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile into two, with a natural spin-off section being anything to do with imaging, camera, media and music/voice. This is the mid-September 2017 update. The original applications directory excludes these categories.
Following on from AAWP's rather handy guide to the very best general applications and best camera/media apps for Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 10 Mobile, here's an updated (mid September 2017) version of our similar crowd-sourced guide the very best games on the platform. Enjoy!
This may be one of the most basic tutorials ever featured on AAWP - I'm writing this mini-feature after seeing several real world users with their lockscreens still set to a single, unchanging default image. Did you know (or remember) that using the 'Bing image of the day' is one of the built-in options in Windows Phone and Windows 10 Mobile?
One of the niggling complaints with Windows 10 Mobile has been that text entry is almost imperceptibly slower and laggy compared to Windows Phone 8.1 - especially evident on devices which started on the latter. However, there's a hidden setting that lets you revert Word Flow to its previous (8.1) speed, removing a layer of 'intelligence' which was slowing it down.
Another in my series of beginner-ish tutorials here on AAWP. Microsoft does a pretty good job at backing up and collecting photos taken at a particular event and on a particular day, on your Windows 10 Mobile-powered smartphone in Photos. Meaning that you can - in principle - just share these out, via OneDrive, to family and friends. But there are some tweaks you might like to note.
Over the years I've reviewed dozens of smartphone accessories, maybe even hundreds. And I've reviewed a fair number formally here for AAS and AAWP. But, of this mass of plastic, metal and, often, lithium, which accessories really made the grade? Which ones do I personally carry around with me on any trip out of the house of more than a few hours? Here's a glimpse into my standard kit.
