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Making the Case For a Microsoft Surface Phone That Runs Android (windowscentral.com) 73

Posted by BeauHD from the pros-and-cons dept.
Zac Bowden from Windows Central makes the case for why Microsoft may want to make a Surface phone that runs Android. An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from the report: While a Surface Phone running Android would never sell to the quantity that Samsung smartphones do (or at least not a first- or second-generation phone), Microsoft could utilize the Surface brand to showcase the best of Microsoft's Android efforts all in one place, just like it has done for Windows PCs. I'm picturing a Surface-branded, Microsoft-built smartphone that comes with Microsoft Launcher, Edge, Office, Your Phone phone-mirroring integration, and more, out of the box. In fact, that's one of four unique selling points that a Surface Phone running Android could have:

-- Showcase the best of Microsoft's efforts on Android.
-- Seamless integration with Windows PCs using Your Phone.
-- Provide the best security and update support on Android.
-- Brand recognition that can rival Apple and Samsung.

That last point is more for Microsoft fans, but the first three are important. A Surface Phone running Android would be the only smartphone out there that's always guaranteed to work with all of Your Phone's features. I have a wide array of Android smartphones, yet 90 percent of them don't support all of Your Phone's features on Windows 10. Screen mirroring is only available on select devices, and while that may improve, there's no guarantee your smartphone will ever get it, or if it'll work well. Microsoft could also provide enhanced features, such as the ability to take cellular phone calls on your PC directly from your Surface Phone. It could also build out dedicated Phone and SMS apps that sync up with the Messages app on your PC, instead of having to relay it through the Your Phone app. There's so much more potential when you build your own Android phone.
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Making the Case For a Microsoft Surface Phone That Runs Android More

Making the Case For a Microsoft Surface Phone That Runs Android

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  • After 3 years : MS ditches Android Surface phone (Score:4, Insightful)

    by thesjaakspoiler ( 4782965 ) on Wednesday July 17, 2019 @08:18PM (#58942710)
    You can just wait for it. Because a monolith like Microsoft just can't bring the best of everything in one place. They couldn't do a decent job on any platform, even their own Windows platform is a constant mess due to all their in-house tribal feuds.

  • I don't want any of your top 3 (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Snotnose ( 212196 ) on Wednesday July 17, 2019 @08:20PM (#58942718)
    I want a removable battery, an SDCC card, and a headphone jack. Don't care about the camera. Don't care about "desktop integration". Don't care about social media creds.

    Oh yeah, I want it to be a decent phone. 90% of my communication is via text but, when I have to make a phone call, it's really nice when I can understand the person on the other end.

    Then again, I don't have a man bun, haven't been to Starbuck's in a couple years now, don't have a Facebook account, and in general am out of step with the noisy idiots who call themselves "influencers".

    • I want a removable battery, an SDCC card, and a headphone jack. Don't care about the camera. Don't care about "desktop integration". Don't care about social media creds.

      Oh yeah, I want it to be a decent phone.

      Same here. Just give me those three things and there's a damn good chance I'll buy one.

      A removable battery, a headphone jack, and a micro SD card slot, that's all I want.

      A good camera would be nice, but not a deal-breaker. Decent water resistance (IP68) would also be a plus, but again, not a deal-breaker.

      • Username checks out.

      • I guess you're getting a Nokia 2.2....has all of the above.

  • How about NOOOOOOOOO? (Score:3)

    by JustAnotherOldGuy ( 4145623 ) on Wednesday July 17, 2019 @08:26PM (#58942744) Journal

    A Surface phone? Ha hahahahahahah......

    "How about NOOOOOOOOO? Does NOOOOO work for you?"

    Thanks but no thanks, but I'm sure the MS fanboys will go wild over the prospect.

    • Yep.
      >> "A Surface Phone running Android would be the only smartphone out there that's always guaranteed to work... "
      No. That can't be right.
      A MS product which is guaranteed to work ?
      That does not exist.

    • I have used a Nokia Windows phone, Android, IPhone, Black Berry and even have used (own one from an acquisition) Palm Pilot. Of all of them I found that the Windows phone was easiest to use. It was intuitive, and felt most natural to use. The lack of applications like Android is what I found was its biggest detractor. I find that with Android (I have only owned an Android) it isn't clear how to do certain things. I accidentally got my phone into split screen mode. I couldn't get it to full screen. I googl

  • Windows Phone just needed apps (Score:4, Interesting)

    by CaseCrash ( 1120869 ) on Wednesday July 17, 2019 @08:42PM (#58942790)
    Microsoft did a great job with Windows Phone 10. I really liked the UI and everything worked so easily. The lower end Lumias did a decent job and the high end ones had great hardware. But it didn't have the apps, everyone just released for Android and iPhone. Google especially refused to release anything and actively killed Microsoft's youtube app.

    I'd like to see them try again and I'm using their home screen app on my S9+. Having a phone microsoft curated from hardware to integrated Windows support would be awesome.

    Disclosure: I am a Microsoft fanboy, if you couldn't tell by the fact that I owned a Windows Phone.
    • I'm still using a Windows Phone right now. Great phone OS.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Luthair ( 847766 )
      Its a fiction that the problem was a lack of apps. The reality is that by the time modern smartphones launched people were done with Microsoft - no one was using Microsoft websites or services and no one cared what they were doing.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by stooo ( 2202012 )

      >> Windows Phone just needed apps
      Nope. It also badly lacked customers.
      Because carrier did not want to sell those products coz MS was owning skype !
      So the carriers banned MS phones, and MS lost all those big customers

    • The os was awesome. They failed because they realized about the potential of mobile phone operating systems too late

  • This is a stupid idea. I use Android phones, iPhones, and have used Windows phones, and to be honest the Android experience is the worst. Android doesn't feel like a cohesive platform, doesn't work as a personal assistant, and it's glitchy and laggy.

    Microsoft should stick with windows. The windows mobile platform felt sharp, every time I press something on Android there's a laggy feel to it, not sharp Windows Mobile and iPhone. The Cortana experience on Windows Mobile was superior too, it knew things and re

  • Microsoft and smartphones are mutually contradictory. Give it up. Stop wasting electrons writing blogs about it.

  • Sure, if Microsoft wants to make a corporate phone with all the Microsoft apps pre-installed and ready to do, then I think they should go ahead and do it.
    I'm sure a lot of businesses would find it appealing.

    However, I think it would be stupid to reuse the "Surface" brand for it.
    The name has already been used and reused for five type of products already: touch-table computers, tablet PC's, laptops, "creator's" desktop PC and digital whiteboard.
    Microsoft did at least have the sense to rename the touch-table c

  • Seriously, a productivity focused phone with only the Google Store to get apps and with rock solid Windows 10 integration sprinkled with the few things Windows 10 phone did well, and I think it'd be successful. Microsoft isn't terminally unhip and there's enough people that just want to get some @#$@% done to make it work.

    • Microsoft isn't terminally unhip

      Perhaps not, but they have been consistently unhip for the company's entire existence.

    • Yeah, I've seen too many Android devices fail to get patches after a year to feel really good about investing much in them. If MS supported a phone as long as WinXP it'd be a boon, but they'll have to overcome the history of abandoning previous phones relatively quickly.

  • Already did this (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    They already did this with the many Android phones they ended up selling on the Windows Store online as Windows Phone was dying out.

  • Microsoft could provide a better experience if... (Score:4, Informative)

    by itsme1234 ( 199680 ) on Thursday July 18, 2019 @01:41AM (#58943940)

    From the sidebar, big red(ish) letters:

    Microsoft could provide a better experience if it had more control over the hardware and OS.

    I have never, ever heard about anything good introduced by a third party on such devices. It's always stuff you don't want but they put it there and you can't remove, that eats your space, battery, spies on you and so on. Updates will be slower or not coming at all as it takes time and effort for all their custom shit to be updated or at least baked in and so on. No, thanks. Generally no, thanks - coming from MS? Hell no.

  • Don't need something from Microsoft, especially not n-trig touch screen with touch disease: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
  • I get every single thing you mention, aside from the brand recognition, by running the MS Android suite of apps on my Nokia 9. I suspect it would take more than just packaging a "surface phone" on their own hardware, unless that hardware had a unique and useful form factor or other feature that would set it apart.

  • Already done! Microsoft-X (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Shortly before the Microsoft deal ended with Nokia to pay them a billion a year to use Windows Phone OS, Nokia made an Android phone called Nokia-X in 3 models. These were to take the company forward without WP which they would dump because they made no money from the deal and losing the subsidy would bankrupt them.

    These Android phones used Nokia and Microsoft services and had a WP-like launcher.

    Microsoft then bought the phone division to 'save' Windows Phone but then continued to make the Android phones br

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