Microsoft officially ends support for Windows Phone.

Forums › Legacy mobile platforms (Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Web OS, Symbian, Meego, Blackberry) › Microsoft officially ends support for Windows Phone.

MaxLV

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#223647 10-Oct-2017 17:44

As per subject line:

It's official: for all intents and purposes, the Windows Phone era is over. Microsoft has ended support for Windows Phone 8.1 just over 3 years after its April 2014 debut. From now on, your WP8.1-toting device won't get software updates or technical help. This doesn't mark the end of Microsoft's mobile ambitions (Windows 10 Mobile is still hanging around), but it does finish a long, sad story in the company's history that reflects the tech giant's shifting priorities.

www.engadget.com/2017/07/11/windows-phone-support-ends/

coffeebaron

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#1880550 10-Oct-2017 19:42

A real shame these never picked up much market share. It was a brilliant mobile OS.

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#1880553 10-Oct-2017 19:49

For what it's worth, Microsoft's "support lifecycle" page states that Win 10 Mobile is supported until 6 Nov 2019. As noted above, support for 8.1 has already ended.

muppet

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#1880581 10-Oct-2017 20:04

You know, usually I'd say "well done at least you tried" or something.

But after this little stunt, all I can think is hahahah sucked in you stupid smug morons.

I hope Apple gives them a funeral, this time the patient really is dead.

Though you could argue it never really left life support.

Dynamic

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#1880603 10-Oct-2017 20:39

Following the demise of my Palm Treo, I had a WM5 and a WM6 device and loved them at the time. Neither of them were touch models (for budget reasons at the time) but I really liked the physical QWERTY keyboards (thumb boards).

After Microsoft's failure to gain market traction with earlier devices, I didn't rush out to buy a touch screen model in the last 4-ish years. Their pockets were deep when it comes to marketing and development funds, so I gave them a better than even chance in the back of my mind. I can't speculate in any significant way about the reasons for failing to catch on once again. Perhaps they just didn't manage to catch the imagination of the public in the same way that Apple and Samsung have.

Did they have a reasonable range of Apps?

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#1880608 10-Oct-2017 20:54

Did they have a reasonable range of Apps?

No. That was the problem. I had Windows Phone 7, 8.1 and 10 but the lack of apps made it limited in it's usefulness.

It's a pity because I liked it much more than the Android OS I have now.

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#1880630 10-Oct-2017 21:26

If only I could install windows on an iphone 8 plus!

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#1908053 26-Nov-2017 18:22

Despite the lack of apps, I really did used to love my Windows 10 phone - the OS worked for me. Alas, the last series of updates have meant that contacts suddenly disappeared off the phone. I can no longer "configure" my exchange accounts. (Tapping on them does nothing.)

So - I'm now running on a Nokia 5 with android.

blakamin

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#1908080 26-Nov-2017 18:51

WM6 was awesome. It was all downhill from there. For me anyway... I still hate the "live tile" crap that win8-10 have forced on people.

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#1927512 1-Jan-2018 08:32

I'm thinking I'll need to upgrade my Nokia Lumia 635 - Whatsapp (as well as a few other things) seem to have stopped working today. Weird, as it's running Windows 8.1, which I thought was still supported.

Got my eye on a Nokia 3, will try one out.

Technofreak

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#1927604 1-Jan-2018 13:40

coffeebaron: A real shame these never picked up much market share. It was a brilliant mobile OS.

Two comments.

Microsoft bought a much much better OS (Meego) when they acquired Nokia but they persisted with the flawed Windows Phone OS.

The Windows Phone OS was a very nice OS but not brilliant. There were too many limitations. Like the inability to import more than one calendar entry at one time. I couldn't import my monthly roster. Apps would stop running when they were superseded by another app on the main screen, i.e. not able to run apps in the background. I couldn't run the Pebble app and expect to get notifications on the watch.

I used a Nokia 920 as a daily driver, it wasn't the lack of apps, it was the lack of OS functionality that turn me away from Windows Phone.

The Nokia N9 with Meego was a vastly superior phone with the only exception of screen size. Interestingly even though Microsoft effectively abandoned the N9 before it was even launched many of the apps are still being updated today six to 7 years later by the very vibrant user community.

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Technofreak

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#1927605 1-Jan-2018 13:47

Dynamic:

Following the demise of my Palm Treo, I had a WM5 and a WM6 device and loved them at the time. Neither of them were touch models (for budget reasons at the time) but I really liked the physical QWERTY keyboards (thumb boards).

After Microsoft's failure to gain market traction with earlier devices, I didn't rush out to buy a touch screen model in the last 4-ish years. Their pockets were deep when it comes to marketing and development funds, so I gave them a better than even chance in the back of my mind. I can't speculate in any significant way about the reasons for failing to catch on once again. Perhaps they just didn't manage to catch the imagination of the public in the same way that Apple and Samsung have.

Did they have a reasonable range of Apps?

Palm was king of the mobile device arena with their Palm OS. Anyone and everyone developed apps for Palm. It went downhill for them when they started putting WM on their devices.

WebOS was/is an excellent OS but was too late to the market to be a saviour for Palm. It's a pity HP blinked with the Touchpad because it is/was a great tablet for it's day.

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#1927608 1-Jan-2018 14:05

quickymart:

I'm thinking I'll need to upgrade my Nokia Lumia 635 - Whatsapp (as well as a few other things) seem to have stopped working today. Weird, as it's running Windows 8.1, which I thought was still supported.

Got my eye on a Nokia 3, will try one out.

Read something recently that said Whatsapp was on its way out for Windows mobile support.... so thats probably it.

Loved my Windows phones, great hardware and OS, just noone wanted to give it some app love :(

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#1927721 1-Jan-2018 18:37

Got the Nokia 3 and it seems pretty good so far. I don't have my WhatsApp chat history but I know they can't be moved from one OS to another. However, I do have them backed up from my Windows Phone. Is there any way I can export them from the backup to a text file or Word document, etc? Or do I need to reinsert my SIM card and do it from the Windows Phone?

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#1927906 2-Jan-2018 09:00

Okay I heard from Whatsapp (FYI if anyone else has to do this) - you need to e-mail the chat history before changing devices. Unfortunately I didn't do this as I wasn't aware of how it worked...

I have my messages backed how however, so will see if I can do a restoration later today when I have some time. Will post back with the results.

quickymart

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#1928093 2-Jan-2018 15:59

Success!
I got the Whatsapp chats backed up (sent to my e-mail as a text document) and copied over my SMS's using the backup app I've mentioned before.

As an aside, the developer of said app e-mailed me and says he now has a Pro version that moves MMS as well as SMS. Didn't make any difference to me as I didn't have any MMS's on this phone, but still useful to know