what to do for a windows phone user in late 2020

[codezer0]

Keeping it short and sweet, the wife's Lumia 550 phone has started developing an issue where it won't want to turn on anymore. A cursory feel test of the battery, and there was noticeable swelling. While I'm sure she would prefer to just get a replacement battery and call it for the meantime, I'm trying to formulate some ideas on what to do, in the event that there aren't any good battery replacements anymore for the phone.

Simply put, the wife likes her windows phone. She's not a fan of Android interfaces, and not a fan of iOS either. If anything, Apple's draconian BS in the name of DRM and false security is the only reason she mildly tolerates Android more... but ideally, she'd still rather be using the windows phone. But seeing as microsoft itself already gave up on that venture, I'm trying to figure out what to do for her situation, if there is just no saving the phone any more. It's not like either of us have enough of an income for a flagship phone, either.

I figure if there's going to be a transition, it'd probably be a lot easier if there was something on the market that behaved in a similar manner. You can imagine our mutual frustration with phone makers making android phones that want to ape the iPhone even harder, then.

While I don't anticipate having to go into a store and dropping cash for another phone immediately, I want to at least be prepared if there is just no other option, so that she can have a phone to work with.

 

[ocnbrze]

if you can afford it there is the microsoft surface duo:

 

[codezer0]

if you can afford it there is the microsoft surface duo:

Microsoft wants $1200... or locked to Verizon. That's a major yikes all around.

Sure, it looks good. but good god... that Lumia in question was $150 out the door when I bought it for her as a gift. Why are phone prices so horrible? geeze.

 

[ocnbrze]

Microsoft wants $1200... or locked to Verizon. That's a major yikes all around.

Sure, it looks good. but good god... that Lumia in question was $150 out the door when I bought it for her as a gift. Why are phone prices so horrible? geeze.

because they can....and because some of these phones are cool. i saving up for the galaxy z fold 3 when it comes out next summer....it should be an epic phone, but will most likely cost $2000!!!

this duo at least has a huge screen when in tablet mode. but i think that is the only windows phone currently out.

if that is out of the budget then she will have to choose either android or ios, but sounds like she will be more inclined toward android which there are plenty of phones, styles, and price point to choose from. i'm a sammy guy so i like those phones. you probably can get a pretty good deal on the s9 or s10 phones.

 

[codezer0]

I can't speak for her on this regard, but I won't touch a samsung phone whose battery I can't replace.

When a business decision makes it so they actively choose to end someone's life than fix the problem, well... that's where I have to draw a hard line.

 

[MrJavi]

I can't speak for her on this regard, but I won't touch a samsung phone whose battery I can't replace.

When a business decision makes it so they actively choose to end someone's life than fix the problem, well... that's where I have to draw a hard line.

For me, I wouldn't touch a phone I couldn't root. lol . Having an unlocked bootloader and custom recovery support (TWRP) a major plus. Most flagship and midranged phones have non removable battery not just Samsung. I think of it as planned obstacles and a glass sandwich to boot. It wouldn't last me a week .

 

[Hadron]

Well according to GSMArena's "phone finder" there are still a few phones with removable batteries. Mainly lower-end Nokias, a couple of Samsungs and a few Motos, plus brands I've never seen in real life (I don't think Blu operate on my side of the Atlantic, for example). For that search all I specified was "available" and "released 2019 or later" (as I don't trust their definition of "available" much beyond "has been released").

Beyond that I don't think I can help, as the options are basically versions of Android or sub-smartphone platforms. There used to be launchers that aped the Windows Phone style, but I suspect that with Windows Phone long gone they're disappearing as well. Of course if you are prepared to put the effort in you can probably do something a bit like that with a suitable launcher and custom widget app, but it's a lot of work, would need more work to maintain it, and would only be superficial (top level of desktop, under which you'd immediately meet Android again). I can sympathise (my son's partner had a Lumia too, and I thought it was a rather underrated system), but the best bet is probably to admit that it's gone and switch interfaces rather than to put a lot of effort into making something that superficially resembles it but doesn't work in the same way.

 

[Dannydet]

Yep. Android with a windows launcher installed is your best option.

 

[ocnbrze]

I can't speak for her on this regard, but I won't touch a samsung phone whose battery I can't replace.

When a business decision makes it so they actively choose to end someone's life than fix the problem, well... that's where I have to draw a hard line.

you can thank apple for this one. they started it with their iphones and like sheep everyone followed. like my fellow AF members here has said you will be searching for awhile to find anything decent with a removeable battery. for me i replace my phones every 2 or 3 years so a non-removeable battery is not a problem for me.

For me, I wouldn't touch a phone I couldn't root. lol . Having an unlocked bootloader and custom recovery support (TWRP) a major plus. Most flagship and midranged phones have non removable battery not just Samsung. I think of it as planned obstacles and a glass sandwich to boot. It wouldn't last me a week .

i think you mean planned obsolescence

 

[codezer0]

you can thank apple for this one. they started it with their iphones and like sheep everyone followed. like my fellow AF members here has said you will be searching for awhile to find anything decent with a removeable battery. for me i replace my phones every 2 or 3 years so a non-removeable battery is not a problem for me.

i think you mean planned obsolescence

Yeah, I personally... don't do that.

If not for being stuck with just up to HSPA+, and obviously t-mobile retiring them soon, I probably would still have been (trying to) using my old Note 3. I finally had to retire it from even being a glorified tablet, was when YouTube finally got to the point where it couldn't play a video without dropping frames. Thanks to the extended battery upgrade I had for it, the micro-USB3 connector on mine was still cherry.

As it is, I already know I'm going to have a bad time if I ever have to move on from my V20... even though after all the trouble of getting it, I can't find a definitive way to root it, either. Even though I've made a point on keeping it on Nougat as it shipped. It's like all those years, XDA was like "yo, get a us996 model or you're not rooting at all", and then when I finally get it, any and all guides from them to root the thing that work magically disappear. but that's a story for another thread.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

Put it this way @codezer0 does she still dial the phone? Things become obsolete not people. Tell her to move on.

 

[codezer0]

Put it this way @codezer0 does she still dial the phone? Things become obsolete not people. Tell her to move on.

um, yes, she does. she also had the same flip phone for the best part of a decade until such time I was ready to go post-paid and add her to my service.

I can't exactly blame her reluctance, when I share the same gripe of how modern phones are being designed to be as impossible to repair or maintain as possible, while costing about as much as a used Mini Cooper. Seriously, what the actual **** is wrong with phone pricing now?