Flashback: phones that weren’t, part 3: an award-winning design hobbled by an awful chipset

25 June 2023
The NuAns Neo was an ambitious phone with desktop capabilities and an easy to personalize design, but it had the insides of a $100 phone.

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you have to suffer, 25 Jun 2023for instance, i wanted something like music speed changer, ... moreI use that/ great for slowing down music for pitch tempo I use st 94/ to 96

    vrvly, 25 Jun 2023I wouldn't mind if Lumia 1050 came right now, one with... moreNokia pureview with loseleas zoom / unlike the gmfake garbage on the S23ultra/
    With Xneon flash.
    Nokia is the king in camera along with Sony

      Joker., 25 Jun 2023We has no apps and games limited for instance, i wanted something like music speed changer, or brave browser. it gives me something else i did not need.

        • k
        • kek
        • K37
        • 25 Jun 2023

        To this day, losing both Symbian & Windows Phone was a huge blow to smartphone market.

        I would even say BBOS had its positive points toward its latest releases.

        Sailfish OS lacks proper support for more devices, and its still kind of buggy.

        Funnily enough, if you think about it, only US based OS are alive. I wonder why that is 😤

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • 0p}
          • 25 Jun 2023

          YUKI93, 25 Jun 2023Now that Microsoft has Windows on ARM, I really can't ... morePeople were sick of the fact so many apps were not available.
          They want to use apps, not through browser.

          Most used apps on Earth are Youtube, Gmail and Chrome.
          Google will never make them for Windows. Just like Google refused to do back then.

          Also, many other devs do not want to support 3 OS.

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • n1h
            • 25 Jun 2023

            Sounds like pixel phones, great design, awful chipset!

              you have to suffer, 25 Jun 2023windows 11 mobile would be more appealing. hope they would... moreWe has no apps and games limited

                • L
                • Lonteku
                • xjH
                • 25 Jun 2023

                YUKI93, 25 Jun 2023Now that Microsoft has Windows on ARM, I really can't ... moreI wanna see that too, but the problem is all apps developer give cold shoulder to Microsoft. They only care for iOS and Android. Without apps people don't gonna buy it, remember what happened with BB os, symbian, tyzen,etc.

                  YUKI93, 25 Jun 2023Now that Microsoft has Windows on ARM, I really can't ... morewindows 11 mobile would be more appealing.
                  hope they would look the same as w10 mobile. it looked much better, and much responsive. only cons is the lacking 3rd party app availability.

                    sorry for offtopic but,
                    "an award-winning design hobbled by an awful chipset"
                    meanwhile oppo a series and vivo y series:

                      • ?
                      • Anonymous
                      • ps9
                      • 25 Jun 2023

                      My first ever smartphone was a Nokia Lumia 710. And I had 2-3 more Lumia models after that (can't remember exactly their number).
                      Is sad that poor management decisions lead to the downfall of both Nokia and Windows mobile.
                      Windows mobile system could have been great and a nice rival to IOS and Android.

                        DarkTracker, 25 Jun 2023I wish microsoft made smartphone again. More competition wo... moreNow that Microsoft has Windows on ARM, I really can't see any problem for them to resurrect the Lumia lineup with the latest SoC. 11 out of 10 I'd buy one!

                          I wouldn't mind if Lumia 1050 came right now, one with the specs of xiaomi 13 ultra and IIIF150 Raptor, foldable and with a pen and Win12.
                          It would be like 3 year proof.

                            In one of the better timelines, things would have developed differently:

                            Firstly, it starts with the announcement and release of the iPhone. Except this time it causes a panic within all the other firms like Palm, Nokia, Microsoft, and RIM.

                            It follows with Microsoft deciding to build a competing ecosystem, and they ask their close-partners at Intel for help. Being incompetent Intel cannot help, which puts them into a vulnerable business position. Their offer gets rejected by Nokia, so Intel moves to begin innovating for the low-end devices. Effectively they release their 14nm nodes earlier, advance their Atom cores quicker, and adopt hybrid architecture before anyone. We're talking small cores (cherry trail) with (skylake) big cores, and being very competitive in the tablet space. Meanwhile, AMD receives a huge USA government grant due to their bankruptcy from illegal activities from Intel. This effectively fast-tracks their Ryzen development, for even more competition in the tablet space.

                            Moving back to Nokia, they decide to shift to a new platform, and build upon MaeMo. They decide to go with GPL2, open-source, full linux support. Microsoft approaches them for a Windows Phone partnership, but the Nokia executives can see through their lies. An ambitious manager likes the idea and brings together Nokia and Palm partnership. They accelerate development of the new platform with an acquisition.

                            So Microsoft is hard at work developing their new software, but find all their partners have left. And the folks at RIM have the opposite problem where they have great hardware, but cannot innovate on the software front. Instead of acquiring QNX, the management at RIM is approached by Microsoft. They agree to a deal, and later acquired by them.

                            Meanwhile, Google finds the development of Android is not going as well. They have far less contributions from members and far less members in their Open Handset Alliance. Most of these folk sign up with Nokia instead. Eventually due to buggy code and low participation, AndroidOS gets abandoned by Google. They instead shift their focus on sharing their Google Services with all the other major ecosystems, this limits the amount they could invade user's privacy.

                            The scene is set for post-2010. We have iOS and Apple for the luxury market. Then Windows 10 Mobile with Blackberry, Motorola, HTC, and Huawei for the corporate/business market. For the low-end, midrange, and high-end markets we get LinOS and the OVI ecosystem: Nokia, Sony, Samsung, LG and more. AndroidOS gets abandoned, and Google offers their services on all the three major platforms. Next thing, mobile gaming takes off and this time there is an even spread of innovation and profits, so much so that it trickles into traditional gaming markets with Valve, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo and others. Making those ecosystems more competitive as the likes of sliding a controller on a phone becomes mainstream to enjoy your console games (except with a mobile-level of fidelity). Meanwhile, China doesn't get access to any smartphone software and technology, so they're left without competition (all old flip phones). Their administration eventually budges, and they are allowed access to this new smartphone economy as long as they open-up China to the International Community. This means more direct business and the full-Internet access to the nation (no government controlled Firewall). In the late 2010's China begins to compete very heavily in the field, and we see them partnering with traditional firms, or even acquiring others, and even dominating. The entire market becomes well balanced and healthy.

                              Back during the era of 2005-2010 we had more competitors: Blackberry, Palm, Nokia, Motorola, HTC, LG, Sony-Ericsson, Alcatel, Pantech, Sharp, Toshiba, Panasonic, TCL, ZTE, Meizu, Huawei... and several more.

                              Now we have roughly: iPhone (20%), Samsung (35%), BBK Electronics (25%), MiGroup (20%), and All Others (Less than 5%). Which is the sign of an unhealthy market.

                              Also back then we had more ecosystems from BlackberryOS 5, QNX OS, BBX, Microsoft Windows CE, Windows Mobile 6, Symbian S60, Symbian Belle, Maemo 5, and MeeGo 1 Harmattan, Sailfish OS, Palm webOS 2, FirefoxOS, Ubuntu Mobile... and several more. (To be fair that's too many alternatives for the mainstream market).

                              Yet now we have: iOS for expensive phones, with Android anywhere and everywhere. It's effectively a collaborative monopoly (that's much worse).

                              ...there were few among us which saw the way things were heading, and none of those people were heard or in the position of power to do anything about it. We are definitely in one of the Darker Timelines. In one of the better timelines, things would have developed differently.

                                Had Microsoft stopped with their shenanigans with Windows Phone 7 and Windows Phone 8, and trying to buy Nokia for the cheapest sum... they really could've done something.

                                They could have innovated, and if not taken the first position in the phone market, could have comfortably taken third. They would be a powerhouse in the field.

                                It really was innovative, having the HP Elite X3 back in 2016, running Windows 10 Mobile with Continuum support. You could run full-blown desktop Apps on the phone, when you docked it. It had a chipset that was actually powerful enough. And the older Windows Xp programs could run through emulation. And the Phone's OS was powerful and actually didn't suck. But by then it was too little, too late. 2011 was basically the cut-off point. They missed the whole smartphone race. No developer wanted to touch it, and no buyer was willing to give them another chance. It's a shame really. Old-era executives really do not make the best business decisions at crucial times.

                                  • ?
                                  • Anonymous
                                  • 0p}
                                  • 25 Jun 2023

                                  Hemedans, 25 Jun 2023Samsung is Microsoft partner, probably they got help from t... moreThere is nothing about patent there.

                                  Samsung see functions on other phones and copy.
                                  Then on tv advertise as new.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • pWD
                                    • 25 Jun 2023

                                    Ibn Batuta, 25 Jun 2023I regret that I never owned windows phone....lumia 720 was ... moreI never liked Windows Mobile. UI wasn't for me, which is interesting as I really like to use desktop Windows.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • v3x
                                      • 25 Jun 2023

                                      Ever own Nokia Lumia 930, just good what I paid for after move from android. Sadly after 2 years use windows phone, their decide to end its windows mobile, I move to iPhone.

                                        Anonymous, 25 Jun 2023Continuum later copied by Samsung. Samsung is biggest c... moreSamsung is Microsoft partner, probably they got help from them, Microsoft dont charge Samsung when they use their patents and in return Samsung pre load Microsoft apps in their phones.