Flashback: phones that weren’t, part 4: making a new smartphone OS is hard

02 July 2023
Linux never dethroned Windows in the PC market, but can it challenge Android in the mobile space? 

Sort by:

There are many mobile OS that based on Linux but not mentioned in this article, for example
Samsung used BadaOS for its Wave series, before that, they also tried LiMo OS (for example Vodafone 360 series).
We also have Sailfish OS that still alive today, it's also based on Linux.
Not forget WebOS (by trio palm, HP, LG) and its open source version, an OS with the simplest interface.
HarmonyOS, i put it aside, dont know if it is based on linux or not.

    • U
    • Urs
    • LaE
    • 05 Jul 2023

    Making a smartphone os is not hard, is hard to get good people to pay them correctly to made any software!

      "Nokia foresaw the end of Symbian’s domination, but couldn’t see the future clearly enough to pick a winning replacement."

      Err Gsmarena, that's not exactly what happened.
      I'll tell you, Stephen Elop was the one who started the debate about Symbian ending, otherwise it used to sell a million phones without a single ad in the TVs. He and his burning platform speech were responsible.
      Symbian still can succeed, but it needs the same privacy levels, the same simplicity of usage and regular development otherwise.

        Kangal, 03 Jul 2023I think Google was lucky with the success of Android 1.5 to... more"With their problematic launches of Windows Phone 7.5, 8.0, 8.1,"

        WP 8.1 was not even bad. It ran smoother than some android flagships did on a low-end phone. They released this whole thing with about 10 billion devices on Windows 10 but threw out the mobile part. Should've done what Huawei was doing with Harmony OS.

        It's a shame really, their management was pretty incompetent and wanted to impress shareholders with short-term gains vs a long-term investment which would've paid off today.

          • M
          • Moj
          • mUC
          • 03 Jul 2023

          blue, 02 Jul 2023Keyboardless phones were trending long before Apple, but yo... moreOh really?

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • 0cB
            • 03 Jul 2023

            Aoi Akane, 03 Jul 2023This. Simplicity is the key here. Why need more than one de... moreThat's why Apple devices are for grandmas.

              • D
              • AnonD-1105267
              • 7km
              • 03 Jul 2023

              Aoi Akane, 03 Jul 2023Maybe you should try it first before thinking that I made u... moreDon’t talk as if you made and seen it, I m pretty sure you are an illiterate trying to get noted, which is very common with with ur kind, I have done user research.

                Kangal, 03 Jul 2023I think Google was lucky with the success of Android 1.5 to... moreI think your knowledge of desktop os you apply in windows phone.

                Windows phone 8 and 8.1 was peak of Wp, many people shift to Wp during this time.

                Windows 10 was horriblle in phone and was death of Wp.

                Alao wp had top paid apps, square enix, Gta and those top developers who charge apps were there. Those who publish free apps and depend to collect data so they can earn money are the one who didnt made wp apps

                  blue, 03 Jul 2023Well, enjoy the useless limited crap. Turning wifi on for ... moreMaybe you should try it first before thinking that I made up this story. How fast do you think the Dual-Core processor has a speed of only 1.1 GHz? Don't forget that usually Celeron is combined with 4GB of RAM, while with that pricing you can get an Android phone that has up to 8GB of RAM.
                  And yeah, it seems like you will be here all the time just to force your opinion that "everyone knows that that feature is useless". So here, as someone who can think rationally that every feature can be useful, say whatever you want, but I won't respond to any of your further nonsense. Thank You.

                    justasmile, 03 Jul 2023It takes up too much space.That's what they also said with headphone jack.

                      Aoi Akane, 02 Jul 2023I wonder what's the problem with it. Sometimes I kinda... moreIt takes up too much space.

                        Hemedans, 03 Jul 2023By Feb 2014 Windows store Revenue was Almost same as Google... moreI think Google was lucky with the success of Android 1.5 to Android 2.3.4
                        They did a great job with ICS 4.0.3, for tablets and phones, and was leading in innovation
                        But they stagnated from 4.1 to 4.4.4, whilst closing their tablet division
                        They made a great overhaul with Lollipop 5.1.1 (bug fixed)

                        Apple was really innovative from iOS 1 to iOS 4
                        They fell behind to Google for a period, but still had the edge on them due to more optimised software (semi-native vs JavaScript, metal vs OGLES, etc etc).
                        iOS made a major overhaul with iOS 7, and retook the crown
                        Google caught up few years later, and they've stagnated since the early days
                        Both ecosystems have converged, one getting more polished, the other more features. They are more alike today than ever before.

                        Meanwhile, Microsoft was utterly incompetent.
                        The whole Kin project was a disaster when I saw it during announcement. Glad they killed that off, as well as WindowsCE, and the old Windows Mobile 6 Platform. However they really fumbled the whole thing with Windows Phone 7. It really was that bad. Not only were there many UI absurdities, but under the hood, it actually wasn't good. They flaffed about for YEARS. With their problematic launches of Windows Phone 7.5, 8.0, 8.1, and their desktop options too with Windows8 and Windows 8.1. It wasn't just the hardware. The ecosystem was NOT there, yet they were asking for 30% cut, back when Android was giving discounts, and Apple was dominanting. And the hardware was just embarrassment after another. They focused too much on the low-end, and trying to nickel and dime the customer, they forgot they were the underdog. They sealed their fate from Day 1, that's management for you.

                        Really, Microsoft nailed it with Windows10 Pro and Windows 10 Mobile. The hardware we saw with the HP X3 was great. But it was too late. Almost 2017. They should have released at least the OSes like that in 2010, and at least that calibre of hardware. They should've given phones and development consoles to the Top App Studios and Developers. They should've made App Percentages as only 20% and publicly promised to waive that fee for the first 5-Years. They should have let manufacturers build sophisticated devices, allowed them to sell at competitive prices, instead of focusing on the low-end. Yesterday's flagships can always be repurposed into Tomorrow's midrange or budget segment. Even better idea could be to give every flagship phone, a free USD $50 gift card inside, and prime their users into spending it on their account. This brings the friction down for mainstream people to actually spend money on their platform, much like Apple, and unlike Android. Microsoft should have made a calculated effort into spending billions of their money, as investing, into making their platform not only viable but competitive. They could have easily surpassed AndroidOS in my books, and they had a realshot to even challenge iOS for the crown. They blew it. With all that money and power, they blew it. The utter incompetence is maddening.

                          SuuperBaka, 03 Jul 2023"Google didn't do anything. It was ms who believe... moreNo they didn't. Ms denied teamwork from the start! Then when ms realized the truth (that Google and apple told them from the start), they begged Google. And that's the time Google said no thank you.

                          But keep trying. You won't change the truth anyway. Ms burned themselves by saying no, first.!

                            • D
                            • AnonD-1103409
                            • 7km
                            • 03 Jul 2023

                            Aoi Akane, 03 Jul 2023Yes the mobile version of PowerPoint missed so much feature... moreIn case you haven't noticed those blue shiny things has been banned in parts which it could have been consumed and taken advantage of, and really don't have to believe don't have any reason to believe your j******d friends plan to procure any large screened device anytime soon as BJP will emerge victorious again. Good luck running PPT in the age of GPT.

                              SuuperBaka, 03 Jul 2023"Google didn't do anything. It was ms who believe... moreBy Feb 2014 Windows store Revenue was Almost same as Google (playstore) revenue wise even though very few devices had wp.

                              -Play store had 29 Billion downloads with Revenue of 1.2B usd which was 0.04 usd per download average.

                              -Windows store had 4 Billion downloads with revenue of 0.95B usd which was 0.23 usd per download

                              -app store had 27 Billion downloads with revenue of 6.5B usd and average of 0.24 usd per download

                              So developers were highly rewarded with wp thats why wp had lot of Quality apps,

                              Microsoft were just incompetent to Continue were Nokia left Wp.

                                • b
                                • blue
                                • p4x
                                • 03 Jul 2023

                                Aoi Akane, 03 Jul 2023Yes the mobile version of PowerPoint missed so much feature... moreWell, enjoy the useless limited crap.
                                Turning wifi on for 20 seconds means there's a serious bug. It does not last that long on a Celeron. Maybe you should pay for a decent maintenance, since you obviously are only able to talk.

                                  blue, 03 Jul 2023Oh, be sure that people know. They just don't care, be... moreYes the mobile version of PowerPoint missed so much feature from the desktop PowerPoint, but I'd rather have a device with limited features but performs smoother, than a device with much features with crappy performance or bad optimization (*cough* Xiaomi *cough cough *).
                                  Even it takes about more than 20 seconds just to turn on the WiFi.

                                    Levon, 03 Jul 2023No, apple didn't found Arm, Arm is a british company t... moreFounding. The company was founded in November 1990 as Advanced RISC Machines Ltd and structured as a joint venture between Acorn Computers, Apple, and VLSI Technology. Acorn provided 12 employees, VLSI provided tools, Apple provided $3 million investment.

                                    There you go
                                    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arm_(company)#:~:text=since%20only%20Arm.-,Founding,Apple%20provided%20%243%20million%20investment.

                                      • D
                                      • AnonD-1103409
                                      • 7km
                                      • 03 Jul 2023

                                      Aoi Akane, 03 Jul 2023Pretty sure most of people DON'T know about this featu... moreIt is not a functional product feature or neither it has any changes in future to be one, an ARM unlike a x86 plays a guessing game in order to execute a task then checks the results in the end where as the former reads the entire instruction no matter how long it is, and then executes, software scientist doesn't know what is the complexity it takes to cut a silicon wafer with UV and make it coordinated, where as hardware scientist have no idea of use cases. It's like we know what entangled sub atomics are, we also know that everything in the universe is entangled as opposed to our previous belief before 2022 that it's specially ll bring progress of encryption and quantum computing, noone realises that nothing can be entangled when not coupled within 11 dimensions that is the universe. The market gonna put money on these non workable ideas and they ll fail, if they don't those who did and said the rite things will suffer.

                                      With such app mission plan can't be executed such as making a 3 dimensional object as it involves more than yes or no(0 or 1) and needs a Qbit instead.

                                        • b
                                        • blue
                                        • Mx6
                                        • 03 Jul 2023

                                        Aoi Akane, 03 Jul 2023Pretty sure most of people DON'T know about this featu... moreOh, be sure that people know. They just don't care, because it is useless. The so much bashed Celeron runs full programs, while all the phone can do is using limited versions of a few modified apps. Why would any sane person do this? Surely your mom's phone does not have all the full features of PowerPoint, does it?

                                          1 of 5