Microsoft: buy a Lumia 950 XL and we'll give you a Lumia 950 for free

[globalwarning]

Windows is a dying platform. No way would I adopt it over something Linux based like Android.

The last stronghold windows has (and the only one it ever really had) is the desktop and it'll take a long time to disappear from that but Linux has become pretty decent over the past 15 years. Combined with the fact mobile is eating away at desktops marketshare I can see windows disappearing eventually. Average Joe will have his iOS/Android tablet. Gamers with their desktops will have Linux as an option if vulkan takes off. Businesses will probably stick with whats familiar but some may give Linux a shot eventually since its free.

That's really optimistic - people having been saying "any minute now, Linux is gonna take off" for years now. It hasn't, outside of the server and mobile markets, and in either case, it's so fractured (different versions of mobile android or different flavors on desktop) it's still gonna be a pain for a developer of powerful games, or enterprise enduser software. Vulcan was basically dead on arrrival, even though parts of it seem to be incorporated into DX12.

Free a security standpoint on mobile, Android is like a shack in the middle of the night with a great front door lock, but so many other ways in, it's a joke.
Windows on mobile basically just needs to work more directly with the major app providers to get them on board, and then they'd have the most advanced, innovative, and efficient mobile platform. The app thing was the only reason I didn't jump to a 950XL, instead I opted to wait and got an LG v10. Other than the lack of wireless charging, I've been really happy with it.

[Saracen]

There has been no mention yet of whether or not the Lumia BOGOF promotion will be extended to other regions, but would you actually be interested if it were available to you?

Umm, no.

It'll be no surprise to forum regulars but ...

- I wouldn't pay that for ANY phone
- I want a Windows phone about as much as I want an antisocial infection
- I don't particularly want a smartphone at all, and wouldn't actually use a Win phone if they paid me.

I'm going to go out on a limb and speculate that I'm not an ideal candidate for this even if it were on offer here.

Leaving my personal views aside though, the mere existence of this offer does suggest a kind-of incipient desperation at MSHQ on the phone front. I wonder if they're doing better on tablets, because if not, it rather suggests that so totally hacking off long-term Windows adherents, like me, in order to worship at the the altar of the great god PlatformInteroperabilty might have been to drop a giant whoopsie in their corporate soup bowl.

Wot a shame.

[pp05]

Wahey! Another Q5 user!

I agree, the Priv is expensive (read as: "I'm cheap") and BB have been going backwards again recently, sad to see after they recovered themselves in terms of the tech gap, even if their reputation never recovered.

I quite like the idea of Android on BB hardware, can't wait till they make the equivalent of the Q5 with Android tbh (here's hoping). Though this may be due to my age, I'm fed up of my friends asking me "do you have app X, Y and Z" - each time being a no because of BB10 lack of native apps. Don't get me wrong, BB10 has many features that make me laugh at iOS and android, for example, listening to youtube and locking the device without the playback pausing (come on guys its 2016! you shouldn't have to install an app to fix that!). Oh, and I absolutely love how gestures work on BB10.

If recent leaks are anything to go by then BB are releasing a curved screen phone with keyboard in a few months. I just hope they don't charge crazy money for it. It's hard enough giving up my z10.

You're right, as a touch based OS BB10 was as good as it gets.

[peterb]

Umm, no.

It'll be no surprise to forum regulars but ...

- I wouldn't pay that for ANY phone
- I want a Windows phone about as much as I want an antisocial infection
- I don't particularly want a smartphone at all, and wouldn't actually use a Win phone if they paid me.

I'm going to go out on a limb and speculate that I'm not an ideal candidate for this even if it were on offer here.

Leaving my personal views aside though, the mere existence of this offer does suggest a kind-of incipient desperation at MSHQ on the phone front. I wonder if they're doing better on tablets, because if not, it rather suggests that so totally hacking off long-term Windows adherents, like me, in order to worship at the the altar of the great god PlatformInteroperabilty might have been to drop a giant whoopsie in their corporate soup bowl.

Wot a shame.

So that will be a no then?

[maxp779]

That's really optimistic - people having been saying "any minute now, Linux is gonna take off" for years now. It hasn't, outside of the server and mobile markets, and in either case, it's so fractured (different versions of mobile android or different flavors on desktop) it's still gonna be a pain for a developer of powerful games, or enterprise enduser software. Vulcan was basically dead on arrrival, even though parts of it seem to be incorporated into DX12.

Free a security standpoint on mobile, Android is like a shack in the middle of the night with a great front door lock, but so many other ways in, it's a joke.
Windows on mobile basically just needs to work more directly with the major app providers to get them on board, and then they'd have the most advanced, innovative, and efficient mobile platform. The app thing was the only reason I didn't jump to a 950XL, instead I opted to wait and got an LG v10. Other than the lack of wireless charging, I've been really happy with it.

Im not saying "year of the linux desktop" is here. Im saying the desktop will disappear entirely for many. Those people who remain with a desktop setup and I am one of them, you can pry my huge metal box from my cold dead fingers) will likely have the technical knowhow to install an alternative OS. And its nowhere near as rough as it was for newbies 10-15 years ago.

Vulkan is not dead on arrival. Unreal engine 4 and Source 2 engines both support it, it will take time for the games to appear considering it was only released in February.

[whatif]

At over (Australian) $1000 the 950 XL is way to expensive. Even the standard 950 is A$900.
Both prices quoted from the microsoft website and the same or similar price found at other large non-microsoft shops selling them outright (example Harvey Norman).
Our only deal sweetener is quote - "Buy a new Microsoft Lumia 950 or 950 XL (each a “Qualifying Device”) and get a promotional code for a one (1)-year Office 365 Personal subscription, while supplies last. "

Wow, that really got me excited.... NOT!

But it is cheap when looking at the price of a Samsung S7 Edge at A$1250, a S7 at A$1150 (both models have the same 32GB and come with a bonus VR headset offer). Or the apple 6s 16GB at A$1079 and the 6 at A$929 or the 64GB models at A$1279 and A$1079 and there are no bonus offers for any of these (all prices quoted from Harvey Norman and the apple shop and the different storage as they don't have 32GB).

The phone itself does have some good specs, and even though it is cheaper than the other two, a major price drop would have to come about before I would even consider it. I would prefer them to lower the price on the Lumia models in line with US offer rather than have a 2 for 1.

[whatif]

Also forgot to ask the Hexus community -

Can anyone explain why there is so much difference in price between the different storage sizes when high end m.2 modules go for so much less. When looking at price per GB - for example apples 64GB to 128GB is $150 for only 64GB which is over $2 per GB, yet Samsung's 950 Pro is less than $! per GB. And there are a huge amount of cheaper storage options available when looking at the various other SSD's.

From what I have read, the storage used in mobiles does not come close to the performance of the 950 Pro.
And I was not picking on apples, as all the mobile phone companies do the same thing, it was just the last search result I had open.
The prices quoted are in Australian dollars, but I am sure that the same relative difference occurs in other currencies.

All I see is a grossly unfair profiteering method being colluded between all the phone companies, and we are the poor suckers getting ripped off.

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Edit - The price does not seem to matter if they have a micro SD slot for extra storage or not. Samsung even recognised the backlash (particularly all the negative comments on their own, recently closed, Samsung community forum site) when they decided to drop this function in the S6 models, so they reintroduced it into the S7 models.

[nitro912gr]

when your phone is desirable but doesn't have the option for a SD card then you can charge a premium for more storage.

This is why I avoid those phones who doesn't have SD card slots.