Windows Phone is what we need today as an alternative to Android, iOS

[rajoee]

Microsoft's mobile operating system may be long dead but it is exactly what we need as an alternative to Android's monopoly in a world that cares for privacy.



HIGHLIGHTS

. The Windows Phone was Microsoft's mobile OS at the start of the previous decade.

. Microsoft abandoned the platform as app developers lost interest in it.

. With a reinforced security system, Windows Phone could usher in a new dawn of secure devices.

Head over to any shop that sells smartphones and the only choices you have in terms of choosing a platform is Android and iOS. Most of the time, it's only Android if you are shy of splurging more on smartphones. Shop owners or e-commerce websites will try to sell you those phones based on the camera performance, designs and displays. Nobody will hint you about the security and privacy concerns that also come bundled with these phones. This makes me sad, as the market wasn't like this a few years ago.

Back in 2013, I was a college goes and when my dad asked my suggestion for his next phone, I asked to him to try out a Windows Phone. Yes, do you remember those cool-looking colourful phones from Nokia that made Android phone users hide their handsets in shame? I had only read about the platform before and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Dad eventually bought a Nokia Lumia 720, a midrange option from the then-Microsoft-owned Nokia, in a striking shade of red.

At the time, I was given a Samsung Galaxy Y, which ran on Android 2.3. The Lumia was in stark contrast to what my Samsung offered. Surely, the hardware was great, especially with the plastic body allowing for a POGO-pin based wireless charging. The phone even had a great OLED display and a nice camera (it helped me win a photography contest too).

However, more than the phone, I was amused by Windows Phone. The OS was smooth and lag-free. Most importantly, it felt secure. There were limited apps but all of them deemed safe to use. Since it was not open-source, third-party apps did not have access to all files on devices easily. Microsoft had found a way to show ads but no "in-your-face" like modern-day Android phones. The Live Tile system allowed app developers to promote their in-app items without being invasive. I also saw the phone get regular updates that improved security and system performance. The OS felt closer to iOS in terms of ethics as well as security and on affordable phones, it was a blessing.



Of course, history will tell you why the platform was abandoned. Most said that developers chose to ignore the platform as Windows Phone wasn't free like Android. Moreover, Android's dominance pulled more customers from Nokia's rather average-looking phones.

As I write this, I have a couple of affordable as well as premium Android phones on my desk, and none of them inspires the same carefree confidence like Windows Phone used to. Most Android phones are ad-infested, loaded with unnecessary apps that try their best at invading your privacy, and safe to say that they all are unsafe. Last year, I ended up reporting so many instances when Android phones were preyed upon by hackers or malicious apps.

You may say that I have an option to move to the Apple ecosystem, which is the only sensible advice these days. However, I can confidently state that iPhone are not for everybody, especially when you consider that the most affordable one starts at Rs 42,999 this year. Most people are not comfortable in spending more than Rs 20,000 on a phone and for this group, there's no other option than a compromised mobile operating system with one company's monopoly over it, i.e. Android.



Of course, the current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has pushed his company into integrating Android and Windows for PC closely than ever. Microsoft itself advised Windows Phone customers to move to Android phones once the company declared the platform abandoned. The Surface Neo dual-screen PC even runs on Android instead of its own Windows 10.

However, I feel that Microsoft needs to bring back its Windows Phone platform back to life. Not as a different platform relying on Android's core, but on the same foundations it last debuted Windows Phone. Microsoft needs to get the business model right and I am sure that it has people who can carve out successful strategies. Maybe bring Windows Phone as a free OS this time and offer incentives to developers to get their apps on the platform.

The core things that Microsoft needs to nail is privacy and security that's on par with Apple's iOS. Keep the platform closed and control security patches as well as new features on your own, instead of letting phone makers poke their nose into it. Offer better and secure integration features with Windows 10 PCs. Most importantly, come up with good devices that are affordable to the masses instead of being restricted to the well-heeled.



Of course, my thoughts may sound insane and Microsoft bosses would scoff at reincarnating a loss-making dead platform. Even if there are plans, it would require clever business strategies to get going rather than simply launching a new product. As a fan of anything that qualifies as tech, I can only wish, knowing what's possible if the right people wanted to.

But as I sit on my desk, writing this piece, my dad's old Nokia Lumia still boots up, working just as fine as it would in its heydays, letting me browse the web and use the few apps that are left alive. That small old red phone still leaves me with high hopes that if Microsoft was able to do that a decade ago, it can do it once more, this time with clever minds running the business. As a technology journalist, I hope to advise someone someday: Yes, Android phones are fine but you can try this XYZ phone that runs on a super-secure and reliable Windows Phone platform, starting at less than Rs 15,000.

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