If You Have A Nokia Lumia Or Any Other Windows 8 Phone, It’s Time To Switch Phones

Windows 8 was never too popular. On Desktop, very few were fans of the interface which was aimed at touch screens at a time when touch screens on laptops were a rarity and for a large part they still are. On mobile there were no apps on Windows 8 and as such both the desktop and mobile versions of the OS were doomed quite early on into their lifecycles.

The developers are no longer welcome

The doom of Windows 8 Mobile is now being officialised. Firstly, from the 31^st of October, the Microsoft Store will no longer accept new applications for Windows 8 (both PC and Mobile). I doubt there were many new applications on the way for both versions of Windows but the fact that Microsoft is closing off that option brings finality to the situation.

Secondly and more importantly, on the 1^st of July next year Microsoft will stop distributing application updates to Windows Phone 8.x or older. This means around the same period we will probably see Whatsapp cease to update their application on the platform.

Though Lumia devices are certainly not the most popular in Zim, from time to time I see people who use these devices. If you’re one of those it might be a good idea to start looking for a new phone just to be on the safe side when things start going south. On desktop, the applications will be supported up until 2023, which makes sense as computers tend to have significantly longer lives compared to phones.

We’ve been here before!

Last year, Microsoft dropped support for a couple of other devices and the “Lumia is dead” chants were being shouted back then as well. In this case ,however, I don’t see how users looking to use their phones beyond these deadlines expect to have enjoyable experiences. Microsoft already stopped software updates of the OS and now applications will stop getting support.

The writing is on the wall; Microsoft’s Windows 8 IS DEAD…