If little else, my father has ingrained in me an adoration for Windows phones. The custom tiles. The flexibility in color scheme. The ownership alliance we use to paint my sister as a black iSheep. Alas, amidst these qualities are some flaws that cannot be ignored. Thus it is with a heavy heart that I put to rest my under-doggity companion this holiday season.
Over the past few years, I've slowly felt my phone drag me towards obsolescence. Windows phones account for approximately 3% of the smartphone world and so, consequentially, few apps are designed for the Windows OS. Though 3% doesn't sound like many, I can't help but find this to be ridiculous because over 100,000,000 phones have been sold (so then why do I feel so alone?!). I didn’t used to mind being a marginalized smartphone user; I was happy with the basic apps (Candy Crush included) and access to all that the Internet beholds, however, it’s been a battle of attrition.
The first blow was when 6Snap, the third-party Snapchat equivalent for Windows, got locked down last year. No longer could I communicate with my friends on the ever-popular platform! The little red boxes accumulated: bits of my friends that I would never be able to open. Maybe too devastated, I joined an online movement urging Snapchat to develop a Windows app. Unfortunately, no such app has been created; instead, I hear that people are vomiting rainbows on the greener side of the smartphone world. This blow triggered a cascade of resentment towards my poor phone. This Lumia doesn’t plant virtual trees to help me study! Nor can it call me a ride in the middle of the city! How can you call yourself a Windows Phone if I can't even see through the windows into the entire virtual world? Foggy. 3% of smartphone users have Windows phones; more like 3% of people are hella loyal to a dying breed. I've been loyal since my birth into the smartphone world in 2011 but, I'm sorry Windows, I can't go on like this much longer.
This holiday season I ask for companies to stop marginalizing the Windows phone (#snapchatforWP) because, aside from the app negligence, the OS is magical and its users deserve more. Hehe also asking for a Droid to hold me over in the meantime.
