One for the Smartfone Experts

[Torslanda]

I have a Windows phone, a Nokia 1320 'phablet'. It seems the death of the platform is going to be a long drawn out affair but common apps are no longer supported - Messenger, for one.

Rather than throw this thing away, is it possible to load it with Android instead? I don't particularly want to splurge on a new shiny unless I have to.

Advice please?

[Kim]

Abandon hope all ye who enter here.

It may or may not be possible, but if it is, you're going to have to learn how by sifting through pages of cargo-cult bollocks written by the sort of semi-literate people who inhabit mobile phone forums.  That'll quickly make you wish that you were scraping grime out from around a bottom bracket or something.

[Torslanda]

So order a Samsung Galaxy then...?

[LEE]

I have a Windows phone, a Nokia 1320 'phablet'. It seems the death of the platform is going to be a long drawn out affair but common apps are no longer supported - Messenger, for one.

Rather than throw this thing away, is it possible to load it with Android instead? I don't particularly want to splurge on a new shiny unless I have to.

Advice please?

The death of the Windows phone isn't going to be a long drawn out affair.  It was dead about a week after launch.

I have an immaculate Samsung Galaxy S5 Android (kept in a case since new) for £105 posted.  It's unlocked so works on most (all?) networks.

Great camera (examples on this forum) like most Galaxies. https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=10476.225

[telstarbox]

So order a Samsung Galaxy then...?

Motorolas are far better value IMO (particularly if you don't want to tie into a contract) - e.g. http://www.argos.co.uk/product/6842176

[Basil]

I have an immaculate Samsung Galaxy S5 Android (kept in a case since new) for £105 posted.  It's unlocked so works on most (all?) networks.

Great camera (examples on this forum) like most Galaxies. https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=10476.225

I'm waiting for Torslana to respond to this.  If he doesn't want it, I'd be interested.

[fuaran]

So order a Samsung Galaxy then...?

Motorolas are far better value IMO (particularly if you don't want to tie into a contract) - e.g. http://www.argos.co.uk/product/6842176

Or go for a new Nokia, running Android. Nokia phones are now a new company, nothing to do with Windows Phone.
The Nokia 6 is good value, decent build quality. It is pretty much standard Android, without the bloatware you get on a Samsung. And it will probably get updated to the latest Android version.

[Beardy]

If I was in the market for a Robot phone I’d be looking at the OnePlus offerings.

[jsabine]

If I was in the market for a Robot phone I’d be looking at the OnePlus offerings.

Pricy though. Good (probably excellent) value for what they are, but still pricy.

(I'm very happy indeed with my OnePlus X, but think £200 is more than enough to spend on a phone. I don't come anywhere close to using its capabilities.)

[LEE]

I have an immaculate Samsung Galaxy S5 Android (kept in a case since new) for £105 posted.  It's unlocked so works on most (all?) networks.

Great camera (examples on this forum) like most Galaxies. https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=10476.225

I'm waiting for Torslana to respond to this.  If he doesn't want it, I'd be interested.

Pm me, Torslanda has first dibs

[Polar Bear]

I was in the local library today and reading a back copy of Computer Active.  The Pop's question was asked and answered firmly in the negative.  Windows phones cannot be changed to any other existing OS at this time.

[jsabine]

I was in the local library today and reading a back copy of Computer Active.  The Pop's question was asked and answered firmly in the negative.  Windows phones cannot be changed to any other existing OS at this time.

Aye - but CA is (or used to be) written for an audience to whom you would not suggest anything that had the remotest possibility of bricking their device.

There's plenty of stuff around that suggests custom ROMs are available, and that you can get Android working (OK, for very limited values of working) on certain Nokias. As Kim says, you'd have to delve into the nether reaches of phone and developers forums, and you'd most likely end up with something that was barely functional, and it wouldn't be worth the effort if you wanted to use the thing, rather than just proving it could be done.

[Kim]

I was in the local library today and reading a back copy of Computer Active.  The Pop's question was asked and answered firmly in the negative.  Windows phones cannot be changed to any other existing OS at this time.

Aye - but CA is (or used to be) written for an audience to whom you would not suggest anything that had the remotest possibility of bricking their device.

I think that happened to all computer magazines around the turn of the century.  People wanting deep technical knowledge or the sort of things you found on coverdisks all had access to them via the internet.   So the magazines that survived focused on the sort of people who'd find editorial content useful, and had enough money that the cost of dead trees wouldn't detract from their toys budget.

Happened in other fields too, of course, though often more slowly.

[Beardy]

Ah, cover disks. I remember when the not only contained useful utilities on their 1mb but that I could also load them onto my work PC and be lauded by management for being clever rather than being threatened with the sack.