++ the future of Microsoft Lumia mobile phones ++

• HMD Global reportedly now acquired the ownership of PureView & maybe this is a good news in the long run for Windows 10 mobile
• maybe we will have many great OEMs powered by Windows 10 mobile ++

Sorry, but as of right now there are plenty of distinctions between the OS variants on varying devices and the app flavors that run on the devices.

Years ago I lost a job because I could not get my boss to understand that the program he was sent from HQ would not run on his PC/AT (80286 processor) because it was written for PC/XT (8088 processor). Showing him the assembler subroutines in the BASIC code probably came across as my attempt to create blue smoke, but the facts were the facts no matter how unpalatable.

Efficient code has to take into account the CPU intended to run it and broken apps and other issues resulting from upgrades are another indication of the difficulty of writing such code. MS view of the future seems to focus on a core OS with greater interoperability across future devices with future CPU architecture. There is nothing I know of in industry review that suggests that our Lumia phones are headed for an updated and smoother future as they are essentially aging devices.

Actually, this exposes another ongoing problem with WIN Mobile 10.

In my experience, one of the most commonly reported issues with the OS is the way that apps are "broken" by updates. I lost a number of apps after the last update when I had to use the Windows Recovery Tool to get my Lumia 735 right again. Most of the apps, but not all restored. In more than one case, the app was no longer available in the store probably because it wouldn't work with the current update and the developer decided not to maintain it. In 2 cases, the businesses that maintained the app (1 bank and 1 brokerage) dropped support for WIN Mobile 10 although still maintaining support for iOS and Android.

It's not personal, just business. The cost of paying professional staff to maintain an app with a declining market base will, sooner or later. become the tipping point for discontinuation of the service.

• as I still test a Windows phone with version 1607, I have to notice that the last cumulative update affected the functionality of older apps, which do not start // 
• the solution is to reinstall the apps, which are still available in the Microsoft Store //

Whilst I don't share Szilard Lazar unfettered enthusiasm for the current situation I recently bought a 'new old stock' Lumia phone and it works fine, my five year old 920 was also working fine until I dropped it on a tiled floor. The HTC and Samsung phones I bought before that both slowed to a crawl with minimal battery life after 18 months and my daughter's Iphones have to be replaced every two years because Apple cripple them 'for safety reasons'. 

The state of MS Mobile may be parlous and I too am frustrated with the steadily dwindling supply of working/updated apps (Kindle is a particular bugbear for me) but the direction Apple has pushed the market and Android has striven to follow *must* be challenged or we will be nickle and dime'd to penury by micro transactions and the inability to move out of the walled gardens to a properly competitive market place. Whether or not MS are the best company to find a new direction I (strongly) doubt but they are the best of limited alternatives at the moment