++ the future of Microsoft Lumia mobile phones ++

++ I remember the presentation event of Windows 10 mobile devices (Lumia 950XL + 950 +550) with the promises & that effort only lasted about a quarter (now there are over 900 million Windows 10 devices vs 110 million back then) & with the Lumia 650 the Lumia line was essentially discontinued ++ here we have an opposite strategy from Google in the cloud & they are aiming for a 3 year effort to conquer market share in the cloud 

https://mspoweruser.com/google-cloud-unit-wants-to-beat-microsoft-azure-and-aws-by-2023/

++ sorry for the fact that Windows Mobile users can become disadvantaged (many in the forum have pointed out , that the leadership has abandoned the platform since 2016 : that is because they need the latest devices & Windows Mobile did not have flagships from 2016 onwards) //

++ if Google succeeds in the cloud - which is a realistic possibility - maybe true competition will return also to the smartphone OS market //

I understand why Windows 10 Mobile was discontinued. I just don't know why Microsoft gave up on Lumia. That to me is the big mistake. Lumia had powerful hardware, slap Android on some new ones and boom problem solved. Microsoft also could have created a launcher for Android with accessibility in mind.

Killing off the Lumia hardware also seemed to kill off groove music, and severely hurt the development of Cortana.

Cortana was/is a big coping skill for me. They really made her sound natural. And since it's basically the same character from halo, it's like I already had familiarity with her. She's funny and interactive and can sometimes make my day with a bad joke.

The death of Windows Mobile is unfortunate yes, but it's not an excuse to give up on many other things. I tried launcher10 on Android and it didn't help so it wasn't the live tiles that Windows Mobile had that made it more accessible (maybe some of it, but not on it's own). I use VLC on Android instead of groove but Cortana sucks on Android. The Microsoft Launcher is ok, but from Microsoft I expect better than ok. I really want to hear why Microsoft couldn't make Android phones running on Lumia hardware. Maybe a Surface phone similar to a normal smartphone design form will come about, eventually.

++ if you want great Android hardware there are  plenty of options in the market : Samsung, Asus, Nokia, Sony, Huawei, Xiaomi, Motorola, Alcatel etc. ++ it is difficult to differentiate in this Android field, so this is why Microsoft tries to be a force in the foldable category ++ Lumias represent the history of Windows phones & so it would be strange to launch them with Android (it would be like fitting a Ferrari engine into a BMW) ++ Lumias can go dark (e.g. when there is the disastrous message on the screen that there is no bootable option & then they are useless), but in general they can resist many years & I will try to keep them in action at least a decade //

My 640XL is currently in ICU....with its internal hard drive suddenly full, without adding anything into it. Because 31 Dec. is close, I thought it's just a part of the painful end of it's entropy. In pain, I also stare at the death of my best phone.

I'm not sure if you live in the USA, but over here they don't like unlocked Android phones too much unless it's a Samsung. Especially if they don't sell it themselves. Huawei is currently banned, I don't like Samsung or LG, the Asus phones look like toys or gadgets, and I don't know much about the others. I may be picky but I'm really looking for something like the Lumia 950 XL, the Nokia 9 Pureview I really, really like though. But I have no idea if my carrier will accept it for there's no way to check as you need the IMEI # and you only get that after you buy it.

The sad truth is that I'm likely to get the iPhone 12 Pro if it has usb-c, if not the iPhone 11 Pro as it will be cheaper then. And due to the lack of support from Microsoft (or Apple?) the iPhones don't sync with your Windows 10 PC like Androids do with the Your Phone App. So it's made me want a MacBook and someone is already offering to sell theirs to me (and it's a MacBook Pro). The Apple Watch 5 also looks nice (I always wanted the Microsoft Band 2 and hoped for a Band 3 but alas...). I miss Groove and don't like Spotify, but iTunes and Apple music looks good and...

Ok you seethe problem here, and I am being honest in the paragraph above. Apple is offering what I want from Microsoft and Microsoft isn't when it used too. It's weird considering I always dismissed Apple as overpriced and the hardware being weaker (the Home Pod sure is pricey though, my Invoke will do fine for now plus it sounds better to me), but now I'm actually considering converting over mostly. Mainly cause I like the ecosystem idea. My gaming PC and Xbox won't being go anywhere though. Neither Google nor Apple seem to be able to make a game console.