I'm not surprised that MS....

[Anonymous]

....have basically canned Windows 10 mobile.

Got a pre-loved Nokia Lumia 635,  Windows 8.1, unlocked and factory reset it. That was around 5pm : Ran various updates and set up security, email and so on, deleted the (limited) bloatware; but found ironically that (MS owned) linked Skype app wouldn't work. Reinstalled - nothing. 

Found that apparently Skype now only works on certain Windows 10 mobile iterations. Downloaded the "Windows 10 mobile Upgrade Checker app" ... yeah really!!  and joy of joys found the device was compatible. 😏

It's 1:45 am and we're currently just finishing the THIRD cycle of Windows 10 Mobile update, download  & installation - each taking around an hour. 

And before you say 'but you can schedule them for when you're asleep'.... remember we are talking Microsoft whose Windows 10 update manager will hijack your desktop or laptop for hours at a time when it loftily decides that installing supposedly 'critical' updates, on reboot, is far far far more important than any trivial thing the likes of you might want to do. And heaven forbid you might want to inturupt it: Do Not turn off your Computer.

Esp as all those are supposed to complete seamlessly when everyone's asleep.

It makes updating Android, which is usually lightning fast seem like a dream in comparison.

[welshsteve76]

I've never used a Windows phone, but my exerience of Windows 10 on my laptop hasn't filled me with much enthusiasm.  It's horrific in the way it tries to make all your decisions for you, and is just simply slow at most stuff.  If it weren't for the fact I need Windows for work I'd be using Linux (probably Linix Mint) on my laptop.

[Anonymous]

A raspberry pi mini computer using an ARM chip will happily run Debian , Linux and even Android installs. Much like our phones. However installing Windows 3.1 (1992) would require an eight hour wait for it to boot.

[jonsie]

I've used Windows phones before and to be honest, as much as I tried to like them I just couldn't get on with  them. I think they are better used as a business or work phone, just my opinion obviously but it's Android​ all the way for me. 

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure they are even good for business or work Jonsie....

Any way back to the Lumia. Around 2am it had finally finished, and Skype worked. Just a matter of downloading 30 app updates, setting up ringtones ect and backing up... Or so, in the words of Hugh Grant in Four Weddings, I thought....

I noticed some weird number only application in the notification permissions box, which it turns out, was a badly upgraded app or component - Microsoft 'Technical Support' (MSTS) on the message boards suggested a hard reset to cure this.  Always good practice after a major upgrade, apparently. Soooo I hard reset.

The thing then decided to hang half way through the restore... So at 5am - 12 hours after I started I had an unusable phone. Did a button reset, and rather than trying to restore with my previous settings - I just let it go  to an as 'new' state.

Happily this time it worked... Though the annoying vibration when you pressed the navigation keys had come back and many of the apps had changed. MSTS suggestion for fixing the vibration issue was to hard reset (the MSTD standard cure-all), and roll back to 8.1 and then re-upgrade. (Which would not have worked)  Turns out all that was needed an update of the Extras package... I went to sleep at that point letting it update its apps.

Woke up at the crack of 10.30 and am finishing off the set up of the now mostly working phone whilst enjoying the warm weather.

The moral of the story is if even if someone offers you a Windows phone for free, politely refuse. The things are white elephants!!