Illustration: Microsoft
Admit it, you dun goofed. You hemmed and hawed and reasoned that no one else would buy them, but now they’re gone. The last of the remaining Windows Phones are finally out of stock, and you can be pretty damn sure they aren’t coming back.
Going out with the weakest of whimpers, the last available Windows Phones listed on Microsoft’s online store – the HP Elite x3 and Alcatel Idol 4S – are finally no longer for sale, as VentureBeat first reported. Perhaps after years of dwindling demand, a few Windows Mobile diehards have finally purchased the last remnants of Microsoft’s smartphone legacy.
And don’t even bother looking for a Lumia 950, those babies sold out a long time ago. Photo: Gizmodo
And frankly, that’s a problem. Because in ten (or 20) years when people are carrying phones with bendable screens and holographic projectors, you won’t be able to pull out your old Windows phone and show them the majesty of Live Tiles, the People Hub, or its neat photo app. Those sad younguns will never know what they missed out on.
All joking aside, for people who didn’t really care about having a wealth of apps, the chance to get an HP Elite x3 for just $300 was actually kind of a sick deal. When it was new, the Elite x3 was priced at $800, and came with a dock that would let you turn the phone into a pseudo desktop simply by hooking up a monitor, mouse, and keyboard. It was pretty neat, and helped pave the way for more recent smartphone docks like Samsung’s DeX pad.
If you are truly desperate, you can still go on the Microsoft store and buy something like a Galaxy S9 or Razer Phone, which come pre-loaded with apps like Office, though you will have to put up with Android.
Truly, it’s a sad day and an even more depressing end to one of the most ambitious smartphone experiments of the last decade. Oh well, I guess there’s always eBay, that is, assuming someone would be stupid enough to part ways with such a “treasure.”