[Microsoft Lumia 950/950 XL] Toilet Paper:
Hmm no. That is not true (or I am not sure I follow you). In fact, a Snapdragon (and yes that has shocked me) 670 (the one in the Pixel 3a, as example) is actually a bit faster than the Snapdragon 810 in the Lumia 950 XL. Qualcomm managed to really push performance forward over the years (~4 years). And in addition, the newer Qualcomm chips are much harder to throttle than the 810, due to their much reduced power consumption under load. While Microsoft brought some PC innovation like heatpipes to the Lumia 950 XL making it the few phones on the market with the 810 that could actually record 4K continuously without skipping after 30sec or so (due to throttling), it is still can throttle if you can take a lot of pictures in a row with little pause (due to the post processing on images) and other extended demanding tasks. So yes, at the time of release it as great, today, it is really not, sadly.

At the time of release, sure. However, today and since a few years ago (and longer for some) many phone manufactures, add some color preference adjustment like the Lumia series has, so you can adjust things somewhat. I have to say, that one thing surprised is that both iPhones and Android powered phone still doesn't have automatic contrast adjustment to make the screen more visible to read under the sunlight. It only relies on the screen being able to be bright enough. That said, Microsoft doesn't make screens. OLED is made by 2 main manufactures in the world: LG and Samsung. For mass production product, these are essentially your only choices as a phone manufacture.

Yes they were, same as Nokia. And we can see that skill continue today with the Surface line systems and the XBox One S and X model (which where made by the Surface team, contrary to the first release model of the XBox One).

Sadly, while they had amazing hardware, the software was lacking, and developer support was already dying when Windows Phone 7 was released.

Ballmer monkey'ing around and screening "developers developers developers" doesn't do **** to grow developer interest in Windows when you have nothing to deliver, not to mention (at least based on leaks and rumors) complete miss management on many aspect of the company at the time. Including but not limited to different teams discourage to help other teams, have teams re-invent the wheel for something that already exists in the company, missing out on huge market opportunities, ignoring competitors despite internal alerts being raised, upper management and CEO being disconnected from reality in their own bubble, treating the company like it is the 90's while we are well into the 2000's. making the Windows Phone team fight for survival internally since day 1, lacking resources and internal political power to do their job. Forcing Microsoft employees and developers to use their own frameworks and solutions which many are rushed out, and as a result poorly done and clunky to work with, just to have a "Microsoft solution" of something that already exists in the market and has been there for years being polished and took all its time to develop correctly and be optimized. Not to mention that Microsoft never put actual effort in selling Windows phones, with 0 advertisement, and 0 bonuses of any kind to cellphone store and providers while both Apple and pretty much all Android manufactures, gave substantial returns to sales staff and companies to promote and push their device. This has greatly helped Samsung and Apple, and look where they are now.... Anyway, I am going on a tangent.

Returning back, all this has changed. Of course, it isn't a next day thing. Company culture, especially of the size of Microsoft, takes a long time to change, but results shows. When now, today, you have Windows 10 on ARM, not even officially launched, just soft lunched, with expensive, limited quantity, primarily US only, ARMed based systems, fraction of the current Windows 10 Mobile user base, has more developer excitement for then Windows Phone as a whole, shows how things turned. Heck, no one used to care about icons being changed in Windows 10 and Office, now it is all the rage. An extreme soft launch OS, already has big player interest without the company throwing any money at developers. Just on top of my head you have: Firefox, Chrome, Chromium, (and of course, the new Chromium Edge), and full VLC on Windows 10 on ARM or is in the active works.

Microsoft has changed, they are open, they actually listen, actually do serious actions to promote developers interest, knows where it can and can't compete and goes its own way, and let competition take its course, allow Microsoft employees to use whatever is available outside of the company to make great software and great experiences for the user.

So yes, I am sure that if they try again (not yet, however, later), things can be different. But there is still a lot of work to be done for the company. They still need to continue to work on their image, and shows that time have indeed changed for the company.

Hmmm... Do I go in Microsoft dark history? If I do, you'll probably hate the company as much as Google and Apple, if not more. Company direction have changed. If we go by today, Apple has been much more protective of user personal data than Microsoft (and of course Google). Their business model is selling services (and one can say accessories too, based on their financial reports). That is their focus. Microsoft is complicated, because they touch a multitude of products and services, and you have products and service that crosses each other. For example, Microsoft does sell your user data if you use Bing, and Microsoft/Bing advertisement platform (which Windows 8/10 made apps can use).

However, if it is a question of trust, or "least evil" from your perspective:

You can limit what Google get from you if you have an Android device. Nothing stops you from installing Microsoft excellent and well reviewed Launcher to replace the Google's launcher, if you use Pixel device, or don't like the manufacture of the device one. You can also use the many great apps from Microsoft on Android including Edge web browser. The only thing that will touch Google is if you use Google Pay feature (which I don't think it is actually a deal braker) and Google Play Store (you could use alternative stores technically, but let's assume you want the best security mixed with a large store where you are sure to find everything at their latest versions as they are released). Same for using Cortana instead of Google Assistance.

Mix that Android phone with Windows 10 "Your Phone" feature, and you are set with a similar/better experience that what Windows 10 Mobile users used to get (MS pulled the plug on this).

First, let's stay professional, please.

Second, I can perfectly relate, (as I am looking at my Lumia 950 XL that I am actually using as main device), this is not helped that Windows Phone 7, 8 and Windows 10 Mobile had many features that was ahead of their time. But with Android Q on the way, and with "Your Phone" (at least if you are part of Windows 10 Insider program, not sure how it is on the official release version as of the moment of writing), feature parity with Windows 10 Mobile, and has it's own benefits and feature set that Windows 10 Mobile didn't have.

Nope. Any web browser found in the MS Store had to comply with the fact that they had to use the OS built-in web browser engine. The same policy applies for iOS devices, but not Android.

---------- Post added at 03:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:05 PM ----------

Personally, I am getting Pixel 3 or 3a soon (haven't yet decided. Not interested in the Pixel 4 ugly design).

Why?

-> Yes, it is Google and I don't like it, but I know I'll stick to Microsoft ecosystem for the most part.

-> Unlike Apple, I can switch to Microsoft ecosystem for the most part.

-> Google did demonstrate to me, that yes they do provide 3 years of support in both security and sofware update. I expect to get not only Android Q with the Pixel 3a, if go with it, but also Android R and S, beside the security updates and firmware updates.

-> Android has custom ROMs powered by a large and active community, so if there is anything, I can switch separating myself more from Google, and have, in some ways, extended device support.

-> Pixel 3/3a series has genuinely a better camera than the Lumia 950 XL, justifying the upgrade for me. The Lumia 950 XL did have a camera that was, in my opinion, 3 years ahead of the competition. While these days are over, it is nice to actually get an updated camera and not one equivalent, or worst a downgrade.