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Who in their right mind would buy a Windows Phone in 2021?

Well… I was looking for a OneDrive-connected camera, to enable the children to easily upload and hand in their handwritten school assignments.

At £20 from eBay for an ex-business flagship, for this extremely niche requirement, it was my only choice.

Indeed, as an Office-dedicated device for business and education, Microsoft could have been onto something were they not so short-sighted in hopelessly chasing a consumer market that was not interested.

Perhaps they were just ahead of the time, unable to appreciate the workplace transformation to come… and Satya too willing to jettison spare parts to placate shareholders.

The Windows 10 mobile UI is so beautiful; a fresh delight to return to from Android and iOS. And still snappy, despite four-year-old specs.

Rumour has it that Microsoft will try again, with Windows X on Arm, but I won’t hold my breath. I expect their Android-based Surface Duo to die an early death too.

In 2021, a Microsoft Lumia is the perfect “dumb phone”. Not as limited as KaiOS—entering text on a number keypad is a stretch too far in this day and age—but just the functionality you need for productivity.

It’s a shame business can no longer savour such delights. It reached end-of-life last year.