huh?

i can't stand apple for a sec but Android is by far the worst OS to ever walk the earth... It makes a vista PC rigged with viruses look like a debian security server in comparison... Android as an OS is a joke just like beats by are headphones at 300bucks are a joke (even at 100 for that matter)

Anyway I think they chose the best approach...

And new HW is most likely coming for win10 launch they'll hold a specific event for sure closer to the launch date/Holliday season

As long as it doesn't negatively impact performance and battery life. Very few phones seem to be able to keep a charge for long enough as it is.

Why does this thread exist, if it does?

Many Android apps use Google play service to function normally. Google is making sure that play services become more integral for android apps to work properly, a requirement even. Things like push notifications require those services for example. Google can fight back (if they want to) by changing the APIs frequently. There is also the fact that apps that are ported without recoding and redesigning the interface will look disruptive and out of place on a windows phone. 

As long as they still optimise the apps for the hardware. One of the good things about WP is that it has specific hardware requirements and that the number of different hardware configurations is very limited. That allows for software to be better optimised(instead of Android where you can have much more powerfull hardware but overall it can still run worse).

Android is great if you know what you're doing, but a majority of users don't.

iPhone 6 has the better display, better camera, is considerably lighter and thinner, and it smashes the 930 when it comes to computing power (double the score at GeekBench). It also has the better OS, at least almost every review says so. But yeah, that point is a little bit subjective. And let's not even talk about the iPhone 6 Plus. That one also humiliates the Lumia 930 when it comes to batter life.

As I said, the Lumias are good devices. But they can't compare to High-End Smartphones. Of course, maybe you don't even need or want High-End. But some people do. However, I'm sure we'll see a new flagship from Microsoft soon, even if they more and more concentrate on low-end to gain marketshare. Which isn't a bad business strategy.

a step in the right direction

Awesome!