Here Is Why Current Windows Phone Owners Wont Get Update To Windows Phone 8

[RoBoGhOsT]

Here Is Why Current Windows Phone Owners Wont Get Update To Windows Phone 8

Last week Microsoft announced Windows Phone 8 , which will bring exciting new features in upcoming devices , however the announcement was disappointing for owners of current Windows Phone 7.5+ devices like the Lumia series who were expecting an update to the latest OS , as they won't be getting the update .

The reason why Microsoft wont be able to deliver the latest version of mobile OS to its existing devices is that the new Windows Phone 8 is not the same as the previous versions , even though it looks similar to its predecessors .

“The oversimplified way of putting it is that, before, you had a phone that ran programs; now you have a computer that can make phone calls,” says Greg Sullivan, Microsoft’s senior marketing manager for Windows Phone (shown above). “There is a fundamental difference architecturally.”

Windows Phone has been re-coded from the ground up for Version 8. The original Windows Phone (Version 7) and all subsequent upgrades before 8 are actually based on Windows CE, Microsoft’s earlier mobile operating system. Windows CE was also the basis for Windows Mobile, which came before Windows Phone 7.

Windows Phone 8, however, is based on the same core software as Windows 8 itself (the Windows NT kernel). While that has many benefits — for users, hardware makers, developers and Microsoft — it means all those phones that were designed to run Windows Phone 7 can’t run the new OS.

However the owners will still not be left and will get Windows Phone 7.8 update which will bring new start screen and some other UI improvements .

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[flash23]

Really makes sense, those who are saying that they are cheated my Microsoft should really look up in to hardware and software compatibility.
If they still cant get it, then they should try installing Windows 7 on a 80386 based machine.

 

[raksrules]

At least microsoft is honest about giving a justification unlike apple which just wants to bar older devices from having the features of their latest iOS release when there is no technical limitation (surely some apple fanboi will justify this here).

 

[mithun]

Really makes sense, those who are saying that they are cheated my Microsoft should really look up in to hardware and software compatibility.
If they still cant get it, then they should try installing Windows 7 on a 80386 based machine.

So much for value addition and justification!

Intel 80386 - launched in 1985, Windows7 - launched in mid 2009(rtm) - difference 24 years.
Lumia 900 - unveiled on Jan'2012, WP8 - announced June 2012 - difference 5 months.

Alas, but we still do not get it mate. Oh did i forget to mention, your post does not make any sense.

P.S.: I would still prefer WP 7.5 if WP8 is meant for supreme Hardware and would make my device lag. The basic USP of WP7.5 devices is the fluidic UI. There have been lists of 100+ limitations for WP7 circulating in various forums out of which, honestly, the only feature i miss is Internet connection sharing/Hotspot. Evidently, most of the WP7.5 users are content with their devices. More than the support from Microsoft, we are more eager for support from the developer communities. WP 8 phones will not be available till at least the last quarter of the year, what's the ETA in India is but anybody's guess, then the prices will take their own sweet time to settle down and by the time we have sub 20k WP8 devices my Lumia will be more than a year old and it will be time for an upgrade.
P.P.S. : Except a few early buyers of the Lumia 900, others do not/should not complain(and that's cheating by Nokia and not MS). Honestly, with the SOC announced for WP8, you'll have to wait atleast a year for WP8 devices to be as affordable as your current device is, by then it's upgrade time for most. What i'm increasingly experiencing in various boards/forums is that non WP7.5 owners are pouring in to rub salt into what seems to them as a wound to existing WP7 owners. I must let know that we were absolutely aware of the limitations during purchase, the HW limitations including, which could never have been added irrespective of the OS/software updates. So, we never expected WP8 to bring in too much added functionality anyways.

 

[comp@ddict]

Lets see if somebody is able to mod WP8 into WP7.5

 

[sudhanshu123]

So much for value addition and justification!

Intel 80386 - launched in 1985, Windows7 - launched in mid 2009(rtm) - difference 24 years.
Lumia 900 - unveiled on Jan'2012, WP8 - announced June 2012 - difference 5 months.

Alas, but we still do not get it mate. Oh did i forget to mention, your post does not make any sense.

So now selling devices with windows phone 7.5 automatically warrants an upgrade to 8,does it?i think you are over smart buddy,and Nokia would claim the same.I don't think Lumia 900(or any WP7.5 device) launched with any banner saying "Futureproof" or "WP8 Promised upgrade",somehow you think it did and now you want microsoft to give you a justification for something they didn't even promise in the first place.i wish devices came with idiot proofing,i really do.

 

[zhopudey]

Will new apps developed for WP8 work on 7.8?? Isn't that the most relevant question? Everyone is just harping about the new start screen

 

[mithun]

So now selling devices with windows phone 7.5 automatically warrants an upgrade to 8,does it?i think you are over smart buddy,and Nokia would claim the same.I don't think Lumia 900(or any WP7.5 device) launched with any banner saying "Futureproof" or "WP8 Promised upgrade",somehow you think it did and now you want microsoft to give you a justification for something they didn't even promise in the first place.i wish devices came with idiot proofing,i really do.

facepalm...epic facepalm.

1. Please read through the entire post if time permits. Atleast some like minded WP7.5 users are least bothered about support from MS.
2. Going by your esteemed analogy, it would be fair if MS restricted Windows 8 compatibility to newest gen ivy bridge platforms only. Your sandy bridge cpu's along with that flashy Z68 board which by the way were launched way before the Lumia 900would have to stick to Windows 7 ( just cause some of the Windows 8 features would need that PCIE 3.0 or "Tri-Gate Transistors" lol ). That would be perfectly alright?

Nothing to do here.

 

[comp@ddict]

2. Going by your esteemed analogy, it would be fair if MS restricted Windows 8 compatibility to newest gen ivy bridge platforms only.

Umm desktop and mobile platforms can't be compared. Where are you getting at?

 

[flash23]

So much for value addition and justification!

Intel 80386 - launched in 1985, Windows7 - launched in mid 2009(rtm) - difference 24 years.
Lumia 900 - unveiled on Jan'2012, WP8 - announced June 2012 - difference 5 months.

Alas, but we still do not get it mate. Oh did i forget to mention, your post does not make any sense.

It is very naive of you to bring Lumia 900 specifically in the argument, it uses Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 which was developed in July 2011, so this effectively gives a difference of roughly a year. The Win 8 phones will be based on Snapdragon S4 plus available in Q3 2012 so it will be using an advanced h/w.

My usage of 80386 was only bring up the issue of the difference of generations between the hardware and s/w. I think you do understand that a s/w developed for a particular generation h/w should be used on that platform only for optimal performance.

 

[aproxymate]

Both Android and WP are infamous for fragmentation for quite sometime now. Google did try addressing the issue with 4.0 but still the situation is far from ideal. But I am simply astound what Microsoft is doing here considering they have not seen much success in the market. They are basically alienating the people who supported them at the first place. Agreed apple has various versions of their OS releases but they do support phones as old as the 3g. Simply denying a few months old phone of a major update doesn't go well with the customers.

 

[flash23]

@aproxymate I totally agree with you but Microsoft had to move on some day or another in order to compete with the other players, but dont forget they still providing an upgrade to 7.8 and leaving the current customers out to dry.

 

[Sei]

So much for value addition and justification!

Intel 80386 - launched in 1985, Windows7 - launched in mid 2009(rtm) - difference 24 years.
Lumia 900 - unveiled on Jan'2012, WP8 - announced June 2012 - difference 5 months.

Alas, but we still do not get it mate. Oh did i forget to mention, your post does not make any sense.

P.S.: I would still prefer WP 7.5 if WP8 is meant for supreme Hardware and would make my device lag. The basic USP of WP7.5 devices is the fluidic UI. There have been lists of 100+ limitations for WP7 circulating in various forums out of which, honestly, the only feature i miss is Internet connection sharing/Hotspot. Evidently, most of the WP7.5 users are content with their devices. More than the support from Microsoft, we are more eager for support from the developer communities. WP 8 phones will not be available till at least the last quarter of the year, what's the ETA in India is but anybody's guess, then the prices will take their own sweet time to settle down and by the time we have sub 20k WP8 devices my Lumia will be more than a year old and it will be time for an upgrade.
P.P.S. : Except a few early buyers of the Lumia 900, others do not/should not complain(and that's cheating by Nokia and not MS). Honestly, with the SOC announced for WP8, you'll have to wait atleast a year for WP8 devices to be as affordable as your current device is, by then it's upgrade time for most. What i'm increasingly experiencing in various boards/forums is that non WP7.5 owners are pouring in to rub salt into what seems to them as a wound to existing WP7 owners. I must let know that we were absolutely aware of the limitations during purchase, the HW limitations including, which could never have been added irrespective of the OS/software updates. So, we never expected WP8 to bring in too much added functionality anyways.

Firstly, if the previous experience is taken into consideration, WP 7.8 will not make any current devices lag.

I have Internet Connection Sharing on my HD7. It is also present on the Omnia W.

MS has not even released the proper list of differences. According to them, this is just a preview. I suppose some people noticed that they did not show how the app list will look (sliding right from the home screen). They only displayed the default home screen. This is just to make people anticipate WP8. Not the final list.

Lets see if somebody is able to mod WP8 into WP7.5

Frankly speaking, what will be the use of that? If you don't have a dual core processor or an NFC chip, putting the OS is not going to help you.

facepalm...epic facepalm.

1. Please read through the entire post if time permits. Atleast some like minded WP7.5 users are least bothered about support from MS.
2. Going by your esteemed analogy, it would be fair if MS restricted Windows 8 compatibility to newest gen ivy bridge platforms only. Your sandy bridge cpu's along with that flashy Z68 board which by the way were launched way before the Lumia 900would have to stick to Windows 7 ( just cause some of the Windows 8 features would need that PCIE 3.0 or "Tri-Gate Transistors" lol ). That would be perfectly alright?

Nothing to do here.

I know as a Lumia owner, he might be feeling cheated. But you must understand that new hardware and new phones are released every 6 months, if not every quarter. MS has a shitty excuse for their Marketing department. They should have simply said that existing users will get Windows 8 with a reduced feature set; just like Apple does. It looks the same. Why did they have to be honest about it? They should learn this kind of stuff from Apple.

Both Android and WP are infamous for fragmentation for quite sometime now. Google did try addressing the issue with 4.0 but still the situation is far from ideal. But I am simply astound what Microsoft is doing here considering they have not seen much success in the market. They are basically alienating the people who supported them at the first place. Agreed apple has various versions of their OS releases but they do support phones as old as the 3g. Simply denying a few months old phone of a major update doesn't go well with the customers.

Sorry if I am mistaken, but hasn't Windows Phone 7 been the same for every handset since Nov 2010 when it was launched? From my HD7 (launched in 2010) to the Lumia 900 (launched in 2012), where is the fragmentation that you are talking about?

 

[aproxymate]

If you notice, I was talking about WP in general and not WP7. Before 7, we had 5, 5.5, 6, 6.5 and AFAIK, none of them were up-gradable to 7. And now, even less than two years later (nov '10 - June '12), another batch of WP phones will replace all current models which will have minimal support hereon. Yes, apple provides limited update to older phones but they don't abandon them altogether (like MS did with pre WP7 phones). As I mentioned before, even the 3gs (I mistakenly wrote 3g) is getting the ios6 update. And that was released in 2009. Which WP handset from 2009 is even getting the 7.8 update?

 

[mithun]

Umm desktop and mobile platforms can't be compared. Where are you getting at?

Incidentally, in this thread, i was not the first one to compare desktop and mobile platforms. Anyways, the point i wanted to make is that with the kind of partnership/co-ordination MS boasts of having with its partners viz HTC, NOKIA, etc. the products and the soft wares were supposed to be launched/planned in tandem. Let me please be excused for comparing the two platforms again, but, take into consideration the launch of DX10/Win Vista by MS and subsequent launch of DX10 hardware by the various vendors (it's something else that the game devs took their own sweet time to implement the tech in their games). What if Nvidia would have released a $ 1500 7950GX4 months ahead of the launch of DX10/Vista, knowing fully well that the card would get outdated in months. The case of the Lumia 900 is clearly similar. More so, as it's priced as much as an WP8 phone is touted to cost. Further, i just applied Microsoft's reasoning for the mobile platform to the other platform, i do not claim originality.
So, i again point out what i have said in my first post:
1. Owners of other WP7.5 devices(except Lumia 900) do not/should not crib.
2. With the Lumia 900, it's more a case of Nokia cheating than MS.
3. WP7.5 owners are more keen on support from developers than updates from MS.
4. The USP of WP has been the fluidic UI and it has always been lagging behind in terms of functionality/customization/dev support


I rest my case by replying to sudhansu123:

A normal user has a pre-defined upgrade path which is planned after taking into account recent trends and developments. The power user on the other hand upgrades upon his own fancies. So, a simple reply to your query, YES!, the customer of a recently bought 30-35k device expects his investment to support cutting edge technology for atleast a year. It is also fair for him to expect support and updates from the respective HW/SW vendors for atleast a year. If you do not agree, it may be concluded that you accept the trade practices(unfair) of the vendors of fooling customers into buying dated hardware at cut-throat prices, wait till you find yourself at the receiving end.

 

[comp@ddict]

The case of the Lumia 900 is clearly similar.

Lumia's case is different. Nokia had it for launch ages ago. it's the stupid US companies namely AT&T and friends who kept delaying for exclusivity and other shitty plans of theirs.

 

[sudhanshu123]

Mithun,dear lad, if you are a power user and really want to upgrade according to your own fancies then READ!!,why would you buy a MS device knowing that there is a HUGE upgrade in OS coming,one which nobody knows will be compatible with existing devices and the general indication is probably no(i was expecting it,you should have been to).So buy a WP7.5 device if you like wp7.5 and not because of a probable upgrade to wp8,just like i buy an android phone BECAUSE OF ICS and not FOR A PROBABLE UPGRADE TO JELLY BEAN.also your earlier comparison between pc and this scenario is a blunder really.First if somehow windows 8 wasn't compatible with sandy bridge proccys ,then MS wouldn't promise this in the first place thus not leading to disappointment,just like MS wasn't promising WP8 upgrade on WP7.5 devices and the whole situation was dwindling until a negative outcome was confirmed.In such situations I invite you to envoke the thought that inspite of taking a risk(if you really want wp8,then WAIT and dnt get wp7.5) just go take the other route,as you said ,in 30-35k you can get any high end phone you wish of any OTHER OS.also why would you spend that much cash on a DEVICE FOR WHOM AN UPGRADE IN OS IS NOT CONFIRMED OR EVEN SPOKEN ABOUT BY THE MANUFACTURER I.E MICROSOFT?see?if you had done this,you would be disappointed,(and an idiot)but i think you haven't done this so why are you crying on behalf of the idiots who have taken the risk and are now regretting it?(they weren't knowledgeable enough to simply google,then that is their fault,like my colleagues)MS can't launch an awareness program Mithun.