[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Windows Phone 8 May Burn Early Adopters here

[MichaelMcWilliamsupu1]

Wow!

I really like WP7. Been using it since the launch when I took a leap of faith and ditched the iPhone for it. It's a vastly superior mobile OS, especially compared to the crappy, clunky, closed iOS.

Now I'm already on my second WP7 phone...and I learn THIS!!!

I sincerely hope it isn't true. But if it is, it could be a major deal breaker. MS can't be this tin-eared regarding the market its trying to forge...Can it???

A really bad move.

[Papaspud]

Buy a phone for what features it has now, if it works for you- it works. If you always want your phone to be the latest and greatest, then get ready to spend a lot of money.

[RegorTheGreat]

Papaspud, on 19 April 2012 - 07:29 AM, said:

Buy a phone for what features it has now, if it works for you- it works. If you always want your phone to be the latest and greatest, then get ready to spend a lot of money.

That's never been the M$ way. It's certainly not the Android way. And well, I really don't care about the fruit. If they want to compete, they shouldn't do this to their current, relatively small, loyal group to their mobile OS.

[HankRearden]

RegorTheGreat, on 19 April 2012 - 08:03 AM, said:

Papaspud, on 19 April 2012 - 07:29 AM, said:

Buy a phone for what features it has now, if it works for you- it works. If you always want your phone to be the latest and greatest, then get ready to spend a lot of money.

That's never been the M$ way. It's certainly not the Android way. And well, I really don't care about the fruit. If they want to compete, they shouldn't do this to their current, relatively small, loyal group to their mobile OS.

They should not do this to their early adopters, I agree. What a shame. Buying a smart phone is not like buying a feature phone. I'd not expect much in the way of updates with a feature phone. Smart phones on the other hand are quite different. Including the monthly cost, it's a fair bet the phone costs more than the laptop does. And with that expense comes a responsibility to support your customers.

[Fatesrider]

I have a phone. It's almost five years old. It still works. All of my needs are covered by it. Why would I want to change?

I don't really understand the lemming-like "consume it" rush to grab the bleeding edge stuff. If you have something that works for you, what's your issue?

It's wasteful to change. It's costing you money you don't need to spend. It's obligating you to stick with a company for another two years. There's no proven track record to rely on.

What, do you want bragging rights? No one else gives a damn. Is it a compulsion to never be satisfied by what you have? Therapy may be less expensive in the long run. Do you just have too much money? Give some to charity and help others for a change.

I mean, unless you don't have one AND need one, or yours is broken or not doing what you NEED it to do, what's the point of wasting money and resources getting something you don't need?

The old adage, 'just because you can doesn't mean you should' strongly applies for ALL brand new devices.

[lamorpa]

This is very significant if you temporarily forget that everyone gets a new phone every 18 to 20 months...

[Ericbqlb]

Sounds like a typical boneheaded move by MS. They could learn from their rivals -- iOS gets updated regularly even if the hardware doesn't support every new feature.

[HankRearden]

Fatesrider, on 19 April 2012 - 09:11 AM, said:

I have a phone. It's almost five years old. It still works. All of my needs are covered by it. Why would I want to change?

I don't really understand the lemming-like "consume it" rush to grab the bleeding edge stuff. If you have something that works for you, what's your issue?

It's wasteful to change. It's costing you money you don't need to spend. It's obligating you to stick with a company for another two years. There's no proven track record to rely on.

What, do you want bragging rights? No one else gives a damn. Is it a compulsion to never be satisfied by what you have? Therapy may be less expensive in the long run. Do you just have too much money? Give some to charity and help others for a change.

I mean, unless you don't have one AND need one, or yours is broken or not doing what you NEED it to do, what's the point of wasting money and resources getting something you don't need?

The old adage, 'just because you can doesn't mean you should' strongly applies for ALL brand new devices.

You're not representative of everyone, nor are your needs.

[QUADICON]

Well in my opinion, they aren't getting burned. I will say the same thing I say about phones no matter which platform it runs as is with PC's.

Ypu phone like you PC is designed to work with the OS that comes preinstalled on it. The only updates I expect to get, are those that apply to the OS version I am running.

When Microsoft release a new version of Windows, even if it is the same family, you expect to pay for it.

You Windows Phone came with Windows Phone OS version 7. Everyone got a free update to 7.5.

7.5 is in the same family so thus you can EXPECT to get it. Windows Phone 8 which will lilely carry version 8.0, is new and thus you shoudln't expect it.

If my Iphone came with iOS 4.x, then I expect to receive all updates to 4.x to be free. Whther they be 4.2, 4.3 etc. But when 5.x comes rolling out, I don't expect to receive it for free. Especially on a device that may be 2 generations old.

Windows Phone )S was officially released to the public for sale in Oct 2010. That means any device that predates Oct 2011 is a year old device. 7.5 was release Feb 11 of the following year, which means new phones released after that should come with Mango installed already. As of Fed of thsi year, those device are also 1 year old. Makign the original devices pushing 2 years old. Those devices may not be able to support Windows 8, and even if they can, MS will liek pull one of Apple oves and strip out features, which basically kills the point of upgrading in the first place.

My rule of thumb is, you save your money and never buy a 1st generation device. I didn't with iPhone, and didn't with Android or Blackberry. I did with Windows Phone, but I didn't keep them bec I expected better devices later.

In fairness, Microsoft makes enough money from Windows to be kind and give first adopters a break and let them have it. However, for any user buyign a new device to just expect free updates to newer updates beyond the orginal OS version number is being foolish, and to compalin aboit it later is even more foolish.

You phone was designed to run Windows Phone OS 7.x...PERIOD. If Microsoft doesn't want to give you Windows Phone 8.0 they don't have to. No more than you wouldn't expect them to give you Windows 9 for you PC when it came with Windows 7.

To expect anythign different just leaves you open for disappointment.

[TsarNikky]

Isn't Phone-8 the same thing as a Windows-8 "Lite?"

[TsarNikky]

lamorpa, on 19 April 2012 - 09:23 AM, said:

This is very significant if you temporarily forget that everyone gets a new phone every 18 to 20 months...

"...everyone gets a new phone every 18 to 20 months..." I seriously doubt that statement.

[QUADICON]

HankRearden, on 19 April 2012 - 08:31 AM, said:

RegorTheGreat, on 19 April 2012 - 08:03 AM, said:

Papaspud, on 19 April 2012 - 07:29 AM, said:

Buy a phone for what features it has now, if it works for you- it works. If you always want your phone to be the latest and greatest, then get ready to spend a lot of money.

That's never been the M$ way. It's certainly not the Android way. And well, I really don't care about the fruit. If they want to compete, they shouldn't do this to their current, relatively small, loyal group to their mobile OS.

They should not do this to their early adopters, I agree. What a shame. Buying a smart phone is not like buying a feature phone. I'd not expect much in the way of updates with a feature phone. Smart phones on the other hand are quite different. Including the monthly cost, it's a fair bet the phone costs more than the laptop does. And with that expense comes a responsibility to support your customers.

I disagree and here is why. If Microsoft bends and says early adopters get to get the latest for free, then they cant break the trend later. Because when 9 comes out, those who started buying from version 8 will say, well u gavethe guys with 7, an upgarde to 8 for free; we want to get 9 for free.

You either put your foot down now, deal with the backlash later.
With iOS if my device comes with 4.x.x, I expect to receive any and ALL updated all the way to 4.9.9 Once Apple goes 5.x, I dont expect to receive. And if I hand an iPhone 3G, I wouldn't want to run iOS 5 on it because it runs like crap.

If I had an Android phone and it came with 2.2.x...then I expect to receive every update that is 2.x.x until it goes to 3.x which at that point I dont expect to receive the update.

What good is a new version if my device won't get the features of the new device. For example...yes the iphone 4 can run iOS 5.x just fine. But without Siri, iOS 5.x is nothing more than a bunch of fixes to bugs and issues that predate the package. Apple can give me news-stand and all that other stuff in iOS 4.9 bec my device can use them. Giving me iOS 5 with Siri is just dumb. Basically an iPhone 4 holder runnign iOS 5 is just running the OS version in name only. I don't want just the name, I want all the features that coems with it. Especially if my device can use them.

The iPhone 4 can run Siri just fine. It was made exclusive to iPhone 4S bec the application was still n beta and they needed something to make the new device seem new from the previous model, when all it got was basically a modest speed bump, and a better camera.

Tose who bought a device that came with 7.5, should be offered some type of upgarde path to Windows 8. Whther that path should be free or not is up for discussion.

Apple charges enough for devices and computers to give you free updates. Microsoft does too. But in either case they aren't obligated to do so. And we as consumers shouldn't expect them to update them either. This si no different than any other product you buy.

If you buy a 2012 Camry, and on the 2013 model all they change is the front grill and the stereo inside and everything else is the same, that doesn't mean Toyota should call you in and give you afree upgrade to the new stereo and grill. Yes it would be nice, but they dont have too. Why expect this of your phone? I don't.

I think you all expect way to much for a device you only paid $200 more or less.

[xyberviri]

lamorpa, on 19 April 2012 - 09:23 AM, said:

This is very significant if you temporarily forget that everyone gets a new phone every 18 to 20 months...

and every 12 months now in some cases

[ronin7752]

The Metro UI on Win 7 phones was the foundation for Win 8 -- and intended to bridge the gaps between PC's, tablets, and smartphones -- but it isn't going to be on *the next* Windows smart phone!? ...*After* Win 8 is released for tablets and PC's!?

Oh! I forgot! This is a Microsoft product. Nevermind!

[Alfiejr]

obviously today's WP 7.5 models will NOT get a full upgrade to WP 8. does anyone seriously think MS/Nokia don't already know if they can/will, just months before the WP 8 release? of course they do. if the answer were yes, they would be yelling it as loud as possible today, because Nokia is desperate to get Lumia sales going RIGHT NOW. their silence is deafening.

what we can reasonably expect are some further app upgrades and access to cloud services in a WP 7.6 that add just some of WP 8's new features to current handsets.

but this shuck and jive by MS/Nokia is so cynical, selling hardware that will be obsolete in just 6 months without any disclosure. where's the outrage?

[matviet]

i dont have android phone but just wonder if you can upgrade from a major version say like verion 3.0 to 4.0 ?? is that thing 'officially' recommended in both Iphone and android ?

[karthiq]

@quad, i agree that the original winphones cannot be expected to be upgraded since they will be touching 2 years when apollo arrives and since phones of other companies are also rarely updated due to various factors.

But the new lumia should in all cases be eligible!

[LarryE]

Quote

I think you all expect way to much for a device you only paid $200 more or less.

Not everyone got the phones for on-contract pricing. I purchased 2 Nokia Lumia 900's for full retail price based on the phones compatibility with Windows 8. Now if that proves to be not true, I am going to be really pissed and will do everything I can to get a full refund.

[Nightfox196h]

Well, i think as long as the apps fro WP 8 is compatible for devices with WP 7, it should be ok. But still, i will wait till WP 8 if i'm going to buy a WP phone.