Windows Phone 7 Launch Thread

DjFlin

I'm pretty happy to see Zune go. Dont get me wrong, I love Zune (I even have one of the 2nd Gen 80GB Zunes), but the brand name has a huge stigma attached that has been very damaging.

I wouldn't call Xbox Music a replacement for Zune, it's probably more like an evolution of Zune.

evolutionqy7

Bambi wrote: »

Curious as to what this MS announcement on Monday is, takeover of Nokia perhaps? :eek:

Ditto. Its been a long time that Microsoft have had an announcement that no one knew anything about.

Even the WP7 event was held close inside till announced, no leaks till that point

stevenmu

The blogosphere seems to be leaning towards a Microsoft Produced tablet, possibly in association with Barnes and Noble. The timing is very close to the WP event on the 20th though, so I'd guess a preview of Apollo/WP8.

stevenmu

The Verge have a good write up on why it's probably a tablet here.

edit: B&N have ruled themselves out.

stevenmu

Posted this on BA as well, but thought some here might be interested too:

German site Cyberport are selling unlocked Nokia 710s for €170. Shipping is €12, although it may be possible to get free shipping by using the mobile site.

Fantastic price for a decently specced smartphone, and great value with the Nokia Apps that come with it (Nokia Drive for sat nav etc).



(spotted on WMPowerUser)

danger_mouse_tm

Brought my non starting phone down to the Carphone warehouse in Bandon after serveral trips and some tweeting trying to convince them that it was still under warranty. I got a call on Friday evening at 6:10pm (after the shop closed) to say that it was ready and I could collect it. I went down on Saturday morning to get the phone and was told that the latest software now on by phone but there was a charge showing up on the account of €120 and they would have to contact someone in head office to get the charge removed. I waited twenty minutes while he was on hold on the phone to someone in head office and then he told me that it was unfair on other customers in the shop that I took this length of time. He told me he would stay on top of it. I heard nothing that day, nothing yesterday so I went down this morning and they told me that they were still waiting to hear word back from someone in head office and more than likely the person who was dealing with it was off today. What a disaster these guys are.

evolutionqy7

So who wants to start the rumour round up of what's coming tomorrow

Odaise Gaelach

Me me me me me me me me me me!

stevenmu

Damn it, I've been waiting all year to start the "Windows Phone 8 Launch Thread" :pac:

Dyr

So it looks like Wp8 won't run on current WP7 devices? They've just shat all over what little customer base they have in this market, I guess.

DjFlin

Microsoft confirms no upgrade path to Windows Phone 8, unveils 7.8 for legacy devices

Dyr

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Their is only so much you can do with legacy hardware in all fairness.

Tell that to the poor bastards who shelled out on lumias before today, it smacks of desperation on MS part, they've switched horses yet again. Who's gonna trust them when they can't quit the habit of abandoning products?

sink

Bambi wrote: »

Tell that to the poor bastards who shelled out on lumias before today, it smacks of desperation on MS part, they've switched horses yet again. Who's gonna trust them when they can't quit the habit of abandoning products?

7.8 seems to have almost all of the feature updates of 8, only lacking in support for new hardware which WP7 phones don't have anyway. It also makes sense that new WP8 apps compiled to work with higher hardware specs will not work with lower end hardware, whilst still allowing apps which don't leverage the new hardware to work on both 7&8. I don't see the problem here tbh, it's like complaining the Xbox you bought won't play Xbox 360 games.

DjFlin

I'm happy enough with what Windows Phone 7.8 will deliver when it launches alongside Windows Phone 8.

What I'm not happy about is what comes next.

When the Zune HD launched, Microsoft came out with an update for the previous Zune models, then never went near them again.

I'm betting that once WP8 hits, the WP7 marketplace is going to freeze. Most major apps will be abandoned by their developers.

gman2k

sink wrote: »

7.8 seems to have almost all of the feature updates of 8, only lacking in support for new hardware which WP7 phones don't have anyway. It also makes sense that new WP8 apps compiled to work with higher hardware specs will not work with lower end hardware, whilst still allowing apps which don't leverage the new hardware to work on both 7&8. I don't see the problem here tbh, it's like complaining the Xbox you bought won't play Xbox 360 games.

The only capability from 8 that was announced today as coming to 7.8 was the new start screen.

Dyr

sink wrote: »

I don't see the problem here tbh, it's like complaining the Xbox you bought won't play Xbox 360 games.

Um no. It's like buying an xbox 720 in q4 2013 only to find out in q1 2014 that the next xbox live update is going to require a completely new xbox (the 720+ for example) and whats more it will utilise a completely different architecture so you have no hope of ever seeing any games even ported for the orginal 720.

It's what people feared about Windows Phone at launch, Microsoft reverting back to their Pinky and the Brain mode where every week a new plan for world domination is set in place only to be abandoned just as quickly.

I would expect 7.8 is going to be a PR fig leaf to try cover the flip flop that they just perfomed. Anbd tbh they can keep that new start screen, it's manky

evolutionqy7

Bambi wrote: »

sink wrote: »

I don't see the problem here tbh, it's like complaining the Xbox you bought won't play Xbox 360 games.

Um no. It's like buying an xbox 720 in q4 2013 only to find out in q1 2014 that the next xbox live update is going to require a completely new xbox (the 720+ for example) and whats more it will utilise a completely different architecture so you have no hope of ever seeing any games even ported for the orginal 720.

It's what people feared about Windows Phone at launch, Microsoft reverting back to their Pinky and the Brain mode where every week a new plan for world domination is set in place only to be abandoned just as quickly.

I would expect 7.8 is going to be a PR fig leaf to try cover the flip flop that they just perfomed. Anbd tbh they can keep that new start screen, it's manky

Oh please, Android does this every month. There's always a newer better device around the corner. Its the nature of technology to always improve.

Can't upgrade old hardware to support new code, which is needed to bring all the features every one has been waiting for.

I'll come out and say it, im not a fan of the way its going, but 7.8 is better than nothing.

I showed the few features to my mum and she didn't really care, as long as she gets her apps she will be happy.
Though the new home screen is more practical it doesn't seem to look as nice as before.

The clean look has been traded for practicality

TBi

I've been an ardent fan of WP7 since i got my Trophy last year. Fantastic OS but how can i recommend people to get one if it will be going obsolete so soon. Who knows if MS will release WP9 and make WP8 totally obsolete?

Glad i didn't upgrade to a Lumia 800 now. I knew it would be last generation hardware but never thought it could be totally obsolete in the next 6 months.

Dyr

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Its common knowledge that MS were going to launch Win phone 8 soon enough. You still have a nice phone so what that something new is coming out??

1) I don't have a lumia

2) You have a nice phone that is now a dead end, nothing worthwhile is going to be developed on it beyond this point. Its the Kin and Zune all over again despite assuraces that this time it would be different :eek:. Nokia must be pulling their hair out at this.

2) It wasn't common knowledge that WP7 devices were going to be shafted within 1.5 years. Especially given the amount that MS waffled about their commitment to the platform. .

Dyr

sink wrote: »

7.8 seems to have almost all of the feature updates of

Linky so, please. The only reference I've seen on MS blogs is they're adding the WP8 menu

TBi

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Its common knowledge that MS were going to launch Win phone 8 soon enough. You still have a nice phone so what that something new is coming out??

Apple releases iPhone 3G, all apps for it run on the original iPhone.
Apple releases iPhone 3GS, all apps run on the 3G and original iPhone.
Apple releases iPhone 4 and and all apps run on the 3GS and 3G.
Apple releases iPhone 4s and and all apps run on the 4 and 3GS.

MS release WP7 and no apps run on WM6.5 because it's a major overhaul.
MS release WP8 and no apps run on WP7 because it's a major overhaul.
What happens when WP9 comes out? Screw all the early adopters again?

Apple was smart enough not to screw it's early adopters, even android has some bit of backwards compatibility.

pleasant Co.

TBi wrote: »

Who knows if MS will release WP9 and make WP8 totally obsolete?

Me, and anyone who checked out the info MS provided :P they said wp8 would get at least 18mths of update support, which ain't too shabby.

http://www.slashgear.com/windows-phone-8-devices-get-18-month-update-promise-20234972/

TBi

Mactard wrote: »

Me, and anyone who checked out the info MS provided :P they said wp8 would get at least 18mths of update support, which ain't too shabby.

http://www.slashgear.com/windows-phone-8-devices-get-18-month-update-promise-20234972/

I know what they said, but Apple gives 2 years + of support.

When you think about it there's no real reason (except laziness) why they can't get the WP8 kernel working on hardware released in the last 6 months.

Dyr

TBi wrote: »

I know what they said, but Apple gives 2 years + of support.

When you think about it there's no real reason (except laziness) why they can't get the WP8 kernel working on hardware released in the last 6 months.

The funny thing is that when people criticised the weediness of the WP7 hardware guidelines guys like elop poo pooed the necessity of putting dual cores in smart phones..Be grand they said, dual core was just a waste of battery they said. :rolleyes:

I dont have much confidence in their ability to deliver a coherent platform strategy at this stage..WP9 will probably be yet another total departure delivered within a year :pac:

ozymandius

@Bambi

The new RTp OS is designed for newer and future CPUs - with multiple cores. For now maybe even only for the Qualcomm one they announced. What would be the return in also targeting old - soon to be replaced - devices. Also NFC, replaceable SD, multiple screen resolutions support is useless for old devices.

MS would be crazy to ignore multi-core CPUs. Current devices are perfect with the single cores they have. WP8 will have enhanced multitasking to support the likes of Skype and new localisation services, and use those cores. These services don't exist in WP7, so it doesn't need more cores.

Of course the challenge is to control power consumption. We'll see how they do. A recent report from Intel* was quite critical of Android's use dual-cores and wasted power.

For existing devices the big change is the new Start Screen. We'll get that.
Down side is possible lack of new apps. Nokia have committed to support the current devices. The question is the many small developers. Market forces will decide.

My biggie is did they improve notifications. And the Calendar app.

Also, it's not like my L800 just became obsolete. It still does exactly what it did yesterday. Will do more in a week or so (Tango) and still more later in the year (7.8). At which point it'll be about a year old. Time to start looking again.

Peace

* http://www.techspot.com/news/48946-intel-android-just-isnt-ready-for-multi-core-processors.html

AntiVirus

The majority of Apps written after WP8 is released will be targeting WP7.8

There's 15 million WP7 floating about compared to 0 WP8.

I'm surprised some posters seem to think developers don't realize this???

stevenmu

Even though I was expecting it, I'm pretty disappointed that current phones aren't going to be updated. It'll be a huge kick in the teeth for people who recently bought one, especially after all the fanfare around the Lumia 900 launch.

Sure they'll bring some of the new features back to current gen phones, but it's the shared core, APIs and app compatibility that are important. The new APIs will offer stuff not possible in WP7, and before long apps will start requiring WP8. That'll lead to the fragmentation that they have criticised so much. It'll lead to situations where I'll have an app on my phone, and I'll show it to someone else, but they won't be able to download it because they'll have the wrong OS version.

The platform as whole will take a huge knock because of this.

InvisibleBadger

It looks as if the new features are mainly hardware based, so putting wp8 on older phonesthat lack those hardware elements doesn't seem to make much sense.

stevenmu

It's the new APIs and app compatibility that's the real problem. People will understand if things like NFC or video chat won't work because their phone never came with an NFC chip or a front camera, but in a years time when some popular games or bluetooth gadgets work only with WP8 and not WP7.8 they're going to get pretty annoyed by it.

Odaise Gaelach

I'd imagine it's fairly easy to port Windows Phone 8 apps and games back to Windows Phone 7.8. The code base is probably going to be extremely similar, a few tweaks here and there, and you should be able to recompile it and submit it to the Marketplace for Windows Phone 7.8.