Ars Technica: Challenges Getting Windows Phones Updated

[Brad Wasson]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2012/04/the-nokia-lumia-900-a-good-phone-at-a-great-price-that-you-probably-shouldnt-buy.ars?comments=1#comments-bar' target='_blank'>http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/ne...=1#comments-bar</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"If these rumors are true, buying a Lumia 900-or any other Windows Phone handset-is a risky proposition. If you buy subsidized, on-contract handsets, you'll typically be eligible for a new subsidized upgrade every two years. A reasonable expectation, then, would be two years of software support in the form of bugfixes and updates. But if current handsets can't run Windows Phone 8, they'll essentially be cut off from future support in about six months. Developers might still target the older handsets to some extent, but many more will be targeting Windows Phone 8's extended capabilities and richer APIs."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/wpt/auto/1334763869.usr110171.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></p><p>If you are contemplating buying a Windows Phone it will be of interest to you to understand the update strategy from both Microsoft and the carriers proving the phones. As is outlined in this article, it is clearly an uneven playing field and playing strategy from the participants. Ars Technica goes so far as to warn you that buying a Windows Phone like the Nokia Lumia 900 could lead you down a path where you cannot get your phone software updated, depending on which partners are involved. Note that the Android world also has some of these types of issues. It is an in-depth article, but well worth the read, and only takes one click to get there.</p><p><em></em></p><p><em></em></p>

[whydidnt]

This is the problem with buying a phone that is locked up tight. If you buy an Android phone in the same situation, it's usually pretty easy to find a tool to root the device and a then load an updated ROM. WP doesn't have a developer community anywhere near that size, and I'm not even sure there's a way for new users to unlock the phone for this purpose anymore either.

It's a huge problem for a platform that is trying to establish itself, why would I buy a Nokia phone on a 2 year contract if I can't even be assured of it being up-to-date for more than 6 months? Somehow Apple has figured out how to manage this sort of issue, yes devices eventually become out-dated, but it's usually several generations down the line. Microsoft said that this was figured out when WP7 was announced as they were going to require devices to be updated, but then they had this brain dead idea that every phone would run the same resolution screen and same hardware leaving them absolutely no flexibility going forward...at the same time not actually owning the update process the way Apple does.

[MadSci]

This is Rumor Control:

This is a potential issue for ALL cell phones! Tried to stuff iOS 5 onto your iPhone 2 lately? As for Android, it matters little what Google does, as the Carriers lock things down and then delay or simply abandon the idea of upgrading devices all together. Look it up and you will find that the overwhelming majority of Android devices are now 3 generations away form eating their Ice Cream Sandwiches.

yet somehow they survive.

And for the uninitiated, if you want to Root and hack your Windows Phone - go ahead. There are large Communities of similar minded people out there who will help you - and MOST of them are on XDA (which originated as a home for Windows Mobile Hacking - not Android). For that matter, Microsoft was the ONLY Phone company in history to actively SUPPORT and make Official hacking of their phone OS.

Sure, Windows 8 might be such a humongously magnificent upgrade to 7.5 that it can't be run on the current (Gen 2) Windows Phones, but the smart money is against this idea as nothing about WinPhone 8 that is known would make it problematic.

Remember, this isn't Android - it's highly efficient, optimized code. WinPhone doesn't need some Octo-Core behemoth with a portable nuclear power plant to keep its battery charged. My Lumia smokes all the Androids around here at pretty much any task, and my previous Titan I and HD7s did too. So adding in support for multi-core processors is unlikely to lead to them being obligatory to make it thru the day.

The only thing that might scuttle Gen 2 devices would be if WinPhone 8 only supported higher resolution screens. Not likely as MSoft would be risking losing a lot of its fledgling Customer Base, particularly those who invested in a Nokia phone this year.

So while this is a theoretical possibility, that is true for EVERY Phone ecosystem out there, and experience has shown it is all but guaranteed to be a problem for Android Owners, and can be expected to crop up every few years for iPhone Owners. WinPhone has so far supported and upgraded its Customers faster and more completely than ANY other phone company (look it up!) and has left no-one behind.

If Ars Technica wanted to be honest about it, they should have said that while Android and iPhone Users can expect to have their devices abandoned, it waits to be seen how Microsoft will handle this next generation of their Phone OS

[stlbud]

This is Rumor Control:

This is a potential issue for ALL cell phones! Tried to stuff iOS 5 onto your iPhone 2 lately? As for Android, it matters little what Google does, as the Carriers lock things down and then delay or simply abandon the idea of upgrading devices all together. Look it up and you will find that the overwhelming majority of Android devices are now 3 generations away form eating their Ice Cream Sandwiches.

...

If Ars Technica wanted to be honest about it, they should have said that while Android and iPhone Users can expect to have their devices abandoned, it waits to be seen how Microsoft will handle this next generation of their Phone OS

Exactly right. This has been going on in the technology world since the very beginning. Anyone remember the Fairchild Channel F?

I'm happy with my Lumia. My only fear is that the current inventory of apps will be lost when Windows Phone 8 comes out. I hope Microsoft will keep them available for the next 2 years.

[whydidnt]

This is Rumor Control:

This is a potential issue for ALL cell phones! Tried to stuff iOS 5 onto your iPhone 2 lately? As for Android, it matters little what Google does, as the Carriers lock things down and then delay or simply abandon the idea of upgrading devices all together. Look it up and you will find that the overwhelming majority of Android devices are now 3 generations away form eating their Ice Cream Sandwiches.


Umm, the iPhone 3g (2nd one), was released 3 full years before ios5. That's hardly comparable to the current situation with the Lumia 900 and a fall release date for WP8. Your statement regarding Android is patently false. A vast marjority of Android devices are currently running version 3.XX of the software, just one major version old, and almost every high end phone has been promised an upgrade to 4.xx. When you say 3 generations, you make it sound as though most Androids are running version 1 of the software, which is probably less than 1% at this time.

Would it be that hard for Nokia/MS to come out and say they plan on supporting the Lumia 900 with the next version? I don't think so, and it would do a whole lot to assure some of us thinking of buying the device that it's not a poor investment. My point is that this is a whole new OS, with a tiny market share, why wouldn't they say so, unless they aren't planning on doing so?