Windows Mobile 6 Upgrades Available for Free to Existing Vendors

[Mike Temporale]

Everyone has been wondering if their device will see an update to Windows Mobile 6. In the past, very few manufacturers and carriers have gone down that path. There's a significant cost required in buying the new license and customizing it for the device and of course, testing it on the device and networks. Hopefully things will be different this time. We've just learned that Microsoft has given a free license to vendors who will upgrade their devices. So I think it's clear that Microsoft understands the frustration that all of us feel when a new OS is released and are trying to change things. It's expected that HTC will offer upgrades for any device with a keyboard - as all of you Dash/Excalibur users are already aware. Unfortunately we don't know what Motorola or Samsung plan to do about this. The ball is in the carriers and manufacturers court. Let's hope they don't drop it. :?

[bystander]

It is certainly in the hands of others but this is when we must ramp up the interest and power of the purchaser.

I have already contacted my device manufacturer (HTC and the Cingular 3125). It was much harder to find someone other than customer service to voice my concern at Cingular but I have done this as well.

If the WM5 non-keyboard device owners want to have a say in their device future. EACH should contact the manufacturer AND the carrier to build the pressure on each to remember ALL WM5 device owners.

We have paid well for our devices, we should not be forgotten. We have a chance to influence them if we will but take a few minutes to send the email.

Please do not let yourself put this off.....

:idea:

[Bill Harrison]

I agree, my 2125 is in great shape, and I would love some of the advantages WM6 offers. I have seen it demoed on this style unit, so its out there somewhere!

Bill

[Jerry Raia]

There are still too many chefs. The carriers AND the manufacturers. I don't like those odds!

[Foxbat121]

That's one excuse less for Carriers to deny us the upgrades. Certainly a good step forward. The way I see it, there are two more to overcome:

(1) Device makers willing to spend time and $$ to develop ROMs for WM6.
(2) Carriers willing to take the risk of failed ROM upgrades (it does happen from time to time).

I still can't believe my 8125 will see a WM6 upgrade.

[dorelse]

Yep, I'd love an upgrade to my SDA...I plan to voice my opinion to t-Mobile.

[apeguero]

Any devices with a keyboard? Does that mean that my 8525 has hope to see an "official" upgrade? I'm waiting for the XDA-Developers Home Brew WM6 upgrade just to be safe. Why devices with a keyboard Mike? Is there a reason for that? Does it mean that my 2125 is SOL?

[edgar]

Can you post the link. Everytime I try to click the headline I get the adword link and go to live search. *sigh*

[Mike Temporale]

Any devices with a keyboard? Does that mean that my 8525 has hope to see an "official" upgrade? I'm waiting for the XDA-Developers Home Brew WM6 upgrade just to be safe. Why devices with a keyboard Mike? Is there a reason for that? Does it mean that my 2125 is SOL?

I wouldn't count too much on XDA-Devs, Microsoft has told them to pull all the illegal ROMs. So there's not much chance of one showing up there.

I don't know why HTC is only upgrading devices with a keyboard. That's just what I was told. Perhaps they don't see a need, or maybe WinMo6 is a little larger than the candy-bar phones can handle since they don't tend to have as much memory as the newer models. Just a guess. But that's what I was told.

[Mike Temporale]

Can you post the link. Everytime I try to click the headline I get the adword link and go to live search. *sigh*

There is no link for source on this. We're the source. Well, us and our anonymous source. :mrgreen:

[nutzareus]

The ball is in the carriers and manufacturers court. Let's hope they don't drop it. :?

They are blind and never saw the ball hit them in the face. :P

While I am surprised T-Mobile officially announced a Crossbow upgrade for Dash owners, it is not unprecedented. If you recall, the T-Mobile Pocket PC (aka HTC Wallaby and AT&T SX56), got the Windows Mobile 2003 upgrade from 2002, back when it was called "Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition". :wink: Too bad I cracked the screen on that phone a couple of years ago, it was my initial phone when I joined T-Mobile in 2002...

[konker]

Any devices with a keyboard? Does that mean that my 8525 has hope to see an "official" upgrade? I'm waiting for the XDA-Developers Home Brew WM6 upgrade just to be safe. Why devices with a keyboard Mike? Is there a reason for that? Does it mean that my 2125 is SOL?

I wouldn't count too much on XDA-Devs, Microsoft has told them to pull all the illegal ROMs. So there's not much chance of one showing up there.

I don't know why HTC is only upgrading devices with a keyboard. That's just what I was told. Perhaps they don't see a need, or maybe WinMo6 is a little larger than the candy-bar phones can handle since they don't tend to have as much memory as the newer models. Just a guess. But that's what I was told.
Hi Mike!
I dun think "WinMo6 is a little larger than the candy-bar phones can handle".
I own the Dopod 595 aka HTC Breeze.
It has 128Mb ROM & 64Mb RAM.
That's no different from the HTC Vox that's being released with WM6 in terms of memory capacity.
And the 595 spots a Samsung 300Mhz cpu while the Vox/Excalibur uses TI OMAP 200Mhz cpu.
I can see WM SP devices heading towards keyboard-ed form factor but I dun buy it that HTC is only going to upgrade for devices with kb.
The Breeze is their flagship 3G/UTMS device & they are going to dump it just like that?
Makes one wonder about HTC's commitment to customer satisfaction & loyalty.

[Mike Temporale]

I dun think "WinMo6 is a little larger than the candy-bar phones can handle".
I own the Dopod 595 aka HTC Breeze.
It has 128Mb ROM & 64Mb RAM.
That's no different from the HTC Vox that's being released with WM6 in terms of memory capacity.

Right - not every device has the same memory footprint. Look at the SP5(m) line of phones. They only have 64/64 RAM/ROM and on these devices it might make a big difference.

Regardless, I'm not defending HTCs decission. I'm just telling you what I've learned and the reasons I think it might be that way. 8)

[bystander]

Folks,

If Mike's info source at HTC is accurate, then we who own WM5 devices from HTC without a keyboard ie Cingular 2125, 3125, etc had better start our massive email campaign to build pressure on the management folks to remember the MANY who own WM5 devices without keyboards.

We should not be left behind without a real fight.

Send your email TODAY.
[email protected]
and
[email protected]

We need to create a measurable response to get their attention. Tell your friends who use HTC non-keyboard WM5 devices to send their strongly worded customer service focused request to have their device included in the upgrade to WM6...


:!: :!: :!:

[Rocco Augusto]

If Mike's info source at HTC is accurate, then we who own WM5 devices from HTC without a keyboard ie Cingular 2125, 3125, etc had better start our massive email campaign to build pressure on the management folks to remember the MANY who own WM5 devices without keyboards.

We should not be left behind without a real fight.

I really wouldn't see it as being left behind. My Cingular 2125 ran a little sluggish on more than one occasion running Windows Mobile 5. While Windows Mobile 6 can run on older hardware, I'm sure it has higher memory requirements than Windows Mobile 5 and would run even more sluggish.

though, thats just my opinion. :)

[Jerry Raia]

I agree, the 2125 which I still own, is done as far as upgrades and the future. It isn't even 3G capable.

[nutzareus]

Cingular 2125 and T-Mobile SDA are both pieces of sh... :lol: I only bought the SDA because we had to have at least one candybar format phone to test our software. Not to rehash the negatives:

1. Hump phone! :wink:
2. A2DP had to be hacked. Even then, it stunk.
3. SLOW!
4. You call that a joystick?!

[Perry Reed]

For HTC owners, this is indeed a good sign. I wonder, though, how much additional work (read: money) does the carrier then have to put in to support the new OS? I sure hope Sprint decides to let us upgrade our PPC-6700's, but I'm not holding my breath. Still, from what I hear, most devices that can run WM5 are able to run WM6 as well, so we'll see.

[Sven Johannsen]

You have to remember that when most of this started MS didn't supply to Sprint/Cinglar/Imate, they supplied to HTC who didn't supply to consumers. Now HTC supplies to consumers directly. So, who is MS supplying to? HTC, the vendors/carriers? Are Cingular, etc., going to pay HTC to integrate the new OS? does HTC have an incentive to? They are selling their own products now.

I'm not holding my breath.

[davea0288]

Yep, I'd love an upgrade to my SDA...I plan to voice my opinion to t-Mobile.

I 2nd that for a WM6 upgrade for my SDA. I'd be willing to pay a reasonable fee for the priviledge (say $30). The SDA is a perfectly good device that could be even better with WM6.

[LelandHendrix]

I've listened to many describe the upgrade process as tentative, and seeming to worry the carriers and HTC will be reluctant to provide the upgrades.

I think you've overlooked a very big point.

HTC to some extent, and *especially* the carries have a tremendous incentive: support!

It costs more man hours to train new employees how to support two different operating systems, to devlop handbooks for step-by step procedures on the two different OSes, and have two different sets of operating parameters per devices.

Considering the architecture of most HTC devices are very similar, creating the ROMS shouldn't produce a lot of work on their part to tweak and port the new roms.

Carriers will benefit from having one, unified walkthrough procedure when dealing with telephone and email tech-support.

After applying the update to my 8525 (HTC TyTn) that came out earlier this year, I needed to restore the MediaNet profile that I had accidentally deleted. While browsing the support database at AT&T(Cingular) I noticed that many of the screens looked very different and the procedures for finding the nooks and crannies to paste the illustrated information into weren't that easy to find unless you really knew about network settings and what you were doing.

The biggest deal is this: Windows Mobile 6 is already shipping in new phones, and the carrier's support teams are already trained and ready to support it. More time and money would be spent in training support staff and developing knowledge bases for users and support personnel alike to support BOTH WM5 and WM6, not to mention the additional customer confusion.

I firmly believe that any device capable to convert to WM6 will be offered to customers.

After all, part of the development of WM6 was made to enhance user experience and ease of use, thereby greatly reducing the need for such support--a big help to HTC as well.

And there are simple ways to make rom-updaters 99.999999999 failsafe with modern procedures. Just look how reliable motherboard BIOS flashes are now compared to when they started--and that's mostly due to advances in the way the software goes about its update.

That's just my impression. What do you guys think of my logic?