Windows phone 8

[rexalbel]

As we all know, windows mobile will eventually move up to 8. We can all call it windows phone, but in reality it is windows mobile, even if it's from the ground up, because its a windows mobile device off the same version sequence. Non of this is technical or cause for argument lol my actual point is, when we move up to windows phone 8, how will those with windows phone 7 upgrade? Will we pay for installable versions? Will it be a free over the air update? Will our phones be compatible? What's the life on thise generation of devices as far as software upgradability compared to iOS, webos, and android. So far, iOS has shown the longest life. Android has shown the most fragmentation, though it appears some devices born post android 2 did make it up to 2. As far as webos goes, they are good about not being too fragmented, but it took 1.5 years for a 2.0 to be announced and it wasn't ever released. They basically ditched every current device and opted to offer new devices with 2.0 only. Will my windows phone be upgradable till the end of my two year contract? This should be a standard every os achieves, two year upgradability.

 

[wheelerk]

First off, I would say that Windows phone is not Windows Mobile. Windows Phone is brand new code. Its really hard to even call it windows. Windows 8 is a littles way out and I don't think any here can answer that. It would be nice to keep my Focus for a while and still have the latest OS. It would be nice if you could, but you just couldn't take advantage of any new hardware specific features that WP8 would bring. Microsoft does that on the desktop. As long as the hardware vender is putting out drivers for the new OS, you can continue to upgrade you OS. I'm pretty sure if the current phones are compatible with Windows 8, then it won't be an OTA upgrade. I hope Microsoft continues to upgrade via Zune to allow for restore points. I can see some small security updates OTA, but must updates will be coming with new features and will probably be too large for OTA.

 

[jalb]

, when we move up to windows phone 8, how will those with windows phone 7 upgrade?

I am on AT&T. I can only assume that I will upgrade by being told my existing phone is in "testing" status for so long that I just buy a new one.

 

[rexalbel]

First off, I would say that Windows phone is not Windows Mobile. Windows Phone is brand new code. Its really hard to even call it windows. Windows 8 is a littles way out and I don't think any here can answer that. It would be nice to keep my Focus for a while and still have the latest OS. It would be nice if you could, but you just couldn't take advantage of any new hardware specific features that WP8 would bring. Microsoft does that on the desktop. As long as the hardware vender is putting out drivers for the new OS, you can continue to upgrade you OS. I'm pretty sure if the current phones are compatible with Windows 8, then it won't be an OTA upgrade. I hope Microsoft continues to upgrade via Zune to allow for restore points. I can see some small security updates OTA, but must updates will be coming with new features and will probably be too large for OTA.

Thanks for the good analysis of windows phone bs windows mobile. I wasnt sure if it was the same code or not. I had windows mobile way back in the 2003 days so I can't compare as well it is definitely different. I do miss the PIM from windows mobile but I like wp7 way better. So updates will be handled like iOS and not be so much handled like windows? (I believe if you could upgrade from windows mobile versions it was like 50 bucks and wiped your device right?)

I was unsure how upgrading went. I had webos which is updated over the air. I don't mind using zune though. I do hope updates which add new generation features don't disclude older devices but rather just don't include those features for the phones.