[cgk]

It's all hands on deck at Microsoft right now: with a variety of high-visibility phone launches from partners scheduled before the end of the year, the company has not yet finished the Windows Phone 8 software, The Verge has learned.

Microsoft and Nokia's Lumia 920 announcement last week may have been a preemptive strike against Apple's iPhone 5, but both companies are now working overtime to ensure Windows Phone 8 launches on schedule. We're told by multiple sources that Microsoft had originally planned to launch Windows Phone 8 in early October, ahead of the launch of Windows 8. Microsoft is now targeting an October 29th software launch event with devices available throughout November, a slight delay to its original schedule.

Delays and bugs during testing have pushed back the launch, and associated devices, by weeks. We're told that HTC in particular has had a tough time testing one of its Windows Phone 8 devices, a process that has impacted its ability to announce handsets as early as Samsung and Nokia. Microsoft has been working closely with US carriers to ensure testing times are reduced. In some cases carriers may ship devices without any of the usual customizations, to reduce test times and ensure a November launch schedule remains likely. The tight schedule means that any delays in final carrier testing will impact the availability dates of Windows Phone 8 devices.

As Nokia waits, Microsoft fights to keep Windows Phone 8 on schedule | The Verge

One of the journalists from the register (I think it was the register) said that he crashed a 920 that he got hold of before the PR people noticed and took it off him - wonder how much work needs to be done.

[SnailUK]

Or maybe Microsoft are deliberately hiding something interesting, that they don't want leaked early.

Being that everyone who gets hold of phones is trying to find things havn't announced.and every SDK is ripped apart to find all the secrets.



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[threed61]

I've been using Win8 preview on an Acer w500 tab since last spring and am surprised at how many things keep crashing. A few apps are just about unusable, and the mail doesn't always work. It seems like they worked to the last minute on previous versions too, so l'm not worried. Yet.

[12Danny123]

I've been using Win8 preview on an Acer w500 tab since last spring and am surprised at how many things keep crashing. A few apps are just about unusable, and the mail doesn't always work. It seems like they worked to the last minute on previous versions too, so l'm not worried. Yet.

have you tried RTM yet?. much more stable and more better

[1jaxstate1]

Sounds like standard engineering/manufacturing process. I hope it comes before Window 8.

[threed61]

have you tried RTM yet?. much more stable and more better

Wasn't aware that consumers could get that. Its only 6 weeks til release, and I'll probably buy a better tab then.

[Big Supes]

Wouldn't surprise me if they're just hiding as much as possible from Blackberry. :D

[GoodThings2Life]

I don't know why everyone is panic-stricken about this. It's perfectly normal. Some of you may not have been around for the Mango launch, but that went to RTM on July 26, 2011. By the end of August, we had access to the manual install mechanisms, and by September 15, it was being pushed out to ALL phones... in other words, 7 weeks total.

As of this week, they have 7 weeks. Now granted, we don't know how "bad" the bugs are. Keep in mind that Windows 8 had one "show stopper" bug encountered and it pushed back RTM by a few days, but it still "released" on time.

Anyway, the point is simple... relax. These delays are nothing to worry about.

[blehblehbleh]

Or maybe Microsoft are deliberately hiding something interesting, that they don't want leaked early.

Being that everyone who gets hold of phones is trying to find things havn't announced.and every SDK is ripped apart to find all the secrets.

This is what I'm thinking too. They probably gave their OEM partners crippled builds of WP8 to prevent feature leaks.