Gdr3?

[N_LaRUE]

Nobody is confusing the two.

What I am getting at is people get excited over these 'patch' updates as that's all they are and I wonder what people are expecting out of them. Seems a lot. At this stage all we know is that GDR3 will probably add an extra column of tiles, possible different size tiles and support 1080 HD, it's unlikely to be much else. GDRs are not 'additional' feature updates, they're patches for the OS. Where as WP8.1 (aka Blue) is what most of us are really waiting for. That will be the update that matters for most of us.

Now of course that doesn't mean we won't be 'suprised' by something but really, GDR2 is nothing special at the end of the day and GDR3 will be about the same. They're not going to release major features that close to the WP8.1 update.

 

[N_LaRUE]

Hurt=Sales, in this instance.......

I know what you meant. Thing is most average smartphone users won't find WP as painful as I do, for example. Most people just want to do the basics and if you're new to a smartphone you won't even know what you're missing in most cases. I think the biggest issues has been the small problems that should have been fixed quicker, not necessarily the addition of features. Fix the SD card issues, fix Xbox, fix the battery, fix the ability to add Office documents to a reply email, etc. That's more important to me than additional features if you want the platform to grow. Having these kinds of issues is what make people dump the platform. That's my biggest complaint with the 'slow' updates. These patches should come out quickly to fix these things rather than wait for some, for lack of a better term, service pack update.

 

[psudotechzealot]

What I am getting at is people get excited over these 'patch' updates as that's all they are and I wonder what people are expecting out of them. Seems a lot.

Oh ok. That makes sense.

At this stage all we know is that GDR3 will probably add an extra column of tiles, possible different size tiles and support 1080 HD, it's unlikely to be much else. GDRs are not 'additional' feature updates, they're patches for the OS. Where as WP8.1 (aka Blue) is what most of us are really waiting for. That will be the update that matters for most of us.
.

No hope for a Notification Center?

 

[N_LaRUE]

No hope for a Notification Center?

We don't know for certain but typically GDRs are about bug fixes and extension of what is already on the OS, for example FM radio is being turned on in GDR2, excluding anything that Nokia or your handset manufacturer may throw in. Since there is no notification center already I think it's unlikely until WP8.1.

With FM radio it appears that it was meant to be on at release but they didn't have time to implement it or something like that. You still need the hardware too.

Keep in mind GDRs are from MS and any firmware update is from the manufacturer so they're different.

 

[CyberAngel_777]

I will confuse even MORE

General Distribution Release 3 is actually Windows Phone 8.1 Beta
:shocked:
as the HW update was badly needed thus that part is pushed agile out before Christmas to the users delight!!

and the Developers part, the unified API (W81,WP81,Xbox1), is out hopefully at Feb 2014
:unhappysweat:

 

[N_LaRUE]

I will confuse even MORE

General Distribution Release 3 is actually Windows Phone 8.1 Beta
:shocked:
as the HW update was badly needed thus that part is pushed agile out before Christmas to the users delight!!

and the Developers part, the unified API (W81,WP81,Xbox1), is out hopefully at Feb 2014
:unhappysweat:

Would you mind supplying a link of where you got this information from? I don't see the point of a 'Beta' release of WP8.1 and I've seen nothing that indicates this.

 

[a5cent]

Would you mind supplying a link of where you got this information from? I don't see the point of a 'Beta' release of WP8.1 and I've seen nothing that indicates this.

You are taking it too seriously. It's made up. GDR3 is a beta of WP8.1, just like Windows Vista was a beta to Windows 7. Not.

 

[N_LaRUE]

You are taking it too seriously. It's made up. GDR3 is a beta of WP8.1, just like Windows Vista was a beta to Windows 7. Not.

Sometimes I have difficulty noticing these things. I'm not feeling 100% so that makes even more difficult. I wish we had a proper roadmap of updates but I guess that's dreaming.

 

[a5cent]

Sometimes I have difficulty noticing these things. I'm not feeling 100% so that makes even more difficult. I wish we had a proper roadmap of updates but I guess that's dreaming.

lol. Get well soon! And yes, tell me about it... No roadmap, no widely communicated vision, no communication... the single biggest threat to WP is Microsoft.

Even getting the release notes for GDR2, which is already shipping, is apparently asking too much.

 

[N_LaRUE]

lol. Get well soon! And yes, tell me about it... No roadmap, no widely communicated vision, no communication... the single biggest threat to WP is Microsoft.

Even getting the release notes for GDR2, which is already shipping, is apparently asking too much.

Everyone thinks Apple is pretty secretive but I'm starting to think MS is making them look open by comparison! At least Apple gives you some idea of things to come before they're released we're just left in the dark, waiting. Then again these GDR updates are not meant to be more than a patches or update to integrated software so maybe they don't feel the need to tell people...

 

[a5cent]

Then again these GDR updates are not meant to be more than a patches or update to integrated software so maybe they don't feel the need to tell people...

Unfortunately, they don't feel the need to tell people anything. That doesn't just apply to GDR updates.

I know that they had a few bad experiences with WP7.5, where they revealed some of their planned features too early. By the time they shipped, iOS and Android already included the same features. They also revealed a few things they intended to do, but ultimately couldn't, which also caused some anger (for example the enthusiast update program). So, I understand their need to restrict much of the communications that occurred in WP's early days. However, now they've gone too far towards the opposite extreme. IMHO the solution isn't to stop communicating, but to be more professional about it.

 

[abarzabar]

I think you have this down to a tee. I believe the release time line for GDR 3 will close with that of W8.1 (October 17), or there shortly there after. It shouldn't be much more a month. I think that Microsoft is trying to tie W8 and WP8 much closer together. Creating a multi-device notification center and making the reading list work with GDR3 or at least WP8.1.

 

[Amritash Pathania]

task manager , file manager , notification center , universal search , X to close apps(like apple) , folders , copy paste , independent volume and profiles ,more things for customization .these are the features one would heartily welcome.