Does Samsung know about your desire for 8.1??

[daddymanAZ]

This week I received an ATIV SE for testing purposes at work. Having already installed the 8.1 developer preview on my HTC 8X and Nokia Icon, I felt it would be a no brainer to do the same to the ATIV SE. But like all good, responsible device owners, I decided to research the interweb for any known issues with this strategy...I'm glad I did!!

After reading numerous posts and warning about the pitfalls of 8.1 on the ATIV SE, I am curious to know how many folks have reached out to Samsung directly to voice your concerns, desires, dissatisfaction, whatever on the Samsung ATIV SE Community Q&A page? From what I can see, today, there is only one inquiry posted for status of 8.1 firmware.

It might serve the WP community better (specifically, the ATIV SE owners) if we make a concerted effort to present our frustrations about what appears to be Samsung's lack of product support, delay in timely firmware updates, etc., on their front door so-to-speak.

I for one will be doing so today!

 

[snowmutt]

Good. Not getting WP 8.1 to it's selection of phones - especially the quad-core ATIV SE- would ensure I never get a Sammy flavored WP again. I almost had myself talked into an ATIV S Neo on AT&T a couple months back simply because I actually like Sammy screens (think the Neo is better then my L920 I got instead) and loved my WP 7 Focus S. But not moving a major update to their phones like 8.1 would be just moronic.

Let us know how they respond to you.

 

[ToryWho]

This will be my last Samsung phone. I am frustrated to the point of anger about the way the phone has been completely ignored by Samsung. The irony is that the Samsung name was the reason I bought the phone in the first place.

 

[ToryWho]

I contacted Samsung support today and asked them what their plans are for this phone. The response was essentially, "there is no information at this time". I will NEVER buy another Samsung phone.

 

[RDuncan88]

I am in the same boat; testing the Ativ SE for my company, but not on windows 8.1. I knew that it was coming with windows 8 on it, but figured that there would be an upgrade by now. I have no pressing issues on the phone on WP8 except for a few applications that do not like to stay logged-in. I hope the update to the firmware come soon, it would be nice to see the more advanced capabilities of the newer OS WP8.1. Where can I complain to help this process??

 

[Fred Wilson2]

What is it about 8.1 that has everyone chomping at the bit to get ?
I have a Nokia Lumia running 8.1 and a ATIV SE with 8 (of course).
I have no problem at all with 8.
About the only feature that 8.1 has that I would like on the ATIV SE is the ability to assign different notification tones to individual apps, so I can tell by "sound" when I get a notification on Viber or FB, etc.
Other than that there is nothing that really blows my socks off about 8.1, at least from what I've used on the Nokia.
Don't mis-understand please, 8.1 will be nice when it gets to the ATIV SE however the lack of it certainly isn't giving me heartburn.


Fred

 

[WPLurkerCE]

Good idea. I started to write something up to send/post on Samsung's page and Verizon Wireless, but I never finished it. I suppose it can't hurt to keep posting on their sites to get this updated. I really like this phone. I preferred the specs over the Nokia. All I keep reading is who is blaming who...Microsoft, Verizon Wireless and Samsung. Lots of blame, no action. Sadly, I have deja vu all over again. I had a Droid Bionic. Suffered hitting the update button practically every day for a year. How did I fall for this trap again?!

 

[Fred Wilson2]

But what is it, exactly, about 8.1, or rather the lack of 8.1 at the moment, that's giving you heartburn ?


Fred

 

[sncboom2k]

I particularly want the Action Center. I also like the ability to add more tiles to the main page and now with update 1 on 8.1 - the folders are great.

My opinion but hands down 8.1 bring a lot of wonderful things to the nice yet lacking windows 8. Maybe someday I'll be able to use my Samsung phone again - but until they update it - already having 8.1 on it with the bugs, makes it unusable for my needs.

 

[ToryWho]

For me, the main desire to have 8.1 is to solve all the issue caused by the Dev Preview. I updated my phone before the public announcement about all the instability. So, for several months now I have lived with freezing, unresponsive touch screen, random crashes and reboots on a daily basis. The phone is prone to crashing in the middle of a phone call, which always seems to happen when I'm on a work related call. It is embarrassing.

I was okay with the inconvenience at first, because I assumed that the official update was around the corner, and that is what I get for updating early. But many months later and no word on the official update has be worried I'm going to have to live these problems until I can afford to get another phone. I'd happily move back to the stable 8.0 if I had that option, but since there is no way to go back, all I can do it wait and hope for the official update.

And in spite of my irritation with all this, I still like the phone over all. It is a really great phone... when it works.

 

[Scottdd]

I am surprised nobody said Cortana was a reason to want 8.1. Is there a way to get that on a Windows 8 phone?

 

[daddymanAZ]

Sorry for delay...I must have forgot to check the box to notify me of replies to this post...my bad :eck:

For me, the heartburn comes from an enterprise perspective. Because I'm responsible for the integrity and security of my companies data, I have to find the best solution available today. 8.1 has features that get it closer to being on par with iDroid in the enterprise (still have room to improve but it's better than plain 8).

Features that I've found in 8.1 that I miss when using 8:

• 
  New API's for MDM
  Built-in VPN support
  Enhanced encryption features for Email, VPN & WiFi
  Certificate Management
  New Office Lens features (OCR)
  Separate volume controls
  Action Center (it really is helpful to find everything in one place)
  New calendar layout (everyone I've shown is jealous)
  IE11 (it is improved over IE10)
  WordFlow keyboard (most Android user won't consider another phone if it doesn't have this)
  Improved camera experience (remember, we're talking Samsung so we don't have the Nokia apps)
  Bluetooth 4.0 LE
  Geofencing (requires MDM)
  Wireless presentation options such as Miracast

The security enhancements found in 8.1 (missing in 8.0) are the biggies here. There's no denying WP8 is less secure than other platforms...because of this I can't recommend the platform. With 8.1 security enhancements, I feel the platform can meet a minimum standard that won't jeopardize my companies digital assets.

Hope this helps give you insight to my heartburn..

 

[daddymanAZ]

No response from Sammy yet...but I didn't expect they would.

 

[snowmutt]

But what is it, exactly, about 8.1, or rather the lack of 8.1 at the moment, that's giving you heartburn ?


Fred

It is also just the simple fact that Samsung should support their WP's at least half as well as they do their Androids. It isn't about when WP 8.1 shows up- I think considering how small WP sales are for Samsung, we understand it isn't a huge priorty. It is just that they do it at all.

My Focus S, the Focus Flash, and the Focus 2 WP 7 devices never got 7.5 from Sammy. It did get security fixes and firmware updates, but not 7.5. The ATIV S Neo on Sprint and AT&T have not gotten WP 8.1 yet, and Sprint announced it would. But nothing from Sammy.

Like mentioned above, the ATIV SE is a quad core gem of a device that is still being sold at flagship prices. The WP 8.1 update needs to come just to justify the price, just like the Lumia Icon should get it. I know that Samsung is a "love 'em or hate 'em" company. I love Samsung devices. I really do. But if an excellent device like the SE does not get supported with the major updates, then why think any Samsung every will?

 

[Matthew Becker1]

For Samsung to release a device so close to the 8.1 release, it truly would be in bad taste not to release the 8.1 update. I'm certain that they will eventually, but with no information for anybody (even WPCentral) to go on, we're left scratching our heads. Now, they've released 8.1 apps in the store already (ATIV Camera was pulled; ATIV Clock is new), so that does mean that they are planning to support 8.1, but they're taking far longer than any of us would like.

 

[daddymanAZ]

I won't disagree....it appears Samsung will be supporting WP8.1 at some point in time. The $50,000 question is "Will Samsung deliver a firmware/WP8.1 update to existing WP8 phones?" I certainly hope they will. At the same time I'm skeptical they are preparing to only support WP8.1 on new devices. Only time will tell....

 

[ToryWho]

If Samsung makes the choice to only support new devices with 8.1, that would be a slap in the face to current customers.

I would make some empty threat about never buying another Samsung device if they did that, but the truth is at this point I'll use two cans and a string before Samsung will see another dime of money.

 

[snowmutt]

If Samsung makes the choice to only support new devices with 8.1, that would be a slap in the face to current customers.

I would make some empty threat about never buying another Samsung device if they did that, but the truth is at this point I'll use two cans and a string before Samsung will see another dime of money.

Okay... I kinda laughed out loud at that... Does that make me a bad person??

:excited:

 

[ToryWho]

Nope. I chuckled to myself as I wrote it. :smile:

 

[revas527]

Just to keep you all in the loop, the older ATIV S (i8750 global model) has just started getting the wp 8.1.1 update from Samsung, so its a good guess the ATIV SE will be getting it at some point. Just keep the pressure on Samsung and Verizon...