Hardware or software holding back the next flagship?

[camstreet1]

Pretty much everyone in this part of the forum is looking either for a Icon/930 or 1020 flagship successor. If Windows 10 was finalised today, do you think the hardware team would be able to go into production more or less right away, or are there components going into these phones that simply aren't commercially available yet?

Thinking back to the Icon/930, there was really nothing in those phones' hardware that was impressive state of the art at the time of release (at least that I can think), or ahead of the competition.

Do you think this time is going to be different? Or when these phones are released, are we going to have shiny new software couple with dusty hardware that could have been mass produced 6+ months ago?

 

[N_LaRUE]

The phones don't need to be better than what's out there, they just need to be on par, or the best avaiable. The software will be the thing that differentiates it.

It is user experience that is more important than specs but the specs should be there to support the OS to it's best performance.

 

[tgp]

I've always felt that WP is "restricted" by software. If hardware was the issue, the partnership with Nokia would have resolved the problem.

Sent from whatever device I happen to be using today using Tapatalk

 

[camstreet1]

The phones don't need to be better than what's out there, they just need to be on par, or the best avaiable. The software will be the thing that differentiates it.

I think that's true, if you don't want Windows on phones to ever reach >10% market share. If they're going to make a serious dent in medium term, the hardware will need to be drool-worthy, with a design Apple would be proud of.

 

[RumoredNow]

I think that's true, if you don't want Windows on phones to ever reach >10% market share. If they're going to make a serious dent in medium term, the hardware will need to be drool-worthy, with a design Apple would be proud of.

See? You started driving straight for individuality, then took a hard left into conformity.

Some people like the iDesign, some don't. I don't feel emulation of the wrapper is a key to success for anyone except Chinese alibaba clones.

 

[Geddeeee]

WP isn't restricted by software or hardware... It is what it is, but everyone wants it to be something else!!!

 

[camstreet1]

Hehe - I said something Apple (as a company that appreciates great and innovative design) would be proud of. Not something that mimics what they're already doing.

 

[RumoredNow]

Hehe - I said something Apple (as a company that appreciates great and innovative design) would be proud of. Not something that mimics what they're already doing.

What makes you think Apple is proud of anything not Apple??? Don't back peddle into oxymoron land.

Nokia never appreciated great and innovative design? LG? Sony? Everyone is a hack except Apple? I find Apple mostly tired and played out through repetition of design. Like Danish Modern furniture; it wows at first, but wears thin through over use and cranked out overproduction.

If you insert one brand into your original statement: "...the hardware will need to be drool-worthy, with a design X would be proud of." Whomever X is becomes an exemplar.

 

[N_LaRUE]

What makes you think Apple is proud of anything not Apple??? Don't back peddle into oxymoron land.

Nokia never appreciated great and innovative design? LG? Sony? Everyone is a hack except Apple? I find Apple mostly tired and played out through repetition of design. Like Danish Modern furniture; it wows at first, but wears thin through over use and cranked out overproduction.

If you insert one brand into your original statement: "...the hardware will need to be drool-worthy, with a design X would be proud of." Whomever X is becomes an exemplar.

I happen to like Scandinavian design. Though I can only afford IKEA.

I like the top end designer stuff though. It's quality stuff.

 

[RumoredNow]

...Though I can only afford IKEA...

Please refer to the over use/cranked out production portion of my post. :grin:

Actually I do like Danish modern and Scandinavian design schools as a whole. I just couldn't see it fitting every room I occupy. My house, my work, my shopping mall. my cell phone store, my gas station...

And this is my beef with iDesign. They want everything they make to look homogenous. There is very little differentiation between product of the same size/form factor. And that is on purpose. Like the Borg - Apple wants to assimilate you and deep down they feel your resistance is futile. This attitude, in turn, reflects itself back into the homogony of their design in a very purposeful way.

 

[camstreet1]

If you insert one brand into your original statement: "...the hardware will need to be drool-worthy, with a design X would be proud of." Whomever X is becomes an exemplar.

Gosh, that's a lot of iHate you've got going on. Fine if you personally happen not to like their design, but they have just made the most money of any company ever, and are now selling as many smartphones as samsung despite far higher prices/margins, so I think it's fair to say they're already an exemplar of good design, whether you happen to agree or not.

 

[RumoredNow]

I'll admit the iPhone 6 and 6+ look nice. They did a very cool refresh this go around. I also believe they will run that into the dirt. That's their track record.

I don't hate Apple, per se. I am just discussing design and the idea that it is more open than "emulate what someone successful is doing." Copy cat is not design. Tracing paper is not design. Design is purposeful, with a coherency between form and function when done properly. It also evolves to meet varying tastes, changes by region, differs by product, cycles over time periods... Design should be fluid and dynamic.

I don't believe the statement "a design Apple would be proud of" is a design philosophy at all. Again, you could substitute any one name in there, even Nokia, and it is too limiting. It becomes non-design by default. It becomes stagnation.

 

[camstreet1]

I obviously hit a nerve there, but you read far too much into my words and in doing so missed the point of what I was saying: LaRue thinks that if the Windows 10 software's awesome, the phone hardware only needs to be as good as other stuff, not stand out from the crowd. I think this is wrong. And I think the iPhone's success exemplifies why it's wrong. MS are too far behind for that strategy to work in the short to medium term, in my view.

 

[MDMcAtee]

Both are holding it back.

The vast majority of people want more for their money and to spend less getting the most.

A phones spec's may not matter to some here, but in the real world it should. The higher the spec'd phone the longer it remains viable to run the latest software. Technology doesn't remain static either in software or hardware and it usually takes time to optimize programs to run on the latest hardware. Being able to get upgrades to programs requires the hardware to run it properly. The better a phone can run programs the better the user experience across all spectrums.

Some here doggedly refuse to understand this and hold on to the past.

To gain market share all aspects need to be looked at. Perception being one.

It is a new dawn for Windows phone and to compete globally against flagship phones from all platforms WP needs to be better than anything the competition has. Windows 10 is getting a lot of people excited and generating a lot of buzz not only on this forum but all of the tech sites. They need to have a flagship phone to continue the excitement and make people seriously consider a Windows phone who are on other platforms who want the hardware, then have the software to run best on it.

Cry me a river if you want but then build me bridge to get over it... Posted from my HTC M8

 

[kklemn]

since MS releases multiple phones a year they could simply have a cheap line (lumia 430 or what is it called) plastic line (lumias nowdays) and surface line (metal phones)

price range for both plastic and metal models could be the same. just give the people an option. i believe it's not that expensive to make a great hardware and put it in two different housings. i don't get it... apple puts one (or two last few years) phone a year, and has to stick with one design... MS does not.

give people some choice, and be innovative in designing! than push it hard, give it to some celebrity girl, and all the teens would want it.

 

[rhapdog]

Personally, I think if Microsoft could come out with a new SoC that is in fact a quantum computer that processes data at 27 exabytes per second, has 32 Petabytes of RAM and 4 Exabytes of on-board storage in a design that allows them to create a 3mm thick 6" phone that is virtually unbreakable, and it has the same functionality as the ships computer on Star Trek, and it sells for just under one dollar, then they will indeed put all Android phones and Apple phones out of business. Unless they make it a Verizon only phone, then they're screwed.