Moto/Photon/Electrify/Atrix Debacle...MS Help!!

[dorelse]

Anyone think Microsoft & Nokia/HTC/Sammy could smell the blood in the water and help create an Escape Parachute for those of us who just got shafted by Motorola?

I'm done with Moto & Android in general...I want a phone that a) works b) gets a darn upgrade as promised!

I'd love to see them work out something with a WP8 partner to help rescue us from the madness that is Android!

 

[Winterfang]

If you want a phone that works and gets updates get the Iphone 5. We also have problems with untimely updates.

 

[jfa1]

Nope winterfang your idea of timely is just not what MS and the carriers have in mind. Perhaps maybe with WP8 and the promised OTA rolouts by MS will speed things up enough toi be more to your liking!

 

[Winterfang]

I hope so, right now we are at the carriers mercy.

 

[Mr. MacPhisto]

Yeah, that timely iOS 6 update with the new maps ROCKS!

 

[brmiller1976]

I'd be careful before advancing ANY platform as a "safe choice for future updates."

I did that with the Lumia 900 and Titan II just six months ago, and BOY did I get egg on my face in June!

 

[dorelse]

Well, my point was really that Microsoft really has an opportunity here. There are a lot of us who don't want to go Apple...although my wife and kids will likely be switching to an iPhone. (My wife though, would love a WP8 device...just would need to have it try it and see it in action.)

I plan on avoiding Apple if possible...but we'll see.

 

[brmiller1976]

Samsung will likely be making an aggressive pitch to you as well.

I'm seeing some indication that "streamlining" is happening at carriers. They want to carry fewer makes and many fewer models of phone than they have in the past. Apple and Samsung are already "there," with some companies like HTC and Motorola likely to stay on too (due to "exclusive" models). The other players are going to have to work hard to earn their shelf space, especially as the business model shifts from "carrier exclusives" to selling the network rather than the device.

 

[freestaterocker]

Still don't understand why people buy a device for what it might do in the future vs what it does now. If my HD7 wasn't good enough in the pre-Nodo state in which I purchased it, I would've bought an android, or waited for the next round of devices. I admit there were some head-scratchers when I first started to use it, like the omission of separate volumes which even my last feature phone had, but it still qualified as a smartphone, and still ultimately served my needs, apart from battery life...

I think it pretty much comes down to people wanting what they can't afford, which is where subsidized contracts come in as well. If you can't afford to drop $700 on a device, then get something you can afford. Don't become a slave to a carrier just to get the "latest and greatest" because it never is for very long.

 

[geekmaster]

lol. I am so glad right now that i traded in my OG ATRIX 4G for a used samsung focus at a little prepaid corner shop in south Sacramento last april. But seriously its tegra 2. Do they really think ICS for that matter wont run smoothly on with the tegra 2? From a business standpoint i can see a purpose for it. save valuable time and resources by not updating all of their tegra 2 phones. The least they could do is give the cyanogen mod team the royal treatment akin to what sony did with their xperia devices.

Al little fact about my life before windows phone. I was running a beta build of cm9 that took about 7 months in the making and up to the point i had it on my atrix it still was shoddy as ****. Since april i have really missed android. "yes i did" technically the hardware ruined my experience. since then i purchased a nexus 7 on the 29th of September and now i am looking at android with fresh eye's again. Its either nexus or nothing else if you go with android.

 

[brmiller1976]

Still don't understand why people buy a device for what it might do in the future vs what it does now.

I agree, to an extent, but it's also a balance. Mobile phones are VERY expensive... you have to pay a fat payment up front plus accept a two (or in Canada, THREE) year contract.

As a result, people want to know the device that they're purchasing is going to last for at least the two years they own it, with regular updates that keep it reasonably current. They don't want to be stuck with something that, in 12 months' time, is completely obsolete or no longer supported. Motorola WILL piss off a big base of influential "geek" users with this move, which will result in poorer sales across the board as non-techies hear about their geeky friends' experiences with Moto.

My Palm Pre 2 was a great device "in context at the moment" that it was released, but was a poor purchase "on contract" (fortunately, I bought it OFF contract to have a webOS device). Had I bought it on a two year contract on Verizon last year, I'd be facing having to make it last to 2013 without any real security updates and a whole host of bugs that have emerged as Microsoft has released Exchange updates and Skype has changed its protocol. And that would be bad.

When you buy a smartphone, you buy a present and a future... not just a present. All the OEMs have to work to show users that their decision is a good one with an experience that will continue to deliver over that 24/36 month contract.

 

[dorelse]

For me, the really frustrating part is that the Tegra 2 is running ICS on tablets right now, quite nicely, I might add.

So its not a hardware thing. Yes, for me, I purchase a phone hedging my bets that it'll actually be supported for 18 mos. after its release, as the members of the Android Upgrade Alliance promised.

Anyway...is it true the Nokia has promised upgrade support for the 920? Or is Apple my the only true manufacturer I can depend on for upgrades? I will not buy another Android phone...including the Nexus.

 

[1jaxstate1]

I disagree. I didn't by my Focus until after MS announced they it would get an upgrade to NoDo. If I knew I would never be able to do copy and paste, I would have left it on the shelf. But I bought it anyway, knowing that it would be coming in the future. And I didn't switch from the Focus because MS announced Mango. The background and fast app switching was a welcomed addition.

Still don't understand why people buy a device for what it might do in the future vs what it does now. If my HD7 wasn't good enough in the pre-Nodo state in which I purchased it, I would've bought an android, or waited for the next round of devices. I admit there were some head-scratchers when I first started to use it, like the omission of separate volumes which even my last feature phone had, but it still qualified as a smartphone, and still ultimately served my needs, apart from battery life...

I think it pretty much comes down to people wanting what they can't afford, which is where subsidized contracts come in as well. If you can't afford to drop $700 on a device, then get something you can afford. Don't become a slave to a carrier just to get the "latest and greatest" because it never is for very long.

 

[stmav]

I agree, to an extent, but it's also a balance. Mobile phones are VERY expensive... you have to pay a fat payment up front plus accept a two (or in Canada, THREE) year contract.

As a result, people want to know the device that they're purchasing is going to last for at least the two years they own it, with regular updates that keep it reasonably current. They don't want to be stuck with something that, in 12 months' time, is completely obsolete or no longer supported. Motorola WILL piss off a big base of influential "geek" users with this move, which will result in poorer sales across the board as non-techies hear about their geeky friends' experiences with Moto.

My Palm Pre 2 was a great device "in context at the moment" that it was released, but was a poor purchase "on contract" (fortunately, I bought it OFF contract to have a webOS device). Had I bought it on a two year contract on Verizon last year, I'd be facing having to make it last to 2013 without any real security updates and a whole host of bugs that have emerged as Microsoft has released Exchange updates and Skype has changed its protocol. And that would be bad.

When you buy a smartphone, you buy a present and a future... not just a present. All the OEMs have to work to show users that their decision is a good one with an experience that will continue to deliver over that 24/36 month contract.

Do you think that with the drive for the whole W8 ecosystem acceptance, that there will be a better chance/effort to make the devices more relevant over a contract life than before? I can see at least within the MS world of Exchange, Office, Sky Drive, etc. all the platforms staying current with each other now than before as somewhat seperate entities.

 

[brmiller1976]

Do you think that with the drive for the whole W8 ecosystem acceptance, that there will be a better chance/effort to make the devices more relevant over a contract life than before? I can see at least within the MS world of Exchange, Office, Sky Drive, etc. all the platforms staying current with each other now than before as somewhat seperate entities.

Assuming Microsoft can deliver "one experience," I think the services will be arguably MORE relevant than the device itself (which will commoditize, Apple insistence to the contrary notwithstanding).

That's one reason Nokia develops all those fancy Nokia-only apps... they know that long-term, hardware won't keep users loyal.

The downside is that Microsoft delivers a good experience across its services not only on Windows Phone, but also iOS and Android. I've been able to keep living my Microsoft life across multiple OSes without a lot of problems. If I go as far as some futurists do, that suggests that the fundamental experience won't live in the OS but in the services, and that even if it loses the smartphone OS war, Microsoft can win the smartphone services war. An intriguing thought.

But regardless, any phone that is purchased needs to be able to keep accessing those services over the time of the contract, including any significant updates or enhancements to them.

 

[devize]

Another Atrix owner here. I'll be switching to the Lumia 920 once it gets released and hopefully Microsoft give me a better experience than Motorola/Google did.