Prediction: Microsoft/Nokia will disappoint at MWC

[theefman]

Definitely don't expect anything from LG No LG Windows Phones being announced at MWC 2012 | WMPoweruser. Probably why we never saw that hands on hinted at on twitter by the wpcenttal account.

 

[HeyCori]

I don't believe WP7 in its current configuration can even use NFC.

Or dual-core. Now I see that quad-core Android phones will be released soon. Has Google even optimized Android to run on quad-cores? It seems like Android hardware continues to outpace the OS. And I'd be darned if ICS isn't one of the ugliest UIs I've ever seen.

 

[tissotti]

I'm not either expecting anything from MWC, what can you expect? The specs are set into the stone on Mango and Tango will just offer cheaper phones. While Tango will be in a way big news, it doesn't do anything to me. I kind of wanna the European version of Lumia 900, but can't justify it at the moment as a 800 owner. I rather wait for Apollo.

Windows 8 tablet from Nokia would be huge, but it's too early. Rumors have been talking about Nokia Connetions announcements. Nokia Connetions was in June last year.

 

[freestaterocker]

All I really care about is finding out for sure if current and first Gen phones will get Apollo. I'm under contract until mid-2014 so if I'm spending the cash to upgrade by buying a phone outright anytime soon I want to be sure it's gonna be supported. Otherwise I may as well save my pennies for a native WP8 device.

 

[theefman]

I'm not either expecting anything from MWC, what can you expect? The specs are set into the stone on Mango and Tango will just offer cheaper phones. While Tango will be in a way big news, it doesn't do anything to me. I kind of wanna the European version of Lumia 900, but can't justify it at the moment as a 800 owner. I rather wait for Apollo.

Windows 8 tablet from Nokia would be huge, but it's too early. Rumors have been talking about Nokia Connetions announcements. Nokia Connetions was in June last year.

Unless they start speeding up their development process Apollo or Tango wont matter. The competition is enabling better features due to better hardware, and WP7 looks poor stuck doing basic stuff. There's already a pattern appearing of no announcements for WP7 and if the best the platform can do at the showcase mobile exhibition is one low end phone and a phone that was announced last month then there are some really tough times ahead sales wise for WP7.

 

[tissotti]

Unless they start speeding up their development process Apollo or Tango wont matter. The competition is enabling better features due to better hardware, and WP7 looks poor stuck doing basic stuff. There's already a pattern appearing of no announcements for WP7 and if the best the platform can do at the showcase mobile exhibition is one low end phone and a phone that was announced last month then there are some really tough times ahead sales wise for WP7.

That seems to be the reality, like it has been since WP was announced. Hopefully Apollo will really make the needed jump on hw support.
Software needs time, you can't really make the process faster. It will take years, just like it did for Android and iOS to get most of the Symbian features while having 100x better UI. Before that Symbian was easily outselling both.

 

[Big Supes]

Unless they start speeding up their development process Apollo or Tango wont matter. The competition is enabling better features due to better hardware, and WP7 looks poor stuck doing basic stuff. There's already a pattern appearing of no announcements for WP7 and if the best the platform can do at the showcase mobile exhibition is one low end phone and a phone that was announced last month then there are some really tough times ahead sales wise for WP7.

I agree, although (correct me if I'm wrong) I don't see why MS can't tease us with some Apollo news next week, considering they could roll it out this coming autumn.

Sent from my HD7 T9292 using Board Express

 

[theefman]

I agree, although (correct me if I'm wrong) I don't see why MS can't tease us with some Apollo news next week, considering they could roll it out this coming autumn.

Sent from my HD7 T9292 using Board Express

Here's the rub, even if they do anything unique will be ripped off by either apple or an android oem/google so by the time MS releases the next version its no longer a selling point. They just take too long, and are overtaken by the time they release their improvements. They should release Tango as Apollo-lite, upgrading current phones with hardware agnostic features, then when the big one hits they can add new hardware with better specs that fully take advantage. The way they are going about it we are stuck for long periods without any improvements to the OS, seemingly stagnant while competitors improve both software and hardware, while MS waits to certify new hardware for WP. The 610 & 900 are going to seem pretty tame compared to what we've seen so far.

Edit: htc is now also giving WP the finger http://wmpoweruser.com/htc-waiting-...tan-2-coming-to-other-lte-markets-outside-us/

 

[Residing]

Neither Microsoft nor Nokia will disappoint if you are not expecting 'the sky, stars, and moon'!

Nokia will announce their new camera tech (Pure View), which will no doubt be included in their high end devices (regardless of OS); they will announce a new entry level Tango device, and may even have something to announce with regards to devices running their legacy OS.

At the end of the day, it is Nokia who has an announcement with regards to WP. HTC, Samsung, and LG are M.I.A.

Big announcement, or small announcement - Nokia FTW!

 

[mprice86]

Neither Microsoft nor Nokia will disappoint if you are not expecting 'the sky, stars, and moon'!

Exactly.

It's all very well being enthusiastic about what could come out of MWC, but realistically we'll see the new Nokia handsets, features of Tango will get formally announced and we might be given a release date for the update. Probably not the last one though.

There is so much that I want to see and hear about from the conference that is just never going to be said. Everyone wants to know about Apollo, if their phones will be updated, how PC, Tablet, Phone and xBox will tie together and so on.

Some kind of major surprise announcement would be fantastic, but realistically it's just not going to happen.

 

[captainqtp]

This MWC is a tragedy for Windows Phone

Nothing from any of the manufacturers except a budget phone from Nokia, when Windows Phone really needs to be a on roll at this point, nobody wants it now that MS made their bed with Nokia. At least, that's the way it looks. I couldn't be more disappointed with this event WRT to Windows Phone.

The HTC One X absolutely kills it in hardware on a great OS. Wirless HDMI, DLNA, Beats, amazing camera, are you kidding me? I want an awesome Windows Phone, but I can't find one. I have the choice of using T-Mobile or Verizon. That leaves me with a couple mid-range/budget-ish phones in the Radar and the 710, or a totally obsolete phone with year and half old hardware, the Trophy. Come on people, give me some choices. When am I going to get a chance at a high end Windows Phone?

My only hope is that the switch to the Windows 8 kernel allows us access to the sort of hardware that is shipping inside the top tier Android phones later on this year. Microsoft has to find a way to make Windows Phone play nice with a bigger set of hardware so it can be at least within 6 months or so of Android. Maybe that new kernel will do it... here's hoping.

 

[starblade876]

I got an email that showed a picture of the HTC One and I find it interesting that it seems like some Android phones are using 3 front buttons now, instead of 4. If Apollo does support 2 and 4 cores, HTC could easily pull a Nokia and use the same model for a WP. Either way, I'm still not worried about the future of WP.

 

[Pronk]

It's a seriously mixed bag. You've got a low-end phone from Nokia that's considerably better looking than the phone next up in the range (physically, the 610 should be the 710 and vice versa), the worst kept secret ever of the 900 for the rest of the world, a low-end ZTE phone and so far still nothing from MS regarding Apollo and upgrades, which really needs sorting as it's starting to fester now.

Lots of new WP phones are coming through, but no word on what will upgrade and what won't. Will Tango phones upgrade? Will any current gen phones upgrade? It can't not be hurting sales having such a big question mark over things.

 

[Big Supes]

It's a seriously mixed bag. You've got a low-end phone from Nokia that's considerably better looking than the phone next up in the range (physically, the 610 should be the 710 and vice versa), the worst kept secret ever of the 900 for the rest of the world, a low-end ZTE phone and so far still nothing from MS regarding Apollo and upgrades, which really needs sorting as it's starting to fester now.

Lots of new WP phones are coming through, but no word on what will upgrade and what won't. Will Tango phones upgrade? Will any current gen phones upgrade? It can't not be hurting sales having such a big question mark over things.

It can if the answer to your questions is "no".

 

[Pronk]

Good point. I'm just hoping that's not why we haven't heard anything yet.

 

[Eirenarch]

I guess everyone who cares about this should assume that the answer is "no" at this point.

 

[HeyCori]

Nothing ground breaking but a few things did catch me by surprise. The 610/Orbit can run nearly 95% of current apps. I also didn't expect the 610 to run so smooth or look so pretty! Then there's the Skype beta (which I downloaded), and I don't think anyone was ready for a 41 megapixel camera! Still, I'm disappointed at the lack of Tango information, although (according to Neowin) the update will be available sometime in April. Hopefully Microsoft will release some information about Tango later today.

All things considered, I'm still excited to see some new hardware and services coming from Nokia. It's amazing how one company is single handily changing the Windows Phone landscape. I'm actually hoping they release the 610 unlocked in America. It'd make for a good replacement phone for my girl just in case the Focus breaks. I also just read that Android activations are now up to 850k per day! That's insane. I think the iPhone is around 560k. It makes you realize the importance of phones like the 610, because there's still a giant market out there for low-end phones and Microsoft needs to make a splash before cheap Android phones take all the water.

 

[aubreyq]

...Microsoft seems to be dragging their feet with everything. I really don't understand their strategies and where they get off thinking they just have enough interest that they can just wait a whole year until they unveil things or make announcements that will impact people's buying decision.

Yep. Only one company has the mindshare to pull that off. We all know who it is.

Nokia and Microsoft taking their time in other countries before going hard in the states is really annoying and it feels like they just "know" their big names devices will sway people over so they can take their time. I can understand perhaps wanting to establish a stronger developer base and all that, but I think they would be able to do that if they hurried up and released devices that people will safe investing money and effort into.

I completely agree.

Its like they're saying "Well, we will wait for the OS to support these technologies before we push phones with those technologies.". That's dumb IMHO because you might as well release the phones NOW, lock people in, and push the hardcore features when the big updates drop.

I'd love for it to be the way you describe, but then again a lot of us are going through some pain with WP updates, so imagine continuing that pattern. Ugh.

 

[selfcreation]

i dont think anything HUGE is to come out of this event!!!

new devices , maybe new software announcements...

CES was the big event for us , the next one is end of this year when they start to talk bout W8

 

[theefman]

I agree that it will too because Microsoft seems to be dragging their feet with everything. I really don't understand their strategies and where they get off thinking they just have enough interest that they can just wait a whole year until they unveil things or make announcements that will impact people's buying decision.

They seem to be banking on Windows 8 being the game-changer, so are tying everything into that release so they can have some big reveal of them all working together. Only thing is, if Windows 8 fails, then it takes everything else they have tied to it down as well. Would have been better to push WP harder and get people used to Metro, cos there is no guarantee that everyone is going to go with them considering the competition will be well entrenched and firing their own big guns as well.

Seems to me, Microsoft is still thinking like an old, stuffy company, assuming that everyone will buy their stuff just because they are Microsoft. Times have changed and there are hundreds of millions of people who have not and wont be using Microsoft services and by allowing yet another long period of time to pass without any visibility in the current hot tech markets they are only giving themselves a bigger hurdle to climb later to convince people to use their products.