Windows Phone 7's Upgrade to WP8 Apollo Now Unclear

[anodynamic]

There's also the possibility that Apollo doesn't mean end of life for WP7. Even if it doesn't get updated to the new platform (which is a big upgrade with the kernel switch and so on), there could still be future WP7 versions that add necessary features to current phones.

 

[scottcraft]

It's not such a big deal for my trophy to not get Apollo since I'll be eligible for an upgrade close to the time Apollo should be released, but it would really stink for those who buy WP the first half of this year. If the first Gen phones can't upgrade to Apollo I'll have to think hard about whether or not I want to continue to support the windows phone platform.

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[cdook]

If WP7 phones don't get WP8 then I'm blaming the carriers. They want people buying new subsidized phones and being locked in 2 year contracts. They're best interest is no feature updates for any phones.

Now on the PC world, I bought a laptop with Vista 5 years ago. I was able to upgrade to Windows 7 and now Windows 8. Sure I had to pay for the upgrade, but I'm sure others would pay for major phone releases.

 

[doublebullout]

Just playing devils advocate here...
Most responses here are of the "I must have WP8 for my current WP7 phone" variety. Yet no one really knows what will be in WP8 that makes it a "must have it!" upgrade. So it seems to me that the angst is more than a bit premature.


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[coffeemike]

Just playing devils advocate here...
Most responses here are of the "I must have WP8 for my current WP7 phone" variety. Yet no one really knows what will be in WP8 that makes it a "must have it!" upgrade. So it seems to me that the angst is more than a bit premature.

Perhaps. Although from what I understand, 7 to 7.5 was fairly significant, and as awesome an experience as it is, there is much more to be done/polished in the OS. This doesn't make the angst correct, but understandable.

(PS - Aggies? Hm. GO OWLS)

 

[fogel35]

Microsoft and Nokia are really going to screw people by selling them still born Nokia Lumia 900's that will end of life 3-4 months later.

All this advertising money would be better served if they stacked it on the front lawn of Microsoft/Nokia headquarters and lighting it on fire.

 

[anodynamic]

Microsoft and Nokia are really going to screw people by selling them still born Nokia Lumia 900's that will end of life 3-4 months later.

All this advertising money would be better served if they stacked it on the front lawn of Microsoft/Nokia headquarters and lighting it on fire.

I was thinking that the recent offers from other OEMs have been limited, and one possible conclusion is that they know MSFT will support phones with new features for some time, which is why they brought out so few models with Mango and also kept them limited ? with minimum acceptable storage and so on ? to give users other incentives to buy a new phone this year as well.

 

[borjeboy]

True Nokia has used billions of dollars in advertising in europe for lumia 800. They have convinced all carriers to recommend it. And had done commercials togheter with the carriers and those How buys their phones there has 12-24 months plan. No way Nokia can afford to let everyone Down after just few months.

 

[paulm187]

On the Windows side, there have been direct upgrade paths from previous OS but not from older OS, for example there is no direct upgrade from XP to Win7.

Xp --> Vista
Vista --> Win7
Win7 --> Win8

If this holds true to phone OS we can expect an upgrade path from WP7.5 --> WP8 but I'm not holding my breath. It is in both the cariers and Microsft's interest to sell more phones, the consumer will lose out.

 

[Dave Blake]

No news is good news and what you have in the article posted in the OP is no news. I give props to the writer of the article though he got us all talking about nothing.

 

[paulm187]

"It's a great hardware sales tool, as far as I can tell. Install an OS that makes your hardware unusably slow so you feel compelled to go back to the store and buy a new piece of hardware"

This statement can also be parsed as older phones will get the WP8 update and it will run great on both WP7 generation hardware and also the new WP8 phones, unlike iOS.

 

[power5]

Win 8 is a huge advance over win7/wp7.5. Main and most prominent feature is the fact that everything you do is linked between desktop, tablet, phone just by logging in. Even apps/programs. No other ecosystem is even close to that. It will be so intuitive switching between mobile and desktop with win8. Not even apple can beat that. OSX is not at all like iOS from my useage.

That said, I see no reason why my titan could not run win8. Its only 6 months old. My 3g iphone was able to run 2 year advanced OS. I hope windows at least lets phones run next gen OS on current devices.

 

[anond]

Yet no one really knows what will be in WP8 that makes it a "must have it!" upgrade

I bought an Omnia W not just for the exciting interface, but also for the expected integration with my desktop that is promised in WP 8. The release of Apollo is expected to coincide with the official launch of Windows 8 for desktop and this integration is what is going to make Windows Phones the game changers as they are touted to be.

If I am not going to get it, I lose the decade and a half of loyalty I have with Microsoft. Because they are going back on the philosophy of backwards compatibility that made them the company I like in the first place.

 

[AngryNil]

My bet is that Apollo will come with a limited feature-set. The separate tiers of Tango indicate that Microsoft is fine with changing up features according to hardware, so I see no reason why older devices wouldn't get a stripped-down version of Apollo.

 

[Mars2003]

The silence is what speaks loudest to me.

If the likes of the Lumia 800/900 and Titan could run Apollo, then Microsoft would be talking that up. Keeping quiet in that circumstance would damage sales.

If they are not going to transition those devices to WP8 then the smart move is to say nothing if you want to sell as many of these phones as possible. Problem there is that some folks may be a little miffed in a few months time.

I for one was looking forward to the Lumia 900, but comments like those from Myerson have clouded things and I now find myself waiting for a categorical statement of fact from MS.

 

[HeyCori]

Or it could be that Microsoft is just following the Sinofsky approach and not talking about their products until they have something concrete to say.

Steven Sinofsky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sinofsky's philosophy on Windows 7 was to not make any promises about the product or even discuss anything about the product until Microsoft was sure that it felt like a quality product. This was a radical departure from Microsoft's typical way of handling in-development versions of Windows, which was to publicly share all plans and details about it early in development cycle. Sinofsky also refrained from labeling versions of Windows "major" or "minor", and to instead just call them releases.

I'm guessing MS won't say anything about Tango/Apollo until they can give you solid details and within a timeframe that their competitors can't take advantage of.

 

[palandri]

...I'm guessing MS won't say anything about Tango/Apollo until they can give you solid details and within a timeframe that their competitors can't take advantage of.

That's a very important point. The mobile world is a very competitive world.

 

[ubizmo]

Compare the BlackBerry case, with BB10 coming around the same time as WP8. Tech types know that current hardware won't run BB10 but RIM isn't saying a word. OS7 sales are already weak; that would make them worse.

I hope I'm wrong about WP8.


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[kenzibit]

Gen 1 and 1.5 devices will be upgraded. That statement could mean anything, it could've meant "Android devices don't get updates,apple devices get updates that slow down but our update process will be different and still provide a stable user friendly experience". All in all I wouldn't be too disappointed if my HD7 won't get updated to Apollo because I was planning on getting a new device around that time anyway.

I love that explanation. Who knows, MSFT will be surprising us all in a good way. I hope they know what we talk about in forums coz they READ what we write...I bet you there's a MSFT guy here among us and reading our posts....and I'm telling that guy right now that, MSFT will be DAMNED to not upgrade 1st gen phones....NO DOUBT!!!

 

[Narr]

Have Microsoft even "officially" stated that all phones will get Tango? I can't remember if I've just heard rumours about 2 Tango releases or whether it was an official statement.
Microsoft have been very coy even talking about Apollo before Tango is released so I'll wait for the feature list before getting excited.