WP8 will make older WP's obsolete...REALLY?!

[thecaringkind]

I continue to be blown away by the sheer number of articles from the technorati and blogosphere that unequivocally state that the advent of WPB Apollo instantly and automatically make WP 7.5/7.8 OBSOLETE. For the old heads out there like me, remember that old original Twilight Zone episode 'The Obsolete Man' starring the late great Burgess Meredith? Basically in a future totalitarian state, Meredith's character is deemed 'obsolete' as a citizen due to his belief in the unseen, (faith), and his job as a librarian. His 'crimes' have basically sentenced him to death.

To draw an analogy based on that great old episode, so many folks on the web have basically passed judgement and convicted WP 7.5 to a death sentence which I think is short-sighted and unfair.

Could Microsoft have handled things a little better? Sure. Are the improvements in hardware and software worth the clean break. Sure. Do these things mean that everything done up to this point in time make WP 7.5 'obsolete'? Absolutely not.

I am amazed by the sheer amount of folks who claim to have love for WP castigating the operating system and basically stating that its time is done. Nokia desperately wants to hold on to the early Lumia adopters so they smartly will provide continued updates and support for the platform for the next 18 months after Apollo's release. During that time, I am quite sure that all of those folks like myself who love WP now are not suddenly going to lose their minds and decide that what they have now is crap just because something a little newer is available. Consider too that if there are some who feel that way, they can enjoy 'what's left' of WP 7.5 with the thought that when upgrade time comes around several established WP8 handsets wwith worked out bugs will be available.

This is NOT a WebOS/HP disaster situation people! Microsoft and Nokia are not going to abandon the platform. There's still a huge untapped market, (think Symbian) that the Lumia 900 platform could potentially exploit on a worldwide market basis. Not so much so here in the states where people are hopelessly drinking Android/iOS Kool-Aide, but to each their own.

The thought that WP 7.5/7.8 will just be useless and obsolete is kind of ludicrous to me when you consider the sheer number of NEW handsets Android and OEM's crank out every year still running GINGERBREAD for goodness sakes. Does that mean Android 2.3 is obsolete? Certainly not. Its still more than a viable OS used by millions of people.

Does Microsoft need WP8 to really move on into the future? Absolutely. However the ton of us who are quite happy with WP 7.5 are just as important to an overall platform that could use as many enthusiastic adherents as it can get.

Long live WP7.5/7.8

Cheers!

 

[jimski]

I'm with you brother. Still loving, and will continue to enjoy my L900, at least through next Spring.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express Pro

 

[Old_Cus]

I couldn't have said it better. I'm loving my L900 and I don't think I'll be looking at WP8 as long as my current phone works for me.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

 

[Laura Knotek]

I couldn't have said it better. I'm loving my L900 and I don't think I'll be looking at WP8 as long as my current phone works for me.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

Same here. I'll be an early adopter of desktop Win8, but I don't see a need to be an early adopter of WP8.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

 

[justop26]

I'll get a new WP8 as soon as they're out, but my current 1st gen Focus is going to serve my mother well, I'm sure.

 

[eric12341]

Same here. I'll be an early adopter of desktop Win8, but I don't see a need to be an early adopter of WP8.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

I see you finally changed your initial stance on W8, that's good.

 

[Marute]

I look very much forward to WP7.8 on ny Lumia 800. WP8 will bring a lot of cool features for sure but that will not make v7.5 and 7.8 any less functional. So I definitely agree with you, I'll continue enjoying using my phone after the launch of WP8, probably even more than I do no because of WP7.8 so it's cool.

Sent from my Lumia 800 using Board Express

 

[anon(5316299)]

The problem for many of us is that WP 7.5 is an obsolete product. We were looking to WP 8 to fix the problems. Now that won't happen...so we are disappointed.

In my case, I loved the metro UI, and really wanted MS to succeed...so I bought the L900. I quickly discovered three major flaws:

the Skype integration (or lack thereof) was a major issue.

Google Voice wasn't integrated with the dialer.

Navigation options were poor, and switching between nav and other apps generally killed nav.

I looked to WP 8 to fix these problems. Clearly that will not happen, so I cancelled my service and went back to my Galaxy Nexus. While I will miss many things about Windows Phone...it's still in beta. I'll wait and reassess when the real final version comes out.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[ninjacut]

Agree completely, satisfied Focus S user and will be happy with 7.8. Win8 really needs new hardware features like NFC so worth the wait

Sent from my Windows Phone 7.5

 

[Laura Knotek]

I see you finally changed your initial stance on W8, that's good.

I'm getting a Surface.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

 

[johnmcd348]

That's kind of how I feel about Windows Phone also. I just still cannot understand why Microsoft put out such a low end OS on the Market when they did. They could have done just as well by creating a skin over WM to get by until they worked all the kinks out of Windows Phone. To top it off, they did a horrible job promoting it and getting it out to the market. I'm staying with Windows only because I figure I have nothing else to loose. I've been a WM user for many years and just stuck with it after my TP2 went bad and was upgraded.

I'll wait and see what happens after they actually release and ship WP8 devices before I make any final decisions.

 

[eric12341]

The problem for many of us is that WP 7.5 is an obsolete product. We were looking to WP 8 to fix the problems. Now that won't happen...so we are disappointed.

In my case, I loved the metro UI, and really wanted MS to succeed...so I bought the L900. I quickly discovered three major flaws:

the Skype integration (or lack thereof) was a major issue.

Google Voice wasn't integrated with the dialer.

Navigation options were poor, and switching between nav and other apps generally killed nav.

I looked to WP 8 to fix these problems. Clearly that will not happen, so I cancelled my service and went back to my Galaxy Nexus. While I will miss many things about Windows Phone...it's still in beta. I'll wait and reassess when the real final version comes out.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Of course GV wouldn't be integrated in the dialer, its a google feature. MS has nothing to do with that, especially since Google is breaking alot of it's features for non google devices. Also with navigation apps it's never been a problem for me once resumed it updates with position, same as how it is with iOS. Shouldn't really be using apps when driving anyway. Android is even more so a beta than WP is there's malware, spam,spyware and inefficient use of hardware.

 

[thecaringkind]

I suppose that there are some make or break issues with folks and that's according to each persons individual needs. However no OS is perfect and I think its unfair to the overall competency of WP to single out issues that no different in many ways from the issues that nag Android & iOS. In any event overall customer satisfaction means a lot and WP users are overwhelmingly happy with their OS and their hardware.

 

[happynoodleboy]

In WP8 navigation apps will be able to run in the background so your route will not have to be recalculated every time you resume the application. Also Skype is built into the dialer in WP8. Google voice will probably never be integrated for obvious reasons.

 

[vp710]

The problem for many of us is that WP 7.5 is an obsolete product. We were looking to WP 8 to fix the problems. Now that won't happen...so we are disappointed.

In my case, I loved the metro UI, and really wanted MS to succeed...so I bought the L900. I quickly discovered three major flaws:

the Skype integration (or lack thereof) was a major issue.

Google Voice wasn't integrated with the dialer.

Navigation options were poor, and switching between nav and other apps generally killed nav.

I looked to WP 8 to fix these problems. Clearly that will not happen, so I cancelled my service and went back to my Galaxy Nexus. While I will miss many things about Windows Phone...it's still in beta. I'll wait and reassess when the real final version comes out.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Beta? You know what "beta" means, right? Android is a beta OS. Poor performance and bugs. The WP OS may be lacking some features but it works flawlessly (better than iOS or Droid). There's nothing "beta" about it. Please use the right words.

GVoice not being integrated is kind of obvious man. MetroTalk is a great app, with a very responsive dev delivering regular updates that works perfectly for GVoice.

 

[diapers]

The premise of your post assumes that WP7 is perfect. It is not, it lacks many many things so yes WP8 coming out with the things everyone wanted in WP7 will make WP7 obsolete. It's just a fact of life.

 

[blehblehbleh]

The premise of your post assumes that WP7 is perfect. It is not, it lacks many many things so yes WP8 coming out with the things everyone wanted in WP7 will make WP7 obsolete. It's just a fact of life.

If you're talking about the OP's post, his premise is that WP7 is functional. I think you're reading the idea of perfection into his words.

 

[anon(5316299)]

Of course GV wouldn't be integrated in the dialer, its a google feature. MS has nothing to do with that, especially since Google is breaking alot of it's features for non google devices. Also with navigation apps it's never been a problem for me once resumed it updates with position, same as how it is with iOS. Shouldn't really be using apps when driving anyway. Android is even more so a beta than WP is there's malware, spam,spyware and inefficient use of hardware.

I'll give on Google Voice...while it's certainly better on Android, iPhone is no better than WP. Nav is a problem though...I use my phone for music, podcasts, and actual phone calls (over bluetooth) while traveling, and on an Android phone I can have Nav running (and giving directions) while I'm on the phone with the podcast play paused. Never run across malware, spam, or spyware that couldn't be avoided by the most basic precautions. as for inefficient use of hardware...not sure what you're referring to?

 

[anon(5316299)]

Beta? You know what "beta" means, right? Android is a beta OS. Poor performance and bugs. The WP OS may be lacking some features but it works flawlessly (better than iOS or Droid). There's nothing "beta" about it. Please use the right words.

GVoice not being integrated is kind of obvious man. MetroTalk is a great app, with a very responsive dev delivering regular updates that works perfectly for GVoice.

the non-obvious joke was about the "end of the smartphone beta test". Obviously WP 7.5 isn't beta at all (though I might make the case that the camera software isn't fully baked...).

 

[Laura Knotek]

the non-obvious joke was about the "end of the smartphone beta test". Obviously WP 7.5 isn't beta at all (though I might make the case that the camera software isn't fully baked...).

There isn't anything wrong with the camera software. If manual settings are used, the pictures are excellent. The camera is better than that on any BlackBerry.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express