Windows phone 8

[Arwin]

The difference with WP is that for Android it's the OEM and the telco companies that are a pain. Of course for the end-user, no matter who is at fault, the result is the same.

But this was partly necessary because the bare Android experience was far too ... bare. Android 4.0 is a good step in the right direction there, but they should get it up to the point where hardware manufacturors can't win a whole lot by adding their own stuff.

 

[french toast]

I agree..along with forcing a 1-2 month turnaround....so other really is a pain in the parse for them too even bother with complex ui skinning that involves changing the kernel in some cases..

 

[Laurent06]

But this was partly necessary because the bare Android experience was far too ... bare. Android 4.0 is a good step in the right direction there, but they should get it up to the point where hardware manufacturors can't win a whole lot by adding their own stuff.

I agree too. Except that typically what the telco companies add is just horrible and you can't upgrade until they have ported their PoS What phone makers add is sometimes nice to have indeed.

 

[Platon]

I am one of those that got a Lumia 900 recently, actually I just ordered it and waiting to arrive.

I was aware of the new WP8 comming and with it mutlicore phones and so on. I am now on an HTC desire and I was contemplating getting a samsung galaxy s either 2 or 3.

But then I just looked what I actually do with my phone and whether having a 2 or 4 core phone would any difference, and in my case I doubt it. I do not play too many games if so it is mostly pyzzles/strategy kind of games which most likely can run on almost any kind of hardware.

The most important thing for me is that the phone works as a phone (duh!) and having a good browsing capabilities and in that regard the Lumia 900 more than meets my demands. So other things then became important, like build quality (lumia in that regard is a tank) as well as antenna/radio quality (something Nokia should be ace at) and looking at how smooth the UI is, even compared to 2/4 core android phones it didn't make it a very difficult choice...

 

[french toast]

Some common sense! Sounds like the lumia is the best phone you could have bought for your needs...your right that thing is bomb proof..after a nuclear holocaust only a few things will survive....ants, cock roaches and lumias!!!

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Some common sense! Sounds like the lumia is the best phone you could have bought for your needs...your right that thing is bomb proof..after a nuclear holocaust only a few things will survive....ants, cock roaches and lumias!!!

AFAIK, all Lumias are being made by Compal and not Nokia's factories, so I doubt any Lumia is as sturdy as the N8, N9, PV 808 or even N97.


Besides, here's something interesting:

First-time smartphone buyers have taken note of the so-called iPhone competitor. More than 60 percent of today’s Lumia 900 owners said they did not own a smartphone prior to buying their device.

Price mattered more than twice as much as other characteristics. Thirty-seven percent of Lumia 900 owners said price, above device aesthetics, mobile apps and user interface, was the most influential factor in their decision to purchase the device.

Despite best efforts, the Nokia Lumia 900 isn’t delivering on its promises. On a 1-5 rating scale, 42 percent of respondents to our survey answered 1, that they are not likely at all to recommend the Nokia Lumia 900 to a friend or family member.

To sum it up:

- People who bought the Lumia 900 are people with little to no knowledge about smartphones, so most of them didn't switch from Android or iOS.
- They bought it because it was dirt-cheap, not because it was good-looking or because they were interested in the OS/UI/ecossystem.
- From those who purchased it, few liked it and will recommend it to others.


As you see, Platon's statement isn't really representing the majority of Lumia 900 buyers.

It's not that there aren't people who like WP7.
It's just that Microsoft won't ever hold a relevant "3rd ecossystem" with the amount of people who can live with WP7's limitations and won't go to iphone instead.
And neither will Nokia ever be capable of paying the salaries of >110 000 people by selling phones to that amount of people either.
Even less with Elop getting a paycheck equivalent to around 250 paychecks of a standard Finnish/European experienced engineer, or the paychecks of some ~10 000 Romanian factory workers.

Yeah, it's that bad.

 

[french toast]

Well that really is bad...really bad. How many people were questioned in that survey?

Well that solid thick polycarbonate unibody can with stand almost anything..it has gorilla glass 1 as well which seems to be slightly stronger than no 2... various videos attest to the lumia 900 being extremely durable.

It seems to me they should not have copied the iphone tombstoning lockin quite so hard...all android really needs to do now to be faultless is get the upgrades out within 2 months of launch world wide.

Patent litigation has gone dead, android 4.04 on this .gs3 runs very smooth as it is..and jelly bean will make the argument about smoothness null and void.

Fragmentation is androids bugbear..

 

[eastmen]

Does it really matter ? When andriod first came out many bought it because IOS wasn't avalible on their carrier .

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Does it really matter ? When andriod first came out many bought it because IOS wasn't avalible on their carrier .

What are you referring to? Fragmentation?


Yeah, Google should definitely apply harsh "fines" to manufacturers who are milking their customers with un-updated smartphones.

I would do something like this:

1 - I would forbid Google Play certification to any launching smartphone that isn't bundling the latest Android version, unless the latest version was launched less than 3 months ago;

2 - I would forbid Google Play certification to launching smartphones from a company that hasn't updated all their <2-years-old models to the latest Android version, unless the latest version was launched less than 3 months ago and/or there are hardware limitations for updating a <2-years-old model (i.e. not enough RAM, ROM or outdated CPU/GPU instruction set).



There. Android has some >80% marketshare. They should have the balls to do this and the platform would improve greatly. It would also force the manufacturers to put some thought into less models instead of launching new models every week with tiny differences to see which ones they will update and which ones they will alienate.

Sony has been quite fantastic in this aspect. If someone asks me which brand they should look into, I'd say Sony without a doubt. Apart from Samsung with the Galaxy S series, everyone else has been pretty much incompetent regarding platform fragmentation.

 

[french toast]

What are you referring to? Fragmentation?


Yeah, Google should definitely apply harsh "fines" to manufacturers who are milking their customers with un-updated smartphones.

I would do something like this:

1 - I would forbid Google Play certification to any launching smartphone that isn't bundling the latest Android version, unless the latest version was launched less than 3 months ago;

2 - I would forbid Google Play certification to launching smartphones from a company that hasn't updated all their <2-years-old models to the latest Android version, unless the latest version was launched less than 3 months ago and/or there are hardware limitations for updating a <2-years-old model (i.e. not enough RAM, ROM or outdated CPU/GPU instruction set).



There. Android has some >80% marketshare. They should have the balls to do this and the platform would improve greatly. It would also force the manufacturers to put some thought into less models instead of launching new models every week with tiny differences to see which ones they will update and which ones they will alienate.

Sony has been quite fantastic in this aspect. If someone asks me which brand they should look into, I'd say Sony without a doubt. Apart from Samsung with the Galaxy S series, everyone else has been pretty much incompetent regarding platform fragmentation.

I'm with your point of view homey....however not every phone is capable of the latest updates...you would need to allow for that...

 

[Laurent06]

Yeah, Google should definitely apply harsh "fines" to manufacturers who are milking their customers with un-updated smartphones.

I would do something like this:

1 - I would forbid Google Play certification to any launching smartphone that isn't bundling the latest Android version, unless the latest version was launched less than 3 months ago;

2 - I would forbid Google Play certification to launching smartphones from a company that hasn't updated all their <2-years-old models to the latest Android version, unless the latest version was launched less than 3 months ago and/or there are hardware limitations for updating a <2-years-old model (i.e. not enough RAM, ROM or outdated CPU/GPU instruction set).

I don't know what the situation is in other countries but here in France, the telcom operators are adding their own changes to the OS so this adds delays (or even prevents any update) and I don't think Google could do anything against that.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

I'm with your point of view homey....however not every phone is capable of the latest updates...you would need to allow for that...

I did. Read what's after the bolded "and/or" in point 2. I think that would cover it.

I don't know what the situation is in other countries but here in France, the telcom operators are adding their own changes to the OS so this adds delays (or even prevents any update) and I don't think Google could do anything against that.

Even better.

In the case of operator-branded smartphones and tablets, the Google Play embargo woud apply to future branded smartphones from that operator. That way they'd be forced to update their branded products, which is one of the main contributors to Android fragmentation.


An operator wants to bloat.. I mean, make "custom changes" to the smartphone/tablet?
They either tone down the bloating and release it faster with the latest OS or they release it without Google Play certification.

 

[tuna]

Sony has been quite fantastic in this aspect. If someone asks me which brand they should look into, I'd say Sony without a doubt. Apart from Samsung with the Galaxy S series, everyone else has been pretty much incompetent regarding platform fragmentation.

Wouldn't it be better if consumers actively choose this? If we want updates, we go with a vendor that has and will provide this (like Sony). If we do not care, we go with another vendor.

 

[Lazy8s]

That's a risk for Google to weigh: having Android be more fragmented in the meantime (while waiting for the free market to compel Android device makers to update more of their devices and update them more timely) in the competitive market against iOS, Windows Phone, etc. versus the risk of alienating their partners by threatening to withdraw Google Play certification for not complying.

 

[tuna]

There is no risk and basically no downside for Google if there are various Android versions being used at the same time.

Is Apple hurting because there are different MacOSX versions being used at the same time?

 

[eastmen]

There is no risk and basically no downside for Google if there are various Android versions being used at the same time.

Is Apple hurting because there are different MacOSX versions being used at the same time?

isn't amazon fire based on 2.2 . The larger the install base for 2.2 the more developers will stay on that and it can handicap andriods future sucess as other platforms are able to move foward.

 

[bdmosky]

http://imgur.com/a/DL2Ox

Here are a bunch of screenshots from the SDK.

 

[eastmen]

http://imgur.com/a/DL2Ox

Here are a bunch of screenshots from the SDK.

I got to see a sprint prototype today , i only had a few minutes with it however a few of the sprint guys have them and are testing them with the sprint network. From what i can tell the screen on the phone was larger than the galaxy 2 and clearer and it was quite a thin phone . It sadly had no physical keyboard and no branding so no idea what company produced it. I got to load up pirates on the phone and it loading much much faster than my arrive loads it . I wish that i could have played with it more , however it was just a quick meeting about what phones we were going to purchase this year for the maintance staff since there wont be any nextel left in the area.

 

[Mize]

The e. e. cummings of phone HMIs.

 

[Arun]

isn't amazon fire based on 2.2 . The larger the install base for 2.2 the more developers will stay on that and it can handicap andriods future sucess as other platforms are able to move foward.

I have no info on this, but you'd expect Amazon to switch to a newer Android version (I think ICS was rumoured) for future products and update existing products at the same time, so while it does make a large number of devices lag behind a bit, I doubt it's as bad as you say.

Regarding Windows Phone 8, I'm curious whether it'll be mostly based on the Adreno 225-based MSM8960 or if it'll use the Adreno 320-based MSM8960 as well sooner rather than later... Hmm!