Current devices will not be upgradable to WP8.

[demonlordoftheround]

Originally Posted by eric12341

Not really,if it matters to people and if they really want something they will pay for it. Examples are the millions who upgraded from the iPhone 4 to the iPhone 4S for one new feature or the lot of us on here who upgraded to the ELTE from the 3VO that was released just last year.

You may have something there. Sales of WP7 have been lukewarm at best.

[eric12341]

Originally Posted by orangekid

No one got a Lumia for free bro, it finally came down to $100 right now.

Nokia Lumia 900 - White cell phone from AT&T

AND they got stuck in a 2 year agreement so they can't get an SGS3 or iPhone 5 upgraded either. It was a total waste of upgrade and $200 or $100 for a device that is now obsolete. Shit, even the 3GS (a 3 year old device) is getting an iOS6 update!

I think MS really should have said something sooner instead of royally screwing over anyone with a WP7 device.

When the lumia 900 was released it had a problem and Nokia credited everyone who bought one $100 (the price of the phone) so that's how I say it was free. They can still upgrade but they have to pay full retail and that is my point. If they want something they will get it, this has happened with every iteration of the iPhone thus far. Also as I said on WPCentral I think they (MS) are treating the HD7,Titan,lumia etc like how apple treated the iPhone 2 and 3G, give them a couple major updates then it's time to move on. This should be different for WP 8 as MS said they would provide the devices with 18 months worth of updates. The Lumia 900 etc also aren't obsolete because it's rumored that 7.8 will contain at least some of what WP 8 has to offer.

Originally Posted by demonlordoftheround

You may have something there. Sales of WP7 have been lukewarm at best.

That's because of ignorant carrier salespeople, this should change with WP8 as 3 of the 4 major carriers seem to be pretty excited about it.

[EyeB]

windows phone seems lukewarm to me mainly because I can't see how the tiles are different than widgets on android :S both provide information without opening apps... WP scrolls vertically and android goes horizontally

social media integration might lean to WP (can't confirm, never tested this) but I'm not a social media person...

But windows phone has to provide me with something that I want before I consider buying it outside of it being a more social phone than competitors

[eric12341]

Originally Posted by EyeB

windows phone seems lukewarm to me mainly because I can't see how the tiles are different than widgets on android :S both provide information without opening apps... WP scrolls vertically and android goes horizontally

social media integration might lean to WP (can't confirm, never tested this) but I'm not a social media person...

But windows phone has to provide me with something that I want before I consider buying it outside of it being a more social phone than competitors

Well integrated VoIP for one, that's new. It's also based off the NT kernel rather than the CE kernel, that alone is pretty kickass and will enable lots of cool features.

[fixxxer2012]

no doubt this was a crap move by microsoft. thats like saying i have to buy a new pc/laptop to run w8.

[EyeB]

reminds me of my touch pro 2... it starts with wm6, gets upgrade to 6.5 in lue of wp7...

wp7 gets 7.8 in lue of wp8...

wp8 will get wp8.5 in lue of wp9?

i might not be a "consumer" type but I do like to "invest" in new gadgets, it just better be something worth investing in, money and time. I go to fast food to "consume" a quick meal but if I want a nice dinner out I'll invest in it both for the price and time so I'll also dress up nicely too.

Right now windows phone is boardering on McDonald quality, it delivers fast and has lots of do you want ____ with it? But it just doesn't have anything to keep me from putting it down when I'm phone shopping. I know android has the same problem, but it can keep me interested enough because it offers me actual services (google maps/music/store). iphone offers me a nice camera but I dont use it so I don't buy into it. I'll admit that I really don't have much experience with a windows phone. I can't find one cheap enough to be worth buying to play with :S From all the reviews on it, I can't see anything I like outside of novalty and even that wears out if i use the phone everyday.

[orangekid]

Yeah MS really dropped the ball on this.


The Lumia was $200 with a contract on release, so even if they credited anyone $100 (which I never heard about...) then they still burned $100 AND a 2 year upgrade! (which costs a lot more) because people didn't believe their device would be worthless in a few months. Not only that but the Focus S and Titan 2 were also $200 with an upgrade, same thing.

If those people had been told what MS had planned, they could have bought an iPhone 4S or waited for the 5 or a Galaxy Note, or waited for the SGS3 or something, but not burned money and an upgrade on a device with utterly outdated software in 6 months time...

That 7.8 crap is just a gimmick, nothing more. Some GUI changes, nothing core, nothing major, nothing good. MS tries to sell us on them being a mobile competitor but then does this? What's the point of buying a WP8 device? So we can beta test their OS again for a couple years before they screw us again?

Yeah I'll be getting my SGS3 and not even looking at WP8, or maybe I'll pick one up for $50 2 weeks after it's released since the 3rd party prices on WP7 phones tank faster than anything I've ever seen.

[orangekid]

btw, check the ATT site, the focus S is STILL $200 with a contract!!!

so they are burning people left and right with this!

They should at least have a warning next to the phone saying it's not getting supported after the crappy UI 7.8 change!

[DavidinCT]

I can see why people are upset and feel a little burned. I guess it's not even close to how Android has been for years. They are still selling Android 2.3 devices out there.

Apple ? Yes, your 3GS gets iOS6 but, a stripped down version. Maybe a little better but, in some way do you think Apple could be holding themselves back to make sure they support everything ?

It's a questionable move by Microsoft. On one side, they could of supported everyone with WP8 but, it would of been a move backwards due to all the new tech in devices today. On another side, it's almost like starting over, Now they can pick the hardware and software then work with older software.

THe biggest issue that people have said about WP7 was 2 things. THe OS got good reviews by NON-Fanboys, the biggest issue people said was, no dual core and Apps. That should be covered now and moving forward it should be a lot better.

I would honestly feel screwed if I just signed a new 2 year for a Lumia 900/Titan 2. 7.8 will give the feel but, nothing more.

I honestly was planning to get a 2nd gen device but, maybe I am glad Verizon didn't get the Lumia 900 earler. I really was expecting a dual core with a 4" or higher display. I guess I will have to wait a little longer. It does look like WP8 will be a device to really compete with Every thing out there tho.

PS. Amazon wireless had the Lumia 900 at one point for $0.01 with a new 2 year. AND Nokia was giving people $100 credits for the issues, if you played your cards right, you could of gotten $100 and a Lumia 900.

PS Orangekid, got a question for you, CHK your PM

[schettj]

So, to recap... Microsoft rebrands Wp6.5 as WP7, shipping with a single app (silverlight) running on WinCE, with a limited .net library for devs, and a locked down hardware spec.

They sell that as WP7 as they wait for the unified core code to progress... leading to windows 8 across all screens from desktop to phone. Metro is the touch interface. The Metro SDK is more or less uniform across all devices. problem is, the hardware required is a bit different than what WinCE (designed in the late 90s) needs.

Microsoft had three choices -
* continue selling WM6.5 with it's awesome XP interface from 2001,
* release a "bridge" OS that LOOKS like what they want to do in 2012/2013, and will help build a marketplace with apps, and at least give them a presence in the market.
* completely withdraw from the market.

They picked the middle one.

Now, it's time to move on

So, think of the current WP7x devices as "first/second generation" iPhones - you know, the ones that can't run iOS3, and are obsolete?

In a year, no one will care about this - Win8/WinPhone8/Surface tablets will either be a clear success, or not. If it works, then this strategy was great. If it doesn't they didn't lose anything by trying.