Would you be willing to Beta test pda phones for Sprint?

[JBabey]

Originally Posted by boe

JBabey,

If what you say is true, it is the exact reason why Sprint should let us test the phones in advance. They save money, end users get better phones, and we get the fixes sooner and the phones sooner.

that isnt really true, you would have to setup a process' to track bugs, be able to duplicate them. You would also need to have a team of people collecting and consolidating the reports. Testing everything that comes in, and then you would need to have a leaison that works directly with microsoft & HTC to track the problems down to hardware or software. We would then need to establish contracts with Microsoft to use their developers time to resolve issues that may or may not be carrier specific, and may or may not be on microsofts list of stuff to resolve. A lot of problems are also known about, but not something we will resolve, as the team is already working on the next release.

trust me man, i hounded my boy for a long time about stuff like this and it simply wasnt feasable from a cost perspective. In the end, it really comes down to money, and companies like making it, not spending it ><

[boe]

Originally Posted by JBabey

In the end, it really comes down to money, and companies like making it, not spending it ><

Who do you think makes more money, the company selling products that no one can use with any reliability or the one selling products that work well?

I think a company has to do some serious marketting to cover up that their products are unreliable and obsolete. I think California dairy manufacturers must spend billions of dollars on those non stop ads every where you look to try and get you to buy their crappy cheese because it sucks. When is the last time you saw a commercial for vermont or wisconsin cheese - they don't need to advertise because it's just plain good.

Anyone at Sprint figure out how much it costs to pay all those technical support reps to answer over and over and over again about the bugs in their products? Anyone at Sprint figure out how much it costs when a big business jumps ship from Sprint to get some more developed stuff from Europe on Cingular?

Considering that the testers here have found ways around nearly all the issues with AKU 3.5 - why not just release it to some serious Beta testers, let them solve the problems for free and the end user who buys the phone doesn't have to be a gunea pig.

[isamu49]

I think you need to remember that the community usually comes after the release of the device and that this one's only really seen significant progress in it's twilight. The sorts of things that are being fixed now would be very difficult for even a few enthusiasts to fix on a pre-release device.

[Paragon]

I think you're barking up the wrong tree guys. Carriers test devices in relationship to their network, and any applications they may include. Beyond that it is out of their realm. Microsoft do the testing on thr OS and HTC or whichever OEM do the rest. It is MS and the OEM who test for usability and dependability. Any testing carriers do along those lines is simply to see if a chosen or possible choice fit their requirements.

If you live in the Seattle area Microsoft do have a beta testing group that may still be open for applicants.

Dave