Windows Phone 7.5 update lowers system requirements
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 27th Feb 2012 11:19 UTC
Windows There's a lot of news coming out of Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today, but since we can't compete with the well-funded gadget blogs, I suggest you read up on the details at The Verge (or Engadget). One thing stood out to me, though. While the entire industry is moving towards more cores, more megapixels, more gigahertz, more display inches - Microsoft is doing the exact opposite. Windows Phone has been updated and optimised to run on slower hardware.
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RE: Comment by kaiwai
by B. Janssen on Mon 27th Feb 2012 15:26 UTC in reply to "Comment by kaiwai"
B. Janssen
Member since:
2006-10-11

Ok, I can understand going for the low end - that makes sense but what doesn't make sense is how utterly crappy their so-called 'high end' phones are. I mean, come on, the maximum amount of storage one can get with a Windows Phone 7.5 device is 16GB? I'm sitting here with an iPhone 4 with 32GB and find even that is too constrictive given that I have over 160GB worth of music. In all due respects when are we going to see Windows Phone vendors pull finger and provide devices with more than 16GB of storage? They seem to be so focused on the low end that they ignore the fact that their so-called 'high end' is crap when it comes to the specifications that matter, namely, greater than 16GB standard storage size and whether one can expand storage using microsd cards!


My guess would be that Nokia pressured them into lowering the specs. Iphones won't be the next billion, don't you think? (OK, Symbian Belle is actually a good platform, but it can't compete in the power user department. Two-way syncing is still only working for ONE email address and calendar... what are they thinking?)

Furthermore, the specs of the "high end" WP7 devices may seem low in comparison to top-of-the-line Androids and Iphones, but WP7 is performing amazingly on this "limited" hardware. Also, people obviously don't care about micro-SD cards, replaceable batteries, otherwise the Iphone wouldn't sell so well to the unwashed masses (i.e. non-tech consumers).

Now, for us as educated techies two questions remain: 1) considering the used hardware, why are WP7 phones as expensive as better specified Androids or Iphones? and 2) Zune? Really? A smartphone that's not 100% OTA is just not that smart.

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