As promised, Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 is rolling out to Lumia phones with Developer Preview enabled.
The biggest feature is Live Folders, which allows users to dynamically create folders on the Start screen. Other new features include the Apps Corner, SMS merge and forwarding and much more. It should also add Cortana support for the UK and China, and India, Australia, and Canada residents can check out the US version of Cortana officially for the first time.
The update is not rolling out for owners of non-Lumia devices – HTC 8X and 8S owners, for instance, are not getting the update. There’s no word from Microsoft yet as to why Lumia devices are getting the preferential treatment.
Their actions speak loud enough in this case. Simply put, non-Lumia owners are getting the shaft, some of us twice over. The problem is, I don’t know if HTC (for the 8* series owners) is also to blame on those particular devices. Samsung Ativ Neo users on the Sprint forums are being told by Sprint reps that there will be no 8.1 or 8.1 Update 1 for their devices. Again, is that Samsung’s doing, or Microsoft’s?
Inquiring minds want to know.
HTC is to blame. 8.1 U1 requires device driver changes on behalf of the OEM.
Blame is a little heavy handed, this is an enthusiast program for developers.
What I find so annoying is that Sprint is telling its users that Microsoft is withholding the updates, when it’s actually the OEMs. I mean, I’m used to HTC’s lack of support across their older Android and WP devices. But Samsung is usually on the ball; I guess they just don’t care about the platform anymore either.
I don’t really think the Samsung/Microsoft litigation has anything to do with it, as some have implied across the Web, but who knows except the companies themselves, really.
I think that “Sprint” might refer to a clueless Sprint tech support rep. In which case it isn’t surprising they don’t know who to point the finger at.
Or, maybe its easier for them to just say Microsoft instead of explaining the nuances of mobile OS updates to a layperson.
I don’t expect this to get easier for Microsoft as the OEM field becomes only more diversified by the tons of regional OEMs joining the game.
It could be just that; for the longest time any questions about 8.1 or even GDR3 for some customers, was met with “watch the announcement page” every single time. When reps finally did start giving out information, it was that Microsoft wouldn’t release the update to Sprint devices after all. Wifi on the 8XT specifically was found to be broken; it spontaneously rebooted the phones of anyone who tried to use it in the 8.1 preview, so Microsoft suspended the preview releases for that phone indefinitely.
I still suspect it’s what you suggested; more of a hardware issue on HTC’s side, maybe the same with Samsung and possibly legal tangles there as well.
Maybe another question whose answer would shed some light: Why can’t Sprint get any decent non-Android, non-iOS phones in the first place? The one Blackberry phone available is the Q10, and nothing against it but not everyone wants to sacrifice screen space for a physical keyboard. The two WP8 devices are mid-tier at best (I really like my 8XT but it’s nothing compared to some Lumias). How about some interesting low-budget phones, for that matter? Would a ZTE built, Sprint branded, CDMA FirefoxOS device be too much to ask?
Sprint is putting themselves in the position of specializing in Android/iOS, just like Verizon has, except they don’t have the numbers to back it up. If they don’t diversify, they won’t attract budget and curious consumers who want to see something they can’t find on their biggest competitor. Given Sprint’s prices aren’t that much better than Verizon’s, they are digging their own grave with their refusal to step out of the box.
Wait, wasn’t one of WP’s promises that these kinds of vendor-holdback antics typical in Android-land wouldn’t happen, seeing as Microsoft is writing the software (and this includes drivers) themselves?
Microsoft isn’t writing the software, the drivers, or the firmware by themselves in all cases.
OEMs can still differentiate on hardware which obviously requires code to be written.
But still, the difference between Android and Windows Phone updates is night and day.
Edited 2014-08-05 15:51 UTC
I’m not sure this explanation makes sense except for one potential situation. The reason why it doesn’t make sense to me is that if MS controls the kernel-portion and the driver API, they could easily have made it in such a way that old drivers load and work just fine in the new environment. The only exception I can think of is GPUs and the never-ending stream of new graphics primitives and operations. If they had written the userland software in such a way that it requires newer GPU ops, and omitted making it backwards-compatible (e.g. emulating them in the API), then and only then I can understand the requirement for new firmware with support for these ops (which they most likely don’t write themselves). If this is the case, it’s at the very least a weird thing and possibly kinda crummy to be using new graphics primitives in a point release without providing a fallback rendering method.
I think its impossible to say without speaking directly to an engineer involved.
Hopefully its fixed by the time the global rollout starts.
I try to be nice to Microsoft for once and then this happens. :<
I kid, I kid.
Hey, same here, and I’m not kidding. I’ve tried to see the “new Microsoft” as a good thing, but there’s always a catch. Granted, this isn’t 100% their fault, but it still sucks. I like my phone, but is it too much to ask to get parity with other models?
Edit: missing words
Edited 2014-08-04 21:58 UTC
How are you kidding and how are you being nice to Microsoft? Your own headline and linked article don’t mention anything about this being Nokia only. Your trademark “snarky comment after the article” was based on a link that was about HTC. Other hardwaremakers (like Huawei) can update just fine.
http://www.wpcentral.com/some-devices-needs-oem-driver-updates-wind…
Lets’ not try and spread delusions…
Mobile phone hardware is a totally proprietary business, you need hardware vendor cooperation
Microsoft are having enough trouble getting this update successfully on many Lumia configurations let alone on HTC device’s
(https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/winphone/forum/wpdp-wpupdate/0x8…)
– HTC is a company with reputation for throwing their huge Android userbase under the bus when it comes to updates …. let alone their supporting their tiny windows userbase whom they care less about
And I’ve said as much in this thread and previous ones discussing the 8.1 rollout. I know HTC is a roadblock, but even with Microsoft’s own Lumia line there have been issues. It’s not a single point of failure, it’s multiple F-ups all around.
Meanwhile still waiting for the official 8.1 rollout on my Lumia 520. I am not that desperate to switch to developer program. More like curious how long it takes to receive the 8.1 through official channels. Then thinking, Will the 8.1u1 be published in this calendar year or will it be available next year. Just kind of fun to compare those two parallel universes that the Microsoft keeps running. Developers and the rest of the world.
Edited 2014-08-04 21:31 UTC
According to this site, it’s out for the 520 in France on Orange only for now:
http://forums.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-8-1/293096-track-wp8-1-lu…
Unfortunately, they don’t have access to release dates, they are only tracking reported releases. Still, it’s a good resource to watch until we hear something official.
I just got my AT&T (U.S) Lumia 520 to upgrade to Win Phone 8.1 last night. So far the software upgrade has been awesome, but I’ve also worked all day and not had any time to play with the phone since the update.
It seems my Samsung Ativ S also started upgrading (I switched on developer preview). But if fails with an error, seems to be the same as
http://www.wpcentral.com/microsofts-joe-belfiore-investigating-wind…
Happy to see more frequent updates coming out now.
at this point I just want working Wi-Fi for the WP 8.1 device I’m toying with. I just updated it, and still not working/reliable Wi-Fi, but hey so far it crashes a bit less, so it’s got that going for it, which is nice…
If I may ask, are you on an 8XT? I (thankfully) missed out on getting the 8.1 Preview, they pulled it because the phone would spontaneously reboot when wifi was turned on, and wifi connections were flaky when you could get the phone to stay on.
I’m perfectly happy on 8.0 from a stability and usability standpoint, though I’m itching to try out Cortana and some of the other new features like file management. But I’ll take a stable, reliable phone over new features any day.
Nope, I’m using 8.1 on a Lumia Icon which is supposed to be the current “flagship” for WP on CDMA networks. Honestly, not having properly working Wi-Fi in this day and age, on a phone which is just a few months old, should be considered a show stopper.
I really believe that CDMA is a factor here. My first Windows Phone device was an HTC Arrive on Sprint, and it was plagued with issues until the 7.8 release. Back then, before 8.0 was even a thing, I had read about how Microsoft was having issues with CDMA devices and WP7, which was why it took so long for Sprint to get a Windows Phone device in the first place.
Fast forward to this year, and the HTC 8XT and Samsung Ativ S Neo both have had issue after issue with the Developer Preview of 8.1, and both are being delayed (some say indefinitely for both, some say as late as November for the 8XT) on getting the official release. It’s possible that neither device will ever see any updates beyond 8.1, even GDR1 which is already on some Lumias.
And now we see another CDMA WP8 device, this time a Lumia, having issues. It really makes me wonder what it is about that radio technology that makes it a roadblock for Microsoft.
As much as I love using my phone, this puts a limited life expectancy on it of about another year at best. If Sprint doesn’t release any more WP devices, I may just have to go back to a GSM carrier and get a WP device that will receive timely, working updates.
CDMA is the base radio, I don’t understand how that would affect the Wi-Fi and LTE subsystems.
In any case, I’m more interested in keeping my current carrier given how they have the best coverage around my area of residence, so I ain’t married to any specific OS/ecosystem. But so far, the WP experience has been subpar to say the least. Luckily I have other devices, so not big deal.
I doubt I’d be able to go back and find all the forum posts and questions/answers on carrier support pages about it, but the articles (and one forum) linked at the bottom basically state that CDMA was indeed an issue for WP7, enough that Microsoft delayed the launch on those devices until mid-2011.
While it is the “base radio” as you put it, there are fundamental differences between CDMA and GSM that have always plagued phone makers. I don’t care for CDMA at all, and I’m glad the US is finally moving to LTE across all carriers. Just as with AMPS before them, the 2G and 3G dinosaurs need to be retired soon.
http://www.cnet.com/news/windows-phone-7-will-be-gsm-only-in-2010/
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/winphone/forum/wp7-sync/no-data-…
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9186520/Windows_Phone_7_init…
yeah, but in this case the CDMA/LTE connectivity seems to be fine. It’s the Wi-Fi side of things that seems to be FUBARed.
Which is strange, since Qualcomm SoCs incorporate all the radios onto one chip: CDMA, LTE, WiFi, and Bluetooth. Why would they release updated drivers for the rest of the radio stack but not the WiFi?
It was the opposite for me on the HTC Arrive; the WiFi worked fine but cellular connectivity was spotty at best until Microsoft pushed out 7.8 and HTC fixed their drivers.
Regardless, people much smarter than me haven’t gotten it working so I guess I’m wasting my time trying to figure it out.