So, last night, Windows Phone 8 got its first update - specifically for the HTC 8X. In this day and age, where iOS is the gold standard and shows the industry how it ought to be done, and Android is the exact opposite, Windows Phone 7 was a bit of an in-between - every phone got every update, but the staggered rollout was slow and frustrating, often due to carrier meddling. How will Windows Phone 8 fare?
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Member since:2005-11-29
I just don't buy into the fact that the relatively pain free Windows Phone updates are anything in the same ballgame as the shitfuck that is the Android update situation.
Your cited example (the Focus 2) was TERRIBLE. Yet, because you said it, it magically equates Android and Windows Phone, despite it being 100% incorrect. That's bullshit I refuse to buy into.
Now, if you want to talk Windows Phone update issues, I'll talk about then, because there are plenty. But they are for different reasons, and of different degrees of pain for end users.
1) Pre-Mango the NoDo update roll out was terrible. It was however their first update, and since then the process has matured quite a bit.
2) The post-Tango firmware update messaging was a mess, Microsoft refused to comment on the existence of an update for weeks after the OEMs pushed it. By and large though, from the Spring to the Summer, a majority of people got the update.
The only phones that really had an issue, were those who were in development when Tango 2 launched, and launched with Tango 1 instead. ATT and OEMs dragged their foot on it, but I don't think MS particularly pushed hard on the issue either.
3) The messaging behind WP7/WP7.8 is a mess. By and large, this is one of their biggest screw ups. They really messed up by not giving enough information in a timely enough manner.
It remains to be seen how the WP 7.8 roll out will go. However, let's make a bet. Let's wait until January 2013, if the WP7.8 roll out is terrible, and not excellent like the Mango roll out, then I'll concede that the situation on both platforms (Android and WP) are the same.
"So in summary... Google has pulled the plug on support on a protocol they've helped popularize, after years of promising interoperability, for reasons that are dubious at best, and in a way that leaves people who don't jump to the new Hangouts app unable to talk to their contacts without any feedback that their IMs aren't getting through... And they've done that with no warning to anyone. I imagine there's a bunch of people out there wondering where some of their buddies have gone, or why their messages aren't getting responses, because this isn't documented anywhere." Google really messed this up. Such a dick move.
The Tizen Greek Community has some screenshots of a very recent build of Tizen running on a Samsung GT-i8800. It looks wholly unremarkable.Joint statement to The Next Web from Microsoft and Google: "Microsoft and YouTube are working together to update the new YouTube for Windows Phone app to enable compliance with YouTube's API terms of service, including enabling ads, in the coming weeks. Microsoft will replace the existing YouTube app in Windows Phone Store with the previous version during this time." Good to know these children stopped acting like little pricks. Can we have full Google support in Windows 8 now, please?
Yahoo is acquiring Tumblr, the microblogging and social networking website, for $1.1 billion USD. Tumblr offers little revenue but lots of eyeballs if Yahoo can monetarize them. Now Yahoo is bidding for Hulu, the streaming video service. After years of ineffective responses while Google, Facebook, and others took large chunks of the online advertising market, Yahoo is fighting back. Can Yahoo reignite the momentum it had at the turn of the century? What do you think?
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently."In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies."The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing.
Member since:
2005-06-29
It's called the fundamental attribution error. When WP7.8/8 updates are messy, it's due to situational circumstances - when Android updates are messy, it's due to Google.
In the meantime, those of us without any vested interest in any one platform know where the faults lie. For Android, carriers and OEMs. For WP, carriers. Google and Microsoft are not even part of the blame.
Edited 2012-12-12 16:22 UTC