Windows Phone 8 Coming to *all* Windows Phones

[Salutary7]

Hmm..

Looks like the Apollo release is associated with "Future Investments". That might be a euphemism for disregarding the previous generations.

[articuno1au]

This argument is fine, if that's how you feel, but how is it different on the other platforms? Each of the other two will, at some point, not support whatever phone you do own at the time. Sure you can root your phone and then install the newer version unofficially but you can do the same with WP to date. Hell, if you want to be bold there are early tango ROMs floating out there you can install on your phone today.

I too am an early adopter to WP, I got my LG Optimus 7 a few months after it hit but when WP8 comes out it'll be 2 years for me, and probably every early adopter as well. Going by that logic, it's time for a update to my hardware and while it'd be nice to just upgrade to v8 on my LG it'd also be nice to just get better hardware after 2 years of 1Ghz and 5MP camera etc. Honestly let's just wait and see, MS hasn't said anything official yet as far as yes or no goes.

That's an easy one. Apple don't leave users behind like this. Their track record is pretty good in that regard. Google are pretty useless, but at least you can root your phone and update that way. What option do I have in this case?

I'm a registered developer. I've pushed beta updates to my phone before. That's all fine. I know I can push leaked updates as well. I don't care about Tango; my interest is in Apollo.

I'm generally considered something of a Microsoft fanboy on these forums. I used to work for Microsoft and am a massive proponent of their product because I believe it works; however this is just reprehensible..

Honestly, if Microsoft can't update past devices, Windows Phone is sunk. period.

There's no reason why 1s and 2nd gen can't get the update, when Apple delivers, and Google.... well, tries. People are locked into two year contracts, that make it all but impossible to go out and shell out for new phones. I'm not gonna pay money for a ecosystem that won't support me for that time period.

Agreed. I just stopped recommending WP7 devices to people because I don't want them to get stung by this..

It's just straight up pathetic. Especially in Australia where the cost of the handsets are much higher than in the US (despite our stronger dollar and all those things :\)

[efjay]

This argument is fine, if that's how you feel, but how is it different on the other platforms? Each of the other two will, at some point, not support whatever phone you do own at the time. Sure you can root your phone and then install the newer version unofficially but you can do the same with WP to date. Hell, if you want to be bold there are early tango ROMs floating out there you can install on your phone today.

I too am an early adopter to WP, I got my LG Optimus 7 a few months after it hit but when WP8 comes out it'll be 2 years for me, and probably every early adopter as well. Going by that logic, it's time for a update to my hardware and while it'd be nice to just upgrade to v8 on my LG it'd also be nice to just get better hardware after 2 years of 1Ghz and 5MP camera etc. Honestly let's just wait and see, MS hasn't said anything official yet as far as yes or no goes.

Here's the thing. I too was there with WP at the beginning, with a Dell Venue Pro. Went through those growing pains till it was fixed and it became a good device. Moved to the Radar recently and considering moving to at&t for the 900. Now with Microsoft's silence is that a good move? Contract or not buying that phone now when just months down the line it could possibly stop receiving updates makes it a risky bet. Not because its currently a bad phone but obviously I would like any updates to the OS to be available on my handset as well.

MS has done a good job so far with updates, leaving 1st gen at Tango would not be too much of an issue due to their age but a device as new as the 900 should not be in question as to whether it will be updated beyond a few new MMS features in Tango. With that threat, people like us in the know are justifiably hesitant in getting any new WP devices now.

[George P Global Moderator]

Valid points, only time will tell but if anything I bet on at least 2nd gen 7.5 devices getting the update. I'm sure MS knows they should push this out to everyone and it could be the carriers not wanting to for all we know, if the answer is no that is. There could be an unsupported upgrade option for people where much like iOS5 and the older iPhones, people could upgrade but a number of things didn't work.

[jakem1]

I have an Omnia 7 and, personally, I don't really care if they offer an update to Apollo. The phone's two years old now and it's about time I upgraded to something that offers more hardware-wise. By the time Apollo comes out I'll have received one major and two minor updates (assuming the reports of a Tango upgrade in June are correct) and I think that's pretty good. I'm not really interested in an iOS-style update that leaves me with a phone that's too slow to run the latest OS version.

If I'd bought a second-gen phone such as a Lumia I'd be wanting an upgrade to Apollo and, to be honest, I would be really surprised if 2nd-gen phones don't get an upgrade. For instance, there's too much at stake for Nokia to lose momentum over something like this and MS won't want to be seen to be abandoning users half way through their contracts.

I do think that people need to calm down though. Just wait for an official announcement and avoid jumping to conclusions in the meantime. Why get so worked up over something so trivial? Oh, and before you complain about updates just remember that Android users are even worse off :laugh:

[+LogicalApex MVC]

Honestly, it would be suicide for Microsoft to exclude Apollo from 1st and 2nd gen Windows Phone devices so I'm not to sure they are actually going to skip them. If they do skip them I'll be the first to jump off the Windows Phone train and land on the Apple tricycle. After all, they would have proven that they don't have the same dedication to their users that Apple has (which is a base requirement now, thanks to Apple).

The chassis specifications for Windows Phone for the 1st gen was VERY tight. As a result, there is VERY little variation in the hardware. As such, there is no major engineering obstacles to supporting them. The second generation chassis has more variation, but not an extreme amount...

My guess as to the delay for Microsoft making a proper announcement is them getting clearance from the carriers on releasing it for the phones. But as I said earlier, supporting these phones isn't a debate at this point it is a must have.

They can stop supporting first generation devices in WP9, but the current story of no WP8 on any current devices, even the ones sold months before release, is just plain suicide if it proves true.

The problem for Microsoft is they don't get it sometimes. Apple loves to play the secrecy game, but it works for them because the majority of their rumors are positive. Microsoft can't let negative rumors simmer unless they are true, otherwise they damage their own credibility. For instance, they should say publicly that second generation phones are getting it for certain to prevent sales being lost as consumers are nervous of the upgrade potential. They need to take charge of the conversation that is floating around regarding Windows Phone 8... Around this time last year us devs were already playing with Mango on our handsets and writing apps, for instance... Apollo is this nebulous area where consumers are confused on upgrades and devs are confused on it versus Windows 8...

[downhillrider]

not updating gen 1 devices I'm ok with. Hell I have a gen 1 phone. But how can MS look at people and say that phone you just bought 2 weeks ago (titan/900) wont be getting a full apollo update, maybe we'll give you a watered down version instead.

[Dot Matrix]

Valid points, only time will tell but if anything I bet on at least 2nd gen 7.5 devices getting the update. I'm sure MS knows they should push this out to everyone and it could be the carriers not wanting to for all we know, if the answer is no that is. There could be an unsupported upgrade option for people where much like iOS5 and the older iPhones, people could upgrade but a number of things didn't work.

Screw the damn carriers. All they want is people's money. Microsoft needs to go above them, and update ALL Windows Phone Devices.

[George P Global Moderator]

Screw the damn carriers. All they want is people's money. Microsoft needs to go above them, and update ALL Windows Phone Devices.

That I agree on, which is why I said that MS could offer an unsupported upgrade option. Of course with a carrier branded phone the carrier picks up the support so if the carriers don't want to then MS can offer it to users directly but with a hitch that either some features may not work right and also that your carrier will not offer you support if something breaks after the upgrade.

[migo]

I hope WP8 looks like this:

Yeah, I like that. Takes a cue from the new Xbox 360 interface which was done the best. The WP7 and Windows 8 current tile interface is rather all over the place, while the 360 one is clearly organised into hubs properly. The hub isn't accessed by a tile, you swipe to it. It's definitely something they'll have to do now that there's more apps. The WP7 UI made sense when there weren't many apps, and was probably fine being teste with the few they had. Now that there are more, things need to be re-organised a bit.

iOS has the same problem, and folders aren't really a good solution to it.