256 MB Windows Phones will be able to run 95% of current Marketplace apps

[Mr. Gibs]

Edit: Johnny pretty much posted the same thing as I did :rofl:

[simplezz]

So the "fragmentation" starts (loosely put). This is what I liked about WP platform, is that all devices were similarly spec'ed - that is the platform should have an absolute minimum for specs (just for these low end devices), and also support higher end devices with faster CPU's/GPU's, more RAM, high screen resolutions, etc.

I was about to comment the same thing :D It had to happen sooner or later though, all WP devices couldn't use the same hw forever.

I assume there will be only 2 parts of this fragmentation, one would be Tango powered lower end, and the second would be mid to high end.

In my opinion, if they can keep it locked to this limit, it is probably a great thing

Unfortunately fragmentation doesn't end there :( You then have to deal with single/dual core performance differences. Some high end games tend to require dual core processors.

[anarkhy]

Sure, 95% of the apps are pure crappy or useless, be it for wp, ios or android. And wp are a very expensive device for the hardware they come in.

[Southern Patriot]

The original minimum WAS 256MB of RAM, with 90MB max limit per application for devices with 256MB of RAM, although this wasn't strictly enforced unless you went way over 90MB, it's still the limit today for Tango. Application developers have always been told to check RAM limits and stick within the 90MB limit or risk their application being terminated during runtime on the target device, although with the current phones that was a rare occurrence because they rarely needed to free up RAM. Obviously with these new phones, they're going out of their way to strictly enforce their original policy, and if people had properly written their applications in the first place, they wouldn't be having to fix them up. It's only those apps that when against the guidelines that need changing.

(Heck, I even wrote an app around WP7 launch that is pretty image / visual / animation heavy that followed these 256MB/90MB guidelines, and on phones with 512 MB of RAM, the app can more than 90MB of RAM, but scales down perfectly when I tried it on the Tango emulator so that it never uses more than 90MB, - without changing a single line of code - because I actually followed the guidelines in the first place and coded it to do so.)

Thanks for the clarification, and as you can see from my edit above, I had found that out just before you posted that.

[Mr. Gibs]

And what happens when another OS update comes out that does require more RAM? Older phones will be able to run it, but newer ones won't!

Guess we'll have to wait and see for that tbh.

So far MS have been pretty good with updates, and they've said that all phones will be getting Tango and Apollo. So for any original first gen owners, that's pretty good since we've gotten two years of updates so far: NoDo, Mango, Tango, and Apollo (plus the smaller ones in between).

So hopefully stuff will remain the same.

One thing that does bug me is that ****ty ass carriers like AT&T still have some control over WP. For example, the visual voicemail feature of Mango uses the same protocols that the iPhone and Blackberry devices do but AT&T, in all their infinite wisdom, has blocked it. If you contact support they'll claim their systems don't support WP, which is a flat out lie.

But guess which American carrier has gotten the best WP7 devices so far? Oh that's right its AT&T with the Focus, Focus S, HD7S, Titan, Titan 2, and the Lumia 900. And T-Mobile (which I use), the carrier that hasn't blocked or delayed any updates or disabled any features of the OS has been stuck with the HD7 and Lumia 710.

Sorry off-topic rant I know.

[+LogicalApex MVC]

But guess which American carrier has gotten the best WP7 devices so far? Oh that's right its AT&T with the Focus, Focus S, HD7S, Titan, Titan 2, and the Lumia 900. And T-Mobile (which I use), the carrier that hasn't blocked or delayed any updates or disabled any features of the OS has been stuck with the HD7 and Lumia 710.

A digression I'll admit, but I'll say it anyway...

T-Mobile, like the rest of the lot, are blocking updates sadly. My T-Mobile Dell Venue Pro hasn't gotten 7740 or 8107 nor has anyone I know with the HD7 or AT&T Focus. My Lumia 800 (carrier free) has 8107...

[Mr. Gibs]

T-Mobile, like the rest of the lot, are blocking updates sadly. My T-Mobile Dell Venue Pro hasn't gotten 7740 or 8107 nor has anyone I know with the HD7 or AT&T Focus.

I have an HD7 (stock t-mobile rom) and it updated fine to 8107 :/ Like within a week of it releasing I had the update without having to force it. Same story with 7740:

The focus I remember had that problem due to Samsung being retarded and making 500 different firmwares for the exact same device causing updates to fail, but I believe they fixed that and pushed out 7740.

[mrp04]

What is the point of blocking updates? The phones work perfectly fine with them, nothing breaks. I just don't see the point of blocking them.

I'm very happy with my totally unlocked 16GB DVP. It has the latest OS. I got it for extremely cheap on eBay.

[Anthonyd]

Carriers can't block 2 consecutives update, so soon or later, you should get it. Plus for major update, MS let you install it on any WP even if your carrier isn't proposing it to you.