wp8 Paul says no WP8 update for current phones

[M_Lyons10]

And to think some WP7 users were mocking Android's update system. I dare say they're regretting that now. My phone and many others got the ICS 4.0+ upgrades.

I'm not really surprised by this though. After all, if everyone received the W8 upgrade for free, why would anyone bother to buy a new phone?

You are of course aware that this wasn't an announcement by Microsoft right? Just another person chiming in to the rumor mill? I just do not understand why people take every rumor like this as gospel. Why can't we wait for an actual announcement from SOMEONE that actually knows and is involved? Good grief!

[paulheu]

Will current (gen2) devices get WP8? Pretty sure they will.

Do current WP device makers have information on what specs should be available to run WP8? Most likely yes.

Do they have access to early builds to test? Most likely yes.

Will they perform as well as nextgen devices? Most likely not.

Would you be better of with a nextgen device when WP8 comes? Most likely yes.

And I dare 'Paul' to come up with proof/names/documents to prove me wrong.. It's all a pile of cowd*ng people..

[123456789A]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. These guys are wrong. All current handsets will get WP8.

If I'm proven wrong, I will send cakes to Apple and Google.

[willard27]

Not a problem for me, I own 3 Lumia 900's and it is not a big deal, I waited a long time just to get the Nokia. It is a great phone. There are plenty of people who are waiting for Windows Phone 8 and their contracts will be up with their iphones and androids, so I see a big push when Window Phone 8 is available from these people.

[fintechfooty]

No it will. I bet he was just treading waters to see what the reaction would be like. Obviously negative. I don't think Microsoft, speaking after Nokia unable to meet sales expectations will do this.

[George P Global Moderator]

Honestly, why doesn't anyone just wait for MS to say officially either yes or no? This has to be like the 5th thread about this topic and we're going around in circles here. Some say yes some say no, honestly I think we could get it but some stuff might not work or not work well.

Paul doesn't think phones will get v8 because WP8 will be pretty different at the core level compared to WP7 so that current phones might not be able to run it and it could be too costly to get to work. He's just guessing, he has no source saying this to him. Really though, I question how many average phone users out there even follow the OS updates/news w/e for their phone? I really think that just as with the PC and Windows updates, the vast majority of phone owners get a newer version of the OS when they get a new phone after 2 years or so just like they get a newer version of Windows on their PC when they end up buying a new PC.

Is it good to offer a upgrade to us? Yes. Do I expect it? At some extent I do, I think we could have two versions of Apollo like we have two versions of Tango coming (which we know about as a fact). Only time will tell, and I expect a good chunk of WP8 news to start coming out in June.

[subcld]

rumors : im completely lost and tired by saying yes then no then yes then no :angry:

im not going to read anything until official statement shows up :pinch:

[jakem1]

If I'm proven wrong, I will send cakes to Apple and Google.

:)

[Omen1393]

Strangely enough, Paul was the one who argued, two years ago, that WP would get every update without fail, regardless of what the carriers wanted. His crystal ball definitely isn't the clearest one out there.

That wasn't a prediction from him, that was what Joe Belfiore told him. Unfortunately, Belfiore didn't tell Paul that the plan was under an NDA and merely a concept.

Personally, my contract expires in November, so getting a new phone with Apollo isn't that big of a deal. I can see why it might be an issue for people getting into WP7 now though.

[tsupersonic]

If rumors are true and WP8 is launching in the Summer - Fall timeframe, it would be a huge blow if the latest generation of Windows Phones (I'm looking more at Lumia series) couldn't upgrade to WP8. People would just whine/bitch that their few month old phone would be stuck with the old version.

[George P Global Moderator]

Just to toss this idea out there, since Nokia is a special partner and all that, add the rumors about WP8 builds being tested on Nokia Lumia devices, no rumors yet of it being tested on other OEM phones that i've seen, what if the only current phones that do get WP8 upgrades are the Nokia ones?

[rajputwarrior]

i really don't see microsoft not pushing out the update to at least the tango phones. how ****ed would you be if you bought a premium model phone and 6 months later you can't ran the latest software on it?

[SoCalRox]

This is another example of why I did not buy Windows Phone when I chose a new handset.

[patseguin Global Moderator]

I took a huge leap of faith switching to the Lumia 900 from iPhone with knowledge that WP8 would be available. If this article is true it would be a huge blow to the platform.

[jakem1]

Just to toss this idea out there, since Nokia is a special partner and all that, add the rumors about WP8 builds being tested on Nokia Lumia devices, no rumors yet of it being tested on other OEM phones that i've seen, what if the only current phones that do get WP8 upgrades are the Nokia ones?

I've been wondering this too and I also wonder whether the silence from MS is due to the fact that they're negotiating with the OEMs to get upgrades out. It's possible that the rumoured switch to the NT kernel will mean a significant investment in driver development for an upgrade, something that partners such as Samsung and LG might not be interested in.

Of course, this is all just speculation on my part but makes more sense to me than Paul Thurrott's speculation :p

[@Leo]

i really don't see microsoft not pushing out the update to at least the tango phones. how ****ed would you be if you bought a premium model phone and 6 months later you can't ran the latest software on it?

As much as ****ed as anyone who buys a premium model Android phone these days. :laugh:

[rajputwarrior]

As much as ****ed as anyone who buys a premium model Android phone these days. :laugh:

like me and my samsung tablet that :( remind me to never buy a samsung android product again (well i got it for free...)

[pickytech]

Paul doesn't think phones will get v8 because WP8 will be pretty different at the core level compared to WP7 so that current phones might not be able to run it and it could be too costly to get to work.??He's just guessing, he has no source saying this to him.

While I agree wholeheartedly with what you've said, Paul does cite "sources at Microsoft," which "confirmed this for me anonymously."

On the point of users not recognizing that they are missing updates: I would say yes and no. Clearly some users live in a comfortable bubble that they never upgrade from, but many users that live in those bubbles have people like us telling them to upgrade, as well as telling them that they are getting the shaft. And then the people like us that push people to the newer, "cooler" platforms (e.g., WP7) are left with nothing to push when the bottom drops out from under us. At least Android already has a community associated with rooting and force-updating phones. WP would most likely develop one, but I would be quick to leave the platform behind as why should anyone trust a company that is going to promise complete updates "unlike the other guy," only to drop support for the second major release.

I fully expect that Microsoft will update devices to WP8. But if they don't, then they might as well throw the phones away because I would never trust them to do the right thing moving forward, and the entire customer base would be starting over again.

[daniel_rh]

It sound logical to me, no way to support an upgrade to a new OS considering the carriers, phone makers, sale volume... From a business point of view is the right decision, of course, from the user perspective it sucks. Who knows, maybe there's still a small chance for this to happen, specially with Nokia in the game. Lets see what WP8 has to offer to see if it's worthy, by the end of the year, quadcore phones are going to rule the stands, so the current generation of WP are going to be less appealing, just the new hardware on WP8 will be more than enough reasons to upgrade, considering that you can buy a dual core Android for the price of a single core WP, for most people the dual core is by logic the way to go, no matter how well WP7 performs on a single core

[tsupersonic]

As much as ****ed as anyone who buys a premium model Android phone these days. :laugh:

Nice try on trolling. Premium android devices will get updates. I haven't seen one premium device not getting updated to the next release. If not, at least Android is much more open to developers where you find custom ROM's, etc. Anyways, back on topic...Will just have to hear the official word from MS.

[pickytech]

This is another example of why I did not buy Windows Phone when I chose a new handset.

This is a rumor from a repeatedly-wrong person that is causing WP users (myself included) to become a little nervous only because Microsoft's marketing people have not stomped out the rumors that have gone on for the last few days.

After all, the alternative is to go to Android where you know that your phone will go unsupported after 6 months, or Apple where you will likely receive future versions, but those versions may lack big-time features for purely greedy reasons (e.g., Siri).

Frankly, if Microsoft announces that WP7 is stuck with WP7, then I will not upgrade to a WP8 device because I would expect the same issue to occur to WP8 upon WP9's release, and I would then go back to iOS. If--as I expect--they announce that WP8 will come to WP7 devices (and it should come to all!), then I will continue loving the WP platform as much as I currently do: a lot.

At this point, I am going to assume that they are being updated and wait for an official announcement, or at least an official "leaked" document (come on Nokia!). If I am wrong, then the WP platform is probably not going to make it, but if I am right, then it will become an extremely solid third ecosystem that I expect to overtake Android once native app development begins.

[George P Global Moderator]

There's hints that at least some subset of WinRT will be the new development platform for WP8 and I believe it to be so since it's pretty much a fact now that SL5 is the last version they're doing. This opens up WP8, much like Win8 itself, to letting devs use more or less whatever they like best be it HTML5/JS/CSS, C++/XAML and so on. It's native code without being 100% direct to hardware and thus, if it's how I think it is, not going to break when MS makes any low level core OS changes since WinRT should just run (we know WinRT apps will run both on x86 and ARM already without any extra work for the dev afaik).

[efjay]

I think Paul is generally pro WP, but he thinks the OS is perfect on the 900 so guess thats why no updates is no biggie to him: http://www.winsupers...-30-beta-142892 :rolleyes:

Another question that comes to mind, if WP8 is not compatible with current devices, how are devs going to create new apps for it? Are they going to go with loaning out devices which will be in limited numbers? Emulation only?

[Salutary7]

I think Paul is generally pro WP, but he thinks the OS is perfect on the 900 so guess thats why no updates is no biggie to him: http://www.winsupers...-30-beta-142892 :rolleyes:

Another question that comes to mind, if WP8 is not compatible with current devices, how are devs going to create new apps for it? Are they going to go with loaning out devices which will be in limited numbers? Emulation only?

For the general public, most likely a new version of Windows Phone SDK on Win8. Some partners will probably also have access to early hardware through dev kits.

[rfirth]

For the general public, most likely a new version of Windows Phone SDK on Win8. Some partners will probably also have access to early hardware through dev kits.

If WP8 is a major change - and it seems to be - app developers should be hearing about it very very soon. This time last year we were using pre-release builds of Mango.