George P Global Moderator Share Posted January 16, 2011 Microsoft has let it be known that the user experience will be a bit smoother on Windows phone 7, with the Zune software making a full back-up of the user files and settings, which will be restored to the device after the update. The Zune software will also keep this backup, in case things go wrong and the user wishes to roll back to a previous version of the OS (which may be useful for unlockers and hackers for example). WP Podcast Around the 31min mark. Link to post Share on other sites
Prince Charming Share Posted January 16, 2011 Ya, it's built into how the updates work - they create a restore point and then are fail-safe and automatically roll back to previous state on a variety of failures. Can't brick your phone with an update, and this works with validation/signature failures, no space, power loss etc. Other fun update facts: the Zune software downloads the update using BITS, and the backup of your device is stored as a full device image, locally on the computer. It's fully encrypted as well. Zune also hashes the update before installing, so it won't have problems if there was a problem with the download either. The update mechanism is all pretty common-sense good design stuff, but it's nice to see such a robust update mechanism in practice. Link to post Share on other sites
George P Author Global Moderator Share Posted January 16, 2011 Ya, can't wait to see how it works out time wise when the first update hits. Though atm I don't have lots of stuff on this phone anyways, still mostly empty heh. Link to post Share on other sites
HawkMan Share Posted January 16, 2011 Ya, it's built into how the updates work - they create a restore point and then are fail-safe and automatically roll back to previous state on a variety of failures. Can't brick your phone with an update, and this works with validation/signature failures, no space, power loss etc. Other fun update facts: the Zune software downloads the update using BITS, and the backup of your device is stored as a full device image, locally on the computer. It's fully encrypted as well. Zune also hashes the update before installing, so it won't have problems if there was a problem with the download either. The update mechanism is all pretty common-sense good design stuff, but it's nice to see such a robust update mechanism in practice. One of the minor none OTA updates bricked my android phone, and it "almost" happened again with 2.1, so it's nice to see someone actually putting some thought into the update mechanism Link to post Share on other sites
iKenndac Share Posted January 16, 2011 Excellent idea! Does anyone know if the WP7 backup system works across software versions and devices? I really like the iOS model of allowing backups of user settings to be restored to difference devices with newer OS versions installed. That way, if something goes wrong with an update but you manage to get it installed after wiping your device, you can restore all your data to it and carry on as if nothing happened. Ditto with cross-device restore - my iPhone once failed under warranty, and I was given a new one at the Apple Store. Brought it home, restored from backup and I was good to go! I do like Android for some things, but its backup system is really awful, to the point where it may as well not have one. Link to post Share on other sites
MissingBonobo Share Posted January 16, 2011 Excellent idea! Does anyone know if the WP7 backup system works across software versions and devices? I really like the iOS model of allowing backups of user settings to be restored to difference devices with newer OS versions installed. That way, if something goes wrong with an update but you manage to get it installed after wiping your device, you can restore all your data to it and carry on as if nothing happened. Ditto with cross-device restore - my iPhone once failed under warranty, and I was given a new one at the Apple Store. Brought it home, restored from backup and I was good to go! I do like Android for some things, but its backup system is really awful, to the point where it may as well not have one. +1. I liked that feature on the iPhone, and would love to see it implemented here as well. I just switched from a Samsung Focus to the HTC Surround, and I have to re-download all my apps, music, etc. separately. Link to post Share on other sites
Prince Charming Share Posted January 16, 2011 This isn't a backup system that lets you create a backup at will of your device, it's a system that's integrated with the update process - when you update your device, it is fully backed up, and you'll either come out on the other side with the update fully applied and all your apps, music and stuff as it should be, or if the update fails, it rolls back to the update and all your apps, music and stuff will still be as it should be, and nothing is lost. It's designed to take any pain out of updates, not to be a generic device backup solution. Link to post Share on other sites
greenwizard88 Share Posted January 22, 2011 It would be nice to have a way to back up the device, just so that all of my apps are still there if I have to get a new device (my vibrator is making funky noises right now). Link to post Share on other sites
zivan56 Share Posted January 22, 2011 One of the minor none OTA updates bricked my android phone, and it "almost" happened again with 2.1, so it's nice to see someone actually putting some thought into the update mechanism I find that hard to believe unless it was a major update that flashed a new bootloader. As long as the bootloader is still ok (which it usually is, since its extremely rare for it to be updated), you can just flash the ROM again by holding the right keys when you press power. It is really hard to brick most modern phones (especially HTC ones), since they always have methods to at least either flash a new rom fully or load a temporary ROM which allows you to flash another one. Link to post Share on other sites
HawkMan Share Posted January 22, 2011 I find that hard to believe unless it was a major update that flashed a new bootloader. As long as the bootloader is still ok (which it usually is, since its extremely rare for it to be updated), you can just flash the ROM again by holding the right keys when you press power. It is really hard to brick most modern phones (especially HTC ones), since they always have methods to at least either flash a new rom fully or load a temporary ROM which allows you to flash another one. well you may find it hard to belive, a minor 1.6 to another 1.6 update. full brickage, needed to be sent in for service Link to post Share on other sites
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