Microsoft Scraps 'Where's My Phone Update?' Site 162
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft disappointed some Windows Phone users on Friday by saying it would stop providing specifics about who will get software updates and when, and announcing vaguely that a new update is 'available to all carriers that request it.' The update fixes a few issues, including one that caused the on-screen keyboard to disappear and another that caused problems with synching Gmail. Eric Hautala, general manager of customer experience engineering for Windows Phone, said Microsoft will no longer say when people will get updates based on their country, phone model and carrier."
MS isn't the problem (Score:4, Informative)
Just speaking from my experiences with Blackberries, the slowdown always seems to be on the Telco's end. There had been many important updates which were put out by Blackberry... but ATT wouldn't release them for a month, or sometimes a few months, after Blackberry released it.
This is, once again, another example of why these companies need to be "dumb pipes" through which we access the internet. There's no practial reason we can't have a phone which simply connects to the internet for all it's needs, aside from the Telco's blocking it from happening.
Re:Disappointment (Score:5, Informative)
Better questions, since when is Microsoft disappointing Windows Phone users news?
If the reviews on Amazon [amazon.com] are any indication, most people are pretty happy with their Windows Phones. The top 3 highest reviewed phones are all Windows Phones.
Re:Disappointment (Score:5, Informative)
also, there should not have staged update for their phones. one of their big selling point was that every update was to be delivered to anyone on the release day
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/11/windows-phone-7-updates-can-carriers-block-them.ars
and then carriers bitched and moaned until it all changed for worse.
Re:Disappointment (Score:5, Informative)
Nope, more like this [xkcd.com].
5-star reviews are useless, as always. Representative line:
One of my friends had only held it for literally five seconds before commenting on how amazing it was.
Or this HTC Titan review:
i love my wp7 its just the best phone ever the os is the best i have usaed on any cell phone. i got my wp7 phone in feb of 2011 and i have no problem with my lg Quantum and if the HTC Titan is that good i have to get my wife one.becouse my wife is geting it in feb of this year.
Rated 5-stars without even actually buying the phone yet.
Re:Yah (Score:5, Informative)
No really, I googled Windows Phone 7 Requires Carrier Updates [google.com] and got a mess of results describing how the carriers are not compelled to release updates in a timely manner (or at all, really). Regardless of what MS said they were going to require, it would appear they've caved to pressure from the carriers and changed their official position on the matter [arstechnica.com].