Microsoft To Sell Customized Edition of Samsung Galaxy S8 Android Smartphones (zdnet.com) 83
Done with selling its own phones, Microsoft is getting back at the smartphone business. This time, selling Samsung's Android powered flagship S8 and S8 Plus smartphone. From a report: Microsoft says it is making available for pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ Microsoft Edition. Both phones will be available for purchase beginning April 21 at brick-and-mortar US Microsoft Store locations. Details as to exactly what "Microsoft Edition" means are scarce. But based on an email I received from a Microsoft spokesperson, I believe this means these phones will need to be unboxed inside a Microsoft Store, connected to the Microsoft Store Wi-Fi and automatically populated with Microsoft apps, including Office, OneDrive, Cortana, Outlook, and more Microsoft apps.
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LOL thats funny. And stupid. And a little sad. Because fuck apple.
Re: Question (Score:2)
The licensing fees are built into the price of the phone as negotiated by the holder and the licensee. Why business does the reseller (Microsoft in this case) have to do with the inventors patent portfolio? Nothing. Any patent disputes are between Apple and Samsung. Microsoft is nothing more than a reseller /carrier with its own apps in this transaction.
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My assumption is that business users that are going to give the whole smartphone-dock-PC thing a go will end up with the productivity applications on the phone that they expect to have, without themselves having to figure out how to install them.
Before Windows 10, we bought three computers from the Microsoft store because for what we were looking for equipment-wise they were the best price. Back when Windows 7 was new we were looking for a laptop for my wife, and bought a Lenovo Thinkpad x301 for probably
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My assumption is that business users that are going to give the whole smartphone-dock-PC thing a go will end up with the productivity applications on the phone that they expect to have, without themselves having to figure out how to install them.
Err...
1) Open the Google Play app on your phone.
2) Search for productivity app you want
3) Tap the really big "Install" button. If the app requires payment for purchase, provide that info when prompted.
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You can be guaranteed that with MS involved, it will be much more difficult than that. Probably involve an original install disc somehow.
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original 5-1/2" floppy
sidebar: can you even still get 5-1/2" floppies that work on a modern computer? like external usb? I guess I could google but F that...
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LOL 30 seconds after I posted that... I went "Doh!" I'm so getting called out...
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That's one thing I will applaud Microsoft for. We've purchased a couple of Dell notebooks from them, and there's virtually no crapware at all, not even Dell's. It's pretty much as close to a pure Windows 10 install as one can get (yes yes, I know, Windows 10 may in some part constitute crapware even on a lean install). It was quite something to open up the Installed programs in the control panel and literally see just a small handful of items there. The real joy was in not seeing McAfee or Norton AV.
So whil
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That's one thing I will applaud Microsoft for. We've purchased a couple of Dell notebooks from them, and there's virtually no crapware at all
Not that you know of, anyway. (Except for the operating system, of course, but that's another story...)
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That's one thing I will applaud Microsoft for. We've purchased a couple of Dell notebooks from them, and there's virtually no crapware at all, not even Dell's.
You can get the Windows 10 ISO [microsoft.com] from Microsoft and just select the version you want (only three) and the ISO only comes with Windows 10 without additional crapware. In all fairness, I do suggest this to anyone who has a Windows 10 machine since it is useful for recovery purposes.
If you do install from the ISO don't use the quick setup which Microsoft seems to prefer you use although this is fine if you are lazy and have no real clue what you are doing. Always configure your installation and on viewing al
Re:M$ phone? You gotta be kidding! (Score:4, Informative)
You can get the Windows 10 ISO [microsoft.com] from Microsoft and just select the version you want (only three) and the ISO only comes with Windows 10 without additional crapware.
Not quite true.
It used to be that bare windows didn't have any crapware, but Windows 10 ISO definitely does these days. Among others (I can't recall all of them off of the top of my head) are freemium apps like Candy Crush, Angry birds, and obviously paid social media apps like Twitter and Facebook, and some apps are useless without paying, like the paid hotspot app.
And then of course, many of Microsoft's first party apps are now adware and/or trialware. For example, solitaire now has ads in it unless you pay a monthly fee, onedrive costs money, and there's a "get office" app that is just an ad for office. That's not getting into the 12+ ads that Microsoft has now built into Windows: (some of which overlap with what I've listed here)
https://slashdot.org/comments.... [slashdot.org]
there will be changes (Score:5, Funny)
in the middle of a vital call, like to 911, the phone will update crapware and reboot, taking another 10 minutes of spinny dot time telling you to not shut it down.
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And then when it boots..."An error has occurred. Rolling back updates."
20 minutes later... Still spinning...
EMT's arrive after phone finally boots and checks in with a tower/GPS. "Sorry guys, looks like he hit the blue screen of death."
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Perhaps it will be crapware that might have some utility (IE: AT&T's bloatware that backs up your contacts on an freaking Android phone that already backs up contacts to Gmail... Or a find your device app, when that's already baked into the OS.)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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Microsoft has no choice but to keep trying, even if it sucks - they can't ignore one of the biggest, most profitable markets in the world good sir!!
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Well, I'll give this better odds of success than a Windows Phone flagship...
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MS owns visual studio complete with Android emulators and tools ... No you did not misread that.
They lost. MS strengths most of us can agree on is their development tools and business software like Office even if we don't like their operating systems or Internet browsers. MS wants to remain relevant with millennial developers. If you can't beat them then join them.
I see no problem as I consider them like IBM now. Believe it or not they were the scary monopolist to the old timers.
Discount? (Score:2)
What is the discount in exchange for having all these Microsoft programs pre-installed? 50%?
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Will it come with that new China-approved OS (Score:1)
Will it come with the new China-approved OS complete with the even more excessive censorware and spyware build-in?
That's a fine tracking device you have there citizen. The morgue won't even need to give you a toe tag when you die.
Wrong (Score:2)
Microsoft To Sell Customized Edition of Samsung Galaxy S8 Android Smartphones
I think you mean "to offer for sale", because they sure as fuck aren't gonna actually sell any!
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If there was a Microsoft store nearby, I would buy one, but then refuse to switch it on, and never in my life get anywhere near a Microsoft store wi-fi again.
Yeah, fight the power!
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I think I'll go for the exploding one instead. It's likely to be less of an annoyance to me.
Imitating Stewart from MadTV (Score:2)
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They've already done that. Twice.
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If M$ phone wasn't dead it most certainly will be now. Oh the humiliation for M$ to be selling Android, does it pay itself licence fees. The only reason is they have to be able to sell smart phones to make the stores work and M$ phones will not bring in customers. M$'s abuses with Windows 10 is killing it as a consumer friendly market place and they are desperate to maintain some sort of market relevance. Yet they still stubbornly and stupidly refuse to produce and sell Windows SE a private versions and hav
With Added Spyware (Score:1)
it will be just the same as any other Samsung phone but will come complete with added spyware (sorry Telemetry to "improve the customer experience")
What happened to the 2018 Surface Phone? (Score:2)
I thought the big plan was for them to step back for a year and finally get a low-powered x86 mobile chip and clean the market up with the Surface Phone. It would be a portable PC with docking and all that.
Now they are just going to shit the bed with a Samsung co-brand? Really?
Sounds like a really explosive idea!
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Then by the ZenFone.
Re:What happened to the 2018 Surface Phone? (Score:4, Informative)
Well 1. Atom is dead 2. Windows mobile lost.
MS knows it in a funny was as the Atari, Amiga, and commodore fought tooth and nail in the IBM compatible PC Windows onslaught. Once business standardized on Windows no one cared about them anymore.
Now ironically full circle is Apple and Google beat them. Google is the new MS now
Sure... (Score:2)
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Well, at least no one will give it to you as a gift. If you've got to open the box in the store, plug in the charger and wait for the battery to charge up a bit, then turn it on and connect it to MS Wifi to make it work, that sounds like you're paying for torture rather than a product. Surely they should be paying you for all this hassle?
Early April Fools Joke (Score:1)
This has to be a leaked April Fools joke, it just makes no sense.
Personal VS work phone (Score:2)
For a personal phone, this would be annoying. However if it's a work-phone then having some of these installed and setup might actually be useful.
M$ Holds Android Phones Makers By the Cojones (Score:3, Insightful)
^WPatents.
Including Samsung. ...), not speaking of this Customized Edition.
I've read that the S8 already includes M$ apps (Word, Excel
M$ apps on an Android phone !
Makes no sense, except when you know that M$ is making tons of cash using patents and secret deals with phones manufacturers.
Any whistle-blower to show us these stupid patents ?
Samsung and Microsoft (Score:2)
Available at brick-and-mortar stores (Score:2)
Well, at least they are being honest about that brick part.
Not this shit again (Score:2)
"Microsoft To Sell Customized Edition of Samsung Galaxy S8 Android Smartphones"
TRANSLATION:
"Microsoft Plans To Turn A Decent Phone Into Another Malware-Loaded Craptastic Piece Of Shit""
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It's all part of a plan to discredit the S8 to open up a bit of market for the Surface Phone ;-)
Honestly though, why did Samsung agree to this? After the battery debarcle, the S8 has to work flawlessly and brilliantly for every customer. Adding MS stuff to it and making these additional hurdles seems like the opposite of that and just going to make people say "Samsung's products are crap - first that battery thing and now this!"
Worst of both worlds (Score:1)
This version of the phone comes with terrible Samsung software with an extra layer of terrible Microsoft software on top.
I wonder if you can get it with about 10 useless AT&T apps that you can't remove, or maybe some Verizon spyware?
What's not to love?
Nokia again ? (Score:1)
Is this a precursor to what then happened to Nokia ?
Embrace, extend, extinguish
A food analogy (Score:2)
What is this... (Score:2)
Is this a win for open source or a loss?
Or is it embrace and extend?
I'm not sure what extension they're adding.
Pretty confused right now as it's wrong on so many levels.
It's a "cancer" in your pocket f'sure.
NO!, Just No! (Score:2)
Im officially DONE with windows phones, I have to use one as work software tie ins require it, bought a spare Lumia635 as a backup as at time it was promised a Win 10 upgrade, which never happened due to ram constraints. Now Messenger, Whatsapp, and even Skpe have been pulled , Im done! Fool me once, shame on you....