WP7 phone update nightmare

[maflynn]

Looks like Microsoft tried to update their WP7 phones yesterday but instead ended up bricking some and causing headaches for others.

ars has a nice articel about it, though you can read on any tech site at this point.

Short story long, MS pushed out a minor update to the samsung phones, only too see some of them hang, which a reboot fixed, others failed at a spot that a reboot would not work, but a complete reformat might, and for some unlucky souls, it was completely bricked and would need to be replaced.

Sales of WP7 phones have not been encouraging, and now they tried and failed to push out an update.

 

[Stella]

Microsoft aren't the only ones who had trouble with updates!

Didn't IOS 4 update cause iPhone 3G users grief?

Apple stated IOS 4 was suitable for iPhone 3G devices when in practice the update rendered the phone virtually unusable.

One both occassions, lack of testing is to blame.. microsoft ( and Apple ) should have done more instead of just rushing it out the door.

Looks like Microsoft tried to update their WP7 phones yesterday but instead ended up bricking some and causing headaches for others.

ars has a nice articel about it, though you can read on any tech site at this point.

Short story long, MS pushed out a minor update to the samsung phones, only too see some of them hang, which a reboot fixed, others failed at a spot that a reboot would not work, but a complete reformat might, and for some unlucky souls, it was completely bricked and would need to be replaced.

Sales of WP7 phones have not been encouraging, and now they tried and failed to push out an update.

 

[Tailpike1153]

Microsoft aren't the only ones who had trouble with updates!

Didn't IOS 4 update cause iPhone 3G users grief?

Apple stated IOS 4 was suitable for iPhone 3G devices when in practice the update rendered the phone virtually unusable.

One both occassions, lack of testing is to blame.. microsoft ( and Apple ) should have done more instead of just rushing it out the door.

That's the price the customer gets for being on both edges. The leading edge where everything is new and the trailing edge where getting the update to work may not have been worth the effort. Both companies didn't do alot of homework before the releases.

 

[maflynn]

Microsoft aren't the only ones who had trouble with updates!

No of course not. Motorola also had issues with android but the point of the article, at least what I came away with is this.

Microsoft can ill afford having roll-out issues when they're so far behind the game. For a company to tout the design and infrastructure of their platform, only to brick customers phones is an embarrassment that was completely avoidable. They're trying to show off they have a better platform to entice consumers yet when they shoot themselves in the foot, that only makes their job harder.

Edit: by the way, from appearances, I think MS has a good phone OS on their hands. It has some great potential.

 

[roadbloc]

*Sigh*

I miss the Nokia 34/10 days. They were oh so good.

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.2; en-gb; Blade Build/FRG83) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

The ability to update all devices in one go is something Windows Phone proponents normally like to tout as a feature over Android, so for them it may be embarrassing but failures during firmware updates are always possible and should be expected (at a minimum).

Hopefully everyone affected will end up with a working phone at the end of the day. It's not the end of the world for Microsoft. The current model of firmware updates for all across oems and different handsets is new and is bound to hit a few snags along the way.

 

[Rodimus Prime]

I have to say MS is handling pretty well. They are fairly open with the information. They said it was like 10% of the phones that were effected and of those 10% 1/2 of them were caused by not enough memory on either the computer or the phone for a back up.

MS was rolling it out slowly so it was really caught before it hit a large number and of course that is when they stop the update and went back and fixed it.
My understanding of this update was more prep work for future updates and to make it a lot easier to do.

 

[Savor]

It is probably why I am reluctant on getting the Samsung Focus right now. But since I never update right away, it shouldn't be that big of a problem. What I'm really waiting for is when they add copy & paste. It was the one feature everybody with an iPhone wanted to have in the early days and I was one of the few that never really cared or used yet. But ever since I post alot in many comment sections, c&p from my notes app mandatory for me to have now.

$28 for a Samsung Focus at Walmart. Not a bad price and it seems like a bargain with the many solid hardware features and rave reviews it gets. Arguably the best non-iPhone at AT&T right now and I would even take it over the recently released Atrix 4G w/ Moto Blur and still on Froyo. I am looking for a phone I can unlock and travel with the mini-SIMs most GSM phones uses. Something with solid multimedia features and I can just throw around (Focus has Gorilla Glass). Not be OCD about it like iPhone 4.

 

[lsvtecjohn3]

Microsoft aren't the only ones who had trouble with updates!

Didn't IOS 4 update cause iPhone 3G users grief?

Apple stated IOS 4 was suitable for iPhone 3G devices when in practice the update rendered the phone virtually unusable.

One both occassions, lack of testing is to blame.. microsoft ( and Apple ) should have done more instead of just rushing it out the door.

At least the iPhone's weren't bricked unlike Android and WP7

 

[Rodimus Prime]

At least the iPhone's weren't bricked unlike Android and WP7

umm niether WP7 nor the Android phones got bricked. A factor reset fixed the Android one and I do not believe more than a minor amount was bricking WP7 and even those that got brick it was possible to clean them back up.

 

[*LTD*]

At least the iPhone's weren't bricked unlike Android and WP7

Check this out:

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/02/2...4g-lte-upgrade-process-for-the-motorola-xoom/

For those of you heading into a Best Buy or Verizon store early tomorrow morning to pick up a Motorola XOOM, you are probably wondering how the upgrade process to 4G LTE will work and we have you covered. As expected, the upgrade will be free to everyone and will be available approximately 90 days after launch, so we’re looking at May before this thing will be cooking up those 4G speeds. And as we were told by Motorola at CES, you will have to send in your device and will be without it for 6 days while they upgrade the hardware and software.

Unless this is a bad joke, it's just an other example why Apple has absolutely nothing to worry about. It's usually amateur night outside of Cupertino. So much DOA you'll need wings to fly over it.

Enjoy the show.

 

[ChazUK]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3.2; en-gb; Blade Build/FRG83) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)

At least the iPhone's weren't bricked unlike Android and WP7

Check this out:

http://www.droid-life.com/2011/02/2...4g-lte-upgrade-process-for-the-motorola-xoom/

For those of you heading into a Best Buy or Verizon store early tomorrow morning to pick up a Motorola XOOM, you are probably wondering how the upgrade process to 4G LTE will work and we have you covered. As expected, the upgrade will be free to everyone and will be available approximately 90 days after launch, so we’re looking at May before this thing will be cooking up those 4G speeds. And as we were told by Motorola at CES, you will have to send in your device and will be without it for 6 days while they upgrade the hardware and software.

Unless this is a bad joke, it's just an other example why Apple has absolutely nothing to worry about. It's usually amateur night outside of Cupertino. So much DOA you'll need wings to fly over it.

Enjoy the show.

How does Apple upgrade the iPad to LTE then? Oh that's right, with a new iPad.

What is so bad about owning hardware that is upgradeable?

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Samsung Focus owner here; Microsoft took care of the issue pretty quickly - quickly enough that I never even saw the update notification. All in all I'm pretty much in love with this phone, and after experiencing the Windows Phone 7 interface I don't think I could ever go back to an icon launcher ala iPhone/Android style.

 

[neko girl]

Didn't IOS 4 update cause iPhone 3G users grief?

Aggravated by lack of firmware downgrade capability for iPhones..