back to article HTC reckons 'WinPho will give Android a run for its money'

HTC has expressed its love for Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, stating it believes the OS will "eventually be better than other platforms and will give Android a run for its money". The remark was made by HTC manager Melvin Chua at the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango launch in Singapore yesterday, ZDNet Asia reports. The statement has …

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  1. fandom
    Devil

    Sure

    I wonder how much MS reduced their patent royalties in exchange for that statement

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Precisely

      Why on earth would Samsung and HTC bother with locked down WinBlows Mobile phones when their Android devices are the best in class and selling quicker than they can make them.

      This is all part of Microsoft's extortion racket deal, anyone that thinks it's what HTC really think, is frankly a moron.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    uhuh

    And they base that on the absolutely stellar track record of Microsoft in the consumer space? Oh no, wait, they've been paid off by them for so many years now, they wouldn't even call Vista a failure...

    1. dave 46
      FAIL

      Like the x-box? Yes I guess they could base it on that, or even on the quality and marketing of existing devices.

      Or they could base it on hate filled forums, because that really makes sense.

      1. Kevin Bailey

        the xbox..

        ...has cost ms billions and has had an enormous failure rate.

        Basically, if it wasn't propped up by windows/office it would have disappeared long ago.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Of course this is totally unrelated

    to patent threats from Microsoft...

  4. NoneSuch Silver badge
    FAIL

    Pah...

    Pah I say...

    Windoze Phones will need three times the processing speed than an Android just to keep up to the bloated code they seem to love to jam into everything they make.

    <sarcasm> At least we will get Bing!!! </sarcasm>

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @NoneSuch

      you know thats funny, because my WP has half the power (on paper) than some android devices and it is appears faster, or another way of looking at it, on this very same device i can run android and its quite a bit slower.

      So the question is really, whos the bloated one?

      This is purely my observation, but given that i do run both of them on the same phone i think my experience has some credability.

      1. Alex.Red

        Multitasking...

        You do aware, that WP does almost no multitasking, right?

        That is why my Sony Clie NX 60 was multiple times faster than my daugter's Axim X51. Clie was doing rounds and rounds around Win PDA.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @Alex Red

          A common misconception - Windows Phone has always had multi-tasking, it's just not been available to non-MS devs until the Mango / 7.5 release. I believe that this was due to MS wanting to make sure that the phone didn't get a reputation for battery draning, I suspect they've put tools in place to assist other devs, now it's generally available.

        2. Manu T

          RE: Sony Clie NX 60 was multiple times faster than my daugter's Axim X51

          Mr. Alex.Red,

          I think you seem to miss some points (years actually) here.

          1) your ancient (2003) Sony Clie NX60 was a SINGLE TASKING device running Palm OS 5. look up Palm OS 5 for details.

          2) your daughter's ancient (2005) Dell Axim X5 ran Windows Mobile 5 (true multitasking). In fact Windows Mobile (formerly known as Pocket PC 2000/2001) had multitasking since 2000. As had Symbian/Epoc32 which also from that era.

          3) we are refering today to Windows Phone 7 which is NOT the same as Windows Mobile from yesteryear. In fact windows phone is incompatible with Windows mobile although they share a common 'kernel' called WinCE (but obviously the latest winphone devices have a much newer kernel).

          In essence the reason why your old palm device was faster is the same as why an iPhone 'appears' faster than an Android device. iOS is single tasking (nowadays it has limited multitasking tsimilar like Windows Phone whereby apple/M$ apps can multitask but third party apps can not). Contrary to Android (which is build upon Linux) is born with multitasking.

          Perhaps getting your facts right might help creating a constructive and usable opinion.

    2. pan2008

      lol

      Currently it is the android phones that need 2 cores just to keep up with the windows phone. If you have used a WP you will know it beats easily any android for any normal phone operations, browsing contacts, viewing pictures, anything you do in a phone. Where is about equal is the browser but with the new IE9 I expect WP to be faster. All the above with exactly half the hardware of an android. If you don't believe give it a try.

    3. Kristian Walsh Silver badge

      Slightly baffled by the implication that Android is somehow a model of efficiency...

      Whatever its other flaws (and don't start me on "managed code"), at least WP7 is native machine-code, and doesn't make the CPU move pixels around.

    4. This post has been deleted by its author

      1. Manu T

        "...2011 Microsoft are nothing like the 1991 Microsoft...."

        No indeed. They're far worse! Putting moles in strategic companies to drive them of a cliff or backstabbing any other competition with 'license fees'. They're just the same olde MafiaSoft as they've always been. In fact keeping Android phone manufacturors hostage to extort money from them is allmost the same as how they achieved a foothold in the PC industry in the eighties.

        The buzzword here is also "Microsoft tax"!

  5. b166er

    Have HTC fallen out with Google or something?

    Or fallen in with Microsoft.

    HTC/Microsoft/Nokia vs Google/Motorola/Samsung should be some dust up!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I reckon this is HTC hedging their bets in case Android goes tits up because of all the court cases going on.

    2. Richard Willetts
      FAIL

      Ummmm no!

      Samsung are on the MS side of that battle, keep up with the news, they have signed a massive deal with MS, it's just Moto and Google on the other side and considering the Android market share controlled by Samsung and HTC that is pretty significant.

  6. hplasm
    Windows

    Funny-

    That's much what Nokia said...

    1. Tomato42
      Trollface

      Using the same words no less, so it *must* be true!

  7. Jim Coleman
    Thumb Up

    Yuss!

    Read and learn, people. Read and learn.

    WP7.5 / Mango rocks!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      No, it sucks

      and a Microsoft shill saying otherwise doesn't change that.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      oh really

      Can you finally use (any) MP3 as a ringtone now?

      Can you finally connect to hidden SSID's now?

      Can you finally multitask (again).

      can you...

      And how did the upgrade go.... oh wait it isn't out yet (and yet and yet and yet).

      Nah, they took over 10 years to fix their desktop OS, they never fixed their former mobile OS and now this new kid on the block is gonna 'blow competetion' with it's '2nd edition'? Sure! You probably believe in santa claus too, heh?

      1. Richard Willetts
        FAIL

        Oh dear!

        People really fail to check their facts, the update rollout began tuesday and that was to 90% of WP7 users.

      2. pan2008

        yes, yes

        Answers to the aboves is yes. And people started received the update already the same day it was announced, seems like this time the process has been streamlined and they won't be the small delay. Now compare this to Android .... How many androids are running the latest version and they are not brand new?

    3. N13L5
      Coffee/keyboard

      uhh heh

      What rocks about an Apple-jail system wanna-be, clamoring for tollbooths?

      We can't customize it, can't even get rid of the Metro tile scheme...

      If I want a locked-down non-customizable system, at least Apple gives me multitudes of perfectly matched 3rd party hardware peripherals in trade. Not to mention a large capable hacker community to alleviate at least some of the annoyance.

      M$ offers nothing but the lock-down, paired with a suspicion - fueled by a decade of not fixing their previous mobile OS - of what they'll do when they reach some level of market share they're happy with.

  8. Flocke Kroes Silver badge

    What would happen if you could choose what OS to install on your phone?

    In 2015, analysts (who are always right and never report their employer's preferred predictions) think it will be 49% Android, 19.5% Microsoft, 19% Apple, 12.5% other. Microsoft won't even be second rate for another three years. Why are HTC rushing to jump down the toilet when Nokia are currently stuck in the U-bend?

  9. HollyHopDrive

    are they required to say that....

    .....as part of a patent settlement?

    Just wondering........

    1. Tomato42
      Devil

      As this costs nothing (only reputation, and that's not included in beancounter spreadsheets), it's a deal of a century!

  10. Richard Barnes

    Wanna bet?

    So Winphone is going to overtake iOS by 2015 is it? Hmm.

    I'm no fanboi, but I've got a crisp twenty waiting for anyone from Gartner or Pyramid research who cares to put their money where their mouth is.

    Alternatively, perhaps Betfair could open a market and we'll see what general opinion is on this.

  11. James Whale
    Thumb Up

    Totally agree

    I love Android, but having played with Windows Phone I absolutely agree it's going to be big. It's such a pleasure to use. Mango in particular is just a joy - there's a smoothness and an intuitiveness to the UI that has thus far eluded Google et al.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Can you delete the Twatter/Flaceblock apps on Wphone?

    If I could do that (and I can't on Android without rooting it) then I might be tempted.

    AFAIK, the iPhone ships without them pre-installed.

    1. N13L5
      Coffee/keyboard

      My Android Galaxy SII sure doesn't have either facebook or twitter on it, and its NOT rooted.

      So either it didn't come with them, or I uninstalled them without any trouble, since I would remember if I had any troubles.

      If you know how to use internet search for finding information and you couldn't uninstall on your phone, you bought it from some crappy Telco, which you should simply not do.

      I think there's a need for a "how not to buy your next smartphone, if you'd like to avoid crapware" tutorial?

    2. gribbler

      Yes you can...

      .. on android, maybe not on whatever overlay your device manufacturer has put on top of it, but Android let's you delete those apps and every manufacturer flavour of it I have used does too.

  13. Asphy
    Stop

    fool me once..

    .. shame on you, twice? Shame on me..

    Windows on a phone?

    Never again..

    Ever!

  14. DrXym

    Well that's great

    Looks like in 2015 I might contemplate a Windows Phone. Or not.

  15. sisk
    Thumb Down

    Not likely

    I haven't tried WinPho (or, for that matter, SEEN it anywhere except online), but I highly doubt this statement has any truth to it. Unseat the iPhone from #2? Possibly, if you can get rabies shots to all the fanbois and convince the rest of the iPhone users that iOS is too limited and/or fugly for them (I find it to be both, but that's just my opinion and it's obviously not shared by most iPhone users). Threaten Android's dominance? Perhaps if you manage to win a law suit on those nonexistant or laughably weak patents that it supposedly violates (I can think of no other reason that we haven't seen patent numbers associated with those claims).

  16. Andy Roid McUser
    Pirate

    Its just not cool

    Sure, there could be a significant business case to run WinPho 7.5 / 8 , but in the consumer space, Microsoft have lost the public, .. Zune ( it was brown ), Kin ( failure ), OS's seen as insecure, bloaty and unreliable - even if this assumption is wrong. Consumers will worry that they will have to run anti-virus on their phones , that they will get malware , hijacked etc - not because WinPho has not addressed these issues , but because of the very real history of past products. Vista ??

    Consumers like new and shiny, the iPad is a case in point, really you can't do much with it and you must exist within a walled garden... Outcome - real world perception that Apple make secure and easy to use products. The debate is not if they are any good , its just new. Microsoft, no matter how good the product is, has lost the consumer cool factor. Even in the IT sector we see them litigating leeches that 'license' instead of innovating that are constantly behind the curve.

    Just my sixpense, but its why I think WinPho will remain a marginal player.

    ( Fanboi status - I own Android , Apple and Windows and Linux Products and like them all )

  17. Jelliphiish
    Facepalm

    why

    do i keep reading it as wimphone?

  18. Tzael
    Windows

    Frankly it's hilarious how people who have no direct experience of Windows Phone 7 love to come here and waffle on about how crap and bloated it is - any techie with an ounce of decency would put a Windows Phone through its paces for a real-world usage comparison and a) stfu or b) dump their existing phone.

    1. GrantB
      Boffin

      Reason for that

      I pretty much haven't seen any Windows 7.5 phones in the wild. Actually I have seen one briefly - used by a MS rep, but otherwise in my office full of people involved in software development, its pretty much Android, iOS and the odd Blackberry for most people. Seems like everybody is quickly moving off dumb phones as well around here.

      I might have a play with a WP7 phone if a friend, family or colleague had one.. but right now I don't know of anybody. I suppose there might be some in stores, but among the iPhone/iPad and endless display of new/shiny Android devices, I can't recall seeing any WP7 phones.

      Finally like most people, I just can't be bothered. My next phone will probably be Android because of price or Apple if the company are paying.. but unless WP7x offered some critical feature that I couldn't get on an Android or Apple phone, why should I or anybody else care?

      Just being another alternative OS with less apps on the same hardware as Android devices (HTC/Samsung) doesn't inspire me to invest time to research further

  19. Alex.Red
    Paris Hilton

    I have a comprehension problem, please help...

    I do not understand what people expect to hear about W7.5 from the W7.5 manufacturer at the lunch day of W7.5?

    W7.5 is not as good as Android?

  20. enerider
    Linux

    I own an HTC Trohpy

    And with Mango (Yes, the upgrade IS out) on it, it fairly hauls ass and lasts more than a day on a charge with fairly hefty music playing usage (coding means I occasionally need to drown out the background to get things done).

    The UI is a joy and it isn't an Apple phone. I've had enough of "LOOK AT MY IPHONE, LOOK AT IT!!!".

    The improvements are nice, and I have an RDP client, an SSH client and an IRC client all of which work. Truth be told the IRC client still needs improvement, but it works.

    Do I exclusively use MS for everything? Hell no, I have a Debian server (hosting MineCraft, I had to do something fun with the old desktop! Was running FreeBSD but it wouldn't play nice with the Realtek Gigabit on the motherboard), SmoothWall firewall, FreeBSD EEE 701(the EEE 701 is a kind of experimental place for things), and a dual booting Windows 7 / OpenSuSE desktop (because I can't run all the games under OpenSuSE, which would make LAN gaming events rather boring if I went 100% OpenSuSE)

  21. Antony Evans
    Facepalm

    If it was a microsoft office phone......

    Would that make it a ..... MoPho.....

    Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, thump.......

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm trying to buy a WinMoPhone

    I read somewhere that they are to be found around the €200 euro mark for the initial models, but other than dodgy dealers on auction websites I haven't found the correct outlet for the possibly 'parrot candidate' phones. (norske Blå?)

    there must be a million 'sevens' stuck in resellers cupboards somewhere, and I'm prepared to invest (at cost) in the win 7 technology and give it a chance... anyone know where to look?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      expansys but they run out of the dell venue pro for £200.

  23. Jay 2
    Linux

    I guess HTC has to be seen to be making an effort at flogging WinPho 7. Though as they also make stuff running Android (and even other things) then I'm sure they'll be laughing all the way to the bank., as long as they don't get stuck with a shedload of handsets that no-one wants...

    I haven't seen a WinPho 7 handset in the wild yet, though I can't say I've been looking for any. All my friends are either running Android/iOS unless they're stuck with a work BlackBerry.

  24. b166er

    I put Samsung in the Google group because they're building the new Googlephone. Hence Google elected to use Samsung for their flagship 'droid.

    Guess it's great times for Samsung, whichever way you slice it, even more so when they've made sauce out of Apple.

    1. Manu T

      @ b166er

      things might change ;-)

      They didn't grab Moto to feed it to the mothballs, did they?

  25. Magnus_Pym

    Not saying much.

    "eventually be better than other platforms and will give Android a run for its money".

    Isn't this an admission that it is at best the same as other platforms and will be for the foreseeable future? Doesn't seem like a glowing endorsement to me.

  26. nichobe
    Thumb Up

    Regardless of who is better

    In the end competition is healthy and it will fruit a better OS for all whatever your flavour may be

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Next year

    No doubt we will hear the "my phone is better than your phone" arguments next year when Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 are released and you will be using your Metro Apps on the desktop, laptop, touch device or phone.

    1. Manu T

      RE: Next year

      Sure as long as we can play Angry birds on all these 'smart'-phones and NFC the highscores to each other we're fine, aren't we?

      These 'smartphones' are more evolving into bling toys for grown ups instead of real communication devices.

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