back to article Windows Phone 7 blocks out popular HTC model, blames buttons

Windows Mobile 6.5 devices will not be upgradeable to Windows Phone 7. Microsoft confirmed to APCmag.com yesterday that users of popular devices such as the HTC HD2 handset won't upgrade to the company's latest operating system for the mobile network. Even though the HD2 model meets much of the criteria set out in Redmond's ' …

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  1. NightFox

    Don't Understand

    Too many buttons? Why can't they just remap the existing buttons and ignore two of them. Sure, it might mean that the buttons no longer do the function shown on them, but at least people can decide if this compromise is worth while to u/g to WM7.

    It needs a dedicated search button? So by dedicated you mean it *has* to have a picture of a magnifying glass on it?

    1. leona 2
      Unhappy

      The old M$ we know and love.

      Exactly what I was thinking, M$ being Lazy as usual, typical. I mean why reuse the hardware we have, when we can chuck it out and buy new, as we all have cash to splash don't 'we?? ! Oh dear.

  2. petur
    Thumb Down

    Rubbish

    What a load of nonsense, and that is the embedded developer in me speaking....

    I can only think of one reason: they are blocking this on purpose.

  3. It wasnt me

    What a piece of shit

    Apple are the company that support a very restricted hardware list, and target their OS to work on just that system.

    If MS want to go the same route they will need to create an OS that works. Which they have never done in their history. I think its a bit late for MS to move away from commodity hardware support now.

    I really hope this is the final nail in their coffin. MS Mobile is the only product coming out of redmond that I have ever got on with. They just lost a customer.

    What a bunch of w£$&$rs. Fancy limiting you market and winding up your customer base for the sake of an extra couple of buttons. Unbelievable.

    1. Big-nosed Pengie
      FAIL

      "they will need to create an OS that works."

      That'll be the day.

  4. Tezfair
    FAIL

    Typical!..

    Had my phone for 25.5 hours and already its out of date. Im sure the peeps at Xda will come up with something.

    1. The Original Ash
      Linux

      They sure will!

      They're porting Android to a lot of HTC devices.

      I can't wait.

    2. Plasma
      Thumb Up

      xda developers ftw

      The people at xda made my hideous lump of a TYTN II useable, so i guess they can do pretty much anything!

      1. discoutshop
        Thumb Up

        dale_martin

        It's pretty good application. :)

      2. Lionel Baden

        Yeeeahhhh

        XDA FTW !!!

    3. RichardBellamy
      Gates Horns

      Re: Typical

      MS have stated this time they will activley go after people distributing ROMs.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    And Microsoft cut their nose of despite there face...Muppets

    And Microsoft cut their nose of despite there face...Muppets..

    I'll never buy a Microsoft phone and I always advise anybody who knows me not to either......I've just bought an iphone....

    1. EvilGav 1

      That would be . . .

      . . . cut nose off to spite their face.

      As for the other point, you advise your friends not to but MicroSoft, but are ok with the most restrictive and most expensive mobile phone, that doesn't do any number of things that everyone else can do and when they do include them (copy and paste, for example) make a huge song and dance like it's the second coming.

      Managing to be hypocritical in one sentence is an art, it has to be said.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        FAIL

        If you are going to be a pedant...

        The three dots are known as an ellipsis and take the same space as the letter ‘m’, or an ‘em’. So no spaces inbetween the dots. Microsoft is also written thus, no capital on the middle. The oft cited “most expensive phone” with regards the iPhone is bollocks. Yes, the minimum contract value is high, but you get much more than limited data and voice minutes. As for “locked down”, meh. By and large consumers just don't give a fuck. They want a shiny device that works as advertised. The iPhone does. Windows Mobile never has, and never will. At least you can upgrade the iPhones OS! I've yet to see a copy and paste functionality as elegantly done as on a phone as it is on the iPhone. It works extremely well.

        “Managing to be hypocritical in one sentence is an art, it has to be said.” an artform that you have mastered quite superbly…

        1. The Original Steve
          Grenade

          Cock

          "They want a shiny device that works as advertised. The iPhone does. "

          Completely agree. I mean what they say it will do is very limited but at least it does it

          "Windows Mobile never has, and never will."

          WM - in particular recent 6.x releases have worked very well. Ask the thousands of enterprise customers. (DHL, Warehousing companies etc.)

          And I'm amazed you have such an insight into the future. From speculation and educated guesses, the kernel is the same but updated (I assume), yet the GUI is completely redone. In fact it's close to a total rewrite. Yet you already know this will fail? Amazing... What's the lottery numbers?

          "At least you can upgrade the iPhones OS!"

          Depends on the model... Tried putting the "3GS" OS on a 1st gen iPhone?

          And yes - you can do it on WM. Upgraded a WM 5 Symbol device (testing some for our warehouse operation) to 6.1 last week.

          "I've yet to see a copy and paste functionality as elegantly done as on a phone as it is on the iPhone. It works extremely well."

          I should think so. It's had nearly 10 years to copy the competition - if it STILL couldn't do it then i'd be gobsmacked.

          1. h 6
            Jobs Halo

            "Depends on the model... Tried putting the "3GS" OS on a 1st gen iPhone?"

            Yes, I have 3.1 on my first-gen iphone.

          2. Big-nosed Pengie

            Title

            "WM - in particular recent 6.x releases have worked very well."

            Clearly this is a message from someone living on an extraterrestrial planet.

            WM is the buggiest, most counterintuitive piece of crap I've ever used. It actually makes Fista look good.

        2. Kanhef

          not a pedant

          Complaining about incorrect capitalization or formatting of punctuation is pedantry. Pointing out that someone has screwed up an expression and created a nonsensical sentence is not.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          FAIL

          cut and paste

          "I've yet to see a copy and paste functionality as elegantly done as on a phone as it is on the iPhone. It works extremely well."

          Ok, I'll bite. To take your ridiculous example of usability, see also the cut and paste functionality on the HTC HD2. It's perfect and just as easy if not easier to use than on the iPhone. So your statement "I've yet to see a" should actually be taken at face value, and not at the "There is no" that you'd like to imply.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            FAIL

            Another example of The 'Soft/A Softie OEM copying a competitor...

            And you Softies say Apple claim things were their ideas..."To take your ridiculous example of usability, see also the cut and paste functionality on the HTC HD2. It's perfect and just as easy if not easier to use than on the iPhone". It's identical to the point of ripping the iPhone off! How can something that is such a blatant copy be easier. Oh the arrows are bigger than the dots when selecting, but it hasn't got the magnification and I' sure that the HD2's capacitive screen hasn't got the accuracy of the iPhones screen, none of the other HTC made devices have. So the OP's point remains true numb-nuts! iPhones method is still far more elegant, HTC/Microsoft's is a lesser copy. Look Microsofties, even the "mighty" Microsoft are abandoning Windows Mobile as it is. This is because it is shit!, or for the sake of fairness, has a reputation of being shit. Who knows what the new "Windows Series Form Factor For Windows Mobile 7 Phone Platform", or whatever the snappy name Microsoft's marketing team came up with, will do, but going by the success of the Zune, I's err on the side of caution if I were a Microsoft fanboy. They have an absolute mountain to climb. Microsoft aren't cool. Google, Rim and, like it or not, Apple are with the consumer as the moment, it's that market that counts with mobile devices.

            Oh, and the dickhead that said "Depends on the model... Tried putting the "3GS" OS on a 1st gen iPhone?". It's called iPhone OS 3.0 (current release is 3.1) and I' m pretty certain it goes on the 2G just fine...

  6. Bilgepipe
    WTF?

    Bung

    So it has to have a dedicated Bing button in order for WinPhone 7 to be accepted on it? I wonder what the icon will be?

    Suggestions below please...

  7. melt
    WTF?

    To HTC:

    put out an £0.99 updated keypad membrane which has the required legends on it, and covers over the "unneeded" buttons.

  8. TeeCee Gold badge
    Grenade

    Eh? What?

    You mean that there was actually an OEM out there who was planning to produce a 7 update ROM for an existing 6.x model rather than just telling their customer base to buy their shiny new 7 device?

    That'd be a bloody first!

    Experience says that even if the damned thing had been back-compatible with existing HW, perishingly few (if any) devices would have had an update shipped anyway. It's more usually the kind folk in the ROM cooking community who do this sort of thing....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      upgrade to a whole new number??!

      Christ, HTC didn't even upgrade me from 6.0 to 6.1, or from 6.1 to 6.5 on the last two phones I had off them so anyone expecting a whole new number was very optimistic!

      XDA to the rescue again.

  9. theloon
    FAIL

    This is a new one even for MS!

    Usually you need a shiny new CPU, 4 x the memory, new Graphics card, more power etc for any MS upgrade... but this time you need less buttons!

    Awesome - another good move from MS... Force people to get a new device.

    So let me see, do I get the an iPhone (v cool), Blackberry (very solid) or Google phone (cool and niche), so shall I try another Windows (I'm sure this time it will be ok) phone...?

    WM5 was still the best OS they even made for Phones...but that was a longggg time ago, in a land far far away....

  10. Andy Jones
    FAIL

    Same old ...

    Same old Microsoft. Brings out new OS so users have to upgrade their hardware. Pathetic!

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Horns

    Hahahaha

    Have to laugh. Anyone who bought an HD2 recently deserves everything they get - particularly the guy who's had his for 25 hours. It's totally obviously that MS won't back-port to old devices.

    Frankly, anyone buying WinMo in the last 6 months is daft. Android all the way.

    1. Robert Hill

      Android...

      Excuse me, but I've lost count of the number of older Android handsets that can't be upgraded to the most current releases, as covered here in El Reg. I mean I could look it up, but I don't care enough to, because EVERYTHING nowadays is obsolete in about 9-18 months anyway. That doesn't mean it is not fit for purpose, doesn't mean it doesn't work, it just means that it is no longer _current_. Even my much loved iPhone 3G is already obsolete (fast approaching 18 months old), so I really don't care that I probably won't be able to upgrade it to the next major release of the OS. That's just progress...

      1. mhewitson
        Happy

        Wrong

        My G1 is running Eclair very nicely right now, and even does Live wallpapers acceptably.

        Again - all thanks to XDA!

    2. Monty Burns

      Very happy with 6.5. and staying that way

      Wow.... What a mature and insightful post!

      Personally, i’m very happy with my HD2 and its Xanny Tech/Evolution rom. From the little fact I’ve managed to read about Winmob 7 I have no ambition to “upgrade” to it as all it would seem to do is remove functionality!

      Besides, for anyone that truly wants to remove functionality, i’m sure XDA will sort it out for ya ;)

  12. Charles Manning

    Overhang suicide

    Overhang, where you pre-announce a new product that obsoletes the current product, is a marketing no-no.

    But MS normally take it a step further by telling you that you need the new stuff because the old offering is crap.

    Here MS take this to the extreme. They overhang the new 6.5 products as they are launched: "Here are all the latest products. They are shit because W7 is coming RSN.". Why would anyone want to buy a new 6.5 if they know it is going to be obsolete and lack the special 7.x features. MS should at least have worked with the handset makers to build a range of transitionary products that you can run 6.5 on but upgrade to 7. Why would any handset vendor want to sign up to any program that treats them this badly?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Paris Hilton

      Indeed

      "Why would anyone want to buy a new 6.5 if they know it is going to be obsolete and lack the special 7.x features"

      Indeed.

      And why would any developer invest into a platform that screws them over as well? I guess all new MS Mobile apps are going to target 7.x, but then what's to say the same thing doesn't happen with 8.x? Too bad MS. You lost your way. WM6.5 is actually quite useful, despite what others think. That is if you want to do some work on the move and not just impress your mates with glitzy novelty apps.

      So it's over to Android for us European developers, since the US will only be left with the iBone by the time the current spate of ridiculous patent cat fights are over.

      Paris, for being good at developing relationships.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Business as usual for WM phone owners

    Anyone care to guess what impact this will have on the sales of the Windows Mobile phones currently available on the market?

    Anyway, this is hardly surprising. WM phones receive very updates, if any at all, before support being dropped. The view from HTC and other WM phone makers have been that if you want new functionality then buy a new phone.

  14. Bram
    IT Angle

    Sense

    The problem is Microsoft spread it self too thin and they are taking the blame for their OS not working properly on the numerous hardware configurations out there.

    The only reason the iPhone and Apple in general are precieved to be a better OS is because there is a very limited amount of hardware configurations.

    Most of the handsets made for windows mobile were just not good enough and it made the OS pretty poor. If your WM didnt work maybe its because you bought a cheap handset or you didnt check that the manufacturer had the right specs for the software.

    I have no problems with Apple or Microsoft, Android I don't trust one little bit, why would anyone give advertisers access to their phone! You can choose to not use the internet or watch TV but you can't just turn off your phone (in case of emergencies).

    HTC HD2 is a great phone and XDA will get something sorted and you never know MS might change their minds (lmao maybe just maybe).

    I reckon the reason why they are releasing 7Series at the end of the year is because they want people to feel like they got something out of new handsets like the HD2, TG01 and X2.

    1. G_C
      Linux

      Otherenditis?

      Am sure any software company can make an OS 'too good' to work on anything...

      I think the trick is to get a 'working' OS that can be used on peoples telephones...

      Apple, Nokia, and RIM don't seem to have played the 'OS too good' card on their respective percievably superior devices...

      My Mum makes cakes that are 'too good' to eat... but we can still eat them... mmmm!

  15. G_C
    Happy

    M$ WoeMo 7...

    When it gets dragged out in front of the public I'll definately sat at the front knitting, waiting for it to fall in the basket...

    I'm sure i'm not alone but I love all this 'schadenfreude' where MS is concerned...

    It's starting to be a hobby...

  16. Maryland, USA
    Thumb Up

    Upward compatibility is overrated

    I've been using an HTC 6800 for 2 years, running Windows Mobile 6.1 (originally 6.0). But I don't begrudge Microsoft for refusing to shackle progress to the ghosts of smartphones past. Nor do I begrudge them for failing to provide a clean upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. Nor did i begrudge Apple when the company broke clean from the Motorola CISC CPU to migrate to an IBM RISC CPU. Nor...

  17. discoutshop
    FAIL

    old crap !

    Same old Microsoft. Brings out new OS so users have to upgrade their hardware. Pathetic!

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