I was looking at s/h N8s the other day, dunno if I could part with £540 for a phone or want my pics that detailed, though full HD vid would be interesting
If this was a result of the BN/Microsoft lawsuit, there wouldn't be a Nook app for Windows PCs either. But there is (and unlike the OSX app, it's not still in beta). I think it has more to do with market share. After all, BN doesn't have a blackberry app either, whereas Kindle offers both Blackberry and Windows Phone apps in addition to the obvious choices of iOS and Android.
Early Windows Phones did have microSD card slots. The problem was the card would be formatted in such a way that it couldn't be used on any other device. Making it a bit useless as a form of portable/removable media. The story now is that Microsoft never intended Windows Phone 7 to have removable media like microSD cards. It only has support for them in the first place because some handset manufacturers use them instead of soldered chips. It's all a bit of a mess really. http://www.techradar.com/news/phone...7-takes-sd-cards-never-gives-them-back-908371 http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/17/windows-phone-7s-microsd-mess-the-full-story-and-how-nokia-ca/ For some people this will be a really important drawback. The Lumia 900 only has 16GB of internal storage. Which has to store everything on the phone. All your apps, photos, MP3s, web browser cache, e-mail cache, text messages, etc. When you buy the device 2GB have already been swallowed by the pre-installed apps. Take some photos, shoot some video and it's game over until you can either upload to some on-line storage or plug into a PC to off load your data and free up some space. Now in fairness I think Microsoft are offering something like 25GB on on-line storage via their cloud service. Which is fine if you have a strong signal and a fast data connection. But we're already seeing reports of data connection issues and Microsoft's cloud services aren't exactly renowned for their reliability. If taking photos is your thing it's just easier and quicker to swap out a microSD card. Frankly this is a spectacularly short-sighted move on Microsoft's part in a selfish effort to push their cloud services to consumers. So basically whatever storage your Windows Phone has when you buy it. That's it. That's all you get. There's no upgrades or expansions.
It would be nice if Windows Phones offered SD slots. It would also be nice if iPhones offered SD slots, but they don't either. It'd also be nice if Android phones uniformly offered physical camera buttons like Windows Phones do, or if iPhones offered multiple screen sizes. No company offers everything for everybody. As for "But we're already seeing reports of data connection issues"--that was one phone out of a dozen or so Windows Phones and the problem was patched and fixed within 72 hours, and owners were compensated $100 for their troubles. The sky is not falling. The problem was fixed so rapidly you contended they must have known about it in advance...so why now bring it up again suggesting it's a problem that continues to exist? I use SkyDrive a bit and it works just fine for me. Never had any problems connecting. Most of my data transfer I do via micro-USB cable though.
How do you feel about signing up to a contract? They can be quite cheap these days. Three are offering a Samsung Galaxy S II for as little as £28 per month. If you want something decent, modern and cheap then I think you're going to have to go the contract route. http://www.three.co.uk/Discover/Devices/Samsung/Galaxy_S_II/Black
I'm not an iPhone fan. As for data connection issues. No it's not one out of a dozen. It's all over the web Lumia 900's have this issue. It's being widely reported. Why bring it up? The patch doesn't arrive until the 16th at the earliest. We don't know if it works yet. So while the problem has been identified, it has not yet been fixed. Which is something potential customers have to take into consideration. And if your phone has been bricked as someone on this thread reported, a software patch isn't going to make it better. I've also touched on the fact Microsoft's reputation when it comes to cloud services is badly tarnished by massive failures. http://amplicate.com/hate/windows-live-skydrive http://www.greenm3.com/gdcblog/2009...isaster-failure-sinks-the-server-in-micr.html http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/microsofts_cloud_computing_fail_loses_sidekick_data/ http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-explains-most-recent-skydrive-and-hotmail-outage http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14851455 http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2011/09/21/microsoft_reveals_cloud_outage_causes/ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...users-cut-off-by-Microsoft-cloud-failure.html http://www.itworld.com/cloud-comput...hurts-its-credibility-and-prospects-office365 http://www.informationweek.com/news/cloud-computing/infrastructure/232602382
LOL I used to be the same. Hate talking on the phone. Access to the web and on-line maps is handy though. I'm thinking of switching to Three. I like the look of their all you can eat data
The "one out of a dozen Windows Phones" meant one model affected out of a dozen or so different WP phone models out there. As for what percentage of Lumia 900s are affected, I've never seen any sort of statistics either way. The 16th release for the patch would be one week after the bug was first reported. And every affected customer gets a $100 on their AT&T bill. If that's not rapid and satisfactory response, I don't know what is. Samsung took a couple of weeks to release a patch for the "phantom volume" bug on the Galaxy Nexus, and didn't compensate affected owners one penny to my knowledge. http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2396681,00.asp
Yes I had a Windows Mobile 6.1 phone. I just like being able to switch between SD cards that have different music, movies, and any other media.
@aikiwolfie-- The Lumia 900 patch just got released, a few days earlier than anticipated. http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/13/nokia-lumia-900-update-now-available/
Which would again suggest Nokia and Microsoft released the Lumia 900 with full knowledge of this issue.
So anyway talking of the Lumia 900. Have you seen the Nokia N9? Looks familiar. Though strangely Nokia are keeping very quiet about it. And with good reason. It seems it's a MeeGo device. Now according to the article I linked tofrom techradar.com we shouldn't expect any more MeeGo devices. So why bother with the N9? Why bother with the full range of accessories for the N9? Indeed the Lumia 900 supposedly doesn't even include a set of headphones. So is this Maemo's last gasp in it's death-throws or does Nokia have a backup plan waiting in the wings? You'll also notice from the Wiki link the N9 has a 64GB version. Which Lumia customers are denied access to. Why? So the Lumia 900? Not that special. It's the N9 running Windows Phone 7.
Sometimes I just can't resit saying I told you so! Windows Phone 7 is a retail flop. Elop is blaming everybody except himself and Microsoft. Microsoft are now subsidising the Lumia 610 so Nokia can drop the price to break into the Chinese market. A market they already had in the bag with their own OS's running on their own hardware. Nokia are now planning to make 10,000 employees redundant. At this stage I'd be happy to predict that Nokia will be bought by either Microsoft or a consortium backed by Microsoft within the next 3 years. After which Nokia will continue to implode.
I never saw the point in the Lumia. I don't see why Microsoft didn't keep their powder dry and use the Nokia partnership to give Windows Phone 8 a really big launch using a top level device. I saw a quote the other day that I think tells the story - to paraphrase - 'the only people who like the Lumia are the dozen people who have tried one'
I think it comes down to greed at the end of the day. Microsoft could exist quite happily as a very profitable company producing applications software. Which seems to be what they're best at. However there's something in the Microsoft culture that forces them to push for complete dominance of every market sector that's currently trendy. And inevitably they miss the boat. Catch on to the trend late, rush out a half-arsed product that fails to live up to even half the hype and promises Microsoft will inevitably make and at the end of the day waste everybody's time. Currently they are trying to steal Apple's thunder. As well as their business model. Unfortunately for Microsoft they are just too big to operate the way Apple does. It will land them in anti-competition hot water. I think Microsoft really need to focus on what they do best in software.
They are focussed on software. With the exception of the Surface, which is designed as a demonstrator for Windows 8 as much as anything, Microsoft have barely done anything other than software. And they're a for-profit business. It is their job to grow and provide value to their shareholders. To do otherwise would be grossly irresponsible.
I have no issues with for-profit businesses. I disagree that Microsoft have focus though. Software is a very wide field to play in with many different platforms. Microsoft want it all. And that's not working for them any longer. They need to regroup and focus. Windows Phone 7 is something like the third or fourth Microsoft mobile platform in a row to fall flat on it's face. And that's just the tip of the iceberg of Microsoft's product related problems. At this point in time Surfice, other than sharing a name with another similar Microsoft product is as good as vapourware. There's no price, no specs, no release date. Nothing but a bad demo where Windows 8 froze. Google will be releasing their new tablet developed in partnership with Asus in July. So I'd agree that Microsoft should have possibly kept Windows Phone for the Windows 8 release. At least then they'd be able to leverage the hype of a consistent OS across all platforms. But Windows Phone 8 will see changes and Windows phone 7 apps won't be compatible with Windows 8. And all because Microsoft failed to notice the trend and then paniced. Jumped on the bandwagon pushing Windows Phone 7 out before it was ready. And they're about to do the same with Windows 8. The whole dual interfaces set up is an unholy mess. Metro lacks even basic prompts to suggest you have to point and click to a spot on screen to make something happen. The settings are scattered across two or three layers of the interface. It's completely disjointed. And yes I have used it. I downloaded the consumer preview ISOs and not a lot is being changed in the run up to the release.
