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[MCD]

Update: Glen Roberts via twitter has let us know this is an issue that will be addressed in Mango, and Mobile Tech World has previously posted that Silverlight 4 will fully support 32 bit colour.

Yeah, they just posted that.

Man, they really want to fix everything with Mango.

 

[Dazzla]

Mango is going to be a beast. Imagine an E7/N9 style device from Nokia, Mango on board, Skype built in, second gen specs, Nokia optics. It'd be unstoppable!

 

[plagiarize]

i know the Trophy is almost with us, but do we have any idea at all what the eta is for something with a slide out keyboard? i've been rocking a Casio GZone for far too long waiting to use my contract renewal on a W7 handset and i'd really like something with a full keyboard.

 

[VanMardigan]

You are acting like that's something new they are doing ... <<

Pissing-off early adopters has been Windows Phone 7 team's modus operandi since launch.

Just remember, like camera setting, carrier update blocking and once per year PC style update of OS, this color banding is done so you can have "consistent" user experience.

To be fair, there are going to be two substantive updates this year, not one.

And the reason that sucks is that I believe most of us feel they should be splitting them up into smaller, more frequent updates. Mango will be more substantive than all of these little apple updates, but Apple releases them rapid fire, while MS had chosen to bundle them into one. I definitely prefer apple's model.

 

[MCD]

I'd prefer Microsoft's way if our phone didn't need this big ass update so badly.

 

[giga]

To be fair, there are going to be two substantive updates this year, not one.

Wait, which other update? I was only aware of Mango.

 

[brotkasten]

Well look like that Trophy is going to miss another rumor release date. Go Team Windows Phone!

Really? Do you honestly believe that the Verizon Trophy is still Microsoft's business? We saw first pictures of it in February.

Including the redesign for Verizon, NoDo, a Verizon red wallpaper.

It's more likely that Verizon doesn't give a shit. They're late to the party anyway, one more month doesn't matter. It's not like people want those phones, amirite?

 

[ElNino]

Wait, which other update? I was only aware of Mango.

I'm assuming he was referring to NoDo.

 

[giga]

I'm assuming he was referring to NoDo.

That wasn't substantive.

 

[VanMardigan]

That wasn't substantive.

Yes it was. Copy and paste was all anyone focused on, but there was a huge improvement in market stability and search, plus big increases in app load times, especially for graphics heavy apps. Those improved phone usability every single day, unlike the variable and infrequent c/p.

 

[ElNino]

That wasn't substantive.

It depends on what you are looking for I guess. Copy/Paste, Marketplace fixes and general performance gains could be considered substantive relative to normal OS upgrades.

Mango on the other hand is considerably more substantive than any OS upgrade we have seen (if it all makes it in) so it certainly appears as though they are putting all their eggs in one basket this year.

 

[giga]

Yes it was. Copy and paste was all anyone focused on, but there was a huge improvement in market stability and search, plus big increases in app load times, especially for graphics heavy apps. Those improved phone usability every single day, unlike the variable and infrequent c/p.

I consider substantive to be on the equivalent of something like iOS 3 to 4, NoDo to Mango, or Froyo to Gingerbread. All are major OS upgrades.

Bug fixes and performance enhancements are something I'd bundle with minor updates like a iOS 4.x minor release. iOS 4.3 I consider a minor release even though it brought AirPlay, Home Sharing, Personal Hotspot, and Safari's Nitro engine.

 

[VanMardigan]

I consider substantive to be on the equivalent of something like iOS 3 to 4, NoDo to Mango, or Froyo to Gingerbread. All are major OS upgrades.

Bug fixes and performance enhancements are something I'd bundle with minor updates like a iOS 4.x minor release. iOS 4.3 I consider a minor release even though it brought AirPlay, Home Sharing, Personal Hotspot, and Safari's Nitro engine.

Oh, you mean like when apple went to 3.0 two years after launch, and it added..........copy/paste? And mms. Mango was just as substantive.

 

[giga]

Oh, you mean like when apple went to 3.0 two years after launch, and it added..........copy/paste? And mms. Mango was just as substantive.

What? iOS 3 didn't just bring copy/paste and MMS and I never said Mango wasn't substantive.

 

[VanMardigan]

What? iOS 3 didn't just bring copy/paste and MMS and I never said Mango wasn't substantive.

I meant no do, but c/p and mms were the advertised and main features of 3.0.

 

[Milly79]

How does one go about customizing the look of the OS more? I saw someone posted a pic a few pages back.

Edit: Or maybe that was in the "argument: WP will beat out Android" thread.

 

[giga]

I meant no do, but c/p and mms were the advertised and main features of 3.0.

The main front end features, sure. I'm speaking more about back end additions.

iOS 3 brought the push notification service, spotlight search, external hardware support, in app purchases, a maps framework, access to your iPod library, audio recording, http live streaming, accessibility support, opengl es 2, find my iphone, and tethering.

They even advertised the same "1000 new APIs" that Microsoft did at MIX. This is what I mean by substantive updates.

 

[VanMardigan]

Well no do bought along:

Also known as the March 2011 update.

• Copy & paste. You asked for it—now it's here. Just tap a word and drag the arrows to copy and paste it on your phone. You can copy text from emails, text messages, web pages, and Office Mobile documents, and paste it anywhere you can type. To learn more, see Copy & paste.

• Faster apps and games. Nobody likes to wait. That's why we've whittled down the time it takes for apps and games to start up and resume. It's all part of our focus on getting you to the things you love, easier and faster.

• Better Marketplace search. We've streamlined Marketplace search to make it easier to find specific apps, games, or music. Press the Search button in the Apps or Games section of Marketplace and you'll see only apps or games in the results. Press Search in the Music section of Marketplace to search just the music catalog.

• Other Marketplace improvements. We've improved the stability of Marketplace while you download apps. We've also improved the experience of downloading apps larger than 20 megabytes, upgrading from trial apps to paid apps, sharing links to apps via email, sorting Xbox LIVE games by release date, and creating an Xbox LIVE account from within the Games Hub.

• Wi-Fi improvements. We now display your phone's Media Access Control (MAC) address in Settings. (You might need this info if you try to connect to a Wi-Fi network that uses MAC address filtering. To learn more, see Connect to a Wi-Fi network.) We've also removed the limit on the number of Wi-Fi profiles that you can store and reduced the time it takes to start your phone if you've stored lots of Wi-Fi profiles.

• Outlook improvements. We've improved the experience of viewing iPhone photo attachments you receive from a non-Exchange-based email account (such as a Google Mail, Hotmail, or Yahoo! Mail account), using the Global Address List (GAL) when connecting to Exchange Server 2003 using Exchange ActiveSync, and working with email display names that contain brackets (for example, "David Alexander [Contoso]").

• Facebook integration. We've improved the experience of syncing Facebook accounts.

• Camera improvements. We've improved the stability of switching between camera and video modes.

• Audio improvements. We've improved the experience of using a Bluetooth headset to
make calls when you're playing music or videos.

I don't know at what point the list is long enough for you to consider it substantive but I think you're being a little disingenuous and splitting hairs now.



• Other performance improvements. This update also includes software from several phone manufacturers that improves the performance of specific models. Naturally, if you don't have one of the affected models, we won't install this portion of the update on your phone.

 

[giga]

I don't know at what point the list is long enough for you to consider it substantive but I think you're being a little disingenuous and splitting hairs now.

How am I being disingenuous? I have a different definition of substantive and minor for mobile OS updates. This is it:

They even advertised the same "1000 new APIs" that Microsoft did at MIX. This is what I mean by substantive updates.

We can go through long lists of enhancements and fixes from minor iOS 3.x or 4.x updates and they'd be just as long. That's not the point though. A major upgrade brings significant front and back end features and additions. For me, NoDo isn't that. Mango is.

 

[VanMardigan]

Well, I guess its fortunate that Apple meets YOUR definition of substantive, then. Maybe next time, MS!

Edit: and before you bring it up, yes, paul thurrott agrees with your definition of substantive

 

[Complex Shadow]

How am I being disingenuous? I have a different definition of substantive and minor for mobile OS updates. This is it:



We can go through long lists of enhancements and fixes from minor iOS 3.x or 4.x updates and they'd be just as long. That's not the point though. A major upgrade brings significant front and back end features and additions. For me, NoDo isn't that. Mango is.

First of all, My vocabulary isn't as broad as some of yours, so i maybe wrong. But according to wiki substantive means important and meaningful. So to say the nodo update wasn't substantive is to say nodo was unimportant. And I doubt it wasn't meaningful.

Again, I could be wrong. Reading my own post makes me feel like I am talking out of my ass. But I strongly believe nodo was a major update. Just as iOS 3 was a major update.

 

[clav]

i know the Trophy is almost with us, but do we have any idea at all what the eta is for something with a slide out keyboard? i've been rocking a Casio GZone for far too long waiting to use my contract renewal on a W7 handset and i'd really like something with a full keyboard.

Join...Sprint?

First of all, My vocabulary isn't as broad as some of yours, so i maybe wrong. But according to wiki substantive means important and meaningful. So to say the nodo update wasn't substantive is to say nodo was unimportant. And I doubt it wasn't meaningful.

Again, I could be wrong. Reading my own post makes me feel like I am talking out of my ass. But I strongly believe nodo was a major update. Just as iOS 3 was a major update.

Giga's speaking from a developer standpoint. To what does nodo give developers new access rights to create more powerful applications?

 

[giga]

Well, I guess its fortunate that Apple meets YOUR definition of substantive, then. Maybe next time, MS!

I don't know why you're being so salty but I recommend you get some alcohol to chill. It has nothing to do with corporations meeting my definition. iOS 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3 didn't meet my definition, as stated previously.

First of all, My vocabulary isn't as broad as some of yours, so i maybe wrong. But according to wiki substantive means important and meaningful. So to say the nodo update wasn't substantive is to say nodo was unimportant. And I doubt it wasn't meaningful.

Again, I could be wrong. Reading my own post makes me feel like I am talking out of my ass. But I strongly belive nodo was a major update. Just as iOS 3 was a major update.

We're using the word substantive as meaning "major". Major as in transitions from Eclair -> Froyo -> Gingerbread or iOS 2 -> iOS 3 -> iOS 4 or NoDo -> Mango.

The transition from pre-NoDo to NoDo isn't on the same level as the above.

 

[Complex Shadow]

I don't know why you're being so salty but I recommend you get some alcohol to chill. It has nothing to do with corporations meeting my definition. iOS 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3 didn't meet my definition, as stated previously.


We're using the word substantive as meaning "major". Major as in transitions from Eclair -< Froyo -< Gingerbred or iOS 2 -< iOS 3 -< iOS 4 or NoDo -< Mango.

The transition from pre-NoDo to NoDo isn't on the same level as the above.

Even though I still disagree. You are entitled to your opinion.

Spoiler

Even though it's wrong =p

 

[Anton Sugar]

I don't know...I love my WP7, but I don't consider NoDo substantive. It has some performance enhancements across the board, bug fixes and copy & paste. All welcomed by me with open arms, but certainly not on the level of Mango.

I guess a better question would be, if you consider NoDo substantive, what does that make Mango? Because they're certainly not on the same level in terms of content.

And a reminder: we're all friends here

Chill.

 

[kehs]

I think the difference between a update that can be substantive or not is when and when the update is adding stuff that's not common, and when the update is adding stuff to play catch up.

 

[VanMardigan]

I don't know why you're being so salty but I recommend you get some alcohol to chill. It has nothing to do with corporations meeting my definition. iOS 4.1, 4.2, and 4.3 didn't meet my definition, as stated previously.

So then everyone is pretty much on the same "one substantive update per year" schedule based on your definition.

So there you go antiquegamer, no need to be pissed off at MS as long as they deliver Mango this year.

I think the difference between a update that can be substantive or not is when and when the update is adding stuff that's not common, and when the update is adding stuff to play catch up.

I dislike this definition even more than giga's.

 

[giga]

So then everyone is pretty much on the same "one substantive update per year" schedule based on your definition.

So there you go antiquegamer, no need to be pissed off at MS as long as they deliver Mango this year.

Yes.

 

[Leona Lewis]

Don't fool yourselves, NoDo was not at all a substantive update. It fixed some things to bring WP7 somewhat to the level of its more veteran competition, but it won't leap ahead software-wise until Mango is released.

Devs will be able to make better apps and users will be able to access a "truer" mobile Internet (HTML5 support, etc), which is huge for web-app possibilities. That's substantive, but NoDo was just incremental.

 

[Complex Shadow]

is Samsung the only phone maker that is using super amoled screens for now and/or in the future?

 

[brotkasten]

is Samsung the only phone maker that is using super amoled screens for now and/or in the future?

How are they supposed to supply other manufacturers with panels? They can't even produce enough panels for their own phones.

 

[Complex Shadow]

How are they supposed to supply other manufacturers with panels? They can't even produce enough panels for their own phones.

did not know that. is it that hard to produce?

 

[kehs]

How are they supposed to supply other manufacturers with panels? They can't even produce enough panels for their own phones.

The millions of galaxy phones say otherwise?

 

[Darth Tigris]

Nodo WAS substantive for one reason alone: CDMA support. Woot woot!!!

 

[Tomcat]

The millions of galaxy phones say otherwise?

yes i dont believe that that they have problem suppling their phones
they just dont want the competition to have them

 

[brotkasten]

The millions of galaxy phones say otherwise?

Really? What about the Nexus S?

Penciling in a February 2011 launch for the Gingerbread flagship, the Russki guys point out that their version of the Nexus S will come with a 4-inch Super Clear LCD instead of the Super AMOLED panel adorning the English-speaking variants.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/08/nexus-s-will-drop-super-amoled-in-favor-of-super-clear-lcd-in-ru/

Meanwhile, Vodafone Australia subscribers will be able to register for the Nexus S starting tomorrow and Vodafone Germany has confirmed that their version will indeed carry a Super LCD screen and not the SAMOLED one, as rumored back in December for the Russian and "other region" Nexus S devices.

http://pocketnow.com/android/vodafone-gets-white-nexus-s-exclusive-amoled-out-slcd-in

Moreover, it’s said that the India-bound Nexus S is the i9023 model, which has an S-LCD screen instead of a Super AMOLED one (like the i9020). Other than that, the two models are identical.

http://gadgetupdated.com/2011/04/07...023-with-s-lcd-coming-to-india-for-30400-inr/

 

[kehs]

Really? What about the Nexus S?


http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/08/nexus-s-will-drop-super-amoled-in-favor-of-super-clear-lcd-in-ru/

http://pocketnow.com/android/vodafone-gets-white-nexus-s-exclusive-amoled-out-slcd-in

http://gadgetupdated.com/2011/04/07...023-with-s-lcd-coming-to-india-for-30400-inr/

There's some funny business about getting amoled screens into those areas, the same thing happened with the N1 before they switched entirely to lcds.

 

[Anton Sugar]

Honestly, the SAMOLED is such a selling point of the Focus for me, I don't think I'd change/upgrade to another phone if it didn't have one.

 

[brotkasten]

There's some funny business about getting amoled screens into those areas, the same thing happened with the N1 before they switched entirely to lcds.

Funny business? Care to explain? Or do you have a link? I'm pretty sure HTC switched to SLCD because of shortages.

“HTC is experiencing high-demand for many of our phones, specifically our phones with 3.7 inch displays. The new SLCD display technology enables us to ramp up our production capabilities quickly to meet the high-demand,” said Peter Chou, chief executive of HTC in a statement.

 

[Complex Shadow]

Funny business? Care to explain? Or do you have a link? I'm pretty sure HTC switched to SLCD because of shortages.

Aw man I would love to see the next Dell windows phone to have super amoled. One can dream. One. Can. Dream.

 

[brotkasten]

Aw man I would love to see the next Dell windows phone to have super amoled. One can dream. One. Can. Dream.

AMOLED isn't enough?

 

[Complex Shadow]

AMOLED isn't enough?

I dunno. I have an iPhone 3g. But i am gonna get a new phone when my summer ends.

 

[VanMardigan]

AMOLED isn't enough?

I dont think so. I'm back to using an oled screen after my Focus fell and one of the big benefits of the super amoled was daylight viewing.

This screen is useless outside when its sunny. Plus the blacks aren't quite as deep. I'd take slcd over amoled because of the daylight thing personally.

 

[antiquegamer]

So then everyone is pretty much on the same "one substantive update per year" schedule based on your definition.

So there you go antiquegamer, no need to be pissed off at MS as long as they deliver Mango this year.

I dislike this definition even more than giga's.

Well, the problem with Windows Phone is that it is still behind the others though I have to say if they can get Mango out with all the "rumored" features then they will actually ahead in many ways.

I would love to see them update thing like browser and squash more bugs along with added things that will make for better phone experience (such as camera setting, favorite people hub) etc independent of the big update.

From what I can see Mango is essentially the complete Windows Phone OS that Microsoft should have launch with, or in retrospect they should have launch the current version of OS as limited "beta" test or preview version. Mango has so much features (again if rumor hold true) that it is pretty much the next version.

Anyway, no point in arguing as we do agree that one big update is not doing the platform service when it is in such early stage but that is how Microsoft choose to do thing. Also I am thinking this probably have to also do with carriers. Even update that fix security is being block by them so I can't see them allowing Microsoft to constantly update the OS on monthly or even quarterly basis.

I just hope Mango will be out before iOS 5 or close to it so I am not temp to use my next upgrade for that. (and hopefully the upcoming Mango preview will keep me from going back to Apple).

 

[antiquegamer]

How does one go about customizing the look of the OS more? I saw someone posted a pic a few pages back.

Edit: Or maybe that was in the "argument: WP will beat out Android" thread.

If you want to customized the look more than changing some colors, then Windows Phone 7 is not the OS you are looking for.

There is really not a lot you can do beside changing colors and that is very limited unless you unlocked your phone and use Accent Changer app to allow for more colors. You can also do transparent locked screen (kinda neat) but other than that there is not much you can do.

I like the WP7 UI, no I love the UI and I wouldn't want HTC or Samsung or even Nokia to muck it up. After playing with Thunderbolts all last week, I have to say there is no way I would get android phone especially one with that Sense UI. It's ugly, clunky and well just not very enjoyable to use.

 

[brotkasten]

...
From what I can see Mango is essentially the complete Windows Phone OS that Microsoft should have launch ...

That's exactly what we're going to hear from the press when Mango launches or even from the press event in two weeks. Not that I can blame anyone for thinking that, because that's how it is. Mango will be the re-launch of Windows Phone.

And iOS5? Yeah, that will be definitely out before Mango. No doubt about that.

 

[Firestorm]

I dunno. I have an iPhone 3g. But i am gonna get a new phone when my summer ends.

How do you live @_@ I could barely stand keeping my iPhone 3G up 'til January.

 

[MCD]

http://blog.walshie.me/walshed-phone-support-tool-official-fix-to-get-you-back-on-track

Let's do this people!

 

[brotkasten]

http://blog.walshie.me/walshed-phone-support-tool-official-fix-to-get-you-back-on-track

Let's do this people!

Just to make it clear, this tool has been approved by Microsoft.

 

[Diseased Yak]

I'm about to pull my hair out here. I've had my Samsung Focus for a few months now, and everything's been going great. However, for the last 3 days, my battery life went to shit. I can charge it to full, NOT EVEN USE IT, leave it sitting overnight on my dresser, get up the next morning and the battery's drained. WTF?!

I'll then charge it, use it normally throughout the day just fine, but then the cycle repeats: dead battery when I get up the next morning.

What could be draining it? I'm trying to think of any apps I've installed and am drawing a blank on what it could be.