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Windows Phone 7 Update Jams Some Phones
CWmike writes "Microsoft's first Windows Phone 7 update is apparently causing some users' phones to not work. Microsoft has advised at least one person to take his device into a store for a fix. The company's WindowsPhoneSupport Twitter account shows the responses to a variety of queries from users who have experienced problems over the last half-day. Microsoft released the update on Monday but played it down. The update was designed only 'to improve the software update process itself,' wrote Michael Stroh on the Windows Team Blog. One user, Alex Roebuck, wrote on Twitter that the update had bricked his Samsung Omnia 7. 'We're very sorry for the inconvenience,' Microsoft responded on Twitter. 'For this issue we would suggest taking it to a store.'"
This is the user experience with Windows Phone 7?
Seriously?
Nokia's in serious serious shit.
I hope that Nokia can help iron out problems like this before they launch WP7 devices.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
This is so wrong I didn't even feel like logging in to say this.
the update had bricked his Samsung Omnia 7. 'We're very sorry for the inconvenience,' Microsoft responded on Twitter. 'For this issue we would suggest taking it to a store.'"
After all, that's where the Returns counter is, right?
According to some comments on the mini microsoft blog, between 50% and 80% of what few WP7 phones are being bought end up being returned, so take a number, and get in line ...
Should have been renamed Windows Mobile Vista
I think this is the quote you were looking for:
Radar Technician: Sir! The radar, sir! It appears to be... [Jam starts flowing through the computer screen] jammed! ...who would dare give me the raspberry! [Pulls his mask down] Lone Starr! [Walks into the camera and collapses]
Dark Helmet: Jammed... [Examines the jam and tastes it] Raspberry. There's only one man... [Sandurz gets out of the way of the approaching camera]
Some of what I say is fact, some is conjecture, the rest I'm just blowing out my ass...you guess.
The only thing I found that said the return rate was 80% was from a comment from a Anonymous.
"The AT&T dude told me that WP7 phones had -- listen closely -- an 80% return rate."
It's;their;It's;know
all better now.
Update the Zune software first, so you can update your phone with software that will help with future updates. And users get what exactly out of this process? I love instructions pages that mention the first thing you should do right at the bottom of the page, after you have completed all the other steps... way to go! Instructions on that page are a prime example of how MS has no idea about designing computer user interfaces for people!
Slashdot broke my comment. The first line should have been "a small (below 1 percent) number of WP7 devices have to pull out their battery and restart the phone after an update. Let's compare to the Galaxy S, which had, out of the box:"
According to comments on a blog...
According to my comments I'm right 100% of the time and the Win7 phone never crashes.
It's retarded to get bent out of shape over one user being sent back to a store over a broken update. It's happened plenty of times with Android phones (and every other phone that's been upgradable) and I've yet to see an article posted about it here.
This story is a non-story.
http://www.examiner.com/gadgets-in-san-francisco/motorola-droid-owners-reporting-issues-with-android-2-2-update
http://www.androidcentral.com/evo-4g-update-pulled-over-problems
http://www.cnet.com/8301-17918_1-20019676-85.html
Just a few quick search examples.
Actually, it was raspberry. And there is only one man in the galaxy who would give me the raspberry, Lone Star>
In my experience, Microsoft does a lot of testing of their products actually... but they don't have test labs or even beta testers with 100% of system configurations. No one does. They do a lot to fix the problems that their testers find. SP1 for Windows 7 was in public beta testing for 6 months, and avaliable for beta test to MSDN subscribers for longer than that. That's not exactly rushing something.
That makes soo much more sense now. I thought "(" was supposed to be a smiley.
Really, the term "bricked" has been misused so much. If the phone is beyond repair and the only way to get it functional is to basically replace everything on the inside, it's bricked. It's not bricked if installing another update or rolling back the update or resetting the memory fixes it. More details please.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Hey guys, I totally overheard that Microsoft was jamming some cellphones and I was ready to jam with them, but it seems you guys aren't as radical as Microsoft is. I think they are EXTREME! *plays air guitar* I think you should give Microsoft a chance, after all, jamming is only one of things they are good at doing, they're also great at making dev kits *plays air drums*
Seriously? You are saying that over 50% of Microsoft updates break the system? I administer around 50 Windows computers and never have updates break anything. Now I feel sorry for the other guy out there who handles 51 Windows systems who must have everything break all the time!
Microsoft updates have a history of breaking things, I'd expect their phones to not be an exception.
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
What part of windows phone 7 is confusing? The 7? MS has been doing shitty phones for a long time. This is not a version 1 product.
Obligatory http://xkcd.com/859/
According to some comments on the mini microsoft blog [blogspot.com], between 50% and 80% of what few WP7 phones
According to some comments on some blog, Android devices have a 99% return rate. It's true because it was a comment posted by an anonymous on some google blog.
Sadly though... your comment was modded +5 insightful without giving any real evidence. Also this is only happening to a few phones, (what I've read is the minority). This is their first phone update, there's bound to be a few problems here and there.
Actually only the Nexus S has 2.3 and almost no software is written for 2.3. The current majority of Android devices have 2.1 But yes Samsung is a pain when it comes to updates plus they Skin it which sucks.
Of course WP7 still can not multitask yet and is this update finally adding in cut and paste and Custom ring tones? Kind of hard to brag about an update that brings WP7 up to the standards of 2008.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Yea it isn't like Microsoft has been producing Phone OSs for the last ten plus years! I mean they are new to this market... Oh..... Wait Windows phone 7... Humm....
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Congrats on the new job! After you've been doing it for a few years you too will have windows update horror stories to tell.
Caveat Utilitor
This is because carriers aren't sending out Android updates.
Second, Microsoft has been trying to puff up the disappointing numbers by quoting units shipped to stores, and not units activated.
So, since Microsoft won't release hard numbers, we have to go with what we can find elsewhere; the fact that Microsoft doesn't want to talk about activations and return numbers is a good indicator that the anecdotal evidence is, if not 100% accurate, at least in the ballpark.
Of course, if your product only had lost 50% market share in the last year, and was down to 3%, and Android in the same time went from 2% to #1, you wouldn't want to give out the real numbers either.
She doesn't show on the executive bio site any more. No announcement though. They're probably grooming her to head up their new division: Novell.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
What does it mean to "jam" a phone? I've heard of bricking, etc. but to "jam" it? Raspberry or Strawberry?
Don't steal. The government hates competition.
This is truly sad news for MS and the new Nokia relationship. I know their are a lot of hardware variations out there but bricking a paying customer's phone is truly bad form, especially when you are paying $400-$500 for a phone that isn't an iPhone. While everyone hates that Apple fan boys, one nice thing that Apple has going for them with the iPhone is a very controlled hardware platform. This simplifies patch testing to alleviate problems like bricking phones. This also begs the question, who is on the hook for the repair when the warranty for the phone runs out? Will MS pay for the repair or is the customer going to have to sign another 2-year contract to get a new phone? This reminds me of the BlueRay player firmware patches that bricked the out of warranty players. Interesting problem.
Maybe his 51 machines where running cracks?
To be fair, I think he (she?) meant the first real phone. Every other OS prior to WP7 was crappy to say the least. The more I see posts against Microsoft, the more I feel like a fanboy trying to defend them =/ There are certainly some amazing products being dished out by microsoft but then there's the not so great apps like IE, IE, and IE. I say this three times because they have three different (supported) standards and it makes CSS compatibility hell >: | But, I still love the big M for the other great things that they came out with. WP7 is one of them (and I'm stuck with an android outside of my dev life ;__;)
"Microsoft's first Windows Phone 7 update is apparently causing some users' phones to not work. Microsoft has advised at least one person to take his device into a store for a fix." The other fifteen windows phone 7 users have not yet been in touch with technical support, but Microsoft is very concerned.
Was the next unquoted line "but we have these nice iPhones over here. Would you like to look at one?"
Wireless carriers invariably insist on controlling the phones they sell. They also insist on obnoxious branding but that's another matter.
The reason the carriers insist on controlling the phones and the updates to them is to minimize these problems. In this case, it would seem Microsoft has complete control over the phones and can push updates at will. The action of Microsoft can create tremendous cost for the carriers and also cause them to lose customers should they become too frustrated with the problems.
Now I will be the first to say I don't like carriers telling me what I can and can't do with my personally owned equipment. But the same goes for the software vendor. I don't want unwelcome updates forced upon me. I am fairly certain Windows7 phone updates prompt the user and ask permission to perform the update. That's good. But do they provide a means of rolling back the way they do in their OS products? I'm guessing not. So what should Microsoft do? That's right -- give the updates to the carriers and let THEM do the testing and the pushing out. That way, the carriers are prepared for what may happen and it's all on them when things go bad.
So Microsoft's fallback for all this newfangled all-connected-all-the-time Internet era is... a physical store? Really?
Which store do they mean, anyway? The Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile store, staffed by people who are, to be polite, not rocket scientists, especially with a just-released operating system? Or a Microsoft store, which are outside easy reach of 99.9% of customers?
http://www.neowin.net/news/bricked-wp7-this-is-how-to-fix-it
On a side note, I hate the term "bricked" given this is a recoverable problem, although someone did point out that "bricked" is a perfectly acceptable term to describe a non-functional device during the period of time in which there is no known fix.
Ballmer has said that the mobile phone industry needs WP7 because it needs a 3rd option. WP7 isn't 3rd, or even 4th, in terms of sales. 3% is 5th place, and a drop from the previous year's market share of almost 7%.
Why do you think that Microsoft had to pay Nokia so much to get on board?
Meh... those users should just wipe it and install Linux.
We should start a new Slashdot and return control to the geeks. It actually wouldn't be that hard to get some users to
My thoughts exactly. Half the time it would be a flip of the coin to see what service pack 3 would break on XP. Win2000 never seemed to break like that.....hmmmm....
zosxavius photography
His numbers are just as good as the ones Microsoft pulls out of their behind. LG have told us that sales are abysmal and every other hint says that sales are very dissapointing. When everything leans towards bad sales and Microsoft wont release any numbers, its a safe bet that sales are really that bad.
HTTP/1.1 400
I know that some people don't get the meaning of simple words and we call them republicans. But failing to grasp the meaning of a single digit number?
Exactly what is so confusing about "7"? Windows Phone 7. That is the name. Can you even grasp the notion that this means there was a version 6? A version 5 etc etc? And unlike Vista, 6 and 6.5 were named just that for phones.
MS is a decades old company with experience in PC's, phones, consoles and they can't get a simple update right on a very high profile product.
This is however the reason MS does so poorly in this area. They keep listening to fanboys who excuse everything even if it means redefining numbers and just don't get that they need to work harder in a market where there is competition. They only did well on the console race because their opponents were to busy shooting themselves in the foot.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
As is Sendo 2.0 with the Nokia "deal"
And so begins the long drawn out death of Nokia.
Such a terrible shame.
It is all nice and dandy to "bring it back to store" if you live in NY or LA, but what shall we do in some other countries, where they will show the finger/door, instead taking our phone?
World is a lot larger than your back yard. Why do you think Nokia sold 1200 in millions every month of last year?
While you are in the store why not swap the phone for something that actually works? Like maybe a pre-windows nokia or an iphone.
Run something like Nessus against those systems in authenticated mode...
What it does, is log in and verify the versions of the individual files installed by various updates, rather than relying on the windows update apis to tell it if updates are correctly installed. You can get a list of the correct versions from most microsoft knowledgebase articles...
Give it a try and let me know what it finds, in my experience on any large network running the windows update services, a handful will think they have patches installed when in reality the updated files are not present (ie your still vulnerable).
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
This is not a version 1 system. We had HTC mobiles running Windows four or five years ago. Then again, Windows Update never worked on that version of the OS (depended upon the vendor, not Microsoft).
The update was designed only 'to improve the software update process itself,'
You know you screwed up when your update's update breaks the entire device. LOL!
Should state "Windows Phone 7 Update Jams Phone", as this is basically what's being reported.
throw new NoSignatureException();
Congrats on the new job! After you've been doing it for a few years you too will have windows update horror stories to tell
Thank you, but I have been doing this job since last century, and in the industry since the 80s. The last time I had something get stuffed up by Windows Update was on Windows 2000.
I do admit that in the early days of automatic updates I switched it off and worked to my own update schedule so my systems wouldn't get hosed. But sometime during the life of XP I gave up my paranoia and just let the automation do its thing. It helps to keep your installations fairly generic if you want to avoid obscure third party software from causing problems with patches.
Yea, Samsung developed a time machine, went back-in-time and prevented Microsoft developers into not testing their own product ..
I'm not sure what you're getting at here, how is it Microsoft's fault/problem that you bought your phone from a store with awful customer service? I agree that MS should have done a better job, but really, if the clerk is flipping you off for a valid return that's a problem between you and the store, not MS.
Are you suggesting that it's because they have zero defects and that a Nokia phone has never been returned, or does Nokia personally come to your house and pick up defective units so that you don't have to deal with the obnoxious store clerk that doesn't like doing returns?
Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.
Yes Microsoft has come out with some good products like the XBox and the flight sim series. I will even give Office it's due except that it has created a virtual monopoly but Excel is actually really good Access is just Evil. Powerpoint is tool of unlimited evil and boredom and Word is well Word.. That and the document formats are terrible.
IE, Outlook, Visual Basic, and MFC all should be considered crimes IMHO.
WP7 the first real phone OS? Really? What about Windows Mobile? What about WIndows Mobile 6.5 that Microsoft is still selling? I am not going to give Microsoft any slack for WP7. It right now is a non-completive product in my opinion. First of all let me say one thing. announced features are not real. If it isn't shipping it doesn't count.
WP7 does not have multitasking or even task switching like WebOS, IOS, and Android.
WP7 does not have free turn by turn navigation like Android.
The mobile browser on it is not as good as IOS, Android, or even WebOS and Symbian's.
It lacks the Enterpise management features of BlackBerry OS and even IOS.
I do not know what is in the new update so I will say that at launch it also didn't have even cut and paste and custom ring tones.
Microsoft has had four years to answer the iPhone and three to answer Android and this is what they came up with? Really the largest software company in the world and this is all they came up with. Let us not forget that they bought and destroyed Danger as well. Microsoft entered the smartphone market back when it was only Palm and Symbian. They sat and didn't innovate and now they have not even caught up. Throw in the disaster that was the Kin as well and I must ask why give them any slack? I don't get it. If say Sony or Nokia had come up with this OS at this time people would be laughing in their face.
If I was a on the Microsoft Board I would outraged at the current state of affairs.
Considering the time and resources that they had to work with they should have come up with a phone OS that would be an world beater and frankly it is an also ran with a pretty face. I will say the UI isn't bad and was very fast when I used it. But the OS is feature incomplete.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Android devices all over the world have a 97.6% return rate.
It must be true since I'm posting it here, in the comment section. Everyone knows this is the best source of reliable information in the planet. Oh darnit, I didnt click the Post Anonymously box!!! That destroys my credibility... I'll learn from that guy in that blog's comment section next time and remember to post this Anonymously for maximum credibility!
... that you can't see our apology, considering that you use your phone to read Twitter...
> 'We're very sorry for the inconvenience,' Microsoft responded on Twitter.
So let's see ... smartphones now outsell pcs, and Androids are outselling even iPhones ... Microsoft is a rounding error. Tablets will be a repeat.
I'll bet you Apple doesn't have 100% of system configurations for Macs. They don't have every possible combination of extensions or third party software installed. As for phones, they may not actually have test versions of every phone at every firmware revision avaliable. Between software and hardware, there is a lot you can do to vary a platform even on a closed system like a console...
But whatever. Go ahead, assume that everything is perfectly testable.
Simple, undeniable fact: It's not like Microsoft is a new entry in the phone market either - they started with the Pocket PC 2000 Phone Edition. After more than a decade, they're #5 in the ranks, in the single digits. That's a far cry from 23% of the market in 2004.
Who's going to develop for the #5 platform?
Microsoft has been in tablets for almost 2 decades - they released Windows for Pen Computing in 1992. Gates did a demo of a Microsoft tablet PC at Comdex in 2001. So why did Apple totally crush Microsoft? Any why is everyone releasing Android-based tablets?
More important - how long before there are more tablets being sold every year than there are PCs? 2014 at the outside. People don't like desktops - it's why laptops have been outselling them for years. Tablets, and the final killing of XP, will render the desktop as the #4 platform, behind smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
And with fewer desktops, fewer licenses for MS-Office. THAT is going to hurt. And once that starts to drop, there goes vendor lock-in.
And while we're at it, let's not ignore webOS - HP's attempt to offer phones, tablets, laptops and computers that all run an OS that doesn't come from Microsoft.
There's going to be a lot more chair-throwing ...