The first official update for Windows Phone 7 has started hitting the airwaves. But how quickly can Australian consumers expect to see it through their mobile phone companies?
Microsoft has an unusual approach to updates: carriers can choose to push out alternating updates, so some might choose to miss this relatively minor update and wait for the next one, which promises copy and paste amongst other goodies.
We asked all three companies selling Windows Phone 7 devices in Australia — Telstra, Optus and Vodafone — what their plans were for the current update. Optus had a positive response:
Optus has tested and approved the latest Windows Phone 7 update and Microsoft will release it to our customers shortly.
Telstra was rather less definitive:
We are still working with our handset partners on the update and don’t have a firm release date at this stage
In practice, that sounds like it might be a “wait for the major update” response — not entirely surprising given Telstra has the widest range of Windows Phone 7 handsets and has put the most effort into developing its own presence on the phone.
Only Vodafone is committed to both updates:
The February 2011 software update is expected to be released next week. The subsequent software update is expected in early March.
So a mixed response overall, but faster updates than we often see with (ahem) Android.
Thanks Beau for the idea!
poedgirl
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 12:40 PMOk, one of the main reasons I went with a WP7 phone was because I didn’t expect to have to wait for carrier verification before I could update. This has seriously pissed me off.
Microsoft said that everyone would get updates at the same time regardless of carrier or phone manufacturer. That was clearly a lie. I bought my phone outright from Vodafone and unlocked it. I do NOT want to have to rely on a carrier who, to be honest, doesn’t give a crap about their customers.
The fact that they are even able to skip ANY version has seriously annoyed me. Guess I’m just lucky to have bought my phone from the company that has committed to at least 2 updates.
mdub
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 1:52 PM@poedgirl
100% agreed. Apparently the major update that will introduce copy & paste functionality has been ready for some weeks yet is only being stalled due to global carrier delays.
I am also concerned that, as I bought a Samsung Omnia 7 from Optus and use it with a Telstra SIM, this may further complicate the process.
The current issues with the update and subsequent rollback are only likely to make the carriers more cautious. It seems that a number of phones (Omnia 7s in particular) were rendered useless by the update – it is the carriers who would need to replace broken handsets, so perhaps their caution is fair, but who knows…
One question: can carriers only delay/block over the air updates? I.e. can we still upgrade via Zune regardless?
Aliasalpha
Friday, February 25, 2011 at 1:13 AMThe zune based update works perfectly, load up the software, plug in the phone and a bit later you have the update (it does a full backup of the device so it can take a hell of a lot of drive space if its full)
Anthony
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 2:04 PMGiven what the update’s done to the phones they did release it for, Australians should be grateful they *didn’t* release it simultaneously worldwide.
Aliasalpha
Friday, February 25, 2011 at 1:16 AMI know the update to my HTC HD7 worked fine. From what I’ve read of the situation, its only 2 samsung models with a single version of the firmware that had any trouble.
Call me a microsoft fanboy if you like but 2 problems from 1 manufacturer makes me suspect its samsung thats at fault
Ben3
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 3:09 PMDisappointing, Telstra. I thought they would be better with Windows Phone than their Android phone range.
Evilpandas
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 9:28 PMFrom what i’ve read there is a bug in the update.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12554499
From what I also read somewhere Carriers have the right to stop one update in a row. That said they have to apply the next update according to the agreement with MS.
Angus Kidman
Friday, February 25, 2011 at 6:06 AMThe update skipping is mentioned in this post . . .
Derek Adams-White
Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 10:01 PMDo the four people in Australia with a Windows Phone 7 even care?
mike
Friday, February 25, 2011 at 12:39 PMYes I do. And so do my 3 brothers who have the only windows phones in Australia.
Sataris
Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 1:47 PMI for one am glad that Vodafone have at least said something (for once).
Looking forward to the updates :D
Paul
Sunday, February 27, 2011 at 3:50 PMI hope the update stuffs up my Trophy like it did to the Samsungs, so I can get a replacement since my phone got dropped and chipped…but probably not :P
Chris
Sunday, February 27, 2011 at 8:56 PMI chose Telstra because they were the premier launch partner and therefore should of been least likely to block the updates. I guess I was wrong, and am really pissed off with Telstra now.
Brendan
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 3:06 PMI have successfully updated my Samsung Omnia 7 phone today, without any problems. The whole process took about 7-8 minutes.My service with TPG mobile.
Chris
Tuesday, March 8, 2011 at 8:17 PM“From what I also read somewhere Carriers have the right to stop one update in a row. That said they have to apply the next update according to the agreement with MS.”
The only trouble is this update updates the updating process so until we have it the rest wont work.
Mike
Monday, March 28, 2011 at 3:28 PM… still no update for Windows Phone from Telstra. Add to this a revision to per minute pricing (up from per 30 second) and I’m wishing I never signed with them. Just as good as ever.
Brendan Godfrey
Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 9:46 PMToday, after debranding my Omnia I8700 phone, I have officially installed NODO update. I am happy now, that I do not have to depend on telcos for update anymore.
Aussie Peter
Saturday, May 14, 2011 at 6:13 PMWell it finally got to my Telstra (network unlocked) HTC Mozart, currently with Vodafone sim. All went well.
Not mentioned in any article is that they played with bluetooth in this update… If not then there must have been some type of HTC phone fix in the update.
Prior to update the HTC was unable to connect to a Uniden wireless phone.
The problem being it didnt recognise the wireless Uniden phone correctly and failed to show the pop up box to put in the pairing pin number..
.After update it found the Uniden wireless phone and correctly popped up the pass pin box for me to enter the code , bingo paired and working…
Was thinking I had to wait for the mango update later in the year to fix this bug….
Well done