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Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

extremetech.com

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Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#31

Post by mtgx »

redsymbol wrote: post #24

With the recent WP8 press coverage, it's interesting (from a PR perspective) that many stories complain about WP7 phones not being upgraded. Some tech journalists seem almost angry about it. I don't know if this will die down or not; that's what eventually happened when Google revealed the Nexus 1 (iirc) wouldn't be upgradable to 4.0. So far, though, this point is significantly distracting from the amazing improvemen…

Nexus One came with Android 2.1. It got Android 2.2 and Android 2.3 - 2 pretty major versions of Android.

The Lumia 900 came with WP 7.5. And now it's not getting WP8, just some features from it. How is that the same?

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#32

Post by mc32 »

redsymbol wrote: post #30
untog wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is the timing of this. The Nexus One was introduced in Jan 2010, ICS was released in, what, March 2012? Over two years difference. I had a Nexus One at the time, and while I was disappointed, I'd got two years of use (key point here: two years is the typical cellphone contract length) out of my phone. Not so for people who bought a Lumia 900 when it was released in April of this year. The issue from a PR pe…

Good point about the difference in timing! Who knows what info Microsoft has that we don't; but for brand-trust reasons, it seems important to update at least the Lumias to WP8, if at all technically possible.

Or at least offer vouchers (with proof, of course --which carrier would have) toward the purchase of a WP8 system so that people don't feel duped.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#33

Post by Retric »

robomartin wrote: post #28
redsymbol wrote: post #24

With the recent WP8 press coverage, it's interesting (from a PR perspective) that many stories complain about WP7 phones not being upgraded. Some tech journalists seem almost angry about it. I don't know if this will die down or not; that's what eventually happened when Google revealed the Nexus 1 (iirc) wouldn't be upgradable to 4.0. So far, though, this point is significantly distracting from the amazing improvemen…

There might be a little pro-Apple bias in some of the way these things are reported. We now have millions of iPod touch devices that can't be upgraded to newer versions of iOS. This is also true of older iPhones (3 and below, I believe). Nobody is crying foul over that. Yet. As app developers start, out of necessity and force, dropping support for older versions of iOS things might change.

It's important IMO to consider how long an iOS device can use the latest firmware. Once you cross the 2-3 year barrier most people are looking to upgrade anyway so they don't consider it a big deal vs. not being able to upgrade a 6 week old phone.

EX: iOS 6 comes out this fall and is backward compatible all the way to 3GS phones which came out June 19, 2009, but not 3G which came out July 11, 2008 which they stopped supporting with iOS 4.2.1 on November 22, 2010.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#34

Post by mc32 »

kpeel wrote: post #27
redsymbol wrote: post #24

With the recent WP8 press coverage, it's interesting (from a PR perspective) that many stories complain about WP7 phones not being upgraded. Some tech journalists seem almost angry about it. I don't know if this will die down or not; that's what eventually happened when Google revealed the Nexus 1 (iirc) wouldn't be upgradable to 4.0. So far, though, this point is significantly distracting from the amazing improvemen…

They should have done the upgrade like Apple. Everyone gets the upgrade, but not everyone gets all of the features of the upgrade (e.g. I got iOS 5, but not Siri). It sounds like they're doing just this in spirit by backporting some features to Windows 7, but calling it Windows 7.8 instead of Windows 8. Marketing mistake?

AFAIK it's a different codebase altogether. One's based on WinCE and the other on Windows8, so it would be misleading to imply that upgrade to 7.5 was based on Win8.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#35

Post by huggyface »

The real foundation for cross-platform code -- from mobile platform to mobile platform -- is whether WP 8 will support OpenGL ES 2.0. The explosion of quality Android games came courtesy of the NDK and ES 2.0, allowing for an almost direct migration of apps from iOS with only minimal I/O changes.

Given that the mobile GPUs are targeted to that, I have to think it will. Having portability between the desktop and mobile is less valuable, really, given that even the most impressive mobile GPU pales compares to a miserable desktop GPU. The limitations would render such an exercise much more prohibitive.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#36

Post by huggyface »

mindstab wrote: post #2

"Now that Windows Phone has managed to clobber iOS when it comes to customization without losing its aesthetic charm, it’s time for Apple to step it up" This sentence really leapt out at me. Are we looking at the same rainbow disaster screen shots? Windows phone looks like a unicorn puked on a phone. I don't think it give any compelling reason on it's own for iOS to shift.

It is odd when people hold subjective aesthetic opinion as fact. Personally I prefer ICS, by leaps and bounds, over either iOS and WP8, but that's just my personal taste.

And what accounts for all of the fawning over the Lumia devices? Those things are terribly ugly in my opinion. Subjective opinion again.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#37

Post by jsz0 »

mrdodge wrote: post #9
electrograv wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well you could also say that the iPhone home screen looks like a bin of shiny colored glass children's toys were spilled onto the screen. This type of criticism doesn't really help, because the vast majority of people seem to think both (metro, and iOS) look fine, if not great. What matters is how usable these phones/OS'es will turn out to be once people start trying them.

The critics think it looks great. I haven't heard anything positive, however, from normal people. Just my experience though.

I like the visual style and even the home-screen but I am not sold on Metro actually being a good UI toolkit for applications. It may just be the immaturity of the platform at this point. It's just not even in the same ballpark of flexibility/power that you get for 'free' with Cocoa Touch. As a result a lot of the Metro apps I've used are just very basic and lacking features -- or they have to jump through hoops to make a UI workflow for powerful features. If you have any recommendations for Metro apps that are really pushing the limits of the UI framework I'd like to check them out.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#38

Post by barista »

mtgx wrote: post #31
redsymbol wrote: post #24

With the recent WP8 press coverage, it's interesting (from a PR perspective) that many stories complain about WP7 phones not being upgraded. Some tech journalists seem almost angry about it. I don't know if this will die down or not; that's what eventually happened when Google revealed the Nexus 1 (iirc) wouldn't be upgradable to 4.0. So far, though, this point is significantly distracting from the amazing improvemen…

Nexus One came with Android 2.1. It got Android 2.2 and Android 2.3 - 2 pretty major versions of Android. The Lumia 900 came with WP 7.5. And now it's not getting WP8, just some features from it. How is that the same?

You forgot 7.8 that has a significant set of features.

Re: Windows Phone 8 vs. iOS vs. Android: One giant leap for Microsoft

#39

Post by meepmorp »

pilgrim689 wrote: post #5
mindstab wrote: post #2

"Now that Windows Phone has managed to clobber iOS when it comes to customization without losing its aesthetic charm, it’s time for Apple to step it up" This sentence really leapt out at me. Are we looking at the same rainbow disaster screen shots? Windows phone looks like a unicorn puked on a phone. I don't think it give any compelling reason on it's own for iOS to shift.

I guess it's subjective, but you would be in the minority [1] for thinking Metro UI is a "unicorn vomit/rainbow disaster". [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_UI#Response

I hate the Metro UI. I hate the live tiles,I hate the way text seems to drift off the edge of the screen; I hate the way it looks, and navigating through it annoyed me. I've only ever seen it on a phone, though, so maybe a tablet would improve things.

I'm not a UI expert, so maybe I'm missing something awesome. I am, however, a user of consumer electronics, and as far as that qualifies me to comment, I think it looks like crap and would never buy a Metro UI based product.

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