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Nokia announces the Lumia 800, the 'first real Windows Phone'

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Re: Nokia announces the Lumia 800, the 'first real Windows Phone'

#91
post #5

Wow. Part of me wants this to suck, just so there are only iPhone and Android to worry about ever developing for, but this actually looks good enough to consider. I looked at WP through BizSpark a little, and it looks easier to develop for than iOS or Android, at least for corporate apps. It's possible RIM will lose out in the "corporate owned/managed" market to WP, especially if they can build in equivalent or bette…

Developing for the platform is definitely trivial, as you mentioned (disclaimer: I worked at MSFT for years, but I've done an iOS app with over 1M downloads, so I've seen both).

Owning the device is a pain, though.

1) Lack of apps. No Pandora. No Bump. No Uber. That trendy new mobile startup? Nope. I sincerely believe that nobody in any YC startup doing mobile even _has_ a Windows VM, except on the test team.

2) Quality of the non-Live experience. It's easy to hook up your gmail account, but then every time you add a contact, it nags you about which to add it to. Plus, when I was just using Live mail (experiment), I'd get ~20 hours of battery life out and about; with gmail, I get max 5. I'm not sure what's going on there, but 5 is not quite enough.

Still, there's always hope. But I'd more heavily consider developing for it than using it as your One True Device.

Re: Nokia announces the Lumia 800, the 'first real Windows Phone'

#92

For t-mobile america users/cheapskates: it's quad-band 3G unlike the N9's penta-band 3G, so I don't see this phone selling on t-mobile at all. Too bad though, I've been wanting to replace my nexus one with a well-designed easily jailbreakable/sim-unlockable os.

Will it run on AT&T? A couple of my friends want that phone NOW.

Re: Nokia announces the Lumia 800, the 'first real Windows Phone'

#93
post #76
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(disclaimer: Nokia employee) On the one hand, maintaining two OS teams for the same hardware would be a waste of resources. On the other hand, I have heard stories of how Microsoft would often commit several teams to build a product to the same spec: the team that got something market-ready first was handsomely rewarded, and the teams that didn’t got reassigned to wash Bill Gates’s car. On the other other hand, Micro…

Disclaimer: I have never owned a handset from a maker other than Nokia :) I just want you guys back to the smartphone game. > On the one hand, maintaining two OS teams for the same hardware would be a waste of resources. Nokia will have to make a very serious platform decision in the not-so-distant feature. If resources spent on developing both will place that decision on sound arguments, I say it could be worth it.…

The tech scene is not (yet) persuaded that Meego is a dead end

Perhaps the tech scene isn't, but everyone else is. Aside from anyone else, phone operators really aren't going to be interested in stocking Meego handsets because no-one wants them or even knows what Meego is.

Re: Nokia announces the Lumia 800, the 'first real Windows Phone'

#94
post #47

Here's my dream scenario: Nokia offers the same hardware with two different OS selections and also has Qt working on both Meego and WP platforms. This would obviously be a win-win situation for both the developer and the user. But this would be beneficial for Nokia as well, because: 1) It'd provide Nokia with hard data based on sales and user feedback on which platform performs better in real-world scenarios. Current…

I'd be very surprised if they weren't already working on a Qt to CIL compiler.

Don't you mean a C++ to CIL compiler?

Re: Nokia announces the Lumia 800, the 'first real Windows Phone'

#95

For t-mobile america users/cheapskates: it's quad-band 3G unlike the N9's penta-band 3G, so I don't see this phone selling on t-mobile at all. Too bad though, I've been wanting to replace my nexus one with a well-designed easily jailbreakable/sim-unlockable os.

Having owned S40 and S60 I doubt that any Nokia phone would be easily jailbreakable.

Re: Nokia announces the Lumia 800, the 'first real Windows Phone'

#96
post #47

Here's my dream scenario: Nokia offers the same hardware with two different OS selections and also has Qt working on both Meego and WP platforms. This would obviously be a win-win situation for both the developer and the user. But this would be beneficial for Nokia as well, because: 1) It'd provide Nokia with hard data based on sales and user feedback on which platform performs better in real-world scenarios. Current…

The problem is that very few would develop for Meego, even in the absence of WP7. As Nokia's CEO said, the smartphone game has changed from a battle of devices into a war of ecosystems.

At the moment WP7 is an obscure product, if Nokia successfully push the OS then Microsoft will gain hugely (being the owner of the platform), whereas Nokia will suddenly face competition from manufacturers with much smaller margins.

Re: Nokia announces the Lumia 800, the 'first real Windows Phone'

#97
post #47

Here's my dream scenario: Nokia offers the same hardware with two different OS selections and also has Qt working on both Meego and WP platforms. This would obviously be a win-win situation for both the developer and the user. But this would be beneficial for Nokia as well, because: 1) It'd provide Nokia with hard data based on sales and user feedback on which platform performs better in real-world scenarios. Current…

> "Currently, the decision to drop Meego for WP platform is mostly based on "hopes and promises"." There's a long track record of successful B2B partnerships between Microsoft and hardware providers, a standardized hardware spec, an integrated lognterm roadmap, and a deep bench of talent in Redmond to provide support. On the other hand, Nokia woke up to find iOS eating their lunch and realized that OS development was…

Some strongly disagree with the `successful' part: http://www.asymco.com/2011/02/11/in-memoriam-microsofts-prev...

Re: Nokia announces the Lumia 800, the 'first real Windows Phone'

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK (and I believe much of the rest of Europe), the monthly line rental is basically paying off a loan for the phone. You can get (just about) any phone for £0 up front if you're willing to pay enough every month. E.g. if the phone costs £500 out of contract ("pay as you go"), it will probably be free on a 18-month contract that costs £40/month. If you chose a £20/month contract then you'd have to pay about £20…

Same thing further up north, in Norway. But I get the impression that it's not like this in the US? More people either buy in without a contract, or 2-year contracts?

The major carriers in the US are all set up for 2 year contracts, which come with subsidized phones. You can - technically - go month to month, but it's not a publicized or promoted feature, and doesn't come with substantial discounts.

There are alternatives - T-Mobile just came out with a $50/unlimited month-to-month plan - and there are some smaller carriers with month-to-month options, but they're the exception.

Re: Nokia announces the Lumia 800, the 'first real Windows Phone'

#99
post #5

Wow. Part of me wants this to suck, just so there are only iPhone and Android to worry about ever developing for, but this actually looks good enough to consider. I looked at WP through BizSpark a little, and it looks easier to develop for than iOS or Android, at least for corporate apps. It's possible RIM will lose out in the "corporate owned/managed" market to WP, especially if they can build in equivalent or bette…

Looks like they're taking your advice, since, in the UK on Orange anyway, it'll come with a free Xbox 360. http://studio.orange.co.uk/shop/nokia800/

Re: Nokia announces the Lumia 800, the 'first real Windows Phone'

#100
post #47

Here's my dream scenario: Nokia offers the same hardware with two different OS selections and also has Qt working on both Meego and WP platforms. This would obviously be a win-win situation for both the developer and the user. But this would be beneficial for Nokia as well, because: 1) It'd provide Nokia with hard data based on sales and user feedback on which platform performs better in real-world scenarios. Current…

> "Currently, the decision to drop Meego for WP platform is mostly based on "hopes and promises"." There's a long track record of successful B2B partnerships between Microsoft and hardware providers, a standardized hardware spec, an integrated lognterm roadmap, and a deep bench of talent in Redmond to provide support. On the other hand, Nokia woke up to find iOS eating their lunch and realized that OS development was…

Successful for Microsoft, indeed. How much money does Dell make on an average Laptop?

Nokia should have taken the meego-road.

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