Microsoft reveals low-end WinPho limitations

Microsoft has revealed the limitations that low-end Windows Phones could suffer from due to their substandard specifications. And it doesn't look good for Nokia's Lumia 610. The Tango update allows devices to run on just 256MB of Ram rather than the 512MB previously required. It also supports low-end processors with less than …

[dogged]

Skydrive

as I understand it, they do still have integrated Skydrive - you just have to manually select to save to it. This is actually good news for anyone with an expensive data plan.

On the plus side, the 710 is available for £150 on PAYG and that has none of these limitations, and in fact all the higher end devices should get a serious performance boost out of this update.

Face it, if you're making it run nicely on low-end "emerging markets" hardware, then the premium "first world" hardware should run superbly.

[Miek]

"If you're thinking of getting a Windows Phone, you may want to consider these things first before splashing out on a budget version." -- consider where your life went wrong first, then worry about how cheap you are.

[dogged]

Not buying what everyone else bought like some kind of retarded sheep is cause to "consider where your life went wrong" now?

Damn! I could have bought an Android and had the joys of crashing, malware and Java in my life! What was I thinking?

[Miek]

"Damn! I could have bought an Android and had the joys of crashing, malware and Java in my life! What was I thinking?"

Well, if I wasn't well fed before, I am now. But unfortunately, I am not lucky enough to have experienced crashing or malware. Java, on the other hand, is a royal PITA.

"retarded sheep", is a retarded sheep one that doesn't follow the herd or what? I bought an Android, not because everyone else had one, in fact virtually no-one had one, I am/was an early adopter and proponent of Android. Windows Phone is a joke and deserves a bit of ribbing, if you can't construct an argument to support it other than "You are a sheep for using android" then that's a bit lame.

[dogged]

And now I'm fed too.

How is Windows Phone a joke? Exactly? Because it's a walled garden? Then iOS is also a joke and if market share is your yardstick, it's no joke at all. Because of the alleged app shortage? 70,000 and rising is plenty - I don't need endless fart apps or Hot Girls wallpapers.

Because it doesn't work? Oh wait, it does. Because it crashes? Oh wait, it doesn't. Because of malware? There is no malware (yet, and the walled garden makes it unlikely to ever be properly prevalent). Because...?

Maybe you just don't like the tiles.

I've been playing with Windows 8 and there, the tiles aren't good. They add no value on the desktop. On a phone, however, they work great. If you don't like them, that's your choice but that doesn't mean "Windows Phone is a joke". As a phone interface, I like them. They work just fine.

Unless you're going back to market share, and well, there's certainly an issue there. But how much of an issue? If market share is your yardstick, then linux on the desktop is a joke and you should take a good look at where your life went wrong.

[Miek]

"How is Windows Phone a joke?" -- Just look at how worked up you are getting. There are so many fails in WinPhone 7 for me to list on this site without a TLDR warning. For a quick, summary, I would say that the tiles are nasty, the black menu strip down one side is a waste of space and a poor design device. On each page the titles and content do not fit on the screen (intentional or not it is awful), I tried the "Try windows on your phone online" experience and laughed so hard I covered my desk and carpet in coffee.

I quote this anecdote often, but it is apt ...

My colleague showed a friend his Android phone, and his friend said "Wow, my contract is up at the end of the week, what should I get", my Colleague said he should try a HTC one ....

A few weeks later my colleague is talking to his friend, who says that he cannot use the phone, it doesn't do lots of things he wanted and that he hates it. Turns out he was sold a Windows phone.

"Unless you're going back to market share, and well, there's certainly an issue there. But how much of an issue? If market share is your yardstick, then linux on the desktop is a joke and you should take a good look at where your life went wrong." -- Oh, quick attack Desktop linux by posting comments into a website hosted on linux. Go enjoy vista you wintard.

"then linux on the desktop is a joke and you should take a good look at where your life went wrong" -- What? Just because I am not using what all the other Sheeple are using ? Now we've come full circle.

[dogged]

trans: "I don't like it so it's joke. And I know someone else who hates it too!"

Oh dear, care to try again?

PS; I also run desktop linux but then, I don't have a problem with low market share.

[Miek]

It's not that I "Just don't like it", the design aesthetics are flawed. Having seen these flaws I refused to go any further evaluating it. I am also acutely familiar with Windows itself and having bashed my head against walls due to it's infuriating nature, hoop jumping et al; I feel dubious about having that software on a device that I regularly use 'In Anger'.

"And I know someone else who hates it too" -- There are plenty of people that don't like it, my anecdote was not simply "My friend doesn't like it either". My Colleague's Friend was actually expecting more functionality and a better user experience, if Windows phone were to have had that functionality/user experience then I guess we would not be hearing about my Colleague's Friend.

If Microsoft had put some initial thought into their Phone OS, perhaps many of us 'haters' would find it more credible, but for now ...

[dogged]

It is that you don't like it. The design aesthetics are a matter of personal taste. You finding them flawed simply means that you don't like it.

Me, I found Windows 3.1's grids of icons ugly and wasteful of space and was somewhat surprised to find that iOS and Android both copied them.

[DrXym]

"Damn! I could have bought an Android and had the joys of crashing, malware and Java in my life! What was I thinking?"

Android doesn't run Java and even if some apps are written in Java it is completely irrelevant to end users.

As for crashes, there is a simple solution to that. Uninstall the app, mark it down or get in touch with the dev to fix the bug. Why is this any different to any other phone OS? If apps are bugged or crashy they'll simply get marked down in favour for apps which do what they're meant to do.

As for malware, welcome to a world with freedoms. Freedom carries risk and requires a person to exercise some common sense. No one would stop you (for example) installing some dodgy chinese marketplace app that promises games for free but it will be your own damned fault if you do. Exercise some personal responsibility and stop expecting big brother to protect you from making stupid decisions.

[Charles 9]

Well, at least the buyer's been warned.

Cheap phones will have cheap functionality. I at least give Microsoft credit for being upfront about the whole business.

[DrXym]

Re: Well, at least the buyer's been warned.

You certainly have to set your expectations lower but that said there are PAYG android handsets for less than £100 that boast 512MB, 800x480 capacitive displays. I'm not sure I understand why Nokia / MS saw fit to gimp the phone's memory like this. How much would 256MB RAM add to a phone's cost anyway? 50p?

If they want to save money they'd be better off to do what some Android sets do and restrict the amount of flash and shove an SD slot into the device for users to augment it if they want.

[Miek]

Re: Well, at least the buyer's been warned.

In the case of the original HTC Wildfire, they had 385MB Ram / 512 ROM, a cheap screen and a 528Mhz CPU. The phone performed well enough, wasn't great for watching video. The only reduced features for those phones was the lack of live wallpapers and HD recording (that I know of).

[frank ly]

@Miek - Re: Well, at least the buyer's been warned.

I still have my old, original HTC Wildfire - now usurped by an Incredible-S and relegated to 'spare phone' with a t-mobile PAYG SIM in it. It plays videos just fine with a high volume from the built-in speaker. I use Any Video Convertor to squash videos down a bit for playing on my phones.

[Miek]

Re: @Miek - Well, at least the buyer's been warned.

"It plays videos just fine with a high volume from the built-in speaker. I use Any Video Convertor to squash videos down a bit for playing on my phones." -- That's good to hear, my Friend's Wildfire has trouble with YouTube and flash content.

[Anonymous Coward]

Well the high end ones are shit

what does that make the entry level ones?

[Andus McCoatover]

"Microsoft encourages developers to be careful with their memory use "

Ha, Haha, hahaha (snort) ahahaha.

Chortle. Snort.

OK, take a lesson on memory management from the Great God Vista.

Wahahaha! (Help me from the floor, someone...)

[Miek]

Re: "Microsoft encourages developers to be careful with their memory use "

"Help me from the floor, someone..." -- sorry, busy cleaning coffee off my screen

[fiddley]

Re: "Microsoft encourages developers to be careful with their memory use "

Bwaahaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! How long has Vista been out for now... must be nearly SIX YEARS! No! Say that joke hasn't had me in stitches for SIX YEARS, because SIX YEARS is a really long time to not be able to get over something so monumentally funneeeeeeeee!!!!!!! I wager I will still be laughing in another SIX YEARS because the joke is so funny.

[Jason Togneri]

Re: "Microsoft encourages developers to be careful with their memory use "

"OK, take a lesson on memory management from the Great God Vista."

They did. It was called Windows 7, and works quite nicely. Sheesh.

[Andus McCoatover]

This will sell beautifully in third-world countries...

...like Britain.