Still, it's great that they finally delivered on their original promise of delivering early updates/betas to the enthusiast crowd. Hopefully we'll get a 8.1 beta early next year.
GDR2 was released around June/July IIRC, GDR3 is Oct/Nov, and 8.1 is rumored to be Jan/Feb. It seems like they're picking up the pace. It certainly is a lot faster than it was from Portico to Apollo/GDR2 and light years faster than WP7/7.5 days
Yeah these feature updates are faster than both iOS and Android so i don't know why the article makes out that MS are slow at this. Yes they're lagging the competition in features but they are faster at adding new features over the past year or so. And GDR3 is a reasonably good update with a decent amount of features, considering it's not even a .1 update.
Having said that i do still think MS need to be even faster and/or larger with the updates considering they're still some way behind. I'm also amazed that they still haven't added individual volume controls for headphones, media, notification and ringtone sounds.
When you lack features, it's easier to have faster updates because you're adding them. When you have all of the "standard" features, there is less reason to update quickly.
Some of the additions have been sorely needed (screen lock) but they now have features that aren't available on other platforms. Are the other platforms now not lacking as well?
GDR1 arrived around November, GDR2 around August, and GDR3 in the coming months. These are small maintenance releases that are arguably on par with the jump from 4.1 to 4.2 to 4.3, something that isn't really acceptable when WP8 is still very much lacking feature parity with Android/iOS.
They might not be .1 updates but they are certainly more than 4.x updates, even still imo. I think Microsoft is iterating well enough right now, it is just a shame that we started so far behind in the first place. I think (read: hope) to see Microsoft attain parity with iOS, and then android, in the 2014,2015 range. Most of the core things are now covered, just like most of them were in 2012, but we are getting closer.
The biggest problem to me with my windows phone is the omission of things that you completely take for granted. Hell, custom tones have been around since like 2000.
I agree with Josh. They have so much opportunity to release smaller, more frequent updates. It is missing enough simple functions compared to iOS and Android that there is plenty of things to pick from. They need to play a better catch up game when they have been so slow in the past and have broken promises on update cadence.
The last paragraph is painful and poorly supported. For example, "many such features have been significantly delayed in implementation" - do you mean to say that WP8+GDR3 continues to lack features, or that Microsoft is implementing them more slowly than iOS/Android? A timeline of feature development vs market introduction would seem to be needed. The third sentence should simply be exised and replaced with shorter, more focused thoughts. As for "It remains to be seen" final sentence, Microsoft has already announced WP8.1 for early 2014. Also, strategies is incorrectly pluralized; "The Windows Phone update cycle" has but one strategy.
It reads like the new features are old in comparison to other platforms, which is true. While Microsoft is moving at a faster pace now, it's still chasing feature parity with these releases. We may start to see some interesting things come Blue, but the GDRs have done little more than add a subset of long-requested functionality.
Thanks for the feedback, it will be incorporated in future pieces.
In many ways, while Microsoft seems to be getting faster, they're still behind in many regards. The move to 1080p has lagged approximately a year behind Android, 8064 was skipped completely, and most feature additions are merely playing catch-up.
The same story played out with the initial release of WP8. The move to 720p lagged approximately a year behind Android, MS skipped dual core Scorpion platforms entirely, and most feature additions are playing catchup in comparison to other platforms.
The update pace is certainly a valid concern, especially in light of the Nokia acquisition and what affect that will have on the additional development that Nokia has done with the Lumia ecosystem. I think it's fair to say that the Portico/Amber/coming Bittersweet Shimmer additions on top of MSFT's GDR updates, and the Nokia Collection apps, are a big part of why Nokia holds 80+% of the WP8 market.
1080p support may be a year late compared to Android, but on other hand, what's the actual market uptake on 1080p devices to date? 1080p on smartphone screens really isn't a killer feature. Also, Apple is still stuck at a sub-720p resolution.
In any case, I'm genuinely curious: what are all these features that WP8 is missing compared to iOS and Android? Off the top of my head, I can only name three: the inexplicable lack of individual volume controls for media/phone/etc., lack of a quick-access screen for switching wi-fi on/off and other common functions, and no support for HID (keyboards, gamepads, etc.) in the bluetooth stack.
JoshHo, You've failed to consider that skipping the S3 and 8064 SoCs may have been intentional, and not at all a result of being unable to "keep up", which is how you seem to be framing it. This isn’t a matter of agility, but of platform strategy. MS has always stated that WP’s hardware chassis specs are designed around the notion of a standardized hardware platform, with limited hardware variability. That is very good for developers, as it limits the hardware configurations they must program against and maintain compatibility with. Admittedly, not being the predominantly targeted mobile OS for app development limits that strategy’s usefulness, as many apps come to WP through porting efforts rather than being specifically targeted, but it is beneficial regardless. My point is, that limiting hardware fragmentation serves a purpose, and you seem to be rating this from a very one sided point of view. It's not any more negative than Apple doing the same. The average quality of an iOS app is undisputedly higher than that on Android, and that is, amongst other things, also a direct result of limiting hardware fragmentation. If Microsoft has a problem in this area, you've completely misjudged what it is. The problem is not that WP has and will continue to occasionally skip an incremental SoC improvement, but that WP isn't ready to support the selected SoCs right out of the gate when they become available, i.e. 8x74 support is being achieved at least six months too late.
I understand that Microsoft may intend on skipping "minor" platform updates, but when devices are branded "outdated" for running a ~6 month old SoC, enforcing a full year between platform updates means any OEM that isn't launching devices at the same cadence that MS is releasing these platform updates will risk irrelevance.
At any rate, 8x74 support in Android has existed since around June or so, since the launch of the GS4 LTE-A variant. That's a four month lag time. For 8x60 platform, MS was approximately half a year late to the game.
Brusque, but valid criticism. The comment on the increased power draw of the 1080p LCD displays is interesting, and linked to a helpul source, but it would be even more helpful to have a link to analysis of the way different mobile operating systems handle high pixel density displays.
Good to see they honoured enthusiast program promise, anyone get latest updates for free by registering for the free app studio account and is a excellent option for bypassing carriers who sit on updates for months.
Yup, just like samsung galaxy S4 or HTC One, carrier-locked phones get updates quite late but it is better than Android because Microsoft updates all the phone models even the cheapest models. Factory-Unlocked models which are more popular outside USA get instant updates, anyway Windows Phone is more popular outside USA.
This, Developer/Enthusiast program makes sure that you can get instant updates bypassing carriers in the process.
This sounds like a great update. My understanding is it has to come through the carrier though, and people are still waiting on the LAST update on some AT&T phones? *ugh* Well hope that's not true. Otherwise the update itself looks great!
It is quite clear that you have not used a Windows phone and are just making negative assumptions here, ALL AT&T phones have already received the last GDR2 update.
This latest GDR3 update was just announced and can be installed by ANYONE for ALL windows phones for free directly from Microsoft without waiting for carriers by registering for a free App studio account.
He's not far off. I got GDR2 three days ago. I just heard about the enthusiast /developer program so I'm sure there are plenty of other people who haven't.
The last bit of the article made me roll my eyes. Will you be satisfied once we hit 1000 PPI? After a certain point... you can't tell the difference by pixel density alone. There are other, more important factors that determine the quality of a display! Otherwise we wouldn't need to test displays at all, ever - you'd just pick the one with the highest PPI and declare it the winner. :/
MS is too slow. They want to gain market share but it will be very hard when they lag behind Android and iOS to get the latest hardware. The iPhone 5s and Android Snapdragon 800 flagships are out now, why are we still waiting on Microsoft? Flagship phones are important because they are what developers and people who care about technology buy and those are the platforms everyone else sees are awesome and jumps on the bandwagon with.
as stated in the article, this update brings support for the SnapDragon 800 SOC. The 800 has only been out 6 months, so yeah they are a little behind but not by much. Manufacturer's no doubt, have had access to this build for sometime so WP SD 800 phones should be coming to market very soon.
Joshua posted at least two articles on AT that contained mostly facts. Further, he made pretty good attempts at analyses and gave clear and bold conclusions, whereas unfortunately few other authors at AT, other than Anand himself, dare do that.
The lack of analysis in some of the AT articles lately is notable, and Joshua's efforts look like a welcome move away from that blandness.
Although his conclusions in both articles were unpopular, including with me, I will be the exception here and admit that they will likely prove to be true. As much as I wish that they weren't true, based purely on my emotional hopes for a better future, it would be naive to think that they aren't true.
First off, Joshua, other AT tech writers, and the broader tech media in general have made it pretty clear that Samsung will use its overwhelmingly dominant global market power to lie (on benchmarks), and further, where it is presumably convenient in helping them gain contracts with telecoms, trample on users' rights (by blatantly putting regional locks on phones sold in the legitimate 'unlocked phones' global market).
This doesn't make me happy. That's because Samsung is the only manufacturer that I can rely on to make phones with the combination of unlocked, Dual-SIMs, removable batteries, Micro-SDXC storage slots, the exFAT file system, 1080P video, WMA-Lossless and FLAC audio file support, along with an OS that isn't going to fall off of a cliff at any moment. As long as Samsung is the only one making such devices, the prices will be high (around $1100 on 'Day 1' for each new flagship offering) and I won't be able to buy as many devices as I would like to, as often as I would like to.
Now what Joshua seems to have just told us with this most recent article is that Microsoft will continue to be a marginally successful third player in the market with a marginally successful third OS. As I understand the article, the only thing that will help Microsoft on this 'steady as she goes' course is if the two market leaders get tired and slow down, or Microsoft and partners cut prices faster than the leaders can, or Microsoft outmaneuvers its competitors with marketing fluff that conceals the platform's weaknesses, or somehow manages to unify the desktop and mobile world before everyone else does and that somehow this makes everyone so happy that they ditch their Android and iOS devices.
This makes me equally unhappy because that means that, in the short-term at least, there is no real chance that the Microsoft flagship phones will be competitive with the Samsung flagship phones. Which means prices will remain high on the Samsung flagship phones. Should I be surprised?
So it with that understanding that I come to the conclusion that just because what Joshua tells us is 'unpopular' doesn't mean that it is 'wrong.'
Keep going Joshua. Don't get sucked into the minutia and drivel in the Comments section. It's a morass of emotion down here, and it's not going to help you to worry too much about the background static unless a whole bunch of readers suddenly provide SIGNIFICANT counter arguments to your articles, analyses, and theories.
As it is, the facts and arguments that are being kicked around down here today don't change much: Samsung still wins the global market for now, Microsoft still gains a bit at the bottom and mid while going long for convergence, and nobody except for Samsung will give consumers user replaceable batteries. Ohhhh, and Apple makes nice jewelry that runs software too - as long as you don't mind going without much local storage and don't mind not being able to reset or recharge your device by removing or replacing the battery yourself, when in need.
It's rather annoying the file management. When will a proper file transfer from phone to sd card be implemented? I have the htc wp 8s, when dl wifi at 2mb/s, the phone storage gets full from...junk, i guess, buffer errors and r/w delays. Sure, photos and music is moved fast, to sd card, but with 1gb free just as a fresh reset is made, its not so much...it needs more flexibility!
An accessible file system on WP would be great. It would allow for much more robust apps. In fact, that's the only thing setting me back from using a WP device. It's implemented in Windows RT while maintaining the walled-garden thing, I don't understand why they can't do that for WP. I hope it'll be implemented in 8.1
Joshua - Your statement "immediate WiFi connection on startup" is unclear. They are specifically talking about OOBE. While you previously had to have a cellular data connection in order to activate and provision a brand new device (mandatory MS account setup included), in GDR3 they launch the Wi-Fi setup wizard *before* activation. So, for example, this morning I hard reset a gifted Lumia 920 running GDR3 and was able to make it mine without even having a SIM on hand. I'm not sure I would call that "immediate WiFi connection on startup."
I got a Lumia 520 to hold me over until a Nexus 5 came out. I enjoy a lot of Windows Phone, namely how much smoother and snappier it feels then my ICS HTC Rezound was. Even though this phone has a slower SOC and half the ram.
But its not a lack of Apps that will get me buying a Nexus 5, its the lack of simple things in apps. For instance I loaded up an Anandtech podcast in its music app, and it doesn't let you skip ahead in the song by touching the progress bar. You can't fast forward and move back. LIKE WTF.
Then the back button is annoying. I go into IE, browse some sites, I get out of IE load up email, I go back into IE, and I hit the back button in IE to get back to the site I was on before in IE and I end up in the email app.
I look at this update and I dont see the improvements to basic stuff that I feel is necessary.
It is hard to get used to Windows phone when you are coming from Android, but you mostly can get a good user experience once you learn how it works.
In the music app, you fast-forward or rewind by holding down the next or back key. Oddly, this works better in the standard music app than the Nokia music player. I never found the progress bar in Android as a very precise method of selecting a position.
The back button is the most confusing part for most users coming from Android. It basically treats the entire OS as a browser, and the back button goes to where you were before. Instead of re-launching IE from the start menu, hold down the back button and task switch to IE and you should be back to where you were before.
"the design of the OS is simply not well suited to widely varying screen sizes and pixel densities, a trait shared by iOS, but not by Android"
What is the basis for this? The UI layout uses device independent pixels. The OS and apps are not dependent on pixel or device sizes. Perhaps they shouldn't have locked the screen resolutions to specific sizes as I bet we'll soon be having 4K screen on 5" mobile phones while I work on a couple of 24" 1920x1200 screens...
Quality wise, WP8.1 is worse than 8 is worse than 7.8. I experience a freezes and a weird top two-thirds screens mostly black once or twice a day. All in my experience on a Lumia 720. YMMV.
Having said that, I'd rather usable but slightly buggy updates than the glacial update pace we've seen.
While I agree that user experience should be the primary objective, they really need to step up their game. They have been chasing iOS for too long when the real target should be Android. Even iOS is moving more towards the Android experience. At the very least, Microsoft needs to allow different browser engines on Windows phone like Firefox and Opera.
I love the idea of driving mode, but I hope this is not an excuse for not fixing the problems in the Nokia 1020 with Bluetooth radio persistence when in sleep. Presently, the 1020 can not be used reliably with in car Bluetooth audio devices as the Bluetooth radio shuts down the moment the screen goes into sleep mode, making the device useless with in car systems.
The fix is a simple parameter setting, but unfortunately, it is not user accessible.
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Laxaa - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Still, it's great that they finally delivered on their original promise of delivering early updates/betas to the enthusiast crowd. Hopefully we'll get a 8.1 beta early next year.theawddone - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
This is the biggest thing for me...I'm surprised this didn't make it into the article.thejaredhuang - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
GDR2 was released around June/July IIRC, GDR3 is Oct/Nov, and 8.1 is rumored to be Jan/Feb. It seems like they're picking up the pace. It certainly is a lot faster than it was from Portico to Apollo/GDR2 and light years faster than WP7/7.5 daysB3an - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Yeah these feature updates are faster than both iOS and Android so i don't know why the article makes out that MS are slow at this. Yes they're lagging the competition in features but they are faster at adding new features over the past year or so. And GDR3 is a reasonably good update with a decent amount of features, considering it's not even a .1 update.Having said that i do still think MS need to be even faster and/or larger with the updates considering they're still some way behind. I'm also amazed that they still haven't added individual volume controls for headphones, media, notification and ringtone sounds.
bplewis24 - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
When you lack features, it's easier to have faster updates because you're adding them. When you have all of the "standard" features, there is less reason to update quickly.Braumin - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
I'm sorry what are the "standard" features?Does iOS have driving mode? Glance?
Some of the additions have been sorely needed (screen lock) but they now have features that aren't available on other platforms. Are the other platforms now not lacking as well?
JoshHo - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
GDR1 arrived around November, GDR2 around August, and GDR3 in the coming months. These are small maintenance releases that are arguably on par with the jump from 4.1 to 4.2 to 4.3, something that isn't really acceptable when WP8 is still very much lacking feature parity with Android/iOS.Drumsticks - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
They might not be .1 updates but they are certainly more than 4.x updates, even still imo. I think Microsoft is iterating well enough right now, it is just a shame that we started so far behind in the first place. I think (read: hope) to see Microsoft attain parity with iOS, and then android, in the 2014,2015 range. Most of the core things are now covered, just like most of them were in 2012, but we are getting closer.The biggest problem to me with my windows phone is the omission of things that you completely take for granted. Hell, custom tones have been around since like 2000.
eanazag - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
I agree with Josh. They have so much opportunity to release smaller, more frequent updates. It is missing enough simple functions compared to iOS and Android that there is plenty of things to pick from. They need to play a better catch up game when they have been so slow in the past and have broken promises on update cadence.takeship - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
The last paragraph is painful and poorly supported. For example, "many such features have been significantly delayed in implementation" - do you mean to say that WP8+GDR3 continues to lack features, or that Microsoft is implementing them more slowly than iOS/Android? A timeline of feature development vs market introduction would seem to be needed. The third sentence should simply be exised and replaced with shorter, more focused thoughts. As for "It remains to be seen" final sentence, Microsoft has already announced WP8.1 for early 2014. Also, strategies is incorrectly pluralized; "The Windows Phone update cycle" has but one strategy.AngryNil - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
It reads like the new features are old in comparison to other platforms, which is true. While Microsoft is moving at a faster pace now, it's still chasing feature parity with these releases. We may start to see some interesting things come Blue, but the GDRs have done little more than add a subset of long-requested functionality.JoshHo - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Thanks for the feedback, it will be incorporated in future pieces.In many ways, while Microsoft seems to be getting faster, they're still behind in many regards. The move to 1080p has lagged approximately a year behind Android, 8064 was skipped completely, and most feature additions are merely playing catch-up.
The same story played out with the initial release of WP8. The move to 720p lagged approximately a year behind Android, MS skipped dual core Scorpion platforms entirely, and most feature additions are playing catchup in comparison to other platforms.
takeship - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
The update pace is certainly a valid concern, especially in light of the Nokia acquisition and what affect that will have on the additional development that Nokia has done with the Lumia ecosystem. I think it's fair to say that the Portico/Amber/coming Bittersweet Shimmer additions on top of MSFT's GDR updates, and the Nokia Collection apps, are a big part of why Nokia holds 80+% of the WP8 market.kyuu - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
1080p support may be a year late compared to Android, but on other hand, what's the actual market uptake on 1080p devices to date? 1080p on smartphone screens really isn't a killer feature. Also, Apple is still stuck at a sub-720p resolution.In any case, I'm genuinely curious: what are all these features that WP8 is missing compared to iOS and Android? Off the top of my head, I can only name three: the inexplicable lack of individual volume controls for media/phone/etc., lack of a quick-access screen for switching wi-fi on/off and other common functions, and no support for HID (keyboards, gamepads, etc.) in the bluetooth stack.
a5cent - Wednesday, October 16, 2013 - link
JoshHo,You've failed to consider that skipping the S3 and 8064 SoCs may have been intentional, and not at all a result of being unable to "keep up", which is how you seem to be framing it. This isn’t a matter of agility, but of platform strategy. MS has always stated that WP’s hardware chassis specs are designed around the notion of a standardized hardware platform, with limited hardware variability. That is very good for developers, as it limits the hardware configurations they must program against and maintain compatibility with. Admittedly, not being the predominantly targeted mobile OS for app development limits that strategy’s usefulness, as many apps come to WP through porting efforts rather than being specifically targeted, but it is beneficial regardless. My point is, that limiting hardware fragmentation serves a purpose, and you seem to be rating this from a very one sided point of view. It's not any more negative than Apple doing the same. The average quality of an iOS app is undisputedly higher than that on Android, and that is, amongst other things, also a direct result of limiting hardware fragmentation.
If Microsoft has a problem in this area, you've completely misjudged what it is. The problem is not that WP has and will continue to occasionally skip an incremental SoC improvement, but that WP isn't ready to support the selected SoCs right out of the gate when they become available, i.e. 8x74 support is being achieved at least six months too late.
JoshHo - Thursday, October 17, 2013 - link
I understand that Microsoft may intend on skipping "minor" platform updates, but when devices are branded "outdated" for running a ~6 month old SoC, enforcing a full year between platform updates means any OEM that isn't launching devices at the same cadence that MS is releasing these platform updates will risk irrelevance.At any rate, 8x74 support in Android has existed since around June or so, since the launch of the GS4 LTE-A variant. That's a four month lag time. For 8x60 platform, MS was approximately half a year late to the game.
Klug4Pres - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Brusque, but valid criticism. The comment on the increased power draw of the 1080p LCD displays is interesting, and linked to a helpul source, but it would be even more helpful to have a link to analysis of the way different mobile operating systems handle high pixel density displays.maximumGPU - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
just a small correction. It's not swipe to close (unfortunately), but more tap the "X" to close apps.on a seperate note, i certainly appreciate the faster cadence and the early access.
JoshHo - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Thanks, it has been fixed.BMNify - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Good to see they honoured enthusiast program promise, anyone get latest updates for free by registering for the free app studio account and is a excellent option for bypassing carriers who sit on updates for months.Wolfpup - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Wait, what? So Microsoft DOES let you update any phone directly from them, but by default it goes through a carrier?BMNify - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Yup, just like samsung galaxy S4 or HTC One, carrier-locked phones get updates quite late but it is better than Android because Microsoft updates all the phone models even the cheapest models. Factory-Unlocked models which are more popular outside USA get instant updates, anyway Windows Phone is more popular outside USA.This, Developer/Enthusiast program makes sure that you can get instant updates bypassing carriers in the process.
Wolfpup - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
This sounds like a great update. My understanding is it has to come through the carrier though, and people are still waiting on the LAST update on some AT&T phones? *ugh* Well hope that's not true. Otherwise the update itself looks great!BMNify - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
It is quite clear that you have not used a Windows phone and are just making negative assumptions here, ALL AT&T phones have already received the last GDR2 update.This latest GDR3 update was just announced and can be installed by ANYONE for ALL windows phones for free directly from Microsoft without waiting for carriers by registering for a free App studio account.
abrowne1993 - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
He's not far off. I got GDR2 three days ago. I just heard about the enthusiast /developer program so I'm sure there are plenty of other people who haven't.Comdrpopnfresh - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
Can't wait for this update- I will be compulsively checking for the update (hopefully not) for the next month and a half.Alexvrb - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
The last bit of the article made me roll my eyes. Will you be satisfied once we hit 1000 PPI? After a certain point... you can't tell the difference by pixel density alone. There are other, more important factors that determine the quality of a display! Otherwise we wouldn't need to test displays at all, ever - you'd just pick the one with the highest PPI and declare it the winner. :/Zink - Tuesday, October 15, 2013 - link
MS is too slow. They want to gain market share but it will be very hard when they lag behind Android and iOS to get the latest hardware. The iPhone 5s and Android Snapdragon 800 flagships are out now, why are we still waiting on Microsoft? Flagship phones are important because they are what developers and people who care about technology buy and those are the platforms everyone else sees are awesome and jumps on the bandwagon with.jasonelmore - Wednesday, October 16, 2013 - link
as stated in the article, this update brings support for the SnapDragon 800 SOC. The 800 has only been out 6 months, so yeah they are a little behind but not by much. Manufacturer's no doubt, have had access to this build for sometime so WP SD 800 phones should be coming to market very soon.hrrmph - Wednesday, October 16, 2013 - link
Joshua posted at least two articles on AT that contained mostly facts. Further, he made pretty good attempts at analyses and gave clear and bold conclusions, whereas unfortunately few other authors at AT, other than Anand himself, dare do that.The lack of analysis in some of the AT articles lately is notable, and Joshua's efforts look like a welcome move away from that blandness.
Although his conclusions in both articles were unpopular, including with me, I will be the exception here and admit that they will likely prove to be true. As much as I wish that they weren't true, based purely on my emotional hopes for a better future, it would be naive to think that they aren't true.
First off, Joshua, other AT tech writers, and the broader tech media in general have made it pretty clear that Samsung will use its overwhelmingly dominant global market power to lie (on benchmarks), and further, where it is presumably convenient in helping them gain contracts with telecoms, trample on users' rights (by blatantly putting regional locks on phones sold in the legitimate 'unlocked phones' global market).
This doesn't make me happy. That's because Samsung is the only manufacturer that I can rely on to make phones with the combination of unlocked, Dual-SIMs, removable batteries, Micro-SDXC storage slots, the exFAT file system, 1080P video, WMA-Lossless and FLAC audio file support, along with an OS that isn't going to fall off of a cliff at any moment. As long as Samsung is the only one making such devices, the prices will be high (around $1100 on 'Day 1' for each new flagship offering) and I won't be able to buy as many devices as I would like to, as often as I would like to.
Now what Joshua seems to have just told us with this most recent article is that Microsoft will continue to be a marginally successful third player in the market with a marginally successful third OS. As I understand the article, the only thing that will help Microsoft on this 'steady as she goes' course is if the two market leaders get tired and slow down, or Microsoft and partners cut prices faster than the leaders can, or Microsoft outmaneuvers its competitors with marketing fluff that conceals the platform's weaknesses, or somehow manages to unify the desktop and mobile world before everyone else does and that somehow this makes everyone so happy that they ditch their Android and iOS devices.
This makes me equally unhappy because that means that, in the short-term at least, there is no real chance that the Microsoft flagship phones will be competitive with the Samsung flagship phones. Which means prices will remain high on the Samsung flagship phones. Should I be surprised?
So it with that understanding that I come to the conclusion that just because what Joshua tells us is 'unpopular' doesn't mean that it is 'wrong.'
Keep going Joshua. Don't get sucked into the minutia and drivel in the Comments section. It's a morass of emotion down here, and it's not going to help you to worry too much about the background static unless a whole bunch of readers suddenly provide SIGNIFICANT counter arguments to your articles, analyses, and theories.
As it is, the facts and arguments that are being kicked around down here today don't change much: Samsung still wins the global market for now, Microsoft still gains a bit at the bottom and mid while going long for convergence, and nobody except for Samsung will give consumers user replaceable batteries. Ohhhh, and Apple makes nice jewelry that runs software too - as long as you don't mind going without much local storage and don't mind not being able to reset or recharge your device by removing or replacing the battery yourself, when in need.
thedragon18 - Thursday, October 17, 2013 - link
It's rather annoying the file management. When will a proper file transfer from phone to sd card be implemented? I have the htc wp 8s, when dl wifi at 2mb/s, the phone storage gets full from...junk, i guess, buffer errors and r/w delays. Sure, photos and music is moved fast, to sd card, but with 1gb free just as a fresh reset is made, its not so much...it needs more flexibility!lilmoe - Thursday, October 17, 2013 - link
An accessible file system on WP would be great. It would allow for much more robust apps. In fact, that's the only thing setting me back from using a WP device. It's implemented in Windows RT while maintaining the walled-garden thing, I don't understand why they can't do that for WP. I hope it'll be implemented in 8.1YoshoMasaki - Thursday, October 17, 2013 - link
Joshua - Your statement "immediate WiFi connection on startup" is unclear. They are specifically talking about OOBE. While you previously had to have a cellular data connection in order to activate and provision a brand new device (mandatory MS account setup included), in GDR3 they launch the Wi-Fi setup wizard *before* activation. So, for example, this morning I hard reset a gifted Lumia 920 running GDR3 and was able to make it mine without even having a SIM on hand. I'm not sure I would call that "immediate WiFi connection on startup."JoshHo - Thursday, October 17, 2013 - link
Thanks for the comment, I'm correcting it now and I will keep this in mind for future articles.Sttm - Thursday, October 17, 2013 - link
I got a Lumia 520 to hold me over until a Nexus 5 came out. I enjoy a lot of Windows Phone, namely how much smoother and snappier it feels then my ICS HTC Rezound was. Even though this phone has a slower SOC and half the ram.But its not a lack of Apps that will get me buying a Nexus 5, its the lack of simple things in apps. For instance I loaded up an Anandtech podcast in its music app, and it doesn't let you skip ahead in the song by touching the progress bar. You can't fast forward and move back. LIKE WTF.
Then the back button is annoying. I go into IE, browse some sites, I get out of IE load up email, I go back into IE, and I hit the back button in IE to get back to the site I was on before in IE and I end up in the email app.
I look at this update and I dont see the improvements to basic stuff that I feel is necessary.
newBgeek - Saturday, November 2, 2013 - link
It is hard to get used to Windows phone when you are coming from Android, but you mostly can get a good user experience once you learn how it works.In the music app, you fast-forward or rewind by holding down the next or back key. Oddly, this works better in the standard music app than the Nokia music player. I never found the progress bar in Android as a very precise method of selecting a position.
The back button is the most confusing part for most users coming from Android. It basically treats the entire OS as a browser, and the back button goes to where you were before. Instead of re-launching IE from the start menu, hold down the back button and task switch to IE and you should be back to where you were before.
UsernameAlreadyExists - Sunday, October 20, 2013 - link
"the design of the OS is simply not well suited to widely varying screen sizes and pixel densities, a trait shared by iOS, but not by Android"What is the basis for this? The UI layout uses device independent pixels. The OS and apps are not dependent on pixel or device sizes. Perhaps they shouldn't have locked the screen resolutions to specific sizes as I bet we'll soon be having 4K screen on 5" mobile phones while I work on a couple of 24" 1920x1200 screens...
stevekgoodwin - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Quality wise, WP8.1 is worse than 8 is worse than 7.8. I experience a freezes and a weird top two-thirds screens mostly black once or twice a day. All in my experience on a Lumia 720. YMMV.Having said that, I'd rather usable but slightly buggy updates than the glacial update pace we've seen.
stevekgoodwin - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
WP8.1 = GDR3. Whoops!YankeesWin - Friday, November 1, 2013 - link
If less frequency = more usefulness then I'm fine with their update cycle the way it is. Time will tell.newBgeek - Saturday, November 2, 2013 - link
While I agree that user experience should be the primary objective, they really need to step up their game. They have been chasing iOS for too long when the real target should be Android. Even iOS is moving more towards the Android experience. At the very least, Microsoft needs to allow different browser engines on Windows phone like Firefox and Opera.aerize - Monday, November 4, 2013 - link
Check out our free apps for GDR3, <a href="http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=a91fb0c3-9860-... Rotation Lock</a> and <a href="http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=5e7b504c-ea98-... Battery Saver</a>. Very simple apps, but they really make Windows Phone 8 a tad bit easier.aerize - Monday, November 4, 2013 - link
The links should be:Rotation Lock: http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=a91fb0c3-9860-...
and
Battery Saver: http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=5e7b504c-ea98-...
fedelst - Monday, December 2, 2013 - link
I love the idea of driving mode, but I hope this is not an excuse for not fixing the problems in the Nokia 1020 with Bluetooth radio persistence when in sleep. Presently, the 1020 can not be used reliably with in car Bluetooth audio devices as the Bluetooth radio shuts down the moment the screen goes into sleep mode, making the device useless with in car systems.The fix is a simple parameter setting, but unfortunately, it is not user accessible.