Acer, Asus and others - Windows Phone 7 General

Are these companies still working on a windows phone device or what? I was looking at the padphone by Asus and was thinking to myself on how awesome that would be if that ran on WP8. Havent heard much about the Acer and Asus devices and others that were planning on producing windows phone devices. Even Dell hasnt spoken on their successor to the Venue Pro. I actually think Dell has learned some things and their next device wont have as many flaws as the Venue Pro did. I still love my Venue Pro and cant wait to see what others have to offer seeing what Nokia has brought to the table.

Dell - Rumored to have cancelled their Mango device but might be back for Windows Phone 8
Acer - Released a Mango phone, the W4
Asus - Nada
That said, from digitimes just last week...
Smartphone and PC vendors to treat WP8 differently, say sources
With the exception of Nokia, other major handset vendors will probably not commit resources to develop WP8-based smartphones, indicated the sources, adding that PC vendors such as Acer, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Dell may optimize the new platform to make a comeback in the smartphone segment.
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Possible Release Date for WP7

I attended an event today where a rep from Microsoft was demoing Office 2010, and was talking to him before his presentation. I asked what he could tell me about Windows Phone 7 and one of the things he said was that it could be released around September 7.
This probably doesn't mean much, but a rumored date is slightly better than none at all!
Sounds early to me. I think they are targeting november-december.
Might be. WP7 is closely tied to the Zune software, and new versions of that usually come out in September. Also, the rumored release time for the LG Panther is also September.
lordcanti86 said:
Might be. WP7 is closely tied to the Zune software, and new versions of that usually come out in September. Also, the rumored release time for the LG Panther is also September.
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I also read somewhere that the Zune service will go worldwide in September. I just can't find where I read that though, but it seems plausible.
I can see rtm in september but handsets not till winter
HTC Windows Phone 7 Series device coming this year, says Peter Chou
HTC has been a loyal Microsoft partner throughout the years (despite starting to make more Android smartphones), and it will, as we already know, continue the partnership after Windows Phone 7 Series is launched.
In a recent interview with Forbes, HTC’s CEO Peter Chou mentioned that the company expects to launch its first Windows Phone 7 Series handset before the year’s end.
While Mr. Chou didn’t disclose further details about the WP7 smartphone, he did talk about the Android-based Google Nexus One, which is manufactured by HTC and has been reportedly sold in about 150,000 units since launch.
While some think the sales of the Nexus One are below expectations, HTC’s chief says the smartphone “has been an achievement”, since Google’s goal with the handset was only “to really show how good Android can be.”
Back to the Windows Phone 7 Series device that HTC plans to launch before the end of 2010 – if it’s going to be anything like Sprint’s HTC EVO 4G (which, of course, runs Android 2.1), it will probably be one of the best WP7 handsets (at least for the beginning), don’t you think?
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Source
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Second WP7 Launch.........

So MS is supposibly doing a second WP7 launch, which devices could they be showing off to the world. Well we have the HTC Tropy, HTC 7 pro.......... I think they might even show off the Asus device because i heard it recently went through FCC. But what else could they be showing off, im curious...
http://pocketnow.com/windows-phone/...nd-wp7-device-launch-at-mobile-world-congress
Microsoft Planning Second WP7 Device Launch at MWC?
File under: News
By: Evan Blass | 9:38 AM 16-Dec-10 | 2 Comments
Microsoft and its OEM partners may be planning to launch a second round of Windows Phone 7 devices during February's Mobile World Congress trade show in Barcelona, Spain. According to Taiwanese publication Digitimes, which often has its finger on the pulse of the Asian consumer electronics industry, Redmond is working with Chinese manufacturers like Lenovo, Huawei, and ZTE to enable a second-half launch with Mandarin-friendly input capabilities. Moreover, Asus may use the rumored launch to out its E600 handset, a smartphone which has been in the works for over six months, and just recently lost its short term FCC confidentiality -- revealing a gallery of photos plus a user manual.
While Redmond has yet to reveal initial sales figures for the nascent platform, anecdotal reports have been mixed: some source report little interest in the handsets, while other "venues" can't seem to keep them on the shelves. Digitimes notes that Android has been making serious inroads in China, providing yet another potential barrier to entry for WP7, in one of the world's most important markets.
Besides the HTC Trophy on Verizon and HTC 7 Pro on Sprint, US consumers are also expecting a device called the HTC 7 Melody to arrive next year, as well as a full Dell Venue Pro rollout, naturally. Current Windows Phone 7 owners can look forward to at least one, if not several, platform upgrades in the coming year as well.
"Never been a follower, so why would I buy an Iphone?"
i wouldn't say this is a second launch but merely a second wave of handsets. the OS is already out there and selling. but merely introducing more products to the market. i imagine that there will be a lot more than just a few more handsets.

Windows Phone lacks and Identity

The major gripe I have with windows Phone is how it's sold or as is the case mis-sold. If quarterly results are correct - circa 1.5m Windows Phones sold that is pretty diabolical when you consider just how good the platform is.
I showed my phone and its features to my sister and brother in law and they liked the way it worked - its fluidity and how they could easily email, use calendar web etc. It wasn't a hard sell.
So I went around to all the cell phone stores in my local shopping centre and all the major retailers - Vodafone, T-mobile, o2, Orange, Three, Carphone Warehouse, Phones 4 U all had one phone front and centre - no guesses it's the Iphone.
The salespeople were on the most totally inept and either tried to shift an Iphone or any Android device. Their knowledge of the Windows Phone was either non existant or plain falsifications. Ontop of that the one salesperson who did know about Windows Phone was saying all you are interested in is office integration which Android provides.
There is no clear message to the public of what windows phone is and what it can do. Also the same phone is not available on all networks unlike the iphone.
If MS and Nokia want to sell tens of millions of windows phones a quarter they are not going about it the right way. Spending hundreds of millions on an ad campaign will create an initial boost but it won't last.
The problem MS has is that it probably will not want to push one phone above another in their adverts which will then create more confusion. Nokia will push their phone and brand above the o/s - there will be this confusing message once again.
I feel that for Windows Phone to be a success MS needs to get into bed fully with Nokia and actually have a joint marketing campaign - yes this may put of Samsung, LG etc but with the volumes currently shipping it won't be such a great loss.
Essentially we need one windows phone to rule them all. One phone available on all the networks.
I think it's a very bad idea to undermine the other OEMs just to fully promote Nokia. It's not really their faults the phones didn't sell, the OS was lacking and Microsoft didn't promote it very hard.
The issue is more in the sort of ads you use. Like you've seen, people who see WP love it so the ads should show the OS in action similar to ads for the iPhone and Windows 7.
You can do a huge campaign for Nokia if you like but if it's just generic stuff and tease (Oooh, we have Xbox Live and Office you know) without actually showing the OS it will be pointless.
Currently, I think a majority of people are waiting on better hardware coupled with mango. I,myself, am waiting on the new Samsung offering before I make the switch from Android to WP7.
I like the look and feel of WP7 vs. Android. Having an Iphone and now Android, I'm tired of the similar UI that is shared between them. Different is good and as long as functionality and ease of use is there, I think you'll see more people migrating over by next year.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Gotta agree with noidd here, a lot of people are waiting for new hardware with Mango.
The whole one phone to rule them all is Apple's philosophy, and I'm sure that's one of the reasons why people started running to Android in the first place.
Hopefully we'll get a flagship phone like the galaxy s2 and people start noticing WP7 a little more.
As for the whole carrier mess, here in Norway and in pretty much entire Europe, u can get any phone on any carrier you like and I hope that kind of ridiculous carrier monopoly goes away sooner than later in especially the US.
Trust me, Nokia is a fools-even-know brand in China and when Nokia started selling WP7 phones in China, quickly billions of WPs wil be sold.
From the respective websites
O2 - HTC HD7, HTC 7 Mozart
T-mobile - no Windows phones
Orange - HTC 7 Mozart, LG Optimus 7, Samsung Omnia 7
Three - no windows phone
Vodafone - no windows phone
Each one of the above websites had a dedicated Iphone page and promoted Android.
The Iphone is promoted so much and hyped once people decide they want it they can get it on any of the 5 major nextworks in the uk.
Looking at 2 big phone retailers -
Carphone Warehouse - HTC HD7, HTC 7 Mozart, HTC 7 Trophy, LG Optimus 7, HTC 7 Pro
--Vodafone - HTC 7 Trophy, LG Optimus 7, HTC 7 Pro
--Orange -- HTC 7 Mozart, LG Optimus 7, HTC 7 Pro
--Tmobile - LG Optimus 7, HTC 7 Pro
--o2 - HTC HD7
--Three - none
Phones4u -
Vodafone - HTC 7 Trophy
Yes again they promote the Iphone front and centre as if their life depends on it. From whhat I have gleaned they make less profit on the Iphone sales than on high end Android phones but as the Iphone has become something of a golden child network operators stock it more to show theire relevancy as an operator in the eyes of the doe eyed consumers.
I still maintain that until Windows has a one or two phones available on all networks it won't make any impact whatsoever.
At launch Vodafone were carrying the Trophy and the Optimus 7, Three were carrying the Omnia 7 and Optimus 7 and T-Mobile were carrying the Mozart and Omnia 7. Those carriers dropped the phones because they a) weren't selling well and b) were old handsets. They didn't sell well because they were poop. Overpriced poop.
Look at the handsets available, then look at the prices they launched at. Every single one was available in Android flavour, and for significantly less (and, in many cases the Android hardware was superior). The HD7 and Mozart were the same price as the Desire HD, yet the HD7 and Mozart had lower quality screens and cameras. The Trophy was a similar spec to the Desire, and the Omnia 7 to the Galaxy yet both were significantly more expensive than their Android counterparts. There were also significant build quality differences in some cases. In a nutshell, Windows Phone 7 handsets were a bit of a con at launch and people weren't stupid enough to fall for it. The manufacturers messed up.
Coincidentally, I just made an off-topic, throwaway remark about this issue in a post in another thread. I've had the same experience (in Canada) of having salespeople try to deflect me away from WP7 to either Android or iOS. When WP7 first became available where I am, the salesman that I purchased my phone from expressed surprise at how good WP7 was, having just returned from a convention in Toronto. That was November 11, 2010. Since that time, I've not heard one good thing about WP7 from any salesperson. Invariably, WP7 is played down and iOS and Android played up. The user experience (this is always vague, the implication being that somehow WP7, not being as pervasive as the two biggies, somehow falls short and that anyone running WP7 will be missing out) and quantity of apps in the app stores are the two most common reasons given. Extending this "theme", I've even had salespeople assure me that Windows 8 tablets, when they come out and which will extend the Metro concept, will be crap!
Point is, I wonder if Android OEMs and Apple are offering larger incentives on the sale of these devcies, either to the individual salesperson or to select retailers? This idea is prompted by having bought an LCD tv at Christmas. I wound up buying at a furniture store and the salesman *used* to work at Futureshop (large electronics store in Canada like Dixons in the UK or BestBuy in the US - indeed it is now owned by BestBuy). He told me that the salesforce was pressured to push Samsung because of a huge difference in the commission paid relative to competing products. Indeed, this was my experience as I shopped around: I was consistently directed toward Samsung.
I own and use Android and iOS devices and the original release of WP7 was very competitive in my opinion. Mango, which I have just started using, is even more competitive. I can't see why a salesperson knowledgeable about the device and its competition would steer potential customers away without external motivations? I'll be very interested to see what happens this fall, when Mango and second gen WP7 devices become available.
Apple provide sales incentives - nope. From conversations I have had with Vodafone in the UK and AT&T in the US they get very little from Apple - they sell the i-phone as its what people want and b) they hope to keep them on after their contract is up. Otherwise they make more money on the Android devices.
Boils down to this for operators
1) Must sell i-phone as it's what people want even though margins are crap.
2) Must sell Android as volumes are good, as are margins but we can also modify the o/s.
3) Wp7 is an efterthought as its not selling well and we can't modify the o/s. As to margins that would be anyones guess.
I blame this all on the Scary Butterfly lady...
Things should get better with Mango and some current hardware. The OS was really released too soon for the wrong reasons with an obnoxiously unimpressive hardware spec. As long as Microsoft follows up Mango with a great Ad campaign this should get right back on track. Microsoft tends to flounder with their initial release then they fire the morons that looked impressive on paper and get some real muscle in there. Just look at the launch of the Xbox brand if you need historical proof of this.

Updates when WP8 ships

Apologies if this has been covered to death, I don't recall reading it anywhere though....
With rumors of W8/WP8 shipping some time next year, have MS announced the plans to upgrade WP7 devices?
Thing is I'm due an upgrade around March 2012. If i was to say go for the equivalent of whatever the Lumia 900 ends up being, is this likely to get the upgrade to WP8 when it's launched or WP7 generation devices in general.
In an akward position where I don't want to keep my Omnia 7 any longer than I have to when i'm in a position to upgrade....
Thanks,
Like you i am currently running a first generation WP7 handset (HTC HD7) albeit not locked into a contract. With numerous second generation handsets coming out I still do not feel the urge in upgrading nor do I feel the urge in moving to another OS.
Currently it is rumored that WP7 Tango, an interim release between WP7 Apollo which has been touted as potentially being WP8 has been said to be released half way through 2012 and the end of 2012 respectively. Although this should be taken with a grain of salt.
Tango is said to be a small update which is to be focused on cheaper handsets although it would appear it is to support dual core and a higher screen resolution and a few more features, as I don’t think they could wait till Apollo to release these features. Some people have said Apollo will be windows phone 8 and i would not be surprised if this is true as it would be imperfect timing with windows 8 and would secure continuity between their offerings. Microsoft has put a massive emphasizes on minimum specification in WP7 and the future windows 8, they have even stated that one of their parameters for windows 8 was to have equal or smaller system requirements then Windows 7. I assume this kind of thinking and mentality was translated to Windows Phone.
Whilst second generation phones will weather the test of time better than a first generation phone I highly doubt Microsoft will leave first generation and second generation in the dark as alienating the early adopters would perhaps be the worst strategy they could do. Although the new phones are tempting I think I can survive with my HD7 for the time being although something like a HDC radar would be a good intermediate phone between the second Gen and third Gen device as it is priced well.
I'd be very surprised if Microsoft wasn't providing phones with at least two years worth of updates.
Yeh... I'd assumed we would definintely get Tango as it's touted as an intermediate update before WP8/Apollo.
I'd happily hang on but it would mean i'd have had the Omnia for 2 years, and i've had enough problems with it already. Craving something by Nokia....
PG2G said:
I'd be very surprised if Microsoft wasn't providing phones with at least two years worth of updates.
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Two years seems like a reasonable timeframe, but I seriously doubt that they will support any device longer than that. Just think about the hardware changes that have either been added or are on the roadmap that don't exist on 1st gen phones: gyroscopes, FFCs, NFC. The way phone technology is evolving, anything over two years old is a dinosaur (and in most cases, worn out), and I really don't see any manufacturer willingly offering to support such devices.
Buy a phone without a contract ?
sin_nombre said:
the requirements for windows 8 on PCs are the same as they have been for vista and how old are those computers? much more than 2 years. they are also still making builds of WM6.x (all the way into the 29xxx build series) but they just arent currently being released on any devices
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Never mind. I don't respond to eric.

Nokia Really Shaping Windows Phone OS

To tell you all the truth, Nokia is really shaping Windows Phone OS. They are always adding new enhancements and apps to the Phone which really make the OS more lovely to use. They have really made the other OEMs WACK and lets take my HTC phone for example, the HTC apps never change and they really don't have any enhancements to the OS....all goes to HTC Android Phones with sense 4.0 and no new apps at the HTC section at the Marketplace. Nokia just introduced the transport and reading hub which I like very much and I think it's time the other OEMs start doing something on enhancements on the OS to attract more customers or else most of us will switch to Nokia when Apollo arrives.
Can't even imagine I have to wait for 3 solid months for the CNN and ESPN apps.....whilst Lumia Holders are enjoying....hmmmmm!
Really thanks to Windows Break Project, I use Nokia App in my Samsung Focus
andregarcia_1 said:
Really thanks to Windows Break Project, I use Nokia App in my Samsung Focus
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I've been able to use all but Nokia Drive and the MWC app. I'm about to try the ACC app now.
That's because for Nokia it is very important that Windows Phone is succesfull.
Other OEMs mainly have Android and make most of their money from Android.
That's not to say that I wouldn't want e.g. HTC to bring Beats Audio to Windows Phone, but I can understand why they wait.
If Nokia's Lumias sell well in the future, this MIGHT very well help WP7 including other OEMs.
That's the least they could do for MS, a company that is basically their backbone and their future. Nokia/MS is what you call a true partnership. Symbian has great quality apps and it would be only right for them to bring that same quality over to WP. Can't wait to get my lumia 900+nokia purity HD. I'm going to be the happiest camper on the block. Expect lumia 900 to sell very ell in the states.
But on the other hand I have to agree other OEM's need to put forth quality efforts in building better quality product such as Nokia. But you have to also realize that our other OEMS's that are putting out devices also have commitments to Android which is selling well, so I. wOuldnt expect much from them until they see how well NOKIA is going to sell, Apollo arrives, and the ecosystem of windows products interaction with different types of devices such as Xbox, tablets, pc's, laptops, and windows phones
Sent from my Venue Pro using XDA Windows Phone 7 App
slimshady322 said:
That's because for Nokia it is very important that Windows Phone is succesfull.
Other OEMs mainly have Android and make most of their money from Android.
That's not to say that I wouldn't want e.g. HTC to bring Beats Audio to Windows Phone, but I can understand why they wait.
If Nokia's Lumias sell well in the future, this MIGHT very well help WP7 including other OEMs.
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But Nokia also has Symbian? Its not that WP is their only OS. Almost all of the OEMs have more than One OS to deliver to.

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