[Windows Phone 7 General] N8ter:
This. They will never understand this.

Judges in any sport aren't there to give points. They're there to take deductions.

The only way to know how to improve is to know where you're failing.

Telling them the platform is great doesn't tell them what needs to improve.

You can tell me how I come across all you want. Search my post history. Go to the Vibrant forum and read my posts. I'm equally critical of all platforms I use.

It's not my fault you're a crybaby.

EDIT: Other reply deleted. Don't think it would accomplish anything.

But I do wanna say... Who cares WHERE the update comes from. The only thing consumers care about is how quickly they come. And they have failed on that part. People didn't ask for those features, they expected them. Being told "No Copy and Paste" made people's jaw drops. There was uproar months before the platform RTM'd about that.

HTML5 Browser, Linked Inbox, APIs for IM/AR/Contacts Integration... Really, ask for that? Who asks for that? People EXPECTED that, because any decent smartphone comes with that. It's not 2007 anymore. People Expected TBT Navigation because this was already available on WM. People expected at least a WLM application. It's not like Microsoft hesitated to release one for iPhones and iPod Touches, before they even released their own platform.

Listen, I'm not saying you don't have decent points. But you're trying to lambast people for expecting pretty basic smartphone functionality these days without any context.

The platform pre-Mango functions more like a Feature Phone than a smartphone.

Microsoft made the statements about Updates because they were trying to capitalize on discontent surrounding the FroYo update lag around that time. But they were idiots for trying to do that for 3 reasons:

1. Most people wanted FroYo for Flash Support, which WP7 doesn't have and they don't even have a preliminary date for it yet (Win8 Metro browser not supporting Flash may give you some hints on when that's coming, though).

2. Most users don't care where the updates come from, but when the updates come. There are some Android Manufacturers like HTC and Motorola who have delivered their own updates, and Samsung have delivered most if not all of the updates they've had for the Galaxy S phones through Kies. The Carriers still have to test the ROMs. What most people expected was a faster development time than iOS and a faster update turn-around than Android. What they delivered was nothing soundly different from what Apple does, but with an Android'esque deployment which makes it even worse.

3. Apps to SD, for older and mid-ranged phone owners without a lot of space for apps. Less of an issue for recent Samsung/Motorola flagships (i.e. Galaxy S, Droid X, Droid 2, etc.), but HTC still gives only 1GB internal room in some of their recent high end Android phones (Inspire 4G, e.g.).

Why weren't these features there to begin with? They rushed the platform to market. They cut out a bunch of stuff to get it on the market. We all know tons of these features have been finished for many month, but they weren't there because Microsoft doesn't want to overload the carriers with updates to test.

I do not think Microsoft expected Android to take off as fast as it did. They probably thought they had more time to finish WP7 evident by the fact that they were still prepping updates to Windows Mobile and there were even some Windows Mobile devices in the works that were canceled.

The low hardware specs for first-gen WP7 devices was probably incentive for OEMs. It means cheaper phone manufacturing costs and higher margins for the manufacturers + the ability for the carriers to subsidize to a lower cost (so it was a win-win-win). They tried to provide some market disruption with RTM WP7/Nodo, but they failed. They should have just waited 6 more months.

People don't buy Android because it looks good, and probably not even because it's the most performant option. They buy it because of it's capabilities. If that wasn't obvious then, it's sure as hell should be NOW.