Current WinMo users won’t be able to upgrade to Windows Phone 7 Series
Bad news for current users of Windows Mobile: no matter how advanced your phone may be, if it doesn’t have the three buttons on it that Microsoft wants, you aren’t getting an upgrade.
It isn’t a huge surprise that most phones runnings Windows Mobile 6.X won’t be able to upgrade to Windows Phone 7 Series software at the end of the year due to their hardware not meeting the new requirements. What is surprising is that in some cases it will just come down to the number of physical buttons the device has.
APC Mag points to the HTC HD2 as a prime example of having everything it takes to the newest Microsoft mobile software, but it has two more buttons than the new requirements allow for. All new Windows Phone 7 Series devices are supposed to have the same three buttons no matter who releases the phone, so the five buttons on the HD2 leaves it out in the cold. It’s almost as if Microsoft is calling the HD2 “fat” and only wants to take a skinny girl to the prom.
It may not just be the buttons though, Business Operations Director for Microsoft Australia Tony Wilkinson told APC, “there are some hardware components that the HD doesn’t have”.
Before Windows Mobile gets rebranded as Windows Phone Classic, there will be an upgrade to version 6.5.3 which will include some upgrades to improve the user experience. Microsoft will then continue to support the software, but no word has been given as of yet for how long.
The short version of the story is that if you want to use Windows Phone 7 Series, you’re going to have to buy an entirely new phone once it is released. There is some chance that phones will come out before then running WinMo 6.5.X that could be upgraded, but due to the short release window, that seems rather doubtful.
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March 1st, 2010
so why not just disable two of the buttons – problem solved.