Microsoft proud of WM 6.5, (once again) confirms no WP7s for HTC HD2

March 3, 2010 | By Surur

htchd2wp7 Oded Ran, head of consumer marketing, Windows Phone UK has once again confirmed Microsoft’s stance on upgrading Windows Mobile 6.5 devices to Windows Phone 7 series:

“We’ve received many questions about the upgradability of HTC HD2 and we currently do not have plans to update the HTC HD2 to Windows Phone 7 Series”, he said.

Clearly trying to placate owners of the premier handset, he notes that Windows Mobile 6.5 is not a mere compromise.

“We are proud of the Windows Phone experience we introduced with Windows Mobile 6.5 and we will continue to partner closely with mobile networks and phone manufacturers to support and invest in the platform". "Windows Mobile 6.5 represents a significant part of the portfolio family that is Windows Phones. With over 50 phones available around the world today, it offers customers the freedom to choose from among the widest selection of device form factors and price points”.

He goes on to note that, as we already know, new handsets will be released with Windows Mobile 6.5 over the coming months and of course these handsets, even if they fit the “Chassis” criteria will likely not be eligible for an update either.

“For Windows Phone 7 Series we are enforcing a strict set of hardware requirements to ensure a consistently great experience for end-users and developers…we cannot confirm that Windows Mobile 6.5 phones that satisfy those requirements will be upgradeable”.

If there is one consolation it is that Microsoft is in fact promising future upgrades to Windows Phone 7 devices, just not Windows Mobile ones.

"Every Windows Phone 7 Series device will be upgradeable with improvements and features we deliver with subsequent Windows Phone 7 Series releases" Ran ended.

Do you think HTC HD2’s are better of with Windows Mobile 6.5 than Windows Phone 7? Let us know below.

Source: Pocketlint.com

About Surur

Site Admin and Windows Phone enthusiast, he has been using Windows Mobile devices since before they were called PocketPC’s. He is currently sporting a HTC 7 Trophy.

Tagged htc hd2, htc leo, windows phone 7

Kruk

Ok, not cool … but I dont have HD2.
martinhartig

Yes, I think WM6.5 is indeed a better choice due to incompatibility of existing software with wp7.
wmpu_reader

“We are proud of the Windows Phone experience we introduced with Windows Mobile 6.5 and we will continue to partner closely with mobile networks and phone manufacturers to support and invest in the platform".

What abaout big 3rd party app developers like Adobe huh (and probably Skype too)? Withdrawing interest in WM6.5 among with other developers. Tell that to them!!!

The Swede

Time to move over to Android….

Craig S

Not getting this logic
m.schmidler

Android at it's current state is just like 6.5 ……
http://twitter.com/chmun77 @chmun77

Go on and move.. I dun see what's the big deal of Android anyways. Just another IPhone OS wannabe with lots of static icons on the standby screens.

ross

They didn't actually confirm no upgrade… they left the door open by saying "we don't have plans." That's much better than hearing that it won't get upgraded because it's missing a search button, like that other lady said.
http://intensedebate.com/people/chinch chinch

No upgrade to WP7 on any wm6.5 device… enough already… we get it…. it's not happening.

Which is OK
Craig S

The HD2 was created for 6.5 and Sense, or so it would seem. Are you really going to still be so attached to it after it's 1 year old (when 7 comes out) that it has to have an official upgrade?

Microsoft has a lot on their plate with 7, because everything they're doing is brand new. I don't believe they should introduce risk into this, and possible support issues, by compromising… the right thing to do is stay consistent
http://twitter.com/hvoltage @hvoltage

bla, bla, bla…the good folks from xda-developers will take care that everybody who has a device close enough from the "strict set of hardware requirements" (dooohh..) will have the 7 on the device.
imho m$ is fu..ng up again, big time. instead of kissing the ass of the devoted users that bare with the ugly, finger unfriendly OS for so many years they are alienating them by demanding new devices/hardware. this like in the PC world, each year new OS each time u have to buy new hardware. m$ remains the heartless SOB, the same "bring me the $" SOB they always have been. i am a wm user for at least 6 years and have all the HTC devices but i think that my next device is going to be a Samsung Wave with its Bada. yee baby, hardware and OS by the same manufacturer. no more missing video drivers BS…FY m$!

http://intensedebate.com/people/Lennard Lennard

"each year new OS" I think you're mixing up Microsoft and Apple. Microsoft's OS release dates are usually 2.5 to 3 years apart.
you're always free to choose whichever device and OS soots you best. no one is ringing your arms to use a Windows Phone. I wasn't being forced to use a windows mobile I chose to use it, and it has been serving me well since windows mobile 5.
so go with whatever works for you, I'm sure using what works for me.
Chris

News Update!

XDA(which is better than official) will have WP7s for the HD2!!!

Honestly most of us on this forum probably use unofficial ROMS anyway. So who cares of M$ or HTC is making an "official" ROM for the HD2.
Just Me

The "good folks from xda-developers" will NOT be able to make a WP7S ROM for the HD2.

http://intensedebate.com/people/l3v5y l3v5y

From a few sources, I've heard the HD2 will get WP7 in August or some time around then. That may not be an official release (as in, it may be an internal test ROM) but we should see WP7.

Just Me

I don't know who has told you that, but you won't see it on the HD2.

HG23

@hvoltage –

What else is MS supposed to do? Create a brand -new awesome OS with new "everything" but still maintain enough backwards compatibility that devices created a year ago will still be able to run it? This is the same logic that others have used when arguing that current apps should work on the new 7 platform. Well, it can't go both ways. Either it will be an awesome revamp or it will just be an aging, legacy OS that won't be able to compete with the likes of other modern mobile OS's.

No wonder RIM hasn't changed their ridiculously decrepit, Java-based OS either. Imagine the back-lash they'd get if they broke compatibility right now and required beefed-up specs on future devices. The thing is, at some point, they'll have to as well.

http://twitter.com/hvoltage @hvoltage

i am not going to ask wp 7 for trinity, not even for the HD but the hd2 has the "juice" to carry the new, amazing, extraordinary wp7 the only problem seems to be that it has too many buttons!!.:p
i'll laugh my a…s off when ppl with the HD2 will flash the first "cooked" wp7 and have better performance than the original one flashed on a 3 buttons device.
anyway, m$ already lost thousands of users. at the WMC i was surprised by the huge number of ppl (and i am talking about pros) that proudly displayed and used an Android powered device. does anybody think that some of the Android users are going to come back to wp7?
samsung's "wave" is an amazing machine with an amazing software and the first time i've heard about HUBs at WMC was at the unveiling of samsung and i am sure they made it on purpose one day before the opening of WMC, one day before m$.
btw, the event organized by samsung including a cocktail party, a breathtaking show that i watched surrounded by 4 huge walls-screens and ended with some gurme' chow made m$ look bankrupt at his overcrowded, overoptimistic and 3 years (at least) too late mp7 presentation.

http://intensedebate.com/people/chinch chinch

Microsoft will gladly "lose thousands of users" to gain millions and millions per year. Lets get real this is a transition so haters (ie. you) can move on now and be done with it.

Windows Phone 7 will present itself great where it COUNTS… retail shelves and by phone retailers starting xmas 2010.

The Samsung reference is silly as well given how it was pretty much panned for it's pointlessness along with the futility of a Samsung OS.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Lennard Lennard

it does not match up to the requirements, and thats all. ok, lets go along with upgrading the HD2, which button would you convert into the search button? the call end button that has the end call decal? or the call button which also has a decal on it? or you can't use the back button because that is a requirement, you can't use the windows button either because that is also a requirement…..which button would you convert into the dedicated search button?

also, after upgrading the device to WP7 series, how would the user know which button is used for the dedicated search button? because the buttons on the HD2 are clearly labeled for call, home, windows, back and end call….where would search go and how would that button be re-labeled?

would you expect the OEMs incur the cost of taking back all HD2s sold to rebrand one of the buttons for search then ship it back out to the user?

get real man, you sound like a whiny brat
http://intensedebate.com/people/Lennard Lennard

I'm laughing at you right now because it seems you're going crazy over a "cocktail party" and "chow". did it make you feel important?

I just checked out the bada os on video and it looks like a really stripped down implementation of the android os….widget based with little substance….however if that's the kind of thing you like then, go for it. see you on the other side.

http://twitter.com/hvoltage @hvoltage

why getting "personal"? i did not intended to offend anybody. it is my right not to like (anymore) m$. i used it for 6 years and still using it only because is the best from the worse. i see you agree with me that wp7 is going to be flashed one day on the HD2. i wonder why you didn't or hear yet of the "double tap" or "long press" for using a button for 2 functions. one of the volume buttons could be use to replace the so very useful :p hardware "search" button.
not everything that is not m$ is with "little substance". there are are new concepts outside mp7 also. i
as for yr sarcastic comment about the samsung event i think u simply didn't get it (or u don't want)… it was only to show by comparison how lame m$ is.

efjay

Time to embrace the horror, guys. As of now the HD2 officially wont be getting WP7S, was never promised and though would have been a nice option to have, it wont be happening. Best to move on, buy the handset if you want or not, move to another OS but lets accept the HD2 is one of the old guard specs notwistanding, with WP7S MS WILL be providing updates to ALL devices which was something they could not do with 6.5 devices so this situation should not happen again with WM handsets.
argenys

My cousin works for T-Mobile and yesterday he told me that his coworker told him he got training on the HD2 and he saw a demo of Windows Phone 7
http://intensedebate.com/people/PaddyParker PaddyParker

I think I know the answer given the cheap price T-Mobile US put on the HD2 but I'll throw this out there anyhow. Is there a possibility that there is enough variation (Rom etc) between the US version of the HD2 and the rest of the world version where the US version might eligible for WM7 upgrade. These Microsoft PR people from the UK and Australia might be referring to their respective countries HD2 version.

I know wishful thinking. So I guess I’m waiting for the HD3 now.

http://intensedebate.com/people/Lennard Lennard

if the T-mobile US version has a search button, then yes it would be a high possibility that it will be upgradeable. if it doesn't have a dedicated search button, then no it won't. I personally don't care much about the official upgrade because official roms are hardly optimized. just let me get my hands on working sys and xip files. I know within the first week of getting my HD2 is will be getting a good bath in some HardSPL juice.

http://intensedebate.com/people/PaddyParker PaddyParker

I agree. Maybe HTC can send us some stickers for the buttons or something Since I haven’t installed an XDA rom before, Does that void your warranty if you do it?

Chris

I'll still get the HD2 later this month. 6.5/Sense is refined and has a full compliment of apps; 7 have first gen. bugs for months and the app catalogue will take some time to develop. And there is always a better phone 6 months out. At some point you actually have to buy one.
Taiwan_techie

The HD2 is better off with WM6.5, part of the reason I bought the HD2 is because it has HTC Sense.

I don't like the approach that Microsoft is taking with WM7, tiles….. and NO Sense UI.
Jos Dewey

Wawawa… how long is this site going to keep moaning about this?

I told you guys the HD2 would never get an official WP7 upgrade, it was just never going to happen. And I couldn't be happier, WP7 sucks. WM6 has had a decade to mature and then HTC did all of their magic on top… WP7 is the first of its kind, and if we know Microsoft, they'll take at least another attempt to make it decent.

Look at Vista and Windows 7… they are virtually the same, W7 just fixes the many problems with Vista. I'd rather have the awesome hardware of the HD2 with a nice OS that works… not a gimped, locked down piece of junk that will likely not even have that many apps to begin with… where are all the ZuneHD apps? Is there more than 10 apps for it now?
upset consumer

I would like the person who thought of the "3" button idea is GREAT and to go stab himself ! idiot.

HD2 will have WP7S if microsoft likes it or not…..viva XDA !
AS147

When everyone was talking about WP7 before the release of information having this on the HD2 sounded quite appealing. But over my three weeks of use of the HD2 and having seen the GUI and heard about its features (or lack thereof) I have to say it's like all the cooked ROMs out there. They all sound quite good and some even look good but at the end of the day the device is great, the GUI is great and the performance is great so why bother.

Now it may come about that there is a "killer" feature in WP7 for some (Zune integration?) or something we have yet to hear of (I am expecting a few things here) but I somehow doubt it. I certainly have nothing missing from my device that I can't get from somewhere without ripping out everything and running with a hacked ROM