Which manufactureres update Windows?

[Guest rireed]

I've been using an HTC Smartphone (Orange C500) for years, and want to upgrade to an all-singing/dancing PDA phone, but it looks like HTC is still holding back upgrades to sell new hardware.

When I buy a computer, I can expect to be able to do two or three OS upgrades before I have to buy new hardware. It's not just for the new OS that this is important, it's for new software that won't run on the old one. For my £300-£500 investment, do any PDA phone manufacturers do this, or are they all crooks?

Thanks,

Richard

[Guest]

I've been using an HTC Smartphone (Orange C500) for years, and want to upgrade to an all-singing/dancing PDA phone, but it looks like HTC is still holding back upgrades to sell new hardware.

When I buy a computer, I can expect to be able to do two or three OS upgrades before I have to buy new hardware. It's not just for the new OS that this is important, it's for new software that won't run on the old one. For my £300-£500 investment, do any PDA phone manufacturers do this, or are they all crooks?

Thanks,

Richard

HTC tend to be quite good when it comes to OS updates for their devices. I found that it tends to be the Operators (Orange, T-Mobile etc) who tend to drag their feet with regards to OS updates. Think of it from their point of view - release an update for one of their old handsets, or not and tempt those users with newer, shinier handsets (and a nice new 12/18 month contract in the bag to go with it).

For example, HTC released a WM6 upgrade for the Hermes and it took ages for it to filter through to T-Mobile - many people 'invalidated' their warranties (including myself) by installing the HTC or a cooked WM6 ROM.

Also remember that these updates are being provided free of charge - how many PC manufacturers do you know who would have sold you an XP machine a couple of years ago and would happily give you a free upgrade to Vista now? Manufacturers of other non-smartphones (Sony-Ericsson, Samsung etc) wouldn't update the OS on your phone to match that of their latest model either.

It's just the nature of Smartphones - you get a phone with an OS on it. If you're lucky you might get a free upgrade to the latest version when it comes out - you may not. If you don't there's always plenty of internet forums where users cook their own ROMs anyway. I think you're safe regarding future upgrades if you have a handset which currently runs WM5/6 (6.1 and 6.5 on the horizon). Not sure about WM7 though as this is supposed to merge the WM Standard and WM Professional versions into one. And if you want all singing/all dancing then I think you need to wait for the SonyEricsson X1! :D

[Guest Confucious]

Many times the new OS will not run on older hardware - as the hardware gets better the OS takes advantage of it. WM5 won't run (properly) on the C500 as it is designed to run on QVGA.

Going back to your PC analogy though - try running Vista on a 3 y/o PC!

The OS on most contract phones has been customised by the operator - they will not do the customisation for older phones as the OS is device specific - something a PC OS isn't.

There are many factors why you can't easily upgrade a PPC - and many people over at xda-devs working hard to make it possible.

Another analogy - how many times have you upgraded the engine in your car?

[Guest rireed]

everton2004 and Confucious -

Thanks for the advice. I'm encouraged that individuals provide their own upgrades. Concerning Vista: No, in fact I paid extra not to have it on my new laptop. I like XP fine.

I've been in an IT career since just before the IBM PC, so I was part of the commodification of desktop computers. Until Vista, it was pretty much just processor and bus horsepower that determined whether you could run the next Windows. The architecture breakpoints were i386 and Pentium. The size of the global market was so large that both Intel and Microsoft were forced into the provision of backward compatibility. Every one of my PC's (5 or 6 I think) has had at least two Windows versions on it, determined only by my willingness to pay the upgrade price.

I guess that's the answer. I haven't seen any paid OS upgrade offerings, so the trade-off for a manufacturer is between free new OS, paid new OS and trying to sell a new device. Vista is a new problem: Hollywood goes after your PC. As for my car, it usually does what I want it to when I buy it (not like the gotchas on Smartphones), and it's some years before I want it to do something else -- it's really different.

Thanks,

Richard