Hasta La Gadget!

Teased since Microsoft’s launch event for Windows Phone 7 back in October of last year and recently launched in Europe as the 7 Pro, HTC’s Arrive today becomes the very first CDMA device for the platform to be announced with a date and a price. Sprint picks up the QWERTY tilt-o-matic this coming March 20th for $199.99 on a two-year contract after $100 mail-in rebate, featuring a 3.6-inch WVGA display, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 5 megapixel camera with flash and 720p video capture, 16GB of internal storage, and 802.11b/g/n WiFi — oh, and Sprint is quick to remind us that the phone will be launching with Microsoft’s anticipated copy and paste update, too. In-store pre-orders begin today with the purchase of a $50 Sprint gift card; follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading HTC Arrive is Sprint’s first Windows Phone 7 device, launches March 20th for $200

HTC Arrive is Sprint’s first Windows Phone 7 device, launches March 20th for $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s slowed the pace of Windows Phone 7 ads after saturating the airwaves at launch, but it looks like another campaign is about to begin — WinRumors has a leak of a new set of “Real Time Challenge” interactive web ads that challenge you to complete tasks using your phone against a WP7 device. Challenges include taking a photo and posting it to Facebook, checking Xbox achievements, getting directions, and telling meeting participants you’re running late. Not surprisingly, the WP7 device performs handily at everything — although we’re definitely wondering why you’d be checking Xbox achievements in a hurry while on the run. WinRumors also says that the “Your Phone” image is just a placeholder that will be filled in by other devices in the final ads, so we’ll see how MS decides to portray other platforms and their apps — there’s a lot of ways to do some of these things on Android and iOS devices. (And, sigh, we would note that “Update system software without fatal errors” is not a listed activity.) In any event, it’s a clever ad idea — check the video below.

[Thanks, Irv]

Continue reading Leaked Windows Phone 7 ads challenge your phone head-to-head

Leaked Windows Phone 7 ads challenge your phone head-to-head originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Samsung Focus may be affected by a buggy Windows Phone 7 update, Ars Technica reports. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Microsoft released the first update to Windows Phone 7 Monday, but rather than improve things, it fails to install for some customers — and for an unlucky few, it actually bricks their phones.

The glitch affects the Samsung Omnia 7 and possibly the Samsung Focus, according to Ars Technica. In some cases, the ten-step (!) installation process fails on step seven, prompting a reboot but not damaging the phone. But in a few unlucky cases, the upgrade fails at step six, corrupting the phone’s firmware and requiring a trip to the store to replace the phone.

It’s not clear how many phones have been affected by either of the glitches. Still, as Ars writes,

This is a monumental cock-up. Failing to install properly is bad. Corrupting firmware and needing recovery is terrible. Bricking handsets altogether is inexcusable. Who on earth wants to schlep into a store to get a new handset just because Microsoft and Samsung screwed something up? In spite of the handsets being available for four months now, in spite of having a month or more to test the update, it doesn’t actually work.

Microsoft had staggered the release of the firmware update, so it’s not available to all Windows Phone 7 users. The company reports that it is investigating the problem.

Ars Technica’s article has more details on which firmware versions are affected by the glitch and how to diagnose (and possibly fix) firmware corruption.

Everything that can go wrong with Windows Phone 7 update does

Such a big load of trouble for such a small update. Microsoft’s first WP7 firmware refresh has been causing some unfortunate brick-like behavior in Samsung Omnia 7s and the company has wisely decided to pull the new software back until it can correct whatever’s going wrong. An official communiqué to WinRumors says Microsoft has identified the issue at hand and is working to correct it and redistribute the update as soon as possible. For any Samsung WP7 phone owners who haven’t been able to resuscitate their device yet, the advised course of action is to go back to the store and swap it for a livelier one.

Update: Timo wrote in to let us know that some people are still seeing the update. If that’s you, you’d be advised to hold off.

Microsoft pulls Windows Phone 7 update from Samsung phones until it can resolve issues originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 07:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So this is why they do phased rollouts, eh? If Twitter is the font of truth and reality that we suspect it to be, it sounds like users of some Windows Phone 7 models by Samsung are struggling with that minor first update that Microsoft started pushing this week. Basically, it sounds like the update isn’t consistently completing; it some cases, users get an error message, and there doesn’t appear to be any way to roll back or restore the prior firmware and get the phone back to a working state. Mass bricking is probably the greatest fear of software engineers before deploying handset updates to the field, so it’s a good thing they’re taking it slow; of course, that’s not much consolation to the folks who are stuck making a call (on someone else’s phone) to Samsung support.

[Thanks, jdog25]

Update: the::unwired is reporting information straight from Microsoft on how to fix a “bricked” device that doesn’t complete the update, and it’s deceptively simple: just pull the battery, put it back in, and turn the phone on. Failing that, perform a hard reset. Either way, the company is recommending you don’t attempt the update again until the phone reminds you, which it says will happen in about three days.

First Windows Phone 7 update not going smoothly for some Samsung handsets (update: Microsoft suggests temporary fix) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 13:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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