He is right here. The WP OS is simply doing things right, especially after the Amber update. That was something that really changed WP in a good way.

On my 1700MAh batter it just did magic. Very hidden magic that is... Because now I have almost 6 days lifetime with 4G 24/24 online.



The only frustrating part about WP is that it's so closed that you can't even possibly know or find out how various components are actually working and you can't mod it into something EVEN BETTER.

Exactly. That's a feature that might appeal to people who just use phones as they come, but for those intrested in the inner workings of the device it just makes them unusable

I was going for quality not quantity

Well this only bothers me because I was used to mod my each and every device, but when I bought my WP phone I just wanted a PHONE that would work no matter what. When it gets broken, to have someone to yell at, that was the general plan, and until now it's doing the job just well. It's working, doing stuff that I don't need to care about (but wish I and find out more about those) and doing it's job: when I need e-mail it's working, when I need whatever it's working.

My idea of a great phone will be the following: Make a closed device for the masses, so they can mess thing up just because they try stuff, and offer the possibility to switch this device into a developer/hacker device. You pay a fee and they give you source and whatever else you need to make this an enjoyable device for developers too. This way you protect the dumb, and give satisfaction to the tech maniacs.

HTC is the only company who have this option for the customers. Get a HTC and you get it locked, running an Android branded by HTC. If you want to take it to the next level visit http://www.htcdev.com/ which is an official website by HTC and unlock your device to have access and mutate this device after your own will. Too bad MS is never going to do this for any device (checked the website for dev unlocking for my 8s and guess what, it's not there, because IT WOULD BE USELESS since MS have not opened any sources).

Well, isn't this actually just the thing Nokia did with N9?
When you use it without developer mode and with deault settings (only install from the store) you get the everymans/womans phone with nice GUI & installable safe apps.

When you enable developer mode & flash a custom kernel it's all your playground. And to top it off, you get this without a fee.

So what's the difference here? How much more open the HTC device is after unlocking? Do you get ALL the source, I somehow doubt it?

With N9 you get most of the important bits as source, there are lots of stuff that's NOT opened and that's an annoyance but really, you get the important stuff on a DVD just by asking for it, no need to pay even for the cost of the media&shipping (For which they COULD actually charge you for, according to the open source licencing...)

Hey, just to be clear, I wasn't promoting in any way HTC. I was just pointing an idea out with a clear example. Of course HTC don't give you the sources (none of the sources for the HTC modded Android OS, so you don't have access to Sense and stuff like that). You now can root you device and develop custom apps with root access and modify your kernel (yes they give you the kernel sources). HTC don't charge you either, but let's not get too deep with this HTC thing because that's not my point.

I appreciate a device that fits my needs. I need a smartphone that can work without any mods and that will do it's job and I need a device that I can satisfy my modder desires and this second one is too hard to get. Nokia had only the N900 that can do this and the N9 after activating the developer mode. HTC unlocks all the Android phones and that's about it... Samsung is locked and without hacks, real home-made hacks, it's not possible further modding, same goes for LG, SONY, Sony-Ericsson, Blackberry, iPhone and so on.

And now let's be realistic on this, Nokia have this very annoying German spirit, if they do something they close it very tight so nobody can have access to it. They did that with Simbian, they did this with most of the basic apps of the maemo/meego and now they are doing the same thing with Windows, and now let's be sincere, isn't this such a bummer for every smartphone user today? How many Android users don't have root? How many iOS users don't have jailbreak?

Microsoft seems to follow the company-killer example of Nokia and here is the best example: developers were on a good path to break the Windows Phone OS and the bootloader on these devices, so they can start to open up this OS. Microsoft launched the latest GDR2 Amber update for WP8 and also updated the bootloader making it even more secure, and now, because all the users got that update, the dev's work is now in vain...

So to get back on my point. Except the N900, N9, some HTC's and that's about it, everything was built so closed and tight that whatever you choose that is not going to satisfy your developer/modder/hacker desires.

@Purple

This might be true in most cases, the manufacturer has certain closed source elements they deliver on top of the OS.

Nothing about Linux and GPL stops proprietary layers, why should it, you don't have to give up your intellectual property just because you run something on top of an opensource stack.

But in the case of Windows, everthing is closed source including the OS.

With Android the manufacture has no choice but to release a compilable source for the entire OS.

This is why Android is wiping the floor with competitors, this is why Apple is losing ground, this is why Windows phone will never amount to more than a paltry percentage of wanna be's.

And ... hats off to google, they are a big thorn in the side of legacy OSes like Windows, it helps keep companies like Microsoft from using illegal acts to compete which is never acceptable in the pursuit of profit.

Maemo etc were pretty open hence cssu can exist but as you say perhaps not fully open.

However being able to Root your device you paid for so you can tinker is not a measure of how open it is, just a part of the requirement.

Rgds

http://slashdot.org/topic/bi/blackbe...y-opportunity/

Just saying

rgds

Seems its not just Windows Phone the world doesn't like.

http://image-store.slidesharecdn.com...7-original.png

rgds

Come on Nokia, hurry up and wake up and smell the fish!

I rather doubt that IE would be the most popular browser in China... AFAIK China uses more Linux than MS products?