So then, fellow iPhone owners, how was your morning? If it was anything like mine, you spent several fruitless hours clicking, refreshing and swearing in an effort to upgrade and bag a 3G model delivered to your door this Friday. Heaven knows how O2 managed to sell out, given the way its website seemingly collapsed under the strain.I managed to get to the ‘thanks for your order’ page once, but with no email confirmation, it doesn’t bode well. And there are thousands of people like me too, judging by the fury on the O2 customer forums, the Apple forums, and from a quick Summize search to see what people are Twittering about O2. Be warned, if you work for O2, none of the above make for comfortable reading.Naturally, conspiracy theories are doing the rounds. One says that new customers got all the 3G iPhones, because it means more dosh for O2 than simply upgrading existing customers. Another says all the stock is being kept back for stores this Friday, to ensure huge footfall in the shops. And another says that O2’s problem is that Apple has only given it [insert low number here] 3G iPhones, as some kind of punishment for the large number of unlocked first-gen iPhones in the UK. Continue reading ‘Will O2’s 3G iPhone pre-order shambles hurt it in the long run?’
Tag Archive for 'upgrade'
As promised, O2 sent out an email to existing iPhone owners this morning telling them how to upgrade early to the 3G iPhone, ensuring it’ll be delivered by courier this Friday. However, it seems the operator’s online store was unable to cope with the ensuing strain.I’ve spent the last 45 minutes trying to complete the upgrade process. The first three times, I typed in all my details only to be thrown back to a blank form. The fourth time, the site hung for about 10 minutes. And the fifth time, it took me to a page saying ‘Our upgrade online shop is currently unavailable’ (see above)More news as and when it goes back up again. With 3G iPhones strictly on a first-come first-served basis, the site looks set for some heavy traffic this morning - and some frustrated early adopters if it doesn’t get back up…
The Inside Microsoft blog has what is claimed to be a leaked internal Microsoft document detailing some of the features we can look forward to seeing in Windows Mobile 7 - codenamed Photon.
Now, this may turn out to be an elaborate hoax (albeit one that someone has spent a lot of taking putting together) but assuming it is true WM 7 is going to be really interesting.
A complete interface redesign seems likely, with much more emphasis placed on finger gestures and movements rather than the stylus. So far, so iPhone - but Microsoft also seem to be taking a leaf from Nokia’s book by implementing motion-sensitive controls. Users will be able to control the phone by turning, twisting and shaking it and devices will behave differently if turned face-down or kept in a pocket, for example.
Rather than incorporate an accelerometer, WM7 will instead use the camera to detect motion - how well this will work in low light is anyone’s guess.
The full list of features can be found here, complete with eyecandy.
Gizmodo have a preview of the next two versions of Windows Mobile (v7 & 8). Obviously, a lot of this is speculative at the moment but essentially, Microsoft are aware that Windows Mobile 6 has a few problems and have some impressive-sounding plans in place for the future.
Windows Mobile can be a bit slow, particularly on cheaper handsets, so Microsoft plan to raise the minimum hardware requirements for a WM device so that even the lower-spec models can keep up.
WM 7 will feature new versions of all the basic apps, most crucially a faster, more feature-rich Internet Explorer that can finally compete with other mobile browsers (*cough* Safari *cough*)
WM 8 will be rewritten from scratch and promises a new UI, global search and much tighter integration between the different components and apps that make up the operating system.
Can they pull it off? Well, who knows - Vista hasn’t exactly been the revolution in desktop computing that Microsoft promised either - but now that the iPhone has given the smartphone market a much-needed kick in the shorts, they might not have any choice..
