Nokia plans cheap Windows Phones, aims for Android

MS is imposing some very heavy minimum specs and are booting manufacturers out for failing to meet certain specs


The real question is going to boil down to whether or not the WP, Android and even iOS will ever be able to escape hardware cost add ons which an OS which doesn't properly implement the idea that resources are scarce brings with it. These three major smartphone platforms require considerably more hardware than your older Symbian smartphones. The smart phone revolution in the last few years hasn't been a software issue it has been the arrival of major hardware improvements unfortunately this hardware does still come with a price tag. MS is not going to allow Nokia to bring out WP phones that offer poor performance and fail on the spec requirements - if for no other reason than to avoid getting into anti-trust problems - but Nokia does have the ability with far more success to tone software to map hardware restrictions meaning that the determining factor for cost is software licence + cheapest hardware. I do think a break point will be reached in 18 months or so and Nokia will either have to forego its hopes to make cheap smartphones or it will have to return for the lower price market to using Symbian. Now this is why for me Nokia made a big mistake with Meego ...
 
Paul Hjul said:
MS is imposing some very heavy minimum specs and are booting manufacturers out for failing to meet certain specs


The real question is going to boil down to whether or not the WP, Android and even iOS will ever be able to escape hardware cost add ons which an OS which doesn't properly implement the idea that resources are scarce brings with it. These three major smartphone platforms require considerably more hardware than your older Symbian smartphones. The smart phone revolution in the last few years hasn't been a software issue it has been the arrival of major hardware improvements unfortunately this hardware does still come with a price tag. MS is not going to allow Nokia to bring out WP phones that offer poor performance and fail on the spec requirements - if for no other reason than to avoid getting into anti-trust problems - but Nokia does have the ability with far more success to tone software to map hardware restrictions meaning that the determining factor for cost is software licence + cheapest hardware. I do think a break point will be reached in 18 months or so and Nokia will either have to forego its hopes to make cheap smartphones or it will have to return for the lower price market to using Symbian. Now this is why for me Nokia made a big mistake with Meego ...
Click to expand...

Well there is always Boot to Gecko. Dont need a lot of horse power to run what is in essence a browser on a phone.

[video=youtube;OAaH5vikEOM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAaH5vikEOM[/video]
 
which is great for internet browsing devices - not so great for a smart phone.

Just to add something else Windows Phone 7.5 which is what Nokia are implementing looks likely to be followed by WindowsRT which adds even more spec requirements. For Microsoft the need is to retain users in a Microsoft friendly ecosystem. When smartphones had a limited market size it didn't matter that Symbian was clobbing WindowsCE based systems to the curb now that Apple have major draw cards to their ecosystem - the iPhone and iPad Microsoft (despite being an Apple shareholder - and an angle investor a couple of years ago).

Regardless of what anybody wants to do it is not going to be possible to get to a unified OS across platforms. At best you can have 2 (which Apple has pretty much gotten to) but if you want to accommodate a broad array of devices you going to need to have three different setups I mean look at Android version history (with Honeycomb being tablet only).... Now Microsoft is looking able to get two of the three in the Windows 8 moniker - with Windows 8 RT but its that last one which just doesn't fit into play

To be highly speculative it is even possible that a Microsoft, Apple, Nokia agreement (settling patent disputes) comes into being which sees Nokia manufacturing low priced support devices which work wonderfully in an Apple or Microsoft ecosystem and Nokia branded Windows high end super-smartphones.
 
Paul Hjul said:
which is great for internet browsing devices - not so great for a smart phone.
Click to expand...

You talking about Boot 2 Gecko?

If that is the case, its also great for offline Phones as well. (It does not Need an always on connection)

The OS is "a browser", the apps is "web pages" that can be on the phone. Sure you can also add online apps as well but that's the beauty of it. Sure its still early days as its highly in development but looking at the resource point of view this will truly be an OS that scales.
 
its the same principle that underlies Chromium OS and don't get me wrong I think it is a good one but it doesn't work for the concept of a smart phone or even a fully functional tablet.
 
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