452 days
Windows Phone 7 software update bricks some phones
Samsung Omnia 7 smart phone
Windows Phone 7, Microsoft's new operating system for smart phones, has been praised but not in recent days. A software update for some Samsung phones with Win Phone 7 has bricked the devices, rendering them useless.
"We have identified a technical issue with the Windows Phone update process that impacts a small number of phones," Microsoft said in a statement shared on PCWorld. "In response to this emerging issue, we have temporarily taken down the latest software update for Samsung phones in order to correct the issue and as soon as possible will redistribute the update."
Samsung has two phones out that use Windows Phone 7: Omnia 7 and the Focus. The update is the first Microsoft has issued since its Windows Phone 7 operating system was released last fall. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)
Some users took to Twitter, where Microsoft has a Windows Phone Support account. Among them was Alex Roebuck of Britain, whose complaint about the update's effect on his Omnia 7 picked up traction in the media worldwide: "It's 1 a.m. here in the UK. Have to go to work tomorrow with no phone. Very unhappy."
"In some circumstances (the update) renders the phone completely unusable and can't be restored to a previous version," Leigh Geary, editor of Coolsmartphone.com told the BBC.
Microsoft "says that it hopes to produce an update that resolves the Samsung incompatibility within three days or so. In the meantime, owners of Samsung handsets are advised not to install the update, just in case it gives them grief," said ArsTechnica.
Update: Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. PT, Microsoft said in a statement: "This software update remains available to customers with the exception of Samsung as we are in the process of temporarily taking down the update for those phones in order to correct the issue as soon as possible."
More about Windows Phone 7 on Technolog:
- The first Windows Phone 7 apps you should grab
- Windows Phone 7 video walkthrough and mini review
- Windows Phone 7 games: the good, the bad and the weird
Check out Technolog on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney, who has experienced a bricked phone at least once in the past, and knows the pain all too well.
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