Much better since the advent of Flash 10.

Well I hate wmv on macs. It is a memory and resource hog. I prefer avi. So I guess it cuts both ways.

I seem to recall the update taking ~18 months to be implemented into OS X
Apple have always been behind on Java because they refuse to let anyone else behind Aqua...

Flash is slightly different, being that it's Adobe that keeps Flash up to date not Apple and Apple haven't rolled it into the system. I guess the lack of Flash on the iPhone could be Apple secretly admitting that if Adobe takes a long time to fix a security hole, it may take Apple a fair while longer to patch their copies of Flash? Flash could probably enjoy some pretty cool enhancements too (especially speed enhancments), if it was built into the OS similar to PDF and QT, but then Apple would have to look after it.

OK Android users make sure you get your update before buying that RAM

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-20002729-265.html

Thankfully I have a card reader in my PC that I can use.

It was "only" 8 months, ISTR. But still disgraceful. It took them about 18 months to upgrade to the current version of Java.

I didn't want to start another thread so I'll just resurrect this one

Seems like Android is going strong:
Android phone shipments soar over 850 percent

Even outsold iphone in Q2 and closing in on RIM. 1/10 handsets sold in the UK are Androids and they are getting better and better.
We will have a genuine race on our hands in Q3 with new iphone4, androids and RIM bringing out OS 6...

Yeah, this is definitely good news.

RIM better sort themselves out, or they could be heading the way of Windows Mobile which is looking dead in the water right now. I wonder how Microsoft will react? Perhaps they'll pile money into it like they have with Bing??

It seems they are working hard already
All Microsoft employees to get Windows Phones
90000 testers that won't bitch and moan too much?
Seems a pretty good start to me, plenty of hands to get hold of the phones and test it thoroughly

Actually, it's not. You want testers to bitch and moan. To find and then point out every bug, foible and interface weirdness so you can fix them. Giving out test units to a load of people who won't say a bad word because it might upset the wrong person two steps up the corporate ladder (or they're just used to microsoft stuff being fundamentally broken and having to find ways round the faults) is an absolute waste of time. The best thing MS could actually do is give windows 7 phones to 9000 iPhone owners and ask 'how could we make this better than what you had before'?

I disagree, but only in that it should be iPhone, Blackberry and Android users, not exclusively iPhone users (although a weighting would be needed)

That is not what I meant. I meant that when you get the phone for free you won't be posting youtube videos about how rubbish it is as an act of desperation because the company that sold it to you won't admit the problem and will blame you for holding it wrong.

Of course MS will want a feedback and the feedback is most likely to be constructive because employees have an interest in the phone doing well. So no fanboyism whether positive or negative should make the feedback very useful and there won't be any surprises when it comes out.

I understand the point, but I think that would be a mistake. I think it's almost impossible to make a phone that's a better Blackberry than a Blackberry AND a better Android than say a Droid X AND a better iPhone than an iPhone. You're much more likely to succeed if you target one of your competitors and try to beat that than try to beat all of them at once. You should never fight a war on many fronts if you can help it.

Given the prototype Win7 phones that were shown early this year, it looks to me like the iPhone is the one they're gunning for. Given that to be the case, you want people who are familiar with that to be your primary 'focus group' in terms of looking at feature sets and usability.

Having said all that, I really think that unless windows phone 7 is an utterly stellar piece of kit they may as well not bother. They're starting an 800 metre race with the three other runners already having done a lap. Unless they're Usain Bolt good, they're just not going to catch up.

Jon

I think you have the gist of it there. Microsoft really need to be looking to where the smartphone will be in 18 months or more. From what I've seen and read, WP7 is effectively catching up to where Apple and Google are now. By the time MS ships, the competition will both have sprinted off into the distance, and MS will be playing catch-up again. They need to be looking beyond matching what's available now, but I don't honestly think they know how to do that at the moment.

Which is a pity.

Surely that's to be expected? The iPhone is one phone (or maybe a couple) with only one (or possibly 2 if you count the varying storage capacities) feature-set, compared to a number of Android devices with varying feature-sets.