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Before the iPhone, how prevalent were software updates to phones? I know of no one who ever got had an update. There is absolutely no reason for carriers to ne
by Tehnix 9y ago
Before the iPhone, how prevalent were software updates to phones? I know of no one who ever got had an update.
There is absolutely no reason for carriers to need to do anything at all, else it would not make sense that I can change the SIM card out and voila I’m on a new carrier. The manufacturer is the one doing the testing, and the carrier simply provides the infrastructure.
I feel US perhaps has a different experience, because of their ridiculous CDMA infrastructure. Is it Verizon or what, where it’s not a SIM card but the phone itself that’s setup to a specific carrier?
- fpgeek 9y agoIt's not just just Verizon. AT&T, in particular, has a habit of locking important features (VoLTE, Wi-Fi Calling) to phones running AT&T-branded and certified software. So unless the device you want is sold by AT&T and you get the AT&T-branded version, you're SoL. They even do IMEI blocking, so even if your device could otherwise work...
- digi_owl 9y agoI have the impression that Nokia had trouble getting into the US market because they refused to let US carriers modify phone firmware to disable features. In particular when Nokia tried to introduce SIP support.
- kalleboo 9y agoNear the end of the dumbphone era I remember getting an OTA update to mine that added a chat-style view to SMS text messaging. I don't think the iPhone would even get OTA updates for years, it was all purely through iTunes.
- digi_owl 9y agoBingo. Both Nokia and Sony Ericsson were doing OTA firmware updates at that point, for "featurephones" no less. iPhone didn't get that ability until iOS5, in 2011.
- pjmlp 9y agoNokia had firmware updates, but only technically savy people would do them. It was done via the desktop application to manage the phone. However one would ususally only get bug fixes on the Series 30 and 40. On Symbian towards the end of it, there were some OS updates still, but usually only once.
- digi_owl 9y agoBy the time iPhone hit, Nokia were doing over the air updating on their more recent models. And Nokia was not alone, my Sony Ericsson C702 were capable of being getting new firmware OTA as well. Keep in mind that this was back with the original iPhone that needed to be wired to a computer with iTunes installed. Frankly the iPhone introduction feels more of a rollback than a upgrade from non-American point of view.
- pjmlp 9y agoI only started using around Android 2.3 time frame, because I held to my trusty Symbian until it died on me, by then Nokia was already showing signs of not being sure what to do after Belle. Belle already had lots of features that took Android and iPhone years to catch up with.
- digi_owl 9y agoNokia were sadly caught in a innovators dilemma. they had Maemo, they had Symbian. But they were afraid that focusing on Maemo would lead to Symbian dying before they could get Maemo to the same level. And then boardroom meddling was added, and they went much the same way as HP...
- ptx 9y agoSony Ericsson's non-smart phones (e.g. K800) had OTA software updates. They would pop up a dialog from time to remind you to check for updates, then download them and update, all on the phone. (Carriers would often hold them back, though, if you had a carrier-customized model.) I'm pretty sure I got an actual update at least once.
- Nullabillity 9y agoMy Nokia 5800 went through several UI redesigns via OTA updates.