Windows Phone 7's NoDo carrier updates start March 29
updated 12:05 pm EDT, Mon March 28, 2011
Windows Phone 7 NoDo hits carriers March 29
New hints have suggested Microsoft plans to push its NoDo update to carrier-locked phones on Tuesday, March 29. The company's first wave would include at least Orange UK and Canada's Telus as well as a handful of unnamed other carriers, WinRumors heard. A second wave would take place on April 5, which would bring in at least O2 and Vodafone.
AT&T still hasn't said when it expects to upgrade phones like the Samsung Focus to NoDo.
Microsoft on Friday had already defended the reasons for moving NoDo to late March. Its WP7 lead Joe Belfiore said that the company "hadn’t anticipated" how phone makers would configure their phones. He added that the staggered launch was to make sure it was running smoothly and to mitigate the impact if a given device encounters a bug.
The problems rolling out the update have marred Microsoft's initial promises of streamlined updates. While much faster than for Windows Mobile, where a new OS revision could take months to show and often wouldn't show at all, the update procedure was supposed to have let Microsoft upgrade everyone's devices near simultaneously. Carriers can also delay updates if they like, though they can't block them entirely like with Windows Mobile, Android, or the BlackBerry.
