It seems as if Microsoft’s very first Windows Phone 7 update is fraught with eminent peril. To be sure, a number of WP7 users have reported bricked or temporarily jammed devices, with the company offering real-time advice on its official WinPhoneSupport Twitter feed.
“If you device does get bricked during or after update please go to the retailer you got it from for an exchange,” read one tweet.
“Please try unplugging the phone, remove the battery and install the update again. Keep us posted on the results,” advised another.
Other notable tweets include:
- “Alright, the next step would be to do a hard reset on the device to get the update working.”
- “Try removing the battery for 1 min and restarting the Mac.”
- “Yes, unfortunately at this time the only way to get the update applied so far seems to be a hard reset.”
Meanwhile, an official MS support statement obtained by MobileTechWorld seemed to confirm that the update won’t work on either Samsung Omnia 7 or Focus devices.
“We are working on it, and yes, we are finding some patterns that we are expect to solve soon. [So], we would recommend at this time, not to retry the update, as subsequent attempts will fail similarly.
“While we continue to investigate the issue, we would ask that you not attempt the update until your device alerts you of another update opportunity, in approximately 3 days’ time.
“If you had troubles updating I wouldn’t really mess with it… [Because] in this unexpected state you might end with a brick phone and that would be a bigger problem.”
So, what’s in the apparently buggy update?
Well, according to Redmond spokesperson Michael Stroh, the patch is designed to improve the software update process itself.
“So while it might not sound exciting, it’s still important because it’s paving the way for all future goodie-filled updates to your phone, such as copy and paste or improved Marketplace search.”
Stroh also noted that users needed to connect their phones to a computer via USB and update their device using either the Zune software (PC) or the Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac.
