At 07 Apr 2007 14:35:16 -0500 Thurman wrote:

> My Cingular 'commercial' rep tells me the policy is a 'refresh' not an
> 'upgrade' (if he has the terms correct) supposedly for the 8525 and
> Blackjack.

Semantics aside, for WinMobile devices it's generally done by software
download. You get the new ROM image for the phone, run an included
utility on your PC that installs it to the connected phone.

> It may be available for others but that's the only platforms I
> design for at present. I have a new application about to be released
that
> will run on a Blackjack. I was considering waiting until WM6 was
released.

From my experimentation with WM6 (I've tried a hacked "pre-release"
version floating around the web, but went back to stock WM5 software for
stability reasons) every WM5-compatible program ran on WM6.

WM6 seems to be mostly a "facelift" release- prettier icons and HTML-e-
mail support. Smartphones (like the Blackjack) will get the ability to
edit Office documents (like PPCs can now.) It's certainly not an x.0
upgrade compared to past PPC OS upgrades. Probably MS wants to play it
like it's a major update considering the hype iPhone is going to
generate. 6.0 will sound better than 5.1 or 5.2 or "5.0 SE."

> An upgrade, as defined by him, means you have to trade-in your device
for a
> new device.

Fair enough- that's "Cingular-speak" generally PPC vendors refer to a new
OS or patch as a "ROM upgrade."

> A refresh is a microcode refresh done in a Cingular tech center
> to your existing device; price not quoted. Time frame through editing,
> porting, documentation, testing and delivery will probably be Q3, 2007.

Interesting. The Cingular 8125 has received one "refresh" via download
already, from the original WM5 release to the AKU2 release last fall. I
wonder why Cingular feels this update needs to be performed by them
(except, perhaps, to control distribution- once it hits the web, everyone
could reflash their device, bypassing Cingular and their ability to
charge for it.)