From the Forums: Windows Phone 7.8, BlackBerry 10 announcement and Microsoft

Welcome to another From the Forums! This week has been a busy one with the last handful of days featuring the launch of BlackBerry 10, as well as reports that Windows Phone 7.8 is officially rolling out to consumers. It's been an eventful day today with a few articles comparing the Z10 from BlackBerry against Windows Phone and the Lumia 920 in particular, along with our usual news coverage.

But what's being discussed on the Windows Phone community forum?

Windows Phone 7.8 is a hot topic, and has been since it was revealed by Microsoft to be heading to those who still own Windows Phone 7 handsets. With the rollout kicking off, forum member konaitor has created a thread to see who has received the notification and upgraded their hardware. Sporting new tiles and a number of other features, the update is set to refresh the life of older Windows Phones.

So have you received the update? Enjoying the new features in 7.8? Be sure to head on over to the "Check-in for 7.8 Update Through Zune, Have you gotten yours yet?" thread and notify the fellow WPCentralites of your experience.

BlackBerry launches the Z10, thoughts?

As mentioned above, BlackBerry has launched the Z10 smartphone to rejuvenate the brand and prevent the company from continuing in its down spiral. But what does everyone think about the two devices that have been announced? The Z10 and Q10 are on offer and have been discussed in the community forum to some extent.

This is what community member joeynox had to say about BlackBerry 10:

"Today is dday. BB10 is going to be shown off and the tech world is going to jump on it. There's so much buzz around this compared to the launch of wp8. Plus bb10 will have all the apps that are missing from wp8. Today can be a very bad day for wp8 and MS if Rims new os and phone is the next god phone."

It's a fair point. There's always the possibility that BlackBerry could regain its share of the market, but then there's the fact that it has been slipping relatively quickly for a while now. Is there enough in BlackBerry 10 to sway consumers and save the platform? What are your thoughts on BlackBerry's chances? Add your thoughts in the "Today is DDay or BB10 day" thread.

Microsoft can learn much from BlackBerry already?

Microsoft has caused concern for many of its fans and followers - including us here at Windows Phone Central HQ. We'd all like to see "more" from the company when it comes to Windows Phone. The BlackBerry launch could teach the company a thing or two about just how lightly it's backing Windows Phone, or is Microsoft pouring in the required amount of funding and team effort already?

Forum member bilzkh doesn't think so:

"Now look at WP8. At its heart it is a superb OS with the social network integration, lenses integration, augmented reality apps, NFC and Wallet, etc. Then why, why in the name of all that is rational and sensible is MS not pushing each of these elements to the end-user in meaningful ways? Or rather, simply put, why isn't MS putting in the money and commitment behind such an effort?Why is it that we have to put up with a certain business division 'evaluating' Xbox's value on Windows Phone? Someone at the top needs to put Windows Phone front and center as a key pillar of Microsoft's future in an increasingly 'mobile computing' world, but clearly that isn't happening."

Does this ring any bells with anything you've considered, or do you believe Microsoft is getting most things right so far? Sound your opinion in the "What Microsoft should learn from BlackBerry" thread.

Rich Edmonds
Senior Editor, PC Build

Rich Edmonds was formerly a Senior Editor of PC hardware at Windows Central, covering everything related to PC components and NAS. He's been involved in technology for more than a decade and knows a thing or two about the magic inside a PC chassis. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds.