Microsoft Releases Apparently Glitchy Windows Phone 7 Update

The Samsung Focus may be affected by a buggy Windows Phone 7 update, Ars Technica reports. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Microsoft released the first update to Windows Phone 7 Monday, but rather than improve things, it fails to install for some customers — and for an unlucky few, it actually bricks their phones.

The glitch affects the Samsung Omnia 7 and possibly the Samsung Focus, according to Ars Technica. In some cases, the ten-step (!) installation process fails on step seven, prompting a reboot but not damaging the phone. But in a few unlucky cases, the upgrade fails at step six, corrupting the phone’s firmware and requiring a trip to the store to replace the phone.

It’s not clear how many phones have been affected by either of the glitches. Still, as Ars writes,

This is a monumental cock-up. Failing to install properly is bad. Corrupting firmware and needing recovery is terrible. Bricking handsets altogether is inexcusable. Who on earth wants to schlep into a store to get a new handset just because�Microsoft and Samsung screwed something up? In spite of the handsets being available for four months now, in spite of having a month or more to test the update, it�doesn’t actually work.

Microsoft had staggered the release of the firmware update, so it’s not available to all Windows Phone 7 users. The company reports that it is investigating the problem.

Ars Technica’s article has more details on which firmware versions are affected by the glitch and how to diagnose (and possibly fix) firmware corruption.

Everything that can go wrong with Windows Phone 7 update does