Microsoft details end of life for Windows Phone versions

There’s nothing like a little planned obsolescence to brighten your day, or at the very least, put you in your place, especially if you only recently bought a Windows Phone.

Not even a day since we published a review on the Nokia Lumia 620 (the time of this announcement has nothing to do with that, either), Microsoft has gone on record about what it plans to do with the Windows Phone operating system, providing the exact date for when it plans to kill off support for aspects of its smartphone-specific operating system.

For instance, devices running on Windows Phone 8 – which include the Nokia Lumia 920 and HTC Windows Phone 8X – will have support for the current generation of the operating system cut off in July next year (July 8, 2014) not even two years since Windows Phone 8 was released in Australia.

Meanwhile, Windows Phone 7 devices that were upgraded to Windows Phone 7.8 – and honestly, we haven’t seen many of those in Australia – will have their support terminated on September 9, 2014.

From what we understand, this killing off of support reflects the specific version of the operating system that is running, and Windows Phone 8 users can, reportedly, expect at least two updates this year to bring that version number up and stave off this termination of support with what is essentially a new OS.

But Windows Phone 7 users might be less happy, especially since the sort-of-upgrade to Windows Phone 7.8 might not have rolled out to their devices, with both the telco and manufacturer being part of the process. If and when 7.8 does come to your device, then it’s highly likely you won’t be happy about support being killed next year,

From Microsoft’s perspective, it’s likely that the company wants people to invest in new devices so it can stop supporting these specific operating systems, but we’re not sure how many will really buy into this logic.

Would you want to buy a Windows Phone now, knowing full well that Microsoft will be designating specific times when its operating systems will have support ended?