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NYPD Defends Use of Windows Phones as It Switches to iPhones

posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday August 30 2017, @04:51PM   
from the tsk-tsk-Tisch dept.

takyon writes:

The New York Police Department's Deputy Commissioner of IT has defended the department's purchase of $160 million worth of obsolete Windows phones after a New York Post article criticized the "boondoggle". The NYPD plans to switch to iPhones:

On Monday, Jessica Tisch, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of information technology, wrote a scathing defense of the NYPD's choice of Windows phone.

The two-year project wrapped up in October and cost $160 million. It put Windows phones into the hands of all 36,000 officers.

The NY Post's Tina Moore originally reported on the change with the headline: NYPD needs to replace 36K useless smartphones. In the article Moore points out:

"Just months after the last phone was handed out, officials plan to begin replacing them all with brand-new iPhones by the end of the year, sources said."

This clearly didn't sit well with Tisch. She penned a retort that extolled the virtues of the Windows smartphone program, while also confirming that the NYPD has given up on Windows in favor of iPhones.

The smartphones purchased were the Lumia 830 and Lumia 640 XL.

Blog post defending the use of Windows phones. Also at New York Magazine, The Register, and Mac Rumors.

Older article about the "crime-fighting phone".

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Original Submission

• ''With Android...'' (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @09:36PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @09:36PM (#561752)

  With Android on the other hand, you're lucky if you get [updates for] 2 years and 2 major version updates

  Sounds like you get your phones via a carrier.

  Google's unique update process is one of the best parts of owning a Pixel [androidcentral.com]

  There is an extremely well-defined divide between phones from Google and phones from any other company when it comes to updates. While a few exceptions exist [androidcentral.com], you know that you can only expect a timely Android update if you're using a phone recently sold by Google. In short, unless your phone says Nexus or Pixel on the back of it, getting updates can be as random and unpredictable as rolling dice.

  Whenever we start talking about the update situation, someone will mention that Google can do it faster because it isn't going through the carriers and the companies that make the phone hardware [but] there is a lot more at play here[...]

  -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]

  Parent

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