14 DAY TRIAL // In January 2012, Microsoft kicked off the “Smoked by Windows Phone” challenge, which offered users the possibility to win $100 if the smartphones in their hands, running under a different OS than Windows Phone, were faster. As part of this challenge, users were asked to perform specific tasks on their devices, including taking a picture and uploading it to a social networking site.
If their devices proved faster, they would win $100. If not, they were asked to say out loud that they got smoked by Windows Phone.
The challenge went viral and became a global phenomenon fast. Microsoft also featured it in various Microsoft Stores around the United States.
This weekend, the company raised the stakes and offered a PC worth $1000 to all those with faster handsets than Windows Phone. However, it appears that not all of the company’s employees played fair.
Sahas Katta, an Android user, claims that he won the challenge at the Santa Clara Microsoft Store, but that he walked empty handed from the location.
“The Microsoft Store employee I was up against then explained the selected challenge. Her exact words were the following: “bring up the weather of two different cities,” Sahas Katta explains in a blog post.
“The one who could do that first would win. I felt like I struck gold since I knew I already had two weather widgets on my home screen: one for my current location (San Jose, CA) and another for Berkeley, CA. After a three-second count down, I hit the power button on my phone and said “DONE!” out loud.”
However, the Microsoft employee said he actually lost, although she completed the unlocking of the phone a split second later.
Katta notes that he disabled the lock screen on the phone, and that the device would go straight to the homescreen when the power button was pressed. On her Windows Phone, the Microsoft employee also had to swipe to unlock the device.
“I excitedly thought I won out of pure luck. However, I was quickly told that I lost. I asked for a reason and was told Windows Phone won because “it displays the weather right there,” Katta continues.
“That was rather unclear. I showed her my device which also was showing off the same information with two side-by-side weather widgets on the center home screen. After pressing for a better reason, I was told that Windows Phone won “just because.”
After being fed various “reasons” that the Android phone “could not do that,” Katta had to leave the store empty handed. Microsoft’s employees still asked him to take a photo next to a sign that read “My Android was smoked by Windows Phone.”