For those of you waiting or curious about the upcoming Windows Phone 7, Engadget did a fairly in-depth preview of the new mobile OS : http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/19/windows-phone-7-in-depth-preview/ Some of those features look slick and then some of the features being left out makes me think they want to be Kobe Bryant to Apple's Michael Jordan. (lack of 3rd party multitasking, no copy & paste, etc)
Am I the only one who thinks that this asymmetrical interface is hideous and just plain ridiculous? I mean, who in god's name are those "tiles" justified to one side as opposed to the other? and why is there half an inch of unoccupied space filled with nothingness to the right of said tiles? And riddle me this, why are the headings blown to one side that 2 or 3 letters can't be seen (they're hidden outside the screen)? Why would I want my Contacts heading to read "Conta"? this is outrageous. And the best part is that people are anxiously awaiting this piece of crap to come out. I've been a proud owner of a Windows Mobile 6.1 phone. Yes, the interface is crap. That's why I use SPB mobile shell, it pretty much solves the whole ugly finger-unfriendly windows interface. But I like the basis of 6.1! It's like you're carrying around a freaking computer. When I'm doing actual work, I can pull the stylus out and copy text, paste it somewhere else, open a gazillion applications at the same time, type emails on my awesome physical keyboard, etc... I like the file manager, I like organizing my stuff into folders. I like the idea of a technical, more primitive interface hiding behind a flashy finger friendly welcome screen (SPB for me). Now WinMo 7 comes out and blows all that stuff away. It's trying to be apple. SIMPLE enough for my grandma to use. I don't want a damn phone that's ready to use out of the box. I want to customize it. I don't want to be limited by an ugly a$$ tiles screen that everyone is going to have. big whoop, I get to add and remove tiles! What a great idea! It's still fugly tiles that are inclined to the left of the screen with no symmetry or regards to aesthetics whatsoever. WTH were they thinking? Looks like my next upgrade will be to android. Although not perfect, but at least it allows the user to move things around and customize the phone to the fullest.
Android doesn't do that petty BS. It's a good "start", but having had winmo 4,5,6, and 6.5 phones makes me hope MS dies a quick death on the mobile front.
definitely not a dumbphone. smartphone that looks like a featurephone. kin-ish. it's a homerun for average consumers. openness (sp? or is that even a word?) and patchability will steer me away. it is pretty though.
when i hear people in mass numbers start saying it's better than an iphone as far as OS and features, then i may take notice. right now...it doesn't look like anything special. it looks like they are just catching up to the market. i don't see anything that yells "get rid of my iphone for a windows 7 phone!". that could very well change, though. those ugly looking home screens don't help.
The tiles worked fine for the Zune HD, but it seems very cumbersome as the basis for phone. Also, the whole social networking aspect of the contact list looks super annoying.
This is the kind of OS I've been waiting for. This is what you call art and is a very creative OS. To me Android and the IOS is freaking boring. Just a bunch of icons on your homecreen. Love the UI and this thing just flow beautifully. Another thing great about Windows Phone 7 OS just like Android is that you get a variety of phones to choose from. Sign me up.
Hmmm....I want to play with one. Certainly a distant third, fourth or even fifth if you love Palm. I don't know how MS could let this sector of the market slip so bad. I have hopes for it. Anyone know if the original Tilt is compatible? I still have one in a drawer somewhere.
Joe Belfiore (aka, "the VP at Microsoft who stepped out of an 80's Journey video") talks about the "Fall" release of Windows Phone 7. <object classid="clsid27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" width="437" height="265" id="viddler"><param name="movie" value="http://www.viddler.com/simple_on_site/d288ba01" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="flashvars" value="fake=1"/><embed src="http://www.viddler.com/simple_on_site/d288ba01" width="437" height="265" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" flashvars="fake=1" name="viddler" ></embed></object>
My work cell phone is an HTC touch pro2, a fairly slick and robust business phone. The OS is Windows Mobile 6.5. I believe I can upgrade up to Windows mobile 7, so I'll give it a try.
I regret to inform you that you will not receive an official update from Microsoft or HTC for your phone. Even the HTC HD2 with 1GHz processor is not receiving an official Windows Phone 7 upgrade because it has too many hardware buttons (I think max allowed on Windows Phone 7 is 3) even though it meets all the other minimum requirements.
I totally agree with this, it looks like they were trying way too hard to make the interface "hip" and "cool". It's like they were making it to win design contests instead of usability.
I like the UI, except for the insanely odd 'cut off the text' look. I think that would drive me kind of nuts. Other than that it is extremely smooth and snappy, great transitions, etc. Engadget is right in that this is one area (apparently along with the keyboard) where MS has nailed it. It seems right in line with the responsiveness of the iOS UI, an area where Android has always struggled. If that kind of performance remains, it is already near the top. Of course, that isn't anything that answers the question of how efficient it is. Stuff like Facebook overtaking your 'People' information (leave contacts alone, MS) or other odds and ends are worrisome. And yeah, Phone 7 making the same kind of mistakes that gen 1 iPhone did except doing it now in 2010 is kind of strange. (cut n paste, 3rd party multitasking, etc.) Still though, looking forward to where this is headed.
