The Windows 7 Phone Review

[sYlt]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3982/w...phone-7-review

Extensive reading, but worth it for those who are interested.

EDIT: Correct link added thanks to Machiventa.

[CrowdAds]

[Machiventa]

Here's the actual review page instead of that print page you posted: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3982/w...phone-7-review

[sYlt]

Oh yeah sorry about that, I'm used to read it like that and forgot to change the link. Thanks for the heads up.

[The DarkSide]

I'm liking what I'm seeing, MS has done a fantastic job IMO.

[DaveMac-MS]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

I'm liking what I'm seeing, MS has done a fantastic job IMO.

Here's the best bit. Nobody at Microsoft is under the illusion that we're done, we can dust our hands and let the app/game marketplace take off. This is our "reset", our ante back into the market, and we get that much work is to be done.

I'm reading a lot of reviews and I think on balance, they're pretty fair. The OS is better than the competition in some areas (UI is arguable depending on taste, Xbox Live integration, Facebook integration, getting "in and out" of tasks, etc...) and behind the competition in others (copy/paste, etc...). The great news is that there's a strong third player in the market that is committed, understands where we need to improve, and is willing to differentiate on features. I think we all win when that happens.

Anyhow, enough of my waffling on - I'm stoked at the launch, I'm glad I can talk about my experiences with the platform (been using my WP7 phone for several months now), and appreciate the interest shown by members here.

Cheers, Dave.

[Adub]

Indeed I'm excited to see where these phones will go from here.

[sideways]

I'm also pretty excited and will definitely hold off getting my upgrade until I've tested a wp7 device. That said, I might hang off a while longer until a few software updates have been released, there are always teething troubles with new software.

[BlindBandit]

Originally Posted by The DarkSide

I'm liking what I'm seeing, MS has done a fantastic job IMO.

You should wait until they update the OS in the next firmware update before you buy since Windows Phone 7 has a bug that don't save your camera settings every time you start the camera app it reset & other tiny problems like the browser load pages slow & the Zune marketplace load slow as well.

[EnzoTen]

Originally Posted by DaveMac-MS

Here's the best bit. Nobody at Microsoft is under the illusion that we're done, we can dust our hands and let the app/game marketplace take off. This is our "reset", our ante back into the market, and we get that much work is to be done.

To add to this...

What was really interesting about Zune lineage was how drastically different the device became with each firmware update- this was also seen with the Xbox, look at V1 of Xbox 360 and what a completely different experience it is compared to the newest dashboard update- you would think it is completely different hardware.

Why this matters? The Xbox team migrated to Zune which then migrated to Windows Phone so a lot of that core thinking and experience is in this fresh start. It will be really interesting to watch Windows Phone progress and become a drastically improved product over time.

Love my HTC Incredible and it does everything i need it to do but there is disjointedness and too much friction in the UI and im a UI snob- so i cant wait to get my hands on one.

[medion]

Originally Posted by EnzoTen

Love my HTC Incredible and it does everything i need it to do but there is disjointedness and too much friction in the UI and im a UI snob- so i cant wait to get my hands on one.

Yup, can't agree more. As great as Android is, it has two very big flaws that affect the user experience. The first is lack of hardware acceleration for the UI. While this seems like a trivial issue to most geeks (which is probably why Google doesn't see it as a big deal), the average users forms their first impression off of THIS. It's why people are so impressed with the Zune HD when they first use it, and it's also why the Palm Pre and iPhone garnered such rave initial impressions.

The second issue is their god-awful use of storage. If you get a modern Android phone these days, you might be dealing with 3 levels of storage (the Incredible was one of the first to pull this crap); internal (phone), internal (separate), and external (MicroSD).

The problem is that the internal is where everything defaults to. The separate internal memory is considered removable storage (you just can't remove), but it still can't be used by apps, which is ludicrous. So your 8+GB Incredible is limited to 748MB for app storage. Then you have your SD Card, but even with Apps2SD, only parts of the app are moved to the SD (often times less than 25% of the app). Also, most media players can't see or use that middle layer of storage, making that "included" memory on Android phones virtually useless. At least Sense apps can use it, so I've used it for photo storage.

Compare this to the iPhone or WP7, where internal storage is used for everything, or in the case of WP7, integrated with external storage for one big block of data that everything can use for functionality.

I love Android, but Google had better clean it up. Yes, open generally wins, but when you combine a huge influx of sales and mixed satisfaction surveys, you might just end up with a spike in sales followed by a decline. Google ignoring these issues, plus the iPhone going to more carriers, plus the launch of WP7 could very well cause a drop in sales over the next 12 months.

[The DarkSide]

Well, I have to wait till January 2011 for me & the Mrs to be free, so I'm good w/the waiting. And the Dell Venue Pro really has me stoked,... too bad it's limited to 16gb internal storage. I'm willing to deal w/that tho, I really think Dell hit it out of the park!!!

[Rapide_23]

I think I'll stick with my HTC Desire for now, but I think its a good start for Microsoft. As someone who had owned winmo handsets right up to the HD2 it'd be nice to see them do well as I think the UI concept is interesting.

There's still a lot of work to be done to iron out the bugs so probably no sale for me for a little while though to see how quickly the market adopts this new OS.

[kasrhp]

As for Android, I am hoping Gingerbread cleans up a lot of the UI. It definitely needs some eye candy, and from what I have gathered, Google seems to be focusing on the looks of Android a lot for the next release. They have also talked about the memory issue, and hopefully we can just see one giant storage instead of seperate compartments....hopefully.

But W7 looks good. I don't like the homescreen, but I am really pleased that they have a completely different style with the UI. I love the UI, and there seem to be only a handful of little quirks, which shouldn't be deal breakers IMO. This will shape up to be a good fight.

[Jack4L]

Yeah, WP7 may build up to be a platform worth considering but right now I'm happy with my cheap little Desire. ;p

[suprman2020]

Originally Posted by medion

Yup, can't agree more. As great as Android is, it has two very big flaws that affect the user experience. The first is lack of hardware acceleration for the UI. While this seems like a trivial issue to most geeks (which is probably why Google doesn't see it as a big deal), the average users forms their first impression off of THIS. It's why people are so impressed with the Zune HD when they first use it, and it's also why the Palm Pre and iPhone garnered such rave initial impressions.

The second issue is their god-awful use of storage. If you get a modern Android phone these days, you might be dealing with 3 levels of storage (the Incredible was one of the first to pull this crap); internal (phone), internal (separate), and external (MicroSD).

The problem is that the internal is where everything defaults to. The separate internal memory is considered removable storage (you just can't remove), but it still can't be used by apps, which is ludicrous. So your 8+GB Incredible is limited to 748MB for app storage. Then you have your SD Card, but even with Apps2SD, only parts of the app are moved to the SD (often times less than 25% of the app). Also, most media players can't see or use that middle layer of storage, making that "included" memory on Android phones virtually useless. At least Sense apps can use it, so I've used it for photo storage.

Compare this to the iPhone or WP7, where internal storage is used for everything, or in the case of WP7, integrated with external storage for one big block of data that everything can use for functionality.

I love Android, but Google had better clean it up. Yes, open generally wins, but when you combine a huge influx of sales and mixed satisfaction surveys, you might just end up with a spike in sales followed by a decline. Google ignoring these issues, plus the iPhone going to more carriers, plus the launch of WP7 could very well cause a drop in sales over the next 12 months.

Hardware acceleration is supposed to be included in Gingerbread along with other UI improvements.

While WP7 looks nice, there are some little niggles I read about that will ruin it for me, at least at version 1.0. One thing I hate is the requirement to use the Zune software for syncing. While I think the software is nice, I hate that I have to use it to get my music and other media. This is indeed a good start, but Google and Apple (RIM and Palm too) are gonna continue to innovate. MS has a lot of catching up to do.

DaveMac, will there another Zune device or is it just gonna be WP7 from here on?

[Rapide_23]

Originally Posted by kasrhp

As for Android, I am hoping Gingerbread cleans up a lot of the UI. It definitely needs some eye candy, and from what I have gathered, Google seems to be focusing on the looks of Android a lot for the next release. They have also talked about the memory issue, and hopefully we can just see one giant storage instead of seperate compartments....hopefully.

But W7 looks good. I don't like the homescreen, but I am really pleased that they have a completely different style with the UI. I love the UI, and there seem to be only a handful of little quirks, which shouldn't be deal breakers IMO. This will shape up to be a good fight.

What annoys me more than anything with Android is knowing whether your handset is updatable to the next released....

[medion]

Originally Posted by suprman2020

Hardware acceleration is supposed to be included in Gingerbread along with other UI improvements.

While many are hopeful that hardware acceleration will be included, it hasn't been confirmed yet.

While WP7 looks nice, there are some little niggles I read about that will ruin it for me, at least at version 1.0. One thing I hate is the requirement to use the Zune software for syncing. While I think the software is nice, I hate that I have to use it to get my music and other media. This is indeed a good start, but Google and Apple (RIM and Palm too) are gonna continue to innovate. MS has a lot of catching up to do.

Ditto. The Zune software was a primary reason for me to get rid of my Zune HD. Make no mistake though, it was more a matter of my changing tastes than anything else.

DaveMac, will there another Zune device or is it just gonna be WP7 from here on?

Obviously, I can't answer for him, but he did say in a recent post that they consider WP7 to be this year's Zune refresh. If that's the case, then my speculation is that if MS decides to stay in the PMP market, they're going to use WP7 and maintain a relationship similar to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Originally Posted by Rapide_23

What annoys me more than anything with Android is knowing whether your handset is updatable to the next released....

What annoys me more than that is what carrier customizations exist. You basically cannot be an early adopter with an Android device, or you might end up with a locked boot loader (Droid X), or worse, the issues XDA devs are having with the G2. I like my Incredible because of the wide variety in available ROMS, and the ease of rooting. But some new phones take those options away from you, and you sometimes won't know until a week or so after the phone has been released.

[lip]

Good info it seems for regions of the world that want a zune pass but dont live in an area that allows it...:

http://www.esphoneblog.com/2010/10/2...ccess-to-it-2/

[Machiventa]

Almost every review I've read pretty much say the same thing: beautiful, snappy UI, Facebook/Zune/Xbox integration is awesome, not the greatest battery life, no copy/paste, no multitasking, no tethering, can't connect to hidden ssid, etc. but has the potential to compete with the big guys with a few firmware updates to address the problems.

No unified inbox or threaded email? What the hell? I have 3 email accounts I use constantly and a few extra ones I use seldomly. That means I'll have 6 tiles just for email. I find that unacceptable. Again, a firmware update could fix that but come on, it should be there out of the box at launch.

Does anyone know the maximum number of tiles you can have?

If the battery life and storage (hello 64GB) were better I would buy one immediately but will still consider one once they're shipping here in the US.

[lip]

Originally Posted by Machiventa

Almost every review I've read pretty much say the same thing: beautiful, snappy UI, Facebook/Zune/Xbox integration is awesome, not the greatest battery life, no copy/paste, no multitasking, no tethering, can't connect to hidden ssid, etc. but has the potential to compete with the big guys with a few firmware updates to address the problems.

No unified inbox or threaded email? What the hell? I have 3 email accounts I use constantly and a few extra ones I use seldomly. That means I'll have 6 tiles just for email. I find that unacceptable. Again, a firmware update could fix that but come on, it should be there out of the box at launch.

Does anyone know the maximum number of tiles you can have?

If the battery life and storage (hello 64GB) were better I would buy one immediately but will consider one once they're shipping here in the US.

I'm hearing totally different things on battery life...I initially heard bad things about the samsung superoled screens with wp7 but now I've read a few and it seems they are getting over a day with good usage(data, video, music, phone)...strange...

A unified email doesn't appeal to me at all...I'm more than happy to keep them separate. The only thing that would be nice if it doesn't exist is to have it like windows mobile had where you can swipe left to right to go to a different account rather than having to go back to the main...if they have some way to check a different account when you are in the email hub I'm happy...

I read somewhere about the number of tiles allowed but I can't find it now...silly that it's not shown on the official windows phone 7 site...