Windows Phone 7 Series (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

So that's a problem.

 

[Hanson]

WP7 is going to run into the same buzzsaw that killed Torch sales -- the iPhone 4. Unless WP7 has some sort of killer app or function (smooth UI in and of itself isn't going to cut it), there's little reason for anyone to leave Verizon or Sprint for it. And if you're on AT&T, iPhone 4 stacks up too well for WP7 to stand out from the crowd -- going up against the iPhone4, Captivate, and Torch is going to be rough. They may have slightly better luck at TMo, but TMo has a third of the user base in comparison. The reality is, without Verizon (or at least Sprint), WP7 is going to fair poorly at launch.

But that's not all! By the time WP7 actually gets CDMA and copy paste functionality (!), Android will be onto Gingerbread. And Gingerbread will slaughter WP7 phones on specs, functionality, and UI. Look for Verizon to give their WP7 phone the same disinterested rollout that they gave the Samsung Fascinate.

 

[DaveF]

Yep. If you're on AT&T you'll buy an iPhone. If you're on Verizon, no WP7 and you get a Droid. And if you're on T-Mo or Sprint, you're too cheap to buy a smartphone -- or you've got an EVO for Sprint's 4G.

 

[Hanson]

Actually, the Evo and Epic are arguably the two best Android phones and possibly the two best smartphones in the market, and both are on Sprint. Sprint also has the best value plan even with the $10 upcharge factoring in call quality and data access. In any case, if I could only choose between an iPhone and the WP7, I would take the iPhone in a heartbeat

 

[DaveF]

Announced.
http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/11/live-from-microsofts-windows-phone-7-launch-event/
http://www.engadget.com/tag/wp7%20launch

 

[Sam Posten]

Not nearly as cool as the rumors suggested.

 

[DaveF]

I've only browsed the Engadget live blog and it seemed to be everything I've read so far, perhaps a bit more. I'm a bit envious of the live tiles and live screen; a glanceable data display could be nice on the iPhone. I'd also like a dedicated (punch through) photo button. But I couldn't survive without cut/copy/paste.

What brought it below expectations for you?

 

[Hanson]

Originally Posted by Sam Posten
Not nearly as cool as the rumors suggested.

You mean it doesn't live up to the rumors started by MS employees? Heaven forfend.

BTW, Dave, the Epic has a dedicated camera button. Some people love it while others can't stand that the camera constantly starts up accidentally. I'd like one on my next phone, but I sure as hell won't buy WP7 for that feature alone.

 

[DaveF]

My Palm Zire had a dedicated camera button and I never had problems with it. My iPhone has a dedicated "on" button and it doesn't accidentally get turned on. If the device is designed reasonably well, a dedicated camera button won't be a problem.

It's not something I'd switch platforms for, but I appreciate and respect it as a feature.

I also like that WP7 has game demos as table-stakes: the dev system enables game demos integrated into the full game for in-app purchase and unlock. This is so obvious -- and I assumed that in-app purchases on iOS would have made this the norm. But it didn't, to my puzzlement. (That is, why is there a free Angry Birds demo and a separate Angry Birds app for purchase. Why don't I download Angry Birds and after playing the demo, us in-app purchase to unlock the whole game? Why isn't it that way for every game and app available for iOS?) That MS is doing this from the start is a very smart move. It's a feature that's good both for customer and developerm

 

[Hanson]

Both iTunes and Android Market separate the demo from the full version. However, Gameloft offers full download versions that are unlocked with a purchased key, but they can only be downloaded straight from their website.
Quite frankly, I prefer the former to the latter. I don't want to tie up extra MB's of storage for games I might never unlock. The Gameloft game data files are 150-200MB alone. That's just to see if you like the games (which I don't).

 

[mattCR]

I do like their ad campaign, which is pretty brilliant, of people staring blankly at their phones and not paying attention.. I laughed my ass off because I see that every day. Microsoft's argument of "quickly get done what you want, and then get back to the real world" is a very different kind of pitch, but it is a very creative one.

 

[DaveF]

It's a funny ad; I relate a bit too strongly at moments

But I do agree wholly with DaringFireball's take on it; which I'll summarize as, "If WP7 doesn't turn you into a smartphone zombie, then it's a lousy smartphone. But if you've never had a smartphone, then you wouldn't understand that yet."
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/10/11/wp7-ad

But it’s more of an indictment of our “eyes on the phone, all the time” culture than an endorsement of Windows Phone 7. How exactly does Windows Phone 7 solve this? And do iPhone/Android/BlackBerry addicts really see this as a problem that needs to be solved? I feel like I spend so much time on my iPhone not because it’s inefficient, but because it’s so good. I’m never more than a few seconds away from something at least somewhat engaging.

I.e., Microsoft’s premise here is that WP7 has a dashboard and system-wide interface that’s optimized for getting you through a finite amount of “checking in” or “catching up” in significantly less time than other mobile systems. But I don’t think people are on their iPhones/Androids/BlackBerrrys all the time because of inefficient UI design. I think it’s because we want to be on them. These devices are where our minds are drawn — like moths to a flame, perhaps — whenever we’re otherwise unoccupied.

But: perhaps this message from Microsoft isn’t targeted at existing smartphone owners. It’s for those shopping for the first smartphone, who, because they don’t have one yet, see existing smartphones as something unpleasant — gadgets that turn friends and family into anti-social heads-down faces-underlit jerks. I can see how that message might work.

 

[Parker Clack]

As much as I love my EVO I am going to look into the one of these simply for its built into connection to MCE.

 

[Peter-PP]

The new Win 7 Phones look pretty impressive to me! I'll be checking them out on Nov 8.

 

[DaveF]

This is interesting.
http://windowsphonesecrets.com/2010/10/12/windows-phone-7-and-removable-storage/

So, to put it accurately, Windows Phone does support expandable storage. But it does not support removable storage.

 

[mattCR]

Anand delivers the most thorough, completely non-fanboi review of the devices I've found. He lays out the positives and the negatives without any pro-this/that, and does a really good job here.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3982/windows-phone-7-review/1

Lots I didn't know or wasn't mentioned in other reviews appears here, including small nits, UI access, Cloud Services, etc. and an explanation of expandable unified storage..

 

[Sam Posten]

Moss weighs in:
http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20101020/microsofts-new-windows-phone-7-novel-but-lacking/

/worldsbiggestapplefanboy yeah yeah

 

[Hanson]

Unfortunately, we have to report that Microsoft has a serious third-party issue on its hands right now given the software we've seen. In almost every application we used besides some of the Xbox Live titles, there were major problems with either loading, rendering, navigation, or stability... Because there's no multitasking here, not only do apps not run in the background, but they can't even sustain themselves during a screen lock. This would be fine if the applications had an instant save state that they woke up from, but they don't. Instead, no matter what you do, you have to reload the app all over again. This is incredibly frustrating, as app load times on the platform are somewhat lengthy for most of the third-party titles we tested. In particular, Seesmic and Twitter (which is still in beta) were nearly unusable in their current states, thanks to a combination of slow loading times, no backgrounding or save states, and a very buggy scrolling mechanism.

 

[Hanson]

Is this a review or a paid advertisement?

http://gizmodo.com/5668738/windows-phone-7-review

Not a single coherent reason why the interface is worthwhile. Meanwhile, the drawbacks are abundantly clear.

Can anyone figure out why the reviewers in toto are handling WP7 with such kid gloves? It seems they're so desperate for a third competitor in the smart phone market, they're propping up an already outdated piece of shit technology to have something else to write about.

Either that or payola.

 

[DaveF]

Wasn't Mossberg critical of it?John Timmer at Ars had personal essay noting his issues with the whole affair.