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Does Microsoft Finally Have a Phone Worth Buying?
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has finally shown 'Windows Phone 7 Series' and it's supposed to be a completely new smartphone OS. A phone from Microsoft to get excited about that is going to work properly and take on the iPhone's world domination? "
One reason why the iPhone is such a phenomenal phone is that the user interface permeates everything. Not just the immediate application screen or the app transitions, but at a fundamental level there is a symmetry and orthogonality of conceptualization that leads to a seamless user experience.
While that might sound like marketing gobbledygook, compare the Toshiba T-1 to the iPhone. Both have very cool initial user interfaces. In fact, the Toshiba (WinMo6.x) has a more interesting interface in that it changes to meet the user's needs without hardly any user input. However, once you dig past the first interface, it becomes clear that the WinMo phone is the same old WinMo crap underneath. There is no good widget set, there is no clear UI design guideline, and there is no good way to develop an app that doesn't end up feeling like a clunky mess. The iPhone, on the other hand, has a widget set that is reusable and has intuitive usage, there are very clear design guidelines, and most of all there are real artists who want to make apps for the platform.
If WinMo7 can break the Windows Mobile mold and really create something that provides a cohesive user interaction concept, then we may see a WinMo8. Otherwise, it may be the end of the road for this OS.
Even if Windows Phone 7 (or whatever cute name marketing comes up with) is the best thing since sliced bread, Apple and Google will continue to release three software versions for Microsoft's one, ensuring that MS will once again be left in the dust.
You have to wonder why MS continues to try their hand in areas where has no advantage -- or clue, really. The best engineers on the planet can't win in the face of poor management and squabbling VPs.
Ballmer's arrogance knows no bounds.
It's Linux, damnit! Pay no attention to renaming attempts by self-aggrandizing blowhards.
Mind share domination. The iphone might not have a large chunk of market share, in terms of raw numbers. But it is the device to beat, the bar every other smartphone manufacturer suddenly found itself being compared to. Sure, there are phones that are better for this and that. Geeks might go for the relative openness of Android. Corporate types will probably prefer the enterprise integration of Blackberry. But the average Joe will always compare them to the iphone.
If con is the opposite of pro, is Congress the opposite of progress?
Work properly? from Microsoft? the company that made "Microsoft Works" an oxymoron? I don't think so.
On the Desktop OS arena, one always has to have SOME degree of MSFT compatibility. On smartphones there's plenty of choice and Microsoft is but a small player. So why even bother? let's keep them relegated to a corner.
Yes, especially when it comes to smartphones, where the US generally lags about two years behind.
It's 16%, which I believe is in between "marginal" and "quaint". Growth rate is the much more impressive stat on that particular graph, but keep in mind that Androids are on their way to far more countries than iPhones are. The iPhone has a dominant position in several large markets, even influential ones, but it's still A) a consumer device, and B) completely locked down -- making it inappropriate for commercial/corporate use, even if some sectors *wanted* to use it (doctors, lawyers, etc.). There are quite a few counties where the iPhone's closed nature would inhibit it from gaining traction, and others where it wouldn't make financial sense to launch it in. At any rate, "world domination" is a hyperbole.
Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
You're putting words in his mouth. He said he didn't like Microsoft; he said he was using BSD. He didn't say he was using BSD because of Microsoft. It's sad that you would be so defensive that you have to read it another way.
That is why I amended my statement - they've invested to few resources, to late. They aren't going to make some huge comeback now. I just can't see it happening. MS can't offer some "killer app" that just makes the rest of the market fall to pieces.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Others have mentioned how they're talking about smart phones, and the iPhone is fast-growing in that market and gets most of the attention.
I'd also like to point out that the iPhone has been extremely influential in the smart phone market. Look at smart phones before the iPhone came out and compare them to what's coming out now. Everyone is the copying design concepts, UI conventions, and capabilities of the iPhone. Carriers are losing control of the devices being put out these days, and it started with Apple's refusal to allow the carriers to touch their designs. The iPhone is winning in spirit, even if not in sales numbers.
Nokia is a winner if you just want a phone, but come to think of it, I don't use my iPhone to make calls all that much. I do use it for many other things on the go, "fluff" like: agenda, tasks, notes, google, traffic info, email, train schedules, navigation, booking cinema tickets, paying for public parking (yes, ThereIsAnAppForThat), messaging, reading news, etc, etc. The iPhone is the first smart phone (of the ones I've tries) that actually makes all of those tasks quick and practical. So well in fact that, when seated at my desktop computer, I still prefer to use the iPhone app over the full-size web browser
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
However for sensible, practical phones that just work without the unwanted fancy fluff Nokia is a clear winner.
Hmm...I went from an N95 to an iPhone 3GS, and I have to disagree. To pick an example, I used the Nokia maps app ~10 times in the 2 years I had the N95. It was horribly slow to start up, slow to get a GPS lock, slow to redraw, slow to zoom, so slow as to be basically useless. The iPhone maps app has way less bullet-point-type features, and yet I use it almost every day. And I'm not sure what 'fancy fluff' you're referring to either - it's a giant map you scroll around with your finger, end of story.
Until you can buy one at the store, it's another piece of vaporware from Microsoft.
Exactly. I liked how we never talked about the iPad before you could buy it for instance.
Does it support multitasking?
How sad is it that this is a serious question? Not too long ago, "does it support copy&paste" would have also been a legitimate question to ask. Thanks, Apple.
Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
Actually that would be if my app actually ran on this pig. I have to rewrite it all, and all my propriatary corporate integration apps, database backends and productivity apps. Oh and I cannot customise my own theme even? It's turning into a worse lock in than the iPhone.
If I have to rewrite eveny app I use then I may as well port it to Android!
Until you can buy one at the store, it's another piece of vaporware from Microsoft.
Exactly. I liked how we never talked about the iPad before you could buy it for instance.
Except one company (Apple) has a history of delivering what they promise, and another (Microsoft) does not.
It's not about a general rule of "we don't discuss product announcements", it's a general rule of "Microsoft announces things, then only occasionally delivers them"
I'm really loving that interface. Stylish minimalism that should make it even easier to use than the iphone.
Best of all, solid, bold colours. None of that plasticy, shiny stuff that has been everywhere since the early days of 'Web 2.0'.
A real attempt to innovate mobile interfaces rather than cloning the iPhone is really surprising. I just hope they've really made an attempt to make it reliable unlike previous versions of WinMo.
So well in fact that, when seated at my desktop computer, I still prefer to use the iPhone app over the full-size web browser.
You must be very young with great eyesight. I have no interest in using a web browser on a 4" diagonal screen when I have a 24" one available that I can actually read.
Here's another serious question: why is multitasking support really that important on a phone? Like many people these days, my only personal phone line is my cell phone so I'd like it to run for a minimum of two days without charging (in case I forget to charge it one night or something). I've used Windows Mobile devices before, and it's absurd that a user should have to be frequently checking their "running programs" list to make sure stuff isn't draining their battery/CPU/memory resources. That's assuming the user is even aware that there is such a list. There's the obvious negatives, so where are the positives? What are some examples of practical tasks to perform on a phone that require multitasking?
So I can google something while composing an E-mail. So I can text someone while browsing. So I can look over my contacts list while on a phone call.
We're talking about a Smartphone, which is effectively a miniature, handheld PC. If you don't want it, then argue that they should give users the option to turn off multitasking. I think that most users *want* to run more than one app at a time, but for those who don't, they could turn it off. The point is -- make it the user's decision, don't force your company's mentality on me.
Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
Except that I can and do Google while composing emails. I don't text often, but I can certainly do so while browsing. I have no problem with my contacts list on a phone call.
What I want is to be able to switch between apps fast, and I can do that. I don't want two apps on screen at a time, like on my desktops and laptop, since the screen just isn't that big. Therefore, it doesn't matter if Safari is running or not while I'm checking my periodic table app. People don't actually want to run multiple apps, most of the time, they want to interact with one at a time and switch easily.
It does matter in some cases, of course: Pandora users have to interrupt their listening to use another app, and that's unfortunate. Most of the time it's a non-issue.
Don't get hung up on the OS internals here. Concentrate on the user experience and you'll see why people like the iPhone.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
What you're asking for is more like task switching than multitasking. None of the things you mention need to stay actively running in the background, consuming CPU cycles.
Does it support multitasking?
My blackberry Bold supports multitasking. What to know what else? I have to manually prune the running app list almost every day when the phone inexplicably becomes unusable due to various 3rd-party app memory leaks. Then again the screen is too small to have a taskbar that shows at-a-glance what's actually running in the background taking up memory or CPU, so I have to click a button and open a menu and scroll around hunting for apps to kill one at a time until the phone becomes responsive again. We all know Apple could do the multitasking thing, but based on my experience with Blackberry, I have no doubt why they didn't want to gift this 'functionality' to users.
I totally agree. Still way to many animations and eye candy. UI designers should keep the focus on what works well and fast not what looks slick, but the slick looking designs are the ones that get picked in the meetings...
My favorite part is the "find people faster".... that's what you're selling? exactly how is that faster, or at all different from your competitors? My treo 300 could get to contacts quite quickly, and the iphone search is easy and works well - is this a still a problem?
So I can google something while composing an E-mail. So I can text someone while browsing. So I can look over my contacts list while on a phone call.
I can do all these things without effort on my iPhone. I haven't found anything yet that would require multi-tasking, except playing music while doing something else with the GUI. And the built-in iPod can do that, even when using TomTom.
I'd even argue that in most cases, when you switch apps, you want the ones in the background to be "frozen", for example if you're watching YouTube and you get a phone call.
We're talking about a Smartphone, which is effectively a miniature, handheld PC.
No it's not.
That's the whole point of the iPhone UI. It doesn't try to be a miniature PC. It's what Windows CE/PocketPC/Mobile did wrong all these years. It tries to be a handheld device and that's why people like it.
RogerWilco the Adventurous Janitor
Let's try this again. What came out first, the HTC Hero or the HTC HD2?
Which came out first is irrelevant. The UI on HTC's Android phones is called HTC Sense, and it is not part of the Android OS .It's written by HTC and is based on TouchFlO, the UI that has existed on HTC's Windows mobile phones for years now. The Hero and HD2 have the same version of HTC Sense and it just happened that HTC released the hero before the HD2. Here, educate yourself.
Maybe you should think again, since you don't understand anything
You haven't pointed out anything I don't understand. I know full well that xda-devs is about HTC devices. Until HTC released it's first Android device it was 100% about Windows Mobile. I never said the sites I linked to were 100% dedicated to Windows Mobile, nor do I care if they are.
Thanks for reminding me that apparently you love windows mobile. That's about the most embarrassing piece of software I've ever heard anyone being associated with.
Your hatred of Microsoft is amusing. While morons like you mentally masturbate over the supposed demise of companies for no logical reason, people like me use products that work for us. I actually like the Android OS. It's a bit unstable on my wife's Cliq, but I'm sure those bugs will be worked out by Google and they'll catch up to other mobile platforms. My next phone decision will be between Windows Mobile (or "Windows Phone" or whatever they'll be calling it by then) and Android.
I don't always use unix-like operating systems; but when I do, I prefer FreeBSD.