Windows Phone 7

[KallDrexx]

So does anyone here have a WP7 phone and if so what are you thoughts on it (now that it's been out for 4 or so months)?

My phone's power button doesn't work anymore (so I can't manually sleep the phone, and I have to wake the phone up by sliding open the keyboard), Verizon refuses to fix it since it's 1 month out of the 1 year warranty and the phone insurance wants me to pay $89 for a refurbished phone. 

I'm eligible for an upgrade but I was hoping to hold off until later in the year, where I could see how WP7 evolved, or the new pre is, etc... but I don't know how long I can stand this (I have already pocket-texted people due to having to wait till it times out for the screen to turn off). 

[MisterNoisy]

So does anyone here have a WP7 phone and if so what are you thoughts on it (now that it's been out for 4 or so months)?

My phone's power button doesn't work anymore (so I can't manually sleep the phone, and I have to wake the phone up by sliding open the keyboard), Verizon refuses to fix it since it's 1 month out of the 1 year warranty and the phone insurance wants me to pay $89 for a refurbished phone.  

I'm eligible for an upgrade but I was hoping to hold off until later in the year, where I could see how WP7 evolved, or the new pre is, etc... but I don't know how long I can stand this (I have already pocket-texted people due to having to wait till it times out for the screen to turn off).  

I've been using the HTC Surround since launch, and I'm pretty happy with it.  The UI is slick and intuitive, and overall functionality is pretty solid.  Being able to ditch iTunes for good was nice, too.  The app/game selection is pretty limited if you're coming from iOS, and searching the marketplace is still pretty hopeless from the phone.  The media player is great, and the browser is pretty good, though it really doesn't like certain pages for some reason.

The only real issue I've had concerns the alarm function - if you ignore (sleep through) the alarm long enough, the phone becomes nonresponsive when you finally do kill the alarm and requires a reboot.  Aside from that, I'm really happy with it.  I'd also pay a significant sum of money to trade in the capacitive buttons at the base of the screen for real ones, but that's not explicitly an OS issue.

[KallDrexx]

I've been using the HTC Surround since launch, and I'm pretty happy with it.  The UI is slick and intuitive, and overall functionality is pretty solid.  Being able to ditch iTunes for good was nice, too.  The app/game selection is pretty limited if you're coming from iOS, and searching the marketplace is still pretty hopeless from the phone.  The media player is great, and the browser is pretty good, though it really doesn't like certain pages for some reason.

The only real issue I've had concerns the alarm function - if you ignore (sleep through) the alarm long enough, the phone becomes nonresponsive when you finally do kill the alarm and requires a reboot.  Aside from that, I'm really happy with it.  I'd also pay a significant sum of money to trade in the capacitive buttons at the base of the screen for real ones, but that's not explicitly an OS issue.

I'm not too worried about the app/game market, as my phone (Motorola Droid) is mostly used for texting, web browsing, email, and music.  As long as all that works well I'd be happy (or so I think)

[TripleDES]

All of that works well. The e-mail client is pretty neat, altho it doesn't have an unified inbox.

Don't expect network dependent apps to be available, you know like instant messengers and such, because there isn't any multitasking yet, and most importantly, no fucking socket support. You'll have to wait for the Mango update to deliver these APIs, which comes theoretically mid-fall this year. Speaking of which, don't expect frequent and timely updates.

[KallDrexx]

Yeah I've seen the current update fiasco heh. 

I think i'll try the focus for a few weeks and see how it works out.  If I don't think i'll like it I'll just trade it in for the Atrix.

[Baldrake]

I'm loving Windows Phone 7. My wife got an iPhone 4 and I got a Mozart at almost exactly the same time. I set up both phones, literally with two laptops side by side transferring music and setting up podcasts, etc. So I got I think a pretty good comparison between them.

Advantage WP7:

• Much more integrated feel - the hub concept actually works out pretty well. The apps in the iPhone aren't connected in the same way
• The Zune software is much easier to use and more responsive the iTunes, at least on a PC. I would never, ever have guessed this as an advantage, but it's a big one.
• Wireless sync: phone syncs to the PC via wireless. No stupid USB cable required.
• Skydrive integration. Again, I didn't anticipate this would be a big deal, but I use it quite a bit.

Advantage iPhone:

• Much more mature platform. I have to reboot my phone about once a week because of crashes. My wife has never had to reboot her iPhone. Lots of missing features/rough edges in WP7. These are well-documented around the web.
• More apps. WP7 is closing in on 10k apps, and most of the major ones are there. But every now and then you run into some very special-purpose and useful app that the iPhone has and WP7 doesn't.
• Bigger add-on market. More choice of cases, docks, car integration and all that stuff.[/i]

For my part, I'm very happy. The superior UI and app organization is enough to put up with the various shortcomings. At the very least, it's a platform people should be considering.

[Trouble]

WP7 uses IE7 as its browser and I wouldn't touch that with a 10 foot poll. It may get IE9 end of year...may. And it's likely phones made prior to that change won't get support. The developer ecosystem they're eventually shooting for is Silverlight and IE9. From a front-end developer standpoint (browsers, mobile, etc.) I can tell you that's not going to fly and there's no way WP7 will have even a fraction of the developer ecosystem that is available on the three big boys (BB, iOS, Android).

There's other factors and this is the only one I can speak to from my own expertise, but I do know it's an important one longterm. It's kind of a hoist up by your bootstraps thing. App selection (and quality) is a large factor in user uptake, and app selection is driven by developer ecosystem, which is driven by potential market, etc. It's possible that by paying off high quality developers (or doing it internally) to do an amazing job of seeding the system in order to bring in a large set of early adopters (this is essentially how Apple originally did it, plus other Apple-unique factors), but that's not a gamble I see industry insiders making at this point. The platform itself has some critical fundamental flaws and gaps that they're a far way out from potentially resolving.

[KallDrexx]

I'm actually really liking my new Samsung Focus and I'm pretty impressed with WP7 as a whole.  I haven't encountered too many apps that I am looking for that aren't available, but I don't use too many apps in general (even on Android I didn't).  My fiance and her roommate (both Iphone 3gs and 4 users respectively) have played with my phone and are thinking of switching to it as well when their contracts up (partially because they are bored with the iPhone and want something different and partially because they like the FB integration).

As of now I am really enjoying the user experience and the amount of polish.  Although, a lot of people won't really get why it's a good experience just by seeing pictures, it really takes using the device to really get how everything works together. 

[TripleDES]

To bump the thread, since it's so goddamn exciting... It appears that Microsoft is teaming up with Samsung to deliver one or more devices for the time when the Mango update releases. Nice to finally hear that something's going in the Windows Phone ecosystem. I figure, the showcase device will be an Exynos based 4.3" SuperAMOLED+ device, since those two things are the hot shit for smartphones at Samsung right now.

[KallDrexx]

The HTC Arrive is also poised to debut on Sprint next week, and some sites already have some hands on vids.  

I'm going to be keeping my Focus instead of trading it in for an Android.  I'm liking it enough.  

*edit*

Btw, until we get NoDo with the improved market searching, some people found a trick for the current marketplace search.  If you want to search for an application, add "application" to the search or if you want a song add "song" (e.g. "weather application" or "weather song").  This will restrict your marketplace searches to just applications or just songs at the current time.

[Bungee]

Guess that's kind of advertising, but my roommate owns a win7 phone and found out it doesn't support group sms/e-mail in any fashion.
So he came up with an App that is able to handle that.

[KallDrexx]

You can send texts or emails to multiple people, you just can't can't create formal groups to repeat the same people quickly (though I couldn't do that without 3rd party apps in Android either). 

[Bungee]

That pre-made groups is what he wanted really.
Android uses the groups you made in your Google account, no?

[KallDrexx]

Maybe, I never noticed.  Actually I forgot Gmail contacts had groups until you just mentioned that.