Technology Windows Phone 7

[masta247]

I guess if there's a thread about Android there can be at least a little one about this thing

The first bigger review surfaced yesterday:
Windows Phone 7 OS review: From scratch - GSMArena.com

The review is quite positive despite the fact that there are many disadvantages pointed out. To me they are disqualifying the system:

No system-wide file manager
No videocalling
Limited third-party apps
No Bluetooth file transfers
No USB mass storage mode
No memory card support
No multitasking
No copy paste
Too dependent on Zune software for computer file management and syncing
No music player equalisers
No Flash or Silverlight support in the web browser
No sign of free Bing maps Navigation so far
No DivX/XviD video support

And if you're looking for a comparison with Android:

However, the imposed minimum hardware requirements for a phone to qualify for WP7, practically guarantee that each and every one of them will be an expensive high-end phone.

And if you’re paying big, you’d expect high-end functionality. But Windows Phone 7 falls short of expectations on several occasions – Android 2.x and iOS 4.x will wipe the floor with it as far as power users are concerned.

However it's worth reading the whole review as there are also many positives. Just not much innovative to be honest. Also the system doesn't have basic functionality available to Android.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

wow, that brings a whole new perspective to WP7. i would have expected them to at least have the USB mass storage mode and memory card functionality.

they will improve, its just a matter of time. but why set sights so low when the competition is running away?

 

[S O F I]

Unfortunate.

 

[_carmi]

Could have been good. Microsoft failed once again.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

i thought with the failures of kin, they wouldve made a major attempt at taking the market by storm before christmas. they probably will.

i think one of my cousins is going to get the new windows phone 7 phone, whatever it'll be - she's always been keep on windows mobile and looks forward to WP7. her mum has the htc hero and i dont think she realises how much better android has become since 1.6 (donut).

she acknowledges how android has come a long way but think she's leaning towards WP7 more. she probably thinks im way too biased though.

 

[dilla]

I know they've made WinMo in the past, but this seems like a renaissance, and it may take them time to finally get all the features into place. I'm not saying it's right to not include these features, either from the get-go or just never implementing them ever in the future, but remember the G1 kinda tested the waters first and slowly got all the features Android has today.

Maybe in future updates, these features will come about, once M$ spend some time testing them and whatnot.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

i see what you're saying, but the benefit and the reason the G1 (Android platform) had those features incorporated were due to custom rom developers, going the unofficial way about it. i dont think android woulve had those features implemented (on the G1) via the official update.

only time will tell whether Microsoft will allow the tethering functionality (and other things too) with their updates... or if someone has to make modifications/custom roms to enable features for WP7.

 

[dilla]

Wrong. 1.0 to 1.5 introduced many key features of Android, as did 1.5 to 1.6. I'm not talking about what the hacking community did.

 

[masta247]

Personally I think that Microsoft went more "Apple-style". It's a tightly closed platform relying on Microsoft services. They made it that way on purpose. That's also why transferring files is made so hard (no USB storage mode, no bluetooth file transfer, no memory cards etc.) while there's skydrive, zune and such.
I don't think there's enough room for such system on the market. Sad to say but I'd rather buy an Iphone. Same shit but with more experience and a stable position on the market. Sadly, it even seems to allow more possibilities.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Wrong. 1.0 to 1.5 introduced many key features of Android, as did 1.5 to 1.6. I'm not talking about what the hacking community did.

i was. but yea, in that sense, yes they did improve a lot - especially with the camera on the G1 with the cupcake update. im talking about the things that should be on the phones that the official updates did not include.

 

[dilla]

i was. but yea, in that sense, yes they did improve a lot - especially with the camera on the G1 with the cupcake update. im talking about the things that should be on the phones that the official updates did not include.

Well, we don't even know about the hacking potential of the OS. I'm talking about the features that we knew were going to be there, we just didn't know when. That list that masta provided of things 7 doesn't have, nothing says it won't have them. They may just come in later iterations, much like the features did for the G1 with 1.0 to 1.5, 1.6, etc.

They'll learn slowly.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

that is true. but coming fro Microsoft who should be making vast improvements from WinMo 6 and 6.5, 7 should be a lot better than its predecessors like Windows 7 is in comparison to Vista.

Who knows, they might do some quarterly updates to roll out more features.

So which phones are going to be running the WP7 OS. and the flagship phone?

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Okay, it looks as though the phone is called 'Windows Phone' and runs Windows Phone 7 OS. (I think).

As we know Microsoft have a good relationship with HTC. One of the developer phones for WP7 was made by Samsung:

 

[masta247]

HTC only made little touches to their Android phones releasing them as Win7 phones, while getting paid by Microsoft
It's a great business year for HTC.

That Samsung also looks well. There's also Omnia 7 which is going to be the third Samsung's Super Amoled phone.
There's also a Win7 LG phone, the Optimus 7.

 

[masta247]

Samsung Omnia 7:

"Samsung Omnia 7 brings 4-inches of Super AMOLED screen, 512MB RAM, 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p camcorder, 8GB internal memory and 1500mAh battery. Surprisingly, the Omnia 7 uses a 1GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 Snapdragon processor instead of Samsung's own 1GHz Hummingbird."

LG Optimus 7:

"On top of that the LG Optimus 7 packs a 3.8" capacitive WVGA touchscreen, a 5MP sharpshooter with Panoramic Mode for 360-degree shots as well as 720p HD video recording, a standard 3.5mm audio jack and 16GB of on-board storage."

HTC HD7:

"HTC HD7 or Schubert has been previously known as HD3 and whatnot and it looks exactly how we saw it on the live shots three weeks ago. The device has a 4.3-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen and packs 1GHz Qualcomm processor, 576MB RAM, 5 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and 720p video recording, all-round connectivity and 8GB internal storage. The T-Mobile version of HD7 is expected to double the on-board memory to 16GB."

 

[dilla]

Hmm....funny how all the phones are black. No silver, white, etc. Going for the more professional look?

 

[masta247]

Hmm....funny how all the phones are black. No silver, white, etc. Going for the more professional look?

Yes, I think so. All of these phones are top lines while the Windows 7 Phone user interface looks more "casual", not business. It looks like a nice calling/texting/social network type of a operating system but then the price range of these phones will be inadequate. I don't know what is Microsoft aiming at. I guess they are confused themselves since at first that OS was aimed at youth (with these mid-end Kin phones that failed). I think they are torn in between two extremes. However they are probably trying to start big with so many high end models. I'm pretty sure that a lot of money has been put into that project.

 

[Casey]

They are trying to lock people in to a closed ecosystem like Apple, forcing people to use specific software.

Fuck that.

 

[masta247]

Yes, unfortunately. The user interface is really cool and that's the only good thing about this system so far. But it's even more restricted than WinMo.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Yes, unfortunately. The user interface is really cool and that's the only good thing about this system so far. But it's even more restricted than WinMo.

it is, and that's what i saw when i thought it looked quite nice. i saw the background and default home screen in an image, that's about it.

i hate the fact that the user is forced to use sky drive and cloud services to transfer and sync data. what if the user does not have a data plan, they are totally screwed. of course im expecting some apps to stream music from home media servers, windows media player/media centre etc.. but that would either a) mean investing in some expensive hub equipement or b) having to leave the computer or laptop on at home just to play media outside on the mobile phone. i dont see the point in being forced to do that when i want to play it from my phone only.

being a sensible person i wouldnt like to leave my computer running all day long at home until i get back. its pointless.