Technology Windows Phone 7

Casey

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#45
For the record, I went into a popular high street phone store the other day here whilst I was out to see if they had any cases for the G2/DZ. I happened to ask the clerk what was selling well this Xmas season. She said Android sales were through the roof and WP7 was flopping big time. I asked how many WP7 handsets had been sold in that store. She said "barely any".

It could be a slow burner, but Android was a hit right out of the gate. I guess Microsoft hasn't lived down the bad reputation they have from the Windows Mobile suckfest over the last 5+ years.
 

Flipmo

VIP Member
Staff member
#46
You know what Telus (a carrier here) is doing to sell their W7 phones? If you sign a contract with them (3 yrs), they give you a free 250 gig Xbox360. Apparently, it hasn't even stimulated interest in the phone. Most people around here either picked up a Samsung Galaxy S, still playing around with the N1 or just picked up the HTC Desire Z. The people to haven't gone through with a hardware upgrade are waiting for the Desire HD, which should be released sometime in Jan, Feb max.
 

Casey

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#47
Wow. They can't shift WP7 even with a free Xbox? That means people really don't give a fuck about WP7. Microsoft's strategy is failing big time.

I kinda feel like the lack of worldwide availability for the Zune was a dumb move for Microsoft. Many people are always looking for a decent iPod alternative, the WP7 interface is based on the Zune HD interface and so if Zune HD's had been available worldwide a year ago, there would be more developer support for WP7 and people would already be familiar with the interface.

Microsoft have a long hill to climb....but maybe Andy Rubin was right when he said that the world doesn't need another OS.

Some people thought he was just being an egoist, but I think maybe he meant that all the gaps in the market have been filled. With Android and iOS, and a few other OS's with small but dedicated fanbases (like Palm's WebOS) is there room for another major OS? I don't see anyone giving up either Android or iOS devices for WP7 ones..... and with Sony releasing that Playstation Phone running Android, Microsoft's Xbox Live integration on WP7 isn't going to be much of an advantage anymore for avid gamers.

I guess we'll see what happens.
 

Flipmo

VIP Member
Staff member
#48
Well, it's said that Microsoft sold 1.5 mil phones in 6 days after the release of WP7... I haven't seen anyone with it though. lol. I swear, I always check out peoples phones when I'm out just cause I get curious to see what they're using. It's either Iphones, Blackberry Bold/Torch or an Android phone. I have not seen anybody rock a WP7 since its release.

I looked on some carriers, the prices for devices WP7 were greatly slashed. On Rogers the BlackBerry Bold 9780 is at 149.99/3yrs... and the Samsung focus is at the same price, when it was 250 just a few weeks ago, I believe. On Bell, the Desire Z is at 79.99, and the LG Optimus (WP7) is at 49.99, lol. I know it's the holiday season and there are price drops, but still... I would say the numbers speak for itself, no?
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#49
Well, it's said that Microsoft sold 1.5 mil phones in 6 days after the release of WP7.
No, they are lying. 1,5 mil devices stocked, as of leaving the manufacturers' warehouses and being distributed to various retailers.
I see Windows 7 phone devices lying on the shelves and most people are not really interested in them so it's not a product that is easily sold after being placed on the shelf. That would explain why they are not giving real sales figures.
So considering that the supply is much, much higher than demand it was probably smarter to use figures for phones that were stocked and hide real sales to make the system look like it's not an overpriced piece of crap that nobody wants.
We have no idea how many of these phones were really activated by customers. As far as we know they could have sold even less than 10% of that.
I don't know a single person with a Windows Phone device, I don't see any reviews except of these that were 'funded' by Microsoft (as of they gave the phone for a review) and statistically even if 10% of these sales were real I would meet at least one person with their phone. Especially since most of my friends are using smartphones now. Heck, I just checked our online auction site and there's not even a single Windows Phone device sold there while there are quite a lot of them for sale.

oh btw here it's explained:
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/12/windows-phone-7-6/

To be clear, that means Microsoft has sold 1.5 million phones to mobile operators and retailers to put on their shelves, not 1.5 million phones activated by customers.

Then again, I’d be surprised if 1.5 million Windows Phone 7 handsets were activated already: Microsoft is entering a market already dominated by Google and Apple.

Google claims it’s activating 300,000 Android phones a day, and Apple claims 270,000 iPhones are activated each day. Microsoft has a lot of catching up to do before it can start boasting similar numbers.
Personally I was tempted by the Omnia 7 but the price on that fucker is almost twice as high as for the Galaxy S! That's when I realized that I won't be getting a Windows phone. It must mean that the system itself is pricey.
Oh, I also checked prices for Windows Phone games. I rotfled.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#51
^The only free games are incredibly simple and shitty. Simple but at least a bit useful apps (like stopwatch or torch) usually cost a 1$ each (those that are usually free on Android market). And some games that are free on the Android market cost about 2-4$ (same goes for copies of free flash games).
While games that are more popular (which are rare) go for almost 10 bucks.

But after reading a few reviews I can say that some of these 5-10$ games are quite cool.
 

Casey

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#52
It seems like there is very little developer support. WP7 development is done in Silverlight, right? I don't know many devs that even know Silverlight. Whereas everyone knows Java and can therefore dev for Android with the SDK.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#53
Yes. Popularity and ease of code-wise obviously Android is the easiest to code for (Java). Then I would say Bada (C++) and Iphone (objective C).
Silverlight is not even on the far end. Nobody uses or likes it, nor its worth to learn it. It's like Flash minus most of its positives.
 

ARon

Well-Known Member
#54
I hope WP7 starts doing better. I'm rooting for it. They brought some nice ideas to the table and their success means other platforms will have to step up as well. Complacency is the devil and WP7 doing well is good for everyone. It's not bad at all either
 

ill-matic

Well-Known Member
#55
Im thinking of purchasing a Samsung Omnia 7...

I currently have an unreliable iPhone 3Gs and I am not entirely happy with it. It's my second iPhone within my 2 year contract because my first one fucked up (hardware fault).

I'm confident Windows has put out something good with its operating system. Although it has a lot of problems, I think they'll fine tune it over the next few months and it will become a really good product.
 

dilla

Trumpfan17 aka Coonie aka Dilla aka Tennis Dog
#56
WP7 doesn't need to do well to drive competition. Apple and Google will be fighting it out for a long time. I think RIM's devices have a better shot of doing better than WP7, from this point on. This isn't M$ entering the video game market with the Xbox years ago. Or is it? At least the Xbox had decent games. M$ learned from mistakes with the first and made the 360 into the behemoth it is today.

But it seems to be much more complicated with WP7 than the issues the Xbox had. The phones look good, but the OS is just so ugly. That's gonna take a while to fix, as shown with Android.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#57
yeah it's something that is not great but quite cool to play with in the first place but is extremely retarded about basic functionality. I mean - using it would piss the shit out of me as Microsoft complicated basic things that you do with your phone daily. Also, there are no basic things that almost every other phone has. Until they sort it out I think that buying a Windows 7 Phone is not a good idea. The limitations are almost unbelievable to me.

Also on a side note I think that Samsung's Bada is much superior to Windows 7 Phone (and paradoxally more popular after all, it's just not all over the news). Technically it has many advantages even over Android, copied most of Android's simple and best solutions and implemented in their phones to have them "out of the box".
However Android offers bigger functionality, customizations and many, many more apps - that is why it's smarter to get Android. However both - Android and Bada are by far superior to Windows 7 Phone as mobile operating systems as far as minimizing the amount of retardation goes.
 

masta247

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#58
Hey, I'm beating the dead horse. Yay!

edit: On a serious note though, probably the only Windows Phone 7.5 phone worth owning has just been released as Japan-only, lmfao:
http://www.gsmarena.com/toshiba_windows_phone_is12t-4076.php

it's Fujitsu-Toshiba and packs some of the coolest chips from Toshiba that other manufacturers don't have yet, like the newest and slimmest 13,2mp camera module that I posted info on in the Android thread a while ago.
It's also waterproof while being slim and lightweight. And looks pretty cool to me.
 

THEV1LL4N

Well-Known Member
#59
shame about the colour though. would be really nice, if they came in fluorescent colours.

i think some manufacturers should take a slight risk and release phones with 'baby' colours like baby yellow, baby blue, baby pink - more softer colours. might do well.
 

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