Windows Phone 7: The Ars Review

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/reviews/2010/10/windows-phone-7-the-ars-review.ars

by cubicle67 • 16 years ago

65 38 16 years ago

aresant• 16 years ago

Summary for those not in the mood to read 18 pages:

"Microsoft doesn't often get version one releases right, but this time, it has got the release very right indeed."

He loves the interface, says SMS is the only feature MSFT screwed up, dev tools are good but could create sloppy UI in apps if MSFT doesn't address.

His major complaint is missing features, says the features that are there are executed brilliantly.

Play by Play:

- "The styling is uncompromising. I love it." Smoothness major cool factor.

- "Hubs" feature is major differentiator, applications can data share - example facebook data / photos imported into contact list.

- Built in apps are solid, email client is "very, very good".

- "correction and completion mechanism is good" better than iphone, maybe not as good as android.

- Browser is good, HTML5 support is lacking.

- Music is just like ZUNE.

- Maps is a "solid, well thought-out application" but lacking turn-by-turn GPS.

- Camera itself will change by OEM but the interface " works well, and it's particularly pleasing when you've taken a picture"

- Office itself not much of an update from 6, nothing exciting to see there.

- Games integration is lost on the author (not a gamer), the avatar integration was the only thing on the phone that felt "sluggish"

- "The SMS application is the one area where I think the platform really falls short" - he says SMS functions are lacking inbox style sorting, no message counter, etc.

- Marketplace is easy and straightforward to get new apps. Not a lot of apps, but apps there work and have integrated into the design style.

- Syncing is done over the air, even for small firmware updates.

- Mac syncing gets a "alpha-quality sync client"

- Windows Live support lets you do fun things like lock the phone, wipe it, geo-locate it, etc. but no SMS backup.

- Before launching into complaints he says ""I have grown to like Windows Phone 7 a hell of a lot, and I'm certainly going to be using it from here on out."

- Complaints: Can't take screenshots on the phone itself, no copy-paste until early 2011, no multi-task, no manage files, no connect to VPN, no transfer files over bluetooth, no sharing 3G over Wifi etc, no ability to act as mass USB storage.

- He counters his complaints with "I would imagine that. . . Microsoft has serious plans for multitasking, tethering, VPNs, and corporate security policies, etc"

- Microsoft's communication on missing features is making early purchasing decisions difficult, they could stand to improve communication.

- Some interface issues he doesn't like, in particular BING search doesn't search phone in its entirety.

- "The integration of Facebook and Windows Live is fantastic".

- Media management isn't awesome, highlights major problem with the integrated HUB is that MSFT must choose to support apps and standards which means most apps wont work, notably twitter not integrated yet.

- Curious that there's no native windows chat client.

- Windows 7 Mobile dev tools are good, but not great. Notably lacking ability to access camera, and compass, bigger concern is that the cool Windows 7 interface cues are missing forcing devs to recreate, making some apps look clunky and could cause repeat of Windows app clunkiness.

- He thinks the naming strategy is stupid, should have gone with ZunePhone, too tied to single release but clearly piggy backing on Windows 7 desktop success.

- Major complaint is missing features, features there executed brilliantly.

- "Windows Phone 7 looks great, works well, and is a treat to use."

Phew.

Infomus• 16 years ago

You are the man!

rkwz4• 16 years ago

>>no copy-paste until early 2011

2010 is almost over!

cubicle673• 16 years ago

Disagree strongly with ZunePhone as a name. People who've actually owned a Zune seem to quite like them, but the general buzz is pretty negative (a bit like Vista?)

WP7 isn't great, but it doesn't have the negative connotations 'Zune' has. It may remind people of Windows Mobile 6 however, but I think so many years have passed that most of us have been able to repress those memories

scrrr• 16 years ago

I don't remember why Zune has a bad name, but I suppose the early models weren't as good. The 2nd gen Zune that I owned was a great mp3-player, definitely up to par to the iPod. And if WP7 has a Zune-player built in then that is a selling point.

slantyyz• 16 years ago

Everyone hated the Wii name before it came out. After it came out, nobody cared.

thought_alarm• 16 years ago

Allow me to reply by email from my Blackberry...

lionhearted• 16 years ago

Very nice summary, thanks for that.

> - Music is just like ZUNE.

I kind of laughed at the Zune when it came out, but I've recently started to rethink it. There's been a convergence of electronic devices lately - phone, camera, web browser, handheld game device, music player, etc. Every company in any of these markets needs to realize this is happening, and either specialize and focus on their niche (high high end cameras) or be able to make an adequate showing on all the features.

Apple realized that music was going on to phones, and they made the iPhone - very smart play getting ahead of the game. Microsoft didn't realize this early enough, and had to rush something to market to catch up, so of course it wasn't going to show as well. Apple had been building and refining music players for a few cycles at that point, so it's unsurprising the Zune wasn't as nice. But they had to do it, because the convergence of music player, phone, computer, browser, camera, gaming, etc. demands it. While the Zune showed poorly, it laid the groundwork for them to eventually have a quality music player. And actually, it might even be possible to pass Apple in music in the near future, because Windows iTunes is really a second citizen. I like my iPhone, but I hate iTunes. I mean, really, really hate it. It's overwhelmingly the most unpleasant and headache-generating software I use.

So - I laughed at the Zune at first, but I'm now realizing it was a necessary play. Also, as only one feature on a consolidated device, it doesn't need to be as good as the iPod - only "good enough" at music while some other key features exceed.

mitjak• 16 years ago

Its inexcusable if the original Zune doesn't have a track scrobbler like all media players are supposed to but WP7 doesn't.

sudont• 16 years ago

Are you using iTunes on Windows? It's not the greatest on SL either, but I can still get behind the spreadsheet paradigm, and the performance isn't too bad.

If the Zune software comes out for mac, I'll definitely try it, though.

WesleyJohnson• 16 years ago

Windows 7 Mobile dev tools are good, but not great. Notably lacking ability to access camera, and compass, bigger concern is that the cool Windows 7 interface cues are missing forcing devs to recreate, making some apps look clunky and could cause repeat of Windows app clunkiness.

Definitely agree with this (so far). I've been fiddling around with the Windows Phone 7 SDK for the past few days and I'm finding my app isn't nearly as cool as the default apps, because of the missing animated transitions between pages, menus, etc. I'm also new to Silverlight, so perhaps I'm just overlooking the magic property that makes them work, but I'm quite sure you have to recreate them.

Still, the Visual Studio IDE is brilliant and I find myself using the design view quite a bit - something I never do with .NET WebForms or .NET MVC, so they really got it right.

cubicle673• 16 years ago

Found the second half of this paragraph quite amusing (from page 16)

When the phone is locked, the camera button still works. This is by design: it's so you can take a quick snapshot of something that's exciting without having to unlock the phone. It's certainly a sound idea—after all, I don't have to unlock my DSLR if I want to take a photo. Unfortunately, it also resulted in me taking a bunch of pictures of the inside of my pocket and some random dude on the bus, as I happened to sit in such a way as to trigger camera mode. And because I configured the phone to upload pictures automatically, they got sent to Facebook. It's like a whole new kind of pocket dialling; pocket photographing

po• 16 years ago

This sounds like a nightmare feature: you're having a nice quiet night home alone with your girl... You accidentally press the shutter button on your phone as you are plugging it into your nightstand charger... you've just invited everyone you've ever met into your bedroom.

Keep in mind that there's no way to permanently delete images on facebook:

http://www.techspot.com/news/40662-facebook-keeps-photos-aft...

mahmud2• 16 years ago

Developers, the future of mobile computing is in your hands. Code across platforms, sell across platforms, and don't let anybody corner you into supporting just their platform.

Plurality, my friends.

Support WP7, Android, iOS and Symbian. And if you still have time, others as well.

Screw the segregationists.

jan_g• 16 years ago

Actually, the situation is pretty bad for developers. Making a client for all major platforms (iOS, Android, blackberry and now wp7) is difficult. Every client must be built from ground up. Different languages, different tools. Not bad in the sense of plurality and choice, of course, and I love learning new stuff. But it is difficult and time-consuming.

DeusExMachina3• 16 years ago

Moreover for little startups or single developers might be impossible. I was a Mac developer and now I am an iPhone developer because I already knew and liked the language and the frameworks.

For the project I'm working on right now I have to develop an iPhone app and an iPad one, plus a server to handle data, a Mac app to create the particular content we need and a Mac client to upload and handle the data on the server.

I am already overwhelmed by work (and I have a day job too) and in no way I can learn/program on another platform right now, especially because our app will be animation intensive and there is no easy way of doing this at least on Android.

In the future, if we are successful, we might move to other platforms as well, but for now I will just leverage the platforms I know.

revorad• 16 years ago

So, is this the desktop story all over again?

emehrkay• 16 years ago

Well too bad MS once again is lacking on the browser side. Devs cannot even target WP7 on the browser, I will not develop non-HTML5 mobile sites. Fuck that, WP7 phone users will not be able to use my sites.

loewenskind• 16 years ago

AFAIK you can build iPhone apps in C#.

stonemetal2• 16 years ago

Code across platforms Is there away to do that currently? Android runs java, WP7 .net, iPhone Objective C.

icey• 16 years ago

Kind of - you can use Mono to write on all the platforms you've mentioned. The UI layer will have to be different for all of those, but if you can segment all your business / game logic into a library, you could certainly share a significant amount of your code between all those devices.

mahmud2• 16 years ago

Android can run whatever you want it to. See "NDK".

mikeklaas• 16 years ago

The design aesthetic in the WP7 OS is probably the single coolest thing I've seen from microsoft. It makes me seriously reevaluate my opinion of the company to see that they let it emerge unscathed (bing was a huge step in the right direction, too).

AndrewDucker• 16 years ago

I believe it's still the case that you can only install apps from the marketplace.

Which is a deal-killer for me.

risotto• 16 years ago

I'm quite glad WP7 is looking like a real contender. Viable competition raises the bar for all phone companies, and consumers ultimately win.

This is a really fun time to be a a gadget lover -- Microsoft, Google, Apple, Nokia, etc. are bending over backwards to give us the coolest toys ever invented.

I'll wager that in a year from now, all of these phones will be nearly perfect experiences in their own way.

stcredzero2• 16 years ago

it's arguably good for consumers, as it means that they can buy a Windows Phone 7 phone with confidence—if you know your way around one Windows Phone 7 phone, you know your way around them all.

It may, however, be bad for the OEMs, who may find themselves with little ability to differentiate and distinguish themselves from each other.

How about the carriers distinguish themselves by providing good network service and good customer service instead of loading up the phone with crap hardly anyone ever wants? (Manufacturers can distinguish themselves on price/quality as they see fit.)

Windows Phone 7: The Ars Review

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