02-15-2010, 05:19 PM

Microsoft announces Windows Phone 7 at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Link

More info on features here.

02-15-2010, 06:33 PM

Read the Wikipedia article- can I say dizzifying? I mean IMO, the iPhone OS is still far more simpler than what Microsoft is proposing. And it could be even more simplified (quick! cross your fingers!)

02-15-2010, 07:45 PM

Wait..was Windows Mobile ever a REAL threat to any other smartphone out there? Good to see that MS has finally learned and is deciding to better their UI to compete with the iPhone, Android and Palm phones..

However, I doubt that they are going to viably compete especially with the big push that cell phone makers like HTC, Samsung, Motorola have put into Android..Nokia is also on Symbian anyway..so I imagine that WinMo 7 is an interesting thing to look at but will likely continue to lose ground..

Regards

02-15-2010, 08:21 PM

Until someone sells 30+ million WP7 smartphones, I think the question is whether or not a WP7 smartphone will ever be able to compete with the iPhone?

02-15-2010, 08:37 PM

I've seen a lot on WM7, including a 22 minute by the guy who oversaw the project. IMHO it does have some interesting features, and I'm glad to see MS being innovative and coming at the mobile platform from a different angle. But overall I don't really care for it.

The aesthetic UI design itself is just not attractive to me, and I think it could be much improved just by making some major changes there along.

The social integration and function-centric "hub" approach is kind of nice, but it just seems like overkill and too complicated in some ways. I like the integration when it comes to photos, but not with the status updates and other things. Personally, if I want to do something on Facebook, I want to be "in" Facebook. Not seeing partial FB info. Maybe this is more interesting to people who use multiple social network sites, but I just don't.

I like the Bing search features and the location and query-aware results (like typing in Sushi and getting restaurants near my location) but that kind of function can be put into any mobile OS.

Overall it's a nice, new take on the Mobile platform, but it's just not for me. And I definitely don't think it's going to be a very major competitor. Probably the best thing going for it is Zune integration. Maybe that and the newness of the function-centric software interface will be enough to make somewhat successful.

02-15-2010, 08:47 PM

While impressive, the biggest problem is its release date. By the time Windows Phone 7 comes out, the fourth gen iPhone will have been out for 5-6 months and who knows how many major Android updates and groundbreaking Android phones will have been released by then. The saying "too little, too late" comes to mind.

02-15-2010, 09:53 PM

I could be flippant and say that I've always wanted a phone that cuts off lots of words, but I don't need to -- it's doomed already because it doesn't have flash.

At least, that's what all the trolls tell me.

02-15-2010, 10:02 PM

Originally Posted by chas_m

I could be flippant and say that I've always wanted a phone that cuts off lots of words, but I don't need to -- it's doomed already because it doesn't have flash.

At least, that's what all the trolls tell me.

WHAT ?! no flash ? Well thats it then, It is a total failure before its even released ....right ?

Clay

02-15-2010, 10:38 PM

Originally Posted by chas_m

At least, that's what all the trolls tell me.

Funny you mention that, because it seems like the blogsphere is not-so-surprisingly silent on the matter. Even though you couldn't find a single blog that wasn't loaded with complaints about the iPhone and iPad lacking Flash.

I guess when MS doesn't do something, it's not as big of a deal.

Same goes for the lack of multitasking. I actually read one comment that said, "iPhone doesn't multitask in a bad way and WM7 doesn't multitask in a good way"!

Another troll claimed that, unlike the iPhone, WM7 will remember which web page or email you left looking at so it'll come right up when you go back to mail or the internet. Clearly they have never touched an iPhone.

02-15-2010, 10:50 PM

Actually -- just to be fair -- Ballmer did say they have "no objection" to putting Flash on their phone. Which means, since he's not asking for Adobe to fix Flash but just accepting it as-is, that he's guaranteeing the W7 phone will not be as stable as the iPhone.

Exactly the sort of thing customers notice.

Now, maybe Adobe will now (thanks to all the bad publicity) get off their hindquarters and actually FIX Flash, which I really really hope they do. I'm not gonna hold my breath though -- they've been promising this for over a decade. But if they did, then perhaps (assuming Apple still didn't use Flash, which I find highly unlikely) W7 would have a genuine advantage over the iPhone.

Place your bets on that ...

02-16-2010, 08:42 AM

Meh...I don't really care for the Windows phone. And I'd crap myself laughing as soon as there were reports of the Blue Screen of Death on one.

02-16-2010, 08:44 AM

Adobe's been making a lot of flash promises for some time, so I'm not going to hold my breath on anything and just call it vaporeware until they roll out something real.

I really hope, though, that between Andriod's nice-looking UI and MS's new take on the mobile OS that Apple will finally give the iPhone OSX a fresh new look. But something tells me that since they didn't do anything with the iPAd other than to finally offer custom backgrounds, we will be stuck with the same look. And to be perfectly honest, is looking pretty old and tired compared to the competition.

02-16-2010, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by fleurya

Same goes for the lack of multitasking. I actually read one comment that said, "iPhone doesn't multitask in a bad way and WM7 doesn't multitask in a good way"!

Actually, to be fair, one of those links (I forget which one) mentions that WP7 will at the very least allow multi-tasking in the sense you can play music while using other functions. So, maybe MS has taken a note from some of the iPhone complaints? And then again, maybe Apple has taken a note from some of the iPhone complaints? hmm...

02-16-2010, 02:54 PM

I would like to see the reviews of actual battery times on these so called iPhone killers as there is no such thing as a free ride if you start stepping up everything common sense
will tell you it has to consume more power so what good will all this be if it can only last
a couple of hours.

02-16-2010, 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by MYmacROX

Actually, to be fair, one of those links (I forget which one) mentions that WP7 will at the very least allow multi-tasking in the sense you can play music while using other functions. So, maybe MS has taken a note from some of the iPhone complaints? And then again, maybe Apple has taken a note from some of the iPhone complaints? hmm...

Why do people keep bringing this up? The iPhone is perfectly capable of playing music while doing other things. The only limitation is that you just can't listen to Internet radio.