Windows Phone 7 Series

[Morgul]

Well, the update works great.  Here are some things I like so far:

"scout" from bing maps.  Sort of like "places" from google.  You can pin it to the start screen too. 

I like the "tap" to take picture thing on the camera.
Integrated facebook chat looks cool too, but I turn it off since I dont want to talk to any of them, hah.  But it looks nice.

The new picture stuff is cool, and i love skydrive.  (It auto uploads my pictures to it_  It now changed the background and tile allot more often.  Or at least it seems too. And it pans around the picture in the tile.
The new office got allot better, either that or I figured it out.   I can now get all my cisco switch configs on my phone, work documents, etc.   t also synching to skydrive.

I wish I had a xbox 360 since I got the live account, I want to play around with it more.   Wish it was for playstation 3, lol

So, still simple interface, still looks cool, still the most, ummm..  "fun" OS... 

[Hrothgar]

Well, the force update trick worked for my wife's phone.   I'm not familiar enough with it to notice all the changes.  Are there any new features I should point out?

[ravenvii]

Multitasking is sorta a biggie.

Also, third-party apps can now take full advantage of the home screen blocks... used to be only Microsoft apps can take full advantage of them. No more.

[Morgul]

Well, the HTC trophy (only win phone on Verizon) has mediocre specs...   The camera kind of sucks,  the rest is nothing to right home about. I have dropped it on concrete about 5 times though and it takes a beating like a champ.

 And it flat out smokes my last android phone on speed and response, smooth as silk.

I cannot wait to see a high end Nokia or samsung phone with high end display, etc.   I am not sure it would even need a dual core processor, but I want one anyways.

I grabbed the trophy because I was getting bored with IOS and android, and wanted something different.   
(And it was just $50 bucks on amazon)

Here is to hoping we get a "ass ripping hardware" phone soon on Verizon..   Those Nokia phones look really nice, the ones with the curved screen. 
That fujitsu one looks good too..     I have a upgrade ready.  They need to get off their asses and get some hardware out.  ;-)

[Purge]

I'm on a 3gs, and am considering WP7 phone. Any recommendations?

[corruptrelic]

Yes, don't get one. 

[lildrgn]

Insider tip: if you are near a Microsoft retail store, they are running a promo where if you spend $499 or more before tax, you get a free W7 phone with Tmobile (HTC HD7 or Dell Venue) or ATT (I forget which ones), no contract required.

[Bullwinkle]

After a painful, week-long experience trying to get this update to work on my XP machine (which has ample HDD space for the backup), I finally deleted a crapload of stuff and it all worked fine on my Win7 laptop.  But, man, it was a rough week.

Now I have to move the backup onto a memory stick or something.

[ravenvii]

I'm on a 3gs, and am considering WP7 phone. Any recommendations?

From what I've seen, the best ones coming out are the Samsung Focus S (based on the Galaxy S II), the HTC Titan (a huge display... if you like that sort of thing), and the Nokia "SeaRay".

Personally I can't wait for the Nokia. It looks amazing - even better than the iPhone.

[Morgul]

I'm on a 3gs, and am considering WP7 phone. Any recommendations?

From what I've seen, the best ones coming out are the Samsung Focus S (based on the Galaxy S II), the HTC Titan (a huge display... if you like that sort of thing), and the Nokia "SeaRay".

Personally I can't wait for the Nokia. It looks amazing - even better than the iPhone.

Nokia's event is october 26th...   That samsung focus s is very nice.  Too bad its just for AT and T...

That titan is a fooking tablet...

[CeeKay]

damn, that Titan looks nice.  too bad it's only got 16 gigs of storage, unless I'm missing something on the specs page that is.

[Morgul]

3.7 to 4 inch is the sweet spot for me.

[Purge]

3.7 to 4 inch is the sweet spot for me.

That AIN'T what she said.

[Morgul]

too bad it's only got 16 gigs of storage, unless I'm missing something on the specs page that is.

Have you looked at microsoft skydrive?

[Morgul]

That AIN'T what she said.

lol

[Purge]

Samsung Focus --- anyone have one? Thoughts?

[farley2k]

The iPhone 4S Is Microsoft’s Chance to Catch up to Apple  At least according to a Gizmodo article.

Right now, Microsoft's awesome Metro user experience is the only real alternative to Apple's dominance. Not in market share—yet—but in terms of technological superiority. FAF, if you will, the Fucking-Awesome Factor. To me, Windows Phone 7.5 feels like the only real challenger to Apple's iOS 5 superiority.

[Bullwinkle]

Samsung Focus --- anyone have one? Thoughts?

It's a great piece of hardware.

[Morgul]

The new Nokia phones look nice.  God knows when Verizon will get one though.   Still 1 phone, the trophy, meh.  

Wonder why its released in 2011 in India, china, Russia, Europe but not the US?  Kind of strange. 

[Bullwinkle]

The new Nokia phones look nice.  God knows when Verizon will get one though.   Still 1 phone, the trophy, meh.  

Wonder why its released in 2011 in India, china, Russia, Europe but not the US?  Kind of strange. 

That happens all the time.  The US is way behind on phone technology.  I think it has to do with regulations and testing and whatnot, but the rest of the world usually gets much cooler phones than we do.

[lildrgn]

Yow, the Sea Ray/Lumia 800 looks smoking hot.


*photo is of N9, which is essentially the Lumia 800 running Nokia's Meego software. Still hot.

[Morgul]

geesh, just seen in UK they giving away free xbox with upgrade to the 800..

Argh, lucky ducks..

[Bullwinkle]

Well, I'm starting to get the impression that Microsoft has given up on WP7.  In the last couple of weeks we had Kinectimals come out for the phone and the nifty Xbox Companion App which lets you control the 360 from your phone.  They've also had pretty good integration with Live.

Then, basically right as the Dashboard Update happened, they seemed to cave.  Kinectimals came out for iOS along with an Xbox app.  Also there's a OneNote app, too.   Now, granted the Xbox app is gimped compared to what's on WP7, but it doesn't lend itself to trying to distinguish themselves in the market.

I know there have been indicators that they're not completely done.  I also know that they're sure to make a decent influx of cash doing this, but it feels cheap and undermining.  It's also disheartening to say the least.

[EngineNo9]

The problem with WP7 from an outsider's perspective is that they have been slow as hell to push out their updates and get these new phones out there.  With as fast as the mobile market moves, the Mango update which had been rumored and talked about since the original launch took them a year to get out the door.  By that time most people consider the hardware to be out of date and have already written it off entirely.

Also, I'm not about to jump on another of their platforms when they let the awesome Zune HD wither on the vine with no promotion or support.

[Bullwinkle]

I don't know that the general public are even aware of what Mango is.  My wife has no idea that our iPad switched to iOS 5, for example.

[Purge]

Samsung Focus --- anyone have one? Thoughts?

It's a great piece of hardware.

I agree. Too bad the Samsung Focus S or Flash still aren't in the Canadian market.

As for WP7, I freakin' love it. If MS is going to compete by building a market, they need to get more phones out there (and cheaper than iPhones) as well as coaxing developers to put out the top games from iOS which means helping with a dev conversion kit.

Zune also needs some simpler navigation that falls more in line with Mango, and creating playlists needs to be less complicated. It, along with outlook synching, is just about the only knocks I have against it.

[Bullwinkle]

Samsung Focus --- anyone have one? Thoughts?

It's a great piece of hardware.

I agree. Too bad the Samsung Focus S or Flash still aren't in the Canadian market.

As for WP7, I freakin' love it. If MS is going to compete by building a market, they need to get more phones out there (and cheaper than iPhones) as well as coaxing developers to put out the top games from iOS which means helping with a dev conversion kit.

Zune also needs some simpler navigation that falls more in line with Mango, and creating playlists needs to be less complicated. It, along with outlook synching, is just about the only knocks I have against it.

They already have a conversion kit that is, by all accounts, really easy to use.  I've even written to a number of app makers to point this out and beg them to make a WP7 version, but no one seems very interested (apart from Sound Hound who were very responsive and have since put out a WP7 version - unfortunately right as this function was built right into Bing Search).

From what I've gathered in some of these emails and research, it has more to do with the MS app store and the slooow, odd process involved with becoming one of the MS "approved" titles.  And those only get released once a week (actually this week had three releases, so maybe that is starting to change).  If you're buried in the non-approved section, forget it.  It's way to easy to get lost there, and nearly impossible to get any attention or revenue.

There's also the issue of MS app pricing.  At a time when $.99 seems to be the sweet spot, MS apps are still pricing at around $2.99.

And there's some sort of frame rate lock issue, too.  Games can't be 60FPS for some reason.  Or something.  I haven't really looked into this much, as I've only just heard about it.

[Morgul]

The calender on it sucks..

Hope it gets fixed or upgraded sometime.

[Bullwinkle]

The calender on it sucks..

Hope it gets fixed or upgraded sometime.

I thought the changes in Mango were really good.  I certainly don't think it sucks.  The only issue I have, really, is that the month view doesn't make the details clear.

[lildrgn]

The calender on it sucks..

Hope it gets fixed or upgraded sometime.

I thought the changes in Mango were really good.  I certainly don't think it sucks.  The only issue I have, really, is that the month view doesn't make the details clear.

I see the calendar as more of a "jump to date" feature than a "read my tasks" type thing.

I had Android for 10 months or so and got my WP7 almost 2 weeks ago, going from a HTC G2 to a HTC Radar 4G. I love the smoothness and snappiness of the Radar, as well as the slim, no keyboard size of it. The simplicity of Mango is beautiful as well. However, I miss the apps (and the daily free Amazon app) on the Android.

All in all, I'm really pleased with the WP7.

Spoiler for Hiden:

*full disclosure: I work for MS.

[Morgul]

The calender on it sucks..

Hope it gets fixed or upgraded sometime.

I thought the changes in Mango were really good.  I certainly don't think it sucks.  The only issue I have, really, is that the month view doesn't make the details clear.

Exactly.. and for me, that is a prime feature.  IOS and android were much better at allowing me to glance at the calender and see whats going on..

The monthly view in wp7 is almost totally useless.

[Purge]

The calender on it sucks..

Hope it gets fixed or upgraded sometime.

I thought the changes in Mango were really good.  I certainly don't think it sucks.  The only issue I have, really, is that the month view doesn't make the details clear.

Exactly.. and for me, that is a prime feature.  IOS and android were much better at allowing me to glance at the calender and see whats going on..

The monthly view in wp7 is almost totally useless.

Turning it sideways with a pinch-zoom option would make all the difference. Sideways, yes. Zoom? notsomush.

[Morgul]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fW2ZTkTM9L8

lol

[Bullwinkle]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fW2ZTkTM9L8

lol

Spoiler for Hiden:

I've never felt more like Hitler in my life.  Except for that bit at the end where he'll get the new one anyway.

Best bit was the "Anyone who does not have a Windows Phone leave" and the 3 guys are left.