Windows Phone 7 Series Takeaway
by Brian Klug on February 22, 2010 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
Microsoft's App Store
Also among the hubs that were left unexplored were Marketplace/Applications and Office. There's just as much potential in the Office hub as there is in the Gaming hub. Apple surprised many with its focus on enabling iWork on the iPad. Windows Phone 7 Series should have at least an equal focus on productivity. More questions abound. Backwards compatibility seems unlikely to impossible at this point, which would mean an entirely new and different application marketplace from the existing catalog on Windows Mobile. That's not necessarily a bad thing, either. One could make the case that none of the application stores currently on any of the smartphone platforms have totally gotten the formula right; there's still room for innovation. To date, each of the manufacturers have placed different emphasis of openness, organization, and approval ease (or lack entirely).
Furthermore, Office will likely have to be completely rewritten to match the Metro design of the rest of the UI. To complicate this further, it appears that Phone 7 also does away with File Explorer as it existed with Windows Mobile 6.5.x. It's very likely that Phone 7 Series will take a nod from the iPhone's file management approach and create per-application stores for sandboxing files with specific apps. Whether applications will be allowed to access a common store of files (especially for suites like office) is yet to be seen. Will Phone 7 Series have copy and paste?
Even more interestingly, it remains to be seen what part "Project Pink" has to play with Phone 7 Series, if any.
Final Words
Windows Phone 7 Series illustrates that Microsoft still hasn't lost the ability to innovate. They've come up with a completely redesigned UI and a new vision for Windows on phones. Even more, they have the experience to back it up and potentially turn it into much more than another rebooted smartphone platform vying for market share. That said, essentially all we've seen so far is a new UI, not a completely rebooted platform complete with fleshed out details. To quote an overused adage; the devil is in those details. How open or closed the platform is, what liberties developers will have with tiles, backgrounding and pseudo-multitasking, what tools and SDKs will be made available, what form the marketplace will take; these are just some of the points that will need to be addressed before Windows Phone 7 Series is a clear contender.
An additional consequence of application stores on the current dominant platforms is that users of both Android, iPhone OS, and even WebOS have become invested in their respective platforms. The notion of switching platforms and waving goodbye to both those applications and the workflow behind them might not be a tough thing to swallow for AnandTech readers (especially those of you that have been through it before with other mobile OSes), it's a tough sell for casual smartphone users. Lack of backwards compatibility means that even existing Windows Mobile diehards have an opportunity to re-evaluate platform choice; one can just as easily pack up and move to any of the other platforms given the inconvenience.
The Windows Phone team needs to spend the next 9 months carefully carrying its fledgling platform to term. By then, it will be competing for attention alongside newly refreshed hardware from virtually all its major competitors. A lot still has yet to be unveiled; it's just too early to tell for certain. MIX 2010 will bring new information, answering some questions and likely making more.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this newly proposed platform is how much it represents a move toward a closed paradigm. While the Windows smartphone message is headed towards an iPhone-like approach, other smartphone contenders like Android are busily marching toward the kind of openness that Windows Mobile used to be favored for.
Further Reading
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/windowsphone/imageGallery.aspx#channel_contentListTop
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poopyman67 - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
Am I the only one wondering what win7 series is gonna be based off of? I'm guessing winmo6. The only problem is that 7 is a HUGE departure from 6. This is where ms really hurts itself in my opinon. They don't have a system like Linux or unix that they can strip down. Then again, it seems to me a waste to write a new scheduler, file manager, etc. It seems to me at least that it's going to take a completely rewritten OS from ms to make 7 successful.Too bad they don't do the same on the desktop, but I guess that's comparing apples to oranges.
zicoz - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
They have Windoed CE, and I think that is what WinMo is based on, I think WM 6.5 is based on CE 5.x, and rumors have it that WP7 will be based on CE7ncage - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
You don't know that. Microsoft has some of the smartest people in the industry eventhough it seems very fragmented at times. I'm sure the people who wrote the underpinnings segregated into layers in the such that it would be easier to modify in the future. They aren't stupid and there are some damn good system architects there. I've heard from a few sources (engadget i think was one of them) that they totally scraped WinMo 6.5.x and started from scratch. While they don't have linux running i'm sure they have a lightweight OS at its core and then add to that.darwinosx - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
It's been a long time since it was cool to work at Microsoft. The best people are beat down by the layers of stifling management. Doing things the right way is not important. Feature lists and shipping dates are. Thats why Windows is still a mess after all these years. Quoting Engadget tells me you don't know much about the subject. That and your inability to write coherently. I'm betting you are a teenager who doesn't know jack.mlambert890 - Thursday, February 25, 2010 - link
Your handle, your ad-hominem attacks on that guy, your extremist myopia and your obnoxious arrogance all tell me (and probably everyone else) that you're an a-hole.lordmetroid - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
While they may have some geniuses. Statistically, a company that develops behind closed doors have an insignificant percentage of the all geniuses while a company that develops in the open and allows anyone to contribute can have all geniuses developing the product.Magius - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - link
Let me turn that on you:Statistically, a company that develops behind closed doors have complete control of who develops its products (aka. geniuses) while a company that develops in the open and allows ANYONE to contribute can have all the opinionated idiots that think themselves geniuses (plus real geniuses here and there) developing the product.
poopyman67 - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
Oh I don't deny that they have smart people. They've done some great work in research. I just find that they like to take the fast and easy route. Think of windows and flight sim x. Vista was pretty bloaty and light sim x is terribly inefficient.I just think that a total rewrite is neccessary to make 7 series successful.
deputc26 - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
Even Apple-Loving Engadget Has recently given an Android handset "Best gadget of the year" for 2009 as well as best smartphone and best gps.http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/22/the-winners-of-...">http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/22/the-...s-of-the...
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