The Windows Phone 7 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Brian Klug on October 20, 2010 7:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Windows Phone 7
- Microsoft
- Mobile
The First Phones: Samsung Focus
The Focus is a launch device on AT&T. It’s a Windows Phone Galaxy S. The Samsung Focus is incredibly thin and very easy to pocket. It’s very lightweight thanks to its all plastic construction. The Focus doesn’t feel like it’ll fall apart, but it doesn’t inspire the same confidence as the LG Optimus 7.
The screen is the best looking out of the three we’ve got here today. The 4-inch Super AMOLED display delivers vibrant colors (a perfect match for WP7’s color based themes) and perfect black levels. Overall brightness leaves much to be desired. We only measured 234 nits at its brightest setting. Medium is more than bright enough for indoor or use at night (thanks to the excellent contrast ratio), but outdoors during the day you need to leave the device on high.
Battery life is absolutely abysmal, thanks to that Super AMOLED display. We measured 4.6 hours on WiFi, 3.75 hours on 3G but a respectable 6.4 hours of talk time (the display is shut off for our talk tests). This translates into a single charge lasting well under a full day’s worth of heavy use, or just under a day of moderate use.
Personally I prefer the 3.8-inch form factor of the LG to the 4.0-inch Focus. Unlike Android, Windows Phone 7 seems better suited for smaller displays thanks to its very simple UI and the fact that everything you need to tap on is already ginormous.
If you want more of a balance between size, screen and battery life you’ll want to look at the final phone in our trio: the HTC Surround.
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bplewis24 - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
Check out page 26. It's dedicated completely to how the "update" process works. In short, it's more like iOS than Android....which is sounds like you'd prefer.ishbuggy - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
Yeah I accidentally skipped that page :PI really hope it works out as well as Microsoft hopes it will
Voldenuit - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - link
Will AT be reviewing the Nokia N8 and E8 Symbian phones? Nokia is pretty obscure in the States (since they mainly sell direct from their website, with no carrier subsidy), but are pretty big in Europe and Asia.epyon96 - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - link
Anand,With such a glowing review from you, it's almost enough to bump Windows 7 above my initial choice of getting a blackberry. I need a physical keyboard. I'm very picky about it. You are simply a very engaging writer.
I really hope Windows 7 mobile comes up with a superior keyboard version
VashHT - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
The Dell phone coming out looks like it will have a really nice keyboard, I think it is called the venue pro. Also ATT is supposed to have a keyboard phone by LG I think.heelo - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
The Venue Pro *looks* great, but it's somewhat of a monster in size and weight.If I weren't stuck on a T-Mobile family plan, I'd probably opt for that LG Quantum. Like Anand said, WP7's interface is extremely usable on smaller screens, and the reasonable form factor and physical keyboard likely make for a very convenient real-world user experience. The drawback is that the looks and (supposedly) build quality are sub-par.
EarthwormJim - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - link
OMG a screenshot of me in action is on the Xbox Live page!! Woo-hoogstrickler - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
That's the ugliest and least interesting home/start screen I've ever seen on a smartphone. It may be functional, but even a 6 year old crackberry looked better (and I don't like the BB). The rest of the UI doesn't look too bad, but the start screen needs some work.bplewis24 - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
I couldn't agree more. I find it funny that people are claiming this UI is "100% right" as if everybody is going to like it. Obviously it's a matter of preference, but I just cannot see the overwhelming majority of people getting into this UI. I find it appalling to look at and couldn't imagine using it every day.Brandon
B3an - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
Dont know what you're smoking but most people prefer an easy to use simple looking UI thats functional rather than cluttered eye candy.From the vids i've seen it seems to be the smoothest running, most functional, fastest, and natural UI on any phone to date.