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 Keyboard
The virtual keyboard is software replaceable under Android. If you don’t like what comes on your phone just download another one. Microsoft took the Apple approach and doesn’t allow swapping of keyboards. Instead, Microsoft put together what it feels is the perfect virtual keyboard. While I won’t call it perfect, it is a nice blend of Apple’s simplicity and the text replacement bar you get with some Android keyboards.
Each keypress has an ultramodern typewriter sound to it. Hold down the shift key and you’ll hear an extra tap indicating that caps lock is now active.
There are three keyboard configurations by default if you’re typing in a text field. The default one is very similar to the iOS keyboard with a few android-like additions. You get a comma and period keys as well as the emoticon button. Tapping the latter gives you two pages of emoticons for your expressive needs.
Hit the &123 key and you’ll get numbers and symbols. Hit the right arrow and you’ll see the second page. The numbers remain intact across both symbol keyboards making typing complex passwords a bit easier.
Microsoft doesn’t inject as much key spacing into the keyboard as Apple does, which can throw off iOS users. The learning curve isn’t steep though. The keyboard will autocorrect simple errors. Corrections happen based on length of word typed and location of keys pressed. For more ambiguous errors it’ll present you with a list of options in a bar above the keyboard. You can tap to select a replacement or scroll left/right to find one that may not be among the top suggestions.
If a word incorrectly shows up as misspelled, tap once to highlight and hit the + key in the suggestion bar to add it to the dictionary.
There’s typically a separate confirm/send button below the keyboard for anything that’s a non-recoverable action (e.g. sending an SMS). This is so you don’t accidentally hit enter and send something when you thought you were putting a space in between some lines.
Of course the whole point of a virtual keyboard is that it should change based on the application. Windows Phone 7 is no exception. If you’re typing in a URL box you get a dedicated .com key for example. Typing in an email field gives you dedicated @ and .com key. The calculator app has its own custom keyboard layouts (one for portrait and one for landscape).
To position a cursor in iOS you tap and hold until you get a magnifying lens that helps you fine position your cursor. Android relies on arrow keys or a trackball (optical/physical). Windows Phone once again borrows from Apple. You tap and hold but instead of getting a magnifying lens, a theme-colored cursor appears above your finger. Simply drag your finger down and out of the way to position the cursor exactly where you want it. It feels awkward at first, but it makes a lot of sense once you get used to it.
Overall the keyboard is great. If you’re used to iOS, there’s a bit of an adjustment period but you’ll pick it up right away. If you’re coming from Android (except for Swype) I believe you’ll find it a pleasant balance between iOS and Android keyboards. And if you’ve never used a virtual keyboard before, you couldn’t have a better starting point.
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Lapoki - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
I think WP7 has potential and could very well be my next purchase. Great article guys, it was long but very detailed.. got me through a boring afternoon.One thing seems missing though... the infamous signal strength comparison that you have been doing for all other phones ever since iPhone 4.
wht1986 - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
One of the most informative WP7 reviews I have read. I actually didn't skip to the end just to read the conclusions. I read it all and enjoyed every page. Well done.epyon96 - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
Did I read that right?Only Mp4 and WMVsupport?
strikeback03 - Friday, October 22, 2010 - link
I'm guessing that is the audio codecs allowed for videosTanclearas - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
"When Apple introduced the iPhone, Steve Jobs made the point that a virtual keyboard was preferable to a fixed keyboard because you shouldn’t always be stuck with the same keyboard layout. Some applications would require a slightly different layout and other applications wouldn’t need it entirely. A physical keyboard requires you to pay the space penalty regardless of what you’re doing with the phone."Really? So, by that argument, Google/Android is the better choice of phone. You shouldn't always be stuck with a single choice of phone layout. I use my hardware keyboard regularly on my G1. As for "applications requiring a slightly different layout", that's a load of crap. When typing, I always want letters and numbers, and I want QWERTY with number keys above. I don't want an on-screen QWERTY with a separate button to press to switch back-and-forth between letters and numbers.
The "applications that require a slightly different layout", perhaps like the phone keypad, can still use an on-screen keypad when necessary.
DP-16D - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
Windows 7 Phone must be absolutely phenomenal given the writers' incredible Mac-centric slant (especially with the Windows 7 desktop non-sequitor at the end of the review). Furthermore: The e-mail and messaging pages don't include comparisons to Blackberry, the de-facto standard for communication on smartphones. In fact, I cannot recall that line of phones being mentioned at all. As an existing Blackberry user considering a switch to Windows 7 Phone your review is nearly worthless, because 99% of my phone experience is about functionality and not whether or not my handset can sing and dance better or worse than iOS and Android.Normally I enjoy reading Anand for very thorough reviews, but this review's omission of the essential and inclusion of the irrelevant will make me reconsider reading any future submissions by these two writers.
beefnot - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
C'mon man, although Blackberry is a mkt share leader, it is a 20th century platform with very little innovation. It is walking dead with respect to consumer devices, which is the segment that Windows Phone 7 is currently targeting. I own a blackberry for work, but there is no way in hell I would consider it for my personal mobile device, and I don't give a rat's ass that it is excluded from comparison.Reven - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
I'm happy with my iphone 4 for now, but I will seriously consider getting the next generation of Windows Mobile phones when I eventually upgrade.anona6 - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
Hey I live in Tucson, and I was wondering if anandtech was based out of Tucson or something.This article made it a little more exciting for me just because it was local to me, and you have
one of my favorite coffee shops there that's nearby my University.
Zstream - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
Do you know what the talk time is for the LG? It's not showing on the graph