Windows Phone 7: The AnandTech Guide
by Brian Klug on March 21, 2010 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Windows Phone 7
- Mobile
Final Words
At the end of our discussion, I talked with Andre about the work the WP7S team has ahead of them. It's hard to not get excited about just how dramatic this platform reboot is, but there's obviously still much to be done before launch Q4 2010. What really stuck out in his response was one line - he mentioned that the Microsoft team is approaching WP7S with a "crawl, walk, run" philosophy. Right now, they're still at crawl.
That isn't to say the team is crawling forward, but rather that they're nailing down core things first and plan to rapidly deploy extra features later. They call these extra features "delighters," and although copy and paste and multitasking won't be among them at launch, it's very likely (if not critical) that they come later. I asked about whether they're going to update WP7S devices continually - the same way older Zune hardware saw software platform updates years later - he confirmed this would be the case. There's something very Apple-like about this approach; focusing on what you have time for, only delivering what's done, and steadily updating. It's a refreshing difference from the oft-uncertain upgrade path most Windows Mobile devices were left at.
WP7S will have a hard case to make this holiday, against heavily entrenched competition - the same competition which will very likely have compelling updates of their own rolled out by Q4 2010. We'll likely see iPhone OS 4.0 before the year is over, and more flagship devices and software updates from Android. Microsoft needs to plan and develop for the future, and they're already behind - but they know it. The team will have to finalize and carefully decide on the remainder of their Marketplace criteria, get a number of carriers on board, nail their launch hardware with OEMs, build a large catalog of applications ready for launch, and keep their third party developers excited. The WP7S dev team knows it has this hard work cut out for them, but what we've seen so far is a promising and compelling deviation from the past. They've demonstrated they're not afraid to purge themselves of the old, and start anew.
It's a philosophy that's radical for Microsoft, a company that has built its empire on backwards compatibility. To have a key OS team within Microsoft accepting the fact that sometimes you need to douse the place, light a match and walk away is huge. That's exactly what Windows Phone 7 Series feels like. I only hope that the rest of Microsoft is willing to do the same, if necessary.
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PsychoPif - Monday, March 22, 2010 - link
MS will push the upgrades, not the carriers.shady28 - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
Wow, you know there are (were) really only 5 platforms in the smartphone space - Windows Mobile, Palm WebOS, Blackberry RIM, iPhone, and Android. All of them were unique in their own way and had their own 'fanbase'.
Now MS has removed their uniqueness. Rather than improving on WinMo, they've decided to try to go head to head against the iPhone by attempting to match up against the iPhone's strengths (ie, interface, ease of use, MP3 player integration, app store, etc).
Naturally they've failed to best the iPhone in those categories by a long shot. Instead they essentially have made a device that is 'less than an iPhone' rather than a better WinMO device. I'd say this is the move that will kill off WinMo.
Johnmcl7 - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
Whatever you think of S60 and Maemo, Nokia still have a large share of the smartphone marketAzsen - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
Does Microsoft seriously think that home screen user interface looks good? It looks flippen hideous!! Give me iPhone UI any day.straubs - Monday, March 22, 2010 - link
No kiddding! Look at the Pre and then look at WP7S and tell me that doesn't look like something someone drew up in their basement in 1978. The single color and square corners are awful, not too mention huge amounts of wasted space everywhere.melgross - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
One thing that wasn't clear to me is whether or not music and books will be available without going through the marketplace. Apps can only be gotten there, so ok. The same thing is true for my iPhone. But I can get books, video and music onto the phone that weren't bought through the App Store or iTunes. Would that be possible here as well?The article didn't touch on that from what I saw. Anyone know?
nerdtalker - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
I touched on it, but only very briefly ;) partly because it's, you guessed it, not totally finalized. Microsoft wants everything to go through the marketplace, so that means yes, music, videos, and games are all marketplace purchases.A lot of developers were asking whether there was any API for them to do in-application commerce, and the answer was that this was still being worked on. Think the same way you can buy additional levels or addons in-game on the iPhone that are billed through the App Store. It isn't present in the builds of WP7S - yet.
It's another one of those things they haven't fully fleshed out yet, and haven't decided whether they can finish in time for release.
I didn't hear any mention of books at all, that's a great point. I'm not sure whether there's any strategy there.
Cheers,
Brian
CSMR - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
It looks like there is some complex sync process to transfer special types of file.You can't just plug in the phone, open it up as a storage device and drag files to and fro, as you can now.
Instead you probably need to install special sync software.
My advice: avoid and get a phone that is recognized as a storage device and has a usable file system.
MGSsancho - Monday, March 22, 2010 - link
Maybe it behaves like my ZuneHD. i just put music and audio books into my music folder and videos into my video folder. then it shows up in the Zune app. if i want to auto sync pics, vids, podcats and music it can or I can manually drag stuff the the ZuneHD device icon. oh you can either encode videos yourself or the app will do it for youMrPIppy - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
iPhone apps are sandboxed, but they are *not* managed code. Objective-C is compiled into ARM binaries, and garbage collection is not available on iPhone.