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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lifeblood - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
" Each time you run the application, WP7S will check that application's signature against the marketplace, both to check that it's valid, and that hasn't been revoked. Yes, marketplace has an application kill-switch."So if I'm out of range of a cell tower and I try to launch a app, it won't run because it can't call home? That's not very helpful, especially if it's a GPS app that I want to use to find my way back home.
erple2 - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
I suspect that they'll use a similar route to how the Zune works for its subscription based music. You can still play those songs for a while (a few days?) before having to connect the Zune to a WiFi network.cditty - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
I'm sure it will launch the app if it can't make contact. No doubt that they thought of this.at80eighty - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
good catch - hope it's not true, because win7 phone had all the trappings of a promising platform & they seem to be castrating it steadily with every press releaseJohnmcl7 - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
"There's also the fact that existing SoCs are barely powerful enough to make running a single application feel quick. It won't be until we get multicore Cortex A9 or Intel Moorestown class hardware before we have the horsepower to multitask without a tangible performance impact."
Maybe that's what Microsoft/Apple would like to think but it's clearly not the case at all with several current phones having no problems supporting multitasking without performance issues. There are limits to the number of apps that can be handled simultaneously before it impacts performance but my current phone can easily handle 5 to 6 apps with no impact to the current app in use.
The lack of SD card slot is concerning as it removes an easy way to back up on the move, while it's easy to have plenty of onboard memory it can be a pain in the neck if the device dies as you lose access to it. Of course you can still back up to a PC but with the increasing capabilities of smartphones, they're generally moving away from being connected to the PC.
John
fcx56 - Tuesday, March 23, 2010 - link
Microsoft wants (for better or worse) your information backed up in the cloud. If you re-read the bit about the SMS app it gives a cloud backup error message.darwinosx - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
As usual Microsoft interface design is different for no reason other than to be different. They are also too little too late. So the choice remains to either get an iPhone and put up with AT&T or Android. Android is a lame copy of the iPhone with crap hardware and if Apple wins the lawsuit or an injunction then Android becomes an even poorer copy of the iPhone.zinfamous - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
come on, reader1/perks! couldn't you just use the same username here as you do in DailyTech? It makes it easier for the rest of us to know the content of your post rather than having to waste our precious 20 seconds reading them, when all it will be is yet another baitish, everything-but-Apple, FUD-ridden marketing ploy.FITCamaro - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
So the fact that the Droid shares much of the same hardware as the iPhone and that there are other Android phones with even more powerful hardware than the iPhone makes it crap?at80eighty - Sunday, March 21, 2010 - link
Android is a lame copy of the iPhone with crap hardwarewell alright then - looks like the Brainwash2000 MAChinery did a good job with you