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
Bing Search and Maps
Bing is tightly integrated into WP7. One needs to look no further than the inclusion of a dedicated (mandatory) button for search just to tell how serious Microsoft is about pushing Bing into the mobile search space with WP7.
I talked earlier about how entering a string into the URL bar in Internet Explorer takes you out of the browser, into search, and then back depending on whether you choose a web result or not. In almost every context (save the marketplace, here search searches the market), pressing the physical search button launches this unified search application.
Bing search and maps honestly hasn’t changed much since I saw it at MIX10, and it really didn’t need to as far as basic maps and search go. Hit the button, and you get a Bing homepage like screen with the daily wallpaper and factoid boxes.
Search terms still pop up differing levels of semantic data - type a company and “stock quote,” and it’ll probably bring that down. Type “pizza in” and a city name, and you’ll get location results. It’s nice to see some intelligence here with searching. You can pivot between web, local, and news. Hit a link on web, and you wind up in the browser. Hit one in local, and you’ll probably wind up in maps. Whether or not you like Bing, the execution here is pretty above average.
What’s lacking is the ability to search local stores like the SMS library or email accounts. It’s sort of ambiguous anymore on every platform what search really does. WebOS has type anywhere, iOS has a mobile spotlight type approach, and Android does a pretty good job searching everything tied to your google account and web.
For whatever reason, WP7 only seems to want to search web facing content most of the time. Hop into messaging, hit search, and you get taken to Bing. Hop into mail, search, and you’ll search email you’ve downloaded - not what’s up on your exchange or IMAP server. Hop into people, hit search, and you’ll search your contacts, but can also search your exchange contacts. The result is that finding stuff is relegated to specific areas rather than one unified place. Whether or not this is right is more of a philosophical argument, it just happens to work that way here.
Another huge omission is the ability to search for things like shipper tracking numbers or unit conversions in Bing. The Bing website allows you to type in a FedEx tracking number or a unit conversion (e.g. 40 pounds in kg), but the search app on Windows Phone won’t give you those results. Given the data already exists on Microsoft’s end, it’s something I’d expect to see down the road.
Microsoft does still have to worry about the bottom line and thus you’ll sometimes see a sponsored search result (similar to what you’d get on a web browser) above your actual results. Microsoft says that the sponsored results will always be limited to one at most.
There’s also voice search support from within Bing and the entire platform. You can tap the microphone icon in Bing, or hold down the Windows button for a few seconds anywhere from WP7. It truthfully works very well for calling contacts, searching simple things, but sadly can’t nail down ‘Anandtech.com’ - that results in ‘Manhunt Xbox Com.’
Finally there’s Bing maps. I had a bad experience with Bing maps on Android. It felt slow and clunky, and initially lacked multitouch support entirely. Thankfully Bing maps on WP7 and home turf is completely diffrerent. It’s fluid, packs multitouch support, and loads quickly.
I think WP7 takes a strong nod from iOS here, going the minimalist route with basic directions, locate me, and search support. Expand the options menu, and you can toggle aerial views and traffic, or clear everything from settings.
Directions works well and is a bit unique. There’s support for walking and driving navigation directions, sadly no public transport. There’s a top window that shows the map as you progress and scroll through the directions in the list box below. Finally at the destination you get Bing’s street view perspective of the destination.
Searching from Bing maps for a location does what you’d expect - flags drop down onto the map. Tapping on these brings up details such as phone, website, and hours if Bing has them. Reviews and nearby and related listings also populate the adjacent pivots.
This is as opportune a time as any to note that the location services on WP7 have continually brought down very speedy location fixes. It’s fast and definitely leverages a location services database like Skyhook or respective databases Apple and Google use. I’m not entirely certain what WP7 is using, or whether Microsoft is rolling its own, but so far I’ve yet to be not be located just as well as I otherwise would be on Android or iOS even inside buildings with no possible way of getting GPS.
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serkol - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - link
"Flipping through pages upon pages of square app icons just isn’t the most efficient way to do it. Folders help reduce the clutter, but they don’t fundamentally address the problem."Try placing folders onto the iPhone dock. I've placed 4 folders there. Tap on the folder (in the dock), and it opens up the folder, then tap on the app. This look like 4 mini "start buttons" - very convenient, and looks very good.
bobjones32 - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - link
FYI Anand - there's a dedicated Facebook app in the marketplace that was posted today. Actually created by Microsoft, not Facebook. Any chance you can update this article or write another quick one once you have a chance to take a look? The screenshots in the Zune software look interesting, at least.Regenweald - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - link
The xbox live integration on this alone makes it a much more attractive platform that anything else out there.( i thought I was going to have to buy an xbox for the new plants vs zombies exclusive content, lol) I'm looking forward to WP8. Many persons have sold WP7 short without anything to actually go on, but now, it already seems like the most complete platform out there. Full windows integration, ZUNE, XBOX and Facebook.Dobs - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - link
All sounded great for me until IE mobile - What a let down.Basically a deal breaker. Other faults I reckon I'd be happy to live with until they fixed them.
My high hopes sunk :(
RetroEvolute - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
How did this let you down? The article didn't really have much of anything to say negative about the IE browser included in Windows Phone 7. Unless you're just one of those people who hate anything with the name IE or Internet Explorer...If you haven't already, try the IE9 Beta for Vista/Win7. It's a huge improvement from their previous versions, and you may just like it.
Dobs - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
Did you read page 9 (Rebuilding a Brand: IE mobile)?The benchmarks, blocky text and..
"Slower page loading times aren’t as big of a deal anyways, since you can leave the browser and go do something else entirely while the page keeps loading."
This statement instantly reminded me of dial up internet - not a smart phone.
I don't open a browser to then go and test my multi-tasking or my patience.
Like I said - I'll wait for now. If IE mobile is fixed I'll seriously reconsider.
I don't currently have a smart phone and had been patiently waiting for win7 phone as I thought it might be The One - but it looks like I'll continue waiting.
And I don't think browsers for PC have anything to do with a phone review - Thanks anyhow.
B3an - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
I dont think the benchmarks matter that much if actual real world browsing is still good, which it is, and that sites are rendered correctly, which they are.Compared to the current state of many other phone browsers at the moment IE on WP7 seems atleast decent. Other browsers might have greater speed and specs on paper but they wont run as smooth and they often have trouble displaying certain pages.
B3an - Thursday, October 21, 2010 - link
Just read the Engadget review and they also like the browser:"we've got to say that web browsing on Windows Phone 7 is actually a really pleasant experience. "
"Loading the desktop version of Engadget was just a hair slower than an iPhone 4, and just as importantly, rendering new parts of the page as you scroll is plenty fast -- not instantaneous, but fast enough so that you never find yourself consciously waiting for it to catch up. Zooming -- which is accomplished with a pinch gesture, of course -- is buttery smooth. The phone accomplishes this in the same way you're probably used to from other devices: when you first zoom in, it uses the same render resolution so that it can at least show you something without going blank, then it renders the appropriate level of detail as it catches up (Google Maps works the same way on almost every platform). It works well. Zooming in and out of a page -- even when still loading up content -- was super fast in our testing, and rendering happened in a split second, meaning hardly any time spent looking at jagged pixels. We're tremendously impressed with how well the browser works "
However they go on to mention that because of no Flash (yet, Adobe are working on it) that watching streaming video is out of the question for now as the browser also dont support HTML5 video.
MacGyver85 - Friday, October 22, 2010 - link
I was at the launch event in Belgium at the Microsoft HQ and had the chance to ask a few questions. One of which was if they'll be moving to the IE9 rendering & javascript engine once it is finalized. The answer was a resounding yes. The guy also said that they are already using some parts of IE9 as well in addition to IE7 and 8.ishbuggy - Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - link
Does anyone know how WP7 will handle updates? I really hope they enforce updates across all the devices so you don't get stuck with old software versions months after new ones have come out like with android.