New kid on the block
by Volker Weber
You met three of them. None of them runs Android. :-)
I haven't signed any NDAs, but I understand that my colleagues have to wait until the 21st before they can publish formal reviews. In the light of that I am going to hold back more than I usually do.
What I can tell you is that the software is very different from what you have seen so far. A breath of fresh air. I very much like the design of the screens, although they seem wasteful. The largest fonts are reserved for the least import information. At launch Steve Ballmer promised "delightful and wonderfully mine", and after I played with this phone, I think, yes, that does make sense.
I was not forced to register the device with Microsoft, I did not have to sign in to Windows Live*. Google Mail, Calendar, Contacts and Facebook were set up in a matter of minutes. And I haven't used Exchange once. It remains to be seen how the phone will integrate with other Internet services, but so far, this has been incredibly smooth sailing. I am impresssed.
There is however one showstopper. You need a media management software on your PC, akin to iTunes. And that is so far only available for PCs. However, neowin.net reports:
In a surprise move, Microsoft UK’s head of Windows Phone marketing, Oded Ran, tweeted that Mac users will be able to sync Windows Phone 7 devices with a version of the Zune software for Macs. This tweet has since been removed from Twitter.
Apart from this roadblock, it is going to be very easy to sell these devices. They are extremely appealing. Some impressions after the break:
*) You need a Windows Live ID if you want to install software from the marketplace. Ultimately you will do that. But it's not a prerequisite to getting the device running.
Comments
For my eyes there is a huge amount of wasted space in this UI. And the wrong information is highlighted.
I assume that #1 shows a reminder of Wolfgang's birthday. And what is written in supersized letters: time and date as of now.
#2 shows 4 contact's photos and and 2 half photos. On such a big screen? Useless. What I like is the concept of higlighting recently used. But I have mor than 6 contacts I recently use...
#3 shows 3 Facebook posts. On my much smaller BlackBerry Bold screen I can see up to 4 at once.
#4 shows 4.5 emails. On my much smaller BlackBerry Bold screen I can see 6.5 at once.
#6 shows 7 "apps". On my much smaller BlackBerry Bold screen I can see 18 at once.
My eyes are to good for this interface :-)
You are coming to conclusions too quickly. You have to experience the phone "in motion". And #1 is the lock screen.
…besides which, if you’re measuring your “efficiency” by how quickly you scope Facebook status updates, arguably you need a new job :-)
not so bad. seems to fit perfectly for my grandparents...
chapeau! I hope that WP7 fills the gap between the business oriented blackberrys and the "consumers dream", the iphone.
Volker, what can you say about the media player? does it "synchronize" music well?
As I wrote, you need to run software which only works on Windows. Thus, no music for me.
no other way to play mp3's? mmmh, ugly.
do you mean you can sync your contacts, calendar events with google out of the box?
Roland, since it's an accepted solution in the iOS ecosystem, I am not going to criticize Microsoft for copying this solution. I agree that Android, BlackBerry and Symbian are more flexible.
Karl, yes. And as easy as on an Android with Google experience. You just add a Google Mail account and mark checkboxes for calendar and contacts. Works just like that.
Thanks for sharing! Too bad about the missing "iZunes" for Mac. The Zune software for PC is excellent! It's fun to use and handles large music collections very well.
That looks extremely nice. Let's see whether I will have one as well when I leave Seattle.
No cut & paste.
