Discussion about
Ok, I managed to get my hands on a phone running a beta of Windows Phone 7.
If you have any questions, please ask them here on gdgt and I'll do my best to answer them! Please keep the questions software-related, the handset I have is just test hardware, it's not something that WP7 will actually be shipping on.
Facebook is one of the default account options (along with Windows Live, Outlook, Yahoo, and Google), but since I don't use Facebook I haven't been able to test how good the integration is. There's no option for Twitter, but I presume it'll be offered eventually, and I'm sure there will be plenty of apps to choose from.
Integration with Google contacts and calendar is good, had zero issues getting both to sync.
Integration with Google contacts and calendar is good, had zero issues getting both to sync.
I saw this at the Seattle event. It's pretty impressive. If your contact has a facebook account, their posts appear on that individual contact's "page". I think Twitter and flicker too.
The built-in OneNote syncs to SkyDrive, right? How well do the richer notes from the desktop version convert to a phone-friendly form?
Hey Peter, hope you had a safe trip back to NYC!
I got to see the Win Phone 7 at the Seattle event and was pretty impressed with what I saw. It looked very responsive in the reps hands, but it felt like there was a lot of "drilliing down" going on in order to do some of the things she was showing, like placing a contact on the home screen. Are you having this experience navigating through the UI?
I got to see the Win Phone 7 at the Seattle event and was pretty impressed with what I saw. It looked very responsive in the reps hands, but it felt like there was a lot of "drilliing down" going on in order to do some of the things she was showing, like placing a contact on the home screen. Are you having this experience navigating through the UI?
I think in general they wanted to try and present as little info at a time on each page, which does require a bit more drilling down, but it feels like most of the time what you need is presented at the highest level possible. Will need a couple of weeks of use to really get a feel for this though.
How is multi-tasking or switching apps on this phone? How about handling phone calls when you're using other app and some calls?
I want to ask if it has a death grip but that's a hardware/manufacturer question.... And there's no use asking about its specs cuz that changes with the manufacturer too...
I want to ask if it has a death grip but that's a hardware/manufacturer question.... And there's no use asking about its specs cuz that changes with the manufacturer too...
Well, multitasking is limited to stuff like the music player, which can run in the background. You don't have anything like the multitasking in Android. Switching apps is pretty easy, and so far everything I've tried has loaded quickly. I wish you could hold down the Windows key and pull up a list of recent apps like you can in Android when you hold down the Home key, hopefully they'll add that at some point.
Will try out calling and using an app, I so rarely make calls that I just haven't done that yet.
Will try out calling and using an app, I so rarely make calls that I just haven't done that yet.
I honestly just multi-task when I'm using the browser, music, email, contacts, and phone functions. Whenever I am done with the other apps, I shut it down (android OS with task manager app.) I'd like to be able to text/email someone and use the browser just to spell check or verify what I'm about to say.
One thing I didn't like about the vibrant was that there was no dedicated button to answer a call and I accidentally press the back button. It somehow seemed to lose all function to answer the ringing incoming call. Does this device have any dedicated button for picking up calls or ending a call or will you have to rely completely on the touch screen (hopefully not do what I did)?
One thing I didn't like about the vibrant was that there was no dedicated button to answer a call and I accidentally press the back button. It somehow seemed to lose all function to answer the ringing incoming call. Does this device have any dedicated button for picking up calls or ending a call or will you have to rely completely on the touch screen (hopefully not do what I did)?
Does the weather app have it's own tile? Is the tile live with the current weather or do you need to launch it to check the weather?
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How is the "glanceable information" from the homescreen(s)? How does it compare to Android's ability to have information like new emails, calls, sms, calendar displayed on the homescreen using a combination of a notification bar & widgets
The tiles do a pretty good job of showing you how many unread emails, upcoming calendar appointments, etc. Hard to tell right now (since I haven't had the phone for very long) how it will handle lots of notifications, Android does that quite well with the notification tray.
I think there are lots of factors that go into creating a successful platform these days, but I would say it's safe to assume that no mobile OS can be successful without a robust developer ecosystem. Is it the most key factor? Hard to say, I think another major challenge will just be getting consumers to check out a Windows Phone 7 phone in the first place.
What's the keyboard like? Can you compare it to another one out there, like either stock Froyo, iPhone, or HTC Android (better yet - the xda version HTC_IME v.27). Does it have alt keys that you can press and hold?
I'd like to spend more time with it before passing judgment -- and keep in mind this is still beta software -- but I'd place it somewhere between the stock Froyo keyboard and that of the iPhone. It doesn't have alt keys, you can toggle between qwerty keys and numbers/punctuation.
This is a good question. I think one weak point might be the browser, but I'd like to spend more time with it trying out different sites. I will say that one small thing I dislike about it is that you can't open a new tab/window in the background, that's something I've gotten used to having with the stock Android browser.
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Can you download files from the browser?
(I'm talking about things like mp3s, pdfs, etc... which you can't do on the iPhone)
(I'm talking about things like mp3s, pdfs, etc... which you can't do on the iPhone)
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A couple of questions if you get a minute...
Zune software integration: Both the synching and the zune player on the device, done well? No hitches? I remember you use(d) a zuneHD so does it compare favorably as a media device?
Also I hear the OS is a lot of long lists (once again zune HDish). Have you noticed needing to scroll too far one way or another yet? Do you forsee once you get access to a larger app environment that this could be an issue?
Thanks!
Zune software integration: Both the synching and the zune player on the device, done well? No hitches? I remember you use(d) a zuneHD so does it compare favorably as a media device?
Also I hear the OS is a lot of long lists (once again zune HDish). Have you noticed needing to scroll too far one way or another yet? Do you forsee once you get access to a larger app environment that this could be an issue?
Thanks!
They gave me a beta of Zune 4.7 to install, synced the phone with that. Absolutely no issues at all, Win 7 detected the phone and installed drivers in seconds. (Oh, and this is all in Parallels, too!) Syncing music, pics, and video was as easy as it is with a regular Zune. You can also do wireless sync over WiFi, but I haven't tested that yet.
The media app itself is similar to the Zune HD, but not exactly the same. You can't click a hardware button to bring up music player controls like you can with the Zune HD, you have to toggle the volume up or down first and then the controls come up. The buttons that pop up are also a bit small and I found them hard to press accurately.
Navigating menus in the music player takes a little longer, if you want to see your list of music you have to backup to to the top level and then swipe over to the main menu, then drill down into Music. I wish it were more like the Zune HD, which has a column on the left with your currently playing track, history, pinned items, and new items and the column on the right with Music, Videos, Pictures, Radio, etc. But maybe it's something I just need to get used to. I will say that the nav is beautiful!
The media app itself is similar to the Zune HD, but not exactly the same. You can't click a hardware button to bring up music player controls like you can with the Zune HD, you have to toggle the volume up or down first and then the controls come up. The buttons that pop up are also a bit small and I found them hard to press accurately.
Navigating menus in the music player takes a little longer, if you want to see your list of music you have to backup to to the top level and then swipe over to the main menu, then drill down into Music. I wish it were more like the Zune HD, which has a column on the left with your currently playing track, history, pinned items, and new items and the column on the right with Music, Videos, Pictures, Radio, etc. But maybe it's something I just need to get used to. I will say that the nav is beautiful!
