I've been thinking about switching from my iPhone 4 to Windows Phone for a while and I think this might be the phone to finally convince me to make the switch. My biggest concern is the lack of maturity in the app store and lack of vital apps such as Dropbox. Anyone else made the same switch and have some advice as to offer?
I've had the chance to review a couple of WP7 devices, and prefer the UI over iOS and Android. The reason I'm not ready to switch is due to App selection, namely games. I think with Mango, and some new high-end devices like the Titan more people will be drawn to WP7, which hopefully relates to more app developers. My advice would be to figure out which Apps you use and need on iOS, and see if WP7 has them, or something you can use in place of them. It seems like WP7 is getting most of the big name apps, but maybe just a little bit slower than other platforms.
Great advice, thank you. I've started looking and right now it seems like Rdio's lack of ability to play music in the background and the instability of the Run Keeper app are the biggest draw backs for me. Another factor is that iOS is always first to get everything, and I've really enjoyed that benefit. Moving to WP7 puts me at the back of the line regarding developer priority,
I used WP7 daily for 3 months and absolutely loved it. I unfortunately had to give it up because it was my personal phone that I was using at work and it is not on the approved list (ironically in a Windows-driven company) and therefore had to go with an (even more ironic) iPhone 4. There are things that I definitely miss with WP7 - fluidity, Xbox Live, Office, visual/music search, graphical nuances - that the iPhone doesn't have.
I have passed off the WP7 to my wife, which replaced her Droid2, and she is totally in love with it. In fact, when I went to show her the "how-to" videos in windowsphone.com later that day, she said she had already figured out how to do all of that stuff! She isn't one to explore deep into a device, so for her to know how to use the phone efficiently within a matter of 2 hours or less really says something to me about the effectiveness that Microsoft has placed into their Metro OS.
Of 1 million smart phone users who were randomly polled in Canada 3/4 of the million were using iPhone 4. Switch from iOS to WP7!? You might be the first...
bazemore, what country are you in? I'm in the US and AT&T is dragging their feet with a release date on the Titan. When I switch over, it will either be a Titan or the rumored Nokia Ace.
I manage day-to-day with the HTC 7 Trophy, but yeah, there is a distinct (understandable) lack of key applications. What I would do is hold out until the release of WP 7.5 (presumably very soon due to Titan and Radar release dates) and see if the Titan can do tethering (can't remember offhand what the tethering options were for 7.5), then sell your iPhone (if you need the money) and buy a current-generation-but-bottom-of-the-range iPod Touch that you could (hopefully) wirelessly tether to the Titan so as to get all the Dropbox etc. usability.
(no, sadly the idea of two devices isn't me being sarcastic :P . I have to carry the 7 Trophy, the Touch Pro2 AND an iPod Touch with me at all times so that I can stay in touch (IRC on TP2 and tethering from it), be compatible (iPod)and be fast (7 Trophy))
I have a LOT of friends on windows phones, and they generally say that they prefer the iPhone. (they all have ipod touches or people with iPhones around them.) While I may not have the experience with a windows phone, the stats show that the iOS is much better and preferable
really?? I guess it would rather depend on the line of work your friends have. I guess business people that don't like blackberrys would be more suited to WP7 than iOS, just like people that want to be able to have most apps and have a phone that's a fancy brand seen as a 'label'. What line of work are most of your friends in? I guess iOS is more suited to people with a penchant for media rather than uber-fast business productivity, as yeah, I prefer to use my iPod Touch for media use over my HTC 7 Trophy, despite the Trophy having a bigger screen.
hate to break it to you, but Windows Mobile died 18 months ago at version 6.5.3. Windows Phone 7 (currently at 7.5 for non-developers) is the name of the new OS but you are correct in that the devices are called Windows Phones.
Just wanted to be clear because Windows Mobile is a clumsy relic and Windows Phone is elegant and new. They are about as different as an Apple Newton and iOS.
I've been using Microsoft 'in my pocket' since 2003 :P Going from originally Pocket PCs to WinMo smartphones, I've understandably had a lot of experience with them. It was called 'Windows Mobile' up until (and including) 6.5. Microsoft realized that Android had taken all the market for ultra-customizable smartphone OSes, so they decided to completely change their game plan and switch from an everything OS to a 'the basics' OS. Whilst developing Windows Phone 7 OS, they called the ever decreasing fleet of WinMo 6.5 devices 'Windows Phones', eventually transitioning into WP7 completely. It is a silly name, but technically my 7 Trophy is a "Windows Phone 7 Windows Phone", with my Touch Pro2 affectionately being a "WinMo Phone".
In my circle of close friends, two use Android, one uses Windows Mobile, and I use Windows Phone 7 (I decided to sacrifice functionality over speed as the Touch Pro2 literally took two minutes load an unfrozen SMS screen and the older Wizard's battery was dead (plus GPRS really didn't suit my needs) :P). There are no iPhones used as I am the only one in the circle that is at all fond of Apple, but I need a bit more business-level functionality from a phone. My WinMo friend originally hated the idea of me moving onwards to WP7, but after I demoed it to him he realised that it was a seriously smooth, efficient and fast mobile OS.
I do understand where you're coming from with the business users going from blackberry to iOS more often than blackberry to WP7, as yeah, iOS is simple to use and let's face it, it's got the Apple fashion status label :P
Windows Phone 7 is seriously easy to use and is a lot more fluid than even iOS, but it is rather featureless. I'm guessing the All Tech Buzz image was for purposes of being biased towards iOS, given that that seemingly managed a convenient full-house of features. In reality, iOS is a lot more featureless than Android. What do they even MEAN with "advanced reminder system"?? I don't quite see what's so advanced on iOS with reminders over WP7 or Android. Is "speaking to your phone to set a reminder" their idea of 'advanced'?
In summary:
iOS - Seriously popular, has the Apple 'fashion' status label, simple to use, locked-down, massive app store.
WP7 - Nowhere near as popular, people don't fancy the idea of the people that brought us Vista and haunt us with XP being our go-to pocket device, really easy and intuitive to use, seriously fast and fluid, MS set good restrictions for minimum hardware requirements, VERY locked-down, rather sparse range of apps though most of the important popular ones are available (at ridiculously high prices)
Windows Mobile - Used to be popular 'back in the day', easy to use but doesn't looks smooth, seriously open (not as in open-source, but as in RIDICULOUSLY customizable and mod-able), incredibly powerful.
Android - Thinks it's open because it's open source but isn't really open unless you root it and flash an 'unlocked' ROM, seems fragile to the 'average' phone user, most popular apps are available and there is a huge catalogue, not as easy to use as iOS or WP7, there can be some Android phones with appalling specs.
That article on screen size was interesting though, that's making me re-consider buying a Titan to replace the Trophy :P
@biggles1000 that was one long reply. But a very good summary. About the iOS though, its not really locked down, because of all the jailbreakers and modders out there. modmyi.com/content/5668-china-mobile-has-10-millio... thats just one article.
thank you for jogging my memory about jailbreaking - it had completely slipped my mind :P
I jailbroke my iPod Touch around a year ago, and yes, I will admit there was very little I was unable to do. While still looking visually locked down, it became about as customizable as Android. Panoramic background, SBSettings, YouTube downloading... My iPod did become incredibly ill and slow over time, and I wiped it completely recently so that I could upgrade it to iOS 5.0 and actually sync using iTunes (as the previous sync computer had died long ago), but I did greatly benefit from jailbreaking. Thanks for refreshing my memory :)
haha ipods tend to get slower, only because the newer software seems to prefer having newer hardware. An iPod 2nd gen on iOS 4 seems to be a lot slower than having it on iOS 3. Likewise same with the iPhones. Apple always tends to make consumers get the newer products for newer iOS because its always "faster" till the next new thing comes out.
I HAVE A HD7 AND I HAVE DROP BOX, NICE APP THE DEVELOPERS ARE CRANKING THEM OUT, ALSO PLENTY OF FREE APPS 2ND WINDOWS PHONE COULDNT LIVE W/O IT TITAN NEXT
yeah, whilst most of the pay-for apps on WP7 are RIDICULOUSLY expensive (I mean, it's something like £3+ for Angry Birds, yet it's £0.69 on iOS) the average quality of free apps is much better than iOS and Android. I do like the way that the marketplace isn't cluttered with misleading lite versions everywhere - instead (if the developer supports it) you can just tap 'Try' on the real app's page and you get a demo version, which is usually a lot more feature-full than iOS and Android demos. For example, PrimeTV, in my opinion the best app of all on WP7, i'm still running the trial (as I haven't yet sorted out a payment method for MS) but the awesome developer allows you to do pretty much everything apart from pin live TV show tiles. And for the £0.79 it is for the full version? Ridiculously underpriced for such a great app :P I can already do pretty much whatever I want on my phone (other than games) and haven't spent a single penny online (yet).
My advice is that you should indeed wait a month and see which new and better things the iPhone 5 offers. If th iPhone 5 won't convince you to stay using iOS, than I'd say: switch to Windows Phone and start using one of the many awesome Windows Phone devices. But you'd better wait for the new WP Mango devices, 'cause the specs and design are definitely improved compared to the recent WP devices.
