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Interesting but risky point. What if the new Windows Mobile flops due to critical problems much like the other Windows Mobiles? Android at least is already gat

by swombat 17y ago

Interesting but risky point. What if the new Windows Mobile flops due to critical problems much like the other Windows Mobiles? Android at least is already gathering momentum, despite all its issues. It's nice that Microsoft cares, but you won't get rich selling to the 3 people who decided to buy a Microsoft phone. You say "They care about how polished the outside looks, how thin it is, and how smooth and fast the user interface is." People also care about how easy it is to do whatever they're trying to do. And this combination, smooth, fast, and easy, is really hard to achieve. I'm not entirely convinced Microsoft is still up to it, though I'll be glad to be surprised.

ErrantX 17y ago
People also care about how easy it is to do whatever they're trying to do. And this combination, smooth, fast, and easy, is really hard to achieve. I'm not entirely convinced Microsoft is still up to it, though I'll be glad to be surprised. I think Microsoft may stand an outside chance; they are already going in the right direction with recent UI/UX changes in Windows. They've always got that it should be slick but usable; their major problems (in the past) have been in realizing that slick on a desktop != slick on a phone...
- mlinsey 17y ago
  The most serious problem with previous versions of Windows Mobile isn't the myriad UI issues (which are collectively definitely a close second), it's the stability of the core OS. Every last person I know who has owned a WinMo phone (which is admittedly still not very many people, so sample size warning!) has complained about how frequently they have to reboot their phone. This is particularly egregious when the phone crashes as it sits idly in your pocket, causing you to miss incoming calls until you take out your phone and realize what has happened. In order for Windows Phone 7 to succeed where Windows Mobile failed, they need to revamp the internals of the OS just as drastically as they have revamped their UI. It's definitely possible that they have done it; clearly Microsoft cares a lot about this release and clearly some major parts of the underlying OS are changing. But I personally would not bet months of development time on it until someone outside MS gets the chance to use the phones in a non-demo environment.
maxklein 17y ago
Obviously, it's risky. Given the information that is available at the moment (screenshots, videos, spec sheets), then this particular path is the best to take. I.e, Microsoft can still fuck it up by release a sideways talker or something stupid like that. But I cannot know this at this point in time, and the risk is basically in deciding that if they got this far and were able to come up with something new, then they will also make the final parts of this good. One thing that worries me a bit is the 0.8 second delay when you switch screens. This may make the phone feel slow, and if it slows down over time, then that can kill the phone. But I can't know this now, one just has to take a risk.
Quarrelsome 17y ago
I'm not sure if their mobile brand is recoverable. Everyone knows that Windows Mobiles suck and have sucked for the past ten or so years. There are only a handful of solid and decent implementations of WinMo (X1 and X2 were pretty good IIRC) the rest just resulted in consumers having a negative mobile experience. I don't know the numbers of "tainted" Win Mo consumers but I'm not convinced they will really appreciate the differences between their old "piece of shit" WinMo and the new shiny (and hopefully freaking awesome) WinMo 7.

by swombat 17y ago

ErrantX 17y ago

People also care about how easy it is to do whatever they're trying to do. And this combination, smooth, fast, and easy, is really hard to achieve. I'm not entirely convinced Microsoft is still up to it, though I'll be glad to be surprised. I think Microsoft may stand an outside chance; they are already going in the right direction with recent UI/UX changes in Windows. They've always got that it should be slick but usable; their major problems (in the past) have been in realizing that slick on a desktop != slick on a phone...

mlinsey 17y ago
The most serious problem with previous versions of Windows Mobile isn't the myriad UI issues (which are collectively definitely a close second), it's the stability of the core OS. Every last person I know who has owned a WinMo phone (which is admittedly still not very many people, so sample size warning!) has complained about how frequently they have to reboot their phone. This is particularly egregious when the phone crashes as it sits idly in your pocket, causing you to miss incoming calls until you take out your phone and realize what has happened. In order for Windows Phone 7 to succeed where Windows Mobile failed, they need to revamp the internals of the OS just as drastically as they have revamped their UI. It's definitely possible that they have done it; clearly Microsoft cares a lot about this release and clearly some major parts of the underlying OS are changing. But I personally would not bet months of development time on it until someone outside MS gets the chance to use the phones in a non-demo environment.

maxklein 17y ago

Obviously, it's risky. Given the information that is available at the moment (screenshots, videos, spec sheets), then this particular path is the best to take. I.e, Microsoft can still fuck it up by release a sideways talker or something stupid like that. But I cannot know this at this point in time, and the risk is basically in deciding that if they got this far and were able to come up with something new, then they will also make the final parts of this good. One thing that worries me a bit is the 0.8 second delay when you switch screens. This may make the phone feel slow, and if it slows down over time, then that can kill the phone. But I can't know this now, one just has to take a risk.

Quarrelsome 17y ago

I'm not sure if their mobile brand is recoverable. Everyone knows that Windows Mobiles suck and have sucked for the past ten or so years. There are only a handful of solid and decent implementations of WinMo (X1 and X2 were pretty good IIRC) the rest just resulted in consumers having a negative mobile experience. I don't know the numbers of "tainted" Win Mo consumers but I'm not convinced they will really appreciate the differences between their old "piece of shit" WinMo and the new shiny (and hopefully freaking awesome) WinMo 7.