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I'm extremely excited for Nokia + Windows Phone. Recently upgraded from an iPhone 3GS to a 4 and it just didn't feel like an upgrade. I'll admit that I haven't

I'm extremely excited for Nokia + Windows Phone. Recently upgraded from an iPhone 3GS to a 4 and it just didn't feel like an upgrade. I'll admit that I haven't had the chance to try out a Windows Phone 7 device personally, but I've watched A LOT of videos. The interface smoothness and holistic integration of various services and information makes a hell of a lot more sense than silo'd individual apps. The only downside about Windows Phone now is the lack of tethering. I find it a very important feature, so I'm really hoping that gets included in Mango or soon after.

Synaesthesia 15y ago
I'm also excited about the Nokia WP7 - I wish they had it out already - better be soon! Regarding iPhones - really? Well I went from a 3GS to a 4, the screen is a world of difference in terms of contrast ratio, battery life is better, reception is better, multitasking works better and the camera too.
- OmarIsmail 15y ago
  Objectively and quantitatively I obviously agree with you. However - surprisingly even to me - I didn't find it had a qualitative impact on my experience of the device. I actually still have my 3GS and still use it back and forth, and I don't experience any kind of "ugh, have to go back to this old thing". And I've also had the same experience with the iPad to iPad 2 - I've been able to switch back and forth friction free. It's really down to how you use the device, and I discovered that my use cases don't highlight the improvements. Note that I found a major difference between the 3G and 3GS and felt that was a huge upgrade.
daeken 15y ago
I've been on WP7 now for a couple months (HTC HD7 on T-Mobile) and overall I'm very happy with it. However, it has its issues. First and foremost is the lack of background services. I'm an avid Rdio (http://rdio.com/ http://rdio.com/) user, and while the app works well, it can't play in the background. Want to listen to it and check a text message? Sorry, no dice. I'm assuming this is coming with multitasking in Mango, but we'll see. While the browser works damn well (really, why can't IE on the desktop not suck, if they can pull this off?), there are a few things that irritate me. There are two big ones: wide comments on HN (e.g. in a code block) completely break the zooming of the page, so you have to scroll back and forth to read any comment; if you're on, say, a HN thread, then go check an email and come back by clicking the IE tile rather than hitting the back button, hitting the back button then brings you back to the home screen, with no way of actually going to the previous page (history seems to only exist in the back button functionality). And since my only test hardware has been the HD7, I should point out that it likes to reboot. A lot. I think this is related to the poor microSD slot, which allows the card to slip out and cause things to not be accessible and causes crashes -- unfortunately, it's behind a warranty-voiding-seal panel, and if it comes out for good, you're SOL. This happened to my first HD7 about a week after I got it, but thankfully hasn't happened to that extent yet. Outside of these things, I really haven't looked back since switching from Android. The interface is beautiful and intuitive, the apps are damn fast, and overall I'm very happy with it.
- underwater 15y ago
  I believe Mango is going to bring background tasks and IE9. For what it's worth I find that the back/start button combo on Windows Phone 7 beats the app switching on iPhone, even though Windows Phone lacks true multitasking. The music scenario is the one exception. I swore I had at least one third party music app that did background playing but I must have been mistaken. I find my Windows Phone (LG Optimus) is more stable than the iPhone too. Overall I think Windows Phone 7 is really solid OS. It gets all the basic functionality right and is often better than iOS. However it does lacks the polish and apps that make iOS great.
- politician 15y ago
  FWIW, we also found the HTC HD7 to be unreliable in QA. While I like Windows Phone 7 overall, I will not be buying an HD7 for my personal device.
- steve-howard 15y ago
  Really, IE9 on the desktop doesn't suck. It's not my favorite interface. Some of the design decisions leave me scratching my head (tabs next to the URL bar, on top but not at the top of the window, etc). But we're finally at the point where it legitimately attempts to compete with the browsers that used to trounce it back in the IE6 days.

Synaesthesia 15y ago

I'm also excited about the Nokia WP7 - I wish they had it out already - better be soon! Regarding iPhones - really? Well I went from a 3GS to a 4, the screen is a world of difference in terms of contrast ratio, battery life is better, reception is better, multitasking works better and the camera too.

OmarIsmail 15y ago
Objectively and quantitatively I obviously agree with you. However - surprisingly even to me - I didn't find it had a qualitative impact on my experience of the device. I actually still have my 3GS and still use it back and forth, and I don't experience any kind of "ugh, have to go back to this old thing". And I've also had the same experience with the iPad to iPad 2 - I've been able to switch back and forth friction free. It's really down to how you use the device, and I discovered that my use cases don't highlight the improvements. Note that I found a major difference between the 3G and 3GS and felt that was a huge upgrade.

daeken 15y ago

I've been on WP7 now for a couple months (HTC HD7 on T-Mobile) and overall I'm very happy with it. However, it has its issues. First and foremost is the lack of background services. I'm an avid Rdio (http://rdio.com/ http://rdio.com/) user, and while the app works well, it can't play in the background. Want to listen to it and check a text message? Sorry, no dice. I'm assuming this is coming with multitasking in Mango, but we'll see. While the browser works damn well (really, why can't IE on the desktop not suck, if they can pull this off?), there are a few things that irritate me. There are two big ones: wide comments on HN (e.g. in a code block) completely break the zooming of the page, so you have to scroll back and forth to read any comment; if you're on, say, a HN thread, then go check an email and come back by clicking the IE tile rather than hitting the back button, hitting the back button then brings you back to the home screen, with no way of actually going to the previous page (history seems to only exist in the back button functionality). And since my only test hardware has been the HD7, I should point out that it likes to reboot. A lot. I think this is related to the poor microSD slot, which allows the card to slip out and cause things to not be accessible and causes crashes -- unfortunately, it's behind a warranty-voiding-seal panel, and if it comes out for good, you're SOL. This happened to my first HD7 about a week after I got it, but thankfully hasn't happened to that extent yet. Outside of these things, I really haven't looked back since switching from Android. The interface is beautiful and intuitive, the apps are damn fast, and overall I'm very happy with it.

underwater 15y ago
I believe Mango is going to bring background tasks and IE9. For what it's worth I find that the back/start button combo on Windows Phone 7 beats the app switching on iPhone, even though Windows Phone lacks true multitasking. The music scenario is the one exception. I swore I had at least one third party music app that did background playing but I must have been mistaken. I find my Windows Phone (LG Optimus) is more stable than the iPhone too. Overall I think Windows Phone 7 is really solid OS. It gets all the basic functionality right and is often better than iOS. However it does lacks the polish and apps that make iOS great.
politician 15y ago
FWIW, we also found the HTC HD7 to be unreliable in QA. While I like Windows Phone 7 overall, I will not be buying an HD7 for my personal device.
steve-howard 15y ago
Really, IE9 on the desktop doesn't suck. It's not my favorite interface. Some of the design decisions leave me scratching my head (tabs next to the URL bar, on top but not at the top of the window, etc). But we're finally at the point where it legitimately attempts to compete with the browsers that used to trounce it back in the IE6 days.