Smoked by Windows Phone

[ecksmen]

I wouldn't say it's an intuitive UI personally. It takes getting used to just like other UI's do. I found that I couldn't fit all the simple stuff on the screen I wanted with WP7 (ROM's I admit), and was continually having to scroll down because it wouldn't fit. I found it annoying.

I've not seen mango, so maybe they have added useful/critical stuff like notifications ? (That were missing from WP7 originally)

Its extremely intuitive, perhaps the easiest to use of all three. I for one are shocked at just how MS managed to pull it off. This is from someone who has an ipod touch, sony xperia x10 and final HTC mozart. In terms of perference for me

1. win mobile
2. android
3. ios.

 

[Rroff]

Never played around with it but one of the coolest UIs I've seen on WM is the one in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=3EAv5AxRw8E#t=46s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=3EAv5AxRw8E#t=197s

X2 could have been such a great phone if SE had put a bit more effort in.

 

[Robbo]

WP7 is excellent but that is a bit of a silly test.

It does operate just as fast as the fastest Android devices though, which proves hardware doesn't really matter when you are aiming for user experience.

 

[Mekrel]

Exactly, it's nonsense. Like iOS, android or normal windows/Linux utilise 100% and don't have massive amounts of black screen. Infant I would got so far as to say I recon wp7 has the biggest screen utilisation.

Then you have no idea what you're on about. Sorry to put it so bluntly but it's ridiculous to suggest that W7 has the best screen utilisation.

I think W7 is smooth and I love Zune software for the PC, but the screen UI on WP7 is completely wasted.

The fact they use massive font text to signal the current menu you're in, is stupid.

Perfect example:

As if I wouldn't know I was in the news feed application without the size 32 font at the top.

 

[Em3bbs]

I refuse to use Windows Phone 7 because I had a bad experience on Windows CE on my Compaq Ipaq in 2000.

 

[cu3ed]

Then you have no idea what you're on about. Sorry to put it so bluntly but it's ridiculous to suggest that W7 has the best screen utilisation.

I think W7 is smooth and I love Zune software for the PC, but the screen UI on WP7 is completely wasted.

The fact they use massive font text to signal the current menu you're in, is stupid.

Perfect example:

As if I wouldn't know I was in the news feed application without the size 32 font at the top.

Is that an application or something built into wp7?

 

[dave_beast]

He blatantly just clicked an app in the video, rather than typing anything in, lol @ Gates-o-phone.

 

[RSR]

I refuse to use Windows Phone 7 because I had a bad experience on Windows CE on my Compaq Ipaq in 2000.

Sorry but that's just silly becuase you had a "bad experance" with a OS that isn't event related.

You do know Windows Phone has nothing to do with WindowsCE or Windows Moblie

 

[Robbo]

Sorry but that's just silly becuase you had a "bad experance" with a OS that isn't event related.

You do know Windows Phone has nothing to do with WindowsCE or Windows Moblie

I'm almost certain that post was a joke...

 

[Glaucus]

Then you have no idea what you're on about. Sorry to put it so bluntly but it's ridiculous to suggest that W7 has the best screen utilisation.:

lol. One built in app you don't have to use.
Let's look at home screen (the most importen screen) in order best to worst.

Wp7 very large percentage of screen used with live tiled, just small sliver on the right unused.
Android lots of wasted space but it has widgets
iOS very good screen utilise, but no widgets/live tiles means although filled doesnt tell you anything.

So no, I very much do know what I'm talking about.

 

[feedtheram]

It's all personal preference guys.

What is silly is comparing WM with WP - they are completely different things and what MS is doing with WP is actually quite inventive and has massive potential if they can pull it off.

I can't help feel that MS should have called it something different.

Also regarding the test - although a bit silly the people playing did have a chance to practice beforehand but i agree it favours guy running the test.

 

[Mekrel]

lol. One built in app you don't have to use.
Let's look at home screen (the most importen screen) in order best to worst.

Wp7 very large percentage of screen used with live tiled, just small sliver on the right unused.
Android lots of wasted space but it has widgets
iOS very good screen utilise, but no widgets/live tiles means although filled doesnt tell you anything.

So no, I very much do know what I'm talking about.

On the phones I've seen; you can use 8 tiles max before scrolling down/up to see more? That's fair enough if the live tiles actually showed anything particularly useful but they show a snippet of a status update/messages on certain tiles and an unread count.

With Android, you can have 16 icons on the home screen, the Google search bar a long side it and a notification bar that will show an entire SMS message content as it arrives to your handset. There's no need for a live tile or widget to give you a snippet of a SMS message you've received as you're always going to read or respond to the message in the application.

Take the music app. Rather than having as many artists listed on the screen as possible, you have the word "Music" in massive font at the top and less space for the artist list; meaning you have more scrolling to do.

So no, you don't. We all get that you love Windows Phone 7 and would blow baby batter in your pants over the thought of owning a Windows 8 tablet but Windows Phone does not deserve recognition for good screen real estate use.

 

[Glaucus]

Now you are just being stupid and I use what covers the most needs, currently that is is not wp7, mainly due to lack of tablets. I have no issues using any OS that covers my need and I have no issue looking at thinks with perspective. Unlike you it seems.

Tiles can show a lot of info and it depends on the app. If you are only going to talk about built in apps, then how about removing all your apps from android and only talking about built in ones.

It doesn't waste a lot of space and times show info you need with out going Ito the app, which is the whole point.

Obviously it depends how you customise and what you install especially on android.

But which wastes more real estate.

Normal android icons have loads of wasted space around them, even more so than iOS, whilst telling you littel.
How many apps do you use constantly, 8 is fine and things you want more info on, you take up two boxes.
And of course all apps have wasted space or then again no they dont. How about the Switch news one

 

[insane200]

I used to say i wouldnt ever go back to a windows phone ofter having a omnia, but i did, for a short while i owned a Dell venue pro, WP7 is great, its so smooth and fluid, but the things that stopped me from kepping it were

#no wifi when the screen sleeps , what crazy fool decided on that !

#twitter updates were very random, sometimes straight away sometimes not for hours. and theres no way to make it check when you want.

The last one was the phone itself, although very well made, its signal was crap, even worse when held which defeats the point in being a phone.

Once the 2 issues i didnt like are fixed, i may return to it.

 

[Abooie]

I used to say i wouldnt ever go back to a windows phone ofter having a omnia, but i did, for a short while i owned a Dell venue pro, WP7 is great, its so smooth and fluid, but the things that stopped me from kepping it were

#no wifi when the screen sleeps , what crazy fool decided on that !

#twitter updates were very random, sometimes straight away sometimes not for hours. and theres no way to make it check when you want.

The last one was the phone itself, although very well made, its signal was crap, even worse when held which defeats the point in being a phone.

Once the 2 issues i didnt like are fixed, i may return to it.

Not sure about the first one, what are you trying to do, save on your network download limits when you're at home etc?

The whole twitter updates were vastly improved with mango. My feeds pretty much feel synced all the time these days.

Might be a handset issue? I never had any problems with my Omnia 7 and my new Lumia has the best call quality I've used for a while.

 

[Abooie]

On the phones I've seen; you can use 8 tiles max before scrolling down/up to see more? That's fair enough if the live tiles actually showed anything particularly useful but they show a snippet of a status update/messages on certain tiles and an unread count.

With Android, you can have 16 icons on the home screen, the Google search bar a long side it and a notification bar that will show an entire SMS message content as it arrives to your handset. There's no need for a live tile or widget to give you a snippet of a SMS message you've received as you're always going to read or respond to the message in the application.

You still get a notification across the top with the content of an SMS, the persistence notification is on the tile itself. I understand what your saying about a single sms but what if you've got a voicemail notification, several sms ones, a facebook chat one, and multiple ones for email accounts, customised social groups and then facebook/twitter notications for any people tiles you've pinned to the start. WP7 has an elegant solution to show you where all the notifications are and there's nothing comparable on Android. All you've argued is for a single SMS message.

We've not even talked about LinkedIn built in, the marketplace showing you how many updates there are, and you've got all this on a single sublimely scrollable single screen with tiles showing you updated visible weather, news, football scores etc. I mean even the tile I have for my wife, a short swipe down flips to show me her latest tweet without me having to even enter an app.

It's turning into a silly argument. I'm a fan of widgets but getting your phone the way you want will normally involve having several screens, often as many as 5 or even 7, and multiple widgets and icons. You only need to look at the android desktop thread to realise android for power users covers a lot of real estate and for basic users (my wife for example) a stock screen, a widget or two and lots of icons.

 

[jon86]

I have the use of a work LG Optimus 7 and a few months ago I gave myself three weeks to use it as my main phone (instead of my trusty jailbroken iPhone 3GS). Whilst using the phone was mostly a pleasant experience, I could not get over the fact that most of the mobile websites I use pretty-much every day do not render and operate correctly on IE 9 Mobile. Presumably they've been written for WebKit, and whilst that's not directly Microsoft's fault, the lack of ability to install a WebKit browser means I went back to using my iPhone.

 

[insane200]

Not sure about the first one, what are you trying to do, save on your network download limits when you're at home etc?

The whole twitter updates were vastly improved with mango. My feeds pretty much feel synced all the time these days.

Might be a handset issue? I never had any problems with my Omnia 7 and my new Lumia has the best call quality I've used for a while.

I use wifi all day at work, and when im home to cut down on Data bills as im limited to 100mg, but i dont want to put the phone on charge to keep wifi awake.

The phone was running mango, the updates could have been slow due to the signal conidition tbh, but after 2weeks i had given up on it. the Dell was known for its problem so it was returned.

 

[Em3bbs]

I used an HTC Titan for a month as my main phone and I just miss the customisability of Android. Also, and ridiculously, if you turn down your ringer volume it turns down your music volume as well or vice versa. Which is great when you get an email at 3am when you'd previously been listening to loud music the day before and forgot to turn it down.

 

[Tatsuki]

I have a omnia 7 and a desire hd, overall I prefer the omnia, it's the one with my sim in the desire I use to add meetings if I have a call on the omnia and i need to make a appointment. Wp7 is so fast and easy no lag ever getting to email or music or texting, all the day to day phone use is perfect.
My HD sometimes the launcher force closes and takes a minute before I can do anything, or it just lags opening the dialler or contacts. I do like the customisation and widgets can be useful, though things like the email or people widget often take a long time to reload if you have not been on that screen for a while, I actually tested flicking to the people widget to check updates compared to clicking the one on the omnia, if the HD has to load it the omnia is much faster at getting to my feeds.
I want Android to be better than it is, but when ever I use it the little lag and stuff just annoys me. It is getting better though ICS seems to help with some of the lag though it's still there at times from the videos I have seen.