Windows Phone 7 Series: Everything Is Different Now
Windows Phone 7 Series: Everything Is Different Now
Posted 02/16/2010 at 2:00pm
| by Matt Buchanan
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It's astounding that until this moment, three years after the iPhone, the biggest software company in the world basically didn't compete in mobile. Windows Phone 7 Series is more than the Microsoft smartphone we've been waiting for. Everything's different now.
Yesterday, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Microsoft is publicly previewing Windows Phone 7 for the first time. The brand new, totally fresh operating system will appear in phones this year, but not until the holidays. All of the major wireless carriers and every likely hardware maker are backing it, and they'd be stupid not to. It's awesome. We've got a serious hands on for you to check out, but here is everything that you need to know:
The name—Windows Phone 7 Series—is a mouthful, and unfortunately, the epitome of Microsoft's worst naming instincts, belying the simple fact that it's the most groundbreaking phone since the iPhone. It's the phone Microsoft should've made three years ago. In the same way that the Windows 7 desktop OS was nearly everything people hoped it would be, Windows Phone 7 is almost everything anyone could've dreamed of in a phone, let alone a Microsoft phone. It changes everything. Why? Now that Microsoft has filled in its gaping chasm of suck with a meaningful phone effort, the three most significant companies in desktop computing—Apple, Google and Microsoft—now stand to occupy the same positions in mobile. Phones are officially computers that happen to fit in your pocket.
Windows Phone 7 is also something completely new for Microsoft: A total break from the past. Windows Mobile isn't just dead, the body's been dumped, buried and paved over by a rainbow brick road.
The Interface
It's different. The face of Windows Phone 7 is not a rectangular grid of thumbnail-sized glossy-looking icons, arranged in a pattern of 4x4 or so, like basically every other phone. No, instead, an oversized set of bright, superflat squares fill the screen. The pop of the primary colors and exaggerated flatness produces a kind of cutting-edge crispness that feels both incredibly modern and playful. Text is big, and beautiful. The result is a feat no phone has performed before: Making the iPhone's interface feel staid.
If you want to know what it feels like, the Zune HD provides a taste: Interface elements that run off the screen; beautiful, oversized text and graphics; flipping, panning, scrolling, zooming from screen to screen; broken hearts. Some people might think it's gratuitous, but I think it feels natural and just…fun. There's an incredible sense of joie de vivre that's just not in any other phone. It makes you wish that this was aesthetic direction all of Microsoft was going in. Another, sorta similar interface, in terms of data presentation, is this Android Slidescreen app, which gives you a bunch of info up top.
Windows Phone 7 is connected in the same sense as Palm's webOS and Android, with live, real-time data seamlessly integrated, though it's even smoother and more natural. Live tiles on the Start screen, which you can totally customize, are updated dynamically with fresh content, like weather, or if you've pinned a person to your Start screen, their latest status updates and photos.
The meat of the phone is organized around a set of hubs: People, Pictures, Games, Music + Video, Marketplace, and Office. They're kind of like uber-applications, in a sense. Massive panoramas with multiple screens that are each kind of like individual apps. People, for instance, isn't just your contacts, but it's also where social networking happens, with a real-time stream of updates pulled in from like Facebook and Windows Live. (No Twitter support announced yet, it appears—a kind of serious deficiency, but one we're sure will be remedied by ship date.)
As another example, Music + Video is essentially the entirety of Zune HD's software, tucked inside of Windows Phone 7.
A piece of interface that's shockingly not there: A desktop syncing app. If anyone would be expected to tie their phone to a desktop, you'd think it'd be Microsoft, but they're actually moving forward here. All of your contacts and info sync over the air. The only thing you'll be syncing through your computer is music and videos, which is mercifully done via the Zune desktop client.
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Trooper_One
February 24, 2010 at 1:21pm
I was really disappointed with Windows Mobile 5 and 6 but after reading this article, I'm quite curious as to see how well it does. I'm especially curious about its delicious user interface which looks beautiful and free from buttons.
Btw, shouldn't they just call it Windows Seven Phone? Sounds better than the clumsy sounding Windows Phone Seven...
Trooper_One
February 24, 2010 at 1:21pm
I was really disappointed with Windows Mobile 5 and 6 but after reading this article, I'm quite curious as to see how well it does. I'm especially curious about its delicious user interface which looks beautiful and free from buttons.
Btw, shouldn't they just call it Windows Seven Phone? Sounds better than the clumsy sounding Windows Phone Seven...
nadako
February 19, 2010 at 10:47pm
Some people i talked to at school actually like the new way microsoft is going for the phone industry. And why would microsoft use another competitors search engine if it has its own? And i bet the IE is something microsoft is looking over carefully right now. I like firefox because IE has some flaws to it but the same goes for firefox's memory leaks. Im not to worried about viruses getting on the phone since this will be a different OS. And since their will be no apps for it that would just mean app developers that sees microsofts new phone a hit would be great for making money with little competition. Once it comes out i would want to make apps for it just because i wouldn't have to compete with a huge market, and i bet MS will be like "you have a mac? To bad you can only develop on our OS". Which would be very funny.
Bugsy
February 19, 2010 at 12:51pm
I was a true WinMo supporter for way too long and I was always dissappointed with Microsoft and their lousy support. My previous WinMo phone did a lot of things which was the reason I hung on to it for so long (iphone was never an option since I didn't want to switch to AT&T). The problem was it never did anything very well. In fact it hardly did anything better than just mediocre. Multitasking was nonexistent, and daily restarts / battery removals were mandatory. Frequently the phone locked up in the middle of something important causing me to loose data and time.
I've recently switched to the Motorla Droid running the Android OS and I've never been more pleased with my phone! I have yet to be able to bog it down and just about every app is free or has a free trial version. I finally have a true smartphone that is actually smart!
MS / WinMO lost me as a customer a long time ago!!!
ocnier
February 19, 2010 at 1:52pm
I too felt much the same way you did. Windows 7 (the right form of vista) was waaaaayyyyy over due in my opinion. The same can be said for windows mobile. There essentially have been only minor tweaks to the OS in over 8 years, which a total failure as far as OS life cycle is concerned! This looks to be a complete overhaul and MS is taking notice. Vista's immense failures i think grounded them in reality with the prospect that "no one is irreplaceable". Apple has done a lot damage to MS in the past 4 years with regards to success. I have a feeling that MS is on a roll this time, and this will be a kickass product. However, make no mistake MS has severely dissapointed in the past with regards to the mobile market. This phone gives me hope for a company that needs to succeed, cause i can't stand the Orwellian control ole Steve insists on. As for the google, who knows they may truly domintate in the long run, but complete open source OS's never seem to truly gain expansive traction ( l love linux but its still got a long way to go). The problem with google isn't their OS standards, but their lack of OS enforcement for good product by the handset manufacturers. The droid had some features unlocked or "granted" later but not at launch that were native to the phone which was total nonsense. The telcos themselves are the consumers greatest enemy and make the google, microsoft and apple pale in comparison far.
kindnation
February 19, 2010 at 10:08am
Your article sounded like you're trying too hard to like it Microsoft.
The only thing that WM7 will accomplish will be similiar to the marketshare of the Zune, as if that's something to rave about. Maybe you should get on your knees for Steve Balmer to "squirt" you.
ocnier
February 18, 2010 at 1:24pm
I love the windows 7 OS and i'm very intrigued by this phone's possibilities. Hell I think if it supports flash alone with everything else, then that would break apple in the long run. Ole Steve's draconian policies are starting to back fire on him, just look at the app approval process (that's been their achilles heel for years). The bad press goes for days. What i would love to see for this phone is the core window's OS coupled with a different mobile browser, IE just doesn't seem to have its stuff together to date compared to other browsers. As far as power paranoia if they don't want to give google anymore power then they could support a second browser such as "fennec". Mozilla isn't a threat to MS in the grand scheme of things and their browser efforts have been superior to IE so far. If the interface is as clean and responsive as the 3G then this could be another watershed momemnt for MS (as windows 7 was). I'm also glad they are starting to lean on the manufacturers and telcoms (especially the telcoms cause they are the ones that got us into this mess in the first place by not allowing them to cripple the end user and nickle and dime us to death). Time will tell about this device though, but i expect fall 10' to have a lot of buzz. :)
xRadeon
February 18, 2010 at 8:29am
Now just slap VMware MVP (Mobile Virtualization Platform) on there and run some Android apps! Woohoo. http://www.vmware.com/products/mobile/overview.html And by the way I love the interface, I have a Zune HD and its very awesome. For those people that don't like it, I say to you go try out a Zune HD at Best Buy and see, you might just change your mind.
halger9
February 17, 2010 at 2:47pm
With all due respect, you sound like a retard. It's hard to take someone's opinion seriously when they say stuff like ghey and *vomit*. Just my opinion.
_Jono_
February 17, 2010 at 2:05am
Since when did we settle for good? Ok so this phone meets expectations therefore we call it a good phone. I'm thinking it has to be more than just good. It has to be revolutionary to compete with apple. Microsoft has always sucked at design. What phone doesn't have functionality? Give me a phone that can do everything AND look sexy. OLED screen a must. Keyboards are ghey.. has to be touchscreen (an example of sexy vs functionality). Shoot in at least 720P, 5+MP camera, 50+GB storage, universal graphic interface... running programs that look like something out of Windows ME and then running another with aero is stupid. The only design i see is big text and square photos... *vomit*.. Don't get me wrong its an improvement from what windows used to be but its far from sexy. Why windows still uses primary colors without gradients is really frustrating for me. Someone give these guys some color theory courses and get some real artists to design this interface. To make matters worse.. if you have some sort of artistic talent and you want to create your own custom background good luck with that. Microsoft will decide to adopt all of Apple's bad ideas and create no good ones of their own.
blink18591
February 17, 2010 at 3:12pm
considered to stop reading at "ghey".
decided to actuallyl stop reading at 50+ GB or storage.
Tekzel
February 17, 2010 at 12:45pm
What, exactly makes a keyboard "ghey", by which I assume you mean hardware keyboards? I find on screen keyboards to be annoying, and prefer a hardware keyboard. I like the tactile feedback. If it makes my phone a few MM thicker, and heavier by an mount I would need a shipping scale to quantify, then fine. Give me a hardware keyboard, please.
nadako
February 16, 2010 at 11:16pm
7Phone Series sounds much better then sticking windows beside it. And the interface looks really nice but could use some add extras like what google is doing to their phone. And if your making apps for the phone will you have to use java? Or will you be able to use Direct X and C/C++?. I would love to change up the interface on it because it looks really sleak and i think if people are able to change up the interface it could be a huge hit.
Peanut Fox
February 16, 2010 at 11:45pm
I'd be my guess that C# would be the language of choice for the 7 series.
ThermoGel
February 16, 2010 at 8:16pm
"The mobile picture is now officially a three-way dance: Apple, Google, and Microsoft."
I may be wrong, but isn't there a device called a Blackberry?
roninnder
February 16, 2010 at 7:15pm
Bing and IE are dealbreakers for me. Let me search with Google and browse with anything, anything else, and I would consider it.
roninnder
February 17, 2010 at 1:46am
What are we considering yesteryear tech? The iPhone, the Nexus one? MS has put out crap for phones so far, and I'm not going to start worrying about not having other options yet. This OS has 6 months before it comes out, during which time MS will most likely get crushed in market share, since anyon that does want a Windows phone will be waiting for this one. It's going to be a tall hill to climb, especially with the slowest browser available and an inferior search engine. There's your yesteryear techs.
Tekzel
February 17, 2010 at 12:41pm
Based upon his response to me and to you, the only thing I can figure is if your opinons don't line up perfectly with his, you like old tech. Yes, it is ridiculous. But, so are his responses so far.
Edit: Oh yea, and I can infer from his reply to you that he doesn't like options and wants Microsoft to tell him exactly how he will use the phone. He probably likes getting spanked by a dominatrix too.
Havok
February 16, 2010 at 7:38pm
I Hear that they just made a Commodore tweet, he may like that 'cutting edge' better.
CLICK.
Tekzel
February 16, 2010 at 5:45pm
Personally, I don't like the new direction. Not one tiny bit. Too many bad things to really get into, but the thing that strikes me the most is it feels like they are trying too hard to please the social networking crowd. I also don't like the Zune desktop software, and dont want it on my PC. I hope they still load the flash as a drive in My Computer instead of going the Apple way and requiring Zune to sync anything.
Tekzel
February 17, 2010 at 12:36pm
Heh. My computer is juuuust fine. Quad core, 4870 with 1gb, 4gb of ram, Win7 Ultimate. Not top of the line, granted, but it can play any game I want at the native res of my 22in LCD. What, from what I said, indicates that I might need a new computer?
What makes me sound like a dinosaur? Because I look with disdain upon the "social networking crowd"? Because I don't like the Zune desktop client software? That I don't like the new interface on Windows Phone 7? I fail to see how any of that makes me sound like a dinosaur. In fact, I think it makes me sound like... a person with an opinon.
M-ManLA
February 16, 2010 at 5:13pm
Not sure if PSP and DS will be the past (maybe the DS because it will have some of the same games), but I am very impressed. Palm don't provide support for my PDA anymore, and I have a Dare where I would have to do work to break in my phone (I still learning Linux command lines right now). This will be great as my 2 yrs will be up by the end of the year. I like the one that looks like the Zune. I'm eyeing that one. But I will NOT go to AT&T. If it is on Verizon then they will have my vote.
Electronically charged
Jeff Ek
February 16, 2010 at 3:00pm
All MS had to do was take the current WM OS and take all of the best things that 3rd party aps have done (e.g. SPB suite & Documents To Go) and integrate it into a new OS. The other key is standardizing around certain hardware requirements and working out all of the bugs before delivering a product. Seriously... the issue has always been that I cannot customize the WM OS enough.
jesse_n_sf
February 16, 2010 at 7:45pm
No they should not. Are you a developer for winmo 6 and below? If you are then you are skrewed. That's a good thing, because it brings change to the world. It's a new decade, and icons on mobile devices are a thing of the past. When apple comes up with a new Breakthrough, they don't know how to keep with the times (hence the OSX UI is 10 years old and has not really changed).
Neufeldt2002
February 16, 2010 at 2:57pm
Xbox Live just killed it for me. Where I live a phone like this has several payments to be made just to use. First there is the basic phone cost, then the carrier cost to use said phone every month. Add on a data plan because you can't just have a phone. Now, Xbox Live? I would be very suprised if you could do anything with a free account, which would mean I would have to upgrade to gold or what not.
To Recap costs: Phone (because there will be no free), voice plan, data plan, then xbox plan. Nope, to much.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I wanted a signature, but all I got was this ________
NicciAdonai
February 17, 2010 at 1:58pm
The free account should be able to do everything except play multiplayer online--if it works anything like Xbox Live does on the 360, that is. The only other things one might miss are demos that are released, say, a week earlier for Gold Account members.
Peanut Fox
February 16, 2010 at 11:49pm
The phone would tie in to your already purchased Xbox Live account. If you don't have one, then it's something that you don't have to worry about.
punditguy
February 16, 2010 at 2:33pm
>It's an app, just like iPod is on the iPhone
Just like iTunes is on the iPhone?
___________________________________________
Preferred boot, but will give this Maximum PC thing a try.
Bender2000
February 16, 2010 at 2:22pm
This thing is going to generate more hype than the iPad over the next six months, so they better not screw it up. I see this eclipsing the iPhone because it will have better business options. Exchange, Office, etc.. will make it the darling of IT staffs all over. The Achille's heel is how well the hardware runs it. Apple has defined the smartphone archetype so all others have to have the same level of software/hardware/app interoperation. And even more important;y, the mobile provider. Now I have to worry about whose phone works best on what provider and still runs the best. So MS and your partners, don't screw it up! And keep an unlocked version cheap.
Edwincnelson
February 16, 2010 at 2:10pm
Although I am a little pissed I spent $300 and change on my Zune player and accessories this is clearly the way to go. If Apple would have made it a point to court gamers I would have given them everything. As it is, this should allow me to have everything (email, phone, games, general computing) flowing through Microsoft. If this is as good as the Zune HD and Windows 7 I should be a pretty happy guy come Christmas.
emzfrendcrisis
February 16, 2010 at 2:07pm
You read what it said, that HTC was not allowed to tinker with the UI. You probably can change background and color or stuff, but the basic layout was restricted.
The closer to the light the greater your shadow becomes.
NicciAdonai
February 17, 2010 at 2:02pm
I believe you also have some choice as to what goes on your start screen. For example, I think you can put a contact on your start screen; the icon would be linked to that contact's Facebook profile, etc., for ultra-stalker mode.
SikeMo
February 16, 2010 at 1:49pm
Please, please, please make this OS as open as possible. It's the only thing that can ruin it for me.
jesse_n_sf
February 16, 2010 at 8:05pm
do you know what you get for using open sourse? Let's take the google phone. Yes it's free for the OEMs, but why is it free? well, google will make money from taking usage info and use it to make money. Google is an advertising company which makes their phone a usage statistic device which will help gain their profits in the long run. Microsoft charges OEM for the OS. But the end user gets the better bang for the buck. You pay for features and performance. Yes there is Bing and IE... why, maybe because there is no version of the other browsers that is developed yet. As for search.... maybe MS doesn't want to give google the profits. It's ms's phone, they are doing a good thing for a change. Remember, Soon there will be an app for that to :-)
roninnder
February 17, 2010 at 1:31pm
@ jesse_n_sf
How much is MS paying these days for posting for them? I see that you've cleverly used poor spelling and grammar in order to not seem like a professional writer, kudos on that. Your arguments are poorly thought out and backed up with no facts, but presented as if they were, a masterstroke.
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