Grab a Windows Phone 7 handset for $0.01 (plus new plan)
Summary: Several readers have sent this in so I thought I'd pass it on ... grab a Windows Phone 7 handset from Verizon, Spring or T-Mobile for $0.01 (plus new plan).
Several readers have sent this in so I thought I'd pass it on ... grab a Windows Phone 7 handset from Verizon, Sprint or T-Mobile for $0.01 (plus new plan).
The offer is good until 7/2/11. Requires 2-year voice/data contract.
For more info head over to the Microsoft Store.
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Talkback
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So they're giving them away already?
Sadly, that's about double what it's worth...
Droid seems to be catching up, and has even surpassed it in some market studies, but every time I try out a new MS phone I find myself shaking my head.
I'm their core audience and I actually *want* to like it... but I don't because it simply doesn't deliver.
Sad, really, but there it is.
Regards,
Jon
RE: Grab a Windows Phone 7 handset for $0.01 (plus new plan)
You cannot be a user or owner of a WP7 device in my estimation. Now I could be wrong, sure, but I have not read a single review from <u>any</u> WP7 owner who did not truly like it.
There are limitations that will be resolved when Mango update is released. But for the vast, vast majority of current and potential users these limitations are less important than the overall user experience.
WP7 is ergonomically stellar.
The performance, especially the UI, is better than the iPhone and clearly better than the Android. The UI is buttery smooth, responsive, and beautiful.
It has features not found in the other devices such as the customizable live tiles which once you use the device, well their value is fully realized.
I have used an iPhone, and I have used an EVO, I prefer the Dell Venue Pro with a true KB as well as the on screen KB. WP7 got many things right, at its core it is what a smart phone should be.
With Mango developers will have the ability to access sockets, this is a big deal. MS acquired Skype and I am hedging my bed that Skype will come to WP7, could be wrong, but that is my bet.
Build in features such as Bing and the ability to voice search the web.
It took only a few months and the first major update released included Copy and Paste and a handful of features that were missing from the first release.
Mango will offer more. But right out of the gate WP7 offered a tremendous user experience.
But they are not selling
And how do you think the carriers will feel about Skype on WP7 phones?
RE: Grab a Windows Phone 7 handset for $0.01 (plus new plan)
"It took only a few months and the first major update released included Copy and Paste"
And therein lies the root of my hesitation.
I've used a Win7 phone. The interface is a definite paradigm shift. For some tasks (like social media), the live tiles seem like a huge leap forward. But for others, the interface tended to hinder me. Admittedly I didn't use the device long enough to "get used to it", so who knows.
But... the fact that WP7 was even *released* without such core, crucial functionality as copy/paste, for me, just points to how the OS was designed simply to look different without any real insight into how people would use it. That the phone was pushed to market before it was ready, just to try to grab some marketshare.
And it wasn't just "a few months". WP7 was released at the beginning of the 4th quarter of last year. The update didn't appear until mid-March. That's almost half-a-year that it was out with crippled functionality. Why would I want to buy an OS from a company that thinks that's acceptable?
I'm with Jon. I *want* to like WP7. But I just can't. And, frankly, features like Bing and Skype aren't going to sway me. Skype over 3/4G is pointless (I pay more for data than I do for cell minutes), and Skype over wi-fi would be interesting... but when I think about how often I want to voice call with my phone when I'm around a wi-fi access point, it doesn't seem terribly useful. Plus, I'm sure Skype over wi-fi will be hobbled, somehow, by my carrier since it would eat into their business model. Just like current VoIP solutions are hobbled on other devices.
So, to more accurately represent your final statement, "right out of the gate WP7 offered a tremendous user experience" *for you*. For me, not so much. And acceptance of a phone OS is nothing if it isn't subjective.
RE: Grab a Windows Phone 7 handset for $0.01 (plus new plan)
You did read his whole post, didn't you? He said it didn't deliver for what his needs are...Sheesh
Tell the truth and shame the devil..
Windows Phone 7 was released between October and December of 2010. The update with Cut/Paste was released in March 2011. That's an average 5 months to get cut/copy/past in WP7...
Now then, here's a refresher for those with short memories... Apple's iPhone 1.0 came out in June of 2007. It had NO installable apps, NO cut/copy/paste. In fact, it did not gain either of those features until the iPhone 2.0 was released on July 11th 2008 - 1 year and 2 weeks LATER.
And then there's Android... Can't leave them out... Android 1.0 phones were released in Sept 2008. It took them until the 1.5 cupcake update to include Cut/Copy/Paste. That was released in April 2009. 7 months by my count.
Yeah... Suddenly 4 - 6 months depending on your region doesn't seem to be quite THAT big a deal. It's only half the time it took Apple took to fix that little niggling problem on their phones and a month or so less than it took Google to fix it on theirs.
And yet, iOS and Android phones were still selling like hotcakes prior to those features being included. I can recall the cries of the Apple faithful now - "Cut/Copy/Paste are NOT that important and are NOT needed." The Android guys were almost equally apologetic. "It's not that important - the feature will come."
Now then, let's look at the Motorola A1200 Ming. It wasn't originally released in the US. It came with a version of Linux created specifically for Motorola by Trolltech (now part of Nokia). called the Qtopia core. It also had a bit of Mandriva Linux tossed in for good measure. It came with cut/copy/paste on day 1. It also came with a user replaceable battery, memory card slot that did up to 2 GB SD chips, and a bunch of other cool features. Like Android, you could install Java applets on the phone.
It was released in the Asian market only in November 2005. By November 2006, it was the 2nd most searched for item behind the black Moto RAZR and it was released in the US as an Unlocked Phone back in January 2007.
So if you want to talk about getting it right the first time around, then you darn well better save the FUD about WP7 if you're going to use Apple or Android as examples. Neither of them got it right off the bat either and both took longer to get it fixed.
RE: Grab a Windows Phone 7 handset for $0.01 (plus new plan)
You mention NOTHING about what you can do with the phone. Please list the Apps that you use on the phone and what you do with them (Tiles, butterysmooth, etc.. ) are nice, but after you have customized all the tiles what do you DO with it! Enquiring minds want to know.
RE: Grab a Windows Phone 7 handset for $0.01 (plus new plan)
RE: Grab a Windows Phone 7 handset for $0.01 (plus new plan)
RE: Grab a Windows Phone 7 handset for $0.01 (plus new plan)
How soon before Windows 8 computers
Touch-screen tiles to use your computer, anyone?
Soon .....
you'll find one in your serial box. ;-)
What's a serial box? But,
Now, why do you need to be so hyperbolic?
RE: Grab a Windows Phone 7 handset for $0.01 (plus new plan)
It's a joke son..
Flew right over your head, didn't it...?
Wolfie2K3: Perhaps I didn't get the "joke", but my post is still "right on"
Outside the "buy now, pay later" crowd....
http://www.dailytech.com/ATT+Windows+Phone+7+Not+Selling+Well+and+Other+Notes+of+Interest/article21823.htm
Why oh why