Thoughts on the Windows Phone 7 technical preview
Summary: A whole barrage of Windows Phone 7 (WP7) technical preview reviews have hit the interwebz and while I myself haven't handles a handset yet, the reviews leave a few important questions unanswered.
A whole barrage of Windows Phone 7 (WP7) technical preview reviews have hit the interwebz and while I myself haven't handles a handset yet, the reviews leave a few important questions unanswered.
Note: One of the best reviews I've read is Matthew Miller's take on WP7, here on ZDNet. All videos in this post are from Miller's piece.
I've been waiting for the WP7 reviews to hit because I was hoping to get an answer to a question that's been nagging me for some time - what's WP7's killer feature? After all, the smartphone market is a highly competitive arena, and the best way to do that is to have that one, must have killer feature. Then, the rest of your product doesn't have to stand head and shoulders above the crowd. Consumers can then assume that product A is similar to product B, except that Product A has Killer feature X and product B has killer feature Z.
So, after reading over a dozen reviews, and pondering over them, let me tell you what WP7's killer feature is ...
... ummm, wait a minute ... yeah ... ermmmmm ...
OK, OK, you got me. Having read a bunch of reviews, I haven't come away with any clear picture of a definitive killer feature. Reviewers have done a decent job of laying bare the OS and the user interface (UI), but a killer feature remains elusive.
Now, you might be thinking that the killer feature of WP7 is the tile-based UI. I disagree. The UI is little more than a paradigm to allow the user to interact with a device. While Microsoft went for a tile-based paradigm, and Apple for lists, what really matters is the usability and functionality offered. Tiles might well be easier to operate with a finger, but at this stage the reviews don't give me any real answer to this.
Microsoft seems to make a lot of use of something it calls hubs. From what I can gather, hubs are the paradigm used to describe information centers. A key hub seems to be the social media one, which allows you to both keep updated and update others via third party services. My concern here is over building support for third party services into the OS. If Microsoft doesn't stay on top of things and releases timely updates, things could get pretty stale. Personally, I prefer the open market approach where these services are accessed via third party apps because in that situation there will always be someone else ready to pick up the slack.
Another worrying feature is the integration with Windows Live. Reviews I've read mention a setup process (something which in of itself sounds archaic, but I'll let that slide) that asks people to enter their Windows Live ID. Ummm, that's great for folks that use those service, but what if they don't? Are they expected to change the way they work just to fit in with the handset? To be fair, this lack of integrated support for third-party services is something that can be leveled at other players (Apple in particular), but let me remind you again that Microsoft is trying to break into a well established market with a brand new platform. You'd think that it would have learned some lessons from those already in the market. Maybe third-party developers will leap in to fill the gap, but it's far too early to know what will happen there.
And there's one of the keystone problems that faces Microsoft with WP7. With the iPhone, Apple first built a platform, then let it grow, and then, when it was clear that it was a success, bought developers on board. What Microsoft is having to do here is persuade developers to take a gamble on the platform being a success right from the start. That's not an easy thing to do, especially since we're all reeling from the mess death of Microsoft's Kin platform. Kin's smoking death crater serves to remind us that Microsoft, despite its billions, and masses of smart people, and huge ad budget, can still come up with a FAIL of EPIC proportions. Quality apps take time, effort, commitment and money to develop, so while Microsoft might have no trouble attracting a tsunami of "fart machines" and "101 sex positions" apps, the good stuff might take a while ... if it comes at all.
Negativity aside, it's good to see Microsoft putting pressure on OEMs to maintain a higher level of hardware and performance standards than previously. If WP7 is to have any chance, quality has to come into play. This can't be a race to the bottom in terms of hardware. However, looking at the reviews I couldn't help but notice how the handset was supplied to developers in bits which they had to assemble. Ummm, look at how Apple presents the iPhone. Are we learning yet?
I also worry that Microsoft is leaving too much to future updates. Users of existing smartphones have made it clear that they demand things like multitasking and cut/copy/paste. Microsoft is playing catchup right out of the gate. A few years ago this might not have been a problem, but it isn't a few years ago, is it?
Bottom line, I think that the success of WP7 hinges on price/service contract, integration with third-party services, and the quality of the apps, and at this stage it's difficult to comment on these aspects of the platform.
Thoughts?
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Talkback
killer feature...?
xbox live and zune
are not killer features for most smart phone users, only for a relatively small subset, IMHO. In that subset, "cool" matters and MS is not cool.
RE: Thoughts on the Windows Phone 7 technical preview
Adrian is a total Apple fanboy: well known fact. See how many time he mention Apple in the reading?
killer features?
1 click share.
better animations.
and yes... you don't need to worry about how you handle it.
RE: Thoughts on the Windows Phone 7 technical preview
Ok, now where's the killer part?
But if you DO have a Windows Live account...
To me, the killer feature would be the way the UI organizes everything by its meta data rather than where its coming from. i like the idea of when i want to see a picture i go to the pictures hub... I dont have to worry about if its in facebook, myspace, flickr, windows live, or just a picture i took on my phone.... it all gets aggregated into the pictures hub.
from what it looks like the phone becomes very personal to its user while still being standard enough for the kind of dev support the iOS has.
If I were in the market..
I just think MS has completely botched this smart phone thing, and therefore all larger derivative products, which may be the future of personal computing for the masses.
On top of that, any WP7 HW manufacturer will have to pay a license fee to MS. For low cost commodity HW, when entrenched and very good free alternatives are available, having to pay for the OS may prove to be MS ultimate undoing. MS just does not have the advantages in the smart phone / tablet / smart book market it had in the PC market many years ago.
RE: Thoughts on the Windows Phone 7 technical preview
then why would the partners of Microsoft signed up for that Windows Phone 7 (HTC, HP, Sony Ericsson, Samsugn, LG, ASUS, ACER, Toshiba, Dell etc.) , if they have to pay for fee? Take Windows Mobile, partners paid licensing fee there also and Android is free for the partners and the phone cost is same or more than Windows Mobile. So the licensing fee playing part in the price is ridiculous. For the licensing fee, these partners are getting a lot of support from Microsoft, which is actually minimal in the case of Android.
RE: Thoughts on the Windows Phone 7 technical preview
Just like Kin was?
Did you not have a lot of rosy predictions for Kin?
I do not think your opinions on ANYTHING "MS" matter one iota. You have absolutely zero credibility.
RE: Thoughts on the Windows Phone 7 technical preview
As I've said before and I'm sure you well aware because you follow my posts, Verizon killed the Kin. It was a great phone bringing in new paradigms, but Verizon killed it with their data plans. My credibility in the tech sector is pretty strong. You don't get to be a well respected IT Professional for nothing.
Delusions and fantacies
No, I do not "follow" your posts. I read them for amusement, because I find it difficult to comprehend how someone, anyone, can so totally lack objectivity, rationality and have such blatant bias.
It is a small, but interesting study of human psycology, that is all. It does, unfortunately, help explain some of the more troubling aspects of the history of mankind.
RE: Thoughts on the Windows Phone 7 technical preview
So in other words you follow my posts :) Thanks, always glad to know I have another fan.
RE: Thoughts on the Windows Phone 7 technical preview
Verizon data plan killed Kin. Also Microsoft rushed the phone to the market. They should have let the games be part of Kin, because the target demographic loves to play games on any device that you give them. Otherwise Kin would have been successful.
Killer feature?
RE: Thoughts on the Windows Phone 7 technical preview
NOTE: I know you can Jail break the iPhone, but for most that is not an option, on Android no jail breaking is needed to install apps from other sources.
RE: Thoughts on the Windows Phone 7 technical preview
Well sideloading is advantage, which Windows Mobile had from day one, it is also disadvantage if you have market fragmentation. That is what Windows Mobile suffered and Android is suffering. The other issue with Android is Google is in a deadlock with its partners right now. Googles sentiment OSS says it should be open and the partners (both OEMs and Carriers) are saying it should be closed. Thats why even thought OTA concept is very good, you are not seeing updates regularly from these partners. It is turning out to be another disaster for Google because lack of control. And I think Google is getting onto right track with 3.0 and I hope it will continue starting with minimum specs for hardware. There are tablets of android in the market (from chinese makers) and they have Resistive Touch (which is not good by some of the folks that criticized Windows Mobile and Windows Tablets because it uses outdated stylus) and Google should stop it otherwise it will become hard to control at a later point.
RE: Thoughts on the Windows Phone 7 technical preview
Well it may not beat the Kin as the fastest phone to be pulled from the market, but it will certainly probably be a close 2nd if they do not add a better UI
RE: Thoughts on the Windows Phone 7 technical preview
Different perception. some people like vertical scrolling better than horizontal and some like horizontal over vertical. some like lists and some like grids. there is no phone until now that supports configurable. And I think this is closes to have something like that. Look at the panorama control that Microsoft is launching with this and that will shape up the phone and its apps. And I found a lot of people liking the UI and don't miss to look at the reviews this phone (even without a launch) got from the web. http://www.techmeme.com has good compilation of those online reviews and JKontherun put very good compilation of web reviews.
I'll be happy to see what MS does with WP7.5
Oh, and as for killer features, there is Zune. Zune is far, far, far superior to iTunes in every single way.
Go Microsoft!