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Is your phone faster than a Windows Phone?

By | January 27, 2012, 8:23am PST

Summary: Microsoft issued a challenge at CES to see if your phone could smoke a Windows Phone

We’ve heard claims by Microsoft that Windows Phone is far more efficient at everyday tasks than other phones on the market. Well, the Windows Phone team issued a $100 challenge to anyone whose phone could beat the Windows Phone. To make it fair, the team even let the contestant choose the function that they would be performing on both phones.

In summary, the results will surprise you. In almost every instance Windows Phone smoked the competition, as you can see in the video below.

This video got me thinking that I should start messing with my Windows Phone again. It’s a sweet interface, but I never thought it would actually perform everyday tasks faster than my iPhone 4S.

What phone do you use and why?

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<br />, <b>Warning</b>: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in <b>/var/opt/include/searchapi/searchapi.document.class.php</b> on line <b>471</b><br />, Joel Evans

With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands and technologies into the mobile and wireless space.

Disclosure

Joel Evans

Joel is a serial entrepreneur with his most recent business, CronkSoftware (cronksoftware.com), focusing on consulting and building games and applications for mobile devices. Joel has consulted for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile division and advises other companies on how to incorporate mobile into their existing brands and products. Joel purchases many of his devices and others are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the supplier. If any devices are provided as “keeper” Joel will clearly disclose this in his reviews.

Biography

Joel Evans

With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands, technologies and services into the mobile and wireless space. Joel is currently serving as the Managing Director of Cronk Software, Inc., a company he founded to offer full-service, end-to-end mobile strategy, design and development services.

Joel is the former founder and "Chief Geek" of Geek.com, a website praised by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and others as one of world's best sources of information for technology professionals and enthusiasts.

Joel also serves as a technology expert for a number of well-known publications and regularly advises corporations, analysts, journalists and bloggers on what the future of technology will bring. He brings decades of relationships with leading game publishers, online communities and publishers, along with both hardware and software product management and delivery expertise. Joel can be found online as "JoelGeek" and you can follow him on Twitter @JoelGeek.

Talkback Most Recent of 61 Talkback(s)

  • RE: Is your phone faster than a Windows Phone?
    HTC Desire, because it was free on contract, other than free it has no redeeming features.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    jlwarlow
    27th Jan
  • RE: Is your phone faster than a Windows Phone?
    HTC Radar 4G. I am on T-Mobile and at the time it was the best Windows Phone I could get on the carrier. I love it.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    TheRackow
    27th Jan
  • RE: Is your phone faster than a Windows Phone?
    Awesome video. They should use that is some of their promos, go with the whole "I just got smoked" thing. Microsoft did put a lot of thought into the design of WP7.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    Loverock Davidson-
    27th Jan
  • WP7 has failed
    @Loverock Davidson-

    Windows Phone runs on the Windows Vista Kernel and that is why it is so slow and buggy, not enough RAM.

    Windows marketshare is so bad it got #smokedbybada

    First they said wait for Mango, then they said wait for Nokia Hansets, Now they say wait for Apollo.

    This whole "year of WP7" reminds me of year of the Linux Desktop....

    Time To accept WP7 has failed ..............
    ZDNet Gravatar
    garyc2011
    27th Jan
  • Really? That's actually impressive
    @garyc2011
    "Windows Phone runs on the Windows Vista Kernel"

    We kept hearing about how bloated and resource hungry Vista was. If this is true then that actually says amazing things about Vista's kernel considering it is running on a very weak CPUs (compared to desktops).

    If what you say is true, MS deserves a lot of congratulations for building such a technically fantastic kernel.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    toddybottom_z
    27th Jan
  • RE: Is your phone faster than a Windows Phone?
    @garyc2011 Interesting points you write here happy And also a very strange lie... Windows Phone is not based on the Vista kernal, instead it's an optimized version of the Windows embedded CE (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_CE)

    And... Have you ever tried a Windows Phone? xD Slow and buggy? I've actually never heard those words about a WP7 happy

    As far as I know, many people are waiting on the next android devices and iphones to come out. Why is it so bad if someone is waiting for the next windows phone thing to come out? happy

    Some might say WP7 has failed, but I don't think so. You might say it's been out for a long time, but fact is the WP7 marketplace has been growing faster then the android marketplace did in the beginning.

    But hey, time will tell the the truth happy
    ZDNet Gravatar
    PlayFoLife
    27th Jan
  • RE: Is your phone faster than a Windows Phone?
    @garyc2011 Not that facts matter to someone like you, but Windows Phone DOES NOT run on the "Windows Vista" kernal. You have no idea what you are talking about. It's also neither "buggy," nor "slow" and it's obvious you've never tried it or you'd know!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    whyjoe
    27th Jan
  • RE: Is your phone faster than a Windows Phone?
    @garyc2011

    Do you hear the common theme here Gary? Shhh, I hear a troll running back under his bridge.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    rrathbun
    27th Jan
  • Good for Microsoft, they've clearly done some great things with WP7
    Yet they are stuck at a miniscule marketshare which is falling by the day. Why?

    There are many reasons but it ultimately comes down to the same reason that Windows PC absolutely annihilates Macs in the marketplace. People don't buy based on a single technical merit in the product. Many other factors come into play that aren't technical at all.

    - How easy is it to buy? I've heard that it is very difficult to buy a WP7 phone because salespeople will actively discourage you from doing so, preferring to sell you an iPhone.
    - What is the ecosystem like? The Zune brand name is non existent and from what I understand, the Zune service isn't even available in most countries. Web sites don't advertise that they have a WP7 app for that. When I walk into a Best Buy, I see a ton of iPhone docks. No WP7 docks.
    - What will others think? "I have an iPhone" leads to a positive emotional reaction in a significant portion of the population. "I have a WP7 phone" leads to "What?". Teenagers (and adults with teenage minds) can't show off their WP7 phones like they can their iPhones.
    - Apple conducts the right type of advertising. While they also spend money on national advertising campaigns, Apple is a master at astro turfing. The John Grubers, the Walt Mossbergs, the David Morgensterns are all part of Apple's advertising arm. Hearing from your local blogger that iPhone is great and WP7 is terrible is more effective than seeing an NBC ad from MS that WP7 is great and iPhone is terrible. Of course MS is going to say that. The naive public however will believe that Gruber, Mossberg, and Morgenstern are independent bloggers / journalists.

    iPhone will have 95% marketshare just like iPad does today. People ask me why I think it is a sick market, why we all lose. We all lose because if WP7 does have some fantastic design elements and truly would let people get their work done faster, we lose when that product is killed by a monopolist.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    toddybottom_z
    27th Jan
  • RE: Is your phone faster than a Windows Phone?
    @toddybottom_z Good products speak for themselves. Check out the Windows phone reviews from Pogue and Mossberg!
    ZDNet Gravatar
    jatbains
    27th Jan
  • Okay, now what?
    @jatbains
    http://allthingsd.com/20101020/microsofts-new-windows-phone-7-novel-but-lacking/

    His conclusion:
    "Overall, I can???t recommend Windows Phone 7 as being on a par with iPhone or Android"

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/technology/personaltech/28pogue.html

    His conclusion:
    "this may not be the phone you???ll want to buy"

    While both Pogue and Mossberg sprinkled some faint praise in there, they both ultimately recommend that their readers do not buy this phone.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    toddybottom_z
    27th Jan
  • RE: Is your phone faster than a Windows Phone?
    @toddybottom_z
    Try reading some recent reviews. The one's you pulled out are from the initial release on 1st gen hardware. WP 7.5 + newer hardware are a very different experience and have gotten generally positive reviews.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    jonathanmarston
    27th Jan
  • RE: Is your phone faster than a Windows Phone?
    @toddybottom_z Mossberg did a 180 on that January 2012. "Windows Phone 7 ought to have a better shot. It???s not merely an adequate substitute for Apple???s iPhone software or the industry-leading Android phone software from Google Inc. It is first-rate, a worthy rival to the iPhone and decisively better than Android. "

    ...and so did Pogue last October. "Windows Phone 7.5 is gorgeous, classy, satisfying, fast and coherent. The design is intelligent, clean and uncluttered"

    And in Mossberg's case, his attitude changed before any of the software did! (Which goes to show you how much sense his reviews make, anyway.)
    ZDNet Gravatar
    whyjoe
    27th Jan
  • Thanks for the update
    @jatbains
    I learned something today.

    It must have really hurt those 2 to write that. WP7 must be a lot better than the iPhone for them to write that it was as good as the iPhone.

    I'll check out the Nokia 900 when it comes out and I'll prepare to be impressed.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    toddybottom_z
    27th Jan
  • RE: Is your phone faster than a Windows Phone?
    @toddybottom_z
    I'm impressed. A grown up admitting that he may have been wrong. Very rare in this scene. Regardless of allegiance and hardware / software of choice, I stand up and applaud you. Why is it typically so hard for people to do that? God.
    ZDNet Gravatar
    mountjl
    28th Jan
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