Windows Phone 7 Impressions
POSTED IN Flash Platform, Mobile, Windows Phone | TAGS : air, Flash Platform, Flex, internet explorer, lab49, microsoft, mobile, smartphone, windows phone, xbox live August 30, 2010
Last night, I went to a Windows Phone 7 Developer event aptly name ‘Developer Happy Hour’ which was organized by the Flash New York Meetup. We met at a bar where some Microsoft evangelists showed up with a few phones that we could play with. Here are some of the impressions I got from talking to the employees and playing around with the phone.
First off, the phone that was used as a prototype was an LG C900 which felt cheap and plasticky. However, the screen was remarkably responsive; I don’t know if it’s the phone or the software, but it made for a very agreeable experience.
When moving from menu to application or sub-menu, there were nifty little animations that made the transition very smooth and enjoyable. The UI is well thought out and made it easy to get to the content that you want. My only problem is that because it’s a landscape UI, it might take a while to get where you need since you’ll need to swipe several times to get there. It’s slightly counter-productive, but how you get there is nice.
My colleague, Daniel Moore, asked the evangelist at the meet how they were going to deploy the updates to the phone. This is something that most people find frustrating with most phones since it’s normally the carrier that decides when they push out the update which can take months after the initial release. In this case though, the carrier has no involvement. Microsoft will make the update available online as soon as it is release; the users can then download and install on their own free will. This is great news because I don’t think Microsoft is going to stop developing this platform any time soon.
Of course, I had to inquire the evangelist about Flash/Air for WP7. His answer was short and sweet: “We’ll put it in as soon as Adobe makes it available”. You hear that Adobe? Get to it! Porting Flash/Flex apps to Android and WP7 is a beautiful thing. Microsoft is not closing any walls on this platform, they believe that choice will always make for a better product; I couldn’t agree more.
Another thing that impressed me was the Xbox live integration. You get your profile loaded on your phone automatically and you can play some fairly impressive 3D rendered games or just some fun 2D arcade games. Right now the library of games is fairly limited to in-house made demos but still, those demos were pretty darn good for harnessing the power of the hardware.
The one thing that I really didn’t like is something that in my opinion has been plaguing Microsoft for ages: Internet Explorer. I believe that Microsoft should take a page from the marketing book and just create a new brand. There’s a reason why large companies create sub-companies with a different name, because they want their brand to be renown for something in particular. When you hear ‘Hoover’ you think vacuum, when you hear ‘Kleenex’ you think facial tissue; right now, when I hear ‘Internet Explorer’, I think security issue. This is something that needs to change for people to be more confident around it. You’ll find most browsers have shorter names that are easy to remember (Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, etc) and it doesn’t need to include ‘internet’ in it (stop patronizing us). I know the brand’s been around forever, but this isn’t the 90′s anymore. You’ll also find that most browsers have a different brand just for the mobile version of it (Firefox is Fennec, Safari Mobile, etc). I believe this is a necessary step in the evolution of Internet Explorer. I personally would never use it for my own purposes because of its tight integration with the file system which I think is a security risk, but still, a new brand could definitely sway people who aren’t tech oriented as long as they do a good job of it.
Overall, I’m rather pleased with the software, it was still a little buggy at times but nothing blatant which is normal for something that hasn’t been released yet. The hardware itself felt cheap, however I can imagine the experience being better once a good mobile hardware company (like HTC) gets their device out. I can pretty much guarantee that any Microsoft enthusiast is going to be thrilled with this device. Being an Android fan myself, I think this brings a new edge to the market where competition is always welcome.
4 COMMENTS
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I’ve read several times in the past, and from several sources, that Flash will be indeed available in WP7, I guess it’s just a matter of time, although I’d wish for Adobe that it will be ready for the device launch time.
I’m somewhat skeptical about WP7 and will wait to see one in front of me, all the videos I’ve seen so far didn’t make it to look appeal… just my opinion.
I wish Flash would be available at launch time as well, but I think Adobe is concentrating on getting to run smoothly on Android first before going into another market.
Not every phone is for everyone. I’m an Android fan and you would never find me with an iPhone; it’s just not for me, but it does work for a lot of people. Choice is always a good thing and I think WP7 is going to tap into the mobile gaming market quite a bit.
I’m definitely excited, although I’m worried about the browsing experience beyond just the security implications. There’s a mobile version of IE for my Zune (I assume they’re related), and I have to say the experience is complete crap. Microsoft needs to put together their best minds and put something together than can actually compete with WebKit and V8 or admit defeat and adopt. As much as I hate to admit it, iPhone has the best browsing experience followed closely by Froyo, and it’s going to be an uphill battle to win people to your platform if your browsing solution isn’t in the same league.
Completely agree. I just hope that they at least let people install competitor’s browsing product.