Windows Phone 7 Series Takeaway
by Brian Klug on February 22, 2010 12:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Mobile
Microsoft's App Store
Also among the hubs that were left unexplored were Marketplace/Applications and Office. There's just as much potential in the Office hub as there is in the Gaming hub. Apple surprised many with its focus on enabling iWork on the iPad. Windows Phone 7 Series should have at least an equal focus on productivity. More questions abound. Backwards compatibility seems unlikely to impossible at this point, which would mean an entirely new and different application marketplace from the existing catalog on Windows Mobile. That's not necessarily a bad thing, either. One could make the case that none of the application stores currently on any of the smartphone platforms have totally gotten the formula right; there's still room for innovation. To date, each of the manufacturers have placed different emphasis of openness, organization, and approval ease (or lack entirely).
Furthermore, Office will likely have to be completely rewritten to match the Metro design of the rest of the UI. To complicate this further, it appears that Phone 7 also does away with File Explorer as it existed with Windows Mobile 6.5.x. It's very likely that Phone 7 Series will take a nod from the iPhone's file management approach and create per-application stores for sandboxing files with specific apps. Whether applications will be allowed to access a common store of files (especially for suites like office) is yet to be seen. Will Phone 7 Series have copy and paste?
Even more interestingly, it remains to be seen what part "Project Pink" has to play with Phone 7 Series, if any.
Final Words
Windows Phone 7 Series illustrates that Microsoft still hasn't lost the ability to innovate. They've come up with a completely redesigned UI and a new vision for Windows on phones. Even more, they have the experience to back it up and potentially turn it into much more than another rebooted smartphone platform vying for market share. That said, essentially all we've seen so far is a new UI, not a completely rebooted platform complete with fleshed out details. To quote an overused adage; the devil is in those details. How open or closed the platform is, what liberties developers will have with tiles, backgrounding and pseudo-multitasking, what tools and SDKs will be made available, what form the marketplace will take; these are just some of the points that will need to be addressed before Windows Phone 7 Series is a clear contender.
An additional consequence of application stores on the current dominant platforms is that users of both Android, iPhone OS, and even WebOS have become invested in their respective platforms. The notion of switching platforms and waving goodbye to both those applications and the workflow behind them might not be a tough thing to swallow for AnandTech readers (especially those of you that have been through it before with other mobile OSes), it's a tough sell for casual smartphone users. Lack of backwards compatibility means that even existing Windows Mobile diehards have an opportunity to re-evaluate platform choice; one can just as easily pack up and move to any of the other platforms given the inconvenience.
The Windows Phone team needs to spend the next 9 months carefully carrying its fledgling platform to term. By then, it will be competing for attention alongside newly refreshed hardware from virtually all its major competitors. A lot still has yet to be unveiled; it's just too early to tell for certain. MIX 2010 will bring new information, answering some questions and likely making more.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this newly proposed platform is how much it represents a move toward a closed paradigm. While the Windows smartphone message is headed towards an iPhone-like approach, other smartphone contenders like Android are busily marching toward the kind of openness that Windows Mobile used to be favored for.
Further Reading
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/windowsphone/imageGallery.aspx#channel_contentListTop
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
40 Comments
View All Comments
Pirks - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
hahaha I can imagine how reader1 laughs right now at all the PC loving idiots who bashed his closed platform prophesies. now look idiots where MS itself is moving! eat that dumbo winfanatics! hehehe hahaha cool!! :)))Dainas - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
The biggest problem with Windows mobile, (besides the horrid performance).... was how you had to pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan here to do this, or pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan pan there to do that. THIS LOOKS FRICKEN WORSE, ITS STILL NOT WINDOWS.... Windows 3.0 was better and easier to navigate than windows mobile, cannot wait to see how microsoft will fail at surpassing it again.It looks like you still cannot do a thing without panning for an half and hour because your relegated to looking at a tiny spyhole on the operating system. And no, the resolution of smartphones is not an excuse, windows xp works fine at 800x600.
Tanclearas - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
Honestly, I was shocked to learn that Microsoft felt they couldn't update the UI without breaking compatibility. HTC gave them a really good start to show how it can be done.I definitely fall into the category of "if I have to change anyway, then I might as well look at all my options". The real risk MS is running is with businesses that are looking at their options right now. They might choose to make the switch to one of the competitors rather than a) stick with a platform MS has killed (WM Classic) or b) gamble on an incomplete, unknown solution.
Griswold - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
Just a new GUI wont remedy the huge pile of shit windows mobile is, so MS did the right thing. WM was mainly a business product anyway and one that kept losing ground to RIM at lightspeed. Can as well kick that garbage to the curb and finally embrace the consumer with a proper mobile OS. Way to go Microsoft!I for one am looking forward to it. Its now between android and series 7 to replace my iphone 3G, since i'm no longer interested in apples upcoming phones.
Tanclearas - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
I couldn't disagree more. While there are issues with the underlying OS, the UI was by far the biggest reason to choose something else. When someone is showing off the iPhone, what exactly are they doing? Showing off the UI. "Look how it scrolls when I flick my thumb/finger! Look how it reacts when I tilt/shake it!" When they talk about Windows Mobile, what is the first thing they ridicule it for? "You have to use a stylus?"I just honestly can't believe there wasn't a solution that allowed MS to correct the single biggest issue, without breaking compatibility with existing apps, and while starting a migration process to an improved underlying OS. If I wanted to go with a company with a proven track record of ditching its previous users, then I would have gone with Apple.
The fact that you are considering a completely untested and unfinished platform for you to replace your iPhone indicates you either haven't been involved in the tech world very long, or haven't learned from the mistakes of millions.
Good luck.
strikeback03 - Wednesday, February 24, 2010 - link
While WM6 doesn't actually require use of a stylus, IMO the entire UI did need to be redone. Quite simply, it behaves too much like a collection of disjointed programs. Just the fact that something as simply as the alarm clock is done poorly, and launching a replacement alarm clock can take several seconds, is a indication of how much needs an overhaul in the UI. Really, when the best thing that can be said about the OS is that it allows other programs to run, you have issues.That said, if the new Phone7 doesn't allow multitasking I won't even consider it.
Thermogenic - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
"As it stands, social interaction with Xbox Live community takes place exclusively on the console itself; the experience is tethered to the TV."This is not correct - the Live community is also accessible from Games for Windows Live.
nerdtalker - Tuesday, February 23, 2010 - link
You're indeed correct ;)I guess what I should have noted was that the experience is still ultimately tethered to either the desktop (through Games for Windows) or the console. If I'm not mistaken, there's some loose ability to interact through the web interface, but still that isn't entirely desirable.
Even then, I've noticed through playing Halo 2 PC and a few other Games for Windows Live titles that the experience is relatively segmented; your gamerscore goes up, sure, and you can see those achievements from either side, but you can't say play Halo 2 games with people on Xbox 1. That, and I don't think they've seen the community on the PC side grow as much due to the whole subscription situation. It's a good thing for PC gamers that already have a gold account, but won't draw in PC gamers already used to free online play or for pay through a clan with a dedi slice.
I guess what I meant to say was that the experience is constrained to the household; it isn't mobile. What Phone 7 Series might be able to do is finally expand that out into the mobile realm so you can take that same online persona with you everywhere.
I mean, we could really start speculating and wonder whether there'll be direct phone->Xbox 360 functionality. Who knows?
Cheers,
Brian
Alexvrb - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
Yep. I'm half surprised Brian didn't know that. Regardless, extending it into their mobile phones would be a smart move. Especially if you can access your Live content on the go - if some XBLA developers port over their existing games, I'm sold. Castle Crashers on Phone 7 would rock, for example. For relatively simple games made with XNA it shouldn't be too difficult, given a sufficiently powerful phone.gaiden2k7 - Monday, February 22, 2010 - link
First of all, I'm so glad MS was able to see through what they done before wasn't working. WinMo UI before reminds me alot of BB UI very plain and text-based. But WinMo 7, this is so minimalist so simple with its words like tiles and pivots and hubs it's more google-ish than what google tries to do with android! Second of all, there is no doubt MS will be tying up its other toys with the phone: MS Office (when it gets the patent rights sort out), Bing search is cool, and gaming under xbox live is most interesting to me. Android lacks in gaming and has been one of its weakest link to buyers like me (owns N1 atm). But with these Tegra 2 WinMo7 phones on the horizon there is new phone in gaming phones other than iPhone!