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First Impression from WP7
- Thread starter MotionxxUSxx
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No.... its really what YOU need ... the whole ethos around WP7 has been to not follow iOS and Android which are both heavily app based and go with a more personal "its about you" kinda thing...
Their advertising is clear in that they expect it to be a 'get in-get out' experience rather than living in the phone....
Personally I like my Apps and will be sticking, for now, with iOS but in my opinion Apple needs to look at what WP7 and Android are doing with iOS5 as the grid of icons thing is kinda looking tired and if nothing else i think the homepage look of WP7 looks modern.
I just tried the samsung version at AT&T. the scrolling works very well and the screen was gorgeous. I think the biggest problem is organization. everything revolves around huge lists. w/o folders your just scrolling up and down to find anything. the home screen only holds 8 or so "tiles" at a time and the tiles sort-of look alike - all primary colors - so its hard to see which is which w/o closely looking at them.
As far as it being "glance-able" - you really don't get that much information at a glance and most of the information is available on the iphone home screen (#calls #messages...) about the only new info you can get is 1 or 2 upcoming appointments. the unlock screen is really the place for glance-able info. if apple adds widgets to it then they'd be on to something. i don't think this is any more "glance-able" than android.
i didn't like the photo hub at all. there are no labels under the collections which makes finding a picture very difficult. i love how iphone organizes photos with categories - faces - places ... and the last thing in the world i want is my stupid face book friends pictures showing up on my phone.
i'm glad they didn't copy iphone and hope they push apple to give us glance-able info.
just my opinion.
As far as it being "glance-able" - you really don't get that much information at a glance and most of the information is available on the iphone home screen (#calls #messages...) about the only new info you can get is 1 or 2 upcoming appointments. the unlock screen is really the place for glance-able info. if apple adds widgets to it then they'd be on to something. i don't think this is any more "glance-able" than android.
i didn't like the photo hub at all. there are no labels under the collections which makes finding a picture very difficult. i love how iphone organizes photos with categories - faces - places ... and the last thing in the world i want is my stupid face book friends pictures showing up on my phone.
i'm glad they didn't copy iphone and hope they push apple to give us glance-able info.
just my opinion.
Just want to say that this is the most constructive and insightful critique I've ever seen...
/sarcasm
BTW, if anyone is interested in an actual discussion and not just a pissing match between stones and oranges on a grossly biased site, www.xda-developers.com. There's even an iPhone section and they're generally pretty civil and don't piss themselves everytime something new comes along like they generally do here.
WP7 really interests me as a iPhone 4 user because of the notification system (on the lock screen and the top bar). I love the iPhone, but find the pop-up notifications really annoying. I would also really like to be able to see how many mail messages I have and calendar events on the lock screen.
Excellent point. I would really like to see Apple focus on implementing a good, timely notification system.
I think WP7 could be nice and spur Apple to take more innovation and really change some things up whilst developing iOS5. Don't yell at me but WHY THE HELL DOES MICROSOFT CUT OFF TITLE TEXT ON WP7? It's really irritating and it seems almost very very lazy..very much like something they should have worked out with possible phone screen sizes..etc when looking to release the os. (hoping for a real answer..since earlier posts suggested that there's knowledge of some reason for this..). I do like the home screen on WP7 and perhaps Apple could do something like that for the next major iOS release..I mean Microsoft almost made it look really good..
That being said, sometime this weekend I'm going over to an AT&T store and I'm going to play with a Focus..hell, I might even get one. I still have my DINC (that's droid incredible for people who don't know the uber-sophisticated android jargon) so a WP7 phone would complete the trifecta (Sorry crackberry, not really interested here).
That being said, sometime this weekend I'm going over to an AT&T store and I'm going to play with a Focus..hell, I might even get one. I still have my DINC (that's droid incredible for people who don't know the uber-sophisticated android jargon) so a WP7 phone would complete the trifecta (Sorry crackberry, not really interested here).
The extending text was a design choice to highlight the horizontal panorama approach Microsoft was going for in Metro/WP7.
I dont get how it can be seen as lazy. Im sure changing text sizes is not very hard for a software company like Microsoft.
I find this exemplary post, quite educational. A stellar contribution...
/sarcasm
Go back to read the entire thread. In summary:
1. It helps the user know that there are more items to the left/right of the screen. (Ex. If the Title cuts off, you know there is something if you flick to the right).
2. Design
This image is the number 1 reason why I just do NOT like WP7. I understand it's "fancy" and "flash," but iOS clearly, in my opinion, gives the clearest access to the apps you need. And when it comes down to it, that really is what you need.
i agree thats a very big screen for 6 and a half apps,
I find this exemplary post, quite educational. A stellar contribution...
/sarcasm
Why thank you kindly gentleman, you see, by pointing out the obvious in such graphic nature, I have managed to educate all of you fine folks.
cheers
There's "simplistic" and then there's just plan "basic".
And that interface is basic. Not for me.
And that interface is basic. Not for me.
You have to take off your apple hats and play with it in the store before judging. The tiles hold information and you can fit as many as you would like. The screens run together and its silky smooth. It makes the iphone look like a ipod with calling features. In a way they don't compare, its OS is so different and efficient and 4 inch screens are perfect. Other than number of apps the iphone has a lot of catching up to do.
I myself don't really care about the home screen UI which is what everyone seems to be arguing about. What about the reliability, Speed, touch screen, Settings/Menus, Broswer, Etc?
Is it easier or tougher to navigate around than iOS or Android?
From what I seen so far, I'm not really impressed with the applications menu. Seem like you would really have to do alot of scrolling if you got a ton of apps. Please tell me they have shortcuts like letters on the side or something.
Is it easier or tougher to navigate around than iOS or Android?
From what I seen so far, I'm not really impressed with the applications menu. Seem like you would really have to do alot of scrolling if you got a ton of apps. Please tell me they have shortcuts like letters on the side or something.
If you have a ton of apps you have to scroll an any phone. Some like the iphone have multiple screens on the WP7 its one single screen like android only the tiles are bigger and easier to read. The the focus that I played with was smoother and the transitions were perfect, and it is a great experience. I think it will not be for everyone but its very nice.
I've gotten a bit of hands on time with one of the phones at an AT&T store. The touchscreen is extremely responsive with smooth scrolling and no/very little jerkiness. Usability of the keyboard is pretty spot on/up to par with iOS's keyboard - I had absolutely no problems with it, and it felt much better to use with the slight haptic feedback. Even though the browser is Internet Explorer based, it is extremely smooth and responsive. Pinch to zoom is present and page rendering is extremely quick. The only problem is that the browser has neither HTML5 or Flash support (iOS users aren't too picky about the latter), although Microsoft has already pledged to make the browser HTML5 capable in a future update, as well as Adobe with Flash.
Menu navigation is fairly hassle free, and some screens are generous with the eye candy. At the moment it is missing basic features, such as cut copy paste functions, but omissions are expected with a new OS.
Well now with folders set up right, there is very minimal scrolling on the iPhone. Especially when you can easily see what apps are in each folder at glance.
But the reason I bought that up is cause of this picture from the first page..... Doesn't seem very intuitive by modern standards.
Well so far so good.
I've always been a WM fan, but I'm a little biased against it. It's basically cause of it's track record of being reliable which has left me with a bitter taste. Every single WM phone I had seemed fast & reliable at first. Let's hope WM7 doesn't suffer from the same rot.
I picked up the Samsung focus. I'm going to try and use this as main phone in place of my iPhone 4.
High points:
Fast scrolling
Keyboard
Solid browser
Very good on screen keyboard
Screen size
Low points:
Lack of multitasking(I wanted to stream a podcast but had to keep the browser open)
Storage(there should be a fix coming that should allow upgrades)
I'll post more as I use it day to day.
High points:
Fast scrolling
Keyboard
Solid browser
Very good on screen keyboard
Screen size
Low points:
Lack of multitasking(I wanted to stream a podcast but had to keep the browser open)
Storage(there should be a fix coming that should allow upgrades)
I'll post more as I use it day to day.
A couple of things I recently discovered on my HTC Surround...
1. An FM radio that is very simple to use and sounds great.
2. The ability to upload photos from within the browser. So you can upload photos to Costco, for example, without having to connect to a PC/Mac to get the photos off.
Haven't tried anything yet with MS Office.
1. An FM radio that is very simple to use and sounds great.
2. The ability to upload photos from within the browser. So you can upload photos to Costco, for example, without having to connect to a PC/Mac to get the photos off.
Haven't tried anything yet with MS Office.
I can only think that you don't know what intuitive means. In the sense of using a device, intuitive would mean that it's easy or obvious how to use the device. If a list of apps on the device somehow confuses you, I really don't know how much simpler it could be made for you to understand it.