5 Ways Windows Phone 7 Could Bite Into Android

[Brinkley1988]

Android is the darling of the mobile world right now and has grown to be the best-selling platform in the U.S. in recent sales.

Microsoft

 

[Martimus]

While I can't say that I spent the day at the WP7 unveiling, my perspective on WP7's addition to the market is somewhat different.

Microsoft has a pretty tall hill ahead of it. Microsoft left an awful lot of it's customers stranded when they dropped the ball on Windows Mobile. In hindsight we know that WM 6 development stopped when Ballmer decided to dedicate serious resources to a major refresh of Windows Mobile. That said, this 2 year delay tended to alienate many of Microsofts mobile customers (myself included).

As for WP7, in looking at the information provided on the UI, I find it to be cumbersome. Microsoft designed WP7 to revolve around tiles. Well if you have a phone with 6 or 8 tiles then navigating around may not be a really big deal. Add about 40 tiles, however, and the UI becomes confusing and difficult to manage. Yesterday I watched a video taken at the unveiling and the journalist spent quite a bit of time trying to find the correct tile from amongst a sea of tiles on the WP7 phones screen. While it is true that tiles can be re-arranged, this process is manual and requires the end user to come up with a logical order to suit their individual needs. And as the list of tiles increases so does the maintenance required to keep these tiles properly ordered.

As you mentioned Microsoft also has some major development needed to make WP7 a workable mobile OS. Leaving out Copy/Paste was a major tactical error on the part of Microsoft. Granted it added a lot of complexity to the development, it's also an integral feature that many Smartphone users want.

Another major error, in my opinion, was that Microsoft left out the ability to Sync the phone via USB. Leaving this out forces WP7 users to have to synchronize across the cloud. What about those users whose companies don't have the financial/I.T./Security resources to safely put their Exchange servers out on the Internet for more than just delivery/receipt of email? Maintaining legacy support for USB Activesync would have been a simple workaround.

As I mentioned in another thread, the new WP7 interface looks to be a cross between that of a Zune MP3 player and a KIN phone. Everything seems to revolve around social networking. In years past Win Mo was all about business. Apparently business customers are not as important to Microsoft anymore. Are they essentially saying that business customers can now freely go to RIM while they compete with Apple, Google, and now HP for the remaining smartphone market?

In my opinion there will be a lot of initial interest in WP7. I think this goes without saying. The problem is that I suspect there will also be a lot of phones returned to the carriers within those first 30 days. WP7 may look good at first blush but will smartphone users be willing to wait for Microsoft to get around to plugging all of the holes in the OS?

As we all know Microsoft is not well known for delivering stable and reliable software at initial release. Given that a large percentage of corporate Windows customers are still running Windows XP, I think people will wait till after the first or second revision before investing in a WP7 phone. This doesn't bode well for the phone manufacturers who need to see immediate sales to help them recoup their production costs.

Can WP7 weather this storm? Probably but will the phone manufacturers be willing to wait for revenue from WP7? Android phones tend to sell quickly. This generates the revenue that the manufacturers need. Unless Microsoft is planning to subsidize the manufacturers during the first few months following release I suspect that some phone manufacturers will jump ship. After all following the path of least resistance gives them quicker access to the revenue they need to survive in a difficult business economy.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

Microsoft - barf. Said as a proud owner of many Windows machines since Windows 3.1.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

Wow how could WP 7 fail harder? By not letting you swap SD cards!!

http://www.phonedog.com/2010/10/12/windows-phone-7-won-t-let-users-swap-sd-cards/

So no copy / paste, no multi-tasking, and no switching of SD cards?

Um yea, WP7 is gonna win, LOL.

 

[ekyle]

The new MS phone OS is going to flood the market with more devices. That's the only way I see it really taking hits at Apple and Google.

 

[Vihzel]

Wow how could WP 7 fail harder? By not letting you swap SD cards!!

Windows Phone 7 won't let users swap SD cards

According to the update, you can. You'll just have to do a hard reset after you swap it.

 

[jamor]

I'm not going to read it because most of it is misinformation/garbage/made up based off the couple sentences I glanced over.

But to my point, maybe you should credit the source next time instead of copying and pasting someone's article as your own.

They still teach plagiarism is wrong in school don't they?

 

[shawn1224]

Why the f* do people post entire articles without citing the source ... [heads off to the "things that grinds my gears" thread]

5 Ways Windows Phone 7 Could Bite Into Android

 

[AndroidSPCS]

According to the update, you can. You'll just have to do a hard reset after you swap it.

Yes that's not real practical. Might as well be impossible because wiping your phone is a pain in the ass.

 

[A.Nonymous]

I've not played with it, but the reviews I'm hearing have all been very positive. MS does have a very tough road to hoe though because both iOS and Android have tons of momentum and RIM isn't going anywhere. Then there's the 500 lb gorilla Symbian lurking out there as well.

 

[IOWA]

I'd like to take the upcoming HTC 7 Pro (winmo 7) phone and dual boot android with it.

 

[Intervenient]

I think that WP7 will be successful, but need to concentrate on iOS first. I can seriously seeing it taking a decent chunk out of both though, and once they add better Enterprise support (which Microsoft said will happen down the line), I think they'll have a decent 35% of the market.

 

[IOWA]

I think that WP7 will be successful, but need to concentrate on iOS first. I can seriously seeing it taking a decent chunk out of both though, and once they add better Enterprise support (which Microsoft said will happen down the line), I think they'll have a decent 35% of the market.

Yeah a dual boot would be completely ideal for me, best of both worlds. Only problem is, didn't winmo 7 phones NOT have external storage?

 

[ekyle]

I'd like to take the upcoming HTC 7 Pro (winmo 7) phone and dual boot android with it.

isn't there a button requirement for winmo7?

 

[Intervenient]

Yeah a dual boot would be completely ideal for me, best of both worlds. Only problem is, didn't winmo 7 phones NOT have external storage?

I believe they do:
Expandable storage confirmed in Windows Phone 7, required a hard reset

 

[IOWA]

I believe they do:
Expandable storage confirmed in Windows Phone 7, required a hard reset

So that means with some software tweaks you could potentially implement a "hot swap" feature of sorts. I bet it's some sort of DRM Microsoft cooked up.

 

[Intervenient]

So that means with some software tweaks you could potentially implement a "hot swap" feature of sorts. I bet it's some sort of DRM Microsoft cooked up.

It most definitely is. Probably so piracy of Zune stuff doesn't explode and whatnot. Which I guess it's good, but a hot swap would definitely be nice, and would give the iPhone's multimedia capabilities a run for it's money.

 

[ElasticNinja]

Yes that's not real practical. Might as well be impossible because wiping your phone is a pain in the ass.

I have to do it once a month w/ Symbian...

I've not played with it, but the reviews I'm hearing have all been very positive. MS does have a very tough road to hoe though because both iOS and Android have tons of momentum and RIM isn't going anywhere. Then there's the 500 lb gorilla Symbian lurking out there as well.

LOL at gorilla reference

Nokia still own ASEAN & India SC

 

[IOWA]

It most definitely is. Probably so piracy of Zune stuff doesn't explode and whatnot. Which I guess it's good, but a hot swap would definitely be nice, and would give the iPhone's multimedia capabilities a run for it's money.

So then it's only a matter of time before XDA breaks the DRM, dual format's a 16(or32)GB SD card, and dual boots Android and has hot swappable memory

Seriously, if they can get the winmo7 phones to dual boot with swappable memory, I'd buy a winmo phone.

 

[Intervenient]

So then it's only a matter of time before XDA breaks the DRM, dual format's a 16(or32)GB SD card, and dual boots Android and has hot swappable memory

Seriously, if they can get the winmo7 phones to dual boot with swappable memory, I'd buy a winmo phone.

Exactly

I'd buy WP7 when they actually support multiple calendars. I don't care about how closed the experience is as long as I get steady, untampered software updates, but I do care about Microsoft gimping features.

 

[ElasticNinja]

So then it's only a matter of time before XDA breaks the DRM, dual format's a 16(or32)GB SD card, and dual boots Android and has hot swappable memory

Seriously, if they can get the winmo7 phones to dual boot with swappable memory, I'd buy a winmo phone.

I was just about to say rude things to you relating to the issues with drivers for dual-booting Android BUT, there MAY be similarities to Desire Z, esp w/ keyboard and such
MAYBE..

 

[Napalm]

talk about nonspecific questions. I suspect, most android people that hate Apple, also carry a strong dislike for the big M. I know I do.

So uhm no, now I still have love for the BB. and I just don't think WP7 will compete without although their last offereing wasn't horrible. It didn't endear me either.

However competition is a wonderful thing.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

Competition is great, and it would also be nice to see WebOS come to maturity as well, but I don't think the market is going to support more than 2 or 3 major platforms, and Android right now is rolling full steam ahead.

 

[UBRocked]

According to the update, you can. You'll just have to do a hard reset after you swap it.

Yes that's not real practical. Might as well be impossible because wiping your phone is a pain in the ass.

I have to do it once a month w/ Symbian...

Hmmm...I wonder why Android is the number one selling smartphone???...could it be removable storage? Haha! No, I'm sure not...but it's the little things that add up.

Windows fans would love having to do a hard reset to swap their memory cards. For one, Apple doesn't even have this feature...and two, Windows is all about PITA!

I have long been a fan of Windows Mobile phones because of the easy exchange server integration...but Android devices work just fine with my server...I think my HTC Touch Pro 2 will be last WinMo phone...truth be told, I wish I had purchased an Incridible instead cause the ONLY thing I use my Windows phone for is business email. While WinMo 7 may do away with the really stupid sized dialog boxes and on-screen buttons I have yet to see what makes it better than any android device. Media player perhaps...but that's so far down on my list of priorities that it's barely a consideration.

The talk about the custom UI's being a problem for Android??? I tend to disagree that the different UI's and add-ons are a negative for Android. I had a friend of mine (rockin some WinMo Treo phone) call me from the Sprint store just before it closed one night last week and just asked me "EVO or Epic?" I wouldn't make that decision for him but told him I personally would go with the EVO cause I'm not a big fan of Samsung's UI. He didn't even know what I meant when I said they were different and when he did notice the differences, he said "that's cool". It wasn't positive or negative for him...just another choice to help him choose the right phone. The mainstream consumers won't care (He ended up with the EVO BTW).

I ate lunch with a business partner today who got a Droid 2 recently. He had one of the girls in his office go and pick him up a new phone to replace his older Blackberry. He heard about the Droid X and thought that it was a better phone than what he got. I explained that it was only different from the Droid X...not sub par to it (and that the D2 is actually newer in terms of when they were released which he didn't know). He isn't really very technically inclined when it comes to personal electronic devices but he really liked the phone, loved the keyboard, thought the market was awesome. He is now going to check out this forum cause I told him that this place had the answers to the questions he hadn't even thought of yet He is mainstream, he is the reason for the custom Android UI's, and he is becoming the target audience for Android. Face it...Android isn't the "geeks phone" anymore. It's the everyone phone. Windows mobile has such a bad reputation for being very user UN-friendly for a very long time that while Windows 7 will sell...it will not rocket to the top like Android did. In 2011, windows will still be fixing major bugs while Android's new wave of dual core, or equivalent phones will be stealing more and more users from Blackberry and Apple.

Windows is to the mobile phone community like the Detroit Lions are to professional football. Every once in a while they will win one or two...but they will always maintain a losing record!

 

[bhatchfield]

Thanks for all the good info. I just got a LG Quantum and can't get the zune software to sync anything. Is there just a plain jane usb driver I can install to treatthe phone like a flash drive? Thanks