I'm a WP7 fan, get me out of here!

[The Teej]

So, I've had the HTC Desire for coming up to 18 months now. At first, I really loved the phone and Android OS - however I've now gotten to a point where it's starting to grate on me. All of this extra customisation and flashing and what have you just to get my phone the way I want it, and even then I can never seem to get it -just right-. Enter WP7. My friend has the HTC Mozart, and I decided to play around with his for a while. I have to say, I absolutely love it, I really love the idea of WP7. It works for me rather nicely. Also getting to use Windows 8 DP and playing around with Immersive Apps, this definitely seems like the kind of experience I want on my computers and phones.

However, trying to actually get a decent look at what the upcoming phones are is an absolutely nightmare. I've struggled to find a centralised place where I can see what the upcoming phones are, and the list of devices on the market so far seem some what "last gen" - while the Mozart "will do" I don't fancy having this phone in 18 months time, as it'll feel really weak in comparison. Asking people in phone stores is like talking to a brick wall, they don't seem to know very much about WP7 at all. I'm going to want something that has some pretty long legs. I want something with something bigger then a 3.5" screen, preferably 4-4.3". I want something that's going to last me at least a day with some casual internet browsing or music streaming, heavy text messaging and some gaming. DLNA is a nicety but I've got other solutions to stream media across so it's not a necessity. I'd also like a phone where I can plug in a MicroSD card for extra storage, I've seen the HTC Titan doesn't come with this and this heavily dampened my appreciation for the phone. Obviously 8GB is the minimum for WP7 so 8GB is okay, although 16GB would be nicer. AMOLED/S-AMOLED vs. SLCD isn't too much of an issue for me as long as the screen just looks nice and does a good job of displaying the colours (i.e. nothing silly where it looks like I'm watching an animated gif while watching my TV shows on the phone).

So, can anybody recommend me a phone? As I said, I was gunning for the Titan but there's too many deal breakers, so now I'm back to the drawing board and quite frankly, I don't know what phone to choose. I don't mind waiting a while after my contract runs out in November (as I don't want to be impatient and grab a phone just before the next generation of phones come out) as long as it's reasonably soon after November.

Many thanks in advance guys, I really appreciate it :)

[micro]

Id wait for the Focus S if you want something immediate (2-3 weeks it should be out on at&t) or oct 27th nokia will be formally announcing their wp7 handsets which are said to launch the first week of NOV.

[neo158]

Id wait for the Focus S if you want something immediate (2-3 weeks it should be out on at&t) or oct 27th nokia will be formally announcing their wp7 handsets which are said to launch the first week of NOV.

Or OP could get the HD7s now and have a WP7 device that has a 4.3" display without the hassle of Samsung hardware revisions.

[winaxter]

As micro said, the Focus S seems to be your best bet with what you're looking for, and that SAMOLED screen just works wonders with windows phones use of black backgrounds.

http://www.gsmarena....ocus_s-4158.php

Or you could wait for Nokia, who will most likely release the Sea Ray with windows phone (Nokia ace i think) and might be available near the time your contract expires.

Heres a "leaked" video of Nokias windows phone:

EDIT: heres a post that summarizes the rumored specs of Nokia's windows phones

http://www.winrumors...ue-in-november/

[Lachlan]

I think everything should be out by nov. 8th just because that is 1 year from when wp7 was first released in the US

[The Teej]

I should state I'm from the UK, so any AT&T/VZN/T-Mo/Sprint exclusive phones are useless to me unless they have an English counterpart :p Thanks for the suggestions though so far guys, keep 'em coming! :)

Also, I thought that the HD7 had pretty poor battery life? I mean, it's got a 1.2Ah battery, surely that'll just drain super quick?

Also, it appears the Focus S doesn't have a microSD card slot either? Is this some sort of standard across Windows Phones that I'm not aware of? Or are manufacturers really trying to cut costs by removing $5 worth of components?

Edited October 9, 2011 by SHoTTa35
C-C-C-C-Combo breaker!

[CronicHazel]

My HD7S with Mango runs superb on the battery. Idling barely puts a dent on the phone, even with WiFi enabled. Battery efficiency was dramatically better for me with Mango compared to NoDo :)

[neo158]

I should state I'm from the UK, so any AT&T/VZN/T-Mo/Sprint exclusive phones are useless to me unless they have an English counterpart :p Thanks for the suggestions though so far guys, keep 'em coming! :)

Also, I thought that the HD7 had pretty poor battery life? I mean, it's got a 1.2Ah battery, surely that'll just drain super quick?

Also, it appears the Focus S doesn't have a microSD card slot either? Is this some sort of standard across Windows Phones that I'm not aware of? Or are manufacturers really trying to cut costs by removing $5 worth of components?

The HD7 does last longer on battery, I have one myself and as HTC ship batteries uncalibrated it takes a few charges to get it to maximum capacity. All smartphones have crap battery life, but I get over a day out of my HD7, obviously that depends on usage, with Mango installed using the battery saver function built into the phone.

WP7 doesn't accept microSD cards, simply because one of the requirements is that the OS integrates the card into the system storage and removing it resets the phone to it's defaults. The card can't be used in any other device, it's a security feature of SD cards. The newer Windows Phone 7 devices, like the HTC Titan, use NAND memory with no expansion capability which is exactly how it is with the iPhone.

With WP7 you have to stop thinking it's Windows Mobile with a new skin because it isn't.

[Chsoriano]

Also, it appears the Focus S doesn't have a microSD card slot either? Is this some sort of standard across Windows Phones that I'm not aware of? Or are manufacturers really trying to cut costs by removing $5 worth of components?

Damnit! I really hope they don't take the microSD slot out - I love my Focus, and I refuse to buy a phone that has less than (or allows for expansion to more than) 32GB.

EDIT: Okay, so apparently it will come in 16GB and 32GB variants - so perhaps it will suffice. I'll still hold off until Nokia announces their lineup and we get specs confirmed... I would much rather have more than 32GB.

[neo158]

Damnit! I really hope they don't take the microSD slot out - I love my Focus, and I refuse to buy a phone that has less than (or allows for expansion to more than) 32GB.

Read my post above for the reason why.

[The Teej]

The HD7 does last longer on battery, I have one myself and as HTC ship batteries uncalibrated it takes a few charges to get it to maximum capacity. All smartphones have crap battery life, but I get over a day out of my HD7, obviously that depends on usage, with Mango installed using the battery saver function built into the phone.

Really? I'm aware they take a few charges to get up to optimal capacity, but still. I'm kind of looking to do music streaming or mobile gaming on this thing too, while I'm sure the specs hold up, will the battery life just completely tank before the day's up? For example, I'm taking an hour and a half train ride from 1-2:30. I unplug my phone at 10am - I do a casual bit of facebooking and e-mail checking when I wake up. I check again at around, say, 12am. Probably send about 5-10 texts in that time too. I start streaming or playing my music from 1pm until, I hope, I get home at around 2:30ish. I'll probably start playing some tower defense games or maybe even a 3D game if there's one worth playing during my train journey. Is my phone going to die before I get to my destination? Because, I did exactly this on my Desire and the phone died by 2pm, and I was seriously ****ed. Now, obviously two different operating systems so I can't draw parallels (and I'm not) - but I really don't want this to happen to me on my new phone. I want it to take a bit of a beating on occasion and not crap out on me within 4 hours.

[Roger H. Veteran]

Nah, that shouldn't kill it that fast. Streaming music however can kill any phone - iPhone included in about 5-8hrs depending. So if you are streaming for ~2hrs plus 3D gaming for 1hr, that should be fine. Can't have fastest graphics and best battery life just yet ;)

[The Teej]

Nah, that shouldn't kill it that fast. Streaming music however can kill any phone - iPhone included in about 5-8hrs depending. So if you are streaming for ~2hrs plus 3D gaming for 1hr, that should be fine. Can't have fastest graphics and best battery life just yet ;)

I need to build that damn time machine and get a future superphone! Haha. Good to hear, cheers. I'm leaning towards the HD7S although my contract won't be up until after the Nokia phones launch, which are also appealing to me.

[subcld]

if i am in your position i would wait for nokia conference in 27 this month to see that they are going to provide

then i'll decide what brand i would chose

oh and ya if you start to love windows phone you won't be Convinced with any os :p

[Caveman-ugh]

My contract has already runout and Telstra hasn't said a word about it to me. And as for Nokia releasing their WP7.5 phones, that is the release date ...it is not the date for when the released phones will be AVAILABLE though !!!

[neoxphuse]

I have the original Focus and love it. I've had it since it was released, and don't feel like it's slowed down one bit, but that's really the OS.

I have a 16GB sd card in my focus, so I have 24 altogether.

I really want to see what Nokia delivers and grab their high end one if I can in the future.

[FMH]

I'd tell you to wait. I expect many WPs to be revealed in the near future. Don't make any decisions now. Wait for the Nokia World event. The Samsung reveal, and other OEMs. Even HTC is going to release more devices.

[FMH]

This is the link, you were looking for. :) http://www.winrumors.com/overview-of-all-new-windows-phone-7-5-devices/