With the recent updates, are you likely to jump ship?

[Muhammad Farrukh]

No, and I am a bit leery of anything Windows mobile. I had disastrous times with my iPaq PocketPC - mainly due to Microsoft being absolutely lame with updates and having to install a crap ton of add-ons to get it to function somewhat decently.

I just feel like MS had and still has no real direction for its mobile platform. Every couple years they go in an opposite direction.

Windows Phone is a completely different approach of Microsoft. Its a step in the right direction and it is not similar to Windows Mobile. They are two different things

[Muhammad Farrukh]

You might not agree with the direction they went with the Windows Phone UI, but I don't think you can honestly call the UI basic or unpolished. Just because a design is minimalist doesn't mean it is basic or lacks polish...

If you spend some time using Windows Phone 7 and peering into all of the native apps (not third party stuff as many devs still don't get Metro yet) and you'll see it is very polished. Polish is thinking about all of the little things (hence the name.. You polish a table to make it look nice, but polish doesn't make a table a table!). They have so many subtle animations and visual cues baked into the UI that you can't help but be amazed at how much they thought about the UI.

It is meant as a UI that gets out of the way and that is where I think you aren't understanding it. Windows Phone 7 is designed to be an OS that you don't get wrapped up in, in the traditional sense. It is an OS that should place your information front and center and that should be your focus. But understanding that you're on a mobile device you should be able to get the jist of your information in seconds not minutes.

Once you see that in action and understand it you can't help but be amazed at the polish. You don't have to like it or agree with it, but it is impressive still.

(Y)

Indeed it is a matter of personal opinion that what is polished and what isn't but you, sir, have explained every thing

With that understood if you look at the state of Android you'll see it is a doomed platform (in its current state). If you know the history of the mobile market you'll fully appreciate that respect, otherwise you'll run around yelling fanboyism and not fully understanding anything. The best way to understand the end result for Android is to look at the history of Windows Mobile. The model that Android has today is the EXACT same business model that Windows Mobile had with one minor change, the OS is free to the OEM. The customer is still not the end user (it is the carrier). The platform will always be plagued with fragmentation and quality variations galore that will anger developers and end users alike.

Carriers nor OEMs have a vested interest in offering upgrades to a handset. They are far happier offering users the chance to buy a new device. They also love to cripple the OS with their customized addons and tweaks as they attempt to "segment" each handset for a specific mystery user. The only saving grace Android purists can find is the custom ROM community. The part they forget is that the custom rom community Android has is inherited from Windows Mobile! Where do users think XDA-Developers got its name from? It is from the XDA Windows Mobile Handsets!

(Y)

There have been countless great articles about this situation, and the editors made extremely good points regarding the current and future state of Android. You included.

Google seriously needs to rethink their strategy and if they don't do it soon, then I'm afraid from here on, there is the imminent downfall of Android, which will be much worse if Google doesn't rethink their strategy.

Sure, Android is open and all that, its free and stuff like that but from a customer' point of view, a normal one, an average one, who doesn't know much about specs and just wants their phone to be fast and user friendly, these things are only a paper-work.

I have bought many of my friends iPhones and Windows Phones and all of them, except one I think, were coming from Android.

Most of them didn't even knew what the software was and what you can do with it.

They just bought, what, at that time, was selling hot and was popular and didn't care about the specs.

Heck, that little Android cartoon on the homepage, which takes you to the apps, was there in the phones of three of them and I was like, dude? you serious?

So yeah, I'll absolutely agree with you that Android is following the course of Windows Mobile and frankly, there isn't a better example here than Windows Mobile. (Y)

I honestly think we will see a major reboot of Android in 2012. I still think that was a major reason for the Google Motorola purchase. Android sailed to 50% because there was no competition. Google understands that Microsoft is finally ready and they have come out swinging.

Unlikely, in my opinion, because the recent ICS seems to me that it'll carry on with this kind of interface for more than a year or so.

Might be a different thing in the future. Who knows

[articuno1au]

Anyone ragging on WP7 for not having a dual core hasn't used one.

You can say "oh it will render web pages faster" etc etc

It already does it on par (or extremely close too) with all the dual core devices out there.

It will benefit from dual core chips, but it in no way shape or form "needs" them.

My only whinge with the platform comes from a developers stand point. I can't directly access the bluetooth API which means I can't hook it to do things I want to do. The other one that ****es me off is I can't close an app with code. There's no this.close() or similar. The point is to force tomb stoning so people can navigate back to the app if they want to, but that's ****ing retarded for a voice app that just tells you the time..

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Anyone ragging on WP7 for not having a dual core hasn't used one.

You can say "oh it will render web pages faster" etc etc

It already does it on par (or extremely close too) with all the dual core devices out there.

It will benefit from dual core chips, but it in no way shape or form "needs" them.

My only whinge with the platform comes from a developers stand point. I can't directly access the bluetooth API which means I can't hook it to do things I want to do. The other one that ****es me off is I can't close an app with code. There's no this.close() or similar. The point is to force tomb stoning so people can navigate back to the app if they want to, but that's ****ing retarded for a voice app that just tells you the time..

(Y)

[articuno1au]

Oh, and voice recognition as an Australian can be a little hit or miss sometimes. >.>

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Oh, and voice recognition as an Australian can be a little hit or miss sometimes. >.>

To tell the truth, I have used it sometimes and it only missed my worlds once or twice.

Sure it isn't the perfect product but it does what it is supposed to. Like text someone or call someone

And about Australian accent, :D

[articuno1au]

I use it in the car all the time.

It's voice-to-text suffers badly from background noise.. Not great in that regard.

When you are somewhere quiet it's pretty damn good though. Also Australian accents are hard. Both of these things I can live with, but I wish Microsoft would put a little effort into fixing them :\

[Xerxes]

I don't doubt WP7 is a great OS but I cannot stand the UI. I don't care that it's buttery smooth and ultra responsive, I just can't get past the look of it :/

[articuno1au]

See, that's fair enough.

It doesn't work for you, but that doesn't make it "****"/"bad" or anything that all these other clowns keep saying.

I find the information on the front page to be damned useful. It's something that I was quite happy with from the start, but I would like a bit more customisation to make the phone more.. "mine".

[DeadEndAccount]

I would purchase one if they offered a 32GB or 64GB model - so far not a single carrier offers them and thus I am stuck using an iPhone 4.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

I would purchase one if they offered a 32GB or 64GB model - so far not a single carrier offers them and thus I am stuck using an iPhone 4.

You shouldn't be stuck with it.

Enjoy the games while you are at it

[DeadEndAccount]

You shouldn't be stuck with it.

Enjoy the games while you are at it.

When I mean stuck I'm referring to it being the only viable option for me - either that or Android handsets where the handset vendor abandons the user 3 months later with the end user receiving no software updates or upgrades. For all the choice that apparently exists there is little choice in reality.

[Aergan]

Lumia 800 in the post for tomorrow - will be replacing an iPhone 3GS.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Lumia 800 in the post for tomorrow - will be replacing an iPhone 3GS.

(Y)

Congratulations.

Do let us know about your decision and impression, please

[George P Global Moderator]

Can't wait for CES, we should see more phones, I expect maybe some other than what Nokia will have.