Disappointed with Windows Phone 7

[Japlabot]

Opening a twitter post opens the website instead of the twitter app installed. Twitter website it opens obviously then had a suggestion to download the app even though. I already have it

[Muhammad Farrukh]

Given the choice between Android and WP7 I would pick Android in a heart beat

I would pick Windows Phone 7 before that heart beat :p

if your coming from android of course wp7 is a disappointment. wp7 is designed for people who are NOT power users and just want a phone that works.

I am a power user. A lot of my friends are, and they use and love and admire and prefer Windows Phone over Android, and to a lesser extent iOS

[articuno1au]

Truth hurt isnt??? and btw, i am not anti Microsoft... I am just not impressed with WP7..

every time i go to bestbuy i have tried WP7 but it never caught my attention!!

Yeah, me saying your stance was hardly surprising sure sounds like I'm butt hurt.

Nicely done with that sentence btw..

I'm a power user, and I still use my WP7 device over my Android device. A lot of people want phones that work :p Power user != tweaker.

This.

I have a developer token on my phone and simply coded all the things I wanted it to do.

My only real objection is no access to the bluetooth stack, and the inability to stream audio via bluetooth while a video is playing (as opposed to a rendered game :\). Both annoy the bejesus out of me.

I wouldn't change to iPhone, I would consider Android, but only if it was a device I could easily use Cyanagon mod (or equivalent) on.

[FarCry3r]

One thing that sucks the most, IMHO is the inability to change the country assigned to your Windows Live ID (or was it to the phone?) without resetting and/or assigning new ID. I've used Windows Phone 7 since last August on the HTC 7 Mozart, love it but since there's no official support for Malaysian market, I had to use Singapore for pretty much everything. Now, they got Nokia to release the Lumia 800 here with Malaysia marketplace support, and they expect me to reset? How could they?

Is there any way I can get my country changed from Singapore to Malaysia so I can buy apps/games using local currency?

[articuno1au]

I believe you have to change BOTH the phone and account.

That should do it to the best of my knowledge failing that I have no idea >.<

[FarCry3r]

I believe you have to change BOTH the phone and account.

That should do it to the best of my knowledge failing that I have no idea >.<

So does that indeed means I have to reset my phone, and assign new Windows Live ID to it? As I am aware, you can't change the country associated to your ID.

[articuno1au]

https://account.live.com

Click the "Change" next to your country.

That should allow you to change the country of the ID. I was set to US for a long time because I was doing a lot of different beta tests, some of which were only available to US citizens ;) Then they wised up and started checking IPs :(

After you have done this, just change it on your phone in the settings panel :)

[simplezz]

I disagree. Completely.

You do raise some points, but I think this one ^^ here is plain stupid and wrong.

I have shown Windows Phone to a lot of my firends. Android users, iOS users, Symbian users, low-end phone owners, BlackBerry users, and with the exception of one Android user, all of them liked it instantly.

Some of them are power users. They require much more features than just basic ones. Two of them asked me to buy them a Windows Phone instantly. While others took their time, but eventually bought it.

I think that was his whole point. On the surface, ie. being shown it (in this case by you), users tend to be impressed with the eye candy/transitions, however, after real world use, it soon becomes apparent it's not up to scratch with other mobile OS's like Android and iOS. That's how I understood what he meant.

I've played around with Windows Phone a bit, and it's okay to use for an afternoon, but I still don't think it's ready for prime time use yet. Perhaps the Apollo update will change that, I'll have to wait and see.

[neo158]

https://account.live.com

Click the "Change" next to your country.

That should allow you to change the country of the ID. I was set to US for a long time because I was doing a lot of different beta tests, some of which were only available to US citizens ;) Then they wised up and started checking IPs :(

After you have done this, just change it on your phone in the settings panel :)

I did this before, can't remember why though, but it does work.

[FarCry3r]

https://account.live.com

Click the "Change" next to your country.

That should allow you to change the country of the ID. I was set to US for a long time because I was doing a lot of different beta tests, some of which were only available to US citizens ;) Then they wised up and started checking IPs :(

After you have done this, just change it on your phone in the settings panel :)

Changed my country to Malaysia on that site, and then changed the following in Settings > Region+Language:

• Region format to Malay (Malaysia)
  
• System locale to Malay (Malaysia)
  
• Browser & search language to Malay (Malaysia)
  

rebooted the phone and went up to Marketplace, all apps are still priced in Singapore dollar. So I guess I'm f**ked up big time?

[articuno1au]

I think that was his whole point. On the surface, ie. being shown it (in this case by you), users tend to be impressed with the eye candy/transitions, however, after real world use, it soon becomes apparent it's not up to scratch with other mobile OS's like Android and iOS. That's how I understood what he meant.

I've played around with Windows Phone a bit, and it's okay to use for an afternoon, but I still don't think it's ready for prime time use yet. Perhaps the Apollo update will change that, I'll have to wait and see.

Why exactly do you think that? I agree it's still maturing, but I don't think it's unsatisfactory or not ready O.o

I did this before, can't remember why though, but it does work.

Yep /flex

Changed my country to Malaysia on that site, and then changed the following in Settings > Region+Language:

• Region format to Malay (Malaysia)
  
• System locale to Malay (Malaysia)
  
• Browser & search language to Malay (Malaysia)
  

rebooted the phone and went up to Marketplace, all apps are still priced in Singapore dollar. So I guess I'm f**ked up big time?

Not sure, it might even be a feature O.o Allowing people from the states to continue shopping in US dollars.

I'd suggest hitting up the Windows Phone support forums, they can probably help more :)

[FarCry3r]

Not sure, it might even be a feature O.o Allowing people from the states to continue shopping in US dollars.

Well, I'm not going to shop in US dollar since that will require me to have US credit card. Just talked to some local WP7 chumps, and they said it's not possible. :/

[simplezz]

Why exactly do you think that? I agree it's still maturing, but I don't think it's unsatisfactory or not ready O.o

It could be because I've become accustomed to Android/iOS, and so I expect the same level of functionality and polish. Maybe it's different for someone coming from a blackberry or a feature phone. I have nothing against Windows Phone, in fact, I like the smoothness of the interface, It's just not quite there yet for me compared with iOS/Android.

[Muhammad Farrukh]

I think that was his whole point. On the surface, ie. being shown it (in this case by you), users tend to be impressed with the eye candy/transitions, however, after real world use, it soon becomes apparent it's not up to scratch with other mobile OS's like Android and iOS. That's how I understood what he meant.

I've played around with Windows Phone a bit, and it's okay to use for an afternoon, but I still don't think it's ready for prime time use yet. Perhaps the Apollo update will change that, I'll have to wait and see.

And that point is the one I am not able to understand.

It certainly is up there with Android and iOS, though not 100%, but still, for its age, its much, much better

[neo158]

Well, I'm not going to shop in US dollar since that will require me to have US credit card. Just talked to some local WP7 chumps, and they said it's not possible. :/

Unfortunately Malaysia isn't supported by the Marketplace, however Singapore is which might be why you have all the apps priced in Singapore Dollars.

[FarCry3r]

Unfortunately Malaysia isn't supported by the Marketplace, however Singapore is which might be why you have all the apps priced in Singapore Dollars.

Yes it does. MS just expanded the Marketplace to 5 more countries, including Malaysia.

http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/windowsphone/archive/2012/02/03/marketplace-expands-to-5-new-countries.aspx

[neo158]

Yes it does. MS just expanded the Marketplace to 5 more countries, including Malaysia.

http://windowsteambl...-countries.aspx

Ah, looks like Microsoft need to update their Windows Phone website then. It even lists tapping a phone number to dial it as not being available outside the US yet I can do that as well.

I just wonder if it's issues with currency support which would be odd. The only way to check is to perform a hard reset of your phone.

[articuno1au]

I'm inclined to agree with Neo, but like I said, worth talking to the WP forums first.

It could be because I've become accustomed to Android/iOS, and so I expect the same level of functionality and polish. Maybe it's different for someone coming from a blackberry or a feature phone. I have nothing against Windows Phone, in fact, I like the smoothness of the interface, It's just not quite there yet for me compared with iOS/Android.

I wholeheartedly disagree with the polish statement. Windows Phone isn't feature complete by any measure, but what features it has are polished to death.

Everything looks and feels and interacts the same, the issue is it still can't do everything.

[neo158]

I'm inclined to agree with Neo, but like I said, worth talking to the WP forums first.

I wholeheartedly disagree with the polish statement. Windows Phone isn't feature complete by any measure, but what features it has are polished to death.

Everything looks and feels and interacts the same, the issue is it still can't do everything.

What makes it even more laughable is that simplezz used "Android" and "polish" in the same sentence.

[articuno1au]

Your avatar SUCKS! ;)

[Calum Veteran]

I'm glad you gave it a good chance, with an open mind; unfortunately, I've been told of many people who haven't :no:

A couple of the missing features you described are features I would like (although most of them aren't); however, I'd rather Microsoft first implement the list of features I have in mind and deem important, heh. I imagine they haven't yet included what you've described here because they don't believe most people miss these features, and they could be right. The lack of a Week view in the calendar seems odd to me, but I didn't even notice it wasn't there (and I've been using Windows Phone since October 2010), so that probably shows how little a lot of us use or desire that view.

I, too, have been very impressed with the look and feel of Windows Phone. I actually currently deem it the best phone operating system, as the design is the best, and it has all of the features I care about that are found in its competitors' products, as well as some extras that are useful. Having said that, I feel Microsoft made some great oversights regarding the features it has implemented, and I've found these annoying. The most prominent irritant for me is the lack of features in the Facebook integration. I love that they integrated Facebook, and I enjoy the design of that implementation, but as some important Facebook features are missing from that and the official Facebook app (most notably, toast notifications that actually work and notify us of everything we'd like to be notified of as soon as it happens), I end up using the mobile website more than I'd like (I find the mobile Facebook website horrible to use, as Windows Phone's browser doesn't even render the newer mobile website?the layout that is reminiscent of the latest iPhone Facebook app (one has to navigate to iphone.facebook.com for that, and it is too buggy; I realise that is most likely down to Facebook developers choosing not to support the mobile version of Internet Explorer 9, but it is frustrating).

Really, my only gripes with Windows Phone are based on the lack of features in their social network integration (we can't even tag people in a check-in without using the official Facebook application, and the integration of Facebook messages in the Messaging hub only caters for online messages, not messages that were sent when one was offline).

Microsoft haven't lost me as a user just yet, considering my contract runs out this October; however, if these irritants are still evident in Windows Phone Apollo, I will likely switch to using an iPhone. And if I use an iPhone, Windows 8 will have to be exceptional to stop me from switching because I'm a fan of consistency across the platforms I use.

People loads up with all the Facebook friends so hard to find phone contacts, I eventually found the setting for this to Filter the Facebook friends out.

Bing Maps are useless for directions in my city (Melbourne, Australia). I used an example address and it directed me to go in the complete opposite direction to where the address is, then take the tollway back across to get back on track. It would have taken the same amount of time to get to the tollway entrance from the starting point than it would have to go direct to the tollway exit. It is like it wants me to spend extra money on Tollways unnecessarily.

The search button is not context aware and always does a Bing search regardless where you are (Might as well call it the Bing button)

Bing does not search recent news like Google does.

Just a couple of points about the issues you described in the quote above:

The People hub contains a very prominent and easy-to-access search button, so it shouldn't be hard for anyone to find a phone contact, even if their People hub is full of contacts from Facebook, LinkedIn, Windows Live, and Twitter.

Bing Maps has worked very well for all UK locations I've tried it in, for both walking and driving directions. I realise that information probably won't be much use to you, but I thought I'd point that out to anyone else reading, so they don't just assume Bing Maps directions are awful everywhere.

The Search button was context-aware to the app the user was using, in version 7.0, but Microsoft changed it to only search Bing in 7.5. I imagine there must have been a reason for this change, and I suspect it was because of certain users being idiotic and becoming confused.

I've seen results at the top of the results page under the heading of News, with a link to view more, when searching for a fair few terms, so that could be a location-specific feature, too. There appears to be no way for one to directly search for just news, though, so I agree that should be added.

[articuno1au]

Saw you had posted and thought I was about to get warned :p

Woops :p

[Calum Veteran]

if your coming from android of course wp7 is a disappointment. wp7 is designed for people who are NOT power users and just want a phone that works.

You're wrong. Many of us power users use and love Windows Phone. Many of us despise Android for more than a few reasons.

No native/official Windows Live Messenger client. More long made promises. This is a Microsoft/Windows Live based platform right?

There is no need for that because Windows Live Messenger is built in to the operating system. The user is able to change their status (available, busy, away, unavailable, offline etc.), and they're able to see who is available and chat with them.

Apple releases one major iOS update a year. And that is enough. Windows Phone needs more frequent updates because it is playing catch up. When it reaches feature maturity like iOS and Android the updates will slow down and probably be once a year too.

I agree with this, mainly because I'm frustrated that Microsoft haven't yet added an audience selector to the status update box in the Me hub, and that they haven't yet supported other features that Facebook recently released (e.g. subscriptions aren't in the contact list). If they'd like to stay ahead in the social network integration game, they will have to release regular updates that contain at least new social network integration features. I understand why they probably won't do that, though, and why they opt to release one update a year.

Saw you had posted and thought I was about to get warned :p

Woops :p

Tehe.

[tanjiajun_34]

I disagree. Completely. You do raise some points, but I think this one ^^ here is plain stupid and wrong. I have shown Windows Phone to a lot of my firends. Android users, iOS users, Symbian users, low-end phone owners, BlackBerry users, and with the exception of one Android user, all of them liked it instantly. Some of them are power users. They require much more features than just basic ones. Two of them asked me to buy them a Windows Phone instantly. While others took their time, but eventually bought it. Windows Phone is still a new OS, so its obvious that it has low number of apps. However, there is a quality in the Marketplace which you can't ignore. Sure Android has tons of Apps but the quality is low. iOS has both the quantity and quality. Windows Phone will get there. But it takes time to acheive everything. Can't be done overnight. And Bing works much better than Google, at least for me. The way it is integrated feels and works great (Y)

Zune apps quality are worst IMO. I find that my WP7 system apps better than the apps the Zune markets provide. When I see the facebook and twitter official apps, I am disappointed with the ratings and complains that people encountered. games I installed were boring or just laggy compared to their iOS or Android version. Some examples like fruit ninja and doodle jump. Android has interesting apps like those live wallpapers, launcher, SMS apps, widget and music players. Like everything you don't like can be replace with another app. I feel that Android has the best apps and apple app store has all the best games. Zune Markteplace < Android marketplace < Apple App Store.

[neoxphuse]

Yeah, me saying your stance was hardly surprising sure sounds like I'm butt hurt.

Nicely done with that sentence btw..

This.

I have a developer token on my phone and simply coded all the things I wanted it to do.

My only real objection is no access to the bluetooth stack, and the inability to stream audio via bluetooth while a video is playing (as opposed to a rendered game :\). Both annoy the bejesus out of me.

I wouldn't change to iPhone, I would consider Android, but only if it was a device I could easily use Cyanagon mod (or equivalent) on.

I'm pretty XDA figured a hack regarding bluetooth audio in video. It's just a registry edit. Look for it.