Windows Phone 7: Why It's a Disaster for Microsoft

[Southern Patriot]

Exactly. Both the iphone and android were horrible at first as well. Personally, I think WP7 has a ton of potential.

The problem is though that both of them matured and are quite capable now. Windows Phone 7 is basically at the same state NOW that the iPhone was at version 2.0. And sure it has a lot of potential, but do you think the iPhone and Android platforms are going to sit still for a couple of years in order for WP7 to play "catch up"?

[Mr. Gibs]

I am smelling that WP7 will be another disaster like the Kim. Look at the number of people who already bought the phone, less than 50,000.

You mean in the US only? Where it's been pretty dam hard to find any of the good phones?

Sure if you want the LG you'll find they have stock...but try buying the focus or the HD7. Pretty much all sites (can't say about stores since theres no possible way for me to walk into every single store in America) have them on backorder and expected shipping dates are within 3 weeks. The dell venue pro? Not even released yet and if tech sites are any indicator there are a lot of people waiting for this phone.

You can't have high sales without a high shipment of devices. If OEMs only managed to ship 40k devices to carriers in America, they can only sell 40k devices..they can't suddenly magically sell half a million.

And btw the 40,000 doesn't include the 89k devices MS are giving to their employees. Nor does it include the 25k dell is giving to their employees.

The problem is though that both of them matured and are quite capable now. Windows Phone 7 is basically at the same state NOW that the iPhone was at version 2.0. And sure it has a lot of potential, but do you think the iPhone and Android platforms are going to sit still for a couple of years in order for WP7 to play "catch up"?

They won't be sitting around for a couple of years. The update thats due within the first 2 months of 2011 will pretty much fix all of WP7 major shortcomings. Copy and paste, accessibility options, on-device encryption and more are going to be included.

[Southern Patriot]

that doesn't even make sense, MS makes the most secure OS on the market now for consumers. the one that takes the longest to hack on the competitions.

Hacking competitions =/= the real world. Consumers use their computers in the real world, where Windows malware is everywhere and OS X and Linux malware is virtually nonexistant.

[Quattrone]

The problem is though that both of them matured and are quite capable now. Windows Phone 7 is basically at the same state NOW that the iPhone was at version 2.0. And sure it has a lot of potential, but do you think the iPhone and Android platforms are going to sit still for a couple of years in order for WP7 to play "catch up"?

I could not agree more, plus when the iPhone was introduced. It was the first cell phone with touch screen only capabilities. The iphone really revolutionized the cell phone industry. What revolutionary or amazing introduce Windows Phone 7? Just the same user interface touch screen and some new features. Nothing Wow to talk about it.

[BajiRav]

Hacking competitions =/= the real world. Consumers use their computers in the real world, where Windows malware is everywhere and OS X and Linux malware is virtually nonexistant.

in real world, Linux is nonexistent and you have to look for OS X.

[Southern Patriot]

Read Paul Thurrot's review of Windows Phone 7, its a game changer, its the OS that all new phones will need to be judged against.

http://www.winsupersite.com/mobile/wp7.asp

Microsoft's biggest shill supports it? Well, then it must be great!!

[BajiRav]

I could not agree more, plus when the iPhone was introduced. It was the first cell phone with touch screen only capabilities. The iphone really revolutionized the cell phone industry. What revolutionary or amazing introduce Windows Phone 7? Just the same user interface touch screen and some new features. Nothing Wow to talk about it.

are you serious? it was the first (or may be one of the first) where touch UI was done right, certainly not the only phone with touch screen.

[Southern Patriot]

in real world, Linux is nonexistent and you have to look for OS X.

And yet, both are available for consumers that choose to use them. He was claiming that Windows was the most secure OS for consumers, which clearly isn't the case.

are you serious? it was the first (or may be one of the first) where touch UI was done right, certainly not the only phone with touch screen.

I believe he was referring to finger-touch as opposed to stylus-centric phones. Previous touch enabled phones were primarily intended for stylus use.

[BajiRav]

And yet, both are available for consumers that choose to use them. He was claiming that Windows was the most secure OS for consumers, which clearly isn't the case.

And Windows 7 is the most secure OS for consumers that choose to use it properly. :/

[daniel_rh]

Of course it's insecure -- it's a Microsoft product.

Still a little early to consider it a failure, though.

I think you're still living in the 90's

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And about WP7, it's still too soon to judge, is easy to see the disadvantages against two well positioned products that have 2-3 years in the market like the iPhone and Android, by the way, have you seen the latest news about the security concerns and fragmentation about Android? I mean, do not expect a perfect OS or you'll waiting all your life.

As a developer, I understand this kind of topics. People thinks that is easy to bring all the features at once, with no bugs no security problems, etc... If that were the case, the product would never be released, waiting to add new features and fixing bugs.. And you know, with companies like Microsoft, they're so big that they become in kind of a burocracy, making difficult to implement ideas without first being tested, approved, and checked as neccesary for the user..

By the way, just took me the first two lines of the article to see that it's nto worthy to be read.

[darkfanar]

crap article is crap

[WelshBluebird]

I believe he was referring to finger-touch as opposed to stylus-centric phones. Previous touch enabled phones were primarily intended for stylus use.

Still wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada_(KE850)

The LG Prada was the first phone to have a capacative touch screen, thus requiring finger-touch input. It was released 6 months before the iPhone.

[HawkMan]

Hacking competitions =/= the real world. Consumers use their computers in the real world, where Windows malware is everywhere and OS X and Linux malware is virtually nonexistant.

Lack of malware doesn't mean more secure. it just means there's no interest in the hacker community to hijack and take over 1% of the worlds computers for ransom. when they have a much bigger and juicier target.

it does however mean that whatever exploits there are, are being used by so few that they remain undetected by those who should fix them, so if you are the victim of a targeted attack (not a torjan or virus but an actual targeted identiy theft attack or something) you are far more vulnerable. especially when you are on a less secure platform to start with.

[George P Global Moderator]

People are still going on about this "2-3 years behind" and "the others won't wait for MS" logic? You do realise it's way easier to add things that aren't new by any means compared to trying to come up with something original and innovative right? The things WP7 lacks right now won't take years to add back in, that sorta logic is broken. MS can add all those bits faster than it can take Apple and Android to think up something brand new to stay ahead. Copying something is easier and takes way less time, this is a fact. I think the feature gap between WP7 and the other two will close very quick in the end.

[Lachlan]

Why does WP7 need to be better then the Iphone to be successful.. I hate that reasoning that if its not the best then it will fail because it goes against the history of electronics. I believe it might have failed if they tried to price their cellphones the same as the Iphone but they are cutting the prices by quite a bit and I think that people will really respond to that..

In Canada: The cheapest of both OS's

16 GB Iphone 4 = $659

16 GB LG Optimus Quantum = $449

The most expensive:

32 GB Iphone 4 : $750

16 GB Samsung Focus : $550

That is a freaking 200 dollar difference on both so please

Please compare cellphones that are at the same price point.

For example:

LG optimus 7 vs the Blackberry bold 9780

Iphone 4 vs the Blackberry torch 9800

Iphone 4 vs the Galaxy Tab

[Bengal34]

are you serious? it was the first (or may be one of the first) where touch UI was done right, certainly not the only phone with touch screen.

The first touch screen phone didn't have a browser. Why? Because it predated the internet.

[.Neo]

Still wrong.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada_(KE850)

The LG Prada was the first phone to have a capacative touch screen, thus requiring finger-touch input. It was released 6 months before the iPhone.

What part of "primarily" don't you understand?

[~Johnny]

What part of "primarily" don't you understand?

??? LG Prada was "primarily" touch screen input. It had about as much buttons as any WP7 device does.

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[ahhell]

PCworld + gaywolf = :rolleyes:

[Vice]

Um... I've had a WP7 device since launch - and I've had the Netflix app installed on it since then. Fail much?

Yes your reading comprehension fails indeed. As I clearly said if you wanted Netflix you would install the app (If it existed) and in the context I was referring to all manner of smart phones including Android and iOS. Only Windows Phone 7 and iOS have Netflix currently and it is a 3rd party application which was my entire point :rolleyes:

You sound like a pretty unimaginative designer then. There have been some great apps that have made use of the background and panaroma UI whilst others have opted for simple contrasting colours to produce apps that are very easily navigatible and highly efficient. To be fair I actually had the same doubts about the sort of apps we'd get because not every app is conducive to panorama spreads with backgrounds etc but looking over the marketplace ive been surprised by some of the nice designs out there. Much like iOS, Andriod and of course the o/s that brought the damn table to begin with, WinMo; there are a range of apps from lovely use of UI elements to utter crap.

I'm very imaginative and you've never known you have been looking at my work to judge me. In my professional opinion the UI is crap and it does set it apart, as being something less good. I've seen and used the UI in motion, before any of you had the phone in your hands in-fact. If you are going to be taken in by some flashy effects you might as-well get a Mac with the genie effect on minimizing windows.

I'm being harsh yes, but I don't get what all the amazement and wonder is about. I'm starting to think Microsoft has a reality distortion field with the way I see people on this board gushing over a phone that lacks so many features is so late to market and just doesn't look good. It's incredibly similar to Kin and I'm willing to bet that it'll end up in the same place.

[Omen1393]

Yes your reading comprehension fails indeed. As I clearly said if you wanted Netflix you would install the app (If it existed) and in the context I was referring to all manner of smart phones including Android and iOS. Only Windows Phone 7 and iOS have Netflix currently and it is a 3rd party application which was my entire point :rolleyes:

I'm very imaginative and you've never known you have been looking at my work to judge me. In my professional opinion the UI is crap and it does set it apart, as being something less good. I've seen and used the UI in motion, before any of you had the phone in your hands in-fact. If you are going to be taken in by some flashy effects you might as-well get a Mac with the genie effect on minimizing windows.

I'm being harsh yes, but I don't get what all the amazement and wonder is about. I'm starting to think Microsoft has a reality distortion field with the way I see people on this board gushing over a phone that lacks so many features is so late to market and just doesn't look good. It's incredibly similar to Kin and I'm willing to bet that it'll end up in the same place.

Although it is true that WP7 is lacking features, here are the features that are most of us feel are better than the competition.

-Xbox Live integration

-Office Integration

-Insanely fast

-Facebook Integration

-Camera Experience (Camera from lock screen, instant upload to Skydrive)

-Zune Player (Zune pass capabilities)

-Easy development environment, (this is coming from a developer)

-Enticing UI (this is an opinion yes, but most people find it enticing and intuitive)

-An OS which works on multiple devices and has an update system that deploys from the same place at the same time. THIS is the most enticing feature, Android fragmentation is not going to happen with WP7. I care most about the updating system more than anything else on the phone because with this updating system I know it will continue to compete with other Operating Systems.

[Osiris]

Youre not being harsh youre coming off as sounding immature and hardly professional. Last time I checked "crap" wasnt a legitimate reason for why something is bad, rather a subjective assessment which if fine but you're trying to couple it with some professional respect which just isnt accorded via forums. I couldnt give a flying toss if you designed the original 'xerox' interface if your critical thinking abilities and basis for argument has been reduced to "crap" then I rate your input no more higher than the next troll.

[M_Lyons10]

This article could also be titled

"I'm an Apple and iPhone fanboy and will hate anything by MS without even trying it. And if someone forces me to review one, I will only look at the flaws and ignore everything else, just like i ignore all the flaws of my perfect device"

At least it sums up the whole "article" if you want to call it that. but I'm sure the WP7 haters will hang on to this like flies to fresh dog crap. that's the purpose of it anyways.

Yeah, you can feel the bias... And companies have already begun adopting WP7 as their phone of choice. Dell just did this, ditching Blackberry... So clearly this isn't that bad. Sounds like a lot of nonsense to me.

[Shadrack]

in a year or two for them to catch up with existing phones on the market?

Exactly. They might be DOA on this one... shame, the interface is really slick but unless they bring the features and soon, I don't see how they can compete.

[BajiRav]

Yes your reading comprehension fails indeed. As I clearly said if you wanted Netflix you would install the app (If it existed) and in the context I was referring to all manner of smart phones including Android and iOS. Only Windows Phone 7 and iOS have Netflix currently and it is a 3rd party application which was my entire point :rolleyes:

I'm very imaginative and you've never known you have been looking at my work to judge me. In my professional opinion the UI is crap and it does set it apart, as being something less good. I've seen and used the UI in motion, before any of you had the phone in your hands in-fact. If you are going to be taken in by some flashy effects you might as-well get a Mac with the genie effect on minimizing windows.

I'm being harsh yes, but I don't get what all the amazement and wonder is about. I'm starting to think Microsoft has a reality distortion field with the way I see people on this board gushing over a phone that lacks so many features is so late to market and just doesn't look good. It's incredibly similar to Kin and I'm willing to bet that it'll end up in the same place.

Can you explain what is "crap" about it, in that professional opinion of yours?