Windows Phone 7: The Ars Review
arstechnica.com
arstechnica.com
When the phone is locked, the camera button still works. This is by design: it's so you can take a quick snapshot of something that's exciting without having to unlock the phone. It's certainly a sound idea—after all, I don't have to unlock my DSLR if I want to take a photo. Unfortunately, it also resulted in me taking a bunch of pictures of the inside of my pocket and some random dude on the bus, as I happened to sit in such a way as to trigger camera mode. And because I configured the phone to upload pictures automatically, they got sent to Facebook. It's like a whole new kind of pocket dialling; pocket photographing
Keep in mind that there's no way to permanently delete images on facebook:
http://www.techspot.com/news/40662-facebook-keeps-photos-aft...
Plurality, my friends.
Support WP7, Android, iOS and Symbian. And if you still have time, others as well.
Screw the segregationists.
For the project I'm working on right now I have to develop an iPhone app and an iPad one, plus a server to handle data, a Mac app to create the particular content we need and a Mac client to upload and handle the data on the server.
I am already overwhelmed by work (and I have a day job too) and in no way I can learn/program on another platform right now, especially because our app will be animation intensive and there is no easy way of doing this at least on Android.
In the future, if we are successful, we might move to other platforms as well, but for now I will just leverage the platforms I know.
[Offtopic] Can you tell me how you keep both a day job as well as develop for iPhone, iPad and Mac? My mind always shunned the idea of working like this thinking that I'd burnout juggling so many responsibilities! Also, how do you balance your life with this much work?
The risk of burnout is indeed there, a couple of months ago I posted an Ask HN on it: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1545774
Anyway I can tell you how I manage right now. First, I try to waste as less time as possible. I'm 20 minutes biking from work, and usually 15 minutes from anywhere else. Biking saves me a lot of commuting time, because I don't have to rely on public transportation.
I start working at 9, but I wake up at 6. So each morning I get a couple of hours to work on my project. This implies of course that I have to go to sleep early in the evening, so I usually go to bed at 10 to have the sufficient amount of sleep, which is crucial to stay productive.
I'm now in the proceeds to buy a house (with a mortgage). The main reasons to buy a house still apply, but I have some more: living in my own house will mean I will not have to deal with a landlord, and this will give me some more time. Moreover living alone (now I have flatmates), I will pay someone to clean the house instead of doing it myself. I value my time more than the money cleaners ask. Washing machine for clothes, dishwasher for dishes and I don't iron clothes at all (if you learn how to hang them it's almost useless). And there are the weekends, of course.
To avoid the burnout, I made up some rules: no work in the evenings, so when I go home from work and I'm tired I don't have the pressure on myself and I can spend those 2 hours after dinner relaxing. On friday I dance tango, on weekends I usually go to parties or out with friends. I go running for one hour every weekend. This gives me a quite satisfactory life, so I don't burn out.
I hope this helps.
To avoid the burnout, I made up some rules: no work in the evenings, so when I go home from work and I'm tired I don't have the pressure on myself and I can spend those 2 hours after dinner relaxing. On friday I dance tango, on weekends I usually go to parties or out with friends. I go running for one hour every weekend. This gives me a quite satisfactory life, so I don't burn out.
Thank you very much for sharing this gem!
Of course I would like to have more time to spend on this, but that's all I can afford for now. That's why I try to squeeze all the time I can out of my life.
There are also the weekends, do not forget it. Usually I manage to work at least one of the two days if I do not go on a trip, so there are a lot of hours in it too.
We put our deadline on april 2011 though. The technical part will be ready sooner probably, but there is a lot of work to do on the creative side too. Writing a comic is really difficult, my friend has a job too and it involves other people too (drawers, colorists, translators, etc.)
"Microsoft doesn't often get version one releases right, but this time, it has got the release very right indeed."
He loves the interface, says SMS is the only feature MSFT screwed up, dev tools are good but could create sloppy UI in apps if MSFT doesn't address.
His major complaint is missing features, says the features that are there are executed brilliantly.
Play by Play:
- "The styling is uncompromising. I love it." Smoothness major cool factor.
- "Hubs" feature is major differentiator, applications can data share - example facebook data / photos imported into contact list.
- Built in apps are solid, email client is "very, very good".
- "correction and completion mechanism is good" better than iphone, maybe not as good as android.
- Browser is good, HTML5 support is lacking.
- Music is just like ZUNE.
- Maps is a "solid, well thought-out application" but lacking turn-by-turn GPS.
- Camera itself will change by OEM but the interface " works well, and it's particularly pleasing when you've taken a picture"
- Office itself not much of an update from 6, nothing exciting to see there.
- Games integration is lost on the author (not a gamer), the avatar integration was the only thing on the phone that felt "sluggish"
- "The SMS application is the one area where I think the platform really falls short" - he says SMS functions are lacking inbox style sorting, no message counter, etc.
- Marketplace is easy and straightforward to get new apps. Not a lot of apps, but apps there work and have integrated into the design style.
- Syncing is done over the air, even for small firmware updates.
- Mac syncing gets a "alpha-quality sync client"
- Windows Live support lets you do fun things like lock the phone, wipe it, geo-locate it, etc. but no SMS backup.
- Before launching into complaints he says ""I have grown to like Windows Phone 7 a hell of a lot, and I'm certainly going to be using it from here on out."
- Complaints: Can't take screenshots on the phone itself, no copy-paste until early 2011, no multi-task, no manage files, no connect to VPN, no transfer files over bluetooth, no sharing 3G over Wifi etc, no ability to act as mass USB storage.
- He counters his complaints with "I would imagine that. . . Microsoft has serious plans for multitasking, tethering, VPNs, and corporate security policies, etc"
- Microsoft's communication on missing features is making early purchasing decisions difficult, they could stand to improve communication.
- Some interface issues he doesn't like, in particular BING search doesn't search phone in its entirety.
- "The integration of Facebook and Windows Live is fantastic".
- Media management isn't awesome, highlights major problem with the integrated HUB is that MSFT must choose to support apps and standards which means most apps wont work, notably twitter not integrated yet.
- Curious that there's no native windows chat client.
- Windows 7 Mobile dev tools are good, but not great. Notably lacking ability to access camera, and compass, bigger concern is that the cool Windows 7 interface cues are missing forcing devs to recreate, making some apps look clunky and could cause repeat of Windows app clunkiness.
- He thinks the naming strategy is stupid, should have gone with ZunePhone, too tied to single release but clearly piggy backing on Windows 7 desktop success.
- Major complaint is missing features, features there executed brilliantly.
- "Windows Phone 7 looks great, works well, and is a treat to use."
Phew.
2010 is almost over!
WP7 isn't great, but it doesn't have the negative connotations 'Zune' has. It may remind people of Windows Mobile 6 however, but I think so many years have passed that most of us have been able to repress those memories
It's the Amiga (in the 80s) of MP3 players.
The only reason I haven't upgraded to a new Zune is because this thing just works so well.
> - Music is just like ZUNE.
I kind of laughed at the Zune when it came out, but I've recently started to rethink it. There's been a convergence of electronic devices lately - phone, camera, web browser, handheld game device, music player, etc. Every company in any of these markets needs to realize this is happening, and either specialize and focus on their niche (high high end cameras) or be able to make an adequate showing on all the features.
Apple realized that music was going on to phones, and they made the iPhone - very smart play getting ahead of the game. Microsoft didn't realize this early enough, and had to rush something to market to catch up, so of course it wasn't going to show as well. Apple had been building and refining music players for a few cycles at that point, so it's unsurprising the Zune wasn't as nice. But they had to do it, because the convergence of music player, phone, computer, browser, camera, gaming, etc. demands it. While the Zune showed poorly, it laid the groundwork for them to eventually have a quality music player. And actually, it might even be possible to pass Apple in music in the near future, because Windows iTunes is really a second citizen. I like my iPhone, but I hate iTunes. I mean, really, really hate it. It's overwhelmingly the most unpleasant and headache-generating software I use.
So - I laughed at the Zune at first, but I'm now realizing it was a necessary play. Also, as only one feature on a consolidated device, it doesn't need to be as good as the iPod - only "good enough" at music while some other key features exceed.
If the Zune software comes out for mac, I'll definitely try it, though.
Definitely agree with this (so far). I've been fiddling around with the Windows Phone 7 SDK for the past few days and I'm finding my app isn't nearly as cool as the default apps, because of the missing animated transitions between pages, menus, etc. I'm also new to Silverlight, so perhaps I'm just overlooking the magic property that makes them work, but I'm quite sure you have to recreate them.
Still, the Visual Studio IDE is brilliant and I find myself using the design view quite a bit - something I never do with .NET WebForms or .NET MVC, so they really got it right.
This is a really fun time to be a a gadget lover -- Microsoft, Google, Apple, Nokia, etc. are bending over backwards to give us the coolest toys ever invented.
I'll wager that in a year from now, all of these phones will be nearly perfect experiences in their own way.
Which is a deal-killer for me.
It may, however, be bad for the OEMs, who may find themselves with little ability to differentiate and distinguish themselves from each other.
How about the carriers distinguish themselves by providing good network service and good customer service instead of loading up the phone with crap hardly anyone ever wants? (Manufacturers can distinguish themselves on price/quality as they see fit.)