Windows Phone $100 Challenge

[Red Storm]

Live tiles are counter intuitive. They offer a quick way to get things done, but their very large size limits how many quick things you can put on your screen without having to scroll down. With widgets and folders, I can put just about everything I want on a single Android homescreen, while still keeping a clean look.

 

[Deeko]

Live tiles are counter intuitive. They offer a quick way to get things done, but their very large size limits how many quick things you can put on your screen without having to scroll down. With widgets and folders, I can put just about everything I want on a single Android homescreen, while still keeping a clean look.

You can get to any app on your list with a swipe, tap, and another tap. And when I used Android, most of the widgets I had on my home screen were 4x2 or 4x1, no smaller than a live tile.

And funny enough, you can do that with WP7 by pinning an app to the home screen! While some might point out Android has widgets, well, WP7 has live tiles. iOS lacks any comparative feature to either option, and all of them can launch apps in one click. Very few people I know don't like the WP7 Metro interface - hell, it's been so well received that we've seen the Xbox styled after it, along with the new Windows 8 interface.

The UI looks a lot better in action than it does in screen shots - and it looks a let better once users have apps with more live tiles and their data in it than it does in the store.

So basically the average person isn't incredibly quick when it comes to using their phone for an arbitrary task.

When it comes to doing stuff I actually care about my Galaxy S2 will leave any WP7 in the dust. I can see my latest texts, calendar, a five day weather forecast, the traffic status of my commute, and directly access my most frequent contacts without leaving the home screen.

How fast can WP7 attach 3 different types of files to a single email and send it?

This is the show floor of CES - he was going up against tech bloggers and enthusiests, not your average joe on the street that can barely operate a phone. And the tasks were things like posting pictures, checking weather, figuring out what a song is...regular every day things.

And for what its worth, that list of things you mentioned (see your calendar, weather, etc from the home screen) can be done with live tiles.

 

[Zaap]

Live tiles are counter intuitive. They offer a quick way to get things done, but their very large size limits how many quick things you can put on your screen without having to scroll down. With widgets and folders, I can put just about everything I want on a single Android homescreen, while still keeping a clean look.

Yeah I totally don't get the hype over live tiles. There's more information in the dock of an Android or iOS device than the entire screen of a WP7 phone. Why do I need my dock to be full screen at the expense of all other information and function?

Ona desktop or tablet I find it even more absurd. Now you've taken less information and function as occupies a tiny corner of the screen in the form of a start menu and bloated it to the point of taking up several screens I have to scroll through.

All I can conclude if such catches on, is that the human mind is becoming more simplistic and wants devolved interfaces to match.

 

[RedRooster]

I don't like those wallpaper examples. Maybe a real faint pattern background, but once you start having to making the tiles transparent to see what's behind, that wrecks the beauty of WP7 homescreen IMO. My lockscreen wallpaper is all I need, I almost always have an app or something open, so don't care about homescreen wallpapers. Same with my PCs wallpaper, I don't know why I even set it, I see it about once a month when I reboot.

 

[Red Storm]

You can get to any app on your list with a swipe, tap, and another tap. And when I used Android, most of the widgets I had on my home screen were 4x2 or 4x1, no smaller than a live tile.

Ah but in a single 4x1 space I can have the complete date (including day of week as well as the week number), the time, the weather, battery life, a vibrate switch, a wifi switch, and a bluetooth switch as one example. And single tapping or holding each of those respective things launches the various related apps: Calendar, alarm clock, weekly weather forecast, task manager, wifi and bluetooth menus (or just turn on and off). One of the four spots on my dock is a folder that has my 16 most popular contacts, just one tap and it calls or messages them depending on what I want it to do.

I still have another 4x3 left on the homescreen as well as 3 other dock icons.

Live tiles are nice, but they don't offer me anything close to this level of functionality and quick access.

 

[dougp]

Ah but in a single 4x1 space I can have the complete date (including day of week as well as the week number), the time, the weather, battery life, a vibrate switch, a wifi switch, and a bluetooth switch as one example. And single tapping or holding each of those respective things launches the various related apps: Calendar, alarm clock, weekly weather forecast, task manager, wifi and bluetooth menus (or just turn on and off). One of the four spots on my dock is a folder that has my 16 most popular contacts, just one tap and it calls or messages them depending on what I want it to do.

I still have another 4x3 left on the homescreen as well as 3 other dock icons.

Live tiles are nice, but they don't offer me anything close to this level of functionality and quick access.

Post a screenshot, because all of that in a 4x1 widget is going to be ridiculously compressed.

 

[Geekbabe]

I'm a die hard android gal but I have to admit that the new crop of W7 phones has me taking a much closer look, that HTC Titan 2 is a beast of a phone, the screen size & that camera!

 

[Dominato3r]

Ah but in a single 4x1 space I can have the complete date (including day of week as well as the week number), the time, the weather, battery life, a vibrate switch, a wifi switch, and a bluetooth switch as one example. And single tapping or holding each of those respective things launches the various related apps: Calendar, alarm clock, weekly weather forecast, task manager, wifi and bluetooth menus (or just turn on and off). One of the four spots on my dock is a folder that has my 16 most popular contacts, just one tap and it calls or messages them depending on what I want it to do.

I still have another 4x3 left on the homescreen as well as 3 other dock icons.

Live tiles are nice, but they don't offer me anything close to this level of functionality and quick access.

It all depends on how the rows and columns are set. On my Nexus S a Search widget and Facebook widget take an entire screen, pretty soon it's no different than having to slide up and down to grab more apps or widgets.

I'm a die hard android gal but I have to admit that the new crop of W7 phones has me taking a much closer look, that HTC Titan 2 is a beast of a phone, the screen size & that camera!

Same. I really want to make the switch to a W7 phone, but I'm going to wait it out with my current device. I'll probably make the jump with Windows 8.

 

[Red Storm]

Post a screenshot, because all of that in a 4x1 widget is going to be ridiculously compressed.

Not really.

Tapping the time takes you to the alarm clock app. Tapping the date takes you to the calendar. Tapping the weather takes you to a weekly forecast.

Tapping the wifi or bluetooth will toggle them, but you can also hold them to get to the menu with additional settings.

I like the idea that Microsoft is going for with WP7. It's definitely a step in the right direction when it comes to efficient execution of tasks (much better than a grid-o-icons). I just want to be able to customize it a little more to my liking, which I understand why they don't allow and so I use Android.

 

[trmiv]

Not really.

Tapping the time takes you to the alarm clock app. Tapping the date takes you to the calendar. Tapping the weather takes you to a weekly forecast.

Tapping the wifi or bluetooth will toggle them, but you can also hold them to get to the menu with additional settings.

What is that two SwitchPro 2x1 widgets on either side of.....some Android clock widget that slips my mind right now? (I had it installed at some point).

I'd love something like that, but minus the clock, but with the current location/condition (Sunny, Cloudy,etc). Can't seem to figure out a way to do it though since all weather/date widgets always have a clock included, or if you just do weather, they don't include the location.

 

[Red Storm]

What is that two SwitchPro 2x1 widgets on either side of.....some Android clock widget that slips my mind right now? (I had it installed at some point).

I'd love something like that, but minus the clock, but with the current location/condition (Sunny, Cloudy,etc). Can't seem to figure out a way to do it though since all weather/date widgets always have a clock included, or if you just do weather, they don't include the location.

Yep, two SwitchPro widgets with a Simiclock in the middle.

When you install Simiclock, one of the widget size options is just weather, and you can set it to also show the location.

 

[MrX8503]

I hate the WP7 homescreen, but once you get inside, its very very good. Another thing I hate is that stupid app/settings list. Why a list!?

 

[Red Storm]

I hate the WP7 homescreen, but once you get inside, its very very good. Another thing I hate is that stupid app/settings list. Why a list!?

Huh? That list was one of the things I did like. How would you want them to do it?

 

[Deeko]

I hate the WP7 homescreen, but once you get inside, its very very good. Another thing I hate is that stupid app/settings list. Why a list!?

Its simple & easy to get to your apps - a neat, alphabitized list. With the long list selector in Mango, you can jump to any app in just two taps. A lot easier than scrolling through 10+ pages of apps like the iPhone or Touchwhiz.

 

[MrX8503]

I don't like lists because you have to keep scrolling and scrolling. I didn't know about the long list selector, I'll have to test that out for myself.

 

[Deeko]

I don't like lists because you have to keep scrolling and scrolling. I didn't know about the long list selector, I'll have to test that out for myself.

If you only have a few apps, its just a list. Once you cross a (not very high) threshold, it turns into a list like this:

Tapping the letter brings up this:

Then you tap the letter you want to jump to, and you're there. Same UI they used on the ZuneHD, and is also exposed by the SDK for 3rd party apps. If you app list is REALLY long, you can just search by name, too.

 

[Red Storm]

I don't like lists because you have to keep scrolling and scrolling. I didn't know about the long list selector, I'll have to test that out for myself.

Anything other than a list is going to result in even more scrolling though.

A nice alternative would be something like Google's Gesture Search built into the list page. If WP7 had this it would easily have the best app list on the market IMHO.

 

[MaxFusion16]

i like this, microsoft is really taking initiative.

I believe wp7 will become a major competitor to iOS, android will loose market share once the OEM start defecting to wp7.

 

[kaerflog]

I'm not here debating about the functionality of WP7.
We all know its good.
You guys ever wonder why WP7 haven't caught on by now ??
For an OS/phone to be successful, it has to appeal to the average Joe, not us geek.

So an average Joe walks into ATT/Sprint whatever to check what the selections.
They all know what the iPhone is but maybe they are looking for an alternative.
- They see all various Android phone(not knowing what the hell Android is because everyone skin Android differently).
Pretty screen, pretty icons, nice background wallpaper. Heck even live wallpapers not seen on iPhones.
- Then they see WP7 phones with squared colored tiles. First impression UGLY.
I'm not saying everyone finds it UGLY but its the consensus compared iOS and Android.
Its the first impression that counts.
Sorry but its my biggest gripes.
I don't want to be starring at square colored tiles for my main screen.
Make it pretty and the average consumer will buy it.

 

[JS80]

i like this, microsoft is really taking initiative.

I believe wp7 will become a major competitor to iOS, android will loose market share once the OEM start defecting to wp7.

I agree with this and I think they will somehow use Windows 8 to do it.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I'm not here debating about the functionality of WP7.
We all know its good.
You guys ever wonder why WP7 haven't caught on by now ??
For an OS/phone to be successful, it has to appeal to the average Joe, not us geek.

So an average Joe walks into ATT/Sprint whatever to check what the selections.
They all know what the iPhone is but maybe they are looking for an alternative.
- They see all various Android phone(not knowing what the hell Android is because everyone skin Android differently).
Pretty screen, pretty icons, nice background wallpaper. Heck even live wallpapers not seen on iPhones.
- Then they see WP7 phones with squared colored tiles. First impression UGLY.
I'm not saying everyone finds it UGLY but its the consensus compared iOS and Android.
Its the first impression that counts.
Sorry but its my biggest gripes.
I don't want to be starring at square colored tiles for my main screen.
Make it pretty and the average consumer will buy it.

Agreed.

Every casual user I have heard talk about WP7 always comments on how ugly it is. I think Microsoft made the mistake of thinking a lack of design is a good design.

I don't like Apple but if I was given the choice between an iPhone 4s and any Windows Phone I would pick the iPhone hands down. Every time I have tried WP7 I can't get past how awful it looks and not just the home screen. While I'm not a huge iOS fan at least it has a pleasant design with lots of attention to detail.

I don't think WP7 will ever be a major player, even Bada has higher marketshare and that's just Samsung's #2 OS. Microsoft needs to do something groundbreaking if they want to attract customers, IMO that would be dumping WP7 and instead focusing on ~4.5" Windows 8 phones with 720p displays and Tegra 3 or Medfield SoC's. As a power user that is something that would actually interest me and they could use the fact that it runs the same apps as your tablet and pc to push it for the average consumer.

 

[Mopetar]

I don't see how Microsoft just doesn't get it.
To appeal to the regular consumer, you need to have an aesthetically good looking UI.
People don't want plain colored tiles.

I would consider that hideous and less usable. Give the average user enough choice and they'll fashion a rope with which to hang themselves.

If the homescreen can't provide me easy access to things I care about and doesn't provide a decent experience, I'm not going to buy the device regardless of how much I can customize it.

Then again, the average user of anything is most likely an idiot.

 

[lothar]

See and I want all that stuff completely separate. Different strokes!

This.
I don't care about integrating Twitter, Facebook and other junk like those on my phone.
I don't use those things.

 

[Dice144]

I was shocked how well Facebook melds into WP7. I actually hated using the FB app on iOS and Android. I find myself FBing even when I shouldn't be now.

I do mis native Google Voice support tho!

 

[kaerflog]

I would consider that hideous and less usable. Give the average user enough choice and they'll fashion a rope with which to hang themselves.

If the homescreen can't provide me easy access to things I care about and doesn't provide a decent experience, I'm not going to buy the device regardless of how much I can customize it.

Then again, the average user of anything is most likely an idiot.

Ummmmm....I used that as an example of making tiles as a wallpaper instead of just plain colored tiles.
Of course people can put whatever pic they want.
That or make the tiles transparent so people can have wallpapers in the background.