Windows Phone $100 Challenge

[Bateluer]

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.

Definitely think it looks better than the stock Metro UI, which is dismally bad. MS needs to turn WP7 around, 5% market share and dropping, making more money on litigating rivals, etc. These things are embarrassing.

Doesn't look like the uninspired designs from Nokia will do much to turn things around either.

 

[Dice144]

WP7 has been the most stable platform I have used yet.

Android, force close, crash, reboot etc. On multiple devices.

iOS, well have not used it since 3GS was new but was not as bad as Android but not super stable. Think it was iOS 4 that made the phone almost unusable. Told that it was a bad patch AFTER I already dropped the platform.

 

[pantsaregood]

Definitely think it looks better than the stock Metro UI, which is dismally bad. MS needs to turn WP7 around, 5% market share and dropping, making more money on litigating rivals, etc. These things are embarrassing.

Doesn't look like the uninspired designs from Nokia will do much to turn things around either.

that's funny, considering most people love the design of the lumia 800/900

 

[Dominato3r]

Definitely think it looks better than the stock Metro UI, which is dismally bad. MS needs to turn WP7 around, 5% market share and dropping, making more money on litigating rivals, etc. These things are embarrassing.

Doesn't look like the uninspired designs from Nokia will do much to turn things around either.

You must be joking, those new phones are gorgeous.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

that's funny, considering most people love the design of the lumia 800/900

So far the only people I have seen that like them are the people who would like anything WP7. Heck the fact that the HTC Titan is considered a good phone while people complain about the Galaxy S2's pixel density shows how forgiving people are when judging WP7.

 

[kaerflog]

Again, most people aren't arguing over the functionality of WP7.
WP7 just doesn't appeal to the average consumer cause the Metro UI is so damm UGLY.
I don't know of any other way to put it.
Just like trying to meet women.
There has to be some attraction on the first impression to get to know the personality.
The average consumer can't get pass the ugliness of WP7 UI to see how wonderful the functionality is.

Oh and the Nokia 900 is by far the best looking WP7.
I would have rather that they kept it 4" like the N9 and just slap WP7 on it.

 

[Nebor]

I came from WM6, and I love WP7. It does everything faster than my friends with Android and IOS. I use less than 200mb of data per month, and it's awesome.

 

[Belegost]

Kaerflog, there's an app for that.
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/c8c0c357-622d-402c-831d-21e73d733751

 

[pantsaregood]

So far the only people I have seen that like them are the people who would like anything WP7. Heck the fact that the HTC Titan is considered a good phone while people complain about the Galaxy S2's pixel density shows how forgiving people are when judging WP7.

Who has been forgiving? Check review sites. Windows Phones get consistently high ratings. The Titan gets high ratings - often from die hard fans of iOS and Android.

 

[kaerflog]

Kaerflog, there's an app for that.
http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/c8c0c357-622d-402c-831d-21e73d733751

I understand that which is why I posted a couple of pics as example.
We're talking about the average consumer who sees WP7 for the first time and are turned off by the stock metro UI.
Most don't want to go beyond that to see how well WP7 function.

 

[TheStu]

I came from WM6, and I love WP7. It does everything faster than my friends with Android and IOS. I use less than 200mb of data per month, and it's awesome.

The only time that I used more than a few hundred megs of data in a month is when I had to re-download a bunch of albums to my phone while on the road. My Surround (and I am totally blaming the hardware for this since it is the third Surround that I have had) decided that it really needed to be hard reset.

I like the simplicity of the UI, coming from iOS it feels more modern and adult. I have trouble using iOS for an extended period of time now, just because of that. I don't want semi-transparent tiles that overlay a wallpaper, or whatever that red thing was on the last page... ugh.

But, then again, WinMoPho has like .23% market share or some other absurdly small number and I am not entirely sure where the problem lies. I have some ideas;

1: The name, Windows Phone 7, is too similar in both name and number to the previous, generally derided, Windows Mobile 6.5
2: The name includes the word Windows, and Windows isn't 'cool'.
3: They only advertise the platform, not the devices.
4: None of the salespeople have used the devices.
5: They hadn't had a standout device until the Lumia 800/900.

As I saw one person suggest on the intartubez, MS should give salespeople a WP7 device to use as their personal device for a couple of months. Let them really get a feel for it. The People Hub is amazing. Twitter and Facebook feed updates in one place, and the contact information automatically pulled from FB and Windows Live. The email client is pretty good, as is the browser. IE9m is fast and fluid, with pretty good support (though not the best, that would be mSafari). The Zune player on the device is good. Advertise that you can use it eyes-free in the car (swipe up to unlock, left/right to change tracks, no small hit target to worry about). Bing Search is actually useful, and gives you quick access to things through Local Scout that would have required another app or whatever to get at.

There are a lot of selling points about the device and OS, but no one knows about them.

 

[Deeko]

So far the only people I have seen that like them are the people who would like anything WP7. Heck the fact that the HTC Titan is considered a good phone while people complain about the Galaxy S2's pixel density shows how forgiving people are when judging WP7.

First off, not everyone complains about the SGS2's pixel density - and I highly doubt anyone that does says good things about the Titan. Secondly, you've got it backwards, most people do like the design of these Nokias, but there are people on this forum that have a curious hatred for the OS and everything about it, those are the people that don't like it.

Look at the thread about the Lumia 900 - even Cheezy, who very rarely says anything good about anything other than iOS - lauds it. You might not think the specs are up to par (which you've made very clear over the course of many threads), but the physical design of the phones is liked by most people. Not every phone body has to be a rehash of the 2.5 year old HTC HD2.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Who has been forgiving? Check review sites. Windows Phones get consistently high ratings. The Titan gets high ratings - often from die hard fans of iOS and Android.

Exactly my point, if HTC released an Android phone with the Titans screen reviewers would tear it to pieces for having such poor pixel density. For whatever reason the bar for a device to be considered good is much lower for WP7.

 

[TheStu]

Exactly my point, if HTC released an Android phone with the Titans screen reviewers would tear it to pieces for having such poor pixel density. For whatever reason the bar for a device to be considered good is much lower for WP7.

Maybe the reviewers actually realize that HTC couldn't do anything about the screen density? Microsoft has set the majority of the hardware specs in stone so as to try and provide a consistent UX. The CPU, GPU and screen resolution are non-negotiable on WP7 devices. They have to have a camera at least 5MP, a hardware camera button, hardware volume and lock buttons, and a couple other things as well.

 

[Deeko]

Exactly my point, if HTC released an Android phone with the Titans screen reviewers would tear it to pieces for having such poor pixel density. For whatever reason the bar for a device to be considered good is much lower for WP7.

From Engadget's review of the Titan:

Display

The Titan's WVGA resolution equates to just 198 pixels per inch. No matter how much HTC tries to gloss over this issue, the fact remains that those pixels are visible on text and vector graphics (although not so much on photos), and they do nothing to add to the otherwise delightful aesthetics of the OS. Zooming out on a webpage quickly causes the text to become blocky and unreadable, which partially cancels out the large panel's ability to display vast swathes of a page in one go.

Arguably, this isn't HTC's fault, because 480x800 happens to be the resolution currently required by Windows Phone. Microsoft clearly just wants to keep things simple at this stage, and in any case it's looking at Windows 8 for the tablet form factor, so it's made no room for diverse screen sizes with WP 7.5. But does the end user really care who's fault it is? We've come to expect effective resolutions greater than 300dpi, which is the point at which we can truly forget that we're even looking at pixels, and the Titan falls well short of that.

They aren't nearly as forgiving of the pixel density as you think. A review can say good things about the phone as a whole while saying negative things about the pixel density, believe it or not.

 

[Instan00dles]

I got rid of my old blackberry curve for an windows phone and it is better in pretty much every why, there are only 2 things I wish would change.

1. I want an app that will tell me how much data I am using and how much data each app uses but Microsoft doesnt allow developers access to that kind of data.

2. The apps especially games are way more expensive on windows phones then android or iOS phones, people are going to be turned off paying 5 to 6 bucks for a game.

 

[Aikouka]

WP7 just doesn't appeal to the average consumer cause the Metro UI is so damm UGLY.

I own an iPhone, and I don't think of its UI as especially pretty. It's just a bunch of tiles. Although, I think that's kind of what we're used to after so long of having a desktop-based OS, which is typically just a bunch of executable shortcuts.

 

[lothar]

I got rid of my old blackberry curve for an windows phone and it is better in pretty much every why, there are only 2 things I wish would change.

1. I want an app that will tell me how much data I am using and how much data each app uses but Microsoft doesnt allow developers access to that kind of data.

2. The apps especially games are way more expensive on windows phones then android or iOS phones, people are going to be turned off paying 5 to 6 bucks for a game.

How are WP7 users supposed to monitor their data usage?

 

[Deeko]

How are WP7 users supposed to monitor their data usage?

I can't speak for Verizon or Sprint, but both AT&T and T-Mobile have apps that let you track your account, including data usage.

 

[MrX8503]

I can't speak for Verizon or Sprint, but both AT&T and T-Mobile have apps that let you track your account, including data usage.

The app is pretty nifty. I use it all the time, except the data usage isn't live. Its better than nothing I guess.

 

[TheStu]

The app is pretty nifty. I use it all the time, except the data usage isn't live. Its better than nothing I guess.

I have a general idea of how much data I am using from one month to the next, which is to say, less than 500MB. And AT&T alerts me if I have used more than 65% of my 2GB, which I have only done once.

 

[Red Storm]

Apple and Microsoft need to straight up copy Google and provide a detailed data usage app that's independent from the carriers.

It is one of the most useful tools for a smart phone today (unfortunately), though for me it's more informative than anything really (unlimited data FTW).

 

[Puddle Jumper]

Anyone notice this on Engadget?

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/16/sprint-remains-tepid-on-windows-phone-at-ces-confirms-no-new-wi/

This specific bit is what I found interesting.

s PCMag reports, Sprint's David Owens said that the carrier is willing to train its reps on Windows Phone, but that Microsoft has to "build the enthusiasm for the product," adding that the "number-one reason the product was returned was the user experience."

That supports the theory that the average consumer does not find Windows Phone 7 appealing in it's current form.

 

[Skel]

Anyone notice this on Engadget?

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/16/sprint-remains-tepid-on-windows-phone-at-ces-confirms-no-new-wi/

This specific bit is what I found interesting.

That supports the theory that the average consumer does not find Windows Phone 7 appealing in it's current form.

How many of those people were expecting a iphone experience? It's a very vague quote, to be honest a suspect site. I've seen a ton of news posts slanted in a Apple direction.

 

[Deeko]

Anyone notice this on Engadget?

http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/16/sprint-remains-tepid-on-windows-phone-at-ces-confirms-no-new-wi/

This specific bit is what I found interesting.

That supports the theory that the average consumer does not find Windows Phone 7 appealing in it's current form.

What he doesn't say in that quip is what the return rate is. If the rate is proportionally lower, well, that tells a different story. Of course not every OS is for everyone.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/top-rated/wireless/2407747011/ref=zg_bs_tab/184-2354243-9118027

Six out of the top ten highest rated phones on Amazon, including 100% of the Windows Phones available from AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint - yes, even the aforementioned HTC Arrive. The only one missing is the HTC HD7.

http://pocketnow.com/smartphone-news/average-customer-satisfaction-by-mobile-os