As far as hardware goes, there isn't much to complain about on this phone. The specs are tested and approved, and it comes with another one of Samsung's beautiful 4" Super AMOLED touch screens, a 1 Ghz processor, 8 GB of on board memory, and a 5 MP camera. Sound pretty decent? Below the touch screen are three touch buttons: back, Windows and search. The Windows button seems to do everything, including activate a useless voice command menu when you hold it down. Familiarize yourself with the phrase "Sorry, didn't get that" if you use this feature anywhere but in a quiet room. The search button is a shortcut to Bing, unless you're in a messaging folder, in which case it allows you to quickly look for email and sms messages without scrolling. The back button... it goes back.
That middle button does everything, the other two don't really do anything...Before I continue, let me say that I didn't think I would ever find another phone that was too frustratingly simple to use since I tried the iPhone. I also didn't think I would ever give a mobile version of windows a chance, but that's another story. Those two words (frustrating and simple) really do sum this one up a little to well, though. Frustrating in the sense that you can't really "do" much with this phone -- especially while trying to "do" something else. Simple in the sense that any basic task you can think of is almost impossible to fuddle. Unfortunately, it has a lot of limitations. People often allude to the fact that iPhone users are Steve Jobs' bitches. Well, It seems like Windows Phone 7 users are going to meet the same fate, except maybe they might become Steve Balmer's bitches. Microsoft has a pretty tight grip on the software development for this phone.
Maybe it isn't taking off because they don't have another commercial like this?
Visually, the phone looks amazing. Part of this is because of the screen, part of it is because Microsoft totally started from scratch on this one and really thought out what a person does on a mobile phone. This is an impressive feat considering their last attempt, which seemed like little more than lowering the resolution of their desktop version and dumbing it down for dumber hardware. But in all seriousness, scrolling through the live tiles on the main screen of the phone and then flipping through tabs within applications feels pretty solid. Facebook and Twitter both have impressive apps available for this platform that allow you to easily manage updates, photos, friends and notifications. A mobile version of office also comes pre-installed on the phone. Netflix even supports instant viewing! Although it's not the smoothest app available, this is one of the only features I miss on my Android phone.
An SMS to my buddy Steves to let him know how I feel about Windows Phone 7.The novelty of Windows Phone 7 wears thin right as you're watching a video and a text or email comes in. You hit the little windows button at the bottom and use your phone for it's intended purpose, and then... wait... where is my app. Put simply, multi-tasking on this phone sucks. It's almost a shame that the software cripples the amazing processor in this phone. The phone can kind of multi-task, in the sense that hitting the back button will reload the app you were just working with, but this gets incredibly frustrating with apps that require you to log in. If you minimize them, be prepared to wait while Windows "Resumes" your progress. With other mobile software platforms taking full-advantage of the capabilities of their processors, one can only imagine why Microsoft chose to eliminate this feature on their new OS. Supposedly, the issue will be somewhat corrected later in 2011, but will anyone wait around for this with all the other solid options available? Say what you will about Blackberry's software, but I fondly remember spending hours on mine using it's browser to help me study while I listened to music, replied to emails and chatted with colleagues in gchat.
Another issue I have with this phone involves removable storage. The Samsung Focus cannot use an external SD card unless you format the phone with the card in it. Microsoft has actually posted a lengthy explanation of why this is on their website, but it seems like they don't want you using a memory card unless your phone came with one. And don't even think about removing your memory card, as it is "integrated into Windows Phone 7." I hate to pull the Android card again, but I can pull out my SD card and transfer files to it without turning off my Android. Furthermore, I can exchange out SD cards as I want, and never have to format my phone to make one work. Removable storage has been a pretty simple feature/benefit for even the simplest phones for quite some time, and it's a shame that Microsoft overlooked it.
The text says: "Stop! Don't even think about putting that card in here!"So would I recommend a Windows Phone 7 to a friend? The Phones are solid, especially the Samsung Focus that I am trying out. It has similar specs as another Samsung device that I currently use as my daily driver. The platform seems incredibly stable, and I haven't had to pull the battery once. Despite this, the software seems a little too limited. More limited than older versions of Windows mobile. Visually, it looks amazing, and I have to give Microsoft credit for really figuring out how to make a lot of the features usable and accessible. But I Just can't seem to get over the fact that the phone barely multi-tasks, has limited apps available and doesn't really have a solution for removable memory. To be honest, if I wanted a phone that does as little as this one, I would probably just buy an iPhone 4.
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